Track Listing

1. Down Boys
2. 32 Pennies
3. Heaven
4. D.R.F.S.R.
5. Big Talk
6. Sometimes She Cries
7. Cherry Pie
8. Thin Disguise
9. Uncle Tom's Cabin
10. I Saw Red [Acoustic Version]
11. Bed of Roses
12. Mr. Rainmaker
13. Sure Feels Good to Me
14. Hole in My Wall
15. Machine Gun
16. We Will Rock You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9738 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1996-04-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Warrant is a schizophrenic band, a condition illustrated by this 16-song "hits" collection. The Los Angeles-based lineup's 1989 debut, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, featured such metal-lite delights as "32 Pennies," the title track, the insipid, self-referential trademark hit "Down Boys," the sappy power ballad "Heaven," the lascivious "Cherry Pie," and "Sometimes She Cries," all of which appear on this best-of. But by 1992's Dog Eat Dog, Warrant had gone heavier and grungier, befitting the musical climate of the era. Consequently, the quintet lost fans who perceived the group as bandwagon jumpers; actually, they do a decent job with heavier songs such as "Machine Gun" and "Hole in My Wall." Proving that singer Jani Lane and pals could be tender and memorable without being cheesy are the gutsy, bluesy "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the beautiful "I Saw Red." Their cover of Queen's "We Will Rock You," on the other hand, almost manages to sap the song's inherent monster groove. While Warrant's move from image-conscious pop-metal to a heavier sound was awkward in execution, fans of either of the band's phases--and those who like both--will dig this diverse disc. --Katherine Turman

Customer Reviews

Best of those Down Boys


Back in my NMSU days, I heard of the Triple Threat Tour, consisting of three pop metal bands on the road together. They were Warrant, Firehouse, and Trixter. Between these three, Warrant was definitely the most successful, having charted six Top 40 hits in three years, only to faze out with the onset of alternative and when metal was taken to a new extreme. The Best of Warrant is just that, featuring all six of those hits, as well as others.

Vocalist Jani Lane and company were no exception to the rule of metal bands that the way to get more airplay and hence more sales was a power ballad. This they did with their #2 hit, "Heaven," replete with guitars, backing choruses, perfect for an audience with an ocean of lighters waving back and forth. The other big power ballad, which scraped the Top 20 was "Sometimes She Cries" which while a worthy song, may have drawn comparisons to fellow rockers Winger and "Hangin' On A Heartbreak" which had charted the previous year.

Of course, one can't forget their debut single, "Down Boys" the usual metal with background keyboards, though not as pronounced as say something produced by Ron Nevison. Nice rhythm, chorus sung in unison by the group, and good enough to reach #27 on the Hot 100.

The title track to their first album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, is a hard-driving anthem of the materialistic 80's, of wanting more money and frills. Just what kind of society have we bred, when those D.R.F.S.R. want to light their cigars with $100 bills.

Even more of an anthem was the macho guilty pleasure arena rock of the #10 hit "Cherry Pie," the title track of their second album-remember the cover of the waitress with her apron, as well as /She's my cherry pie/cool drink of water, such a sweet surprise/tastes so good, make a grown man cry/sweet cherry pie./ I think of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" mixed with Aerosmith's "Rag Doll." A smile on your face ten miles wide, huh?

The only other notable song is their #93 song, "Big Talk" about the oft-spoken saying of if you're gonna talk big, you'd better be able to back it up. And not all of Warrant's song were braggadocio pop metal. After a beginning acoustic blues melody, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" tells of a law enforcement coverup of murders, with the bodies hidden in a wishing well. The other example was the betrayed love of "I Saw Red." The version here is the acoustic B-side of the original #10 single. Of particular songwriting note is when Janie sings how he didn't have to see the expression of the other man's face, but that of his woman.

Material from Dog Eat Dog, "Hole In The Wall" and "Machine Gun" doesn't compare to the rest of the material, which features a consistent sound. Finally, their cover of Queen's "We Will Rock You" from Gladiator (the 1992 film with Cuba Gooding Jr.) is a nice try, as nothing compares to the original.

A good retrospective of the band's best moments.

The best of Warrant? hardly...
Even though I would rank Warrant as one of my all time favorite bands, I'd have to say the track selection here is such an unfair representation of their career. Sure, the most popular albums were "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich" (very impressive debut) and "Cherry Pie" (pretty good except for the title track) but the absolutely underappreciated classic "Dog Eat Dog" and the even heavier "Ultraphobic" are far better releases, and those albums proved that Warrant could really rock with the best of them. Yet out of those albums only two tracks from "Dog Eat Dog" are selected ("Machine Gun", "Hole In My Wall"), and they're not even the best ones. Where's "April 2031", "The Bitter Pill", "Inside Out", "Let It Rain", "Andy Warhol Was Right"? I could put anyone of those songs on a list for my favorite tunes this decade. And "Ultraphobic" is totally ignored, sadly. People might think, "Oh it's a washed up hair band jumping on the 'grunge bandwagon' to sell records." but it's really not. It merely serves as a natural progression -- getting even heavier and more creative than "Dog Eat Dog", proving once again that they could transcend the party anthem boundaries. As far as what is here, it's still worth the effort. "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "I Saw Red", and "Sometimes She Cries" are anything but wasted, although there are much better places to start. "Warrant Live 86-97" is a much better representation of their best, and even that falls short. I'd recommend getting "Dog Eat Dog" for an idea of what the band really wanted to achieve.

More muscular than most hair-metal bands.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" separated this band from the pack: A beautifully picked acoustic intro with a distinct swamp-folk feel, launching into a melodic guitar line, Jani Lane's versatile singing, and then turning into a marauding riff rocker with an above-par horror-tale lyric.

Most of the Warrant catalogue isn't as strong as this song -- "Heaven" became a big power ballad in 1989 but is pretty generic, and "I Saw Red" from 1990's Cherry Pie album had a meandering structure, on this set further hindered by an "acoustic" mix that took even the faintest suggestion of edge the song ever had. But there are still good times to be had on this collection: "Cherry Pie", sexist and brain-dead as it is, is enjoyable on a purely headbangin' level; the band's reinvention of Queen's "We Will Rock You" with a full-rock-band arrangement is fitting; and "Machine Gun" (from 1993's Dog Eat Dog, the beginning of the band's commercial decline) even showed a hint of Skid Row-style grit.