Uh oh, what the hell happened here? For their second album, the deep thinkers at Atlantic Records more or less forced the "dirty boys" into a much lighter musical direction, wanting them to sound more like the synth-pop that was all the rage at the time (i.e. Duran Duran). So with 'Cool Kids,' you get extremely slick production and lots of keyboards dressing up the quirky, AC/DC-meets-Cheap Trick-meets-Hanoi Rocks music. A lot of Kix fans hate this album, and once the supporting tour was over, the band themselves virtually disowned it, playing nothing from it in concert for quite a few years.
Two singles hail from the disc (both covers), resulting in two of the worst videos of the early MTV days. The title track, originally done by Spider, is just plain stupid, and the chorus of chanting kids at the end makes it even worse. Some may remember Beavis and Butt-Head viewing this video, and one of them says to the other one, "Uh, I'd hate to see what the UNCOOL kids look like!" Exactly.
The other single was a rendition of Nick Gilder's "Body Talk," and it's actually not too bad, if you can get past the cheesy keyboards, the lame synthesized handclaps, and the robotic vocal effects. It's catchy at least, and I find I don't really mind it that much. The video featured the band working out with gym equipment though, complete with exercise clothes. Sounds like the beginning of the vid for Priest's "Hot Rockin'," right?... Ugh!
Elsewhere, "Loco-Emotion" offers up more keyboards (hardly any guitars to be found on that song) and some "doo-doo-doo"-ing from singer Steve Whiteman. But again, the thing is so damn catchy, it's hard to get out of your head once you've heard it. "Mighty Mouth," written about Whiteman, is fast-paced and fairly hard (for this album, anyway), and has always been something of a fan favorite. "Love Pollution," "Nice On Ice," and "Let Your Monkeys Out" all try valiantly to roll, but the production kills them, leaving them as just some more cheesy pop-rock.
The main highlight of the album, though, is the ballad, "For Shame". This one sticks with you for DAYS! How this song managed not to be a top-ten hit for the band, with its pretty melody and vocal harmonies, I don't know (well actually, I do - Atlantic never pushed it). This track is by far the best reason to own the disc. Might be a little too light for the self-consciously macho men, but the chicks are sure to dig it! And come on, you know you'll be singing it to yourself all week!
All in all, 'Cool Kids' is far from Kix's best album, and is most likely their worst, and definitely not the place in their catalog to start. Luckily, the band would get their way, and the next album, 1985's 'Midnite Dynamite,' would be much heavier, and would really introduce the sound that finally earned Kix some of the mainstream popularity they deserved.

TRACK LIST:
1. Burning Love
2. Cool Kids
3. Love Pollution
4. Body Talk
5. Loco-Emotion
6. Mighty Mouth
7. Nice On Ice
8. Let Your Monkeys Out
9. For Shame
10. Restless Blood

Review by Kip Massey