“Cherry Pie” by Warrant

"Cherry Pie" is the title track and lead single of Warrant's second album, and it barely made the record at all. The album was headed out as Uncle Tom's Cabin until Columbia president Don Ienner demanded a rock anthem; Jani Lane says the boss had something like Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" in mind, and he knocked the song out in about fifteen minutes.

Lane wrote the words, the whole band shares the music credit, and Beau Hill produced and mixed it into a glossy, grinning sugar rush. It went top 10 on the Hot 100 and hit six in Australia, and it has become shorthand for hair metal itself. Guitarist Joey Allen later admitted the song reshaped how the album was sold, and that the push came from the label, not the band.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.