Vain

An American glam-metal outfit fronted by vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:71zNia66y1Y1vnVcCPwIDY">Davy Vain</a>, Vain were founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area around the talents of <a href="spotify:artist:71zNia66y1Y1vnVcCPwIDY">Davy Vain</a>, James Scott (lead guitar), Danny West (rhythm guitar), Ashley Mitchell (bass), and Tom Rickard (drums). A driving and melody-driven metal/hard rock unit in the vein of West Coast contemporaries like <a href="spotify:artist:3qm84nBOXUEQ2vnTfUTTFC">Guns N' Roses</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1FwGBBwUviGVIeDIByO7u7">Faster Pussycat</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0cc6vw3VN8YlIcvr1v7tBL">Mötley Crüe</a>, the band's early demos eventually found their way to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Island+Records%22">Island Records</a>, which released the band's 1988 debut, No Respect. Like many pop-metal outfits wrestling to be heard above the clamor of the burgeoning Seattle grunge movement, Vain struggled in the early '90s, and were dropped by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Island%22">Island</a> before they could release their already recorded sophomore long-player. After departing the band in 1991, West and Rickard were replaced by Shawn Rorie and ex-<a href="spotify:artist:3qm84nBOXUEQ2vnTfUTTFC">Guns N' Roses</a> drummer <a href="spotify:artist:1bqTpELuDurfcMOGKvJXzl">Steven Adler</a>. The group briefly changed its name to Road Crew, but reverted back to Vain in 1993. A bevy of lineup changes cast a shadow over the band's next two studio albums, 1994's Move on It and 1995's Fade, both of which were released via <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Polystar%22">Polystar</a>, and in 2000 <a href="spotify:artist:71zNia66y1Y1vnVcCPwIDY">Davy Vain</a> released a solo LP, In from Out of Nowhere. Vain reconvened in 2005 and released their long-awaited fourth long-player, On the Line, and in 2009 they acquired the rights to All Those Strangers, their 1991 follow-up to No Respect, and released it themselves. Enough Rope dropped in 2011, and in 2017 Vain, operating with a lineup that included <a href="spotify:artist:71zNia66y1Y1vnVcCPwIDY">Davy Vain</a>, Scott (guitar), West (guitar), Mitchell (bass), and Louie Senor (drums), released their seventh full-length outing, Rolling with the Punches. Disintegrate Together appeared in 2024. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi