My journey through Hanoi Rocks, and now lead singer, Michael Monroe, ends today with his second solo effort, 1989's Not Fakin' It. It's been a solid trip so far, and I might even be a little bummed that it's coming to a close. It's rare that I find "new" music that actually makes me a fan, and this has definitely happened with all of this combined music so far.
After the breakup of Hanoi in 1985, Monroe ventured out solo. His first effort, Nights Are So Long, was release in 1987 by Yahoo!, and with it came attention from larger labels. This resulted in him shifting to Mercury for his second release, um...this one. Not Fakin' It would become his biggest solo success. This was aided by the music video for Dead, Jail Or Rock 'N' Roll, which would see steady rotation on MTV. It's possible, but not confirmed that this popularity was based on the appearance of Axle Rose in the video.
At the time of this album's release, Guns N' Roses's label, Uzi Suicide, would be actively re-releasing the albums of Hanoi Rocks on CD. This perhaps would bet what led to Axel's inclusion in the video.
Playing through it, for some reason, parts of it felt familiar. Specifically, She's No Angel, and All Night With The Lights On. I would bet money I'd heard these before, but I can't for the life of me figure out where or when. Whatever the case was, I was digging these two tracks.
Additionally, I was also down with Dead, Jail Or Rock 'N' Roll, Shakedown, Man With No Eyes, Smoke Screen
Upon its release, Michael would spend 1989 and 1990 touring. During this time, he'd be joined on stage by Slash for multiple shows in Los Angeles and garner the attention of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. They invite him to play saxophone on Big Ten Inch, which they performed at Les Paul's 75th birthday at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York.
He'd close out 1989 and kick of 1990 by performing along with Bryan Adams, Don Henley, Huey Lewis and Loudness in two New Year's shows at the 70,000-seat Tokyo Dome in Japan, on 31 December 1989, and 1 January 1990. Guns 'N Roses would invite him to play both harmonica and sax on the track, Bad Obsession for their Use Your Illusion album, and then invite him back for their 1993 The Spaghetti Incident? where he sang on Ain't It Fun.
Despite all of this, his solo career didn't prove as successful as hoped. Monroe would take a bit of a hiatus, but then continue his solo career in 1996, releasing several studio albums through his latest, Outerstellar, which was released in February 2026. In between all of that, he also briefly reformed Hanoi Rocks with Andy McCoy, and released new studio albums under the band's name. He remains very active, continuing to tour and showing no signs of calling it a day any time soon.
But, with that, I wrap up my listening sessions of both Hanoi Rocks, and the solo career of Michael Monroe. As I've said in a few posts already, it's been a good time, and I'm definitely a fan. If I have one disappointment, it's that I completely missed out on this in real time during the 80's.
Tomorrow, I jump into another all new 80's hair band, but from there, I think I'm going to take a break from the metal scene, and drift back into some new wave. I've got lots to listen to still, and it's onward each day just crossing albums off. You'd think I'd slow down, catch up, and then go from there, but nah, just as of today, I've picked up seven more albums.
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