KIP WINGER Explains How Grunge Movement Singled Out All 80s Bands: “They Portrayed Us As Uncool”

WINGER frontman Kip Winger recently spoke with Julia Bueno of Brazil’s “Lokaos Rock Show”.

On whether he objects to WINGER being lumped in with other “hair bands”:

Kip: “It’s fine because we grew out of that era. When I was in ALICE COOPER and I left to do my band, DEF LEPPARD and BON JOVI were the big bands. I wanted to do something a little bit more progressive, like YES meets KISS. We did something not like that, but there’s a lot more technical stuff going on in the riffs. I think as time goes on, people that actually listen know the difference. It’s fine now, and it got us in. We did very well in the beginning. I do feel like there was some misconceptions about who the band was, and still there are, but I think especially for the fans, they really understand what the difference is.”

On his years with ALICE COOPER:

Kip: “Alice is the consummate rock star. He’s our Mick Jagger. Learning from Alice Cooperwas unbelievable. I was a waiter waiting tables in New York, and then I got the job and then playing arenas, so it was, like, all the way to the top like that [snaps fingers]. He’s very good with interviews and he’s really fun to watch when he’s off stage — very, very funny, but [a] very serious artist and [an] extraordinarily talented performer and songwriter. I owe him a lot. He’s very supportive of my career, and I’m very happy to still be able to call him up.”

On whether his feelings about “Beavis And Butt-Head” have changed over the years:

Kip: “It was hard for all the ’80s bands when that happened, because they were ushering in WHITE ZOMBIE and NIRVANA and PEARL JAM and all of those bands. All of the ’80s bands like us were portrayed as uncool, and I was really singled out by it. It didn’t help me at the time — we all lost our record deals, and all of a sudden, we couldn’t get a job — but inadvertently, it created an opening for me to really study classical music, so instead of [getting] drunk every night, I studied through that time, and I did a really hardcore 10 years of studying classical music. For me, it turned out to be a very good thing. Now, it’s totally fine — people are like, ‘How’d you get your name on the t-shirt?’ We sell that t-shirt, so it’s completely fine with me.”