Review by Mike McHale (from Pennsylvania, USA)

My name is Michael McHale. I am 26 years old. I live in Pennsylvania in the U.S.A. I am a die hard Hanoi Rocks/ Michael Monroe fan!!!! My story begins in the year 1984. I was only 13 years old. I was walking with my friend, Bill Kirchner, an avid music lover, on his paper route. I asked if he ever heard of Hanoi Rocks? I heard of the name but never really heard them. Bill said, "Yeah, I have Two Steps From The Move, you can borrow it". Well, I took it home, put it on the turn table and have been hooked on Hanoi ever since.

It's kind of funny, because with 2 steps being the first Hanoi album I was ever exposed to, it was wierd to go back and collect all of their earlier albums. 2 steps was definitely their most professional sounding and solid album. But even with the earlier Lp's, I was still very impressed. Me and my friend, Michael McDermott, were actually getting into the earlier Hanoi albums together. We'd both buy and then tape them for each other. Needless to say, we were becoming Hanoi junkies!! One day, Michael and I went down to the corner video store and were amased to come across All Those Wasted Years on video. We immediately rented it and were in awe at the performance that Hanoi put on. It was total energy and straight from the heart. It was obvious how talented this band was and how important their music would become to me. We rented that tape so much that when me or Michael would walk in the door to that video store the store clerk would automatically go to the shelf for the Hanoi video.

So here we are, it's now 1985, we're high school freshman's, totally into Hanoi Rocks, and just now realizing that there is no more Hanoi Rocks. It was terrible! We totally fell in love with a band that we would no longer hear thanks to a tragic car accident.

We kept on listening to Hanoi faithfully. The music just doesn't age and will always be fresh. In the meantime I begin to realize something. Although Hanoi was total chemistry, 5 musicians bonded together for a very special and unique sound, ther was something more special to me, and that is Michael Monroe. Great vocals, great performer, extraordinarily talented, just basically the apidomy of rock n' roll!!! This is when the story takes a turn in a better direction.

It is now 1989, we're high school senior's, and Michael puts out Not Fakin It. It's not Hanoi, but just an awesome album on Michael's part! Straight ahead rock n' roll from the world's most underrated rocker. He begins to get some exposure on MTV and seems that he may get the shot at fame that he so truely deserves! We all know the rest of this story. The true fame he deserves isn't attained, but for a much more important price. In order to preserve his image. Michael is truely a humble person and would never comprimise rock n' roll for fame. The music will always be of more importance to him! My story now becomes a little stagnant. Although Michael did receive a great amount of success in Japan, Scandanavia, Europe, etc., he didn't receive a whole hell of alot of exposure in the U.S. Now I know along with me there are a million other Michael fans in the U.S., and we will support him for as long as he makes music. But when I say exposure, I'm talking about promotions, information, mechandise, or anything pertinent to Michael. For example, you will never read much, if anything, about Michael in U.S. music publications. Before the internet days, we didn't have much of an idea of what Michael was up to, or if he had any plans to tour. We know thank you for that Jukka and Markku from the bottom of our hearts. Even the Hanoi discs went out of print. We also thank Axl and Uzi Suicide for that. It just truely became aggravating. My examples will continue.

I still continue listening to Hanoi and Michael related material faithfully. It wasn't until I became a full fledged music detective before I started discovering that Michael was still very much alive and rocking. I heard about Jerusalem Slim but obviously couldn't find it in the U.S. The suspense was killing me, Michael and Steve Stevens seemed like an interesting combo at the time. To bad it had to work out the way it did. It's basically 1993 now. I'm a college graduate, 21 years old, and visiting my friend in California. I visit a record store and came across Nights are So Long on Lp. I couldn't believe it. See that, it was released in 1987 and I didn't even discover it until 1993.

In the meantime, I'm discovering places that deal with import Cd's and pick up Jerusalem Slim. Also, finding video sources and reclaiming All Those Wasted Years which seemed to have gone out of print years ago. I am now fully recharged and collecting everything I could get my hands on. Collecting everything now on disc and getting as much video as I can. Now it's 1995 and I discover that Michael has a new band out, Demolition 23. Me and my friend Brian Rose buy it and fall in love with it. Here we are again discovering Michael's music a year too late. In actually, by the time we got the Cd, D23 were about ready to depart. In 1996, I discover the Hanoi Rocks homepage. Way to go Jukka, it's just what we needed, especially in the U.S. The only sad thing I now come across is the fact that D23 played at the Grande club in New York 10 consecutive Monday's and I'm sure they played other gigs as well. Again, I'm finding out that my idol lived and played a mere 2-3 hours away from my hometown and I never got to see it. Worse than that, I fall in love with Piece of Mind, and find out in Michael's biography, that he has moved back to Finland and seemed very frustrated with the U.S. and seems unlikely that he will return. Now my dreams are totally shattered! I would actually pray before I went to sleep every night that I could see Michael perform at least once in my life. Will my dream ever come true? Stay tuned...

It's now January 1998 and I read that Michael is doing a guest DJ gig in Toronto on Jan. 26th, my birthday! Circumstances prevented me from attending and I truely became depressed! Wait! The light at the end of the tunnel? It wasn't just a train! I'm scanning Michael's website to see how the gig went and I now discovered that he was scheduled to do a complete show at the Velvet Underground in Toronto on Feb. 1st 1998. I call Brian and this time there was nothing stopping us. We rented a car and drove 8 hours to Toronto to see Michael. Thank you God!! My prayers were truely answered! The show kicked ass! I was so close, right in the front row. I was truely in shock to have Michael perform right in front of me. At one point, I don't know what got into me, but I jumped on stage to sing with Michael. It wasn't a smart thing to do, but I got lucky, nobody seemed to mind too much! At the end of the night my real dream came true, I finally got a chance to meet Michael. If I had to describe Michael I'd use the following words: humble, modest, kind, very cool, totally real, and very appreciative of his fans and all of their support to him. He even told me that I sang good. Just probably trying to make me feel better. He is the best. My friend Brian describes that night the best when he said every star in the sky was in total alignment that night.

I would like to thank Michael from the bottom of my heart just for being the way he is. He left me with the fondest memory! I will cherish that night forever. His music is an integral part of my life and will be forever. I may sound selfish but I hope my dream comes true again someday soon! In closing I'd like to mention one thing. As Michael signed my poster that evening I told him how special his music is and how much that night meant to me. I said, " I know you usually say you can't put your arms around a memory, but I'll definitely put my arms around this memory!" Michael responded by saying "I'm not a memory, I'm still here!" And on Feb. 1st 1998 that's exactly what he proved to me, that he's still here to rock with a vengeance and will continue to do so as long as he's making music and we continue to support him. We love you Michael! See you next tour? I hope!!!