Vain - No Respect (1989)
Self-destruction, death wish, sex and drug addiction, obsession, sexual coercion, and degradation, underscored with an endless stream of cocksure sado-masochism. These lyrical themes are part of the gutter realism explored by the filthy creature who created No Respect. Who invited me into this lurid nightmare? And why did I gladly accept the invitation and decide to stay for the after-party?
Vain’s No Respect is sleaze rock at its finest. When I put this album on for the first time at the beginning of 2025, I had no idea that I was about to be forcibly sucked into the perverted, private world of the guy on the cover. I certainly would not have bet that it would stay in my rotation all year and eventually grow into to one of my all-time glam metal albums. I can’t even remember how this record found my ears, but I think I may have done a search for “What is the filthiest, most disrespectful rock album I should listen to right now?”
Let’s start with the obvious: the album’s cover. Who is this whip wielding androgynous figure of questionable hygiene clad in unwashed leather chaps who looks like he was shit out of a sewer to molest the hell out every living being in sight? This figure, it turns out, is singer Davy Vain, and he’s the ringmaster of this freak show, a freak show where the only character is the one inside the degenerate mind of Davy Vain himself.
Have you ever had the feeling that an album wants to abuse you? Or maybe just aggressively make out with you in a dank alley? No Respect takes the fun a bit further and takes a bite out of your flesh. When Vain sings about pleasure and PAIN, it’s the pain part that feels like the music is delivered with a set of vampire teeth. After all, what kind of maniac goes full stalker mode and alters the simple, passive lyric of “You hear voices in your head”, to “You hear voices in your BED” without a hint of sarcasm. Davy Vain is all-in.
As for the title, “No Respect,” well, the joke is on the singer himself. This isn’t one of those ‘I don’t get no respect’ things; it’s an ‘I have no respect for myself’ thing, because I’m debased, twisted-- and I hate myself for it and I deserve punishment. You can mistreat me, Vain croons, as long as you mistreat me right:
I like the way you mistreat love
But I keep coming back for more
Well I like abuse don't shut the door
We always want what we can't have
Just one more night
Go ahead and use me baby, when it comes to you
Ain't got no self respect, no respect for myself baby
Mistreat me right
(One must really listen to the song to catch the vibe).
Vain likes the physical pain, he love-hates the psychological games, and he keeps returning--the highest form of 80s rock self-abasement. Vain takes the "glam" out of glam metal, brings it back to the seediest alleys of The Strip and flips it into a genuinely menacing, degenerate trip.
On the surface, all of this would sound very silly were it not backed by the primal energy of some of the greatest band work from the ‘80s glam era. This music is filled to the brim with braggadocio, irresistible hooks, and unbridled cock-and-roll craftsmanship. What do you get when you cross the reckless swagger of Guns N’ Roses and Ratt, filter it through the glittery glam-rock sensibility of T-Rex and top it with the pre-punk raw energy of Iggy & The Stooges? You get Vain. They skip the smooth, processed sound of their lesser ‘80s peers like Poison or Skid Row and roughen the edges with busted Marshall amps and zero-level production polish.
It’s a fact, an album like this could only have emerged from the faux metal swamps of LA and the Bay Area in the 1980s. While there are clear influences of ‘70s pre-punk and glam, No Respect is firmly an ‘80s Metal/Hair Band album at its core. But I kid you not, this album is as good as anything released by any band of those eras. This isn’t just glam metal, it deserves a seat at the Last Supper of best ever glam rock albums.
So what became of the man, the myth, the legend, Davy Vain? Not much. No Respect wasn’t even a flop. It was less than that. It passed almost totally unnoticed outside a small following in LA and the Bay Area. The record later achieved minor cult status among glam rock enthusiasts during the early years of the Internet. By then, Vain had long fizzled. That spark of glam genius was to flicker for only one brilliant album, and the band and the man sank even further into obscurity. As for No Respect, it will forever be unknown, overlooked, relegated to the gutter for vile, remote-control masochists who listen to this kind of music to confirm our own self-destructive tendencies: some would say, exactly where it belongs.
Standout Tracks: This album is full of them, but the first ¾ of the album particularly, including…
Down For The Third Time, Beat the Bullet, 1000 Degrees, Smoke, No Respect, Secrets, Laws Against Love
Vain - No Respect (1989) [Island Records]
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