When the Children Cry

White Lion mane man Mike Tramp wrote this song with their guitarist, Vito Bratta, in 1985, when there was a devastating famine in Africa (it was the year of "We Are The World"), but in America, where the song was targeted, it was a time of relative peace and prosperity. Still, Tramp's lyric is rather bleak, sympathizing with children who will grow up in a world of war and evil. "Basically, the feeling of the world and the feeling of America at that time are people having a good time," he explained in a Songfacts interview. "Here I am, singing, 'When the children cry let them know that we tried,' 'One united world under God,' 'No more presidents and all the wars will end.' It's obviously not the moment that I'm writing about. Maybe I was a little bit Nostradamus at that time. It was an awareness that things will not be this way always."

This was the biggest hit for White Lion, a Brooklyn-based band that fit every criteria for the emerging hair metal genre when they released their first album, Fight to Survive, in 1985. Akin to Bon Jovi and Skid Row, many of their songs took on social issues and were softer ballads. "When The Children Cry" and "Wait," both from their second album, Pride (1987), were huge radio hits, but didn't fill arenas the way Mötley Crüe could with their swaggering stadium rockers. White Lion didn't survive the grunge era; after two more albums, they broke up in 1991.

Musically, White Lion is most remembered for the work of their guitarist, Vito Bratta. On this song, he plays both and intricate acoustic to open the song and carry it forward, and also a wailing electric solo. Like Eddie Van Halen, his sound was pretty much impossible to replicate, but that didn't stop budding guitarists from trying. After White Lion called it quits in 1991, Mike Tramp stayed in the public eye with a band called Freak of Nature and a series of solo album, but Bratta vanished. Even the internet couldn't find him. It wasn't until 2007 that he told his story, explaining to Eddie Trunk that he had moved back to his childhood home in Staten Island to care for his father. He also suffered a wrist injury in a freak accident that kept him from playing. He and Tramp sparred over the White Lion name when Tramp used it for various projects. They later made peace, but never pulled off a reunion.