I always intended to write a fan letter to Jani Lane.
We had a long history together, although he never knew me.
He was the guy onstage. I was the guy in the front row.
As the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Warrant, Lane recorded the soundtrack to my life in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
I’ve been playing his music a lot since learning that Lane was found dead Thursday in a Los Angeles motel room. He was 47 — just like me.
We were the same age and from the same hometown, but our lives couldn’t be more different.
I will never forget seeing Warrant in concert for the first time March 2, 1989. The band was the opening act for Kiss star Paul Stanley’s solo tour at the Cleveland Agora.
The floor was mobbed with fans, and I soon became separated from my friend in a crush of bodies against the stage. When the lights dimmed and the guitars cranked up, it was a revelation. This unknown band sounded good.
Racing out to center stage was a tall 25-year-old with long blond hair, a dark leather jacket and shiny leather pants.
“I got my act down,” Lane sang. “Got it down tight. Got a feeling tonight’ll be a good night.”
He had boundless energy, an amazing voice and a contagious smile that won over a skeptical audience. He kept his poise as dressed-to-kill groupies reached up from the crowd, wrapped their arms around his long legs and tried in vain to unlace his pants.
The songs were awfully catchy and sounded like they could be big hits, if given half a chance on the radio.
One ballad in particular, Heaven, dazzled us with its soaring chorus.
“Heaven isn’t too far awaaaay,” Lane sang. “Closer to it every daaaay.”
Convincing set
Before the set was over, I was a Warrant fan. I bought the band’s concert T-shirt that night and raced to the store the next day to pick up the debut album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, which had been out for only a few weeks.
As a Warrant disciple, I told everyone about the great band I had “discovered,” and I celebrated that summer as Heaven rose to No. 2 on the Billboard chart.
Northeast Ohio fans were especially supportive, because Lane was one of us. His real name was John Oswald, an Akron native who graduated from Field High School in 1982 before leaving Ohio to pursue a career in music. Warrant drummer Steven Sweet (real name Steven Chamberlin), a native of Wadsworth, was another local hero.
They made us proud when they found fame in Los Angeles.
Akron Agora memories
I lost track of how many times I saw Warrant in concert. I’m guessing it was a dozen times, but it might be more.
The band had several triumphant shows at the Akron Agora, a hazy, hair-metal haven that smelled like dry ice, perfume, hair spray and sweat. My friends and I tried to get there early so we could stake out positions in front of the stage to catch guitar picks and high-five the musicians.
Lane pointed out his parents, Robert and Eileen Oswald, in the audience and apologized to them for some of the colorful language they were hearing onstage and some of the new tattoos he was sporting. Lane jumped into the crowd each night to perform a song. He didn’t think there should be a barrier between rock stars and fans.
Warrant opened for Motley Crue in December 1989 and Poison in November 1990. Both shows were at the 20,000-seat Richfield Coliseum. Lane announced over the microphone that the entire audience was welcome to join the band at Filthy McNasty’s in Kent for an after-concert party.
I’ve always wondered if the bartenders were warned about the possibility of 20,000 fans showing up.
Popular on MTV
Warrant’s second album, Cherry Pie, was more successful than the first, and its sing-along title track became the band’s signature song. We played it loudly and proudly, and watched the video enter heavy rotation on MTV.
In July 1991, Warrant headlined a concert with Firehouse and Trixter at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls. Lane reminisced about sneaking through the woods as a teen to see concerts for free at the outdoor theater.
He had finally made it to the top.
Fans didn’t know that the hair-metal scene was about to implode. Seattle band Nirvana released its breakthrough album Nevermind in September 1991, and grunge music swept away glam music in one fell swoop.
Warrant’s 1992 album Dog Eat Dog was good, but it didn’t sell as well as Cherry Pie, and Lane abruptly quit the band. Over the years, the group re-formed under different lineups, sometimes with Lane, sometimes with other members, but it never returned to its previous glory.
I continued to be a fan, buying the latest albums and ordering front-row tickets. I watched with sadness as Lane fell prey to the vices of a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. Tabloids and websites chronicled his self-destructive behavior.
Warrant’s classic lineup reunited in 2008, but Lane was dismissed in the middle of the tour. The band has a new singer and released a new album this year. I couldn’t talk myself into buying it.
I always intended to write a fan letter to Jani Lane. And now I am too late. This will have to do.
Dear Jani:
Thank you for the music and the memories.
Heaven isn’t too far away.
Your fan,
Mark
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send email to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.