What an intelligent man who makes a lot of sense. I always felt the same that there is a saturation period and then it dulls down. Love TNT. I listen to it a lot.❤
I have no clue if Loudness is still playing (was never a huge fan of them) but I think it’s awesome that both Tony and Michael Sweet can still sing their faces off over 30 years later.
10000 Lovers got a lot of airplay on the hard rock station I listened to in Palm Springs. I didn't buy the album until I heard "Everyone's a Star" on Head Banger's Ball. Tony, your vocals on the first verse are epic!
I agree 100%. Probably the best interview I've seen on this topic. TnT doesn't get much respect. I've had Sirius radio for 6 years and never heard them played.
A shredder like Ronni Le Tekrø, and the heavy sound he has, and the pipes on Tony Harnell, they sort of wasted their ability to take it to another level. I realize at the time metal ballads were big breakouts tunes for bands. But it almost seems to me like TNT were reaching to hard for that one song, instead of just keeping it a buck! They have more ballads on the majority of their LP's then rockers. That's where I feel they went wrong, they fu(ked themselves, and no one else? \m/(>.
I agree big time. He hit everything spot on. Plus the early to mid 90's a lot of bands were breaking up or singers leaving, Rob halford leaving Priest, Dickinson leaving Maiden, Vince Neil leaving Crue, etc. Painkiller in 90 was such and incredible album, Fear of the dark in 92 was amazing as well. Could have been different if all those bands stayed together. I guess we'll never know.
@@216Numbskull I somewhat agree with you except the ballad thing. Scorpions were famous for having a ton of ballads on their albums, also Nickelback same thing, and both bands were and still are successful.
Great interview. It's hard not to love Tony. Clearly an intelligent man, tremendous talent, and somebody who appreciated the music that came in during the change from 80's rock to 90's grunge era. TNT is an incredible band.
I seen TNT open a show in 87-88. Had No clue who they were but my brother and me sat there and just looked at each other like who the F@#k are these guys!! My bro said his vocals were So powerful he was blow-drying my hair!! Anyway after that I was a Huge TNT fan ( bought All the Albums). If you haven't heard My Religion that came out in I think the late 90s Please check it out. To me it's possibly there Best work. Just incredible songs start to finish.
Such a class act. Tony Harnell gives the best answer for the downfall of the late 80’s early 90’s hard rock/metal. Plenty of terrific bands during that era but as he pointed out, they all did begin to sound alike and that over saturation hurt even the big main stream bands.
This was a great interview. Only wish there were more segments coming later. I loved Tony in TNT. Such amazingly insane pipes. Astonishing the high notes he could hit. Wow. Tony was the one singer that I felt gave Steve Perry of Journey a run for his money. I think Tony could hit higher notes than Steve. In fact, Triumph's Rik Emmett had a similar vocal range as Tony did. Although...I think Rik and Tony both could hit some pretty high notes in their heyday. And the band just didn't sound the same without Tony at the microphone anymore when they parted ways.
Nope , mtv killed it , period , they market to the 13 yr old, so they decided grunge was the next marketing cycle , both could have existed. The proof... mtv continued to allow Aerosmith and metallica ,and both bands remained successful thru the grunge era. Metallica was certainly not a hair band , but they were not grunge either
It was very interesting observation of his on "the death of 80's metal". He is right. The market was so saturated with similar sounds. Ironically, grunge had even shorter life span.
The labels have themselves to blame. They signed too many bands that fit the "hair metal" mold. The first single was an up tempo rocker followed by a power ballad. I saw TNT at an outside venue as they toured in support of their breakout album in the USA. Tony had a fantastic voice.
Him hinting at the grunge era is so sad yet cool, I love how he mentions how the people of the genre hated it yet how he loved it purely because he watched the times move forward Infront of him with all new youth with a whole new sound. I also love how he reassures it wasn't grunges or the bands faults but the labels. Its good he confirms its sad the 80s mix of music died for a trend of copy paste grunge singers, but again like he said the big 4 of grunge and the start of 90s was truly amazing with how many other new sounds were appearing. It kind of stopped though and it was sad because 80s music never came back even in the slightest and music just kept getting subjectively worse. But for Heavy Metal in the 90s it instead went to extremely crazy technicality proven bands or heavy groove/death metal bands... or turned into Grunge ofc. In 1991 Kurt Cobain was such a ginormous figure the influence had already took over the music industry, yet all he wanted to do was make some music not end bands careers, crazy how fast stuff moves on, even 1990 it was pushing it for bands like Poison and Ratt to still be as big as they were, guess thats proof it really was Nirvanas doing lol. Either way TNTs monster energy will not be forgotten and will live on through the Kings of the Seven Seas!
Forgot to mention all the crap/rap music they threw at us. So it was hard for young fans to get into all that cool rock/metal music because criminality gangster music started to poison the youth. At least now a days a lot of younger people are getting into all the classic rock!
gangsta rap had little connection to the massive amount of interchangeable, generic hair metal and it's eventual downfall, but what gangsta rap did have in common with hair metal, was it followed the exact path to musical irrelevance with it's failure to evolve, and over saturation of similar sounding, unoriginal artists. Major labels, until the internet explosion, would milk a genre dry, syphoning every last available dollar, many times long after said genre's shelf life had expired. Sure rock, metal, and rap are still here, but not without undergoing growing pains, and suffering through periods of stagnation, and then reemerge with a new vision and creative interpretation. Fans of music, are better off for it.
Buffoonery videos and band killed that scene. The constant "hey we party and bang chicks" songs and videos got old and stupid. I couldn't relate to those bands. I actually like that stuff now but back then it was a joke to watch then jump around, hang all over each other, blonde swimsuit models in every video, etc etc. I listened to Iron Maiden, Metal Church, Slayer,Motorhead, Overkill etc because they were musicians in jeans. Oh well, I like alot of those bands now though I always did like TNT 1st album and Stryper was good and White Lion had a few good ones as well....just my two cents
You mean the 1st album (TNT selftitl) with the Norwegian TNT song writer and singer, Dag Ingebrigtsen, or the 2nd. album, Knights of the New Thunder? TNT sold out after Knights album. What an great song Seven Seas are. You won't find any "hey we party and bang chicks" on that album. 10.000 Lovers on the other hand is pure Hair Metal.
I agree that after "KOTNT" the vibe,sound, & writing changed. Which was the wrong move because the whole band were killer players. A shredder like Ronni Le Tekrø, and the heavy sound he has, and the pipes on Tony Harnell, they sort of wasted their ability to take it to another level. I realize at the time metal ballads were big breakouts tunes for bands. But it almost seems to me like TNT were reaching to hard for that one song, instead of just keeping it a buck! They have more ballads on the majority of their LP's then rockers. That's where I feel they went wrong, they fu(ked themselves, and no one else? \m/(>.
@@216Numbskull Totally 100% correct. I remember waiting for the 2nd album to come out in anticipation it was gonna be heavier but it sucked, they wimped out. They would've had a long career if they went heavier. I don't mind ballads, I love Without Your Love on KOTNT.
I met Tony at a record store called BLEEKER BOBS in New York when knights of the new Thunder had just come out on Vertigo records and was absolutely blown away by his vocal range which he had been flexing with a band called the Jackals at the Rising Sun in Yonkers N.Y. he had the singer that T.N.T. Prior to him had absolutely no range on a song called HARLEY DAVIDSON.
Great interview! Tony's descriptions of the band really took me back to when I was hooked and rocking the vibe. I had stumbled onto Intuition at the perfect time in ny life. Then I got Realized Fantasies when it came out, and went back for more and discovered Tell No Tales. Wow! I knew TNT were different and loved them for it. Sadly, it had to end. Thank you Ronni Le Tekrø, Morty Black, Tony Harnell, and Diesel Dahl. Everyone's A Star! ⭐
When at age 10 I discovered Knights Of The New Thunder I was f***ing blown away by Tony's vocals (which were like nothing else I had heard before) and the cold, gloomy atmosphere of that album. Plus, they sang about vikings and guitar playing was awsome and intriguing to my young ears (Klassisk Romance). Personally, a breakthrough album back in the day.
Definitely one of the best, if not the best vocalist of that era. And TNT were criminally underrated. Tony is spot on as to why ‘80s hard rock/metal went away. I remember everyone was getting signed, and most of those bands were virtually indistinguishable from one another.
Great perspective on things. We were huge (HUGE) fans of TNT (dramatic, darker, European metal), and my wife saw TNT on the Stryper tour. Sharp stuff here...now I gotta look up his solo stuff!
The Westworld debut is still an awesome album. Tony's vocals are stunning on that, great tunes, memorable riffs from Riot's Mark Reale.. What more do you want from a great rock band.
I bought the Knights album without hearing it. I saw the cover and knew it would be awesome. I got in my piece of junk 1971 Ford Maverick, no AC, No power brakes, and put the tape in and was blown away. When “Tell no Tales” came out I lost my mind. That band should’ve been ten times bigger than any crappy 80’s metal band. The songs were awesome and the playing was off the charts.
Just what he talking about why grunge killed hardrock, too many bands, lack of orginallity and so on. I am not hugely into progressive rock/metal, but I think that kind of style is one of the few lately that hava a lot of original bands around. And I feel that a lot of bands like that never followed trends. For example you hear stuff like "Grunge killed hardrock" "Death metal killed Thrash", but you never hear about someone killing progressive rock/metal.
It's like I said all along when the radio suddenly moved on pop metal / radio metal in all of its forms had literally no more promotion but word of mouth and if it wasn't grunge it was going to be some form of alternative rock for sure that completely ate it. Then the alternative became mainstream and needed a second form of alternative music enter alt and a second pivot and complete homogenization of the genres for in my humble opinion remixing and we play everything station formats, Ben, jim, jack, mike, joe, etc. Also now 20 years makes a classic good luck with that. Yes you're right Jimi Hendrix is going to be played next to twenty one pilots because radio doesn't know how to make a musical transition anymore.
dude had the baddest voice in the early 80's with tate n halford.. on that highend stuff. RONNIE james dio had the best of the best all around voice in my opinion. but lets no forget about his killer hair! dudes definitely blessed by God with that voice.👍🤘
Well..interesting to say the least..Tony is no fool...and he really has his finger on the pulse...he nails it in this interview...totally correct on all counts..well done..I agreed with him on every point..A and R guys just jumped on the chance to make a buck.
Not sure what he means that "Realized Fantasies" was done with the wrong producer. The album sounds great - heavy and polished. Unless he's referring to the choice of songs; but even there I think the songs are well written and executed. The album was simply too late in the game - the scene was over.
Tony is right on about the 70s, and if you take it a step further, look at the diversity within each band -- with KISS, for example, you had a band that had songs like God Of Thunder, 100,000 Years, Parasite coexist next to Hard Luck Woman, Great Expectations, Beth, and later on, I Was Made For Loving You ... I don't dislike grunge ( for lack of a better term ) because it supposedly killed off the hair metal, I dislike it because it followed the same rules of image of hair metal but was completely hypocritical in that it was denial of image ... You gotta have your head in the sand to think that Pearl Jam's image wasn't as calculated as Poison's image -- in fact, Poison was more sincere because they never denied it or professed to be anything but what they were - an entertaining band with some great songs ..... the whining and brooding within those grunge bands was intolerable - who wants to look up to or listen to some guy whining over and over that he never got a hug from daddy ?? ...
I was in Los Angeles 87-89 pursuing rock stardom and he is absolutely correct. There were sooooo many bands that all looked and sounded the same and too many were getting these one-two album deals and most of these bands had zero originality. I was in the Judas Priest/Maiden mold and we were on the outs for all the bands looking like Crue and Poison and sounded worse. Everyone was trying to be Faster Pussycat and GnR.🙃
I saw them with the Rods at a club in Scotia, NY called Radio City!! I was sitting at the bar having a few beer and talking to them. All super nice guys!!
I only wish the music executives of today shared the mentality of the geniuses of the 70's. NOT sign a carbon copy of something that's already popular.
Pretty interesting, but I wonder why he left out the fact the band continue to record in the mid to late 90’s. They tried to evolve, they released Transistor in 97’, and on that album they tried to sound like Tool lol. It didn’t work. In my opinion there were room for both classic rock and grunge to sell records, but again the record companies and the media fucked all the bands even their money cow Seattle bands
Overkill, not the band, definitely played a part but the masses are easily lead by the latest trend. Grunge was ok but I didn’t dig it for the most part and it definitely was a big factor in the downfall of party rock.
Greatest voice in hard rock and metal. I've always agreed with his assessment. There were WAY too many Poisons in the late 80s/early 90s, and it's a shame, because some absolutely killer bands were lost in the shuffle and never got their due. And with the death of 80s metal, most people forgot about TNT and missed some phenomenal albums. I still listen to Firefly and Transistor consistently.
He's completely right hair bands were a reaction to the skinny tye bands you could become like Duran Duran or motley n I was a rocker but it got silly after awhile.. you don't wake up n go okay guitar player your gonna have this length of hair n you drummer have it this long..it was a reaction to the times.. that's it he's right over saturation
so much love for Tony here - thanks for the support!!!! Dont for get to hit the subscribe button. We have some really awesome new interviews on the way.
TNT's self titled album, along with Pretty Maids/Future World, TT Quick's/Metal of Honor, and Love Hate's/Blackout in the Red Room, were all under appreciated mid to late 80's gems.
FINALLY the blame lands where it should..it aint Nirvanas fault, but the record companies who signed so many bands on their looks and flooded the market. And musical style will only last so long in the mainstream publics eye. Of course 80's metal had a time limit (like disco, nu metal, etc..etc..). And the record companies didn't help it any be forcing sounds, instead of like what Tony mentioned in the 70's letting bands be themselves mostly. How many of us have bosses that think they can do our jobs better than we can... great interview and damn Tell No Tales was on my turntable a ton and still is. The good thing is no one forces us to listen to anything..we can still support all these artist as much as we want even though there is no more MTV and airplay.
Very big thank-you for the sincere intervie!! For big light historical-legendary dialog!! Rock n roll dear!!! Health Health and Security!! Not surrender!!! In life in sport in music!!! I`like TNT very very too!! Hey?..In Norway?..Hello everybody!! I`love you everybody in Ameeruca too!! Not surrender!! I`very memory and very like Yours Everybody!!! Rock n roll!! Not surrender not one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The labels and MTV killed hair metal back in the day. Nirvana did not have the skill and talent TNT had but labels were looking to sell something new and open up a new market. I would love to see Starbreaker Dysphoria on vinyl. Really good stuff!
Wow, what a great answer! I think that's an extremely well thought out synopsis of the situation. In the 60's, 70's, early 80's, record companies were looking for strong original artists and would sign them with the idea of "developing" them over the course of several albums / tours (for a great example of how this worked, see the excellent Netflix documentary on Clive Davis). From the mid-late 80's it seemed like they started to take a quite different, much more risk-averse (and lazier) route: look at what's already selling and just copy it. The persistent application of that "race to the bottom" process over several decades has resulted in much of what passes for popular music today: an extremely cheaply produced rhythmically, harmonically and melodically uninteresting "product" that has no long-term cultural value at all.
Smart as hell dude and brought up so many good points. Dead on about the 70's.
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13 minutes of Tony is just not enough 😉
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What an intelligent man who makes a lot of sense. I always felt the same that there is a saturation period and then it dulls down. Love TNT. I listen to it a lot.❤
TNT is such a great band. Saw them open for Loudness and Stryper at the Felt Forum in NYC.
Omg what a great lineup. I would have loved to have seen that.
I saw that one too, at Red Rocks! That was a good show! 🤘
@@scottperrin9655 No doubt! I agree killer lineup, IDK how I missed that show?
I have no clue if Loudness is still playing (was never a huge fan of them) but I think it’s awesome that both Tony and Michael Sweet can still sing their faces off over 30 years later.
that was the best concert ever I remember like it was yesterday
10000 Lovers got a lot of airplay on the hard rock station I listened to in Palm Springs. I didn't buy the album until I heard "Everyone's a Star" on Head Banger's Ball. Tony, your vocals on the first verse are epic!
The best voice of this era. And he’s still got it
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I think so too. Tony deserves a best vocalist award !
Wow,...he really NAILED the explanation PERFECTLY. That's the best summary I have ever heard about this topic
Great interview with Tony Harnell.
Tony is such a talent, and here we see he's also knowledgeable on the scene and it's history. Told it like it was, and is. He is the real deal.
Tony's explanation of the downfall of 80's Hard Rock was incredible I don't think I've ever heard an artist from that era put it any better
I agree 100%. Probably the best interview I've seen on this topic. TnT doesn't get much respect. I've had Sirius radio for 6 years and never heard them played.
A shredder like Ronni Le Tekrø, and the heavy sound he has, and the pipes on Tony Harnell, they sort of wasted their ability to take it to another level. I realize at the time metal ballads were big breakouts tunes for bands. But it almost seems to me like TNT were reaching to hard for that one song, instead of just keeping it a buck! They have more ballads on the majority of their LP's then rockers. That's where I feel they went wrong, they fu(ked themselves, and no one else? \m/(>.
I agree big time. He hit everything spot on. Plus the early to mid 90's a lot of bands were breaking up or singers leaving, Rob halford leaving Priest, Dickinson leaving Maiden, Vince Neil leaving Crue, etc. Painkiller in 90 was such and incredible album, Fear of the dark in 92 was amazing as well. Could have been different if all those bands stayed together. I guess we'll never know.
@@216Numbskull I somewhat agree with you except the ballad thing. Scorpions were famous for having a ton of ballads on their albums, also Nickelback same thing, and both bands were and still are successful.
I agree 100%
Great interview. It's hard not to love Tony. Clearly an intelligent man, tremendous talent, and somebody who appreciated the music that came in during the change from 80's rock to 90's grunge era. TNT is an incredible band.
One of my all time favorites. I have every album/band he's sang for. And even his solo stuff.
Most awesome vocalist !! Hands down!
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why hasn't oversaturation killed Rap and Hip Hop?
Great point!
because the majority of the people who listens to that shit can't think for themselves.
Been in a slow decline last couple years. Where you been? Lol
because it's all the same.....hair rock is nothing like grunge....it was a total change.
I barely listen to rap and I don't think I really listen to hip Hop but that scene has really changed.
I seen TNT open a show in 87-88. Had No clue who they were but my brother and me sat there and just looked at each other like who the F@#k are these guys!! My bro said his vocals were So powerful he was blow-drying my hair!! Anyway after that I was a Huge TNT fan ( bought All the Albums). If you haven't heard My Religion that came out in I think the late 90s Please check it out. To me it's possibly there Best work. Just incredible songs start to finish.
My Religion is from 2004 and recently became available on Spotify again!
Great job. Man he had some great perspectives on things. One of the best hard rock voices of that era.
10,000 Lovers in one!!
Realized Fantasies is my favourite TNT album. You make Norway proud 🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻
If I were a Label Executive, I would hire Tony Harnell...
Such a class act. Tony Harnell gives the best answer for the downfall of the late 80’s early 90’s hard rock/metal. Plenty of terrific bands during that era but as he pointed out, they all did begin to sound alike and that over saturation hurt even the big main stream bands.
This was a great interview.
Only wish there were more segments coming later.
I loved Tony in TNT.
Such amazingly insane pipes.
Astonishing the high notes he could hit.
Wow.
Tony was the one singer that I felt gave Steve Perry of Journey a run for his money.
I think Tony could hit higher notes than Steve.
In fact, Triumph's Rik Emmett had a similar vocal range as Tony did.
Although...I think Rik and Tony both could hit some pretty high notes in their heyday.
And the band just didn't sound the same without Tony at the microphone anymore when they parted ways.
Incredible Musician/Vocalist and a Stellar inspiration
What a great singer Tony is, I support him 100% and wish him the best. TNT fan since the 80's.
Nope , mtv killed it , period , they market to the 13 yr old, so they decided grunge was the next marketing cycle , both could have existed. The proof... mtv continued to allow Aerosmith and metallica ,and both bands remained successful thru the grunge era. Metallica was certainly not a hair band , but they were not grunge either
It was very interesting observation of his on "the death of 80's metal". He is right. The market was so saturated with similar sounds. Ironically, grunge had even shorter life span.
I love Tony, always thought he was the best vocalist during the early TNT years. The power and range of his voice is remarkable.
The labels have themselves to blame. They signed too many bands that fit the "hair metal" mold. The first single was an up tempo rocker followed by a power ballad. I saw TNT at an outside venue as they toured in support of their breakout album in the USA. Tony had a fantastic voice.
Him hinting at the grunge era is so sad yet cool, I love how he mentions how the people of the genre hated it yet how he loved it purely because he watched the times move forward Infront of him with all new youth with a whole new sound. I also love how he reassures it wasn't grunges or the bands faults but the labels. Its good he confirms its sad the 80s mix of music died for a trend of copy paste grunge singers, but again like he said the big 4 of grunge and the start of 90s was truly amazing with how many other new sounds were appearing. It kind of stopped though and it was sad because 80s music never came back even in the slightest and music just kept getting subjectively worse. But for Heavy Metal in the 90s it instead went to extremely crazy technicality proven bands or heavy groove/death metal bands... or turned into Grunge ofc. In 1991 Kurt Cobain was such a ginormous figure the influence had already took over the music industry, yet all he wanted to do was make some music not end bands careers, crazy how fast stuff moves on, even 1990 it was pushing it for bands like Poison and Ratt to still be as big as they were, guess thats proof it really was Nirvanas doing lol. Either way TNTs monster energy will not be forgotten and will live on through the Kings of the Seven Seas!
Forgot to mention all the crap/rap music they threw at us. So it was hard for young fans to get into all that cool rock/metal music because criminality gangster music started to poison the youth. At least now a days a lot of younger people are getting into all the classic rock!
gangsta rap had little connection to the massive amount of interchangeable, generic hair metal and it's eventual downfall, but what gangsta rap did have in common with hair metal, was it followed the exact path to musical irrelevance with it's failure to evolve, and over saturation of similar sounding, unoriginal artists. Major labels, until the internet explosion, would milk a genre dry, syphoning every last available dollar, many times long after said genre's shelf life had expired. Sure rock, metal, and rap are still here, but not without undergoing growing pains, and suffering through periods of stagnation, and then reemerge with a new vision and creative interpretation. Fans of music, are better off for it.
Buffoonery videos and band killed that scene. The constant "hey we party and bang chicks" songs and videos got old and stupid. I couldn't relate to those bands. I actually like that stuff now but back then it was a joke to watch then jump around, hang all over each other, blonde swimsuit models in every video, etc etc. I listened to Iron Maiden, Metal Church, Slayer,Motorhead, Overkill etc because they were musicians in jeans. Oh well, I like alot of those bands now though I always did like TNT 1st album and Stryper was good and White Lion had a few good ones as well....just my two cents
You mean the 1st album (TNT selftitl) with the Norwegian TNT song writer and singer, Dag Ingebrigtsen, or the 2nd. album, Knights of the New Thunder?
TNT sold out after Knights album. What an great song Seven Seas are. You won't find any "hey we party and bang chicks" on that album. 10.000 Lovers on the other hand is pure Hair Metal.
@@rabarebra I'm American so I mean the TNT Knights of the New Thunder. I don't like the albums after that
I agree that after "KOTNT" the vibe,sound, & writing changed. Which was the wrong move because the whole band were killer players. A shredder like Ronni Le Tekrø, and the heavy sound he has, and the pipes on Tony Harnell, they sort of wasted their ability to take it to another level. I realize at the time metal ballads were big breakouts tunes for bands. But it almost seems to me like TNT were reaching to hard for that one song, instead of just keeping it a buck! They have more ballads on the majority of their LP's then rockers. That's where I feel they went wrong, they fu(ked themselves, and no one else? \m/(>.
@@216Numbskull Totally 100% correct. I remember waiting for the 2nd album to come out in anticipation it was gonna be heavier but it sucked, they wimped out. They would've had a long career if they went heavier. I don't mind ballads, I love Without Your Love on KOTNT.
@ Correct
Great video! His perspective and sincerity are admirable.
The 70s were a very eclectic decade. One hit wonders. #1 hits from all types of genres. Big bands and great, great music.
I met Tony at a record store called BLEEKER BOBS in New York when knights of the new Thunder had just come out on Vertigo records and was absolutely blown away by his vocal range which he had been flexing with a band called the Jackals at the Rising Sun in Yonkers N.Y. he had the singer that T.N.T. Prior to him had absolutely no range on a song called HARLEY DAVIDSON.
Spot on about the end of hair metal/80's bands. Too many bands etc. Glad he could appreciate bands like AIC, Soundgarden & STP!
Great interview! Tony's descriptions of the band really took me back to when I was hooked and rocking the vibe. I had stumbled onto Intuition at the perfect time in ny life. Then I got Realized Fantasies when it came out, and went back for more and discovered Tell No Tales. Wow! I knew TNT were different and loved them for it. Sadly, it had to end. Thank you Ronni Le Tekrø, Morty Black, Tony Harnell, and Diesel Dahl.
Everyone's A Star! ⭐
Tony always had the biggest baddest thick 80s hair
When at age 10 I discovered Knights Of The New Thunder I was f***ing blown away by Tony's vocals (which were like nothing else I had heard before) and the cold, gloomy atmosphere of that album. Plus, they sang about vikings and guitar playing was awsome and intriguing to my young ears (Klassisk Romance). Personally, a breakthrough album back in the day.
Harnell nails it. Hard rock killed itself however it did come back just not as much in the public eye!
Hard rock didn't kill itself, the fk-heads that run the industry are to blame.
Listen to the other interveiws, some of the guys comment about it.
Tony knows what's up- his timeline for the arrival and saturation of cheez whiz bands is spot on.
Definitely one of the best, if not the best vocalist of that era. And TNT were criminally underrated. Tony is spot on as to why ‘80s hard rock/metal went away. I remember everyone was getting signed, and most of those bands were virtually indistinguishable from one another.
Great perspective on things. We were huge (HUGE) fans of TNT (dramatic, darker, European metal), and my wife saw TNT on the Stryper tour. Sharp stuff here...now I gotta look up his solo stuff!
The Westworld debut is still an awesome album. Tony's vocals are stunning on that, great tunes, memorable riffs from Riot's Mark Reale.. What more do you want from a great rock band.
What is Westworld I never heard of that? Is that a band with Mark Reale!?!?
Check out Starbreaker, it’s a recent release and Tony’s vocals are top notch!
@@foamrob6577 ruclips.net/video/4w4AZS7RWgU/видео.html
@@foamrob6577 ruclips.net/video/1dU6qe4se7M/видео.html
@@foamrob6577 yes and Bruno Ravel and John O'Reily who's now with trans siberian orchestra. Great band
I bought the Knights album without hearing it. I saw the cover and knew it would be awesome. I got in my piece of junk 1971 Ford Maverick, no AC, No power brakes, and put the tape in and was blown away. When “Tell no Tales” came out I lost my mind. That band should’ve been ten times bigger than any crappy 80’s metal band. The songs were awesome and the playing was off the charts.
Your absolutely right and spot on !!
Tnt made some great albums and Tony Harnell made a great couple with master guitarplayer Ronni Le Tekro.
Just what he talking about why grunge killed hardrock, too many bands, lack of orginallity and so on. I am not hugely into progressive rock/metal, but I think that kind of style is one of the few lately that hava a lot of original bands around. And I feel that a lot of bands like that never followed trends. For example you hear stuff like "Grunge killed hardrock" "Death metal killed Thrash", but you never hear about someone killing progressive rock/metal.
It's like I said all along when the radio suddenly moved on pop metal / radio metal in all of its forms had literally no more promotion but word of mouth and if it wasn't grunge it was going to be some form of alternative rock for sure that completely ate it. Then the alternative became mainstream and needed a second form of alternative music enter alt and a second pivot and complete homogenization of the genres for in my humble opinion remixing and we play everything station formats, Ben, jim, jack, mike, joe, etc. Also now 20 years makes a classic good luck with that. Yes you're right Jimi Hendrix is going to be played next to twenty one pilots because radio doesn't know how to make a musical transition anymore.
I couldn't name you one TNT song. But I like this guy .
Love Tony“ The Voice” he can still sing anything
dude had the baddest voice in the early 80's with tate n halford.. on that highend stuff. RONNIE james dio had the best of the best all around voice in my opinion. but lets no forget about his killer hair! dudes definitely blessed by God with that voice.👍🤘
Well..interesting to say the least..Tony is no fool...and he really has his finger on the pulse...he nails it in this interview...totally correct on all counts..well done..I agreed with him on every point..A and R guys just jumped on the chance to make a buck.
Not sure what he means that "Realized Fantasies" was done with the wrong producer. The album sounds great - heavy and polished. Unless he's referring to the choice of songs; but even there I think the songs are well written and executed. The album was simply too late in the game - the scene was over.
Tony is right on about the 70s, and if you take it a step further, look at the diversity within each band -- with KISS, for example, you had a band that had songs like God Of Thunder, 100,000 Years, Parasite coexist next to Hard Luck Woman, Great Expectations, Beth, and later on, I Was Made For Loving You ...
I don't dislike grunge ( for lack of a better term ) because it supposedly killed off the hair metal, I dislike it because it followed the same rules of image of hair metal but was completely hypocritical in that it was denial of image ... You gotta have your head in the sand to think that Pearl Jam's image wasn't as calculated as Poison's image -- in fact, Poison was more sincere because they never denied it or professed to be anything but what they were - an entertaining band with some great songs ..... the whining and brooding within those grunge bands was intolerable - who wants to look up to or listen to some guy whining over and over that he never got a hug from daddy ?? ...
Am i the only one who is seeing yellow lines behind tony or is it there really some yellow line background?
I was in Los Angeles 87-89 pursuing rock stardom and he is absolutely correct. There were sooooo many bands that all looked and sounded the same and too many were getting these one-two album deals and most of these bands had zero originality. I was in the Judas Priest/Maiden mold and we were on the outs for all the bands looking like Crue and Poison and sounded worse. Everyone was trying to be Faster Pussycat and GnR.🙃
Just imagine if you couldn't sing and had to rely on your skateboarding............Who's Tony Hawk?
It seems like Childs Play
I saw them with the Rods at a club in Scotia, NY called Radio City!! I was sitting at the bar having a few beer and talking to them. All super nice guys!!
I only wish the music executives of today shared the mentality of the geniuses of the 70's. NOT sign a carbon copy of something that's already popular.
Pretty interesting, but I wonder why he left out the fact the band continue to record in the mid to late 90’s. They tried to evolve, they released Transistor in 97’, and on that album they tried to sound like Tool lol. It didn’t work.
In my opinion there were room for both classic rock and grunge to sell records, but again the record companies and the media fucked all the bands even their money cow Seattle bands
Nice interview. But what's the deal with the awful song in the end?? Absolutely nothing to do with it. So out of context.
Overkill, not the band, definitely played a part but the masses are easily lead by the latest trend. Grunge was ok but I didn’t dig it for the most part and it definitely was a big factor in the downfall of party rock.
Excellent interview.
Greatest voice in hard rock and metal. I've always agreed with his assessment. There were WAY too many Poisons in the late 80s/early 90s, and it's a shame, because some absolutely killer bands were lost in the shuffle and never got their due. And with the death of 80s metal, most people forgot about TNT and missed some phenomenal albums. I still listen to Firefly and Transistor consistently.
Tony!!!!....you are a great...wonderful singer!!!.... but you're Crazy!!!!!....why you in....out....in....out....in....out of TNT???...why?...
He's completely right hair bands were a reaction to the skinny tye bands you could become like Duran Duran or motley n I was a rocker but it got silly after awhile.. you don't wake up n go okay guitar player your gonna have this length of hair n you drummer have it this long..it was a reaction to the times.. that's it he's right over saturation
Tony is a great guy. I still love TNT and I still listen to the albums.
His vocals are amazing. How can anybody sing like that?
Tony. Really well spoken. Respect sir. Your albums rule!
Thanks for explaining what happened i was saying that since 85
Hi Good morning. Good to see you I had a stroke. 1 yr I have trouble speaking , but i can understand you. Thankyou, goodbye.
One thing, it's kurt cobain... TNT rock and I love them...
Nirvana poisoned hair metal music, grunge music sucked, people needed anti depressants listening to that crap
That was some clever editing! I think it was only one camera but it never felt boring.
love this guy , my favorite new jersey singer over bruce and bon jovi!!!!
Man....im loving these interviews
Van Halen killed it
I just found this channel, and I am glad I did. These are nice precise interviews. Thanks. Subscribed. 🤘
Thank you Major Air. We always appreciate a connoisseur of fine work.
@@80smetalrecyclebin 👍
TNT, Tony H. era is the some of the best hard rock/ metal ever recorded.
I'll give a shout out to Van Halen Edward Van Halen one of the greatest guitarists of all time
great interview :)
You could make this argument for the metal core bands of the 2000s
so much love for Tony here - thanks for the support!!!! Dont for get to hit the subscribe button. We have some really awesome new interviews on the way.
Best explanation ever! From one of the coolest voices of his time
Huge fan from the start…thankyou for being awesome!
Bought this album based on the cover alone….. great album!
TNT's self titled album, along with Pretty Maids/Future World, TT Quick's/Metal of Honor, and Love Hate's/Blackout in the Red Room, were all under appreciated mid to late 80's gems.
The Love/Hate album is amazing.
Release the DVD with Tony singing for Skid Row
I don’t think that will happen, Skid Row wasn’t a good fit for Tony. I wish could sing on my new album, I need his voice dammit!
The day grunge came out was a sad time for hard rock and rock music
one of my most favorite singers. I love TNT
TNT Yngwie vs world of the dumb-down.
So true, great stuff, thanks for these interviews.
FINALLY the blame lands where it should..it aint Nirvanas fault, but the record companies who signed so many bands on their looks and flooded the market. And musical style will only last so long in the mainstream publics eye. Of course 80's metal had a time limit (like disco, nu metal, etc..etc..). And the record companies didn't help it any be forcing sounds, instead of like what Tony mentioned in the 70's letting bands be themselves mostly. How many of us have bosses that think they can do our jobs better than we can... great interview and damn Tell No Tales was on my turntable a ton and still is. The good thing is no one forces us to listen to anything..we can still support all these artist as much as we want even though there is no more MTV and airplay.
great voice - just don't look
Very big thank-you for the sincere intervie!! For big light historical-legendary dialog!! Rock n roll dear!!! Health Health and Security!! Not surrender!!! In life in sport in music!!! I`like TNT very very too!! Hey?..In Norway?..Hello everybody!! I`love you everybody in Ameeruca too!! Not surrender!! I`very memory and very like Yours Everybody!!! Rock n roll!! Not surrender not one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The labels and MTV killed hair metal back in the day. Nirvana did not have the skill and talent TNT had but labels were looking to sell something new and open up a new market.
I would love to see Starbreaker Dysphoria on vinyl. Really good stuff!
Chuck Barris was the singer of TnT?
87 the platinum year for hard rock
Wow, what a great answer! I think that's an extremely well thought out synopsis of the situation. In the 60's, 70's, early 80's, record companies were looking for strong original artists and would sign them with the idea of "developing" them over the course of several albums / tours (for a great example of how this worked, see the excellent Netflix documentary on Clive Davis). From the mid-late 80's it seemed like they started to take a quite different, much more risk-averse (and lazier) route: look at what's already selling and just copy it.
The persistent application of that "race to the bottom" process over several decades has resulted in much of what passes for popular music today: an extremely cheaply produced rhythmically, harmonically and melodically uninteresting "product" that has no long-term cultural value at all.
Smart and spot on with his analysis
This was cool, thank you 👍👍🤘
SO SHWEEEETTT...much love Tee with LIONS NAMED LEO.[the music worldwide}
and SO cool..!!!
For me my favorite Tony Harnell album is not even a TNT album. The very first Westworld album he did with Mark Reale of Riot is AMAZING