Review Summary: Welcome to her worst era
In 1989, Lee Aaron added glam metal to her wide array of styles. She made two albums in that genre, and I’m not going to mince words, they are my least favorite Lee Aaron albums, “Bodyrock” in particular. I can see why she changed from heavy metal and synth-laden rock to more guitar-driven hair metal, but it would end up being a very misguided decision. The late 80s-early 90s could be considered the dark times of glam metal, with an abundance of mediocre, generic albums and artists, and most of the genre’s sense of fun and edginess fading away. Of course, there were a few good albums in that time period, which I might review some day, but “Bodyrock” isn’t one of them. There are many, many problems with that album.
That’s not to say there are no good songs on this album. “Yesterday” is a fun, uplifting song about leaving the past behind and enjoying the present, with a catchy chorus and ear-wormy “na na na” chant by the back-up singers. “Rebel Angel” is the catchiest song on the album, and it sounds like Lee is having fun describing this femme fatale character. It’s the album’s “Metal Queen”. “Sweet Talk” has a pretty good vocal performance, and a sort of intense, eager desperation. “How Deep does it Go” has a nice guitar effect, and a nice melancholic melody. But let’s list all the issues.
Going from rock/hair metal kind of feels like Lee is toning down the intensity and larger than life aspect of her music, much more than on the self-titled album. I wouldn’t mind the album being softer than her previous work if the music was good, but most songs are just repetitive three-note riffs, with a lot of energy or catchiness missing from them. Also “Whatcha Do to my Body” and “Hands On” sound too much alike, and “Shame” sounds too much like “Rebel Angel”. Musically, it’s not a very interesting or exciting album. One of the choruses says “Rock the hard way, or don’t rock at all”, but the album doesn’t follow that advice.
And that’s not all. The lyrics are a complete mess. “Nasty Boyz”, with that spelling, has a catchy riff but tells the story of a girl who wanted to become a rock star’s girlfriend and only ends up becoming a groupie. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to feel bad for the subject of the song, judge her for having no self-respect or think she’s cool and we want to be just like her. I can’t tell if the song is supposed to be criticizing or glamorizing of the exploitation of women in the music industry. Either way, something about that song feels just wrong. Similarly, the girl in “Rebel Angel” is called “sweetest baby doll” at some point, so how old is she supposed to be anyway?
At least the other lyrics aren’t as potentially creepy, just kind of silly. “Gotta Thing For You” is mostly a pretty fun song about getting back with an ex, with some tired, not even sexy or funny pick-up lines like “How big is it?” and “Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”. The lyrics in “Shame” feel cobbled together from a bunch of rock clichés. There’s also a song called “Tough Girls Don’t Cry”, but Lee’s previous albums have proved she could be tough and still cry sometimes. In many ways, this album feels like regression for Lee Aaron. The music doesn’t have the same sense of fun and energy, the lyrics are far stupider, and worst regression of all, Lee’s voice has lost its power and high, belted notes. Her voice has obviously gotten deeper with age, but she’s also singing in what I can only describe as a girlish, playful rasp, basically her version of doing a baby voice. It doesn’t sound very natural, and worse than that, it’s a complete misuse of her great voice. I think I could enjoy this album a little more if the vocals were better, but this awful use of her newer, deeper and raspier voice just makes everything worse.
Of course, there are a few songs I enjoy, like “Sweet Talk”, “Yesterday”, “Rebel Angel”, “How Deep does it Go” and maybe even “Rock the Hard Way”. Lee Aaron and her band are still good enough songwriters to avoid making a completely worthless album, but as a whole, this is probably one of her weaker albums. Despite a few good moments, it’s still a very uninspired album where if I’m not annoyed, I’m often bored. If you have a higher tolerance for late 80s hair metal than me, you might enjoy this. But I don’t have the strength to subject myself to this album after this review, or to make a new dark times of hair metal series. Instead, I might review some lesser known albums from that eras that I enjoyed way more.
