''Mean'' is the fifth and final album by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band Montrose, released in 1987. It has much more of a

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal music, heavy metal that features pop music, pop-influenced Hook (music), hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat arena rock, rock anthems, and slow Sentimental ballad#Powe ...

sound than previous Montrose albums. It was the lowest-charting release on Montrose's career, reaching No. 165 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

200 Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 200 for this y ...

in June 1987. According to Ronnie Montrose, singer Johnny Edwards and drummer

James Kottak James Kottak (December 26, 1962 – January 9, 2024) was an American drummer, best known for his work with the German hard rock band Scorpions, which he joined in 1996. At the time of his firing from the band in 2016, he was their longest-serv ...

were still officially in the band

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault that was adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904. The characters of Buster Brown, Mary Jane, and his dog Tige became well known to the American publ ...

at the time of the recording of ''Mean''. They later played together in the first line-up of the band

Wild Horses The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'', sometimes tr ...

. Guitarist

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American musician and guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morri ...

and bassist

Glenn Letsch Glenn Letsch (born June 23, 1949) is an American bass guitarist. He was in a Los Angeles band with Mitchell Froom called "Bullet Park" . After Ronnie Montrose produced their demo, he asked Letsch to join his band Gamma, where Letsch became friends ...

played together in the band

Gamma Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

both before, and after, this album. The song "M for Machine" was written for the film ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Dani ...

'' but not used in it. Drummer James Kottak went on to join the original line-up of

band

Kingdom Come Kingdom Come may refer to: * "Kingdom come", a phrase in the Lord's Prayer in the Bible Film * ''Kingdom Come'' (1919 film), a Western short featuring Hoot Gibson * ''Kingdom Come'' (2001 film), a comedy starring LL Cool J * ''Kingdom Come'', ...

, remaining with that band during their most commercially successful period, prior to reconnecting with Edwards in

. He would later rejoin renown

band

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

in 1996, remaining with the group until his eventual firing in 2016, reportedly due to his struggle with alcoholism. After leaving Wild Horses, Edwards became the frontman for Foreigner on their

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

album, ''

Unusual Heat ''Unusual Heat'' is the seventh studio album by British-American rock band Foreigner, released in June 1991, by Atlantic Records. Recorded at several different studios across the state of New York and England, and produced by Terry Thomas and ...

''.

Track listing

# "Don't Damage the Rock" (

) – 5:06 # "Game of Love" (

Clint Ballard Jr. Clinton Conger Ballard Jr. (May 24, 1931 – December 23, 2008) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. He wrote two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number one hits. The first was " Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders in 1965. T ...

Wayne Fontana Glyn Geoffrey Ellis (28 October 19456 August 2020),

and

The Mindbenders The Mindbenders were an English beat group from Manchester. Originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana, they were one of several acts that were successful in the mid-1960s British Invasion of the US charts, achieving major chart hits wi ...

cover) – 2:57 # "Pass It On" (Montrose, Johnny Edwards,

) – 3:37 # "Hard Headed Woman" (Montrose) – 3:50 # "M for Machine" (Montrose) – 3:59 # "Ready, Willing, and Able" (Montrose) – 4:19 # "Man of the Hour" (Montrose) – 4:23 # "Flesh and Blood" (Montrose, Edwards, Kottak) – 4:36 # "Stand" (Montrose) – 4:46

Personnel

* Johnny Edwards – vocals *

– guitars, producer *

– bass guitar *

– drums ;Production * Roger Wiersema – engineer * John Francombe – additional engineering * Eddy Schreyer – mastering at

Capitol Studios Capitol Studios is a recording studio located at the landmark Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, California, United States. The studios, which opened in 1956, were initially the primary recording studios for the American record label Capi ...

Marc Bonilla Marc Henry Bonilla (born July 3, 1955) is an American guitarist who has worked as a sideman to artists such as Keith Emerson, Ronnie Montrose, Glenn Hughes, Edgar Winter, David Coverdale, and Asia. Career Early years and film work ...

– cover design

Charts

References

Other sources

* Montrose; "Mean" liner notes; Enigma Records 1987 {{Authority control Montrose (band) albums 1987 albums Enigma Records albums