Hanoi Rocks, the legendary Finnish glam punks largely responsible for Guns N’ Roses, have announced a box set assembling their magnificent first five albums into a collection that’ll look extremely sexy under any 2026 Christmas tree.
The Complete Collection 1981-1984 box set will include the band’s first four independent releases – Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981), Oriental Beat and Self Destruction Blues (both 1982), Back To Mystery City (1983) and their major label debut Two Steps From the Move (1984), as well as Motorvatin!!!, a sixth disc containing live tracks recorded for the BBC and previously unheard demos. Full tracklist below.
Regretfully, the collection does not include the 1984 live album All Those Wasted Years, one of the finest live recordings ever made by humankind, but then nothing’s perfect.
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“The new Hanoi Rocks Box Set includes all the albums by the original band, including the Oriental Beat 40th Anniversary release The Re(al)mix, which came out in 2022,” says frontman Michael Monroe. “There’s also a special extra bonus LP of rarities with even some previously unreleased tracks.
“The artwork has been put together nicely, and it has a vast amount of great, rare and some never-before-seen photos. If someone is not familiar with Hanoi Rocks, this is a fantastic opportunity to get to know the band’s unique material. I recommend this box set to everybody!”
Hanoi Rocks broke up in 1985 – the same year Guns N’ Roses formed – and were a big influence on their American counterparts, both musically and wardrobe-wise. Monroe would later collaborate with the band on two songs: Use Your Illusion I track Bad Obsession, on which he played harmonica and saxophone, and GN’R’s cover of The Dead Boys‘ Ain’t It Fun, which appeared on 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident?.
Hanoi Rocks’ The Complete Collection 1981-1984 will be released via BMG on November 13. It’ll be available as a six-disc vinyl set in various pleasant hues, and as a six-CD package. Happily, it’s available to pre-order now.
Hanoi Rocks: The Complete Collection 1981-1984 tracklist
Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks
1. Tragedy
2. Village Girl
3. Stop Cryin’
4. Don’t Never Leave Me
5. Lost in the City
6. First Timer
7. Cheyenne
8. 11th Street Kidzz
9. Walking with My Angel
10. Pretender
Oriental Beat (2022 “The Re(al)mix)
1. Motorvatin’
2. Don’t Follow Me
3. Visitor
4. Teenangels Outsiders
5. Sweet Home Suburbia
6. M.C. Baby
7. No Law Or Order
8. Oriental Beat
9. Devil Woman
10. Lightnin’ Bar Blues
11. Fallen Star
Self Destruction Blues
1. Love’s an Injection
2. I Want You
3. Cafe Avenue
4. Nothing New
5. Kill City
6. Self Destruction Blues
7. Beer and a Cigarette
8. Whispers In the Dark
9. Taxi Driver
10. Desperados
11. Problem Child
12. Dead By Xmas
Back to Mystery City
1. Strange Boys Play Weird Openings
2. Malibu Beach Nightmare
3. Mental Beat
4. Tooting Bec Wreck
5. Until I Get You
6. Sailing Down the Tears
7. Lick Summer Love
8. Beating Gets Faster
9. Ice Cream Summer
10. Back to Mystery City
Two Steps From the Move
1. Up Around the Bend
2. High School
3. I Can’t Get It
4. Underwater World
5. Don’t You Ever Leave Me
6. Million Miles Away
7. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
8. Boiler (Me Boiler ‘N’ Me)
9. Futurama
10. Cutting Corners
Motorvatin’!!!
1. Two Steps From The Move
2. Underwater World (BBC Session)
3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (BBC Session)
4. Oil and Gasoline
5. Shakes
6. Magic Carpet Ride
7. The Beating Gets Faster (I Know You) (Demo)
8. Sailing Down the Tears (Demo)
9. Rebels on the Run (Demo)
10. Malibu Beach (Calypso Version)
