The Hellacopters should have been huge

I know they are well respected and were extremely successful in their home country of Sweden and most of Europe,but they never quite caught fire in the USA.

They flew the flag for straight up ROCK in the face of grunge and Nu metal and crapola alt rock. In the dozen or so years they were around, they were a powerhouse live band and released enough music for five bands during that time frame.

When all the rage was to put bonus tracks on CD's they put out vinyl only bonus tracks.I always thought that was super cool considering vinyl sales and production,at least in the US, was in the toilet during their heyday.

They also released like 400 7" singles during their time... ;-)

....with tons of variations of color and in limited runs. They made it fun to try and collect all of their output.

I miss bands like them.

 

400 singles? Wow!

 

I was exaggerating,hence the wink...but seriously,they have about 50 or so over their career and most go for crazy $$$.

 

I saw them live here at least once - they put on a good show. As you say solid likable hard rock as if it were still the 70's. I bought one or two of their albums but the problem was I had so many classic rock powerhouse LPs I found myself putting on something decades older than a new Hellacopter record. As so it was.

 

I never heard of them. Interesting video.

 

some of their LPs sell for insane amounts online

 

The prices on eBay and Discogs are insane...and it's not just the asking prices,just check the sales history.

I own most of their output on vinyl and could buy a nice used car if I cashed them in ;-)

 

I saw them once, with the Nomads in Missoula. They weren't my sort of music. More Aerosmith than I care for. Nomads, on a good night were way more fun.

 

I saw them handfull of times. Great high energy good ol rock n roll show. They ended their last tour or shows with The Beatles "the end". I'm glad I caught that.

Also seen the main guy Nicke Andersson a few times with his new band Imperial state electric. A bit more pop influenced but a great rock n roll show as well

 

Well said! The Hellacopters certainly provided a much-needed alternative to the "alternative" at that time. Producer Chips Kiesbye did a fantastic job capturing the energy of The Hellacopters' live shows on the studio albums. One thing I find admirable about Kiesbye is that he has incredible taste in music and is a fan of artists from many different genres. With The Hellacopters, he really understood their music and helped them to achieve recognition.

 

I have a huge appreciation for The Hellecopters. Really dig the vocals (reminds me of Ace Frehley in a way), great hooks, and killer guitar tones. I own most of their output on CD. I tend to prefer their later period. Some of the rougher edges were polished off and the songwriting got better IMO compared to the early stuff. I think Rock'n'Roll Is Dead is one of the most perfect classic rock albums you could ever hope to hear.

The only negative I can come up with is that they tended to be somewhat formulaic. For example the number of tunes that use dual pickscrapes in the intros is silly!

 

Their from my native country, but I never liked them much. The problem for me is they sounded quite generic; the songwriting and vocals weren't special enough to really distinguish them from other Johnny Thunders/NY Dolls wannabes.
The Leather Nun played Swedish balls-out rock n roll better than them a decade earlier - all in my opinion

 

Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) was a big fan and played them frequently on his radio show out of L.A. I caught them live twice and was really impressed. "Carry Me Home" is a great powerpop cut, the singer had a killer voice. Somewhere between AC/DC and Cheap Trick...Hope you like this one:

 

OK I'm aware this is Hellacopters thread, but since someone already brought up Leather Nun I have to do one more. Very cool and very much Velvet Underground.

 

There you go - two pick scrapes in the intro to this song!

 

they toured australia a bunch of times. Incredible live band. Saw them one night absolutely tear it up in front of about 40 people.

 

They were a force to be reckoned with when they first came out. I gradually lost interest as they cleaned up their sound and started to sound more and more like KISS. It's been years since I've heard anything after Grande Rock, but the albums/comps before that are in my regular listening rotation. I should revisit those later releases...

 

They're a solid band and I enjoy their music.

 

I like the later material a good bit more than the earlier stuff (I haven't heard all - or prob even most - of the early stuff) - Rock'n'Roll is Dead and By the Grace of God are packed with killer tunes. Compressed all to hell - I file 'em in the Play in the Car with the Windows Down and Sunroof Open category.

 

Absolutely love them. One of the best bands I've ever seen.

What's really mind blowing to me, is that more people on this forum don't like them. So many people pining for the days of "classic rock" and they just don't even know or care about latter period Hellacopters.

 

Old people are weird!

 

Srsly! How the hell can you deny this?!?!

 

Or THIS slice of awesomeness?!?!

 

Found a nice copy of Payin' the Dues at a local store a few years ago and snatched it up. I'm glad I did. Haven't seen any of their stuff before or since.

 

Payin' the Dues was my first introduction to them; it's still my favorite.

Hard to believe that Nicke Andersson was the drummer for Entombed before he started this band. Played in both for a short time, I think.