As a huge Racer X fan in my teen years, I bought up any projects the former members of the band were involved with from the late 80s to the early 90s.

A few years after Racer X called it quits, former members Juan/John Alderete and Bruce Bouillet formed a band called The Scream.

Their album release, “Let It Scream”, is a an incredible recording of great songs with the stunning vocals of John Corabi.   There are many gems on that album from touching balladry to all out rock.  Some of my favorite songs ever are on this album.    Still to this day, not many recordings compare to that one.    If only more people were hip to it at the time, it would have had the potential to be a huge album.

Ironically, with bands like The Scream, music didn’t have to go bad like it did in the 90s.. but it did.

A few years later, it seemed like the perfect choice when Motley Crue hired John Corabi to replace Vince Neil.   He was a GREAT replacement (and improvement) for the the self-titled “Motley Crue” album. Still, John didn’t seem to get his due.  A true musical travesty, as he was once again overlooked.   By the mid-90s, the overall climate of music was in complete suck mode.  Again, it didn’t have to be.

John has carried on in various projects over the years (including being the guitarist for RATT for a while) and is one of the people on my short list that I’ve always wanted to see live and never had the opportunity to.

Fast forward to 2014.  I’m sitting upstairs at The Whisky with my buddy when John Corabi sits at the table next to us.    We end up talking to him for a minute and he says he hasn’t played a note at The Whisky in over 20 years, as the Motley Crue album was released just over 20 years ago (March 15, 1994 to be exact).   He was very cool and posed for a picture with internet sensation Joe Dolan.

John came out rocking the acoustic guitar and played an incredible 30 minute set that started with “Love (I Don’t Need It Anymore)”.    His guitar playing and singing were top notch as he tore through some solo tunes, some choice cuts off of the The Scream’s first album (“Man In The Moon” and “Mother, Father, Son – one of the best tunes ever/ a personal favorite that hardly anyone knows about).

Just before the show, John took some pictures with some guys that came all the way from Australia to see John in concert.  As evidenced by their shirts, they were there to see “Hooligan’s Holiday” from Motley Crue.

The next thing you know, the four Australian dudes are up on stage rocking out with John as he played their tune.   It looked like a pretty surreal experience for the guys as they took selfies and pics on their phones and had a great time onstage.   Good for them.

The guys join in around the 1 minute mark here:

Full tune:

The fact that talent like John’s has been so ridiculously overlooked is just proof positive that most people are complete morons when it comes to good music.  It’s really sad.

The awesome set ended all too soon.   Mission accomplished.