Queens Of Noise

• Queens Of Noise
• Take It Or Leave It
• Midnight Music
• Born To Be Bad
• Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin
• I Love Playing With Fire
• California Paradise
• Hollywood
• Heartbeat
• Johnny Guitar

Released: 1977. Digitally remastered re-release, 2003.

Track by track:
"Queens of Noise" -- Lead vocal: Joan
Joan: This was written by Billy Bizeau of the Quick. He got it from a line in "American Nights."
Kim: It's what it's like to be a girl touring and how they act with wild boys screaming in the first three rows. A great opening song and statement.



"Take it Or Leave It" -- Lead vocal: Joan
Joan: We did it live on the last tour to see what type of reaction it got, and it always went over really well.
Kim: Pure Runaways, really.

"Midnight Music" -- Lead vocal: Cherie
Cherie: I sang four or five part harmony on this. It turned out more fantastic than I thought it would.
Kim: Bruce Springsteen would be very receptive lyrically to this sentiment. The guitar work here is reminiscent of Roy Wood's work with the Move.




"Born To Be Bad" -- Lead vocal: Joan
Joan: This was written when we were a three-piece band by Sandy, Kim, and Micki Steele, the first bass player. A slow ballad about someone who is a born loser.

"Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin" -- Lead vocal: Cherie
Kim: Reminds me of a European approach to heavy metal with Cherie's voice having this shrieking quality like Savage Rose - like a witch. It's all about people in the audience who are really destroying themselves in a very charismatic and religious way.



"I Love Playing With Fire" -- Lead vocal: Joan
Joan: This was written while we were in the studio. Kim was saying we needed more songs so I sat down and wrote this one.
Kim: Joan singing about getting ripped off and almost destroyed by superficial love.




"California Paradise" -- Lead vocal: Cherie
Joan: It always starts out the set on the tour. It's about the state we live in and how nice it is.
Kim: The answer to "California Girls" by the Beach Boys although musically it resembles a Gary Glitter record.

"Hollywood" -- Lead vocal: Joan
Joan: It's a fun song about a girl wanting to become a star knowing that you can become one.

"Heartbeat" -- Lead vocal: Cherie
Joan: It's about Cherie, really. A girl in a rock and roll band who sings lead and she meets another lead singer who's a star. They like each other but they can't stay together because each one has to go their own way to help their career.
Cherie: Kim and I had talked about a song like this. So he wrote something and I rearranged it and wrote the melody. I love singing songs like this.

"Johnny Guitar" -- Lead vocal: Cherie
Joan: A song for Lita to show off her lead guitar work. It's about her guitar. A basic blues song.

Joan: I'm really proud of this album. It really is a lot more listenable than the first. It still has the ballsy rock and roll thing of the first LP, but it's got some slow songs too.
Kim: The girls have shown that all the work on the summer U.S. and fall European tours was not in vain. They're showing more interaction as a band, with more guitar soloing and guitar battles. Everybody forgets that this is the youngest rock and roll band in the world. They're hanging in there competing with people twice their age in every area. I admire them for it. These girls want to make it. They won't be satisfied until they're the number one group in the world. 'Cause time is on their side, oh yes it is.