Slave to the Grind is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Skid Row, released on June 11, 1991, but the album also includes power ballads and a few lighter tracks. Some sources still classified the album as glam metal, despite its heavier sound. The lyrics were more complex, criticizing modern ways of life, authority, politics, drugs, and organized religion, among other topics. Wagener said the demoing and pre-production went well, and the title track was recorded and mixed in an hour, and was placed on the album without being remixed.
During a February 2017 interview for the Backspin segment of Yahoo! Music, vocalist Sebastian Bach revealed that the version of the title track included in the finished album is actually the original demo the band recorded during pre-production with producer Michael Wagener. The band recorded a proper version during the album sessions, but were unable to match the intensity of the demo, and therefore opted to use the former instead.
Cover art
Sebastian Bach's father, David Bierk, painted the cover art, which is actually a long mural, continued inside the album's booklet. Although it is set in the medieval era, it depicts people using modern technological gadgets. The cover was inspired by Caravaggio's Burial of St. Lucy from 1608 and shows John F. Kennedy in the crowd.
Release and promotion
When recording finished, Skid Row opened for Guns N' Roses on the 1991 North American leg of their Use Your Illusion Tour. Two different versions of the album were released: the original and a "clean" version, in which "Get the Fuck Out" is replaced with the less-offensive "Beggar's Day". Music videos were produced for all five singles: "Monkey Business", "Slave to the Grind", "Wasted Time", "In a Darkened Room" and "Quicksand Jesus", all of which feature on the video album No Frills Video. Skid Row's label Atlantic Records was not supportive of the group's transformation when filming the video for the title track. The label wanted a bikini model to star in the video, but the idea was turned down by the band because the song was not about female sexuality.
| rev2 = Chicago Tribune
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| rev3 = Christgau's Consumer Guide
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| rev4 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal
| rev4Score = 9/10
| rev5 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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| rev6 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev6score = A−
| rev7 = Kerrang!
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| rev8 = NME
| rev8score = 1/10
| rev9 = Rolling Stone
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Slave to the Grind received generally positive reviews by music critics. Spins Daina Darzin said the album had integrity and passion, and reminded her of early Mötley Crüe and Judas Priest. Martin Popoff called the album "a surprising and welcome jolt to the system", with Skid Row "proving their mettle, their self-worth, their guts" on songs taking the listener "to dark unsettling places where reflection collides with worry." The album was the first to debut atop the Billboard 200 in the Nielsen SoundScan era, since it was uncommon for albums to open at number one before SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Previously, the only albums to debut at number one had been Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy in 1975 and Michael Jackson's Bad in 1987.
Track listing
<small>† Album liner notes incorrectly list the length as 4:57.</small>
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Skid Row
- Sebastian Bach – lead vocals
- Dave Sabo – guitars, backing vocals
- Scotti Hill – guitars, backing vocals
- Rachel Bolan – bass, backing vocals
- Rob Affuso – drums, percussion
Production
- Michael Wagener – producer, mixing
- Riley J. Connell – assistant engineer
- Craig Doubet – assistant engineer
- George Marino – mastering
- Bob Defrin – art direction
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1991)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
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! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)
| align="center"| 3
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! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| 3
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! scope="col"| Chart (2020)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
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! scope="col"| Chart (2023)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1991)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 92
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 54
|}