''Cool Kids'' is the second studio album by the

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam ...

band Kix. Released in 1983 on Atlantic Records, it is the only Kix album to feature

Brad Divens Brad Divens is an American rock musician. He was the bassist and lead vocalist for Souls at Zero, formerly known as Wrathchild America. His vocal style often draws comparisons to James Hetfield ( Metallica). Previously, Brad played guitar wit ...

Wrathchild America Wrathchild America was an American heavy metal band formed in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1978. Before settling on the Wrathchild America name in 1988, the band had performed under the names Atlantis, Tyrant, and Wrathchild. They released t ...

and

Souls at Zero ''Souls at Zero'' is the third studio album by the American avant-garde metal band Neurosis. It was released in 1992 by the Alternative Tentacles record label. It was reissued in 1999 with bonus tracks on the band's own Neurot Recordings label. ...

on guitar.

Background

''Cool Kids'' reached position No.177 on the ''Billboard'' charts. It showcased a slightly more commercial side of the band. In addition, it started the trend of including material written by outside songwriters, which then continued on their following studio albums. "Body Talk" was the first single to be released off of the album and one of the album's three cover songs. First released as "(She Talks) Body Talk" on the 1981 ''

Body Talk Muzik Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

'' album by

Nick Gilder Nicholas George Gilder (born 21 December 1951) is a British-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer/songwriter. Biography Born in Lo ...

(earlier of "Hot Child in the City" fame), and co-written by Gilder and his longtime musical associate, Jamie Herndon, this song was believed to have been included on ''Cool Kids'' to appease the group's label. The band was also urged to shoot a video for the song, which featured the Kix members cavorting with ladies in full-on workout garb. The album also included the

Spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

cover "Burning Love," co-written by Spider's keyboardist

Holly Knight ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

- who later became a member of Device and a hit songwriter (incidentally, sometimes co-writing with Gilder) for artists such as

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

and

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen ...

- and singer Amanda Blue (later of the group Shanghai), along with the title track "Cool Kids," a cover of a

Franne Golde Francine Vicki Golde, better known as Franne Golde or Frannie Golde, is an American songwriter, musician, singer and writer. Her songs have appeared on more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Golde has received BMI awards for singles with ...

song from her 1980 album ''Restless'', co-written by Golde with producer Peter McIan and Billy Steele.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Donnie Purnell, except where noted ;Side one # "Burning Love" (Amanda Blue,

) – 3:07 # "Cool Kids" (

, Peter McIan, Billy Steele) – 3:28 # "Love Pollution" ( Steve Whiteman, Brian Forsythe) – 4:04 # "Body Talk" (

, Jamie Herndon) – 3:39 # "Loco-Emotion" – 3:30 ;Side two # "Mighty Mouth" – 3:43 # "Nice on Ice" – 3:25 # "Get Your Monkeys Out" – 3:20 # "For Shame" – 3:11 # "Restless Blood" (Purnell, Whiteman, Forsythe, Jimmy Chalfant,

) – 3:50

Personnel

;Kix * Steve Whiteman – lead vocals, harmonica,

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

– guitars,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

talk box A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sou ...

*Brian "Damage" Forsythe – guitars *Donnie Purnell – bass, backing vocals, keyboards, co-lead vocals on "Body Talk" *Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant – drums, backing vocals,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, co-lead vocals on "Body Talk" ;Production * Peter Solley – producer *Steve Klein – engineer, mixing *Jim Sessody – assistant engineer *Mike Fuller – mastering *Lynn Dreese Breslin – art direction * David Michael Kennedy – photography

References

External links

Kix Official WebsiteGuitar.com 2014 interview with Kix guitarist Brian Forsythe
{{Authority control 1983 albums Kix (band) albums Atlantic Records albums