Skid Row "Thickskin"

Thickskin is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Skid Row, released on August 5, 2003. The come back album is the first to feature new vocalist Johnny Solinger who replaced original singer Sebastian Bach and the only album to feature former Saigon Kick drummer Phil Varone. 

The album featured a change to a more modern sound. The come back album alienated most fans due to the absence of Bach, with many Skid Row fans believing a reuniting of Skid Row without Bach was not really Skid Row. It charted at number 46 on the Top Independent albums chart.

"Ghost" was released as a single with a music video filmed in Miami, Florida. A video was also made for the second single "New Generation", "Thick is the Skin" and "One Light", all of which were featured on the DVD "Under the Skin (The Making of Thickskin)". "I Remember You Two" is a remake of the single I Remember You in a punk rock influenced fashion. The song "Born A Beggar" was written with Sean McCabe when Skid Row was briefly going under the moniker Ozone Monday.

Daniel Böhm in his review for the German Rock Hard magazine was very happy of Skid Row's return and wrote that "Thickskin is modern, dripping US Rock'n'Roll with good taste and 100% street credibility", where are exalted "the most uncompromising corners of the last two Skids albums", which old fans may find hard to digest. AllMusic Alex Henderson found Thickskin "surprisingly good" and appreciated the fact that Skid Row revamped their music, combining the "melodic yet hard-driving effort" of their previous albums with a "sort of post-grunge sound one would expect from the Foo Fighters, Silverchair, Creed, or Default". He also predicted that "diehard Bach loyalists" would "inevitably insist that an alterna-rock version of Skid Row isn't really Skid Row." Melodic.net reviewer is one of them, who would "rather play Slave to the Grind again before hearing this one more time." He found that only a couple of tracks retain the flavour of the old band and wrote that, even though the songs are in general decent and the music sounds modern, Thickskin is not a "classic".

Track listing

1. "New Generation" Rachel Bolan, Dave Sabo 3:18
2. "Ghost" Bolan, Sabo, Damon Johnson 3:54
3. "Swallow Me (The Real You)" Bolan, Sabo 3:38
4. "Born a Beggar" Bolan, Sabo, Scotti Hill, Sean McCabe 4:28
5. "Thick Is the Skin" Bolan, Sabo 3:48
6. "See You Around" Bolan, Sabo, Johnson 4:19
7. "Mouth of Voodoo" Bolan, Sabo, Johnny Solinger 4:26
8. "One Light" Bolan, Sabo 4:07
9. "I Remember You Two" Bolan, Sabo 3:20
10. "Lamb" Bolan, Sabo 3:41
11. "Down from Underground" Bolan, Sabo, Johnson 4:35
12. "Hittin' a Wall" Bolan, Sabo, Hill 3:06

"I Remember You Two" is a sped-up version of the ballad "I Remember You" from their debut album.

Recording information:

Produced by Skid Row.

"Born A Beggar", "Thick Is The Skin", "See You Around", "Mouth Of Voodoo", "Lamb", "Hittin' A Wall" co-produced by Skid Row

Recorded at The Sanctuary Rumson, NJ, Shorefire Sound Longbranch, NJ, The Sanctuary and Reflections Charlotte, NC.

Mixed at Shorefire Sound Longbranch, NJ.

Masteded at Masterdisk, NYC.