'Bad Reputation' was the only album for the 'David Glen Eisley' fronted 'Dirty White Boys' and is a significant departure from his keyboard saturated days of 'Guiffra'. Overall this is rawer and in my opinion an improvement over his previous work, the general sound is along the lines of 'Cinderella' and fellow short lived rockers 'Tangier'. As with many late 80's groups of this genre 'Dirty White Boys' were overlooked, this is a shame as there's plenty of potential shown on this release and although nothing groundbreaking, still a respectable debut.

First up is the title track 'Bad Reputation' a lively, sleazy rocker, braced by strong 'Eisley' vocals, ultra solid guitaring from 'Earl Slick' and a likeable melody throughout. Next up is the simplistic but catchy 'Lazy Crazy' and after a 'Badlands' "Wildwest" style intro, it's quickly into the main body of the song, which at times is reminiscent of 'Cinderella' and on-a-par with some of their best material. The strong run continues with the carefree rocker 'Let's Spend Momma's Money', a chorus heavy number, that while a little predictable is still enjoyable. The pace drops for the run-of-the-mill ballad 'You Give me Love', while the moody 'Dead Cat Alley' creates plenty of atmosphere, but is perhaps let down by the trite chorus. The second half opens strongly with 'Hammer on the Heart', a light-hearted pulsating rocker, graced with some delightful rhythm work, gusty sing-a-long chorus and more sharp 'Eisley' vocals. The momentum falls for the mid tempo 'Hard Times' and overlooking the intro which seems like a 'Meatloaf' rip-off, is a decent journey, with a pleasant melody and subtle fret work. 'Son of a Loaded Gun' follows in solid fashion and although the lighter chorus doesn't quite comes off, this is still a fine track that's well executed. Encroaching into more commercial territory is 'One Good Reason', a fairly ordinary track for the genre, upheld by a predictable use of backing vocals on the chorus, but all told far from a terrible effort. The album goes out with 'Badlands' a passionately performed track, with more than a shade of late 80's 'W.A.S.P.' on the melodic parts, overall an impressive cut with excellent fret work from 'Earl Slick' and equally good vocals on the convincing lyrics.

There was a wealth of material like this cropping up in the late 80's / early 90's, some good, some bad, I would rate this debut as one of the better offerings of the time and think it's a shame they didn't stick around for a follow-up.