Top 10: Trouble Songs

Every legendary band started somewhere. Some are lucky enough to become the pride and joy of their homeland. What Iron Maiden is to London, Van Halen is to Los Angeles, and Metallica is to the Bay Area, Trouble is to Chicago. Despite not being as world renowned as the three aforementioned bands, Trouble is equally as influential. Their first two albums, Psalm 9 (1984) and The Skull (1985), did more for the evolution of doom metal than any release since Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (1972). By the 1990s, they’d prove that they were not only one of the world’s premiere metal bands, but one of the world’s premiere hard rock bands as well, by incorporating Zeppelinian grooves and Beatlesesque psychedelia that should’ve catapulted them to superstardom. Unfortunately, Trouble never made it past cult status, albeit being universally loved within the metal underground. Even more tragic is the sudden passing of Eric Wagner, the band’s unmistakable frontman and poignant lyricist, due to COVID-19. This week, we pay tribute to these heavy holy rollers by attempting to narrow down their flawless catalog to 10 songs. Mind you, this is for homage’s sake and would probably change dramatically if you asked us to name our Top 10 Trouble Songs this time next week. So without further ado, here are our Top 10 Trouble Songs.

10. “Run to the Light”

Kicking off our list at #10 is the title track off Trouble’s third album, Run to the Light (1987). Compared to Psalm 9 and The Skull, Run to the Light was a far more polished effort. However, it didn’t lack any of those signature Trouble elements: pummeling doom riffs, thundering drums, and philosophical lyrics delivered with dire urgency. “Run to the Light” is practically progressive in nature, starting as your typical mid tempo headbanger before segueing into a dreamy acoustic passage. Throughout the 6 minute opus, these dark (heavy) and light (soft) sections clash with each other, playing out like the musical equivalent of the Book of Revelation. In this battle between darkness and light, Wagner makes it clear which side he’s on.

“In the light, is our salvation
Pain is just a memory
In the light, you will find the truth
All the answers, for those who want to know”

9. “The Misery Shows (Act II)”

Written as a sequel to “The Misery Shows” off Run to the Light, “The Misery Shows (Act II)” showcases Trouble’s dynamic ability as musicians, songwriters, and arrangers. If it were released two decades earlier, it’d be hailed alongside Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” as one of the greatest pieces of rock music ever written. If any other band had written such a song, it would be the highlight of their career, but because Trouble is THAT prolific, it comes in at #9. Everything about this song is goosebump-inducing: the acoustic guitars, Wagner’s soothing low range, the accompanying harmonies, and a cryptic nightmarish midsection, before resolving back to the tranquil intro. “The Misery Shows (Act II)” is more than talent. It’s divine intervention.

8. “Pray for the Dead”

After causing a splash with their game changing debut, Psalm 9, Trouble knew they had a reputation to uphold. They couldn’t just rehash Psalm 9. They had to one up it and then some. And that’s exactly what they did on The Skull. For a band who strived for the light, Trouble returned darker and heavier than ever with a collection of songs that epitomized doom metal, the first of these songs being “Pray for the Dead”. I couldn’t imagine what this monolithic slab of godly gloom sounded like coming out of a stereo in 1985. It was the musical and lyrical antithesis of Slayer’s Hell Awaits and Possessed’s Seven Churches, yet equally as extreme. 35+ years later and it’s still downright devastating.

7. “Psychotic Reaction”

Remember in the intro paragraph when I said Trouble is one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time? Consider this song exhibit A. “Psychotic Reaction” combines the eternal cool swagger of Zeppelin, primal heaviness of Sabbath, and melodic sensibilities of Thin Lizzy, all wrapped up with a signature Trouble twist. It’s as much of a hip-swayer as it is a headbanger. It also features one of the greatest uses of cowbell in a rock song, thanks to late drummer extraordinaire Barry Stern. “Psychotic Reaction” is the textbook definition of an earworm. I can listen to it 10 times in a row and still not grow tired of it. That, my friends, is the sign of timeless music.

6. “At the End of My Daze”

Much like our previous entry, “At the End of My Daze” showcases the hard rock side of Trouble. The opening track off their iconic 1990 self titled album, it’s a song that SHOULD be enjoying regular classic rock radio airplay à la “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” or damn near any Eagles cut. Legendary producer Rick Rubin really unlocked Trouble’s potential to become global superstars. Why it didn’t happen I’ll never know, especially when the far less superior Black Album by Metallica would explode a year later. Clearly, the market for a mainstream metal/hard rock album was there. Sales figures aside, Trouble speaks for itself as the crowning achievement of both Trouble and Rick Rubin’s careers (sorry Reign in Blood, Danzig, and Yeezus).

5. “The Skull”

Growing up in a Catholic household, the annual attendance of Good Friday mass was a mandatory ordeal. Each year, we’d hear the tale of the Passion of Christ, occasionally set to the tune of pseudo-new age rock opera, courtesy of our church’s music director. Think Yanni meets Meat Loaf. Well folks, I’m fully convinced no musician, Christian or otherwise, could fully capture the agony of Christ the way Trouble does on “The Skull”. I’m no orthodox Catholic, but this song brings tears to my eyes every time. Wagner’s cries for forgiveness are so convincing. You’d think the Lord himself possessed his body while laying down those vocals. If every church adopted the music of Trouble as hymns, atheism would be a thing of the past.

4. “Psalm 9”

“The Lord shall endure forever
For he hath prepared his throne for judgment
And they that know thy name will put thy trust in thee
For thou Lord have not forsaken those that seek thee”

How do you enforce such a grand proclamation? With a chugging doom riff hitting you upside the head like a hammer, of course! On an album full of raw doom-thrash and 80s style Sabbath worship, “Psalm 9” serves as the perfect closer, combining mosh friendly riffs, traditional guitar melodies, and an all out doomy atmosphere. No other band sounded like Trouble did in the early 80s. Sure you had the Sabbathian traditionalism of Pentagram, and the drugged out, punked up rage of Saint Vitus, but both bands lay at radically different ends of the doom metal spectrum, at least compared to Trouble.

3. “Assassin”

“Assassin” first appeared on Trouble’s 1982 demo. By the time it made its way onto Psalm 9, the song was right at home on DIY mixtapes alongside Metallica’s “Whiplash”, Slayer’s “Black Magic”, and so forth. The advent of thrash was at hand, and while musically Trouble seemed to counter it, they could equally compliment it. What made Trouble such an excellent band is that they never tried to write, play, or sound a certain way. They just did what came naturally to them. And even they, the high priests of doom, knew you needed breakneck aggression to tell the tale of a “cold blooded killer”. To do otherwise would be “insaaaannnneeeee”.

2. “The Wolf”

From a musical perspective, “The Wolf” is the older, wiser, refined cousin of “Assassin”. It’s fast, ferocious, and one of the heaviest tracks on the largely midtempo, hard rock centric 1990 self titled album. If this list were my Top 10 “Favorite” Trouble Songs and not “Greatest”, it’d come in at #1. Teenage me even embarrassingly air guitared this to Bruce Franklin, the man who WROTE the song! Oh to be 16 again. I will say that of all the times I saw The Skull (Eric Wagner and Ron Holzner’s post-Trouble offshot) live, “The Wolf” was the song I heard yelled out by the crowd the most. That should say it all.

1. “The Tempter”

If “Run to the Light” is Trouble’s Book of Revelation, and “The Skull” their Passion of Christ, then “The Tempter” is their Book of Genesis. Wagner assumes the personas of both God and Satan, offering salvation as the former and warning damnation as the latter. Of all the songs in the Trouble catalog, I think I’ve pondered upon the lyrics of “The Tempter” the most, particularly this passage…

“It is said God tempteth no man
Keep in mind you know he can
Listen to one now this we must
For we are all conceived with lust”

That last lyric has resonated in my brain ever since junior high. “For we are all conceived with lust.” Technically, we are. You can’t have sex, which begets procreation, without lust…and lust is one of seven deadly sins…so by default, we’re all sinners who can only hope to achieve godliness by striving for the light? I would’ve loved to have interviewed Eric Wagner about this lyric and the scores of other introspective ponderings he gifted us with over nearly 40 years. Sadly, that will now never happen. I can only be thankful for all of the amazing music he created and the light he shined upon us all. Rest in power Eric. I know you’ve reached your light.