AC/DC’s Highway to Hell won our latest ’70s poll with 52.4% of the combined vote. Darren Leach put it on the ballot with a simple pitch: “We reviewed a Brian era album, now it’s Bon’s turn.” Now it’s headed for a full Dig Me Out episode on November 3.
This is how your record collection becomes part of the show. Listeners suggest the albums, we build the ballot, and paid members choose what gets the deep dive. The winner becomes a podcast episode. Whether you’re making the case for a neglected favorite or asking us to hear a familiar classic differently, your participation changes what gets made.
In the 90s we started buying alternative records. That didn’t mean we stopped wanting a guitar solo, a voice with some miles on it, or a chorus you could sing before the song was over.
October’s ’90s ballot lives in that part of the collection. Killer Dwarfs arrived in 1990 with Dirty Weapons. Kik Tracee released No Rules in 1991. Stephen Pearcy’s Arcade put a familiar voice into a new band in 1993. And Buckcherry closed out the decade with a 1999 debut that put “Lit Up” on the radio. Different moments, different prospects, same refusal to put the guitars away.
So let’s get past whether these records were early, late, or out of step. Which one deserves a proper listen now?
Killer Dwarfs — Dirty Weapons (1990)
Some nominations arrive with a thoughtful recommendation. Keith P Miller’s arrives with a challenge:
“This is one of the most perfect hard rock albums that almost no one has ever heard.”
That’s a high bar. Exactly the sort of claim we like putting a whole episode behind.
Dirty Weapons was the Canadian band’s fourth album, not a debut from newcomers trying to catch the last train. There’s experience behind this one—and a case for the kind of melodic hard rock where the guitar sound and the chorus are supposed to carry equal weight. Writer Tom Beaujour, co-author of Nöthin’ but a Good Time, has singled it out as well, praising the production and arguing that Killer Dwarfs never got their fair shake.
Keith’s nomination gives us the question worth testing: is this simply a record more people should know, or the nearly front-to-back keeper he says it is?
Arcade — Arcade (1993)
Suggested by Dewey Cole, who pointed straight to the connection:
“Stephen Pearcy from Ratt formed this band shortly after RATT disbanded.”
Pearcy’s voice is the immediate draw, but Arcade wasn’t a solo record with a different logo. Cinderella drummer Fred Coury joined him, alongside guitarists Donny Syracuse and Frankie Wilsex and bassist Michael Andrews. Their self-titled debut arrived in 1993 with songs including “Nothin’ to Lose,” “Cry No More,” and “Messed Up World.”
That makes this an especially interesting reset. How much familiar identity do you bring into a new band—and how much do you leave behind?
An Arcade episode would let us hear this as more than a Ratt footnote. Does the band establish its own personality? Do the songs give Pearcy somewhere new to go? And how does it land when we stop asking what a hard rock record was supposed to sound like in 1993?
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Kik Tracee — No Rules (1991)
John’s nomination gets right to the frustration:
“Great band, a tad too late for the 80 s but nonetheless great record”
There’s an entire record-store section hiding inside that sentence.
Released in May 1991, No Rules was Kik Tracee’s debut and only full-length studio album. Slaughter bassist Dana Strum produced it, and “Don’t Need Rules” and “You’re So Strange” were among its singles.
The temptation with an album like this is to let the release date explain everything. Too late. Wrong moment. Moving on.
But that doesn’t tell us much about the record.
John’s recommendation asks us to separate the music from the timing. What made Kik Tracee worth hearing in the first place? What distinguishes these songs from the other big-chorus hopefuls? And does No Rules sound like a missed opportunity now that nobody’s waiting to see what happens on MTV next week?
Buckcherry — Buckcherry (1999)
Tim Minneci isn’t promising an overlooked masterpiece. He’s proposing an experiment:
“I haven’t listened to this since it came out. No idea if it will hold up.”
Sometimes that’s the best reason to put a record on the show.
Buckcherry’s debut arrived in April 1999. “Lit Up” spent three weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and the album also produced “For the Movies,” “Dead Again,” and “Check Your Head” as singles. This wasn’t just a band insisting there was still an audience for its version of hard rock. It found one.
What happens after “Lit Up”? Does the rest have the personality and songs to bring you back?
Which song on this ballot would you play to win over someone who’s already written the band off? Tell us the track and what they’re missing.
Got another ’90s record you’re still making excuses to play for people? Drop it in the hopper. The next choice starts with what you bring to the pile.
They are mostly all solid choices, although I never took to Buckcherry. I’m going with Killer Dwarves, but I think their prior album, Stand Tall, is a much better album.