Innocence Is No Excuse

eMi/ParloPHone, 1985

This was the moment when it all turned to shit for Saxon. Newly signed to major label EMI, the band attempted to ‘do a Def Leppard’ with the glossy Innocence Is No Excuse. But this was no Pyromania.

It was a lame duck full of songs as clichéd as their titles suggested: Rockin’ Again, Back On The Streets, Rock ’N’ Roll Gypsy. As Biff admitted to Classic Rock: “We got lazy and lost focus.”

They continued in this vein on 1986’s Rock The Nations and 1989’s Destiny. It was only with Solid Ball Of Rock in 1990 that Saxon rediscovered their mojo – and their balls.