"Cherry Pie" is a song by the American glam metal band
Warrant. It was released in September 1990, as the lead single from the album
of the same name. It preceded the album's release by three days. The song became a
Top Ten hit on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching number 10 and also reached number 19 on the
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...
.
The song has been cited by many as a "
hair metal
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...
" anthem.
Background and writing
"Cherry Pie" was a very late inclusion on the band's second album, originally the album was going to be called ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...
''. The president of
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
,
Don Ienner, wanted a rock anthem, so he called frontman
Jani Lane (according to Lane, he wanted a song reminiscent of
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues ...
's "
Love in an Elevator
"Love in an Elevator" is a song performed by American Rock music, rock band Aerosmith, written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry. It was released in August 1989 as the lead Single (music), single from their third album with Geff ...
"), who wrote the song in about fifteen minutes. Allen stated that "the whole marketing and everything for that record changed. It was definitely driven by the label and not the band." The song, which was inspired by Def Leppard's "
Pour Some Sugar on Me
"Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album '' Hysteria''. It reached number 2 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 23 July 1988, behind "Hold On to the Nights" by Richard Marx. "Pour Some Sugar ...
," which interestingly was also a last-minute addition to that group's ''
Hysteria
Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
'' album,
was written down on a
pizza box, which is now on display in the
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and r ...
in
Destin, Florida
Destin is a city located in Okaloosa County, Florida. It is a principal city of the Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin, Florida, metropolitan area.
Located on Florida's Emerald Coast, Destin is known for its white beaches and emerald green ...
, part of the Destin Commons. The guitar solo was played by
C.C. DeVille as a favor to Lane, who was a long-time friend.
Many of the band members felt that "Cherry Pie" was not one of the better songs on the album, and see the song as a double-edged sword: it brought them fame, but many of their other songs are overshadowed by the major hit. On
VH1's ''HEAVY: The Story Of Metal'' episode 3: "Looks That Kill," Lane expressed his regret for writing the song, stating that "I could shoot myself in the fucking head for writing that song." However, he later clarified that he had been under personal stress at the time of the VH1 interview, and had no ill feelings towards his association with the song:
Music video
The video for "Cherry Pie" received heavy airplay on MTV and other music video stations. It featured the members of Warrant and a scantily clad woman (model
Bobbie Brown
Bobbie Jean Brown (born October 7, 1969), sometimes credited as Bobbie Brown-Lane, is an American actress, model, and former beauty pageant contestant. She appeared in the video for Warrant's song "Cherry Pie".
Early life
Brown was born Oc ...
) who is seen dancing throughout the video while the band members perform and make tongue-in-cheek references to the song's lyrics (for example, when the line referencing baseball is sung, Brown appears in a form-fitting baseball uniform, complete with a bat), all against a white background.
Canadian cable-TV music network, ''MuchMusic'' refused to air the "Cherry Pie" video on the grounds that it was "offensively sexist".
[Downboys.com](_blank)
Director Jeff Stein defended the video saying it was a parody: "It's so over-the-top, how could anyone would think it was anything but a spoof of other hair-metal videos, you know? If people think it was sexist, it was only sexist as a parody of sexism."
Brown became involved with Lane soon after the video was filmed, and married him in 1991.
Howard Johnson writing for
Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...
ranked the song's video at No. 3 on their list of The Top 10 Best Hair Metal Videos.
Alternate versions
"Cherry Pie" was re-visited by the band in 1999 on their ''
Greatest & Latest'' album and was released as a promo and later iTunes single and was also released on several mixed compilation albums. In 2004, Lane recorded an acoustic version of "Cherry Pie", which featured on the second ''
VH1 Classic Metal Mania: Stripped'' compilation. An electronic remix of "Cherry Pie" was released in 2015 by Lack Jemmon.
Charts
Certifications
References
{{authority control
1990 singles
1990 songs
Columbia Records singles
Songs written by Jani Lane
Warrant (American band) songs