Today is Neil Diamond's birthday but I don't care.

I look and see it's not only me

So many others have stood where I stand

We are the young, so raise your hands

They call us problem child

We spend our lives on trial

We walk an endless mile

We are the youth gone wild

We stand and we won't fall

We're one and one for all

The writing's on the wall

We are the youth gone wild

That was your humble narrator's introduction to Skid Row and, boy, did it leave a mark. Here was another group of guys, albeit cooler & louder than I'd ever be, that spoke my same language. I was going to be young & rebellious forever. Mom, you just don't get it.

Skid Row released their eponymous debut album today in 1989. While they're rightfully lumped in with the hair metal acts of the day, Skid Row was a bit different.

Sure, they rose to fame by giving the ladies power ballads and giving the boys cock rock standards, but these fellas could play. They broke no new ground lyrically or musically but they represented the greater sum of all of the established pillars of 80s rock.

Anchored by a thunderous rhythm section made up of bassist Rachel Bolan and drummer Rob Affuso, Skid Row were the purest distillation of hair metal. Hailing from New Jersey rather than the Sunset Strip, Skid Row offered a bit of blue collar ballsiness that was often lacking in the scene. While they had the requisite pretty boy lead singer in Sebastian Bach (who could actually sing), and the guitar tandem of Snake Sabo and Scotti Hill, they also had a touch of danger that contemporary bands like the misnamed Danger Danger or Bang Tango lacked.

Their debut was an 80s tour de force and featured huge hits in "Youth Gone Wild", "I Remember You" and "18 and Life". The rest of the album rounded out as one of the best hard rock albums of the decade, as evidenced by it selling over 5 million copies.

Guitarist Snake Sabo leveraged his longtime friendship with Jon Bon Jovi to land the band a record contract and they were off to the races. The band was an instant success and a breath of fresh air for a scene that had become fairly stale. Opening for bands like Aerosmith, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi, Skid Row built themselves into an act that would eventually see the likes of Pantera opening for them.