Drummer Mark Gus Scott thinks back to series of events that led Trixter to disband

Drummer Mark Gus Scott thinks back to series of events that led Trixter to disband

Trixter drummer Mark Gus Scott was interviewed by Hall Laurel for the book Soundtrack of Our Youth: History of Hair Metal Music, which was recently released and is available in Kindle and paperback formats.

With respect to the ascent of grunge in the early to mid ’90s, Scott recalled: “Very interesting how a series of events led to Trixter disbanding. Please bear in mind, it did not happen overnight exactly. It all started back in 1991. We had three number one videos on MTV. Our third video, “Surrender”, was #1 on MTV for two weeks when MTV made a conscious choice to abolish dial MTV and the Top 10 countdown.

We were the last number one video ever to be played on MTV. As a matter fact, we were never played on MTV again. We went from 15 weeks at number one on MTV to no MTV airplay at all. What was even stranger to us was that we were on the road with the Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour (Warrant, Trixter and Firehouse), playing in places like the World Amphitheater in Chicago and selling it out to 33,000 people, but yet we were cut from MTV. It did not make any sense to us whatsoever.

But apparently, MTV had a bigger plan in mind. They were going to take what was alternative and make it mainstream and take the mainstream and make it alternative. By 1994, Grunge was in full swing and command the airwaves and bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and yes, Trixter, somewhat fell by the wayside. Subsequently, we lost our record deal, lost our agent, had no management and it was difficult for us to develop a plan to sustain. I quit the band in January 1995. The guys disbanded later that year.

I would venture to speculate that there were similar instances in other bands as well. Things are hard enough to succeed when times are good. When times are bad, you better get on the ball.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Scott at the Hair Metal Music‘s Facebook page or the book Soundtrack of Our Youth: History of Hair Metal Music.