Slave to the Grind

Slave to the Grind is Skid Row's second album, released on June 11, 1991 on the Atlantic label. Slave to the Grind is notable for being the first heavy metal album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 during the SoundScan era. Two different versions were released: the original version, and the "clean" (censored) version. The clean version replaced the song "Get the Fuck Out" with the less-offensive "Beggar's Day". Slave to the Grind marked the band's move towards a heavier sound. The lyrics were more complex, criticizing modern ways of life, authority, politics, drugs, and organized religion, among other topics. Sebastian Bach's father painted the cover art, which is actually a long mural, continued inside the album's booklet. It is set in the medieval era (inspired by Caravaggio's Burial of St. Lucy (1608)), yet has people using modern technological gadgets. John F. Kennedy is in the crowd. It was voted Album of the Year in the 1991 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards.