''Psycho Café'' is the first full-length album from the band

Bang Tango Bang Tango is an American hard rock band. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and was signed to MCA Records the same year. History Formation (1988) Initially the band was founded by guitarist Mark Knight and bassist Kyle Kyle in 19 ...

. It was released in 1989.

Critical 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 ...

wrote that "this excellent album demonstrates that not all bands that were part of L.A. glam metal in the late '80s/early '90s played mindless fluff." ''

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Know ...

'' called ''Psycho Cafe'' "a refreshingly honest, but slightly offbeat, hard rock album."

Legacy

''Psycho Café'' peaked at number 58 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart in 1989. The music video for "Someone Like You" was a staple of early 1990s

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 was reissued reissued on CD by Rock Candy Records in September 2022.

Accolades

"Someone Like You" was featured at number 9 in ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

s "The 10 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the Hair Metal Era" list. ''Psycho Café'' landed at number 37 on ''Rolling Stones ''50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time'' list. Bang Tango came in at number 36 on VH1's Hair Metal 100 Countdown list, which cited ''Psycho Café'' as "taking hair metal in a direction that, in large part, led to the genre's undoing." It also stated that had the album come out a year later, it would have been more lumped in with the alternative metal at the time.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Joe Leste, Tigg Ketler, Mark Knight, Kyle Kyle and Kyle Stevens # "Attack of Life" – 4:18 # "Someone like You" – 4:20 # "Wrap My Wings" – 4:44 # "Breaking up a Heart of Stone" – 4:55 # "Shotgun Man" – 3:20 # "Don't Stop Now" – 3:26 # "Love Injection" – 4:31 # "Just for You" – 4:06 # "Do What You're Told" – 3:21 # "Sweet Little Razor" – 4:20

Personnel

Bang Tango

* Joe Lesté –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Mark Knight –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Kyle Stevens –

* Kyle Kyle –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Tigg Ketler –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Production

Howard Benson Howard Benson is an American music producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was nominated for the Producer of the Year Grammy Award in 2007 and 2008. Early life and education Benson was born and raised in a middle-class family in greater Philadel ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

References

Bang Tango albums 1989 debut albums {{1980s-metal-album-stub