Life needs to be sweetened.

Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night because of a dream? A nightmare? Shaking and sweating trying to catch your breath but choking instead? It happens to me more times then I'd like lately. And it's always the same. Same concept I mean. All of the worst things I could imagine happening to me in one giant ''movie production'' playing in my head and it's horrible. Which is why I'm here right now, 3 am Sunday morning, trying to catch my breath...

This is not a good start for the first actual post I did in a while *and I'm sure the post won't be good either*, I know, I'm sorry, life has been absolutely insane. It really has been a couple of crazy weeks. So it's safe to say my mind has been...occupied with other things. Like people around me, is there something wrong with me or literally everyone around me? When did people get so stupid, judgemental, egoistic and self centered? When did they turn so evil, wishing bad upon everyone and everything slightly different then them? I really don't seem to understand. What do you get from so much hate? God knows.

I think it's best I focus on some music instead, gonna be interesting, here I am writing about an album and listening to something completly different and very local on my iPod while doing so. Lets see how this works out.

So this album is also on Rolling Stones 50 greatest hair metal albums of all time. And it really is one of the greatest. I mean not better then Skid Row's debut but pretty damn close. I got my copy at a flea market for like ten bucks. Which was the first and only time I ever found anything good or remotely interesting at our flea markets. Usually it's all trash with a price tag on it. Judging on that I could sell a ton of my old stuff that I threw out instead. Maybe that was my blonde moment.

Timing is everything isn't it? And isn't it funny how some people are just on the right place at the right time? So were Cinderella because guess what? Non other then Jon Bon Jovi is responsible for Cinderella even having their hair metal fairytale *bless you Jon* because he discovered them after catching their set in some Philadelphia club where he was recording his Fahrenheit album at the time. Jon was aparently completly in love with them and made the guy who signed Bon Jovi at Mercury go check them out who aparently said ''great looks, great music, great energy, but the drummer and the guitar player need to go'' or something along those lines. If I understood it correctly they've been listening to that a lot at the time. When they held auditions for that guitar player Snake Sabo auditioned. Can you imagine that? Snake! At the end LaBar got the place, they got the deal and the rest is history...is it ever that easy? I doubt it. Hah.

Can we just talk about the cover for a second though? What's with the pink fog and that huge hair? And the clothes? I mean there is so much more, SO MUCH MORE to this band then the whole glam thing they've got going on. It's giving me this vibe, what would you call it today, ''mainstream''.

Their first big hit was Nobody's fool which really is a great song, to be fair the album is worth getting for that song alone. Though I think what really put this album on the map and gave it a place in music history was when they were invited on tour with Bon Jovi. The Slippery when wet tour that is. Totally made them stars, got them number three on the Billboard chart and the album went triple platinum. Can we just take a moment here, like can I just point out how unfair life is? I really should be 20 years old in the 80's, all the band boys...this is so unfair. Or maybe this is one of those moments when you realize there's a reason behind everything...I'd be a total groupie in those days. Let's move on before this post gets out of control. Hah.

Cinderella's second album, which I actually prefer was just as succssesful and then it all went south with Heartbreak station. I'm still not sure what happened there but jesus it was bad. Their fourth album was pretty much ignored and it may had to do something with this new decade and alternative music starting to grow or the fact that the albums just aren't good. I'm sorry boys, I still love you but I don't love those two albums.

But still all that aside when we talk about my favorite glam, hair metal, hard rock from the 80's without too much thinking Cinderella makes that list. Bon Jovi really knew what's up. Back in the day they played their music the way they wanted to and it was the best thing ever. Glam metal at it's finest. And let's not forget all the emotion in it too.

Night songs their debut came out in 1986 and totally rattled the glam metal scene at the time because it was something new and different. They had that dirty sleazy metal yes but they managed to put raw emotion into their music as well but that is far more obvious on their second album which is also better then this one but let's not go there again. I really do love ''Don't know what you got'' that much yes.

Night songs has ten songs and they're all powerful, great songs, with Tom's growls and all the amazing solo's it really makes it for a bitchin album. The final product? Woah, all I can say is woah. First time I played it I was like ''damn'', such an amazing record. Guitar parts are really something else. And not to mention Tom's charisma, he's got it. That something that most modern singers lack on stage. But he had it. The accent, the growl, everything. You can't mistake his voice, it's so special and emotional. And let's not forget that Jon Bon Jovi actually sings on this album, yup he did some back vocals. I think that would make me love Cinderella even if I didn't. Huge Bon Jovi fan yes.

The opening title track has this wonderful dark prelude before it hits us with those guitars and that classic 80's metal sound which really makes it for an ideal opening. Shake me is a total metal anthem and lets not even begin with Hell on wheels and that guitar solo or drumming in it. You know what they actually remind me of? Like if AC/DC and Def Leppard had a baby, I think Cinderella would be that baby. Ha!

Then you've got Nobody's fool. Power ballads...such an 80's thing, even the toughest bands seemed to do ballads back then. This song though, it's really nice, still one of my favorites, Keifers voice really shines through on it and it has this slow, kinda metalish vibe. And the lyrics too, all in all it's a great song.

Other great songs on it are obviously Nothing for nothing, Somebody save me which has a serious AC/DC vibe with that one riff and of course Back home again which has a guitar solo to die for.

All in all, it's a great album and honestly you need to get pass the cover, listen with your ears not eyes, as I said there's so much more to them then big hair. There is only one singer out there with a voice like Tom Keifer and that is Tom Keifer so seriously give them a chance and play it, I promise you'll love it.

This is as good as it gets this week, and as much as you get, I'm exhausted, my mind won't cooperate properly. Now go listen to some Cinderella kids and party on.

Stick to your guns.

So you want to be the big time some people have to drag you down. There's no living in the backseat if you're gonna drive through town. And when you pray for independence, boy, you better stand your ground.

You got to give it all you got now or you might get shot down, fight hard until the battle is won.

What would you guys say it's the best way to handle stress? By figuring out what's causing it? Alright. Done that but there's nothing I can do about it. I can't erase the thing that's causing it out of my life and I sure as hell can't currently make it better. By doing what you love to do? Okay...here's the problem due to so much stress and pressure I'm currently under I can't even enjoy the things I love anymore. I feel anxious and guilty if I drop the things I'm supposed to be doing for just one minute. By managing your time well? I've never been good at that. No matter how well I divide my time there's always too little of it. I swear days should have 34 hours for me to get everything done. I honestly envy the people who have their shit together and can get everything done and even get a full night of sleep after. By learning the difference between worrying and caring. “Worrying is an attempt to exert control over the future by thinking about it,” whereas caring is taking action...or so I heard. A psychologist wrote a fairly good example of this “If you are away from home for a week, you can worry about your houseplants every single day and still return home to find them brown and wilted. Worrying is not watering.” Stressing over things you can do nothing about is silly I know but how do you turn it off? I tend to worry about the stupidest things. Things that aren't even mine to worry about. It's easy to say you don't care, it's easy pretending while it's eating at you on the inside. Maybe you can reduce stress by embracing mistakes? Or at least if you stop suffocating yourself with perfectonism. I curse the artist in me because if things aren't perfect they aren't good enough for me and I hate that about myself. Mistakes are healthy, you learn from them and yet I do my very best to avoid them. Which is probably not the best thing I could be doing. Maybe I should just say fuck it and take a couple wrong turns? Maybe you're supposed to get lost sometimes. What do I know right? I was clearly not made to be an adult...

Maybe I should just stick to the only therapy I know works best...

This must be my favorite Bon Jovi album, I mean I like pretty much all of their music but New Jersey is my favorite. Slippery when wet is such a good record but this one...holy shit. I am so in love with Lay your hands on me as is but when you put this record on and it starts with that beat...if I close my eyes I feel like I'm back at the stadium and there's 60 000 people screaming with me. I can hear them, I can see the band, I get so lost in the memory. It's amazing. One of my fondest memories. Then you've got Bad medicine which is such a fun song ''hold on, wait a minute, I gotta do it again'' hah. And Torres is quite impressive on it. And then there's the classics like Born to be my baby and I'll be there for you and Living in sin. Such great songs to be honest. I don't even remember when I first started listening to this band. It's been years...it was always playing in my mothers car along with Guns n' Roses. And I always loved it. But I don't think Runaway was what really hooked me I think it was actually Living on a prayer. How cliche the bands biggest hit. I know. But despite everything Living on a prayer is an amazing song nobody can't deny that. I've seen them live twice and both times Living on a prayer though the last song was my favorite moment. Both times the fans did the song justice screaming it so loud I couldn't even hear the band anymore and it was such an amazing moment. Standing couple of meters away from the stage, with 60 000 people around you, screaming those lyrics as loud as they can back to the band...I can't put it into words what an amazing feeling that really is. The show in Milan was an amazing show, Jon was getting so much shit after Sambora left and I know at the end of the day it was toughest on him. He didn't just loose a band member but also a friend and people bitching at him and returning tickets on that tour really pissed me off. That's why I was so happy when Italy went above and beyond to show him the support he deserved. And I've seen the Boss and I've seen the Stones but Bon Jovi in Milan will remain my favorite gig forever. It was amazing. I love all the songs on this album, I love the biggest hits obviously but I gotta say my favorite song is Stick to your guns, putting Jon's cowboy obsession aside this song is perfect, it's about standing your ground, it's about not backing down even if you're scared and even if things get hard. Hell I'm about ready to give up many times, sometimes I'm tired, sometimes I had enough, and sometimes I just can't take it no more. But I never do. This might sound stupid but I don't give up because I don't want to disappoint my ''heroes''. The people I look up to. Hey it might be a dumb fucking reason but it keeps me going when things get hard. I guess at the end of the day my music does in fact inspire me to be better and to do better. What inspires you guys? Art? Poetry? Music? Love? Something else? Feel free to leave a comment or email me if you're shy. I'd love to hear it. Mondays suck and I wish I could have another weekend after the weekend to get some sleep but when was life ever that easy? Well have a good week, take care of one another, stay safe and I'll see you on friday!

Stick to your guns ain't nobody gonna hurt you, baby, you can go for the trigger but only if you have to. Aim from the heart some will love and some will curse you, baby, and you can go to war, but only if you have to.

Well, you know that I been through it I got the scars to prove it, fight hard and the Battle is yours.