Black out in the Red Room

Love/Hate was formed in 1985, when Jizzy Pearl (real name Jim Wilkinson) joined Jon E. Love, Skid Rose, and Joey Gold, in an 1980s influenced electronica band called Dataclan, after their previous lead singer walked out while playing in Japan. They lived together in an LA warehouse called SoulHouse, and in the first year put out a 4 track EP and played a short and not very well received tour of Mexico. At this time the band had a very 'glam' look, wearing make up. This may have been part of their bad reception in Mexico.In 1986 the band renamed themselves as Love/Hate from a song they played at the time called Love and Hate. They also changed their look and style to a more gothic image, having been influenced by the release of the album Love by The Cult. For the next couple of years they tried various styles of music and were pitched to many record companies in an attempt to get signed.1987, the band settled on the rock genre, and had some limited success, when one of their songs was used on the soundtrack for Critters 2 and an early version of "She's an Angel" featured in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.[1] Around this time they briefly employed bass player Tracy G, who would later play in Dio. After seeing a video of a drunken performance, lead singer Jizzy resolved to turn himself and the band around.In early 1988, Skid wrote a new collection of songs, which would later form the bulk of the album Blackout in the Red Room. They began performing regularly at the free Monday night 'No Bozo Jam' at Sunset Strip's Whisky a Go Go. This freed them from self-promotion of one off gigs and they began to collaborate as a band to improve their repertoire of songs. However, the band felt much frustration as at that time many Sunset Strip were being signed by record companies, with Glam Metal at its height, but Love/Hate were repeatedly overlooked.The band then put together a 4 track demo, and in December 1988 finally got a record deal with Columbia1989-1991 Blackout in the Red Room[edit]Their debut album Blackout in the Red Room was recorded in 1989 and released in March 1990. It reached No. 154 on the billboard 200.After a small club tour they supported Dio on an arena tour, their biggest to date, but were unpopular with the Dio fans.At this time the video for the single "Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?" was receiving good rotation on MTV, chiefly on Headbanger's Ball, and they went on tour with AC/DC to a much better reception. On this tour they first played in the UK, where they were very well received.