Review Summary: The end of a decade, and the beginning to a short but sweet heyday for Enuff Z'nuff.
2014 marks the 30th anniversary of power pop/glam metal band Enuff Z'nuff's formation, yet over the past three decades they have still only managed to gather more than a cult following. Sure, their influence is undeniably suitable for the current wave of groups attempting that feelgood 80s rock sound again, but Enuff Z'nuff always seemed a little out of place, however much critics compared them to the peers in Quireboys, Poison and to a certain extent, Guns 'n' Roses. Perhaps the band's debut album isn't exactly the greatest example of them sounding "out of place", supposedly because the majority of 1989's
Enuff Z'nuff is little more than the work of a group of aspiring young men hoping to hit the big stage as soon as possible.
Make no mistake,
Enuff Z'nuff is cheesy, infectious and poppy, and that's exactly why the album has gone on to feature in some of TV's most popular shows, namely Beavis & Butthead and Beverly Hills, as well a brief appearance on infamous 1986 cult film "Henry: Portait of a Serial Killer". A little bit of information on the album's legacy, of course, but none of this would have happened without the likes of "1989", "New Thing" and the slightly psychadelic "Fly High Michelle". These three songs are but a few examples of how well Enuff Z'nuff managed to pull off some of the most poppy, infectious melodies of the 80s, all the while rocking out with a glam approach to get anyone humming along to the tune. At the heart of the band's debut album is a simplistic formula which rarely ever changes, and even Donnie Vie's raspy vocal delivery doesn't ruin it. The themes are practically what you'd expect from any of Enuff Z'nuff's American peers. Here we have odes to heart-stoppingly beautiful young women ("Little Indian Girl"), the feelgood attitude of summer ("Hot little Summer") and some nicely tuned ballads ("For Now"). Again, it's nothing new, but the formula works to the band's advantage each and every time you think the effect is going to wear off.
The band's debut album is certainly career-defining, but not without its flaws. The main flaw (and for some, the only one) is that some of the songs drag on because of a little too much instrumental noodling. The almost seven-minute long "In the Groove" suffers the most from this, for obvious reasons other than the fact that, by the halfway point, you're already wondering what the rest of the album will sound like. "For Now" and "Fly High Michelle" also have similar flaws, but make up for it with sugar-sweet balladry and Vie's lullaby-like albeit still raspy vocal delivery. The instrumental performance is generally what one would expect of a glam rock/metal album from the 80s, and fortunately brings songs like "New Thing" and "Kiss the Clown" to a great finish. Perhaps Vie's raspy vocal delivery doesn't affect the album in the same way as the instrumentation, but with a slightly menacing vibe to his voice you can see why the songs are infectious as they are.
So
Enuff Z'nuff is career-defining, if anything. It's the very record which put the band on the map, made more than a few young women fall in love and even landed them a few appearances in various big-name TV shows. To say that Enuff Z'nuff were noticed years before their debut album is something special in itself, but ten songs of the same poppy, infectious musical formula was the very thing which the band needed to catapult themselves into mainstream recognition. The band wouldn't get much bigger than this largely due to eschewing the glam rock/power pop sound in favour of a more serious, heavier style, but the
Enuff Z'nuff legacy still remains relevant 25 years after its release.
