Dangerous Toys for Kids - High-Quality, Safe & Fun Playtime Essentials for Boys & Girls - Perfect for Birthday Gifts, Party Favors & Indoor/Outdoor Activities

Forgotten in the wave of more popular and successful bands in the MTV Hair Metal heyday, the Dangerous Toys had a sound that was close enough to their own to distinguish them from many shameless clone bands of the time. While it isn't the MOST original thing you'll hear, some things that were not found or heard in other albums from the time are heard here.For one, the production. Rather than choose a tried-and-true hair metal producer like Beau Hill or Tom Werman, they went with a more straight-up metal minded producer in Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Savatage, Armored Saint). Another difference to be found here is the fact that these boys were from the Lone Star State rather than the Sunset Strip; as a result there is a definite southern drawl to a lot of the guitar riffs. None of the riffs are anything groundbreaking but it's certainly safe to say they go beyond the cookie cutter mold that had long since been set.Vocalist Jason McMaster might sound a bit too much like Axl Rose for some tastes and this may lose a lot of points with any die-hard GNR fans. But personally, I like his singing a lot. While Axl he ain't, that style fits the more down-and-dirty feel that the Dangerous Toys were going for to distinguish themselves from the hair-metal competition. As a result of all this, it was much closer in nature to GNR than it was to someone like Ratt or Dokken.All those factors, coupled with the MTV exposure of "Teas'n, Pleas'n" and "Scared," managed to make this album go Gold, and compared to many other MTV-ready hard rock and metal albums of that time this is a diamond in the rough. The only real comparison I can make between this album and most hair metal is in the lyrics; in spite of the fact that they are mostly showing a complete and utter lack of serious thinking, they are somewhat enjoyable for their sheer stupidity on songs such as "Sport'n A Woody," "Take Me Drunk" and "That Dog."If you're down to listen to a relatively obscure hard rock band that suffered far more than it should have from the grunge explosion of the 90's, then I would recommend you check this album out. Is it legendary hard rock that has stood the test of time and sets the standards for all rock guitar players or bands? Well, no. But just take it for what it is (which is everything I described), and you should be satisfied. The album gets a star removed for its rather dated sound and the fact that it doesn't stand up all that well among many other hard rock or heavy metal CDs in my collection (and there are quite a few), but there isn't a bad track to be found.-Side note: Track 7, "Queen Of The Nile," is an absolutely killer track, my personal favorite on the album. Presumably kicking off side 2 of a cassette or vinyl pressing of the album, it is one of the greatest songs you've never heard.