Ex-WildSide guitarist Benny Rhynedance sheds some light on reissued album ‘Under The Influence’
Ex-WildSide guitarist Benny Rhynedance sheds some light on reissued album ‘Under The Influence’
For many “hair metal” fans, WildSide‘s debut album Under The Influence, which was released via Capitol Records in 1992, is one of the greatest debut albums of all-time and for the longest time, it was only available for resale but for exorbitant prices. About one year ago, French record label Bad Reputation Records “reissued” WildSide‘s debut record Under The Influence. Other WildSide albums that have seen the light of day include the band’s self-titled “grunge like” album (1995), The Wasted Years (2003) released via RLS Records, Live (2019) and …Formerly Known As Young Gunns (2020) released via FnA Records. The latter album finished at #10 on the Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2020.
The following message was posted on WildSide‘s Facebook page (ran by the band’s former guitarist Benny Rhynedance) earlier today:
“Lotsa questions these days from some of you about all these WildSide releases that keep appearing. Uh… well… truth is, WildSide, the Capitol Records signed band from 1990 to 1993, ONLY HAD 1 ALBUM, and that was Under The Influence. Everything else out there by all these “labels” is garbage, and not an actual WildSide band product. What it is, is flat out thievery.
The newest release by a French distributor is everywhere. Some online US retailers have bought the product as legitimate and flooded eBay, Amazon, and even Walmart.com with it. FWIW, there are NO physical WildSide cd’s being sold inside any Walmart store, anywhere. It’s a private online seller that sells through Walmart.com, just like being a seller on Amazon. It’s usually touted as a Remaster, but it isn’t. Most sellers are just saying “UTI.” If it’s $15, it’s a bootleg, and it doesn’t say Capitol Records on it.
What’s worse is the quality of the audio w all these releases. Diminished completely. Copies of a copy. Even all the crap on iTunes, and Amazon is pure junk. It’s re-hashed 3rd gen audio taken off the mastered cd in low bit rate.
Does the actual band, and/or songwriters/creators see any compensation from these sales? Nope. Don’t waste your money. Yes, the prices for UTI were stupid high for a while, but have come back down since the influx of fake releases, so at least there’s that.
The original Cd can be found in pristine quality for a decent price online if you want the original Capitol product. Also can be found online for FREE in huge HQ wav files.
Feel free to ask about what your purchasing online. If you are all about the original product, it can be a concern. That’s how it works w music piracy. If you don’t care, that’s fine too, but don’t waste your money, you can have all our songs for free in quality higher than the debut CD ever was.”
In an interview with Sleaze Roxx back in June 2019, Rhynedance was asked about the possibility of Under The Influence getting remastered and re-released with some bonus tracks to which he replied:
“There’s was talk a few years ago with Capitol/EMI, but they consider it ‘dead catalogue’ and won’t license it out at all. Why? Because the cost to produce it outweighs the possible sales — meaning a limited buyer audience. They don’t give away anything the way the music biz is now. Besides that, there are so many bootleg versions of the debut online claiming to be a remaster, or bonus version, limited edition etc. It’s mindboggling. All garbage. Low bit rate mp3 files on Amazon or iTunes, CD box sets, digital downloads. None of it is legit. All CD sets in tin boxes are illegal copyright violation bootlegs from Euro sellers.”
WildSide‘s “Hang On Lucy” video: