TIGERTAILZ "Young And Crazy" (1987)
by Dana Brittingham

Cover: 4 Elephant Earz out of 10
The cover rivalz that of Poison's "Look What The Cat Dragged In" for its "these chicks look like dudes" quality. It's a 4-cell photo montage of the Tigertailz guyz with hair higher than the ozone layer and putting on their best pouty-pose faces. They look about as glam as you can get, so there's no mistaking Tigertailz for some kind of barbershop quartet gone wrong.

Booklet: 2 Lion Lipz out of 10
The back cover haz a glossy-color band photo, but inside it's black and white and impossible to read. Record companiez were still pressing vinyl in 1987, and it lookz like they just took the artwork and liner notes from the LP sleeve and shrunk them down to CD size. You'd need an electron microscope to decipher the lyricz!

Songs: 7 Bear Ballz out of 10
Actually, most of these songz aren't too bad. Even with half-assed production, you can tell that these guyz have a talent for their instrumentz and for writing halfway decent cock-rock songz. Some trackz, like the opener "Star Attraction" and "Shoot To Kill," have kind of an AC/DC dirty rock vibe to them, while otherz ("Livin' Without You," "Hollywood Killer," and the title track) were written to be crowd pleaserz and guaranteed an occasional hummer in the dressing room bathroom. There'z even the obligatory ballad, "Fall In Love Again." These guyz had an inkling of what they were doing, but probably not the right exposure to make them a household name.

Comments: What the fuck kind of name for a band is Tigertailz, anywayz? Wasn't that a Saturday morning cartoon for preschoolerz? These guyz hail from Cardiff, Wales, home of... well, the Welsh, so it goez without saying that this band waz a half step behind the L.A. glam scene. Touted as "the UK's answer to Poison," this waz the first Tigertailz studio effort. Released on an indie label, it never quite took hold with the public, but gained them enough exposure to record a follow-up album the next year. Mistake #1 waz kicking out their singer, Steevi Jaimz. The dude had kind of a lower, grittier voice than waz the norm for glam rock bandz, but he waz distinct enough to give Tigertailz their own signature sound. But in 1988 he waz replaced by some other dude called Kim Hooker and Tigertailz proceeded to record their follow-up, "Berzerk." It waz a huge big-budget production, and an even huger big-budget flop! The songs were terrible and so were the album's salez. They tried again in 1991 with "Banzai," only to run away with their tailz between their legz after that one also flopped. When the coast waz clear, the band resurfaced in 1995, releasing another studio album ("Wazbones") and a live CD. They must've learned their lesson, az they haven't been heard from since. Steevi Jaimz, not to let himself be kicked when he'z down, haz recorded and performed az a solo artist and with his band "The Jaimz Gang." He even appeared on Perris Record's Poison tribute album! If you're lucky, you might be able to catch him on tour, performing songz from "Young And Crazy" in little out-of-the-way barz.