1988.01.05 - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, USA

Medals All Around at Heavy-Metal Benefit
January 07, 1988|JOHN VOLAND

Return with us now to those golden days of yesteryear, when metal bands were not so relentlessly packaged, videoed and multi-platinumed. Return to those days when--with a hearty "Hi yo, dude!"--headbangers took any excuse to clamber up on stage and just play .

These less rarefied days of local metal were recalled Tuesday night at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium during KNAC-FM's second anniversary party, a $17.50-a-pop benefit for Find the Children (a nonprofit organization designed to help parents find their missing children).

Oh sure, there were plenty of stellar talents on hand: the complete rosters of Guns N' Roses, Great White and Armored Saint, plus various members of such bands as Cinderella, Poison, Giuffria, Autograph, Quiet Riot, Keel and Black & Blue. It was as close to a glitzfest as one could imagine a 125-dB metalthon getting.

But when the musicians got together on stage and worked out on, say, Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," the sheer pleasure of nailing down Joe Perry's riffs or wailing Steven Tyler's vocals took over. So what if things got really sloppy, out of tune and just plain noisy? It was garage heaven for the lads, and the capacity crowd, from the pit down front all the way back, ate it up.

The devoted headbangers up front were done up to the metal-style nines, with the gals wearing outrageous spike heels and scant else, while guys sported their best leathers and most hol(e)y jeans.

Though just being at the Civic--and in as intoxicated a state as possible--was the main idea for some, the audience's warmest responses were reserved for the complete bands. The fiery, no-holds-barred six-song set from Guns N' Roses--much less formal and more funky than the group's recent Pasadena concerts--drew the biggest roar, but Great White's expert but somehow inert hard-blues stylings had their proponents too.

It was one of those nights where everyone won. Remember what they were like?

• Find the Children Benefit with Armoured Saint, Guns 'n' Roses, Great White, Party Ninjas, Santa Monica Civic, Jan. 5.

Floors shook, eardrums exploded and heads wildly banged — all for a good cause. The metal-meisters at KNAC celebrated their second year of louder-than-fire existence by co-hosting this benefit with Find the Children, an investigative agency that’s partly repsonsible for putting the faces of missing kids on milk cartons. Perhaps some of those lost youngsters were in the crowd, cheering on their favorite members of Poison, Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Dokken, Quiet Riot - the list goes on — as they ripped through arena-rock covers. Musically, the brightest moments of the night came early. Guns ’n’ Roses delivered a fierce set that heavily favored their own songs, and Great White contributed some impressive power blues. Most of the others didn’t take their playtime as seriously and casually jammed through their favorite tunes — Led Zeppelin and AC/DC got a heavy workout, along with some choice 70s hard rock. The point of the evening wasn’t musical excellence, anyway. The point was to have fun while raising some sorely needed bucks. After all, they may be loud, raunchy and obnoxious, but metal heads have hearts of gold, not tin.

—Janiss Garza

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Caption: All hail the King: Axl comes out smelling like a rose.