Back to Mystery City

I'm genuinely confused by this album, or at least its inclusion on this list. Nothing I heard seemed new, novel, or influential. The recording quality was mediocre, and song writing basic, the execution lukewarm. Maybe I missed something, but I don't think I'll be listening again to find out.

Not really sure how this made it onto the 1001 list, but I can only assume it's bribery.

Um, interesting choice for this list. I have never heard of Hanoi Rocks but they aren't terrible. This album feels like one on your guilty pleasure list - don't really want to tell anyone you like it but deep down there's something about it that you're drawn to. For that reason, it gets an average rating. But nothing more. I just can't justify a higher rating for a fun sounding album by, from what I can tell, just another 80's glam rock band with some tragedy. Really don't know why they're on this list.

Bad 80s Glam. The sound of doing blow off of a Macy's credit card

Never listened to this band, but this is stupid glam metal and I am absolutely here for it. This was better than I thought and influenced Poison/Motley Crue and others. Great album as long as you are willing to have fun with it.

I was going to give a two, but then when I heard the saxophone I decided to add another star.

Pretty dumb but... fine I suppose. I dunno, I think there's better stuff out there in this style.

The Mystery: What would it sound like if Poison made a Replacements album? The Answer: This record.

I loved this album, even though the first time I listened to it tracks 2-8 were not the correct songs. Seems Apple Music has the wrong songs associated with tracks 4-8 were the wrong songs. Whatever songs those were I listened to the first time sounded like Hanoi Rocks and I really liked them... After re-listening with the correct tracks (than you YouTube): I LOVE THIS ALBUM. This band is really amazing. Some pretty strong rock tracks in here ("Malibu Beach Nightmare") with some punk and glam and 50s stuff - all blended together into BACK TO MYSTERY CITY. There are touches of Queen, Meat Loaf, the B-52s, the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack - all have done some similar mixing before… What's great here is Hanoi Rocks has their own spin on these winning combinations. I loved every song on here. The styles varied a bit but still felt like a cohesive album. Some wild fun sound-effect shenanigans in the opening and scattered here and there - like the farm animals in "Tooting Bec Wreck", the spacey echoey effects in "Until I Get You,” the bells in “Ice Cream Summer.” Well done without being overdone. This is some of the best punk/rock/glam/50's style music around. I wish I had discovered them in the 80s as I think it would have enhanced my adolescence. Nevertheless lots of fun now, the lyrics were interesting, and I will listen to this often. And after being exposed to some additional Hanoi Rocks through the misidentified mystery tracks, will follow up with some more of their albums. HANOI ROCKS ROCKS!

Hanoi Rocks delivers a delightfully catchy glam rock record, with favorites coming out of 'Until I Get You' and 'Mental Beat'. The arrangements are quite methodical and measured, with Razzle's familiar classic rock drum patterns fastening the album. A Finnish band singing in English could make you mistake Hanoi Rocks for a Brit band, which affords it extra substance as a generally pleasant listen.

Je ne connaissais pas, ça rock !

These guys didn't sound Vietnamese or Finnish.

In an effort to keep my reviews consistent, I keep these attributes in mind when I choose an album's rating: recording, performances, and songs. The performances and recording of this album are fine but the songs are not good. Say what you want about Motley Crue and Poison, they had song craft figured out.

Had no idea of what these folx were going to sound like, but apparently, every movie that is set in the 80s uses their styling to imply the 80s.

Another reviewer describes this album as "dumb glam." I mean, yeah. Isn't it great? Well, I had a blast listening to this album, but it turns out if you're listening on Spotify, this is not Back to Mystery City. About half the tracks are mislabeled. With a little digging on YouTube, you should be able to find the others. These are the actual songs Spotify shows as being on the album: 1) Strange Boys Play Weird Openings; 2) Malibu Beach Nightmare; 3) Mental Beat; 4) Don't You Ever Leave Me (mislabeled); 5) Lost in the City (mislabeled); 6) First Timer (mislabeled); 7) Cheyenne (mislabeled); 8) Beating Gets Faster; 9) Ice Cream Summer; 10) Back to Mystery City. In spite of the annoyance of having to find the right tracks, I really enjoyed listening to this. Hanoi Rocks gets associated so much with 80s glam metal that I was expecting not to like this, but they're better than a lot of those bands. This album has a Mott-Meets-Sweet-Meets-New York Dolls vibe to it, ramshackle but with a surprising pop sensibility. The songs are glammy and trashy and tongue in cheek, all of it in good fun. Fave Songs: Tooting Bec Wreck, Beating Gets Faster, Until I Get You, Ice Cream Summer, Mental Beat, Malibu Beach Nightmare

Not on Spotify, and the track order is backwards on the YouTube playlist. Fuck you, nerds. This guys hair is so amazing. I wish I had enough hair to rock that look. This is an otherwise solid rock and roll album from the 80s. Definitely worth the listen.

Back to Mystery City Do you think the recording of the acoustic guitars in the intro to Strange Boys is supposed to sound so wobbly? I guess it might make you think you are about to listen to a vaguely pastoral album based around Blackbird. But by looking at the cover you clearly aren’t in for that sort of thing. Indeed you’re actually in for some occasionally pleasingly schizophrenic and stupid but ultimately not particularly good and quite badly recorded Finnish rock. Is it a joke or are they serious? I can’t really work it out if the dumbness is real or deliberate but I am significantly reminded of Anvil. Malibu Beach Nightmare was apparently originally a calypso. I wonder what that was like if they thought this was a better way to do it? Among the rest of it I quite like the looming (synth?) bass on Tooting Bec Wreck, Sailing Down the Tears is quite a decent pop rock song, as is Ice Cream Summer, and I don’t mind the New York Dolls influenced 60s-sih garage punk of Back to Mystery City at all. So overall it’s as completely terrible as it might suggest, but apart from some fun dumbness on a couple of tracks it’s not particularly great either. Probably a high 2, not enough to get into the 3s but not totally abject either. 🇻🇳🇻🇳 Playlist submission: Back to Mystery City

Didn’t find it to be particularly innovative or inspiring in anyway… May have been much more so it is time, but I found it very run of the mill …. Pretty good, nothing special for me. I certainly see how others could listen and get all hyped by it ….

So Hanoi Rocks “Back To Mystery City” was fine, as I liked the idea of a Finnish rock band – especially since I had a really hot blond Finnish girlfriend once… : ) Was not very familiar with them – though I had heard some of their music… Remember thinking that they were one of early “hair metal” bands along with Motely Crue and a few others in like 1981 – which was cool… And I do remember hearing about them alot when their drummer was killed in that car accident with Vince Neil of Motely Crue driving, while they were on a “beer run” after a heavy night of drinking… Seems like they were never the same after that… As for the album, every track on the album was solid – though there were moments of goodness scattered throughout… The 2 best tracks IMO – we the “Summer” songs… “Lick Summer Love” – 4-stars out of 7… “Ice Cream Summer” – 4-stars out of 7… Again – a fairly straight-forward rock/punk sound, with decent musicianship and song-writing – and would have been fine seeing in a bar in the early 80’s, but certainly nothing exceptional for sure… Would probably give this a 2.25 if I could, for being part of the origin of “hair metal” – especially a commercially-friendly band as well, and Finland’s greatest contribution to rock…

Solve the puzzle! Hanoi + (Rocks - R - O + S + U) = ? I quit listening to a song when I lost interest and didn't make it to the end of a single one! Pass.

Only listened to the songs available on spotify. Kinda disappointing ngl. Just some more wanna be rock stars

why i gotta listen to this

Wondering how this got onto the list. The band was known but never really suggested anything original. For this album the band doesn't seem to know whether it should be rock, not powerful enough or pop, lacking memorable catchy tunes. So it fails on both.

Um yeah, not too sure. Some sort of 80s punk/hair metal from Finland. If this has any relevance to the world of music, it must be lost on my ill-informed ears, but this could safely have never been made.

Dumb glam that doesn't really go anywhere or do much interesting. A couple of fun hooks

Beach boys punk rock

This kicks ass. Early punk energy. Adding this to my collection.

5/5 - shockingly good. I can see where GNR got it from

The infamous Glam Punk band, criminaly underatted and undeapreciate, i'm accually suprised to see one of their album here. It started with a accoutisc oppening with river and bird songs, absoluttly not preparing us for the rest, but still kinda funny. It then go with the powerfull riff of Malibu Beach Nightmare. some songs are very good, others forgettable, The best songs are: Malibu Beach Nightmare, Mental Beat, Lick Summer Love, Betting getting faster, Ice Cream Summer and Back to Mystery City. But honneslty the songs all have some cool intro, riffs and Mike Monroe always give a hell of a good vocals job. The songs are bluesy, metal, rock and punk, sometimes all at once, showing their vats music skills and influences of others bands like New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, english glam Rock (Bowie, T.Rex, Roxy Music), The Sex Pistols or more classical rock band like the Stones or Aerosmith. In addition of their songs, they have an authenticity, a street wise glam punk attitude and way of telling their songsd, that is more than just the girls and party vibe of others Glam bands (that i also like but i more authentic here). Micheal Monroe is one of the best frontman in rock, vclarly in that period of time, because all thoses band kinda immitte him. Their songs just genuily feels real and still got that good vibe of others glam band, its a shamed theyr never get big. The influenced Hanoi Rocks have, with this album and all their others, is significant, especially when you look at all the american Glam Metal scene (Especially in the Sunset Strip) its undiable, from their songs, to their attitude and their look. Huge band have praised them, Guns N' Roses in particular, memebrs have often said good things about Hanoi Rocks an sayin how much they have influence them. The list of bands is long, Ratt, Alices In Chains, Poison, LA Guns, Skid Row, Foo Fighters, Mötley Crüe and even Def Leppard. To conclude the album is very good, i dont know if its the best album of Hanoi Rocks cause i dind't listen to all of them, but this one is one of the best 80's Glam Metal album i have heard, because of the attitude, the feeling and the music. But we have to regognise their influences, but some songs are not very good, a bit repetitive and it almost feel like some songs were not at maximum potential. Anyway love it.

Energético y divertido

Sehr gut. Leider ist das Album zu kurz

Album Nr. 10 Einfach gute Rockmusik.

I don’t know much about Hanoi Rocks, but I do know that the drummer Razzle was killed by Vince Neil’s drunk driving, who served only 19 days in jail. Mötley Crüe then went on to carry on making music. It’s one of the most bizarre things to happen in rock music and a massive injustice, and it really needs a Netflix exposé. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Malibu Beach Nightmare, Sailing Down The Tears, Beating Gets Faster I don’t know why I haven’t listened to much Hanoi Rocks before. Glam rock and metal was a big part of my life for a good while, but I just didn’t look much into this band for some unknown reason. This album was pretty spectacular. It has plenty of catchy melodies, nice distorted guitars, and vocals that don’t tend to shriek quite as much as some similar styled bands. I liked this a lot, and I’m very glad I’ve finally given them a good listen.

Peacemaker rocks! :D

cool

Yeah, this is great. Due to the fatal car incident with their drummer and the Motley Crue singer, I somehow always associated this band with MC and never paid it the attention it deserves. Turns out: it does not have those silly glam rock sing along refrains, but it is much more rock n roll: think New York Dolls a decade earlier. My bad.

I spent my entire 8 hours of work listening to just this artist.... good stuff

Long time music listener, first time glam rock enjoyer. Seriously, the 80s form of glam rock has never really jelled with me, but *man* did I enjoy this album. Sounds like it was made for huge stages and big festivals, insert your own crowd chanting while listening. I'm not sure if it's the use of the name "Rosalita" and the killer saxophone solo in "Ice Cream Summer", but man, it sounds just like Springsteen went glam. Early on in the record, I thought, "this isn't bad," and near the end I was super into it. Fuck it. I'm feeling generous tonight. Favorite tracks: "Mental Beat", "Tooting Bec Wreck", "Beating Gets Faster", "Ice Cream Summer"

Normalnie byłoby 4, ale 5 za kickoff ;-)

Everything that I love about rock!

Fun sounding Glam Rock, only heard bits of Hanoi Rocks over the years, happy to give this a go, not understanding the bad reviews by other users. Stand out tracks: - Malibu Beach Nightmare - Mental Beat - Tooting Bec Wreck - Until I get you - Beating gets faster - Back to Mystery City

Good vibes

A good album. I wasn't super into it, but this had good energy. Fun instrumentals and a decent vocals. 'Back to Mystery City' takes my fave pick.

A lot of silly fun, I enjoyed it.

Blends the better elements of 80s alt-pop with touches of punk for enjoyable results!

Oväntat bra. Kommer absolut lyssna mer på Hanoi Rocks.

4.33 ★★★★

Super fun and catchy and really reminded me of New York Dolls/Johnny Thunders stuff. I really liked "Malibu Beach Nightmare" and "Tooting Bec Wreck". 4 stars.

Oh wow, cover mi je vrh 😁 ne očekujem puno, ali me jako zanima. Dosta pank glemerski, tako sam nekako i zamišljala album. Nezz, ja sam jedno vrijeme intenzivno brijala na to, iako sad kužim da kvalitetom nije na nekoj wow razini, meni je to i dalje amusing. Volim to razdoblje, jbg, i u rocku, i u panku i u popu.😁 Ovo nekako ima elemente svega toga. Zanimljivo da nisam naletila na njih nikad prije. Sviđaju mi se neobični prijelazi u ritmu i melodiji, s te strane mi se čine dosta originalni zapravo. Kul su mi surfi dijelovi i orijentalni zvukovi usred svega.Vrh mi je back vokal na Until I get you (i stvarno zvuči kao back Floydima, familiar boja glasa nekako). Ta stvar me isto dosta podsjeća na Classix Nouveau, možda mi zato tako dobro sjeda. Nezz, za razliku od većine albuma dosad, meni ovo nije loše i daleko od neslušljivog. Bogato je, neobično, ne zvuči treš, ima elemente više žanrova, zabavno mi je. Doduše, mogu zamisliti da ljudima koji nisu skloni panku ili 80s ovo neće biti privlačno. Htjela sam dati nižu ocjenu prvo, ali realno ovo mi je jedan od boljih albuma koje sam dosad slušala (izuzev petica, naravno). Ne mogu reći to za baš sve pjesme (prvo dio albuma mi je bolje legao), ali overall mi je ovo 4/5 ili 7/10.

Awesome so far. How have I not heard this before?

Cool Peacemaker

Suomi mainittu! Siis hieno bändi mutta ei tämä nyt näiden paras levy ole??? 4/5

Pakkohan sitän on siniristilippua vähän heiluttaa ja todeta, että hyvä räminälevyhän se tässä. 4/5

Wow. Now THIS is a great justification for this list. A band I heard of but never heard. Instantly the best glam metal band I have ever heard and the only one I have ever liked. Their story is somewhat intertwined with Motley Crüe's, and I mistakenly lumped them into the same bucket so very pleased to be corrected now. Much more creative and interesting than Crüe, to me at least. I am looking forward to checking these guys out further.

Great rock album. That classic 80's rock will never get old and always sounds fresh. Never heard of them but will listen to their other stuff.

I thought this was a lot of fun. It’s not breaking any ground but it’s catchy and pretty consistent. Really liked Tooting Bec Wreck and Lick Summer Love

Glam metal with a saxophone? Sign me up

I enjoyed this album a lot. It's nothing revelatory, but it is good, cheesy hair metal, brimming with camp. However, while I get that salacious lyrics are a hallmark of the genre, the lyrics occasionally dip into misogyny and creepiness ("I can see by the way you walk you've never been with a man before") in a way that I found jarring. Part-and-parcel for the time, I know, but off-putting to listen to now. "Until I Get You" is an absolute banger though.

Glam rock. Está bien. Venga, un 4.

Está chulo.

Fun ride, nothing made want to come back

I don't think this is a good album at all - but I do think it's a pretty fun album. The lyrics are intensely bad, at least for the 2-3 songs of which I read them. Maybe some 16-year olds will find them touching. The different intensity in vocal delivery between the backing and main vocals on Lick Summer Love was pretty weird. Probably the backing female vocalist being the main vocalist for the whole album would have been a notable improvement, maybe even 5 stars. At least it would go a long way in helping the band sound less like a teenager garage band. For all the criticism, the album still has a bunch of really solid hooks and it seems like fun pub or rock bar background music. So if that was the goal, they achieved it. The instrumental delivery is mostly on point, especially the guitars and occasional keyboard lines are quite good.

Really good bridge to thrash from classic rock

3.8 - I liked this, need to maybe check it out again sometime

Fantastic, weird 80's glam punk. Similar to New York Dolls or Motley Crue. There is actually a tie in with Motley Crue and this band. Razzle, the drummer for Hanoi Rocks was killed in a car accident in '84. The car was driven by Motley Crue singer, Vince Neil. Favourite songs: Until I Get You, Back to Mystery City, Lick Summer Love, Beating Gets Faster, Malibu Beach Nightmare, Sailing Down the Tears, Tooting Bec Wreck Least favourite songs: Ice Cream Summer 4/5

Está chulo.

pretty rocking, really. 4 stars.

Had not heard this before but listening to this made me go and listen to other releases by them.

The album art makes me cringe a bit, but these guys from Finland are right on top of the developments of Glam Metal. As someone who grew up loving Glam Metal (and still listen to it occasionally), I can't deny that this made me bop my head. Observation: When your rhythm guitarist is called Nasty Suicide, it shows how tough these guys thought they were. That's pretty funny forty years after.

This was really fun! Worth another listen and a couple of real bangers, like mental beat and beating gets faster

When it came to Back to Mystery City, Initially, i didn't have the best feelings towards it, During the first half, It was alright but the voice and some of the instruments were not exactly the best sounding, They were sometimes annoying and could be a bit too much. Then, the second half came, and my god was it an improvement. Most of the stuff that had made some of the first half annoying was all gone by the second half as well as it showing some great guitar work and interesting musical ideas. This was probably one of the biggest examples of a turn around enough to raise this album from a 2 to a 3.5 Best Song: Back To Mystery City Worst Song: Tooting Bec Wreck

I'm not sure why this website hates glam so much (besides Bowie), but I don't care. This album was fun and inarguably influenced some pretty substantial acts, and also incorporated many influences that I loved. Lick Summer Love sounds like it could be on Machine Gun Etiquette, and I love it.

Not at all what I expected. I assumed it'd be some butt rock stuff, but this was actually catchy and groovin'. I enjoyed this one a lot. 4/5

Underrated and underappreciated. This influenced so much of what I listened to in the mid-to-late-Eighties. Listening to it now, it's a shame I didn't listen to more Hanoi Rocks back then. I would have been a much better-informed Hair Metal fanatic.

Do I like Hair Metal?? Favourite Track: Beating Gets Faster.

Hard/glam had never ever been my thing, but these finnish dudes are REALLY listenable. 4 out of 5, which is the highest i can mark this genre

Pretty cool 80s rock album - the Finnish know how to rock. (plus a song dissing south London is always extra nice). 3.5

Oh this is so great. I knew nothing about this band and had no idea what to expect but this was such good fun. Fave tracks: Malibu Beach Nightmate, Tooting Bec Wreck.

Had a bit of trepidation about this one - hair metal and cock rock, which is what I was assuming Hanoi Rocks were, really isn't my jam. Plus, my first serious girlfriend was Finnish and she always hated on them for being the most well known Finnish band, internationally, so I guess I inherited some prejudice, heh. Turns out this was pretty fun! The first half of the album is a lot stronger than the second, but still. Wikipedia calls this glam punk, and yeah, I can dig it. It's possible Peacemaker has warmed me up to their schtick, too. Fave tracks - "Mental Beat" is awesome. Dug "Tooting Bec Wreck", too...

I kept feeling like I have heard these songs before. Which makes Hanoi Rocks derivative (in some cases) or trendsetting (in others). I heard a lot of my alt rock favs in their production and arrangements.

fun epic sweet creative youthful delightful a little vapid but qite endearingly. rock n roll punk executed with perfect sincerity. the Scandinavians are mental

Nice Melody.

I enjoyed it. Great punk music.

Nice album, I like this type of rock quite a bit. Not sure if it's full on glam but sounds a little more modern than other hair bands from this era. My favorite was probably Malibu Beach Nightmare.

Fun grimy rock. Some catchy things on here.

Glam Metal is good, and it's interesting to listen to this and think about its' reverberations into the world. A shame about Razzle their drummer, the band had so much potential with this album, but this album still stands as a big success.

A bit of a Brit pop punk kind of vibe. Gave me some Ramones feel. 4.5

Ooh, I liked this one. I've heard the band name many a time, but I never took the time to delve into their music. 80s glam rock with lots of energy. Will listen again.

I think this is an album that I might have been less interested in if I hadn't read some of the background. Knowing that this band was highly influential on the hair metal bands of the 80s, especially Guns N Roses, provides a lot of useful context when listening to it. Sonically, the album is really good. It's wel-produced, and the songs are fun with a lot of energy. So much of what makes hair metal fun is found here, and I can't really think of anywhere else I heard a lot of these motifs before this album. I don't know that this is an album that I would have ever picked up on my own, but fitted into its proper context, it's an easy album to appreciate 4/5

Det her album var superfedt allerede fra det første nummer. Jeg kunne hel sikkert finde på at vende tilbage til det senere.

You can't talk about Hanoi Rocks without mentioning Vince Neil. Ok. Done. Moving on... Back to Mystery City isn't isn't glam rock-y enough and that's the surprise here. There's no soup-y overproduced love ballads or high-pitched crooning. It's dirty, lo-fi and relatively basic. Put this against the other glam rock bands of the day, I'd choose this.

With the teased up hair and glam description I kept waiting for this album to get cheesy, but it never came. This blows Mötley Crüe, RATT, Poison, Whitesnake, and the like out of the water.

I enjoyed this album far more than I expected. It’s cheesy at times, sure, but it’s like a more distorted take on new wave and New Romantics, and I’m here for that.

ah, another fourth studio album and a band that references itself in song. I could see myself loving this punk rock sound back in the day if I had my hands on this album. pretty derivative sound, but still pretty good.

This was a fun listen! Obviously not an album that takes itself very seriously, but was still fun all the same. Kinda raucous, kinda dirty minded. But a fun romp throughout. In a weird way, it kind of reminded me of the New York Dolls and the Replacements, very similar energy. I'm not sure I feel like it is a particularly important or influential album, but still fun all the same.

Glam rock. Está bien. Venga, un 4.

4.0

My Mrs loves these, and she turned me onto The Cramps so her taste must not be questioned. However I haven't heard much of them, and mention of Motley Crue doesn't fill me with confidence. Surprisingly though, this is a much more punk rock record than I expected, the glam cock rock stylings are around the edges rather than the main thrust. A few songs remind me of Pink Grease, obviously influenced by these, and they're great.

4.5 because half of the album were blocked in my country

This was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a lot