''Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich'' is the debut studio album by American

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 ...

band Warrant, released in 1989. The album was highly successful, spawning the hit singles "

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

" (No. 2, 1989), "

Down Boys "Down Boys" is the first single by the United States, American rock music, rock band Warrant (American band), Warrant. It was released in 1989 in music, 1989 from Warrant's first album, ''Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich''. The song reached #27 on ...

" (No. 27, 1989) and "

Sometimes She Cries Sometimes She Cries is a song by United States, American glam metal band Warrant (American band), Warrant. A power ballad, it was released in 1989 as the fourth single from Warrant's debut album ''Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich''. The song char ...

" (No. 20, 1990). The album peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200. The unique cover art features "Fugazi", known as "Cashly Guido Bucksley" in the "Big Talk" music video, an overpaid, amoral

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and archetypal business psychopath. Artwork by Pop Surrealism artist,

Mark Ryden Mark Ryden (born January 20, 1963) is an American painter who is considered to be part of the Lowbrow (or Pop Surrealist) art movement.Ken Johnson"Mark Ryden: ‘The Gay 90s: Old Tyme Art Show" ''The New York Times'', May 6, 2010. Retrieved 2013 ...

. The first four words of the album's title ("Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin'...!") were mentioned in the intro to the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may al ...

of their 1990 follow-up album '' Cherry Pie''.

Musical style

The album's sound is typical of the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

scene of the 1980s, featuring heavy guitars and melodic, catchy choruses.

Production and marketing

The album was released amidst some controversy. It was widely rumored that guitarists

Erik Turner Erik Turner (born March 31, 1964) is best known as the rhythm guitarist in American glam metal band Warrant. Turner co-founded Warrant in Los Angeles, California in July 1984 with bassist Jerry Dixon. Turner was influenced by bands Led Zeppel ...

and

Joey Allen Joseph Alan Cagle, known professionally as Joey Allen, is best known as the lead guitarist of the American glam metal band Warrant. Allen was born as Joseph Alan Cagle on June 23, 1964, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and grew up in Irvine, California ...

had not played a note on the album and that all guitar work had been performed by ex-

Streets Streets is the plural of street, a type of road. Streets or The Streets may also refer to: Music * Streets (band), a rock band fronted by Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh * ''Streets'' (punk album), a 1977 compilation album of various early UK punk ba ...

guitarist and session musician

Mike Slamer Michael Chetwynd Slamer is a British guitarist. Biography Slamer started his career playing in the UK prog-rock band City Boy. Since then, he has worked as a staff composer for various movies and TV series, has been a session guitarist for nu ...

. While the rumor has never been verified, Slamer's wife confirmed in 1998 that her husband played guitar on the record. Mike Slamer has stated in interviews that he played guitar and the lead solos on the album. Producer Beau Hill stated in a 2012 interview that Slamer did in fact play on the album. Beau had said to the band that the "songs are really great, but I think we’re a little weak in the solo department and so I like to bring somebody in". Beau also stated that "everybody in the band signed off on it and everything was done above ground". During the recording of the album,

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Jani Lane Jani Lane (born John Kennedy Oswald; February 1, 1964 – August 11, 2011) was an American singer and the lead vocalist, frontman, lyricist and main songwriter for the glam metal band Warrant. From Hollywood, California, the band experienced su ...

walked in on his best friend in bed with his girlfriend, leading to his

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, and its release was delayed by several months while Lane recovered. These events would later be recounted in the single "

I Saw Red "I Saw Red" is a power ballad by United States, American glam metal band Warrant (American band), Warrant. It was released in December 1990 as the second single from Warrant's second album ''Cherry Pie (album), Cherry Pie''. The song was one of ...

" on the band's following album, '' Cherry Pie''. The record was produced and engineered by

Beau Hill Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe, and Ratt. He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as ...

, who also contributed keyboards and backing vocals. It was recorded at The Enterprise in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

Songs

The album's themes, which include materialism ("32 Pennies", "D.R.F.S.R"), sex ("

", "So Damn Pretty", "Cold Sweat"), heartbreak ("

") and loneliness ("

"), would be echoed on later Warrant releases. The debut single from the band was "Down Boys", the song has been described as "one of the toughest, heaviest songs in arrant'scatalog, and certainly at the top of both categories in terms of their hit singles". The second single was the smash hit "

" which took Warrant's record company by surprise. Indeed, once the widespread appeal of the song became apparent, the band was instructed to re-record the track to lend it a "bigger radio sound". Beau Hill remixed the song for the single release. The first 250,000 copies of the record featured the original version while later pressings featured a new version.Biography at Rock Detector.com
"Heaven" had previously been recorded by Jani Lane and

Steven Sweet Steven Sweet (born Steven Chamberlin on October 29, 1965, in Wadsworth, Ohio, United States) is a Los Angeles-based drummer who is most famous for being a member of Warrant. Personal information Before joining Warrant he was in the glam metal ...

's old band

Plain Jane Plain Jane may refer to: *''Plain Jane'', a 1922 play by McElbert Moore * ''Plain Jane'' (Wednesday Theatre), an Australian TV movie * ''Plain Jane'' (TV series), a U.S. TV series airing on The CW *Plain Jane (band), an American band from the lat ...

. "

Big Talk Big Talk is an American rock band, formed by The Killers' drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr, and longtime friend Taylor Milne in 2011. As of 2015, John Spiker, John Konesky and Brooks Wackerman are also members of the band. The band have released an ep ...

" was released as the third single followed by the popular "Sometimes She Cries" as the fourth single. All the singles featured music videos.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave ''Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich'' a rating of four out of five stars, saying that the album was "sleek and clean, built on processed guitars and cavernous drums" and that it "sounds exactly like that year 989 both for better and worse." Dave Reynolds of ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' considers the album "hardly outstanding", with only "a bunch of distinctly average songs matched to a brace of worthwhile moments".

Solo recording dispute

Much of the record's solos have been unofficially credited to

felt

and

were not at the standard required to compete with similar bands at the time for the solos. It was Hill who put Slamer forward, in an interview with Full in Bloom Hill claimed Slamer played all solos in all songs. However, in September 2020, Erik Turner was interviewed on the Chuck Shute podcast and stated everyone urner, Allen and Slamerplayed on the tracks and Mike

lamer Lamer is a jargon or slang name originally applied in cracker and phreaker culture to someone who did not really understand what they were doing. Today it is also loosely applied by IRC, BBS, demosceners, and online gaming users to anyone perce ...

did some of the solos. In June 2022, Allen was interviewed on the subject and stated each solo on each song and who played what. Some songs were entirely Slamer, while others were a mix of the three and some entirely Allen. Allen states Hill wasn't particularly helpful with Turner and Allen, stating Hill required them to record "bone dry" o effectswhile allowing Slamer effects such as delay. Allen confirms he did take lessons from Slamer even after the completion of the record.

Track listing

Personnel

;Warrant *

– lead vocals, acoustic guitar *

– rhythm and lead guitar *

– rhythm guitar * Jerry Dixon – bass *

– drums ;Additional personnel *

- guitar solos on some tracks *

- keyboards, backing vocals *

Bekka Bramlett Rebekka Ruth Lazone Bramlett (born April 19, 1968) is an American singer and session background singer. She is the daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, of the music duo Delaney & Bonnie. She has been a member of Mick Fleetwood's band the Z ...

- backing vocals ;Production *Beau Hill - producer, engineer, mixing (5, 7, 10) *Joel Stoner - engineer * John Jansen - mixing (except 5, 7, 10)

Charts

Album Singles

Certifications

Video Album

''Warrant: Live - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich'' is the first Warrant video album released in 1990 on VHS and

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

, featuring the band performing live in concert on the D.R.F.S.R tour in 1989. The video features the album cover character (calling himself "Cashly Guido Bucksley") watching Warrant in concert. The video was certified Platinum.

Track listing

#"So Damn Pretty" #"Ridin' High" #"32 Pennies" #"

" (music video) #"

" #"Cold Sweat" #"D.R.F.S.R." #"

" #"

" (music video)

Certifications

References

External links

Warrant: What could have been ?
{{Authority control Warrant (American band) albums 1989 debut albums 1990 video albums Columbia Records albums Columbia Records video albums Albums produced by Beau Hill Albums with cover art by Mark Ryden