Winger

Categories: American musical groups | Rock music groups | Hair metal groups

This article is about a musical rock group. The term winger is also the name of a position in a number of sports, see winger (sport) or a U.S. town Winger, Minnesota.

Winger is a hair metal band formed in 1986 by Kip Winger, formerly of Alice Cooper's band, in which Winger members Reb Beach and Paul Taylor have also played. In addition to three studio albums, they recorded the song "Battle Stations" for the soundtrack of the movie Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey as well as "Out For The Count" for Karate Kid 3.

Winger's debut album, Winger, was released in 1988 on Atlantic Records. The record was a success, achieving platinum status in the United States, and gold in Japan and Canada. Radio and MTV hits from the album included "Madalaine", "Seventeen", "Headed For A Heartbreak" and "Hungry".

In 1990, the band was nominated for an American Music Award for "Best New Heavy Metal Band". Shortly after, Winger released it second album In the Heart of the Young on Atlantic Records, which went platinum in the U.S. and gold in Japan. Hit radio tracks and MTV videos included "Can't Get Enuff", "Miles Away" and "Easy Come Easy Go".

Winger followed the release of its second album with a 13 month world tour, playing over 230 dates with KISS, Scorpions, ZZ Top, Extreme and Slaughter. Paul Taylor left the group after this tour.

Their third and last studio album, Pull, was recorded in 1993 as a three-piece band. One year later, the band broke up and Kip embarked on a solo career; in 2001 the band returned to the studio to record the song "On the Inside" for The Very Best of Winger. In 2002 they united to tour the US and Canada on a bill with Poison, but once again disbanded afterwards.

It is noteworthy that Winger was the subject of ridicule in the animated series Beavis and Butt-head during the mid 1990's. The neighbor-boy Stewart, who was always unsuccessfully trying to be accepted by Beavis and Butt-head, was usually depicted wearing a Winger t-shirt. This has been cited as one of the reasons for the band losing popularity.

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Discography

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Members

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Videos