(via Goldmine magazine) by Martin Popoff
On this day back in 1986, not so super supergroup The Firm issued their second and final album, Mean Business. So it got me thinking, who are the better bands or artists out there who put out just two studio albums and were gone? Longtime Goldmine writer Martin Popoff responds. —Pat Prince
Thanks, Pat. This was tough, but a pretty satisfying exercise. And I’m with you, The Firm weren’t so hot, so I’ve got them hanging on for dear life at the bottom. It’s only sensible. By the way, on my debatable and/or honorable mentions list were the likes of Elastica, Dead Cross, Witchfinder General (yeah, I know, a late cheat album), Red Dragon Cartel, Fist (the NWOBHM one), Kerbdog, Nailbomb, Killer be Killed, Syd Barrett, Tin Machine, Whitford St. Holmes, British Lion, Brian May, Chickenfoot, Walter Becker and Arcade. Don’t rake me over the coals if some of these happened to put out some late reunion thing. I didn’t vet them completely, given that they weren’t making the Top 20. But enough about them. Here’s the Top 20 two-album acts of all time (says I). —Martin Popoff
20. The Firm
Weird, but elastic bass maven Tony Franklin figures twice in this list. Here, he’s teamed up with Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers and Manfred Mann drummer Chris Slade, and the results are weirdly stodgy and starchy, not impressing anyone, save perhaps for funky semi-disco novelty hit “Radioactive.” The first one went gold, pretty much from curiosity, and the second one, Mean Business died a death.
19. Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees consisted of future Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Michael Cartellone, Jack Blades from Night Ranger, Tommy Shaw from Styx plus The Whackmaster, The Tedinator, Deadly Tedly, otherwise known as Uncle Ted. Their completely and shamelessly hair metal debut went double platinum and their second and last, Don’t Tread, went gold. A third was shelved because everybody hated it. It’s become legend.
18. Streets
I quite appreciated the modern direction of Steve Walsh’s Schemer-Dreamer as well as Kansas’ Drastic Measures, and this fits right into that Sammy Hagar/Aldo Nova/Night Ranger/ Blue Öyster Cult The Revolution by Night zone. Streets featured as its rhythm section local drummer Tim Gehrt and future Kansas bassist Billy Greer, but the principles are City Boy guitarist Mike Slamer and Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh. What they come up with on their two albums is punchy ‘80s pop metal that is lively, catchy and guitar-charged, with the highpoint being their very first song, a chunky and quite likeable moderate hit called “If Love Should Go.”
Every Moment Has A Song 
