Warrant Drummer Steven Sweet Admits the 1990 'Cherry Pie' Music Video Was 'Misogynistic' in 'Hindsight'

Mar. 15, 2025

Bobbie Brown in Warrant “Cherry Pie” music video.

warrant cherry pie video

Glam metal band Warrant has a different perspective on their iconic “Cherry Pie” music video, 34 years later.

Appearing in the new documentaryNöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal,the band looked back at being part of the visual craze that was music videos in the early 1990s.

“Warrant was all about having fun without hurting anybody,” drummer Steven Sweet, now 58, explained. “I know we didn’t think of it as a misogynistic video, although it was in hindsight.”

Singer Jani Lane’s then-girlfriend, Bobbie Brown, starred in the video, with clips of her dancing around, being hosed down and sitting sprawled across a car interspliced with the band singing the catchy hit.

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Warrant performing in March 1989.Paul Natkin/Getty

Members of American Rock group Warrant perform onstage at the Thirsty Whale, Rosemont, Illinois, March 5, 1989. Pictured are, from left, Erik Turner, on guitar, Jerry Dixon, on bass, vocalist Jani Lane (1964 - 2011), Joey Allen, on guitar; visible in the background is Steven Sweet, on drums.

Paul Natkin/Getty

“I don’t even know if that got flagged at the time. Objectifying women kind of became the rule,” he said. “You look back at it now and you’re like, ‘How did we let them get away with that?’ "

PEOPLE caught up with Brown in early 2020. While chatting about her second memoir,Cherry on Top, she opened up about her mixed feelings over being framed a “video vixen.”

Despite resenting the fact that she felt much of her identity was tied to “Cherry Pie,” she explained that with time, she made peace with it.

“There was a time when I would go, ‘Oh God, not that again.’ I had done so many other things beyond just being in a music video and yet, I was just the ‘Cherry Pie’ girl. It was b——-, I thought. But the older I got, the more I embraced it.”

“The reality is that this is how most people know me,” she continued. “This is why most people are interested in me … And it was never a negative experience in my life so there’s no need to have negative feelings toward it. I don’t need to make it a negative experience. I’ve embraced it. I’m totally okay with it today.”

Jani Lane and Bobbie Brown in 1989.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Jani Lane of Warrant and Bobbie Brown during TJ Martell Music and Sports Event, 1989 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Lane and Brown were married in 1991 and had a daughter together before their split in 1993, which Sweet said was part of what led to the band’s ultimate demise.

“Jani came drunk to a gig one night and he messed up on a song and he turned around and pinned it on me. He said, ‘Have another drink, Steve.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not the one drinking,’ " he recalled of the singer, who died in 2011. “Jani got into a lot of demons and let that kind of thing take over his life.”

“He fell apart basically when his marriage fell apart and he wanted to just be solo in many ways,” he continued. “And so that forced the band into bankruptcy when he left the band. So the band split up, everybody lost everything because Jani lost everything.”

Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metalis now streaming on Paramount+.

source: people.com