When the LILLIAN AXE album “Poetic Justice” came out in 1992, it was the first on I.R.S. Records after MCA had dropped the band. It was 1992 after all, and anything related to the 80’s was being purged to make room for more Grunge and Alternative. Back then, talent meant nothing (still doesn’t actually) and the labels needed to push out one scene to make room for another.
The problem was that “Poetic Justice” and LILLIAN AXE were really good and had showed signs of moving the 80’s sound forward with more introspective songs. They were already “different” than their peers as guitarist Steve Blaze was more progressive and had a neoclassical style. He most likely listened to YES as much as he did KISS. Vocalist Ron Taylor was one of the better singers of the era too and the two’s harmonizing was just beyond belief. But, that wasn’t the direction the industry wanted to go.
Despite everything against them, “True Believer” got some airplay around the country and the band even did one more called “Psychoschizophrenia” that advanced their sound even more. “True Believer” didn’t even have an official video (that I could find) so there’s wasn’t a lot of juice behind the band at that time.
The song didn’t tear up the charts but it showed that the band was taken more seriously than their peers and if properly promoted and if their hadn’t been a concerted effort to kill off the 80s’, who knows what could have been. Thankfully Steve Blaze has kept the band together in one form or another, and they actually have become the Prog Metal band that I always thought Steve would be best at.
You can hear that song and watch the video here.
LILLIAN AXE ONLINE
