"Nobody's A Hero" by Trixter

Trixter is a rock band from New Jersey that caught the tail end of the hairband craze. Their self-titled debut album from 1990 did really well, despite a lack of impressive chart performances for the singles. Their best was their first, "Give It To Me Good," which peaked at #65. "One In A Million" and "Surrender" stalled at #75 and #72, respectively.

By the arrival of their sophomore record, "Hear!", in late 1992, grunge was in full swing. Nothing charted from this album, despite a strong single in "Road Of A Thousand Dreams." The band went on hiatus, with members pursuing other projects (see 40 Ft Ringo), until their reunion in 2007. They've released two new records since their reunion.

"Nobody's A Hero" was a great tune from "Hear!" that might have been a hit a few years earlier than its release. Actually the perfect song for our current times.

“Inside Your Head” by 40 Ft. Ringo

From the ashes of the “hair band” Trixter (remember 1990’s “Give It To Me Good”?), Steve Brown and PJ Farley carried on together to form 40 Ft. Ringo. 40 Ft. Ringo had an updated sound, more like SR-71 and American Hi-Fi. The guys set out to make “hard pop that rocks for a good time”.

“Funny Thing” is the only full-length album by 40 Ft. Ringo, founded by two members of Trixter.

The self-titled record is packed with upbeat catchy rock tunes, but the standout track for me is “Inside Your Head”.

You can’t help but want to sing along to the chorus of this energetic rocker. It should have fit easily on the airwaves of 2004 radio, but for some reason the song never caught fire. 40 Ft. Ringo deserved better. Could it have been the name? Steve Brown addressed where the odd name came from in an interview with Rock United:

“It comes from my good bud, Mark Helbock, who went to see the Beatles anthology in a movie theater. There was a close up of Ringo he laughed and said..." wow, a 40FT. RINGO ". He told me the story and I said, ‘what a great name for a band’... and there you have it.”

To the delight of fans, Trixter has reunited, producing two new records for the Frontiers label, “New Audio Machine” (2012) and “Human Era” (2015). Steve Brown also filled in for Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell when he underwent his cancer treatments.