Building a Karaoke Database for Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen’s 29 Again Party
DJ Wonder Sean
I’m getting the DJ Wonder Sean database ready for a very specific kind of assignment: a party for my friend Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen, also known as Alison Masson, and her latest 29 Again celebration.
There will be a karaoke host. There will be themed nights. And if I’m going to help create the soundtrack, I want the music Alison and her friends love to be present in more than a token way.
Alison has spent roughly two decades in the Hollywood and Los Angeles music world. She is a rock journalist, interviewer, reviewer, and the founder of Metal Babe Mayhem, the rock ’n’ roll clothing, jewelry, and lifestyle brand she launched in 2006. Her work has connected independent and national artists, fashion, live shows, playlists, and a community of people who keep this music alive.
So I asked myself a simple question: if Alison walked up to the karaoke host, or if someone with her taste started exploring one of my themed music nights, what should they be able to find?
Building beyond the obvious hits
Last night and today, I worked on the database with Alison’s taste in mind. Of course that means major names such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Dokken, Europe, Great White, and Guns N’ Roses. But it also means giving real space to bands and artists that are too often reduced to one song, one album, or left out altogether: Babylon A.D., Badlands, Bang Tango, Bitch, Black ’n Blue, Blue Murder, BulletBoys, Danger Danger, Dangerous Toys, Faster Pussycat, Giuffria, Guardian, TKO, and many more.
This is partly practical party preparation. It is also a discovery project. Someone searching for one of these bands or records may land here, recognize that their music matters, and discover what DJ Wonder Sean is building.
More importantly, it is about respect. I’m doing this for Alison, but not only for Alison. I’m doing it for every fan who wants to see hard rock, glam metal, heavy metal, Christian metal, international rock, and the neighboring corners of this musical universe represented with some depth.
A personal page for every project
This preparation is also giving me an opportunity to add a new feature to the DJWS theme generator: the ability for someone to create a personal page listing the themes they are using. That page could organize the music for an event, collect ideas for a song round at karaoke, or serve as a research list for an article.
All three uses are separately relevant to Alison. She is having an event. That event includes karaoke. And as a music journalist, she researches artists and music for articles. A personal themes page could bring those different needs together while still letting each project have its own purpose and identity.
The first expansion documented in this article included the following 46 artists and 288 studio albums. The August update above records the next major batch.
The artists and albums added so far
Aerosmith
Aerosmith (1973); Get Your Wings (1974); Toys in the Attic (1975); Rocks (1976); Draw the Line (1977); Night in the Ruts (1979); Rock in a Hard Place (1982); Done with Mirrors (1985); Permanent Vacation (1987); Pump (1989); Get a Grip (1993); Nine Lives (1997); Just Push Play (2001); Honkin’ on Bobo (2004); Music from Another Dimension! (2012).
Alice Cooper
Pretties for You (1969); Easy Action (1970); Killer (1971); Love It to Death (1971); School’s Out (1972); Billion Dollar Babies (1973); Muscle of Love (1973); Welcome to My Nightmare (1975); Alice Cooper Goes to Hell (1976); Lace and Whiskey (1977); From the Inside (1978); Flush the Fashion (1980); Special Forces (1981); Zipper Catches Skin (1982); DaDa (1983); Constrictor (1986); Raise Your Fist and Yell (1987); Trash (1989); Hey Stoopid (1991); The Last Temptation (1994); Brutal Planet (2000); Dragontown (2001); The Eyes of Alice Cooper (2003); Dirty Diamonds (2005); Along Came a Spider (2008); Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011); Paranormal (2017); Detroit Stories (2021); Road (2023); The Revenge of Alice Cooper (2025).
Babylon A.D.
Babylon A.D. (1989).
Bad City
Welcome to the Wasteland (2010).
Bad Company
Bad Company (1974); Straight Shooter (1975); Run with the Pack (1976); Burnin’ Sky (1977); Desolation Angels (1979); Rough Diamonds (1982); Fame and Fortune (1986); Dangerous Age (1988); Holy Water (1990); Here Comes Trouble (1992); Company of Strangers (1995); Stories Told & Untold (1996).
Bad English
Bad English (1989); Backlash (1991).
Bad4Good
Refugee (1992).
Badlands
Badlands (1989); Voodoo Highway (1991); Dusk (1998).
Bang Tango
Psycho Café (1989); Dancin’ on Coals (1991).
Barren Cross
Rock for the King (1986); Atomic Arena (1988); State of Control (1989).
Beautiful Creatures
Beautiful Creatures (2001); Deuce (2005).
Billy Squier
The Tale of the Tape (1980); Don’t Say No (1981); Emotions in Motion (1982); Signs of Life (1984); Enough Is Enough (1986); Hear & Now (1989); Creatures of Habit (1991); Tell the Truth (1993).
Bitch
Be My Slave (1983); The Bitch Is Back (1987); Betsy (1988).
Black ’n Blue
Black ’n Blue (1984); Without Love (1985); Nasty Nasty (1986); In Heat (1988); Hell Yeah! (2011).
Black Veil Brides
We Stitch These Wounds (2010); Set the World on Fire (2011); Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones (2013); Black Veil Brides (2014); Vale (2018); The Phantom Tomorrow (2021); Vindicate (2026).
Blackfoot
No Reservations (1975); Flyin’ High (1976); Strikes (1979); Tomcattin’ (1980); Marauder (1981); Siogo (1983); Vertical Smiles (1984); After the Reign (1994).
Blessed by a Broken Heart
All Is Fair in Love and War (2005); Pedal to the Metal (2008); Feel the Power (2012).
Blue Murder
Blue Murder (1989); Nothin’ But Trouble (1993).
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi (1984); 7800° Fahrenheit (1985); Slippery When Wet (1986); New Jersey (1988); Keep the Faith (1992); These Days (1995); Crush (2000); Bounce (2002); Have a Nice Day (2005); Lost Highway (2007); The Circle (2009); What About Now (2013); Burning Bridges (2015); This House Is Not for Sale (2016); 2020 (2020); Forever (2024).
Bonfire
Don’t Touch the Light (1986); Fireworks (1987); Point Blank (1989); Knock Out (1991); Feels Like Comin’ Home (1996); Fuel to the Flames (1999); Strike Ten (2001); Free (2003); Double X (2006); The Räuber (2008); Branded (2011).
BulletBoys
BulletBoys (1988); Freakshow (1991); Za-Za (1993); Acid Monkey (1995); 10¢ Billionaire (2009); Rocked and Ripped (2011); Elefante (2015); From Out of the Skies (2018).
Cacumen
Cacumen (1981); Bad Widow (1983).
Cinderella
Night Songs (1986); Long Cold Winter (1988); Heartbreak Station (1990); Still Climbing (1994).
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees (1990); Don’t Tread (1992).
Danger Danger
Danger Danger (1989); Screw It! (1991); Dawn (1995); Four the Hard Way (1997).
Dangerous Toys
Dangerous Toys (1989); Hellacious Acres (1991); Pissed (1994); The R*tist 4*merly Known as Dangerous Toys (1995).
The Darkness
Permission to Land (2003); One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back (2005); Hot Cakes (2012); Last of Our Kind (2015); Pinewood Smile (2017); Easter Is Cancelled (2019); Motorheart (2021); Dreams on Toast (2025).
Def Leppard
On Through the Night (1980); High ’n’ Dry (1981); Pyromania (1983); Hysteria (1987); Adrenalize (1992); Slang (1996); Euphoria (1999); X (2002); Yeah! (2006); Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008); Def Leppard (2015); Diamond Star Halos (2022).
Dokken
Breaking the Chains (1983); Tooth and Nail (1984); Under Lock and Key (1985); Back for the Attack (1987); Dysfunctional (1995); Shadowlife (1997); Erase the Slate (1999); Long Way Home (2002); Hell to Pay (2004); Lightning Strikes Again (2008); Broken Bones (2012); Heaven Comes Down (2023).
Europe
Europe (1983); Wings of Tomorrow (1984); The Final Countdown (1986); Out of This World (1988); Prisoners in Paradise (1991); Start from the Dark (2004); Secret Society (2006); Last Look at Eden (2009); Bag of Bones (2012); War of Kings (2015); Walk the Earth (2017); Come This Madness (2026).
Extreme
Extreme (1989); Extreme II: Pornograffitti (1990); III Sides to Every Story (1992); Waiting for the Punchline (1995); Saudades de Rock (2008); Six (2023).
Faster Pussycat
Faster Pussycat (1987); Wake Me When It’s Over (1989); Whipped! (1992); The Power and the Glory Hole (2006).
FireHouse
FireHouse (1990); Hold Your Fire (1992); 3 (1995); Good Acoustics (1996); Category 5 (1998); O2 (2000); Prime Time (2003).
Frehley’s Comet
Frehley’s Comet (1987); Second Sighting (1988).
Giant
Last of the Runaways (1989); Time to Burn (1992).
Giuffria
Giuffria (1984); Silk + Steel (1986).
Gorky Park
Gorky Park (1989); Moscow Calling (1992); Stare (1996); Protivofazza (1998).
Great White
Great White (1984); Shot in the Dark (1986); Once Bitten (1987); ...Twice Shy (1989); Hooked (1991); Psycho City (1992); Sail Away (1994); Let It Rock (1996); Can’t Get There from Here (1999); Back to the Rhythm (2007); Rising (2009); Elation (2012).
Griva
Kog sam đavola tražio u tebi (1983); Nisi ni ti anđeo (1985); Griva (1987); Što te tata pušta samu (1988); Pij, jedi, veseli se... (1992).
Guardian
First Watch (1989); Fire and Love (1991); Miracle Mile (1993); Swing, Swang, Swung (1994); Buzz (1995); Bottle Rocket (1997).
Guns N’ Roses
Appetite for Destruction (1987); G N’ R Lies (1988); Use Your Illusion I (1991); Use Your Illusion II (1991); “The Spaghetti Incident?” (1993); Chinese Democracy (2008).
John Paul Jones
The Sporting Life (1994); Zooma (1999); The Thunderthief (2001).
Michael Monroe
Nights Are So Long (1987); Not Fakin’ It (1989); Peace of Mind (1996); Life Gets You Dirty (1999); Whatcha Want (2003); Sensory Overdrive (2011); Horns and Halos (2013); Blackout States (2015); One Man Gang (2019); I Live Too Fast to Die Young! (2022).
Nuno Bettencourt
Schizophonic (1997).
Steel Pulse
Handsworth Revolution (1978); Tribute to the Martyrs (1979); Caught You (1980); True Democracy (1982); Earth Crisis (1984); Babylon the Bandit (1986); State of Emergency (1988); Victims (1991); Vex (1994); Rage and Fury (1997); African Holocaust (2004).
TKO
Let It Roll (1979); In Your Face (1984); Below the Belt (1986); Round Two – The Lost Demos (2017).
Build a Metal list now
Use the DJWS hosted song-book builder to start a page for a party, karaoke round, playlist, or research project. The link below opens the builder with Metal already entered and selected in the Find genres field.
If Metal is not selected yet, type Metal into Find genres and choose it from the results. The automatic selection will begin working as soon as the updated theme is published.
What should I add next?
I’ve already asked Alison for more bands she wants represented. Now I’m asking you.
Which artist, album, deep cut, scene favorite, or karaoke essential is missing? If you know the Sunset Strip, glam, hard rock, metal, Christian metal, international rock, or any related corner of this collection, send me your suggestions. Tell me what belongs here. If there is a particular album or song that matters to you, tell me why.
A good music database should do more than serve the obvious answer. It should make room for recognition, surprise, discovery, and the moment somebody says, “Wait, you have that?”
That is the database I’m building for Alison’s party. It is also the database I want to build for everyone who cares about this music.