Skrapp Mettle

I was working at Kinko's in Ventura, circa 1986, when some fellow metal head came in off the street and gave me a cassette to listen to. Lo and behold, the cassette was by a band named Skrapp Metal and the title of recording was "Sensitive." I don't know what I expected when I popped that sucker in to my cassette player, but what I got was perhaps the most politically incorrect recording ever made. This CD was pure metal and virtually every song on it was about getting head.

I don't know what I expected when I popped that sucker in to my cassette player, but what I got was perhaps the most politically incorrect recording ever made. This CD was pure metal and virtually every song on it was about getting head.

Skrapp Mettle's music is outstanding 80s style metal and the lyrics will have you howling with laughter. Although the players listed on the CD are bogus, rumor has it that Jeff Scott Soto was behind the project. Regardless, each tune on this CD is absolutely riotous - both in a funny way and in a kick-ass way. The song titles really say it all:

You're So Sensitive
That Load
Slap Little Jonny behind The Ear
Kill The Rich
Pearl Necklace
Spunk
Star Hag
Sherbert
Retire Or Die (another rumor says that David Coverdale sings this one)
Shake the Monster
Muff Diving In The 80's

There are no hidden or deep meanings on this CD. The sexual innuendoes are blunt, straight-forward and in-your-face (no pun intended) throughout. I definitely wouldn't let my kids listen to this! A special note of interest: The CD (I loved the music so much, I had to trade in my cassette for a CD) does not have a warning label on it. Kiss that, Tipper!!

The bad news is that it may be difficult to find this CD these days. The link above will take you to amazon.com where you can usually find a used copy or you can always keep checking eBay and see what pops up!

Skrapp Mettle get the full four chainsaws for superior musicianship and good, filthy, sexually explicit language. It's always refreshing to hear a band that breaks all the rules!

Skrapp Mettle is (according to the CD): Spunk - lead vocals; Nasty Gerbil - keyboard, vocals; Snuff Buzzsaw - guitar, vocals; Beef - bass, vocals; Pounder - drums, vocals.


One of those long-lost footnotes in metal history, Skrapp Mettle consisted of mostly anonymous musicians who came together to record one album of rather pedestrian rock metal, though the lyrics are at times quite over the top and certainly not to be taken at all seriously ("That Load", with its anthemic chorus of "swallow that load!" is simply hilarious). The one known quantity here is vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, who's apparently quite adept at the anonymous singing bit (he was also the "secret" vocalist in Kryst The Conqueror) as well as some serious work for guitar virtuosos Yngwie Malmsteen and Axel Rudi Pell. The one album here, Sensitive, really didn't make much noise and the band (if it was ever a band at all) quickly disappeared, never to be heard from again. One for the humor archives if nothing else.


Skrapp Mettle promotional CD single with Dweezil Zappa (1991) - Around the
time the Skrapp Mettle album was released, Dweezil Zappa acquired
a copy of the CD, found out who was involved with the project, and
offered his guitar services should there be any future Skrapp Mettle
recordings. Thinking it would help to get radio play, the producer
decided to include Dweezil on two existing tracks, and a two-track
CD single was released to radio featuring "Star Hag" and "Sherbert,"
both of which are "Special Radio Mixes Featuring Dweezil Zappa."