As part of my ongoing efforts to educate the masses about an archaic musical genre that nobody really liked in the first place, I’ll be highlighting some of the forgotten classics (i.e. all of them) of the hair metal era. Anybody who had harboured any lingering respect for me up to this point will soon see the error of his ways.

#1: Tigertailz – ‘Love Bomb Baby’

Spare a thought for Tigertailz – not alone did the group’s breakthrough album Bezerk unfortunately coincide with the popping of the hair metal bubble, but they’ve also been forced to deal with the eternal indignity of being Welsh. They never stood a chance.

Having said that, Tigertailz can always console themselves with the dubious honour of being the UK’s most successful hair metal act… ever! (Def Leppard notwithstanding, the Sheffield quartet being of an earlier vintage). Bezerk was released in 1990 to mild applause, with infectious lead single ‘Love Bomb Baby’ and obligatory power ballad ‘Heaven’ (not a patch on the Warrant track of the same name) driving album sales above a respectable quarter of a million.

Musically, Tigertailz were always more Motley Crue and Accept than Poison or Pretty Boy Floyd, but ‘Love Bomb Baby’ is the exact opposite: pure bubblegum pop wrapped in a driving, hard rock shell. Remarkably, given the genre’s track record, the “love bomb” in question does not, in fact, refer to the singer’s penis (or anyone else’s).

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MP3: Tigertailz – ‘Love Bomb Baby’