''Wake Me When It's Over'' is the second album by

Faster Pussycat Faster Pussycat is an American hard rock/glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985 by vocalist Taime Downe, guitarists Brent Muscat and Greg Steele and bassist Kelly Nickels. The group has since gone through numerous lineup changes lea ...

, released in 1989. The band moved away from 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 r ...

of their first album to a more blues-influenced sound. Music videos were produced for "Poison Ivy" and "

House of Pain House of Pain was an American hip-hop trio that released three albums in the 1990s. The group consisted of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Everlast. The group's name is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a refer ...

". "House of Pain" reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the video, which was directed by future film director

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget, high-concept action films characterized by fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of ...

, was in rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The album peaked at No. 48 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album has been certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Production

The album was produced by John Jansen. It is marked by a heavier, less glam metal sound.

Critical reception

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' wrote that "side one is terrible, crammed with constipated glam-metal boogie, "but praised side two's "Slip of the Tongue" and "Tattoo". The ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' wrote that "by smoothing out the rough edges and tightening up the loose performances, Faster Pussycat has traded in its identity for a faceless, albeit commercial, sound." The ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'' thought that "a pleasant surprise is "House of Pain", which is devoid of the syrupy mush that tends to dominate a lot of ballads that crack the charts." Kirk Blows of ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' called ''Wake Me When It's Over'' worthwhile, and noticed that the album gives listeners "more adventure, variety and depth than its predecessor while retaining just enough of the reckless spirit."

Track listing

Personnel

Faster Pussycat

Taime Downe Taime Downe (; born Gustave Molvik on September 29, 1964) is an American musician best known as the lead singer of the 1980s hard rock/glam metal band Faster Pussycat. Life and career In high school, Downe formed a band named The Bondage Boy ...

– lead vocal * Greg Steele – guitar, piano, backing vocal *

Brent Muscat Brent Muscat (born April 23, 1967) is an American musician best known as the guitarist of glam metal band Faster Pussycat Faster Pussycat is an American hard rock/glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985 by vocalist Taime Downe, g ...

– guitar, percussion, backing vocal, talk box on "Little Dove" * Eric Stacy – electric and fretless bass * Mark Michals – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

* Emi Canyn – vocals *

Jimmy Zavala Jimmy 'Z' Zavala (born July 12, 1955) is an American musician. He is notable for playing harmonica on the Eurythmics song " Missionary Man" and performing with the band live. He also played live as part of Rod Stewart's band and appears on "Weir ...

–

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

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

* Kevin Savigar – piano and keyboards *

Steven Riley Steven Riley is a professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London. He is a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (SPI-M) of SAGE. In 2021, he was appointed director general of data and analytics, responsib ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals

Production

* Produced and mixed by John Jansen * Recorded and engineered by Ryan Dorn, Ross Hogarth, John Jansen and Rod O'Brien * Assistant engineers: Nelson Ayres, Kyle Bess, Michael Bosley and David Knight * Mastered by Greg Calbi

Production

Critical reception

Track listing

Personnel

Faster Pussycat

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

See also

References