Album of the Day

If you're inclined to dismiss Faster Pussycat with the tag "hair metal," give a listen to WAKE ME WHEN IT'S OVER first. The L.A. quintet's second album, the 1989 collection dials back the glam for a bluesier guitar attack, giving these dozen originals a gritty, streetwise foundation. While crowd-pleasers like "Poison Ivy" show the group can dish out pop-metal anthems with the best of them, songs like "House Of Pain" hit like a punch to the gut – this was a band living the life rather than just posing for pictures of it. With frontman Taime Downe in fine voice and the band roaring behind him, WAKE ME WHEN IT'S OVER is one of the 1980s most underrated hard rock albums.