HEAVY BIRTHDAYS

Happy 74th
Dennis Elliott (FOREIGNER) - August 18th, 1950

Happy 71st
Jim Ayoub (MAHOGANY RUSH) - August 18th, 1953

Happy 60th
Andreas "Andi" Deris (HELLOWEEN, PINK CREAM 69) - August 18th, 1964

Happy 57th
Blas Elias Gomez (SLAUGHTER) - August 18th, 1967

Happy 56th
Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE, BILLY IDOL, FOREIGNER, OZZY OSBOURNE) – August 18th, 1968

HEAVY RELEASES

Happy 38th
BON JOVI's Slippery When Wet - August 18th, 1986

Famed photographer Mark “Weissguy” Weiss from The Decade That Rocked explains the album cover photo shoot controversy!  

"The guys came home after finishing the album, the album title was changed to Slippery When Wet inspired by the #5. A strip club in Vancouver near where they were recording. The idea was to do a photo by the beach and get some girls posing with cut out shirts with the new title of the album on it. Jon lived right across the street from the beach in Bradley Beach, New Jersey, where we did the shoot. All the guys came with their cars, motorcycles and girls. We needed a few more girls so I walked across the street and pulled a few more. My assistant Danny took a walk with Tico across the street and came back with just what the Dr. ordered. An Italian hot girl named Angela. We found her – this was going to be the girl on the cover. Then I got some soap and water and started having a car wash party. The photo ended up in the sleeve of the album."

"The album was done. The label had 200,000 copies printed up in her cut up Slippery When Wet custom t-shirt. Everything was ready to go. But this was 1986, and the PMRC was in full swing. Record stores were threatening the labels to ease up on the explicit content and imagery or they wouldn’t sell the records. Polygram Records knew they had a smash album on their hands, and they didn’t want to jeopardize that success. So we went back to the drawing board to come up with another cover."

"Jon came to my studio in New York shortly after the news that we had to come up with a new cover. He just said to me, “Garbage bag. Spray bottle.” I propped up the bag and sprayed it, then Jon wrote the words Slippery When Wet. “That’s it, there’s the cover.” He didn’t even wait to see the Polaroid. The next day I delivered the photo, and the rest is history."

Happy 26th
OPETH's My Arms, Your Hearse - August 18th, 1998

Happy 15th
BURNT BY THE SUN’s Heart Of Darkness – August 18th, 2009
GOREAPHOBIA’s Mortal Repulsion – August 18th, 2009
GWAR’s Lust In Space – August 18th, 2009

Happy 14th
SATANIC WARFARE’s Nachzeher – August 18th 2010

Happy 10th
DRAGONFORCE’s Maximum Overload – August 18th, 2014



Happy 1st
Atreyu - The Moment You Find Your Flame – August 18th, 2023
Cyhra - The Vertigo Trigger – August 18th, 2023
Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium – August 18th, 2023
Nocte Obducta - Karwoche (Die Sonne Der Toten Pulsiert) – August 18th, 2023
Orbit Culture - Descent – August 18th, 2023
Ringworm - Seeing Through Fire – August 18th, 2023
Skálmöld - Ýdalir
Slipknot - Live At MSG – August 18th, 2023
Spirit Adrift - Ghost At The Gallows – August 18th, 2023
Warmen - Here For None – August 18th, 2023