Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Well folks, what can I say? 2025 has been a brutal year for hard rock and metal passings. Look no further than last week’s Top 10. Unfortunately, the hits keep coming, as Marcie (Mark) Free, one of the premiere voices in AOR, passed away last week at the age of 71. Between King Kobra, Signal, and Unruly Child, Free’s vocal talents dominated one AOR gem after the next. Though none of her musical endeavors reached stratospheric commercial heights, amongst AOR circles, she is as revered a talent as Steve Perry and Lou Gramm, and will be deeply missed. In honor of Free, today we go back in time 40 years to the album that introduced this vocal behemoth to the world, King Kobra’s Ready to Strike. Rest in power Marcie!
The story of King Kobra begins with Ozzy Osbourne. Actually, scratch that. The story of King Kobra begins with Sharon Osbourne firing Carmine Appice from Ozzy Osbourne’s band, the reasons of which are well documented. At this point in time, to call Appice a seasoned veteran would be an understatement. His professional career had spanned nearly 20 years, and included stints drumming for acts such as Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogert & Appice, Rod Stewart, Ted Nugent, and of course, Ozzy. Simultaneously, a whole new wave of bands were rising from L.A. Cosmetically conscious acts like Mötley Crüe, Ratt, and Dokken threatened to uproot the careers of “dinosaurs” like the elder Appice brother.
Appice adopted an “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” attitude, slapping on a faceful of makeup himself and assembling his own band to keep up with the changing times: King Kobra. For the first time in Appice’s life, here was a band he could truly call his own. He wasn’t a mere member, like he was in Vanilla Fudge or Cactus, nor was he a background player, as he was relegated to in virtually every other outfit he played for. No, King Kobra was his band and he was the leader. Now came the important part: Who would make up this band?
Through a series of auditions and scanning the Sunset Strip, Appice settled on a lineup of relatively young unknown musicians. On vocals was Mark Free, holding down the bass was Johnny Rod, and providing dual axe attack were hotshot guitarists Mick Sweda and David Michael-Philips. Together, the five made up King Kobra, and quickly retreated to the studio with producer Spencer Proffer to record their debut album, Ready to Strike. At the time, Proffer was riding high off the success of Quiet Riot’s Metal Health, and was the most in-demand producer/songwriter in the pop metal scene, which fit exactly the approach King Kobra was going for.
Ready to Strike opens with its rip-roaring title track, sounding lifted straight out of an action blockbuster of the era. The drumming is uptempo, the riffing is metallic, and the song is unrelenting from start to finish. Similar to acts like Night Ranger and the aforementioned Quiet Riot, it’s traditional metal played through a coke-fueled, Sunset Strip filter: Far more polished than the euro trad metal crop of the era, but evocative of the same rampaging, balls to the wall delivery. Add an innuendo-laden chorus and voila: You’ve got a pop metal banger that checks off all the boxes.
Speaking of pop metal bangers, there is an irony in King Kobra’s signature song (or one of them, at least) being a cover, technically speaking. Although the “original version” wouldn’t be released for another year via the Transformers soundtrack, “Hunger” was written by none other than Canadian pop metallers, and fellow Proffer prodigies, Kick Axe. That said, it was the King Kobra version that hit airwaves first, and with all due respect to those heavy metal shufflin’ Canucks, is the superior version. Free’s vocal delivery alone sell the intensity of the lyrics and establish him/her as a force to be reckoned with.
Admittedly, Ready to Strike does occasionally fall victim to the usual cliches of the era, starting with “Shadow Rider”. Though far from forgettable or aimless, it doesn’t pack the same conviction as the opening title track or “Hunger”, relying heavily on a swaggering four on the floor beat and equally “too cool for school” lyrics. It’s fine and good, but there are stronger moments. The same can be said for “Shake Up”, which sounds lifted straight out of the Quiet Riot playbook, arena fist-pumping mania and all. In the same breath, the chorus on “Shake Up” is more earwormy than anything Quiet Riot would drop post-Metal Health, save for maybe “The Wild and the Young”.
Side A closes in fiery fashion with the glam-speed blitzkrieg of “Attention”. It’s a song like this where Appice shines front and center, pummeling us with his legendary double bass drum attack. Now while this was an all too common trope in the metal world come 1985, reaching even further extremes with the growing thrash scene and impending advent of death metal, it was Appice who had specialized in these double bass theatrics as far back as Cactus’s eponymous 1970 debut, foreshadowing the likes of Dave Lombardo, Alex Van Halen, and Philthy Animal by a generation. True to its title, “Attention” catches our attention, even if the lyrics largely consist of ’80s pop metal bravado.
As we flip over to side B, we’re greeted by “Breakin’ Out”, which may as well be “Ready to Strike” Part 2. Both songs boast the same tempo, same melodies, and same riffing approach. Perhaps one song is simply an inversion of another? Again, it’s coke-driven melodic metal, intended to get your blood pumping and give you delusions of grandeur, the types in which one imagines himself in a forgotten Stallone flick. Hey, even a himbo needs to daydream from time to time! Shoutout to King Kobra for concocted the soundtrack to such mirages.
Just as side A begins with a one-two punch, so does side B. “Tough Guys” follows “Breakin’ Out”, and has us believing that this band might be an even better AOR band than pop metal! One can’t help but recall the more accessible moments of ’80s Dokken when listening to this one. The riff boast a dramatic tension, the melodies are infectious, and the chorus is absolutely huge, boasting harmonies on top of harmonies. No, they’re not gang vocals; these are prim and proper harmonies, just like Dokken. Can you say “radio metal”?
A rather unorthodox acoustic ballad, “Dancing with Desire”, follows, sounding a far cry from the cookie cutter power ballads that ruled rock radio at the time. It’s ominous, delicate, and again, dramatic. For years, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this one. For such an American sounding pop metal album, “Dancing with Desire” has this almost exotic euro feel, similar to an old Scorpions or early Leppard ballad. Perhaps that’s the vibe they were aiming for? If so, mission accomplished. Again, Free’s vocals steal the show entirely.
The AOR atmosphere that dominates side B continues with a song that, with the right push, would’ve been a surefire hit, “Second Thoughts”. Similar to, “Tough Guys”, it’s less Sunset Strip sleaze and more west coast breeze. If you played it for me blindly, I’d easily mistake it for a Foreigner or Survivor deep cut, especially with that larger than life singalong chorus. For how aptly Free’s vocals accommodated this fare, it’s no wonder he’d/she’d explore this vein further in future vehicles Signal and Unruly Child.
Closing out Ready to Strike, the obligatory ode to rock n’ roll, “Piece of the Rock”. Again, call it cliche and Quiet Riot lite, but man, in a world where the metal scene was evolving at unstoppable pace, sometimes a simple, four on the floor chorus glorifying this music to the heavens on high was all one needed. Who’s handling the leads here? Sweda? Philips? Both? Well, they sure saved their best performance for last, cuz the solos on this one are sizzling hot.
Although Ready to Strike did not come storming out of the gate like Metal Health, it was received well enough to warrant a follow up in the more AOR flavored Thrill of a Lifetime (1986). Though this incarnation of King Kobra would implode soon after, Appice would keep King Kobra going sporadically through the years via various incarnations, he remaining the sole constant. Free, as mentioned earlier, would go onto front Signal and Unruly Child. Johnny Rod would join W.A.S.P., David Michael-Philips would join Lizzy Borden, and Mick Sweda would form a little band called BulletBoys (“Smooth up in ya!”). Not bad for a band of guys who started under the guidance of the great Carmine Appice. While Signal and Unruly Child’s debut albums might be stronger musically, Ready to Strike is a rock solid beginning for the iconic Free, whose supersonic vocals will echo through eternity.