Nobody Said It Was Easy

Four Horsemen | Format: Audio Cassette

Product Details

• Audio Cassette (August 6, 1991)
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002LOY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,549 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Overlooked Gem, March 13, 2004

By 

James F. Colobus (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nobody Said It Was Easy (Audio CD)

Talk about bad timing. Nobody Said It Was Easy was released in August 1991, several weeks before Nirvana unleashed Nevermind on the world and changed the face of popular music as we know it. The Four Horsemen included every ingredient necessary for big-time success between 1986-1990: a long-haired charismatic frontman, a pair of deft axe men who tore off fierce riffs with a pop sensibility, and supercatchy songs. They just happened to release Nobody Said It Was Easy a little too late.

There's an old story that back in the mid80s, Four Horsemen singer Frankie Starr came across newly arrived W. Axl Rose on the Sunset Strip and gave him an earful about how Frankie would be a star while Axl wouldn't amount to anything. Frankie didn't lack for hubris that's for sure - the line from the riff-tastic "Rocking Is Ma Business" goes "the book on rock and rock, MF, I wrote it!" Or how about this one from the scorching "Let It Rock"? - "Half a year from now we'll all be millionaires." It turned out that Frankie wasn't all that prescient - Axl became the mega-star and the Four Horsemen became anything but millionaires. Sadly, Frankie died in a motorcycle accident several years ago without the Four Horsemen achieving the widespread success they deserved.

Along with, ironically enough, Appetite for Destruction, Nobody Said It Was Easy is one of the few albums from the pop metal era that today still sounds as good as ever. If you're into Junkyard's eponymous debut or Cinderella's Heartbreak Station, or if you think the idea of a band that blends the styles of AC/DC and Lynyrd Syknyrd sounds appealing, you have to get your hands on Nobody Says it Was Easy. In fact, there's no time to waste - this thing isn't exactly a big seller and could go out of print at any moment. Once you're "out on the open road", cranking "Rocking is Ma Business", "Can't Stop Rockin'", "Let It Rock", and "Hothead", you'll be really grateful you picked it up. Just don't blame me if those sirens in "Moonshine" have you checking your rear-view mirror. The closing track, "I Need a Thrill" provides a fitting epitaph for Frankie who seems to have been one of those people who lived life hard, always chasing the next thrill. Thankfully, his music lives on, providing more than a few thrills for those of us lucky to own some of it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Rock Album With A Little Southern Feel, April 9, 2003

By 

Jesse Trent "crazy_jesse" (Chesterton, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nobody Said It Was Easy (Audio CD)

Rick Rubin was churning out this kind of AC/DC-influenced rock back in the late eighties, early nineties. Starting with the Cult's "Electric", Rick and his fellow producer, George Drakoulias, put out great rock albums by Masters of Reality, the Black Crowes, and these boys, The Four Horsemen.

The gems here include "Rockin' is Ma Business" (which I heard during the summer of '92 on the radio, which surprised me, because they didn't edit out Frank, the lead singer saying in a break right before the solo, "Hey, if it's so good, why am I still f___kin' broke?"), "Can't Stop Rockin'", "Moonshine" and the country/Skynnard-influenced "I Need A Thrill/Something Good."

Frank Starr's vocals go between a Brian Johnsony sound ("Can't Stop Rockin'") and a Skynnard-style vocal ("Tired Wings", "Moonshine", "Wanted Man") without the Jacksonville twang. The guitars are produced very well, and played well, too.

If you like straight-ahead American boogie rock, you should dig this one.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad Ass R & R, December 29, 2004

By 

Mister X (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nobody Said It Was Easy (Audio CD)

1991 - Grand Rapids Michigan, home to one of the best live music venues in western MI, Club Eastbrook, it was a typical evening, cool, yet warm fall weather, the smell of grass burning everyware, and the realization that you have a ticket to one of the hottest shows in town, "The Four Horsemen." Fresh off their first album, "Nobody Said It Was Easy", they were the night's headliner. They ripped into their set with a vengence, every song was incredible including the radio mainstays - "Nobody Said It Was Easy", "Rockin Is My Business" and "Tired Wings." The backbone of the album, these were the best songs on the radio at the time. With one of the most sought after producers, Rick Rubin, controlling their destiny they spit out one of the years best rock albums. No Nirvana didn't kill rock, a bunch of horrible albums by the giants did but not before The horsemen had their say. Although they accomplished more on their first album then Fred Durst will ever have, they didn't have a closer, I've heard their second album was good but it received zero radio play. Unfortunately Frank Starr passed away in the mid-ninties but they will always be an essential piece of automotive stereo hardware. One of the last great rock albums of the 90's before grunge and Clear Channel took over............