This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
STYLE: Glam-slam, thank you ma’am.
SOUNDS LIKE: A Molotov cocktail of whiskey, Spanish fly, snot, leather pants, Marlboros, leopard skin, feather boas and neon eyeshadow — pumped through a distortion pedal and fed to a Marshall stack.
POINTED COMMENTS: Robin Black has come a long way since his days fronting Ballroom Zombies. Now based in Toronto with his new band of Intergalactic Rock Stars, the former local hairdresser teams up with legendary rock producer Bob Ezrin and Canadian rock mainstay GGGarth Richardson for his second album. Not surprisingly, with that kind of talent behind the board, Instant Classic is a slick-sounding set of punky power-pop ditties and glittering glam-rock anthems. It isn’t consistently strong enough to earn its title, mind you, but tracks like the chugging opener Why Don’t You Love Me? and the power ballad Seventeen are pretty close to instantly addictive.
STANDOUT: Black’s over-the-top, crotch-pumping cover of Sweet’s campy classic Hellraiser is a wild party all by itself — in fact, it might be a little too good for his own good, since it only makes his own material seem a little blander by comparison.
