Mean (album)

Mean
Studio album by
Released1987
StudioThe Music Annex, Menlo Park, California
GenreHard rock, glam metal
Length37:50
LabelEnigma
ProducerRonnie Montrose
Montrose chronology
Jump On It
(1976)
Mean
(1987)
Ronnie Montrose chronology
Territory
(1986)
Mean
(1987)
The Speed Of Sound
(1988)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal6/10[2]
Kerrang![3]

Mean is the fifth and final album by American hard rock band Montrose, released in 1987. It has much more of a glam metal sound than previous Montrose albums.[citation needed] It was the lowest-charting release on Montrose's career, reaching No. 165 on the Billboard 200 in June 1987.[4]

According to Ronnie Montrose, singer Johnny Edwards and drummer James Kottak were still officially in the band Buster Brown at the time of the recording of Mean.[citation needed] They later played together in the first line-up of the band Wild Horses.

Guitarist Ronnie Montrose and bassist Glenn Letsch played together in the band Gamma both before, and after, this album.

It featured the song "M for Machine" which was written as a potential song for the 1987 American cyberpunk action film RoboCop, directed by Paul Verhoeven.[5]

Drummer James Kottak went on to join the original line-up of hard rock/glam metal band Kingdom Come, remaining with that band during their most commercially successful period, prior to reconnecting with Edwards in Wild Horses. He would later rejoin renown hard rock band Scorpions in 1996, remaining with the group until his eventual firing in 2016, reportedly due to his struggle with alcoholism. After leaving Wild Horses, Edwards became the frontman for Foreigner on their 1991 album, Unusual Heat.

  1. ^ Franck, John. "Montrose - Mean review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 229. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  3. ^ Oliver, Derek (28 May 1987). "Montrose 'Mean'". Kerrang!. No. 147. London, UK: Spotlight Publications ltd. p. 13.
  4. ^ "Montrose". Billboard. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  5. ^ "RONNIE MONTROSE MEAN". Anti-m.com. Retrieved 18 November 2017.