Glass Tiger first appeared in 1986, the year that
Cutting Crew and
the Outfield also debuted on pop radio. What do these bands have in common besides being from the same graduating class?
Glass Tiger, like
Cutting Crew and
the Outfield, roamed between Top 40 rock and mainstream new wave.
The Best of Glass Tiger: Air Time collects choice cuts from a group that is usually remembered for one song, "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)." Probably inspired by
Simple Minds' similarly titled "Don't You (Forget About Me)" a year earlier, "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" still sounds like
Wham!, mainly because
Alan Frew's vocals during the chorus are nearly identical to
George Michael's. Bryan Adams' prominent cameo -- there's no mistaking that raspy voice -- epitomizes the band's desire to make it big, and for a little while
Glass Tiger was on MTV's roll call. "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" is pure saccharine, '80s FM candy at its most frothy, but it's undeniably catchy. The ballad "Someday" is even sweeter. One can only imagine how many high school boys were beaten up by heavy metal cliques for admitting to like
Glass Tiger in the mid-'80s, and even now they're still a guilty pleasure. However,
The Best of Glass Tiger should've stopped with their second LP, 1988's Diamond Sun; by their third record, the group had become nearly unlistenable. On "Animal Heart,"
Glass Tiger sounds like
Def Leppard, trying fruitlessly to imitate
Leppard's arena-filling harmonies and immaculately polished hard rock guitars. Perhaps
Glass Tiger realized that their hopes for another Top 40 single had faded and it was time to court the AOR market. From "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" to "My Song,"
The Best of Glass Tiger is the perfect CD to sing along to when nobody else is around; after that, even the most hardcore aficionados of '80s fluff will feel a tad queasy. ~ Michael Sutton