You walk into the local Tape World to see what Enuff Z'nuff they're carrying, when - Lo and Behold! - you spy a CD copy of the Live album. Quickly you snatch it up and take it to the register. As you're paying for it, a store employee standing nearby chuckles and says "Enuff Z'nuff, huh?" 
Well?  What would you say?
     This is exactly what happened to me in upstate New York  last week. (Special note to my wife for letting me shell out the 18 bucks we couldn't afford: Thank you.  Baby, you're the greatest and I'll never let you go.  Note to everyone else reading this: How dare you read private notes meant for  my wife? Cut it out!) My reaction was to immediately become defensive: "Yeah. So?"
     "Nothing.", Tape Dude replied, "I just noticed all of these bands are coming back again." 
     I paused a bit to decide whether or not to ask him to define "these bands" and instead settled on a straight comment. "Actually, Enuff Z'nuff have never gone anywhere; they've just been harder to find."
     "Yeah, they're all bigger in Japan," he said.
     At this point I was handed my change, so I recommended Paraphernalia and left quickly, feeling both ashamed and irate.  The ashamed part I understood; I don't usually get defensive with total strangers like that. The irate part though...I didn't figure that out until later. July 13th, to be exact. That was the day that VH-1 premiered the edition of "Where Are They Now?" featuring Enuff Z'nuff. What I didn't know until it came on was that it was subtitled "Hair Bands" and featured a host of shaggy haired glam metal bands outfitted in tight spandex and lipstick.  That's when I realized why I had been so defensive.
     It's amazing to me that a band once voted as the "Band of the Year" in 1991 by Rolling Stone magazine is still suffering from a horrible miscalculation regarding their image. Yes, they teased their hair in 1989 (unfortunately at the time all metal was being renounced by the god of MTV), but they toned down the glam image for 1991's Strength, and have not returned to it since.  Donnie Vie and Chip Znuff have long claimed that this was always the label's doing and not their own. I'm oversimplifying here; there are many reasons why the band is not popular, none of which have to do with the quality of their music, but for this column I'm only dealing with the misconception of their image and how it keeps them from gaining new fans.  Most people tend to look on 1980's music as an embarrassment. Some of these bands (Warrant, for example) were absolutely huge at the time, selling out arenas and earning public awards for their music and videos.  So where are all the people that were listening, and why are they ashamed to admit it?
Enuff Z'nuff can not and should not be pigeonholed into the same category as any of these bands, yet they are - and it's largely due to their debut in 1989 wearing glam outfits and makeup.  Couple that with the fact that their last two  major studio releases, Strength and Animals With Human Intelligence, were barely promoted (due to internal restructuring within their record companies) and you have a band that very few people know outside of "New Thing" and "Fly High Michelle".
     Us fans know better. We know that the music, not the image, is the only thing that matters.  We didn't let public misconceptions about the band taint our ability to make up our own minds, and neither should you.  Enuff Z'nuff can easily change styles (while still remaining true to themselves), so if you don't like the poppy "One Step Closer To You", you may like the trippy "Takin' A Ride" (both are on Animals With Human Intelligence).  If you don't like the Queenesque harmonies in "My Dear Dream", you may like the bluesy "If I Can't Have You" better (both are on Tweaked).  If the metal-tinged "So Sad To See You" isn't your thing, then maybe the country flavored "Clown On The Town" or "I Won't Let You Go" (which would have fit right in on the "Eddie And The Cruisers" soundtrack) is more your style (both are on Seven).
     In my Opinion, Enuff Z'nuff have something to offer everybody, but you don't have to take my word for it. Check out our Discussion Board if you're curious. Let people know that you've never heard the band before and ask for suggestions. Let them know what music you like, and I'm sure someone will turn you on to some good songs from these guys.
     Us Z'nuff  fans are a dedicated bunch.  32% of fans that responded to our recent poll said that they first heard about the band from a friend (compared to 29% from MTV and only 10% from radio). Now we'd like to introduce them to you.