Hanoi Rocks

Since their 1979 inception, sleaze punk rock’n’rollers Hanoi Rocks have become more infamous for their debaucheries and misfortunes than their actual music. Like a proto-Mötley Crüe, when Hanoi Rocks are mentioned, member names come to mind, not actual songs. With the hour-long The Nottingham Tapes, captured in 1984, the reason for this comes to light. One sees that the band had some initial strength and shock-value, modelled as a sort of New York Dolls-meets-Alice Cooper. They sound tight, for a gritty rock club show, and have their best stage gear on but the picture doesn’t lie: it’s just another gig that hovers around mediocrity. Chugging through 14 tracks, including covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Ramones, nothing about this three-camera document proves them to be anything other than a rough kick-start to what the Toilet Boys or L.A. glam in general managed to perfect. Just because you’re first doesn’t mean you’re the best.