Although Finland is now quite rightly recognized as a highly influential and fertile source of rock and metal artists, that wasn’t the case when singer Michael Monroe met guitarist and songwriter Andy McCoy in 1979. Hanoi Rocks formed in Helsinki, and with a line-up completed by Nasty Suicide on guitar, Sam Yaffa on bass and Gyp Casino on drums, they released their debut ‘Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks’ (CD1) in 1981.
The same line-up would record follow-up, ‘Oriental Beat’ (CD2), released in 1982. Finding loyal fans in the UK music press, especially in the pages of Sounds and Kerrang!, the band developed a cult following, from California to Japan. Also released in 1982, and one of the band’s strongest sets, ‘Self Destruction Blues’ (CD3) was a compilation of singles and B-sides only previously available in the native Finland, a punk-infused glam and hard rock classic in its own right.
By 1983, Hanoi Rocks had relocated to London, inspiring the song ‘Tooting Bec Wreck’, a track from their next album, ‘Back to Mystery City’ (CD4). Produced by Mott The Hoople’s Dale Griffin and Pete “Overend"” Watts, it was the first record to feature Londoner Razzle on drums. The album certainly had a more commercial sound than the punk inspired approach of previous albums, becoming a major influence on the hard rock and glam metal scene of the 1980s, and a big inspiration for Guns N’ Roses, who would re-issue these early Hanoi Rocks records on their own Uzi Suicide label later in the decade.
Throughout their career, Hanoi Rocks were known as a formidable live act, as captured on 1984’s ‘All Those Wasted Years’ (CD5), which was recorded at London’s legendary Marquee Club in December 1983.
Signing to CBS in 1984, the band looked set to break into the mainstream when their career was cruelly cut short when drummer Razzle was killed in a car crash.
