Heavy Metal Music Sucks [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

isiahthomas

02-16-2007, 04:59 PM

JuicyCoutureGirl i agree with you that rap videos today are trash. That's why i don't watch BET anymore because they show the same wack rap videos. The black females who are in the videos are only concerned about getting paid. They don't care what people will think about them. They're only out for the money and that's sad when you have a mentality like that that you'll do anything for money. What's up with these dumb black females writing books about the rappers they've had sex with? Karrine Steffans and a woman named Carmen who dated Nas, Jay-Z and Allen Iverson wrote books about the sexual and dating experiences they've had with black male entertainers. Karrine is trifling. I flipped through the pages of her book and i saw that she had sex with Ja Rule, Ray J, Vin Diesel, Usher and plenty of other black men celebrities. She even said that Shaq gave her a bunch of money and bought her a house. I don't think they ever dated but i'm sure she had sex with him because i know Shaq wouldn't give a woman all of that for nothing in return unless he's a damn fool LOL. Her baby father is rapper Kool G Rap. She said that he has beaten her several times. Now she's dating white lame comedian Bill Maher. He doesn't even look like her type. The 2 of them dating is weird to me. I didn't think she was interested in white guys. Black model/video dancer Melyssa Ford is the most requested video girl but she said she hasn't been in rap videos in a long time because she wants to move on to better things. I wonder what she means when she says better things. Every black men magazine i see her in, she's half naked LOL. She said her favorite movie is Monster's Ball with Halle Berry. I wonder why she said that's her favorite movie LOL. I'm sure the explicit sex scene with Halle and Billy Bob Thornton is probably her favorite part in the movie and that's probably why she said that's her favorite movie. Anybody who says that's their favorite movie is a retard because the movie was wack and Halle shouldn't have won a oscar for it.

I remember the days when rap videos weren't the same. I'm about to name some classic rap videos i liked from back in the day and these rappers can rhyme.

1. Common-Breaker 1/9, Soul By The Pound, I Used To Love Her
2. EPMD-Crossover, Headbanger, Da Joint, Never Seen Before
3. Erick Sermon-Stay Real, Hostile, Hittin Switches, Bomdigi
4. Redman-Time 4 Sum Axsion, Tonight's Da Night, Can't Wait, Funkorama
5. Mobb Deep-Shook Ones part 2, Survival Of The Fittest, Quiet Storm, Burn, Got It Twisted
6. KRS One-Outta Here, Sound Of Da Police, Rappers Are In Danger, MC's Act Like They Don't Know, Step Into A World, Duck Down(Boogie Down Productions)
7. Ice Cube-Be True To The Game, Steady Mobbin, Jackin For Beats, Wicked, It Was A Good Day, Check Yo Self
8. Dr Dre-Dre Day, Let Me Ride, Nuthin But A G Thing, Still Dre
9. Eazy E-Real Compton City G's, Only If You Want It
10. Run DMC-Beats To The Rhyme, Run's House, It's Tricky, Down With The King, Oooh Whatcha Gonna Do
11. Naughty By Nature-OPP, Hip Hop Hooray, It's On, Klickow Klickow, Feel Me Flow, Craziest, Dirt All By My Lonely
12. Onyx-Throw Ya Guns, Slam, Last Days, Live, The Worst, Shut Em Down
13. Warren G-Regulate, This DJ
14. 2Pac-If My Homies Call, Trapped, Brenda's Got A Baby, Holler If Ya Hear Me, Keep Ya Head Up, I Get Around, 2 Of Amerikka's Most Wanted, Toss It Up
15. Scarface-Money And The Power, A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die, Let Me Roll, People Don't Believe, Homies And Thugs, Recognize
16. Willie D-You Still Black

Ollie G

02-16-2007, 07:30 PM

lol 50 Cent? Sorry, you have dismissed yourself.
You don't believe me? Listen to his Get Rich Or Die Tryin' soundtrack and his early **** and you'll see what I mean yo.

platinumblondelife

02-16-2007, 08:47 PM

Karrine Steffans and a woman named Carmen who dated Nas, Jay-Z and Allen Iverson wrote books about the sexual and dating experiences they've had with black male entertainers. Karrine is trifling. I flipped through the pages of her book and i saw that she had sex with Ja Rule, Ray J, Vin Diesel, Usher and plenty of other black men celebrities. She even said that Shaq gave her a bunch of money and bought her a house. I don't think they ever dated but i'm sure she had sex with him because i know Shaq wouldn't give a woman all of that for nothing in return unless he's a damn fool LOL. Her baby father is rapper Kool G Rap. She said that he has beaten her several times. Now she's dating white lame comedian Bill Maher. He doesn't even look like her type. The 2 of them dating is weird to me. I didn't think she was interested in white guys. Black model/video dancer Melyssa Ford is the most requested video girl but she said she hasn't been in rap videos in a long time because she wants to move on to better things. I wonder what she means when she says better things. Every black men magazine i see her in, she's half naked LOL.
Karrine is not dating Bill Maher anymore she is with Bobby Brown...so I hear. Yes, she did have sex with Shaq, if you care to know lol. Also, in keeping with this new trend, there is a gay music industry insider who will be coming out with a tell-all book that will talk about male hip hop artists that he hs had sex with also lol.

Ireneparalegal

02-16-2007, 08:50 PM

Let me add J-lo aka J-Ho trying to act or from the hood with her rap/hip-hop inspired music is garbage. She is nothing but a materialistic whore with nothing better to contribute to society but her music garbage, her so-called clothing line and perfume.

ABlairican Pie

02-16-2007, 10:13 PM

Another fine metal album:

Anthrax, with Among the Living, from 1987:

Ohio8

02-17-2007, 12:05 AM

1. "I can't stand heavy metal music." Well, to each his own. Probably wouldn't like Rush or Dream Theater or Queensryche or Yes, either.

2. "The artists dress like fa*s and wear makeup". The "glam" and spandex effeminate look largely went out with the early 90's. Do Slayer and a lot of those bands wear makeup? That's an over-generalization that it's about cross-dressing.

3. "The music ain't nothing but a lot of yelling and loud guitars". Do vocalists like Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, and Geoff Tate "yell"? They are some of the best singers in the business. No one hits notes like they do. If it's all "loud guitars", what is to differentiate it from punk rock? Guitarists such as Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dave Murray, Glen Tipton, and Steve Vai are phenomenal, and very musically literate.

4. "White people have the nerve to diss rap music." And do you think that every black person likes rap? It's okay for blacks to diss metal (which not all do), but it's not okay for whites to diss rap (and not all whites do)? By the way, did you happen to know that blacks helped INVENT heavy metal in the late 60's??

5. "At least rappers don't have album covers full of weird sadistic stuff." Again, an over-generalization. Why do so many people complain that rap albums are full of violence and glorify crime and drugs? Aren't you making the same kind of comments that people make about rap music?

And another thing:

6. Peace Sells....But Who's Buying?:

You forgot Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi!

ABlairican Pie

02-17-2007, 12:25 AM

You forgot Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi! :doh:
Of course I can't forget those guys!!! Tony Iommi is the one who made me want to play guitar back when I was 14 in 1976!!!! :rock: I met him at Ozzfest a year a half and ago when he was signing copies of his latest solo album!! And Ritchie Blackmore, the guy who invented shred, and put classical music into metal!!! Insane talent!! Deep Purple is so underrated in America. Song worth checking out by DP: "Burn"!!!

But the reason why I mentioned that about black people helping invent heavy metal was because it was because of the electric blues invasion of Britain in the late 60's, where early metal pioneers such as Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck listened to the sounds of classic blues artists and turned them up a notch--and then we got Jimi Hendrix! So people can't really think that the world of heavy metal and music by persons of color is so vastly different as many seem to think.

JuicyCoutureGirl

02-17-2007, 02:18 AM

freshprinceofLA

02-17-2007, 06:02 AM

Not all rap is about tha bitches and hoes. Rap is all about dat real ****, ya know what I'm sayin, homie. Rappers like 50 Cent and Eminem tell it like it is.
50 is the most horrible rapper alive. I like all kinds of music mostly classic rap though, some classic rock. But mainly rap. 50 isen't real. All his songs are about clubs. If you wanna talk about a real rap talk about tupac, notorious b.i.g., run d.m.c., public enemy, nas. They all tell it like it is. Eminem is great though I agree with you on that I also agree that not all rap is about bitches and hoes. But I'm sad to say most of it is now. But it wasen't back in the day. Public enemy talked about political issues.

D-Dey

02-17-2007, 08:34 AM

4. "White people have the nerve to diss rap music." And do you think that every black person likes rap? It's okay for blacks to diss metal (which not all do), but it's not okay for whites to diss rap (and not all whites do)? By the way, did you happen to know that blacks helped INVENT heavy metal in the late 60's??
Hey, one of those same black people also helped to lead to the invention of punk rock after he died, and they probably don't even realize it.

5. "At least rappers don't have album covers full of weird sadistic stuff." Again, an over-generalization. Why do so many people complain that rap albums are full of violence and glorify crime and drugs? Aren't you making the same kind of comments that people make about rap music?
I used to hear parents complain that rock music was full of violence and glorified drugs, that and to commit suicide. This kind of paranoia is part of the reason I'm not so big on the hype over 1980's nostalgia.

ABlairican Pie

02-17-2007, 08:39 AM

Canada's own Voivod, from Quebec, with their 1988 album Dimension Hatross. Brainy metal you can thrash to.

RIP Piggy. :rip:

Ollie G

02-17-2007, 01:35 PM

What you haters don't get is dat 50 Cent raps about real gangsta ****. You forgot the fact dat he was shot nine times.

AKA

02-17-2007, 01:50 PM

What you haters don't get is dat 50 Cent raps about real gangsta ****. You forgot the fact dat he was shot nine times.

Well, some people don't want to hear about "real gantsta ****." Thugs are thugs, and shouldn't be glorified.

I don't "hate" rap, by the way. A lot of it is very, very good. I stay away from gangsta rap, though.

greenlaser5555

02-17-2007, 01:57 PM

Holy Diver :rofl:

I remember that whack ass song when it first came out. Power Metal sucks too. Who the hell would wanna sing about Dungeons & Dragons? I wouldn't.

Dio happens to be one of the best heavy metal singers of all-time. Dio is alot better than those lame ass pop bands like Panic At The Disco or AFI.

Yeah, I was 16 when it came out. That was the time when I was in a very unknown rap-rock group in New York.

You? You were 16 when Holy Diver came out?:lol: And what does that make you, 40?:lol: Stating that you were 16 in 1983, you have a mind of a 16 year old yourself.

Not all rap is about tha bitches and hoes. Rap is all about dat real ****, ya know what I'm sayin, homie. Rappers like 50 Cent and Eminem tell it like it is.

50 Cent?:lol: He's crap. All he raps about are the bitches and hoes. And no, all rap is not about the bitches and hoes. Rap was real in the 80's and 90's, but now in the "50 Cent era", it is all about bitches and hoes.

platinumblondelife

02-17-2007, 04:01 PM

Ollie G if you're really 40 Im going to need you to dismiss yourself from this conversation, ok!! You really should because you cannot be taken seriously. You sound like a fake wannabe, and I didnt know people still said "yo" at the end of sentences :confused: lol,

Brian Damage

02-17-2007, 04:42 PM

The Sugarhill Gang

AKA

02-17-2007, 05:39 PM

Whomever thinks rap and heavy metal can't co-exist peacefully is an ignorant moron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abg2vOQTYrA

AKA

02-17-2007, 06:18 PM

Anyone else remember this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX_Zi9x-bWA

Or this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2clAlabH0E

Good stuff.

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 12:32 AM

JuicyCoutureGirl

02-18-2007, 01:22 AM

What you haters don't get is dat 50 Cent raps about real gangsta ****. You forgot the fact dat he was shot nine times.

J.J Evans and J.R Ewing was shot too, but you don't hear anyone calling them "gangsta".

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 01:58 AM

J.J Evans and J.R Ewing was shot too, but you don't hear anyone calling them "gangsta".You have to remember that "Fiddy" was shot nine times....between classes at Julliard. ;)

That DOES give him cred. :nod: :yeahthat

JuicyCoutureGirl

02-18-2007, 02:13 AM

You have to remember that "Fiddy" was shot nine times....between classes at Julliard. ;)

That DOES give him cred. :nod: :yeahthat

:lol: :lol:

50 Cent is as 'gangsta' as my left pinky!

Ollie G

02-18-2007, 06:04 AM

He says he was with a very unknown rap-metal band at the time. 1983?? :confused: I thought that stuff was completely unheard of until 1987, when Anthrax did "I'm the Man".
Yes, my band were the first and only band to come up with dat, but we never got notice in anyway. My band were influencend by The Sugerhill Gang & Black Sabbath. Rap-Rock was first heard around 1983-1984 when Run-DMC released "Rock Box". Beastie Boys came in 1985 second with "She's On It". Anthrax came third with "I'm The Man". Red Hot Chili Peppers came fourth with "Fight Like a Brave". And then Faith No More came in at the end of the decade with the overrated "Epic".

So yeah, my band had never made it to the mainstream, and it's not easy either. And that's why no one has ever heard of Ollie Gunther, which is me.

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 10:57 AM

Yes, my band were the first and only band to come up with dat, but we never got notice in anyway. My band were influencend by The Sugerhill Gang & Black Sabbath. Rap-Rock was first heard around 1983-1984 when Run-DMC released "Rock Box". Beastie Boys came in 1985 second with "She's On It". Anthrax came third with "I'm The Man". Red Hot Chili Peppers came fourth with "Fight Like a Brave". And then Faith No More came in at the end of the decade with the overrated "Epic".

So yeah, my band had never made it to the mainstream, and it's not easy either. And that's why no one has ever heard of Ollie Gunther, which is me.I remember "She's On It" by the Beastie Boys. About a year before they got big. So I stand, or sit, corrected. I remember hearing on the radio that they even opened up for Madonna in Seattle and got booed! :eek:
:confused: Wasn't a bad song either, so I guess rap and metal did go back farther than 1987.

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 11:10 AM

Whomever thinks rap and heavy metal can't co-exist peacefully is an ignorant moron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abg2vOQTYrAThat was a good one. I wonder what they'd think of the plethora of all the NU-metal acts glutting the scene in the past few years. When this came out in the early 90's, it was completely new and interesting, but in the past few years, it became cliched and "mall-jammer"-ish.

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 11:35 AM

Dio happens to be one of the best heavy metal singers of all-time. Dio is alot better than those lame ass pop bands like Panic At The Disco or AFI.

You? You were 16 when Holy Diver came out?:lol: And what does that make you, 40?:lol: Stating that you were 16 in 1983, you have a mind of a 16 year old yourself.

50 Cent?:lol: He's crap. All he raps about are the bitches and hoes. And no, all rap is not about the bitches and hoes. Rap was real in the 80's and 90's, but now in the "50 Cent era", it is all about bitches and hoes.
Ronnie James Dio was with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow after the guitarist left Deep Purple in the mid-70's. Dio then became Black Sabbath's frontman after Ozzy left, but there were problems with them, so he left for his own solo career, and now he's back fronting Heaven and Hell, which is basically Black Sabbath with the Mob Rules lineup (whose album from 1981 we've already seen).

Of course, we all know this about Dio, but Ollie seems to have this idea that somehow Dio was "whack" in 1983 when he went solo. He was already an established name for years. Dio may have been "Dungeons and Dragons" metal, and not "street" enough for rap-rockers, but when was that a bad thing? Fantasy lyrics have always been popular, just like fantasy movies in popular culture. I think the only "street" thing in metal going on in 1983 was Motley Crue.

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 11:45 AM

So if Ronnie James Dio just writes goofy "whack" fantasy lyrics that have nothing to do with anything, what about
these lyrics? They have a lot of meaning. It's one of the finest songs ever written:

Heaven and Hell
by Black Sabbath
from Heaven and Hell, 1980

Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil
The Devil is never a maker
The less that you give, you're a taker
So it's on and on and on, it's Heaven and Hell, oh well

The lover of life's not a sinner
The ending is just a beginner
The closer you get to the meaning
the sooner you'll know that you're dreaming
So it's on and on and on, oh it's on and on and on
It goes on and on and on, Heaven and Hell
I can tell, fool, fool!

Well if it seems to be real, it's illusion
For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life
Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer
And it's on and on, on and on and on....

They say that life's a carousel
Spinning fast, you've got to ride it well
The world is full of kings and queens
Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams
It's Heaven and Hell, oh well
And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
It's Heaven and Hell, oh no!
Fool, fool!
You've got to bleed for the dancer!
Fool, fool!
Look for the answer!
Fool, fool, fool!

Janice

02-18-2007, 11:59 AM

I don't understand how people can say that heavy metal sucks. Think of all the big buildings that were built using heavy metal. Think of all the bridges, the tunnels...oh....wait.....

:seeya:

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 12:03 PM

I don't understand how people can say that heavy metal sucks. Think of all the big buildings that were built using heavy metal. Think of all the bridges, the tunnels...oh....wait.....

:seeya: :yeahthat :lol:

AKA

02-18-2007, 12:15 PM

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 12:17 PM

Jane, you ignorant...I'm Captain ABlairican Pie, and you're not!!

Janice

02-18-2007, 12:17 PM

Jane, you ignorant...
:caveman:

;)

Janice

02-18-2007, 12:19 PM

I'm Captain ABlairican Pie, and you're not!!
You and AKA, just a couple of wiiiiillld and carraazzzzy guys! :lol:

AKA

02-18-2007, 12:21 PM

Well, excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse... me!

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 12:47 PM

Hey kids, it's time for........

THE MR. BILL SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ABlairican Pie

02-18-2007, 09:58 PM

So which looks and sounds more aesthetically and sonically pleasing, the Jackson Pro Series RR3 Randy Rhoads guitar, with Seymour Duncan dual humbucker pickups and Floyd Rose tremolo, or a rapper's scratching turntable?

Courtnee

02-18-2007, 11:28 PM

You don't like anything do you?

I rather see weird "sadistic" album covers than having to be called a "bitch" or a "whore" by these stupid, left back seven times, ugly looking, should be on America's Most Wanted rappers.

Rappers disrespects women in general, they talk about killing the police, smacking some "bitch", seven baby-mamas, and how much (illegal) dough they have. hmm.... Ozzy Osbourne, a loving husband and father or 50 Cent, a deadbeat, gorilla looking, mentality of a five year old, disrespectful S.O.B.. oh, the choices!
:thumbsup:

ABlairican Pie

02-19-2007, 01:52 AM

A Brief History of Metal

by a Person Who Is Duly Qualified to Know Due to His Having Seen AC/DC With Bon Scott Open For Ted Nugent in 1978, As Well As Seeing Van Halen Open Up for Black Sabbath That Same Year, And Seeing Judas Priest Open For
UFO In 1979,

Professor ABlairica, P.I.E.

Part 1. The Origins of Metal

Heavy Metal: n. pronounced HE-vee MET-al
1) a highly radioactive material used in atomic weapons
2) a character from the William S. Burroughs 1962 novel The Soft Machine by the name of Uranium Willy, The Heavy Metal Kid
3) any form of artillery or munitions, such as cannonballs, etc.
4. the greatest form of music on the planet, known for its ability to provoke imagination, volume, and instrumental dexterity

Heavy metal is a form of music which appears to have originated in the late 60's as a product of the British electric blues invasion, as well as incorporating much of the West Coast psychedelic rock movement. The musical form grew as guitarists found the need for highly amped blues-based leads answered in such inventions as the Marshall amplifier stacks, as well as the popular Hi-Watts, championed by British rock legends The Who. In the mid-60's, as American audiences were enthused by the success of the Beatles and other British Invasion artists, British youngsters were discovering a deep love affair with the blues, and artists such as The Yardbirds, which featured such guitarists as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page at different times (though Beck and Page were briefly bandmates), began to experiment with rock guitar's sonic capabilities and melodic fluidity. Eric Clapton formed Cream, which became the classic power trio with heavy blues-based sounds. Jimi Hendrix formed The Experience, having relocated in Britain from America where instantly he became an overnight superstar, known for his electrifying performances and revolutionary style of guitar playing. He is largely credited for turning the guitar into a completely virtuosic instrument. In San Francisco, bands such as Blue Cheer, while not virtuosi in any sense of the word, turned their instruments on to the highest volume levels possible, and are regarded as perhaps the first semi-official heavy metal band. Their 1967 album Vincibus Eruptum featured the blistering cover of Eddy Cochran's "Summertime Blues", which went on to inspire The Who's Pete Townshend at Woodstock in 1969. Also in 1968, heavy metal was mentioned by name in the song "Born To Be Wild" by West Coast band Steppenwolf ("heavy metal thunder"), while Iron Butterfly pioneered heavy metal with their 17-minute anthem "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" with long stretches of thunderous drumming, ominous riffing, and epic compositions. But the ultimate definition of "heavy" music came with Jimmy Page's spin-off band; after the breakup of The Yardbirds, he proposed a new band he christened The New Yardbirds, but after members of The Who commented that the new sound would go down like a "lead balloon", Page got creative and gave the new band another name: Led Zeppelin, which featured the powerful drumming of John Bonham as well as the airraid wail of Robert Plant. Page's guitar would feature plenty of droning along with his inspired, intense take on electric blues. In fact, due to his prior work as a session guitarist in London,
his compositions were very eclectic and multi-faceted. Page could play it all, acoustic, Eastern, traditional Delta blues, as well as very heavy rock. Their first two albums, 1969's self-titled debut and Led Zeppelin II, are considered classics of the new genre, with "Dazed and Confused", "How Many More Times", "Whole Lotta Love", "The Lemon Song", and "Heartbreaker/Live-in Loving Maid".

The arrival of what would become defined as heavy metal occurred just as the 60's was imploding in a series of events that shook all of pop culture: the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the brutality at the Democratic National Convention as riot police pummelled anti-war demonstrators in Chicago, the Charles Manson murders in Los Angeles (where the Beatles' lyrics were cryptically tied in to the killings), and Altamont, a concert disaster, just months after Woodstock, where Hell's Angels, hired as "security", committed acts of murder and bloodshed during the Rolling Stones' set. Within a year, The Beatles would be disbanded, and others, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and later, Jim Morrison of The Doors and Duane Allman, would be dead. It was this dire atmosphere in which heavy metal would arise.

Cream's 'Disraeli Gears', which featured "Strange Brew", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "SWLABR" , and "Tales of Brave Ulysses";
Jimi Hendrix Experience 'Are You Experienced?", which featured "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "The Wind Cries Mary", and "Foxy Lady";
Blue Cheer's 'Vincebus Eruptum', which featured "Summertime Blues";
Steppenwolf's debut album which featured "Born To Be Wild", "The Pusher", and "Sookie Sookie";
Iron Butterfly's 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' which featured the title track;
Jeff Beck Group album 'Truth' from 1968, which featured "I Ain't Superstitious", a cover of The Yardbird's "Shapes Of Things", and "You Shook Me", which Beck later accused Jimmy Page of stealing for the first Led Zeppelin album;
Led Zeppelin II, which featured "Whole Lotta Love", "What Is And What Should Never Be", "The Lemon Song", "Thank You", "Heartbreaker/Live-In Loving Maid", "Ramble On", "Moby Dick", and "Bring It On Home". The first album, not pictured here, included "Good Times Bad Times", "Dazed And Confused", "Communication Breakdown", "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", "Your Time Is Gonna Come", "I Can't Quit You Baby", "Travelling Riverside Blues", "You Shook Me", and "How Many More Times".

Cream: Sunshine Of Your Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI8SUc2SV4k

Cream: Strange Brew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDxSOQZGrLQ

Cream: SWLABR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTtZ1v1MsI

Cream: Tales Of Brave Ulysses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHMCfEhdX1E

Jimi Hendrix: Star-Spangled Banner; Purple Haze, Woodstock 1969

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54-zGuWK0aA

Jimi Hendrix: Fire, Woodstock 1969

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_daLX3joKn8

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Chile, Swedish TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJmPtneBibU

Jimi Hendrix: Hey Joe, Monterey Pop Festival, 1967

Blue Cheer: Summertime Blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-kFe4l_W30

Steppenwolf: Born To Be Wild (with clip from 'Easy Rider')

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlwLAEzHBcg

Steppenwolf: Magic Carpet Ride (edited version from The Smothers Brothers Show)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcSxgOxjrT8

Steppenwolf: Monster (From Playboy After Dark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G08Q0iqiqKY

Steppenwolf: Sookie, Sookie (also from Playboy Dark, 1968)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3PRV5JsTJg&mode=related&search=

Iron Butterfly: In a Gadda Da Vida:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdFWa_OgciI

In a Gadda Da Vida (part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of7gdaiq2EI&mode=related&search=

Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love, live Royal Albert Hall, 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1xSPIqAEVg

ABlairican Pie

02-19-2007, 02:36 PM

Part 2. February 13, 1970--A Valentine's Day card from Birmingham, UK

As the 60's hippie pipe dreams had faded into gloomy winter twilight during the transition from 1969 to 1969, the music world pondered who, or what, would replace the stars of the previous decade. The answer was not long in coming. On Friday, February 13, 1970, the world braced itself for an unsettling album that signaled the end of the flower power era. The logical escalation of the British electric blues phase into something else entirely. An album that shaped the sound of the future.

Flashback a few years to the Ashton district of Birmingham, England. A young man by the name of John Michael Osbourne was appalled and disgusted
by the sappy pop dreck he was hearing on the radio. Songs such as "In San Francisco, Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair" by Scott McKenzie glutted the airwaves, and John detested it with a passion. Life in Birmingham was a thousand light years from San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury, there was so much crime, violence, and pollution that the whole hippie Halloween scene was laughable. John absolutely loved the Beatles, as did everyone else, and it would have been just great if Paul McCartney had married one of his sisters.
But his large family was steeped in poverty in a bad neighborhood, with barely enough food on the table, nor even decent clothes for John to wear to school. He even came to classes wearing pajamas! Everyone thought John was "loony", especially one school bully by the name of Tony Iommi, who despised John so much that he beat him up every chance he got. In his teens, John got into petty theft, thinking this would supplement his family's meager income. He was rather clumsy as a thief, not only wearing fingerless gloves for a heist, but also dropping a TV set on his head as he attempted to scale a fence! He was soon caught and arrested, and sent to prison for a short time, where he managed to win over friends with his sense of humor. He also tattooed his new moniker on his knuckles: O Z Z Y

Once Ozzy had been released from prison, he set about to form a rock band, placing an ad at a local store. Tony Iommi managed to answer it, unaware that the poster of the ad was the targets of his bullying. He took his friend, a drummer by the name of Bill Ward to meet the prospective singer, and when Ozzy answered, Tony wanted to leave at once. But Bill wanted to hang around, and from there a partnership was formed, in spite of Iommi's misgivings about his goofy schoolmate. Once bassist Terry "Geezer" Butler entered the picture, the band was complete.

Tony Iommi had played with such local bands as The Rockin' Chevrolets, Mythology, and even joined briefly with Jethro Tull, and was seen in the movie
Rock and Roll Circus featuring the Rolling Stones. Tony Iommi suffered from a serious mishap which fortunately changed the shape of rock and roll. On the last day of his job before going on the road with a band, he was inserting metal pieces into a cutting machine when the blade snipped off two of his fingertips! He was sent to the hospital where the doctor told him his guitar playing days were over. Agonizing over this, he sat in deep depression for weeks when his boss gave him an album by 30's/40's jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who played brilliantly in spite of having only two working fretting fingers, having lost the use of the others in a Gypsy caravan fire. This inspired Iommi to concentrate on guitar, and eventually, he was able to play again. He used light banjo strings on his guitar, and made plastic thimbles for his fretting fingers to help place pressure on the strings. He also tuned his guitar down several steps from standard E to a C#--creating an eerie sound which would be widely imitated by future generations of guitarists. While this move was designed to help take tension off his fingers, it created a new heavy sound that was unheard of before in rock.

The new band featuring Ozzy, Tony, Bill, and Geezer went through several names before settling on the one that would be most remembered. They went from bizarre names such as Polka Tulk, and later Earth. They changed their name when another, poppier band already had the name. While debating on a new name, they noticed a horror movie theater with long lines of people waiting to go in. They had a brainstorm: "Why were all these people lined up at a movie paying to get the s:censored: out of them?" They reasoned, it was because they got a thrill, a charge out of being spooked by evil, horror-type things. Now if they translated that into a rock and roll band, think of all the people who would line up to see us! The name of the movie was the English version of the 1963 movie by Italian director Mario Bava, Tre volti della paura, I, which featured Boris Karloff. The band decided to name it after its more familiar English title: Black Sabbath.

The band drew a huge crowd response, especially after the band's self-titled song, which was intentionally played loud so people would talk over them. The song stunned audiences with its haunting tritones, placed strategically in a way that was called "Diabolus in Musica", a musical method condemned by the church in the Medieval era because of its jarring dissonant nature. The lyrics spoke of a man damned to hell as Satan bids him to enter. The band played an intense form of blues which featured frantic fretwork by Tony Iommi. Drummer Bill Ward did not play in strict time on the drums, yet was considered a radical percussionist. Ozzy had a distinctive, throaty howl to his voice, and Geezer Butler tuned his bass down to match the lower scale of Iommi's guitar. The band soon recorded their first self-titled album, which was released on February 13, 1970, and became an instant classic. The album was a complete reversal of the hippie ethic, no sunshine-y lyrics, but themes of darkness, fear, desolation, and the Devil on such songs as "Wicked World", "N.I.B", "Wasp", "The Wizard", and Tony Iommi's searing guitar work on "Warning". The album was recorded in a matter of twelve hours under extreme pressure to complete it, and it worked out well, in spite of such mishaps as Iommi's guitar pickups on his Fender blowing out. Since pickups were built-in to guitars in those days, one could not replace the pickups without replacing the entire guitar. In a moment of haste, he picked up a spare guitar, a Gibson SG, which he found suited him better, and became his trademark guitar. During the recording, the producer shouted at them to turn down their instruments, due to their interfering with the drums in the mix. Ozzy told him, "We don't turn down, man. We turn up!!"

Black Sabbath also brought an unwanted bit of attention and controversy wherever they played. The head witch of a local coven asked them to play at Stonehenge at one of their rituals. The band declined, which prompted the witch to place a curse on them. A little shaken by this, the band had crosses designed by Ozzy's father as a talisman of good luck and a sign of divine protection over them. The furor over the Charles Manson trials also kept the band from appearing in America for a while, so during that time, the band toured Britain and Europe. Times were tough for the new band, where they lacked the accommodations to bathe or find decent food. But their playing improved by the time they reached Switzerland, they began rehearsing for material for their second album. It was this sophomore release,
released in Britain on September 18, 1970, the same day that Jimi Hendrix died, became the landmark album that to this day completely defines heavy metal, 'Paranoid'. While previous albums were simply "heavy", it took Black Sabbath's second album to be heavy metal. There was an unrelenting, electrifying tone to the entire album, as the band had further departed from their blues-based origins into parts unknown. It was where rock and roll had definitely become rock. Songs such as "War Pigs", "Paranoid", "Iron Man", "Electric Funeral" and "Hand of Doom" featured apocalyptic lyrics with heavy, droning riffing. Black Sabbath had succeeded in creating the first anthems of the metal genre, "Iron Man" and "Paranoid", with themes of fear raging through the songs. The band was about to name the album "War Pigs",
in response to the war in Vietnam, but the record label disapproved of this. They named the album 'Paranoid' after a track which was thrown on at the last minute as a filler track--which in fact became one of the most popular songs of all time. The success of Black Sabbath served notice that the 60's were over, and that the music scene was not about to wallow further in the naivete of the hippie era. The band was not against peace and love, but it was going to take more than "wearing flowers in your hair" solve the problems in the world.

Albums such as 1971's 'Master of Reality' were also early metal classics, and brought further criticism by church groups in America for its song "After Forever", which touched on belief in God as a positive thing in peoples' lives--though a hard rock band with a name like theirs was considered "blasphemous"
in spite of Christ being embraced as a cool counterculture figure in the early 70's. Other themes dealt with drugs, atomic war, and escape from a dying Earth, as well as Satan, on songs such as "Sweet Leaf", "Children of the Grave", "Into the Void", "Lord Of This World". In spite of Black Sabbath being a huge hit with the rockers and stoners, critics were merciless in their attacks on the band, considering them nothing but braindead, burnout longhairs--and being more than a little "spooky" with their demeanor. But the band was not into "Satan-worship" or such activities, though they were interested in researching the topic of the occult for song lyrics. Their only sins were of the chemical variety. The band's 1972 album 'Black Sabbath Volume 4' was about to be titled "Snowblind" after their sudden fondness for cocaine while recording the album in Los Angeles. The band attempted to update their sound at that point with less themes on darkness and deviltry.

Song: Black Sabbath, live Paris 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZpRNSxqBpo

Paranoid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0CgYPsS-XE

War Pigs, live Paris 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg

Iron Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EBSGnYhDFM&mode=related&search=

Behind the Wall Of Sleep, live Paris 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBRyB4GA_GI&mode=related&search=

N.I.B., live Paris 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG0PVoTJZHs

Fairies Wear Boots, live Paris 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvuI8d57N9I&mode=related&search=

Hand Of Doom, live Paris 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9gokjOjf6g&mode=related&search=

Snowblind, live 1975

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w93Z1M2r7SA&mode=related&search=

Children Of the Grave, live California Jam 1974

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7uyNVn-eOE

'Black Sabbath' from 1970, featuring "Black Sabbath", "The Wizard",
"Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep", "Bassically/N.I.B", "Wicked World", "Sleeping Village/A Bit of Finger", and "Warning";
'Paranoid', from 1970, featuring "War Pigs", "Paranoid", "Planet Caravan", "Iron Man", "Electric Funeral", "Hand of Doom", "Rat Salad", and "Fairies Wear Boots";
'Master of Reality' from 1971, featuring "Sweet Leaf", "After Forever",
"Embryo/Children of the Grave", "Orchid", "Lord Of This World", "Solitude", and
"Into the Void";
'Black Sabbath Vol. 4', featuring "Wheels of Confusion", "Tomorrow's Dream",
the ballad "Changes", "Fx", "Supernaut", "Snowblind", "Cornucopia", "Laguna Sunrise", "St. Vitus Dance", and "Under the Sun";
Early photos of Black Sabbath: promo 1970; in the studio 1970; live 1971:

freshprinceofLA

02-20-2007, 02:17 AM

What you haters don't get is dat 50 Cent raps about real gangsta ****. You forgot the fact dat he was shot nine times.
So if you've been shot all of a sudden you are a gangster? I don't think Regan was a gangster

JuicyCoutureGirl

02-20-2007, 09:02 AM

So if you've been shot all of a sudden you are a gangster? I don't think Regan was a gangster

:lol:

No, the pope is the most 'gangsta' out of all of them, even J.R Ewing and J.J Evans..

ABlairican Pie

02-20-2007, 09:14 AM

Part 3. From Black to Purple: Speed Kings and Highway Stars

While Black Sabbath were undoubtedly the band which pioneered the sound of heavy metal in the early 70's, they were not alone: the second member of the Holy Trinity of Metal was without question Deep Purple. The British band began with members of Episode Six in the mid-60's, which featuredvocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover as well as Jon Lord from The Flowerpot Men and Their Garden. Their then-drummer Chris Curtis recruited guitarist Ritchie Blackmore for the band, which would be called Roundabout. Curtis himself did not stay with the band, and neither did Gillan for the time being, but were both replaced by drummer Ian Paice and vocalist Rod Evans. Nick Simper filled in on bass, and before the band embarked on a tour of Denmark, the band decided to rename itself Deep Purple in 1968. The band's first hit single from their debut, 'Shades of Deep Purple', a cover of Joe South's "Hush" hit the charts. The band opened up on Cream's Goodbye tour, but were kicked off due their constantly upstaging the headliners. The band then followed up with the album 'The Book of Taliesyn', followed by the eponymously titled 'Deep Purple'. The band's sound at this point was basic psychedelic blues rock, with their harder sound gradually showing up in their progression of albums. By the end of the 60's, Evans and Simper were out of the band, to be replaced by Gillan and Paice.

In 1970, the band released their breakthrough album 'In Rock', which featured the classics "Child In Time" and "Speed King". The band had shifted from their 60's pop sound to heavier territory as Blackmore and Lord both demonstrated their intense musical dexterity. The 1971 album 'Fireball' followed, but was not considered a favorite of the band, but it was the album which succeeded it which became one of the most important metal albums of all time. While rehearsing songs for the new album, 'Machine Head', the band experienced a harrowing incident where the casino where they were watching a Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention show at the Montreaux
Jazz Festival was interrupted by "some stupid with a flaregun" who fired at the ceiling and set the place ablaze. Festival director Claude Nobs helped panicking concert-goers to safety. The band made it out and watched the fire burn down the casino all night on Lake Geneva, and found themselves in need of a place to rehearse and record. Eventually, the band found the opportunity to record in the in the hallways of the empty Montreaux Grand Hotel. The song documenting the bizarre incident was, of course, "Smoke On the Water", which featured one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in recorded history, a favorite of beginning guitarists everywhere. Other songs on the album included the phenomenally fast "Highway Star", "Lazy", and "Space Truckin'". The album became their most successful record, and broke them into the United States.

The band was known for its intensely loud concerts, with amplifiers turned up so high that they were known to knock people out whoever passed by them.
Instrumental breaks enabled such members as Ian Gillan the opportunity to indulge in various substances and an occasional groupie. The band was hugely successful in Europe and Japan, but success was somehow lagging in the U.S. Blackmore's main contribution to heavy metal was not simply the riff of "Smoke on the Water", but his superb combination of classically based playing and blues licks, providing the foundations of what would later be known as "shredding".

Hush (1968):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L58M88CweFg

Speed King (1970):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0rAP87B7UA

Child In Time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KnTAdfdcWI

Highway Star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgZSnAkQc4c

Highway Star (color):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54sIDRWkNM

Smoke On the Water:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQWrMA4AVko

Lazy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4r6EbqW2KY

Burn (with David Coverdale on vocals, California Jam, 1974):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CErFTm72UQ&mode=related&search=

Strange Kind Of Woman (1973):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0mc5TX_Fo4&mode=related&search=

Woman From Tokyo (1973):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na865z6Xbo4

Shades of Deep Purple, 1968: Featured "Hush"
Book of Taliesyn, 1969: Featured a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman"
In Rock, 1970: Featured "Child In Time" and "Speed King"
Fireball, 1971: Featured "Fireball"
Machine Head, recorded 1971, released 1972: Featured "Highway Star", "Maybe I'm a Leo", "Smoke On the Water", "Lazy", and "Space Truckin'":

Ollie G

02-20-2007, 11:04 AM

So if you've been shot all of a sudden you are a gangster? I don't think Regan was a gangster
No, 50 Cent is gangsta, unlike Ja Rule (who is a p****).

platinumblondelife

02-20-2007, 03:39 PM

No, 50 Cent is gangsta, unlike Ja Rule (who is a p****).
Ollie G. stop right now. Dissing Ja Rule because you like 50 Cent is so 2002 . You should know that lol.

ABlairican Pie

02-21-2007, 12:59 AM

4. Hammer of the Gods

Even though there is much debate as to whether they are the inventors of heavy metal, Led Zeppelin did not consider themselves heavy metal, though their impact on metal, as well as all of rock and roll, is immeasurable.
The band did not begin the decade of the 70's with groundbreaking, definitive albums such as Paranoid or In Rock, but in fact did a little change of pace. 'Led Zeppelin III' was an album mostly full of blues and acoustic numbers, though it did start off with the rocking anthem "The Immigrant Song". Other songs such as "Celebration Day" was another anthem, and "Since I've Been Loving You" was an electric blues number that became one of their biggest blues-based songs. Other songs such as "Gallows Poll", "Tangerine", and "That's the Way" demonstrated their softer, even folkier side. The album, in its vinyl form, featured a special cover where an inner disk could be spun around to reveal pictures in holes in the sleeve.

The band's popularity grew, as well as their mystique. When the band toured America, stories run rampant about their wild parties and scoring with groupies, sex, drugs, booze, and general debauchery. They were in huge demand here in the States, though crazy living was not all the band was about. Their fourth album from 1971, which, contrary to popular opinion, was not named "Zoso", as the symbols on the album supposedly indicated, nor was it even named "Led Zeppelin IV", it was not named anything, except for perhaps
the eponymously titled "Led Zeppelin". The band wanted no liner notes on the album, no title, nothing to distract from the music--though the record label did put an adhesive title on the shrink wrap. Led Zeppelin's fourth album became the most important album in rock at that point. The band was not about mere "heaviness", though they were certainly heavy--but it was a different sort of heaviness. The volume and weight of the band's music owed much to John Bonham's drumming, and the recording techniques used to capture his sound. His drum kit would be placed in a spacious room where microphones would be set apart at a distance where the drumming would sound huge, loud, and echoey. Jimmy Page's guitars would sound big as well, but not necessarily drone-y as on the first albums. Interestingly, even the band's acoustic numbers sounded heavy as well, there were so many layers and textures to everything the band did. They were the ultimate rock and roll band.

The band's cornerstone song on the album was the biggest rock and roll anthem of all time, "Stairway to Heaven", a song which encapsulated everything the band was about. A song with a gentle acoustic opening, also considered the one song every guitarist needed to learn, with mysterious lyrics, a story which captivated listeners for decades, which segued into a soft rock interlude with an electric Gibson 12-string, and climaxing into the blazing finale. Oddly, Robert Plant admitted that he never really liked the song, but the rest of the band were unanymous in their praise for the song, as were so many fans. What was the meaning of the song? Symbols of rebirth abounded on the song, though in later years, religious groups believed the song contained "backwards masking" messages designed to lure people to the devil and his minions. Though Jimmy Page was deeply interested in the works of British occultist Aleister Crowley, he had no sinister intentions with the composition of the song, nor did he have a high opinion of those who accused him of doing so. The song was so positive and so hopeful, it was not surprising that the song was played on rock stations and topped best-of radio lists for years. It was a testament to the power of the band's music.

In concert, the band was larger than life. The band need few effects, at first, which would later change as the band got bigger, they captivated the stage with Robert Plant's charismatic stage presence and vocals, while Page would wail on his Gibson Les Pauls and Gibson "double-neck", often using a violin bow in some parts of the show. The highlight of the show would be when John Bonham ("Bonzo") would do a long, thunderous drum solo. Bassist John Paul Jones, the "quiet" member, would play keyboards and some acoustic guitar. During the early 70's, the band would have the biggest attendence for concerts.

The band followed up with "Houses of the Holy" in 1973, an album which did not match the level of its predecessor, but was released at the pinnacle of the band's success, and featured many of the best songs, such as "The Song Remains the Same", "The Rain Song", "No Quarter", and "The Ocean".

'Led Zeppelin' from 1969, which we have mentioned earlier;
'Led Zeppelin III" from 1970, which featured "The Immigrant Song", "Friends", "Celebration Day", "Since I've Been Loving You", "Hats Off To Roy Harper", "Out On the Tiles", "Gallows Pole", "Tangerine", and "That's the Way";
'Led Zeppelin' (self-titled fourth album) from 1971, which featured their huge song "Black Dog", one of their most familiar riffs, as well as "Rock and Roll", "The Battle of Evermore", "Stairway To Heaven", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Four Sticks", "Going To California", and "When the Levee Breaks";
'Houses Of the Holy' from 1973, which featured "The Song Remains the Same", "The Rain Song", "Over the Hills and Far Away", "The Crunge", "D'yer Mak'er", "Dancing Days", "No Quarter", and "The Ocean":

freshprinceofLA

02-21-2007, 02:31 AM

No, 50 Cent is gangsta, unlike Ja Rule (who is a p****).
If 50 is so G... How come he hired police to help guard him. Isen't he so tough and so "gangsta". And just to give you a little info 50 doesen't even get respect on his own block (queens, NY). There is a big G-UNOT sign next to where he lived. Heavy Metal songs are way better than that trash 50 calls music. To me 50 cent is just like a kindergardener he just goes on crying when someone is better than him like the game. Hey but that's your opinion about 50 and I have to respect that. Not trying to diss ya or anything. Just dissing 50.

freshprinceofLA

02-21-2007, 02:32 AM

:lol:

No, the pope is the most 'gangsta' out of all of them, even J.R Ewing and J.J Evans..
Abe Lincoln is more G than 50 crack! lol

ABlairican Pie

02-21-2007, 09:19 AM

5. British metal, the first wave

Other British artists which contributed to the rise of metal included such heroes as The Who, though not being strictly a metal band, showed the power and intensity of their live shows with 'Live At Leeds', a show recorded on Valentine's Day, 1970, at Leeds University. The album, which included such staples as "My Generation", "Magic Bus", "Young Man Blues",
"Substitute", and "Summertime Blues", was considered the finest live recording
. The band was at the peak of their careers, and the album showed their promise. Another British band, Humble Pie, which featured one of rock's finest vocalists Steve Marriott as well as a pre-stadium-rocker Peter Frampton on guitar, focused on gritty blues-based hard rock with a bit of white soul. Their songs included such hits as 30 Days In the Hole" and "I Don't Need No Doctor".
Uriah Heep was another British metal band which incorporated fantasy themes into their eclectic brand of progressive hard rock which featured hints of blues and even country styles, as well as classical. The band was known for harmony choruses and keyboards, but while they were huge in Britain and Europe, they were never able to hit it off in the United States. Their albums included 'The Magician's Birthday' from 1972, which featured "Sweet Lorraine", 'Demons And Wizards' also from that year, which included "Easy Livin'", and 1973's 'Sweet Freedom', which featured "Stealin'".
Queen was another band from Britain which drew many comparisons to Led Zeppelin, with their huge symphonic rock arrangements. Vocalist Freddy Mercury was one of rock's most visual, theatrical frontmen, and Brian May, who designed his own "Red Special" guitar at home with his father, reached lofty musical heights with his instrument, making it sound like an orchestra. Their self-titled debut album from 1973 did not burn up the charts in spite of its critical praise, though it did feature the moderate hit "Keep Yourself Alive".
They did reach a wider audience on their second album 'Queen II" in 1974, with the hit "The Seven Seas of Rhye".
Budgie was one British band which was not very well known in America
until the late 80's when their songs were covered by a major metal band. The band straddled the line between blues-based hard rock and more progressive elements with songs bearing such titles as "Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman", "Crash Course In Brain Surgery", "The Rape of the Locks", from their 1971 self-titled debut. Their 1972 album 'Squawk' featured such songs as "Hot As a Docker's Armpit" and "Drugstore Woman". Their 1973album 'Never Turn Your Back on a Friend' included their biggest hit
"Breadfan", as well as" You're The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk". Their 1974 album 'In For the Kill' also featured "Crash Course In Brain Surgery", as well as "Hammer and Tongs" and the title track.
UFO was another band which would have a huge impact on metal, with the shredding riffs of German guitarist Michael Schenker, whose brother played in another huge metal band. The band's 1974 album 'Phenomenon' featured the major 70's metal hits "Rock Bottom" and "Doctor Doctor".

Ollie G

02-21-2007, 11:23 AM

If 50 is so G... How come he hired police to help guard him. Isen't he so tough and so "gangsta". And just to give you a little info 50 doesen't even get respect on his own block (queens, NY). There is a big G-UNOT sign next to where he lived. Heavy Metal songs are way better than that trash 50 calls music. To me 50 cent is just like a kindergardener he just goes on crying when someone is better than him like the game. Hey but that's your opinion about 50 and I have to respect that. Not trying to diss ya or anything. Just dissing 50.
Where'd ya get that he hired the po-lice to guard him? What are you, somewhat of a Game fanboy? He's tha most hated man in his town, so what? At least he's selling records, unlike Game.

freshprinceofLA

02-21-2007, 07:49 PM

Where'd ya get that he hired the po-lice to guard him? What are you, somewhat of a Game fanboy? He's tha most hated man in his town, so what? At least he's selling records, unlike Game.
Game is pretty good but I'm mostly a fan of the realists. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, and N.W.A. The police thing I got from some rap dvd I borrowed form someone but I don't remember the name it was about all kinds of rappers. The thing that I hate most about 50 is he thinks he's better than everyone elese. How could he diss Nas. Nas would straight out whoop him in a rap battle. I used really like 50 when he was 1st coming up you know his get rich dying or trying album was really good but now I hate the guy. Just a little info about 50's song in da club the beat which was made by dr.dre was supposed to go to D12 but they turned it down and it went to 50.
I got a question for you are you just a 50 fan or a fan of both g-unit and 50?

Ollie G

02-21-2007, 08:10 PM

Game is pretty good but I'm mostly a fan of the realists. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, and N.W.A. The police thing I got from some rap dvd I borrowed form someone but I don't remember the name it was about all kinds of rappers. The thing that I hate most about 50 is he thinks he's better than everyone elese. How could he diss Nas. Nas would straight out whoop him in a rap battle. I used really like 50 when he was 1st coming up you know his get rich dying or trying album was really good but now I hate the guy. Just a little info about 50's song in da club the beat which was made by dr.dre was supposed to go to D12 but they turned it down and it went to 50.
I got a question for you are you just a 50 fan or a fan of both g-unit and 50?
I'm a fan of both 50 & G-UNIT (not G-UNOT).

BTW, the DVD is called Stop Snitchin' & Stop Lyin'. Me 'n my boy Rad D saw it, and it was whack. You're a ******* if you think 50 a snitch.

freshprinceofLA

02-21-2007, 08:37 PM

I'm a fan of both 50 & G-UNIT (not G-UNOT).

BTW, the DVD is called Stop Snitchin' & Stop Lyin'. Me 'n my boy Rad D saw it, and it was whack. You're a ******* if you think 50 a snitch.
No its not that I've seen stop snitchin I'VE SEEN it before. It was either some dvd or it was something on vh1.

JuicyCoutureGirl

02-22-2007, 01:17 AM

Abe Lincoln is more G than 50 crack! lol

:lol: :lol: :lol:

ABlairican Pie

02-22-2007, 09:23 AM

6. America twists the volume knob: Gods of glitter, demons of doom

Meanwhile, the new British Invasion of the mighty metal music had not been lost on Americans. While most folks were grooving to The Carpenters, The Osmonds, Three Dog Night and The Partridge Family, young people across the nation, armed with Fender Stratocaster in one hand and roach clip in the other, began to crank it up to earth-shattering levels. Some bands just prided themselves on their virtue of being loud, others combined visual appeal with their volumnous attacks. The new bright lights of American metal took the gender-bending "glam-rock" approach of bands such as The New York Dolls (who would be the major precursor of punk), Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, and the MC5 and incorporated it into the loud mix. Many of the bands embraced musical simplicity, effeminate looks, and general trashiness as part of their rebellious appeal.

One of the first American metal bands was the trio Mountain, featuring the guitar work of Leslie West, who hit the charts with their 1970 album 'Climbing!' The album became known for their hit "Mississippi Queen" (which West insists is the first actual heavy metal song ever recorded) as well as "Theme From an Imaginary Western". Grand Funk Railroad was another Midwestern trio featuring lead guitarist/vocalist Mark Farner, who
were known for their loud, critically panned brand of "braindead" rock and roll.
The band kept it simple, fun, and loud, while their manager Terry Knight hyped them massively. Their concerts would break attendance records set by the Beatles and have them paid handsomely in the process. The band was known for their hits "Closer To Home", "Footstomping Music", a cover of the early 60's hit "The Loco-Motion", and of course, 1973's "We're An American Band". Their 1970 'Live Album' captured the band in all their raw glory.
New York band Blue Oyster Cult became America's answer to Black Sabbath in the early 70's, with song lyrics touching on sci-fi themes and other arcane subject matter. The band, featuring guitarist/lead vocalist Eric Bloom and lead guitarist Buck Dharma, played such popular metal songs as "Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll", "Hot Rails To Hell", "The Red and the Black", "ME-262", and "Dominance and Submission". During their concerts, the band members would all pick up guitars and play an extended jam.
One band, Montrose, featuring 70's guitar legend Ronnie Montrose, also
included a budding young vocalist by the name of Sammy Hagar, who would achieve stardom once he left the band. The band's 1973 self-titled album featured such major tracks as "Rock the Nation", "Space Station #5", "Bad Motor Scooter", and "Rock Candy".
Of course the biggest sensation in metal was theatrical rocker Alice Cooper, the macabre frontman of the band of the same name. The cross-dressing showman, whose real name was Vincent Furnier, injected Hollywood horror movie effects into his acts, thrilling audiences and causing headaches to parents. During his shows he would enact a mock "execution" with hanging gallows or a guillotines. But many did not understand this was an act that he kept separate from his personal life. He caused headlines when a live chicken was thrown onstage--having never seen a chicken before, he tossed it into the air, expecting it to fly away, but it landed in the audience where it was sadly torn to pieces! From then on, Alice had to live down the noteriety of "sacrificing" chickens onstage. His big hits included "I'm Eighteen", "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies", and "Be My Lover".
One New York glitter band which featured a similar "macabre" twist to their act was KISS, featuring bassist Gene Simmons (the Demon), guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley (the Starchild), lead guitarist Ace Frehley (the Space Ace), and drummer Peter Criss (the Cat), four musicians who adopted unique personas with their makeup designs and stunning, flashy costumes. Their music was simple rock and roll anthems which featured such early numbers as "Strutter", "Hotter Than Hell", "Firehouse", and "Cold Gin". While they created a major club buzz, success seemed to elude them in 1973 on.
Another band, while not being American, was Canadian trio Rush, featuring vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer John Rutsey, who was replaced by Neil Peart, a very able percussionist who had a gift of writing thought-provoking lyrics. The band, which was considered a
"poor man's Led Zeppelin", soon became known for their heavier take on progressive rock and epic song themes. Their first album from 1974, featured the heavy numbers such as "Finding My Way" "What You're Doing", "In the Mood", and their famous album closer, "Working Man".

ABlairican Pie

02-24-2007, 09:15 AM

7. Mid-decade metal of the 70's: Arena rockers and power prog

While the rest of America geared up for the Disco inferno with white suits and glitter balls, dudes in bell bottoms and bongs tuned into the latest hard rawk offerings by the hottest bands ever to fill a concert hall. Such acts as Aerosmith, a band from Boston considered "America's Rolling Stones", with flamboyant sleaze merchant Steven Tyler on vocals, and blues-based guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. Like their pioneering British counterparts, they came across as rude, salacious, and constantly in no short supply for drugs. Their lyrics were crammed with sexual double-entendres on tracks such as "Walk This Way" and "Big Ten Inch", while their many of their songs were total full-on rock powerhouses such as "Sweet Emotion", "Back In the Saddle", "Rats In the Cellar", "Toys In the Attic" and "Train Kept a-Rollin'", a cover of The Yardbirds' "Stroll On".
Sexual overtones were never far from former Amboy Dukes' guitarist Ted Nugent, whose solo career reached huge heights in the mid-to-late 70's with albums such as his self-titled debut, "Free-For-All", and "Cat Scratch Fever". Armed with an electric hollow-body Gibson Birdland guitar and Fender amps, suitable for emitting desired feedback, the Nuge was a total primal wildman of rock, whose prey included nubile cheerleaders and other non-human game, as he was a devout hunting enthusiast--and possibly one of the very few admitted Republicans in rock and roll. He hated drugs and alcohol, despised the hippie lifestyle as "dirty" and self-destructlve, preferring the high offered by his crossbow hunting safaris in the woods. His songs such as the classic "Stranglehold", "Stormtroopin'", "Free-For-All", "Wang Dang Sweet Poon Tang", and "Hey Baby" became anthems for many longhairs who did happen to favor the forbidden herb.
Meanwhile, Britain and Europe had its share of metal minions bracing itself for the onslaught of punk. They held their own, though many had a long wait to break through into the States. Blackmore's Rainbow, featuring former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, included a short vocalist that was large on stage presence by the name of Ronnie James Dio. Blackmore proved that there was life after Deep Purple with such songs as "Long Live Rock and Roll", "Kill the King", and "Man On the Silver Mountain".
Germany had its metal heroes with The Scorpions, which featured UFO guitarist Michael Schenker's brother Rudolf on guitar, as well as an amazing guitar virtuoso Uli Roth. The band played in a more progressive metal vein than what it would later be known for. Their 70's songs included "Fly To the Rainbow", "Polar Nights", "Speedy's Coming", "Top of the Bill", "We'll Burn the Sky", and "Steamrock Fever". Some of their album covers, however, were a little too objectionable for American release, too sexually explicit, which is perhaps why few metal fans were aware of them until later.
Black Sabbath released what is believed to be their last great album in the 70's with their 1974 offering, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The band struggled to regain their creative fires by taking the same drugs and going through the same decadent rituals that fueled the making of their Vol. 4 album. When nothing happened, they moved into a castle in England which was reported to be haunted--and funny things began to happen. Their creative juices began to flow like booze--they were indeed back! Strange occurances, more than simple pranks, spooked them before they ran out in horror. But they experimented with new ideas in the process, such as keyboards (Yes' Rick Wakeman appeared on the track "Sabbra Cadabra"), classical strings on "Spiral Architect", and straight-on heaviness on the title track, "A National Acrobat", and "Killing Yourself To Live". Unfortunately, the album was recorded during a time when their management was milking them for millions and was the beginning of a period of slow decline as the band was mired in lawsuits and financial wrangling. Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne felt as if the drugs and alcohol were seriously compromising his sanity. Their followup album, 1975's "Sabotage" featured fine tracks as "Hole In the Sky", "Symptom of the Universe" and "Megalomania", but went overboard with too many progressive flourishes.
Prog-rock was the staple for such a band as Rush, who, though being touted as the Next Big Thing in Canada, were withering under lack of commercial sales. Their first album with new drummer Neil Peart, 1975's 'Fly By Night' opened a few ears with "Anthem", "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" and the title track, but their followup album 'Caress Of Steel', while featuring a few big songs as "Bastille Day" and "Lakeside Park", was disappointing except for die-hard fans. The epic track "The Necromancer" failed to take off with many listeners, so now it was time for revenge on their next album, their make-or-break release. '2112', which featured an epic track based on the book "Anthem" by philosopher-author Ayn Rand, told the tale of a young man in a futuristic society who finds the gift of a guitar and finds himself outcast for his "dangerous" ideas when he tries to bestow its beauty on a self-contained dystopian world. The album took off and made listeners sit up and take notice. It became one of the strongest statements made in metal and launched them into rising stardom.

ABlairican Pie

02-26-2007, 09:17 AM

8. Sinners and Victims of Changes: The Priest is summoned

While many British bands surprisingly did not consider themselves to be heavy metal, there was one Birmingham band who did: Judas Priest. Hailing from the same city as Black Sabbath, the band began in the late 60's as guitarist Kenneth, or K.K., Downing (so named after a Danish girl he met on tour couldn't pronounce his name and referred to him as "K.K." instead) and bassist Ian Hill, teamed up with vocalist Alan Atkins. K.K. and Ian had known each other literally since infancy, being in the same nursery and most likely sharing a rattle and a teething ring. As the two friends grew up, they also shared an interest in the same bands as Cream, Hendrix, and the Yardbirds, as well as the desire to form a musical partnership. The band named themselves after the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest", however, Atkins did not remain in the band for long. Facing such growing concerns as raising a family and not having the financial means at that time to do so while being in a band, Atkins left the group. A girl Hill was dating suggested that her brother try out for the vocal spot, and once they heard the young man sing, a singer with an amazing set of pipes by the name of Rob Halford, they knew they had their vocalist.

The band played dates with such big names in the Britain at the time as Budgie, Thin Lizzie, and Trapeze, and built up a sizeable following. The band was set to enter the studio to record their first album when their record company suggested they add a second guitarist, a six-stringer they recommended from The Flying Hat Band by the name of Glen Tipton. The band then became one of the first British bands to utilize the twin-guitar harmonies that were popular with other groups such as Wishbone Ash and others. Their first album, 1974's 'Rocka-Rolla', not the most impressive title with an equally insipid album cover of a Coca-Cola logo on a bottle cap, suffered from "horrible" production and the technical problems durign recording hampered the sound, something which the record company refused to address. The band's producer Roger Bain, who had also produced Black Sabbath's classics, whittled down many of the band's songs from the album, leaving out what would become future classics, and turning out a ten-minute standout track, "Caviar and Meths" to merely a two-minute instrumental.

The band had a little more command over the proceedings and switched producers by their next album, 'Sad Wings of Destiny' from 1976. The band was more polished, experienced and improved, and released their first metal classic, with such songs as "Tyrant", "Genocide", and two of their first major songs "The Ripper", and "Victim of Changes", the latter which was an early live classic for the band, originally called "Whiskey Woman". The album was released at a time when heavy metal faced serious competition and a state of near decline due to the rise of punk and disco, and is considered one of the most important metal albums which helped revive a stagnating genre. 1977's 'Sin After Sin', which featured major tracks as "Sinner", a cover of Joan Baez' "Diamonds and Rust", "Starbreaker", "Island of Domination", and "Dissident Aggressor", followed and kept metal alive even further. The following album, 1978's 'Stained Class', cemented the band's reputation as the new group to watch for, yielding another set of classic metal tracks such as "Exciter", "Better By You, Better Than Me", "Beyond the Realms of Death" (these last two songs would bring an unintended bit of controversy some years later) and "White Heat, Red Hot".

Judas Priest had become such a popular rising band in the late 70's that they even opened for the last Led Zeppelin's shows in California in 1977. Their early songs had a bluesy sort of hard rock feel, but increased in intensity in time, getting heavier with each album. The band's stage appearance at that time initially had them decked out in fine threads and flashy suits, something which would definitely change by the end of the decade.

Two covers of 'Rocka-Rolla'; Color photo of Priest in 1974; B & W of band in 1977:

ABlairican Pie

03-01-2007, 12:30 AM

9. "You wanted the best, you got the best!"

The fact that KISS started a minor buzz in 1974 did not exactly equal strong record sales for their debut album. The band started their tour in Edmonton, Alberta, and would feature the likes of Rush, which would give an added boost to the visibility of the Canadian power trio. KISS played songs such as "Nothin' to Lose",
"Firehouse", and "Black Diamond" on Dick Clark's In Concert, their first televised appearance, and also performed "Firehouse" on the Mike Douglas Show later that spring. As the popular TV host interviewed Gene Simmons, his first of many, the bassist in "Demon" facepaint declared that he was "evil incarnate", which caused a few nervous chuckles from the unsettled audience. Having never seen such a spectacle, they figured he must have been serious!

In spite of the boost to the band's publicity and noteriety, the debut album only sold 75,000 copies. The record label was losing money on pushing the band, which was not helped by the commercial failure of the band's second album, 1974's 'Hotter Than Hell', whose only single was "Let Me Go, Rock And Roll". The album's sound and lyrical content was darker than their first, on songs such as "Goin' Blind" about a doomed relationship with a young girl, and "Comin' Home" about their dissatisfaction with recording the album in Los Angeles. The album even sold worse than the debut. Desperate for a hit album from the band, the record label Casablanca yanked the band from their tour to hastily record a followup album, which became 1975's 'Dressed To Kill', a
brighter, poppier album which featured the songs "Rock And Roll All Night" and "C'mon And Love Me", which failed to hit the singles charts. The album did a little better in sales, but not enough to keep the band from facing the prospect of being dropped. The label was nearly bankrupt and losing money on the band. Something needed to be done.

The answer had finally come to KISS in 1975 with something they felt would capture the excitement of one of their shows: a double-live album. The album 'Alive!' was released--and the doors had not only swung wide open for the band, but also spawned a slew of live albums from nearly every major (and not so major) artist in the years to follow, such as Peter Frampton, whose modestly selling studio albums were eclipsed by his 1976 release "Frampton Comes Alive!'. The KISS Alive! album featured their first major hit, the live version of "Rock And Roll All Night", complete with Ace Frehley's guitar solo, along with other major arena anthems as "Deuce",
"Parasite", "She" "100,000 Years", "Black Diamond", and "Cold Gin". The album also saved Casablanca Records financially. Now that the band had hit stardom, it was time for a new studio album which would further capture their strengths. For this veteran producer Bob Ezrin, who produced Alice Cooper and would go on to produce Pink Floyd's 'The Wall" in 1979, helped create their studio masterpiece, 1976's 'Destroyer', which featured such tracks as "Detroit Rock City", based on the true story of a young motorist who died in a crash on his way to a KISS concert, "King of the Night Time World", the omenous "God Of Thunder", "Flaming Youth", "Sweet Pain" (whose guitar solo was played by Dick Wagner from Alice Cooper's new band, rather than Ace), the anthem
"Shout It Out Loud", and their biggest hit, the ballad "Beth", which was sung by Peter Criss, and "Do You Love Me". Ezrin introduced orchestral arrangements, a children's choir, and superb production values on the album. In October 1976, Kiss appeared on the The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, lip-synching "Detroit Rock City," "Beth," and "King of the Night Time World." For many teenagers, this was their first exposure to Kiss's dramatic appearance. The show was co-produced by Bill Aucoin. In addition to the three performances, Kiss was the subject of a brief comedic "interview" conducted by Paul Lynde himself. This included Lynde noting, when hearing the member's first names, "Oh, I love a good religious group!"

The followup album, 'Rock and Roll Over', released in the fall of 1976, jettisoned the choirs and orchestras and became a straight-on rock and roll affair, with such songs as "Calling Doctor Love", "Ladies Room", and the Rod Stewart-esque country-ish "Hard Luck Woman", also sung by Criss, which was intended originally for Rod himself. The band hit their commercial peak with 1977's 'Love Gun', which featured Ace Frehley's vocals sung on the song "Shock Me", as well as other popular tracks as "I Stole Your Love" and the title track. At that point, the band began to sell tons of merchandise in the form of dolls, lunch boxes, bubblegum stickers, and practically anything else. Concerts sold out everywhere as KISS became a household name, and fans everywhere were treated to the fire-breathing, blood-spewing, guitar-smoking, rising drumkit-soloing feast for the senses that set new heights in rock and roll entertainment. The band's hardcore fans became a movement known as The KISS Army, and while the promotion of gimmicks and memorabilia became shameless in their marketing, they made Gene Simmons very rich and would become highly-sought-after collectables in later years. The band appeared unstoppable in the late 70's.

One of their first TV appearances in 1974, playing "Firehouse":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9llHmA3-cE4

At bottom, a very collectable KISS comic put out by Marvel which allegedly had the band's blood mixed in with the red ink:

ABlairican Pie

03-02-2007, 08:21 AM

By the way, isn't it interesting how this thread started as a total diss against heavy metal and eventually descended into a debate as to who is more "legit" in rap. Pretty much no consensus there. Which just goes to show:

Metal rules, and rap drools!! :rock:

ABlairican Pie

03-02-2007, 08:36 AM

10. "You wanted the best, and you got the best!" (Photo gallery)

Pictures of KISS in their early days of 1973-1974:

ABlairican Pie

03-02-2007, 09:09 AM

More early pictures of KISS from between 1974-1975:

First one is their early demo photo from 1973. KISS in fact started out with other members of a band called Wicked Lester.

ABlairican Pie

03-05-2007, 08:43 AM

Pictures of KISS from 1976:

The bottom photo was perhaps shown horizontally to demonstrate that KISS knocked the world down flat!! :rock: Or maybe that Paul Stanley wanted to *get horizontal* with a schoolgirl? ;) :grineyes:

A black and white photo shows them with the cast of the Paul Lynde Halloween special that year. Special guests on the show included Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West on 'The Wizard of Oz') and Billy Hayes (Witchie Poo from 'H.R. Pufnstuf').

ABlairican Pie

03-06-2007, 10:54 PM

11. A guitar eruption against punk and disco

In the late 70's, true rock was being assaulted on all sides by punk, new wave, and disco, which to many metal fans, was just a silly, frivolous and often tacky trend that threatened rock's supremacy. The only bands which were considered "metal" by the mainstream, were inexplicably poppy Top 40 acts as Styx, Foreigner, Journey, and REO Speedwagon. But there was one Top 40 act from Los Angeles who happened to play their brand of hit music a little louder, and a little more intense, than the others: Van Halen. Roaring out of the Sunset Strip club scene in 1978, the band had attracted attention from KISS' Gene Simmons who recorded their first demo. Eventually the band was signed to Warner Brothers and their self-titled album was released that year, impressing guitar fans with such searing classics as "Running With the Devil", "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love", and a cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me". But it was a minute-and-a-half long instrumental, the guitar solo called "Eruption" that knocked the rock world on its ear. Listeners were amazed with the speed and fluidity of this wild, fleet-fingered guitar exercize, which ended with a drone reminescent of an airraid siren. The band, named after the band's nimble guitar player Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex on drums, also featured bassist Michael Anthony and engaging and often hammy, over-the-top wild frontman David Lee Roth. The band opened for Black Sabbath on their 1978 'Never Say Die' tour, which, nfortunately, saw the veteran band on its last legs with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. The band, who had been suffering for the past several years with financial mismanagement and legal wranglings, as well as Ozzy's growing substance abuse problems and musical stagnation, found their collective asses kicked every night by the young Pasadena upstarts. Black Sabbath's star seemed to wane while the mighty Van Halen's began to shine brighter.

Other major acts included an act which drew much attention opening up for Ted Nugent in the fall of 1978, an Australian band by the name of AC/DC, who featured their own captivating frontman Bon Scott, as well as a manic guitarist by the name of Angus Young, often seen hopping about in a schoolboy outfit with his Gibson SG, while his brother Malcolm held down the fort on rhythm guitar. The band was in fact a very loud blues-based, simple and straight-forward brand of rock and roll, and despised being called "heavy metal". Regardless, many metal fans picked up on the new band, who had released a live album, 'If You Want Blood, You've Got It', which featured such tracks as "Riff Raff", "The Jack", "Problem Child", "Whole Lotta Rosie", "Bad Boy Boogie" and "Let There Be Rock". While many rock fans were put off at first by the bizarre appearance of the guitarist, they soon embraced the band full on by 1979's 'Highway To Hell' album, produced by Mutt Lange with improved sound quality on such tracks as "Girls Got Rhythm", "Shot Down In Flames", "Walk All Over You", "Touch Too Much", and the anthemic title track. Stardom was around the corner for the boys from Down Under, though they were unaware of a deeply disturbing turn of events...

Another band which kept their rock simple and hit oriented was the Midwest band Cheap Trick, featuring two hot young men, vocalist Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson, as well as two not-so-hot ones, "nerdy" guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos, who, while not being considered "metal", did introduce some very rocking riffs and high-energy, uncomplicated rock and roll that was borrowed heavily from 70's power-pop bands such as Big Star and others. Their 1977 and 1978 albums 'In Color' and 'Heaven Tonight' featured such tracks as "Hello There", "Clock Strikes Ten", "Big Eyes", "Surrender", "California Man", "High Roller" and others. Their opening slots for
KISS and Ted Nugent gave listeners a badly-needed dose of high-intensity pop rock that was in no way wimpy, but highly entertaining and over the top. The late night weekend music show, NBC's The Midnight Special, in a rare break from form, featured rude and crude Ted Nugent as host, along with AC/DC, Cheap Trick, and others on a Thanksgiving weekend episode. The band's 1979 Japan concert album 'Live At Budokan' broke the band wide into mainstream audiences.

Another band featured on that Midnight Special episode was Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, with black bassist frontman Phil Lynott, who made a few hits on American radio such as "The Boys Are Back In Town", "Jailbreak", and "The Cowboy Song". The band rocked with the best of them, with guitarists Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson, while it was singer Lynott who stole the spotlight. Lynott's race was never an issue with white audiences, who simply accepted him as a rocker much like another famous black performer, Jimi Hendrix, was.

Meanwhile, America was preparing for another assault of heavy metal, as late 70's rockers such as UFO and their 1977 album 'Lights Out' which featured the hugely influential guitar style of German axeman Michael Schenker, brother of The Scorpions' Rudolf Schenker, Judas Priest's album 'Hellbent For Leather' from 1978, Blue Oyster Cult's 1976 and 1977 albums 'Agents Of Fortune' and 'Spectres', which featured "Don't Fear the Reaper", "E.T.I.", "Godzilla", and "R.U. Ready 2 Rock", were huge sellers. KISS had reached the pinnacle of their popularity, with a TV movie, memorabilia, solo albums, and a spike in controversy, i.e., rumors that their name meant "Knights In Satan's Service" according to fear-mongering fundamentalists, a sign that the resurgence of heavy rock rivalled the noteriety of politically-minded televangelists who were about to take center stage in the coming decade.

By the end of the decade, punk had imploded with the breakup of the Sex Pistols and death of their drug-addled bassist Sid Vicious, who had been accused of murdering his girlfriend, and the scene was replaced by the trendy-but-vapid new wave scene. Disco had suffered from an ignoble public trashing of albums at Comiskey Field in Chicago during a baseball game. The time for poppy frivolity was over, and the forces of rock had won.

ABlairican Pie

03-07-2007, 12:17 AM

12. More albums from the late 70's

AC/DC released 'Let There Be Rock' in 1977, which featured the tracks "Bad Boy Boogie", a song dedicated to a plus-sized woman named "Whole Lotta Rosie", and the title track. The band was virtually unknown in America except to a few diehard listeners, while most were rather puzzled by this straight on rock and roll outfit which defied categorization, being neither "metal" nor "punk", according to their statements, but just simple hard, loud, good-time rock.

Blue Oyster Cult released 1977's 'Spectres', which had made them one of the top acts in the country, though at this point a little less on the sci-fi-themed metal side and more toward commercial pop, which had broken them through to the mainstream with songs such as "Godzilla", "The Golden Age of Leather", "I Love the Night", and "R U Ready To Rock". One thing that made them a huge live attraction was the pioneering use of lasers in concert.

Black Sabbath celebrated their tenth anniversary as a band with the album with 1978's 'Never Say Die', a band which saw the band wallowing in Tony Iommi's progressive, jazzy guitar tracks which irritated Ozzy Osbourne no end. The title track was a standout piece, while "Johnny Blade" was steeped in synthesizers. "Junior's Eyes" sang about the tragic passing of Ozzy's father, while "Shock Wave" was the only metal-oriented song on the album, but not nearly enough. Other songs on the album featured a horn section and other light flourishes, which appalled Ozzy to the point where he refused to contribute further to the album. The choice of Van Halen opening their shows, who mopped up the once-mighty headliners each night with their exciting, astounding set, was the last straw for Ozzy. As alcohol addiction further devastated his health and career, making him a virtual wreck and totally unstable, the band voted to boot him out of the band in 1979. It appeared to be the end of the road for the former Sabbath vocalist.

Rush continued in their own progressive rock/metal vein on 1978's 'Hemispheres' album, which featured an epic track telling the story of a space traveller who confronted the Greek gods of reason and love, Apollo and Dionysus (technically, the goddess of love in Greek mythology is Aphrodite, while Dionysus represents wild emotions and passions) over how to guide society. Rush also became one of the biggest up-and-coming live acts with intriguing visuals and professional musicianship. The album also featured one of their big songs, the acoustic rock fable "The Trees", as well as the extended instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" which was subtitled, "An Exercise In Self-Indulgence". However, though Rush never bored listeners with their brand of brainy rock, drummer Neil Peart and his bandmates knew that by the end of the decade, their next album would be a different story. They had survived the onslaught of punk and new wave, but now it was time to shift gears.

The Scorpions released a double-live album,'Tokyo Tapes', which highlighted the phenomenal talents of guitarist Uli Roth, though the German band remained largely unknown in America. Most metal fans in the States were familiar with the brother of guitarist Rudolf Schenker, whose brother Michael played guitar in UFO, but their record label did very little to promote Klaus, Uli, Rudi and the boys. However, with a switch to a new label, all that was about to change.

At the peak of their powers, KISS did something not many bands in their position did: they simultaneously released solo albums on the same day, each with varying degrees of musical quality. Out of the four, Ace Frehley's record featured the only major solo hit, "New York Groove", as well as a number of other excellent rockers such as "Ozone", "Speeding Back To My Baby", "I'm In Need Of Love", and an instrumental, "Fractured Mirror". The other albums did not fare so well. The band did the albums in order to prevent defections from Ace and Peter Criss, who were frustrated at being seen as secondary members in the midst of the band's astronomical fame. The albums, with the possible exception of Ace's, were massively shipped back unsold as they were massively pre-ordered, a horrendous miscalculation of anticipated sales. The albums briefly hit the Top 30, then quickly flew off the charts. It was disappointing, it showed that their popularity had peaked and was now on the decline. They faced too much over-exposure and had becomes victims of their own celebrity status. It was also the start of period of breaking of the ranks of the membership of KISS.

Angel was one New York band in the late 70's who were considered the "whiter" version of KISS. As Gene and his bandmates appeared "dark", mysterious, and gruesome, this new band featuring guitarist Punky Meadows dressed in white or "angelic" outfits and female makeup and lipstick, effecting a completely flamboyant "glammy" look, which in fact endeared them to many female fans. Frank Zappa even scoffed at their effeminate look with a song called "Punky's Whips". The band a few decent albums such as "Helluva Band", "On Earth As It Is In Heaven", and 1978's "White Hot", which featured pop-metal hits such as "Don't Leave Me Lonely", "I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore", and "Stick Like Glue". In spite of the ragging the band received for their feminine appearance, the look would pay off handsomely for other bands in the decade to follow.

ABlairican Pie

03-13-2007, 11:36 PM

13. NWOBHM: The New Wave Of Heavy Metal

After the punk movement imploded from the breakup of the Sex Pistols and the death of drug-addled bassist Sid Vicious in 1979, who had served time for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, the working class youth in Britain found their salvation in a new musical scene which soon eclipsed punk in both popularity and in impact. Many struggling metal bands, who had weathered the storm of punk, sought to fuse the initial spark and form of early metal of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, among others, with the spit and fire, and the to-the-point shortness, of punk, while retaining its metal-ness. While bands such as Sabbath and Purple had undergone a period of decline, with some of their members engaging in bloated self-destructive rock star-isms, as well as musical stagnation and pop-friendliness, newer British bands found inspiration in their groundbreaking original offerings and sped the tempos up a notch or three. The newer metal bands threw on leather, denim, spiked armbands and chains, cranked up Gibson Flying V's and channelled rage and rawness while displaying a little more musicianship and complexity not found in punk. A new musical flame blazed across Britain, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, of NWOBHM, the UK's blistering counter-attack on the trendy synth-pop skinny-tie New Wave and New Romantics scene championed by the nation's tastemakers.

Judas Priest, who struggled to stay afloat during the onslaught of punk, originated long before the NWOBHM boom, but benefited greatly from it and found massive exposure from it, becoming part of it in the process. The band had tossed its glammy silken threads from a few albums back and had now thrown on leather and studs. Lead vocalist Rob Halford fashioned his stage attire straight from the gay leather biker underground, but was naively lionized as having the most macho "heterosexual" metal look--in spite of his (closeted) homosexuality. Most fans had no idea of the true source of his look. Their 1979 album, 'Unleashed In the East', recorded at a concert in Japan, featured such live versions of "Exciter", "The Ripper", "Diamonds And Rust", "Sinner", "Victim Of Changes", and "The Green Manalishi". At the end of their shows, Halford would ride a Harley motorbike onstage, the ultimate metal statement of its time.

Motorhead was another band loosely tied in with the NWOBHM but denied such categorization, preferring to call themselves simply a "rock and roll band", albeit a very loud one. The bassist and growing vocalist Lemmy Kilmister had a brief stint in rock and roll fame as a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, as well as a member of the space-prog rock band Hawkwind. The band was about to call themselves Bastard but chose Motorhead after a slang term for amphetamine addict, or speed freak, an adequate description of much of their music. Dubbed "the worst band in the world" by the British press in the late 70's,, the group proudly proclaimed that if they "moved in next door, your lawn would die". They played such early tracks as
"Motorhead", "Overkill", "Bomber", "Love Me Like a Reptile", "We Are the Road Crew", and their signature tune "Ace Of Spades" at such ear-crushing volume,
breakneck tempos, and utter lack of finesse in their playing that superstar would forever elude them, while they maintained a devoted cult following. Their influence would be felt later in the growing thrash scene.

One of the most biggest bands in the movement was Saxon, featuring vocalist Biff Byford, released such anthemic songs as "Denim and Leather", which saluted the birth of the NWOBHM movement in 1979, as well as churning hits such as "Wheels Of Steel" and " 747 (Strangers In the Night)". They were an immensely popular live act in the UK in the late 70's and early 80's.

Tygers Of Pan Tang was another noted band whose guitarist John Sykes would be well known for his later appearance in Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. The band showed promise but unfortunately never hit the big time.

Angel Witch was one of the first British bands since the heyday of Black Sabbath to incorporate "satanic" or occultic themes and imagery in their music and cover art, in an attempt to convey the ultimate sense of heaviness and intensity.

Diamond Head, another band featuring guitarist Brian Tatler, recorded a popular NWOBHM track called "Am I Evil?". One young Danish-born American drummer who accompanied the band on a tour of the UK went on to cover the song, to great acclaim in the metal underground, when he formed a band which shake the history of rock and roll and metal. Diamond Head, however, did not find itself in such a lofty position in music.

Samson was another popular band which featured a drummer by the name of Thunderstick who played in a cage onstage. One lead singer who went by the name Bruce Bruce would eventually go on to become one of the major vocalists in all of rock and metal after he left the band.

Second from bottom: Brian Tatler, guitarist for Diamond Head:

ABlairican Pie

03-16-2007, 09:19 AM

14. Up the Irons! Prowlers, Killers, and Women In Uniform

The one band which stood firmly at the forefront of NWOBHM was none other than East London's own Iron Maiden. Founded by bassist Steve Harris on Christmas Day in 1975, the band revolved through many lineup changes over the next several years before settling on members guitarist Dave Murray, drummer Clive Burr, guitarist Dennis Stratton, and vocalist Paul Di'Anno, a former skinhead whose gruff vocals and commanding, swaggering stage presence in a leather jacket connected the band with many punks in the audience. Harris originally gave up his dreams of being a soccer player when he found the competition was too tough. He chose music instead, and wished to be a drummer, though the flat where he and his grandmother lived was too small for a drumkit. But when he picked up a bass, he felt it was a natural fit for his musical desires. He played his favorite songs by many prog rockers of the day, such as Yes and Jethro Tull, and developed his own style.

Gradually Iron Maiden acquired a dedicated following in the London clubs, helped in no small part by a ghoulish mascot named Eddie, and undead figure with piercing black eyes who haunted the streets of London at night in search of victims. His likeness would appear on every Maiden album and single in various forms, horrifiying plenty of viewers while delighting many fans. He even brought the band unexpected noteriety and controversy when he was depicted knifing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the cover of their "Sanctuary" single. After many complaints and protests of outrage from authority types, the band later released a single, "Women In Uniform" which depicted a fully alive Maggie Thatcher in a military uniform wielding a machine gun as she lie in wait for Eddie as he strolled down the street flanked by two lovely ladies.

In 1980, the band released their self-titled debut, which featured the songs "Phantom Of the Opera", "Prowler", "Running Free", the above-mentioned "Sanctuary", the ballad "Remember Tomorrow", and their early anthem "Iron Maiden", a required song at every show where Eddie would come out and terrorize the band. The album was quite successful and even enabled the band to open for KISS on a tour that year. KISS bassist Gene Simmons was so impressed with the band that he requested an Iron Maiden T-shirt, assuring them that they were destined to go on to greater things. Unfortunately, guitarist Stratton would not be part of the band's rise to the top. When he preferred to hang with other bands rather than with his own, and choosing to listen to middle of the road rockers as the Eagles, the band's management accused him of not being a "team player" and not being fully in league with the band at this critical juncture, finally ejecting him from the band. He was replaced by a more capable guitarist, Adrian Smith.

The band's followup album, 'Killers', featuring "Wrathchild", "Murders In the Rue Morgue", "Another Life", and the title track, released in 1981, would be the last to featured vocalist Di'Anno. An admitted hellraiser, his drunken and drug-impaired behavior threatened the band's hopes of rising to the top. His careless stage rants nearly soured veteran metal gods Judas Priest, whom the younger band idolized, on the Maiden when both bands toured together. The band's management handed Di'Anno his walking papers and began to search for his replacement. Their new singer was waiting in the wings.

What caught people's attention about Maiden, in addition to the fearsome image of Eddie, was the band's signature "gallop" of Steve Harris' bass playing, the riffs which gave an ominous sense of impending doom, and the tight, intricate dual guitar harmony leads of Murray and Smith, as well as the
lyrics which depicted the unsavory lives of various underworld characters and society's dregs, such as Charlotte the Harlot.

ABlairican Pie

03-20-2007, 12:35 AM

15. 1980: The metal decade begins

While NWOBHM was shaping the island nation's music scene across the ocean, most Americans in the new year of a new decade, 1980, were unfamiliar with such names as Angel Witch and Samson, unless you were an underground tape collector looking for imported singles and the like. The young Danish-born American drummer who hung out with Diamond Head during their British tour, gathered up these names religiously. The young man, whose name was Lars Ulrich, was appalled to return home to Orange County, California, to discover such pop-rock lightweights as Journey and REO Speedwagon were touted by radio stations as "metal". He was in need of something harder, faster, heavier, and more extreme. It was time for action.

However, there were signs of encouragement that America was about to rocked on its keister.

The year began with tragedy for AC/DC, who were poised for massive stardom and a tour behind "Highway To Hell" in America, when the band learned that their charismatic frontman Bon Scott was found dead of an alcohol overdose in his car in February. The band was devastated, shaken to the core, and pondered the possibility of breaking up. Scott's own father insisted that they continue on as a band, as Bon would have wanted, they had great potential. So they did, searching high and low for a new singer, though Scott, with his unique piercing vocal style and bad boy appeal, was irreplaceable. They managed to find a new singer, one whom Bon had previously raved over, by the name of Brian Johnson, who had his own shrieking vocal style that fit in perfectly with the band. The band flew down to the Bahamas to record the new album that they were originally about to do with Scott, and upon its release, found to their surprise and relief that they had recorded a bona fide rock and roll classic, 'Back In Black'. The album only reached #4 on the charts, but it stayed there for a very long time, yielding such anthemic tracks as "Hell's Bells", "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Shoot To Thrill", "Have a Drink On Me", "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", and the title track. AC/DC became the biggest act when they toured America, and Australia's biggest musical export, if not the island continent's overall export. While the band did not consider themselves metal, the band simply rocked hard and loud with plenty of horny double-entendres that were a huge hit with fans--which pretty much included everybody. Bon's presence was hugely felt in the making of the album, and the band took a deeply painful situation and made the world's greatest rock and roll party album out of it.

Meanwhile, languishing in self-pity and depression after being unceremoniously booted out of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne huddled alone in his cluttered Los Angeles apartment, drinking, drugging, and pondering whether he should just give up and return to England in disgrace. At that moment, Jet Records label owner Don Arden's daughter Sharon stopped by to collect money from him that he owed. When she was told that he frittered it away, she blew up at him, then, when she regained her composure, told her that she would like to manage him as a new act, if he was interested. He was, and from there, a new partnership was born. They sought to form a band which would be bigger than his previous one, and for that, they needed new members. They found Bob Daisley of Rainbow on drums, Lee Kerslake of Uriah Heep on bass, but needed a stellar guitarist to complete the lineup. They were told of one who had wowed audiences in Hollywood who was with a band called Quiet Riot, so Ozzy asked him to stop by for an audition. But when he showed up, Ozzy was so massively stoned that he could barely concentrate. In his stupor, he looked at the young, short, effeminate guitarist and thought it was a "chick". But when the guitarist plugged in and began a simple warmup, it blew Ozzy away, in his thoroughly baked state. It may have been a simple guitar warmup, but he clearly played it in such a way that captured Ozzy's attention. Ozzy told the young man, Randy Rhoads, that the gig was his, and the new band was complete. The band flew to England to begin recording what has to become a huge "required listening" album in the annals of metal: 'Blizzard of Ozz', which was originally intended to be the name of the band, but became the album's title instead. Rock fans and budding guitarists would rave over such tracks as "Crazy Train", "I Don't Know", "Mr. Crowley",
"Revelation (Mother Earth)", and a song documenting Ozzy's alcohol addiction called "Suicide Solution", which would become an object of confusion and misinterpretation over the years. But there was no confusion over the new persona the former Black Sabbath singer would have over the media and ultimately his fans: at a record label party where he was introduced to all, he took a dove, intended as a peace offering, and, while heavily drunk, proceeded to bite its head off! All in the room were horrified, he and Sharon were promptly shown the door, the press had a field day with the incident--and thus, Ozzy Osbourne, lightning rod for controversy, was born. But the sheer metal magic was from Randy Rhoads and his completely virtuosic, classically fused style of powerful guitar playing, which rivaled Eddie Van Halen in terms of talent and impact.

Van Halen released their raw and relentless third album, 'Women and Children First' on that first day of 1980, and won over rock crowds with the hits "...And the Cradle Will Rock" and "Everybody Wants Some!!" By now, the band had become the most notorious partying band in rock, whose raucous antics rivaled those of Led Zeppelin back in the day. The band was sure to please plenty of groupies with booze and everything else as they were living the American dream in style. The band was becoming one of the biggest concert draws in the country as Roth and Co. performed physical and musical acrobatics onstage each night.

Rush also released their first album of the new decade on January 1, 1980, 'Permanent Waves', and the new streamlined sound of the band featured shorter songs, a few heavier riffs on songs such as "Freewill" and the opening track, "The Spirit Of Radio", a bright, uptempo number which addressed the changes in music, as did the album's closer, the epic theme song "Natural Science". Both songs touched on the frivolity and fickleness of the public's taste for trendiness, as evidenced by the embrace of New Wave, while Rush chose to be part of an honest "permanent" wave. The media and musical tastemakers then flocked to the band, hoping to turn the new potential "hitmakers" into stars, but were severely disappointed that Toronto's power trio were not part of the music industry's pop cookie-cutter machinery. They were determined to succeed on their own terms.

A new band which was initially part of the NWOBHM, Def Leppard, from Sheffield, England, released their debut album, 'On Through the Night", which featured such songs as the rollicking "Rock Brigade", "It Could Be You", "Rocks Off", and "Hello America". Strangely, many British fans took great offense at the last track, thinking that the band was trying hard to break in to the American charts, and thus tailoring their music in that direction. Of all the NWOBHM bands, they appeared to be one of the most commercially oriented, rather than being all about rage and rawness of their British peers. When the band did began to make headways into the American music scene, many concertgoers at UK metal festivals pelted them with trash during their set opening for Iron Maiden. But American audiences found their vocalist Joe Elliot to be an exciting frontman and welcomed them as part of the new British Invasion.

Black Sabbath also found a new resurgence after the departure of Ozzy, with a new vocalist, former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio, an American, the first non-Brit to front the veteran UK metal band. Dio brought his own special lyrical and musical magic to the band with imaginative lyrics and strong vocals that totally reinvented the band for the 80's. The band released 'Heaven and Hell' that year, which featured such songs as "Neon Nights", "Children Of the Sea", "Lady Evil", "Die Young", and the haunting title track. Though Dio was of rather short stature, metal audiences connected with his new hand gesture he waved in concert, "Il Cornuto", or the "horns", a pronged finger salute which was intended to ward off what he called "the evil eye". The gesture became the accepted metal salute ever since. Tony Iommi had thrown off the indugent jazz flourishes of the bland 'Never Say Die' album and roared back the band with a vengeance. Of course, it was an uphill battle to compete with Ozzy's new band and album, now that he had become Sabbath's nemesis with a powerful guitar player in the likes of Randy Rhoads.

1980 was also the year that Judas Priest broke through into America with their classic 'British Steel' album, which featured such tracks as "Metal Gods", "Breaking the Law", "Rapid Fire", "United", "You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise", and the metal anthem, "Living After Midnight", an ode to the fun fast life of a metal performer. The album was recorded in Tittenhurst Park, the home of the Beatle Ringo Starr. The album was considered one of the best, the band had fully matured with a tough sound, full of attitude, where metal had finally escaped its blues roots and had come into its own as a viable musical form. Each song released on the radio from the album featured a strong feel of a rallying cry, a proclamation of empowerment from Rob Halford, flanked by Tipton and Downing pounding and pile-driving on guitars.

ABlairican Pie

06-04-2007, 02:24 AM

16. 1981: A new metal medium, a new fanbase forged

After the banner year of metal, 1980, had passed, with the tragic passings of
Bon Scott, John Bonham, and John Lennon now a part of history, fans in both America, Britain, and Europe geared up for a new kind of musical hero, one available through a new visual oulet known as MTV. This became a sort of blessing and bane to the music industry: on the plus side, artists gave a new creative touch to their musical offerings, which often times could be rather clever, catchy, and appealing; while on the negative side, many performers were simply not actors and quite many times the hand of a director could destroy what would otherwise be a very decent song. Since a director was not a part of a band, he was not part of the creative unit in charge of interpreting a song, but as the record label had the upper hand in determining what should be aired and promoted, the band had to give way to things out of their control. For the most part, many of the new crop of British new wave stars, including Duran Duran, Adam and the Ants, and the Human League, etc., were rather impressed and impressive with the new medium of video--their careers rested solely on the success of their videos. Americans loved the new trendy angular hairdos and flashy,stylish clothes of the hype of England at the time, the New Romantics. Likewise, British metal artists such as Judas Priest and Def Leppard had that same success as well with video, however, not with the same fanfare as the new wavers. The music industry was not willing to give a chance to the metalheads in either America or Britain. But the metal scene did not depend on MTV for its success. The fans were here before MTV, and they would outlast the trendy televised musical revolution.

Rush released its magnum opus that year, 'Moving Pictures', which featured their biggest hit, "Tom Sawyer", as well as "Red Barchetta", the rollicking instrumental "YYZ", and one of their greatest songs, "Limelight". The album's cornerpiece. "The Camera Eye" was a ten-minute epic which featured thundering guitars and keyboards, an instrument which was becoming a staple of Rush's music for over a good part of the decade. Synths fit in well with their tight, mountainous prog sound, while for many artists dubbed metal,
synths were considered sacreligious and "gay". But since Rush did not consider themselves a metal band, they could get away with it, they did not in the least sound wimpy and effeminate (Geddy Lee's high-pitched vocals not withstanding). The band would forever remain a favorite with fans who did in fact consider themselves metal. "Tom Sawyer" not only featured a signature keyboard blast opening the song, but a pulsating guitar and rhythm section as well.

Ozzy Osbourne again released a major coup with 1981's 'Diary Of a Madman', which featured the phenomenal guitar work of Randy Rhoads. Though the album was a more hurried affair than their previous release, the record yielded some of the Ozzman's biggest tunes "Over the Mountain", "Flying High Again", "You Can't Kill Rock And Roll", "Believer", "Little Dolls", the touching ballad "Tonight", and the haunting title track. "Flying High Again" contained one of the most incredible guitar solos of all time, with perfectly-triple tracked
leads recorded on top of each other, hailing down as a cascading rain on listeners' ears, a breathtaking feat. While the macabre Ozzy's star, and noteriety, was rising in America once again after his unceremonious firing from Sabbath, unfortunately, his time with the newly-legendary Randy Rhoads was drawing short. In addition to Rhoads' frustration with the circus-like stage show of the "Madman" tour, complete with a castle prop, a booze-serving midget named "Ronnie", and a bizarre meat-throwing contest with the audiences, Rhoads felt that his new status as a musical guitar hero seeking respectability was being squandered with such bizarre live antics with Ozzy each night. He decided to leave as soon as the tour was over and pursue a musical education. He would never get that chance, sadly.

Judas Priest released 'Point Of Entry' also that year, however, in spite of having a number of tunes that were staples in the Priest's canon, the album was considered a disappointing followup to the band's previous breakthrough.
The album featured such hits as "Hot Rockin'", "Don't Go", and "Heading Out To the Highway", one of their biggest songs, which featured Rob Halford in the video dancing and strutting about in a desert highway locale in a very exaggerated manner. Fans would have to wait for a better release by the band.

Def Leppard released their followup, 'High And Dry', also that year, which featured such tracks as "Let It Go", "High N' Dry", "Mirror Mirror", "Another Hit And Run", the ballad "Bringing On the Heartbreak", and the uptempo closing instrumental "Switch 625". The band was becoming bigger in America, with their radio-friendly rocking staples, and were especially a big favorite in Seattle. The title track indicated some members' fondness for alcohol, which, unfortunately, would lead to tragic results.

Van Halen recorded what is considered their "darkest" album, 'Fair Warning', whose cover was an illustration painted by a severely traumatized former mental health patient. The band had put a hold on their happy party-hearty
tunes and released some twisted material such as "Mean Street", with the psychotic guitar intro by Eddie Van Halen, as well as "So This Is Love", and the biggest song on the album, "Unchained" ("Come on Dave, give me a break!" "Okay, one break, coming up!!!"). If the album seemed rather "dark" for many, it was understandable given that Van Halen was becoming the biggest band in the country at that time, and the pressure on them was no doubt immense. But the band still decided to have a party regardless--after all, Eddie was about to marry actress Valerie Bertinelli.

Black Sabbath were enjoying their time with Ronnie James Dio for a while now, but by then, cracks appeared in the surface of the band's unity. For one, since the band was now divided by both two British members (Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler) and two American members (Ronnie and drummer Vinnie Appice), both camps separated by seemed to go their separate ways after shows and other events. Were they not the band as before? Things were about to come to head after 1981's 'Mob Rules' album, when, even though the band had created another fine release with songs such as "Turn Up the Night", "Voodoo", 'The Sign Of the Southern Cross", the eerie bass solo "E5150", and the storming title track, Tony had felt suspicious of Dio when they were mixing next year's live album, insinuating that Ronnie was altering volume levels behind his back. The distrust between the two meant that the second classic lineup up Sabbath was at an end. It would not be the last we had heard from Tony and Ronnie, jointly. The album cover was illustrated by fantasy artist Greg Hildebrandt.

Black Sabbath had achieved new life with "The Mob Rules" being included in the soundtrack to the animated movie 'Heavy Metal', a film released by artists of the hugely influential sci-fi/fantasy comic book magazine, whose mult-storied plot involved the magical properties of a mysterious glowing stone globe. The movie, whose soundtrack featured such songs as Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal", The Eagles' Don Felder's "Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride"), Blue Oyster Cult's "Veteran Of the Psychic Wars', Journey's "Open Arms" and even Devo's "Working In a Coal Mine", even featured the late John Candy as a nerd who was instantly transformed by the glowing green globe, called "the Loc-Nar", into a superhuman he-man who saved scantily-clad female prisoner from a tribe of vicious aliens.

ABlairican Pie

06-15-2007, 01:37 AM

17. 1982: Screaming For the Beast, crusading against controversy

By 1982, as spiky-hair and skinny ties of Yuppie Nation took over corporate music, they found themselves with increasing opposition from leather-and-spiked barbarians who were armed with riveting rock from Britain. The two biggest bands of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal delivered a pair of the finest albums ever released at the time. And the raging success of the albums sent parents, preachers, and politicos cowering in their Reeboks.

After the release of their 1981 album 'Killers', Iron Maiden discovered that not only was their popularity soaring beyond England's waters into America, but their lead singer Paul Di'Anno was not emotionally or physically equipped to deal with it. He constantly drank and drugged himself into a stupor on one too many occasions, and he was no longer able to keep a strong performance. The band was getting too big for club scenes, and moving into not only larger theaters and small arenas. But Di'Anno still had not matured beyond the club stage, and his vocals only seemed fit for typical punk rock dives. The band was in need of new blood with a capable set of pipes, and found one after handing Di'Anno his walking papers. It was Bruce "Bruce Bruce" Dickinson of NWOBHM legends Samson, who told himself he'd be fronting the Maiden one day. The band was impressed with Bruce's operatic airraid siren vocals, and sat down to compose material with him for their third album. The title track of the album had an interesting story: bassist and band leader Steve Harris had a horrific nightmare of the rise of the Antichrist, the Beast foretold in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, making his rounds and placing the ominous number of the Beast on people's heads and bodies. Thus was born the title track of one of metal's greatest classic metal albums, 'The Number Of the Beast'. Other tracks included one of the band's biggest hits, "Run To the Hills", as well as "The Prisoner", which featured the vocal talents of British actor Patrick McGoohan of the cult television show of the same name ("I am not a number! I am a free man!"), "22 Acacia Avenue", "Children Of the Damned", and the album's closer, the song considered to be the band's finest work, the haunting "Hallowed Be Thy Name". Metal fans found a band for the '80's that equalled, if not surpassed the spooky mystique of Black Sabbath from ten years before, and even rocked possibly even harder. Maiden became to many the living embodiment of metal, with no small help from their ghoulish mascot Eddy on the cover.

Maiden were not at all alone in their endeavor to metalize the masses. Judas Priest, disappointed in the rather lukewarm reception of 'Point Of Entry", decided to set up shop on the Mediterranean island of Majorca at a secluded recording studio to put together their definitive statement, a worthy successor to 1980's 'British Steel'. That album, 1982's 'Screaming For Vengeance', saw the band roaring back with thundering powerhouse anthems such as "You've Got Another Thing Coming", a pounding relentless march with driving raw powerchords and pummeling drums. The album opened with the into "The Hellion" followed by one of their biggest songs, "Electric Eye", which touched on the fears of an unfeeling regime run by electronic surveillance envisioned by George Orwell in his book '1984'. The album also included the faster-than-fast title track, as well as "Riding On the Wind", "Bloodstone", "Take These Chains", and "Devil's Child". While Maiden featured a little more mysticism, Priest was purely muscle, but fans of both bands picked up on each album. Often there were debates as to "who was better", but it was agreed that both Dickinson and Rob Halford were excellent airraid vocalists, which the guitar teams of both Dave Murray/Adrian Smith and K.K. Downing could not be beat.

Unfortunately, 1982 was a tragic year for metal, for Ozzy Osbourne in particular, when his young promising guitar talent Randy Rhoads died in a horrifying plane crash while the band was on tour in the South. Ironically, Rhoads, known to have an acute phobia of flying, went up with the band's seamstress in a private plane piloted by the band's bus driver who also had a license to fly. However, the driver/pilot's judgement was severely compromised by driving the bus all night, as well as having traces of cocaine in his system, and while performing barnstorming stunts around the bus, clipped the bus' roof and ricocheted into a house and burst into flames. All aboard the plane perished instantly. Ozzy, Sharon, and the entire band were devastated. It was an unthinkable loss for the music world, a young guitarist who was not only one of the best new talents of the '80's, but also helped popularize the shred movement in metal, preparing to take guitar to astonishing heights with his phenomenal ability, which was largely steeped in classical modes. He had planned to leave Ozzy's band anyway, but wanted to at least play Madison Square Garden first, which he had never gotten to do. For years after that, Ozzy was beside himself with grief and never completely forgave himself for the loss of Randy. He nearly gave up his solo career, but Sharon urged him to carry on.

Fortunately, the year was also a banner era for the popularity of such acts as The Scorpions, who hit a commercial peak in America and Europe with 'Blackout', an album which featured the hits "No One Like You",
"Dynamite", "Can't Live Without You", "China White", "Arizona", and the blistering title track. Not only was the music compelling, but it was very radio-accessible as well. Metal fans found they did not have to compromise
intensity for marketability. Prior to the album's recording, however, vocalist Klaus Meine injured his vocal cords, preventing him from singing until after surgery was performed. Fortunately, he recovered completely in time for recording.

In Los Angeles, a new band was crawling straight from the sewers of the Sunset Strip. The band, Motley Crue, combined the glam/power pop sound of the '70's with punk intensity. The band, featuring bassist Nikki Sixx,
vocalist Vince Neil, guitarist Mick Mars, and drummer Tommy Lee, did not possess the virtuosic abilities of an Eddie Van Halen or a Randy Rhoads, but they had a totally sleazy swagger and angry attitude that impressed many. Many authority types were afraid to book the band, fearing their shows would end in chaos. The band released their first album, 'Too Fast For Love', which featured such tracks as "Live Wire", "Take Me To the Top", and "Piece Of Your Action". The band went out of their way to prove how much of the real deal they really were, with copious amounts of wine, women, and drugs.

One British band attempted to prove how "bad and evil" they were, but came across as a complete farce. Venom was a trio of marginally talented musicians with names such as Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon, who released an album called 'Black Metal'. The band was so over-the-top to prove how "satanic" they were that their lyrics and stage act became a joke. Many bands, however, were amazed by the ferocity of their playing that it inspired a new level of extreme in metal. In fact, the album's title would go on to become the namesake of a new genre of metal in later years. Songs such as "Buried Alive", "To Hell and Back", and the title track convinced many they were the "real thing".

Krokus were a Swiss metal band who released a popular album, 'One Vice At a Time', which featured the rather AC/DC-esque track, "Long Stick Goes Boom". Vice was one concern of many in America, as the country was being overrun with dozens of headbanging bands from foreign shores intent on seducing the nation's young. In the early years of the Reagan revolution and conservative takeover of America, parents and pastors were alarmed of a new threat to America's youth, as many anti-rock preachers and politically minded Christians insisted that "backwards masking" messages were embedded in metal albums and could be cryptically deciphered in the minds of listeners. Many fundamentalists accused Iron Maiden of being "satanists" with the cover art and lyrics of 'Number Of the Beast', unaware that the song was a warning against receiving the mark of the Beast, the band was in fact doing the church's job! Regardless, albums by Iron Maiden, as well as Judas Priest, Ozzy, AC/DC and others were tossed into bonfires by fear-mongering Christian folks who looked a little too much at the obvious surface images of album covers and lyrics. It appeared to their benefit that such metal minstrels were performing such atrocities, as it was creating business for anti-metal preachers. Already, metal was under siege by the so-called authorities.

ABlairican Pie

06-15-2007, 02:00 AM

Pics from 1982:

Iron Maiden with Bruce Dickinson;
Iron Maiden Number Of the Beast single cover;
Judas Priest live;
Ozzy Osbourne 'Speak Of the Devil' live album (featuring only Black Sabbath covers and Ozzy's first post-Randy guitarist Brad Gillis, who left for Night Ranger);
The Scorpions 1982:

robyrob

06-15-2007, 07:10 AM

http://warehouse.carlh.com/article_141/

ABlairican Pie

06-15-2007, 08:08 AM

http://warehouse.carlh.com/article_141/

:lol: :lol: :lol:

ABlairican Pie

06-16-2007, 02:11 AM

18. 1983: Heavy Metal hits #1; Us Festival vs. "them"

In 1983, one event firmly established metal as the music of the decade:
the Us Festival in San Bernadino, California. While festival promoters were banking on new wave and new rock titans such as U2, The Clash, Oingo Boingo, and Missing Persons, it was Heavy Metal Sunday on May 29 that knocked all their expectations on their ears. A record one-day attendance of 375,000 mobbed the grounds to watch such major names as Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions, Van Halen, and Triumph rock the stage, and it made new names Motley Crue and Quiet Riot as two new acts to watch for. Both these bands were nervous as they had never played for such enormous crowds before, but instantly, the audience was won over. Fists pumped and a mighty throng of voices cheered on the new gods of rock.
The promoters and music industry bigwigs were astounded: they hadn't given much thought to heavy metal, prefering to chase the trendy new wavers instead, but once they saw that metal fans were a totally dedicated
army, they all began to put their money on the metal marauders. "It was the day new wave died and rock n' roll took over!" claimed Motley Crue's Vince Neil.

Metal had become so successful that one of the newer acts at the Us Festival, Quiet Riot, had achieved what no other band had done before: become the first metal band to hit #1 on the charts with their album, 'Metal Health'. For years, the band, which featured guitarist Randy Rhoads before he joined Ozzy Osbourne, had languished in anonymity. While the band was a local favorite in Los Angeles and the Burbank area, they had signed a contract to record two albums which were only available in Japan. No one was interested in promoting metal, new wave was the hot ticket at the time. But when CBS gave them a chance, their fortunes began to turn. The band which featured vocalist Kevin Dubrow, Randy's replacement Carlos Cavazo on guitar, bassist Rudy Sarzo, fresh from playing with Ozzy, and drummer Frankie Banali. The band released their first hit, a juiced up cover of "Cum On Feel the Noize", originally done by 70's British glam band Slade.
Kevin Dubrow was not a big fan of the song, nor was he especially fond of the plethora of other bands following in the wake of Quiet Riot's success. He vocally expressed his disgust with what he saw as "opportunism" by the other bands, and his comments were not going over very well with metal fans.

Motley Crue released another pivotal metal album, 'Shout At the Devil', which was sure to cause headaches for the conservative church brigades. In fact, there was a little more to the band members being in kahoots with the Evil Dude than just the eyebrow-raising album title; bassist Nikki Sixx and his girlfriend, former Runaways guitarist Lita Ford had been experimenting with occultic objects and books when they claimed that bizarre things were happening around the house. In addition to an unsettling "negative energy" filling the place, knives and silverware began to fly out of its own accord and stick into walls! It was these incidents that made the two of them dump their occult books altogether. For all intents and purposes, the band needed no help in raising hell in their own careers. The band got into fights with rival bands who slagged them as looking like "girls", and moved into a seedy rundown apartment complex in Hollywood which was close to drug activity.
A high-profile opening slot on a tour with Ozzy also gave them much-needed exposure.

Iron Maiden followed up with their hugely successful 'Piece Of Mind' album which featured some of their most popular anthems, "The Trooper" and "The Flight Of Icarus". Both songs explored the band's interest in history and literature, with the first song discussing the Crimean War between Britain and Russia in the 1800's, and the latter telling a different take on the tragic tale of the Greek hero Icarus, who inadvertently flew too high to the sun against the wishes of his father, inventor Daedalus. The band also wished to use the title of the Dune science fiction/fantasy books, but author Frank Herbert, not a fan of either Iron Maiden nor heavy metal, sternly forbade it. The band decided to use an alternate title based on the books on the song "To Tame a Land". The band also performed such important songs as "Where Eagles Dare"
and "Revelations", as well as poked fun at the "backwards masking" accusations leveled against them with their own backwards message on the song "Still Life", with a quote forward which said, "Do not meddle with things you don't understand!" The album was the first to feature veteran drummer Nicko McBrain, who replaced previous drummer Clive Burr.

After his departure from Black Sabbath, vocalist Ronnie James Dio sought to form a band in which he completely held the reins. With his Black Sabbath bandmate Vinnie Appice on drums, guitarist Vivian Campbell, and Jimmy Bain on bass, he formed his self-titled band named simply Dio. The band quickly became a huge hit with the album 'Holy Diver' which featured songs such as "Rainbow In the Dark", "Stand Up And Shout", "Don't Talk To Strangers", and the mesmerizing title track. Metal fans were fascinated with his fantasy-oriented, "dungeons and dragons" brand of metal. Even solo from Black Sabbath, he struck an impressive figure and stage presence. Many religious groups were appalled at the demonic figure standing triumphantly over the chained priest being submerged in a pool, but Dio explained that the symbols on the album, like many of the themes of his lyrics, were not all that they appeared. How did we not know that the priest may have represented evil and the gargoyle figure stand for good?

While pop superstar Michael Jackson maintained a stranglehold on the Top 40 charts, he had serious competition from Def Leppard, whose Mutt Lange-produced-album 'Pyromania' stuck snugly at #2 and stayed there. MTV was also a huge factor in the success of the more pop-oriented British metal band who was becoming a huge headlining live act. The band's new album featured such hits as "Photograph", "Rock Of Ages", "Rock! Rock! 'Til You Drop", "Foolin'", "Too Late For Love", and "Billy's Got a Gun". Vocalist Joe Elliot's Union Jack t-shirt also became a rock fan's staple attire that year as well. The band went through a few changes that year, with guitarist Pete Willis being sacked due to his alcohol consumption and being replaced by new guitarist Phil Collen. While the band topped polls as everyone's favorite band in the following year, it would be a few years before the band would match their monstrous success stateside, due to an unforeseen tragic turn of events
which would occure at the end of next year.

Ozzy Osbourne emerged from his period of mourning over the loss of his friend
Randy Rhoads with not only a new guitarist Jake E. Lee, but a new album as well, 1983's "Bark At the Moon". The album, which featured such songs as "Rock And Roll Rebel", "Slow Down", "Now You See It (Now You Don't)", the ballad "So Tired", and the wild title track and video, was again a hit with fans, though many shared Ozzy's sense of loss of Randy, and went to his concerts holding up banners in support of the late guitarist and chanted his name. This clearly soured Lee on playing with the band, knowing he was only an adequate, though more than capable, replacement for his deceased predecessor. His relationship with Ozzy suffered as well, as the Ozzman still contended with the grieving process and communication was strained. However, his constant in his life at this point was his new wife Sharon, who was not only his manager but the person who would keep him on the straight and narrow. This did not prevent Ozzy from his usual booze-and-drug-addled schenanigans, such as snorting a line of ants while Mick Mars of Motley Crue watched in disbelief! To tour with rock and roll's new bad boys would prove to be a constant strain on Ozzy's sobriety.

Van Halen, below at Us Festival, who were paid a record sum of 1.5 million dollars for a single performance:

ABlairican Pie

06-16-2007, 09:07 AM

1983 continued:

Black Sabbath returned in 1983 with new vocalist, former Deep Purple lead singer Ian Gillan for the album 'Born Again'. The band attempted to record the heaviest album known to man, with mixed results. The album did feature fine tracks such as "Trashed", "Zero the Hero", "Disturbing the Priest", "Digital Bitch", and the title track. The band toured with an enormous set of Stonehenge which often kept them from performing from various venues due to its size. Gillan left to reform the classic lineup of Deep Purple the following year.

Krokus' 1983 album 'Headhunter' featured such popular tracks as "Eat the Rich" and the ballad "Screaming In the Night".

Former Runaways guitarist Lita Ford released 'Out For Blood', with a sexy cover which replaced a gorier one the record company nixed.

L.A. metal band Ratt released an EP which featured the legs of actress Tawny Kitaen covered with rats. The album featured the minor hit "You Think You're Tough", whose video featured a hilarious cameo by Ozzy.

New York band Twisted Sister featured lead singer Dee Snider who presented a horrific take on the glam scene, looking like someone's ugly sister with gruesome makeup and hair. Their debut album featured the hit "You Can't Stop Rock and Roll". The band had actually been around since the early 70's struggling on the club scene on the East Coast when they picked up Snider and made him their frontman. They were in fact heavier than the average glam band, and had a huge following in Britain.

New York band Zebra was a trio who often sounded cross between prog Rush and as pop-oriented as the Beatles on the hits "Who's Behind the Door?" and "Tell Me What You Want". The band made extensive use of keyboards, acoustic guitars with lofty lyrics sung by guitarist/vocalist Randy Jackson which were reminescent of Geddy Lee's high-pitched pipes.

KISS made headlines by appearing without makeup for the first time in their careers on their album 'Lick It Up', featuring the songs "All Hell's Breaking Loose" and the title track. The band, who had replaced long-time members guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss with new guitarist Vinnie Vincent and drummer Eric Carr, shed their makeup to appear current and contemporary, not simply a relic of the 70's. Their decision to go mask-less, as well as to change their sound to more radio-friendly pop metal on later albums, would turn out to be a disastrous mistake.

Race's Girl

06-16-2007, 02:17 PM

Yeah, heavy metal does suck but I wanna know if Green Day are a heavy metal band or not

ABlairican Pie

06-16-2007, 11:11 PM

Yeah, heavy metal does suck but I wanna know if Green Day are a heavy metal band or not
A) No, it doesn't

B) No, they aren't. They're pop-punk. Not punk in the way The Clash, The Dead Kennedys or Black Flag were or are punk.

Heavy metal and punk are two different styles of music, though often times the two styles mixed. The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) was metal with a bit of punk elements and attitude.

phoebe7165

06-17-2007, 02:47 AM

Yeah, heavy metal does suck but I wanna know if Green Day are a heavy metal band or not

Why? Do you like Green Day, and if you found out that they were a heavy metal band, it would be the end of your world as you know it?

Well, like ABlairican Pie stated, Green Day is not even close to being heavy metal.

Now I'm waiting for somebody to say that people who listen to heavy metal do drugs and worship Satan!!

One of my friends made that comment one time that people who listen to 'rock music' do drugs. I've been listening to it for years and have never done drugs, not even pot.

ABlairican Pie

06-17-2007, 09:32 AM

Why? Do you like Green Day, and if you found out that they were a heavy metal band, it would be the end of your world as you know it?

Well, like ABlairican Pie stated, Green Day is not even close to being heavy metal.

Now I'm waiting for somebody to say that people who listen to heavy metal do drugs and worship Satan!!

One of my friends made that comment one time that people who listen to 'rock music' do drugs. I've been listening to it for years and have never done drugs, not even pot. :lol: Yeah, that's one silly generalization that people make about metal. Drugs and Satan. It's like saying if you're a rap fan, that means you would be going doing drive-by shootings, selling crack, slapping bitches and ho's, and killing po-po's. Or if you're a country fan, you're getting drunk and fighting at redneck bars, putting Confederate flags on your pickup (like ALL country fans have pickups :rolleyes: ), and ride
out on the range with a sheep for a best friend. ;) :sheep: Or if you're a pop fan, you'll shave your head and go panty-less (while your husband tries to start a rap career). ohno:

Rock fans "doing drugs"?? :confused: Let's see, that means that most gangsta rap and hip hop fans, i.e., are going to church and brushing their teeth three times a day, and put an apple on the teacher's desk each morning. But woah, watch out for those rockers, all THEY do is take drugs and worship Satan--which pretty much goes for ALL rock, whether it's AC/DC, Aerosmith, Alice In
Chains, or Anthrax. ohno:

So let's get this straight: just regular rock and roll and metal is all about rebellion and anti-social activity, while nice, wonderful punk bands like Green Day are all about putting out good, wholesome tunes to dance to on Top 40 stations. Green Day, what a bunch of nice, clean-cut boys!! Funny, back when I was growing up in the late 70's/early 80's, punk represented anarchy and breakdown of the social order. It was the rage in Britain, a call to end all bloated rock royalty and even an end to pop music in the mid/late 70's. The Sex Pistols were the most dangerous band in the world in the U.K., and no one in America wanted them here. If you want an image of REAL punk, here it is:

Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks;

The Clash: London Calling;

Live picture of The Ramones, 1977;

The Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables;

Black Flag: Damaged;

Henry Rollins of Black Flag live;

The Dead Kennedys go "new wave":

Race's Girl

06-17-2007, 11:43 AM

Why? Do you like Green Day and if you found out that they were a heavy metal band, it would be the end of your world as you know it?

Well, like ABlairican Pie stated, Green Day is not even close to being heavy metal.

Yes, phoebe7165, I think Green Day rock and please tell ABlairican Pie for telling me that they're not heavy metal please.

ABlairican Pie

06-17-2007, 11:45 AM

19. The Four Horsemen seek and destroy all "false metal"

Los Angeles was becoming the Mecca of metal, and following in the wake of bands such as Motley Crue and others, many bands adopted the gender-bending look of the Crue, applying makeup and lipstick and sporting outsized, spiky hair, with tons of Aqua Net, and other effeminate effects. Since the Crue's reputation as being the "bad boys" in both style and sound made them get away with the feminine facial look, other bands came off as looking rather corny and campy, in a word, "gay". Motley Crue looked positively scary, the other bands looked silly, but, whatever worked. If looking like a "chick" brought record label guys to their shows, then it couldn't hurt.

However, one band, originally from Norwalk, California, could not stand the "tranny" appeal of the so-called "metal bands" glutting the L.A. scene. It was a band deeply influenced by the NWOBHM scene, championing such bands as Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, as well as other lesser-known names shaking the shores across the Atlantic. This new band played their music a little louder, faster, and rawer than any of the other rising metal popsters, and no makeup was necessary. The band was Metallica, featuring drummer Lars Ulrich, who had gone on tour with NWOBHM band Diamond Head in England a few years before. He, and his bandmates James Hetfield on guitar and vocals, Ron McGovney on bass, and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine were disgusted with the "freak factor" going on in L.A., and found it difficult to play anywhere in L.A. due to their being "too loud" and "too punk" in spite of their long hair. The L.A. scene had no clue about the huge New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene which was coming out with the most raging music out there. All people seemed to be interested on the Sunset Strip was the proper glamor-pout by perfectly coiffed girlie-dudes. Metallica had heard of one phenomenal bassist who played up north in the Bay Area named Cliff Burton, and decided to drop McGovney in favor of Burton, and moved up north to find a thriving extreme metal scene in San Francisco.

Metallica created such a buzz in the Bay Area, fans clamored to see their shows, as well as searched for their indie cassettes floating around metal tape trading circles. In those days, the underground market was the best way for new, unheard-of bands to get exposure, and Metallica's reputation survived solely by word-of-mouth. Fans could not get enough of the band that played fast, loud, hard, pissed-off punk-inspired metal brimming with attitude, spit, and swagger. There was no compromise with Metallica, if you didn't care for them, they would mow you down anyway. Their music was completely raw, crude, untamed energy, and their stage attire was simply what they'd been wearing pretty much all week: torn frayed jeans, tennis shoes strapped together with duct tape, and a t-shirt with an underground band logo, more or less. Fans thrilled to see bell-bottoms-wearing Cliff whip his hair all over back and forth while pounding away on his bass ("headbanging"). They became an American representation of NWOBHM. Demand for their early track "Hit the Lights" from the Metal Massacre compilation prompted indie metal label Megaforce Records to pick them up and sign them.

However, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine would not be along for the ride. While he was an excellent musician, his drug and alcohol abuse, as well as his violent temper were causing severe problems. After a dangerous road mishap and a physical altercation with Hetfield, the band decided it was time for him to go. He was a focal point of the band, whipping the crowd into a manic frenzy with stage comments such as, how would all the fans (in San Francisco) like to go down to L.A. and "beat the asses" of the makeup-wearing hair farmers? But his cute comments were being overshadowed by his
lack of professionalism and anti-social behavior. Behind the scenes, the band worked to usher in their new guitarist while managing to send Mustaine on his way. They found an eager candidate, guitarist Kirk Hammett of Bay Area band Exodus, who had grown frustrated with the very band he'd started and was looking for a new gig. He was greatly impressed by Metallica, and jumped at the chance to audition. One morning, while halfway across the country, they woke Mustaine up and told him he was no longer in the band. "So when does my plane leave?". They slapped a Greyhound bus ticket into his hands and sent him out the door. Miraculously, Dave had exited just a few hours before Kirk Hammett arrived. Fortunately, Kirk passed with flying colors and fit in with band very well.

Now that the band was complete once again, it was time to record their debut. They came up with an ideal name, "Metal Up Your Ass", but the record company turned it down. In frustration, Cliff Burton muttered, "Aww, kill'em all!" Light bulbs of ideas popped into the band's heads: that was it! That was the name of the album! Thus, Metallica's debut album was named 'Kill'em All'. The album featured such early major tracks as "The Four Horsemen", "Motorbreath", "Jump In the Fire", Cliff Burton's bass solo "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)", "Whiplash", "Phantom Lord", "Seek And Destroy", "No
Remorse", and "Metal Militia". Early copies would contain covers of "Blitzkrieg" and Diamond Head's
"Am I Evil?" Fans were not disappointed: its crudeness, rawness, unrestrained energy and "noise" were part of its appeal. No polish, no prettified business going on here. On the album, Metallica identified themselves as the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who were about to "seek and destroy" their targets of loathing, the hair-band hacks with their confused sexuality who attempted to shut them down in Los Angeles. How dare those poodle-heads call themselves "metal"!! It was all about a fashion freakshow in Tinseltown. Metallica knew they were onto something big, and the pretty-boys had better watch out!

Metallica had established themselves as a rising metal band by their next year's followup, 'Ride the Lightning'. Part of their appeal in addition to their raw energy was their realness, their being just "the dudes" who would hang with fans. Nothing pretentious, nothing glossed over. Unfortunately, their continued rise to the top met with a few major setbacks: while playing one show in New Jersey, on the eve of a major tour with bands such as Motorhead and Venom in Europe, the band found that all their gear was stolen. They could not go on the tour, and had to stay with their manager, Johnny Zazula of Megaforce Records while their gear was being replaced. James Hetfield was particularly upset when his favorite amp was stolen, it had been a gift from his mother who had died of cancer. Adding to their misery was when Johnny Z. kicked them out for drinking his liquor cabinet dry, including his wedding champagne. The band's spirits had hit a low--and inspired Hetfield to write moving lyrics to a new song, "Fade To Black", which expressed his deep depression. The song lyrics would be source of controversy in the next few years, but also touched many with its honesty.
The new album also featured such socially conscious themes on songs as "Fight Fire With Fire", about nuclear holocaust, the title track, which discussed the morality of the death penalty through the eyes of the condemned, "For Whom the Bell Tolls", about war, and "Creeping Death", inspired by the movie "The Ten Commandments", when the angel of death visited ancient Egypt during the Jewish Passover. The album proved that Metallica were not a band full of mere rage and raw metal, but had socially relevant topics as well, as was the case with bands such as Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. Kirk Hammett's playing had greatly improved as well, due to his lessons with noted guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, and the songs became tighter and more melodic, without losing any of its heaviness. The album became one of the biggest classics of all of metal.

For the record, James Hetfield was in fact a fan of Motley Crue.

ABlairican Pie

06-17-2007, 12:07 PM

Yes, phoebe7165, I think Green Day rock and please tell ABlairican Pie for telling me that they're not heavy metal please.

:welcome:

By the way, I need to change something what I just said above. Green Day ARE heavy metal. They are so metal that Judas Priest, Slayer, and Lamb Of God had better be fearing for their careers right now. You know how I know they're metal? If you look up close at the 'Dookie' album, there is a small cartoon picture of the witch on the debut album by Black Sabbath (which debuted in 1970, btw), with a lyrical quote from the opening track next to the picture which states, "What is this that stands before me?" Can't get much more metal than quoting the heaviest, scariest song which started heavy metal, "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath. Green Day were actually bringing back metal for the 90's, after a brief spell of grunge had decimated the chart action of the late 80's hair metal bands. Green Day were all about keeping the metal real. The song "Longview" rocks, it's got a heavy rhythm part when those chorus chords kick in, and I am a huge fan of the song "Geek Stink Breath". "Insomnia/Brain Stew" is also great, too. Very slow, churning guitars that pick up at the tempo change, very fast, very thrashy. And did you know that the 'American Idiot' album is a concept album based on Queensryche's major metal concept story album, 1988's "Operation: Mindcrime"? It's true.

phoebe7165

06-17-2007, 02:32 PM

Yes, phoebe7165, I think Green Day rock and please tell ABlairican Pie for telling me that they're not heavy metal please.

Hey, I like Green Day, too. I don't have any of their CDs(sorry, I don't like them that much), but what I hear on the radio. Put it this way, when I hear Longview, Holiday, Welcome to Paradise, Basket Case, or American Idiot coming on, I don't exactly change the station, like I do with other bands.

Unlike some people, I try to be open-minded about different kinds of music. Just because I listen to heavy metal doesn't mean that's all listen to.
Heck, I've even seen Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond in concert!!

If you don't like heavy metal, here's an idea, just don't listen to it!!! Yes, everybody is entitled to an opinion, but don't go around saying it sucks to the people who actually like it.

ABlairican Pie

06-18-2007, 12:53 AM

20. 1984: L.A. the new metal Mecca, and thrashin' over fashion

In 1984, bands from all over the country flocked to Los Angeles and Hollywood's Sunset Strip in the hopes of becoming the next big thing in metal. It all seemed so easy, as if by overnight, that the new faces dominating MTV
could get appear at the doors of the record companies and be signed with the wave of a golden pen. Many newcomers failed to realize that many of the rising stars of Tinseltown had been struggling for years below the radar on the Strip, and most likely, it was not about to happen that easily--or was it? Many labels were clamoring for new talent--or at least a decent hairdo (or 'don't) and a fresh face. Many bands simply formed for the brass ring of immortality--or if that was long and coming, just to have as much fun on Sunset as was humanly possible. And there was tons of fun to be had. Girls, guitars, and gigs were plentiful.

The biggest success story of L.A. metal, Van Halen, who had emerged on a major label simply six years before, started off the year with a complete change of pace. A year and a half before, Eddie Van Halen raised eyeliner brows when it was revealed that his insane guitar playing was featured on one of the biggest hits of the 80's, "Beat It" by Michael Jackson. The guitar solo helped break through MTV's race barrier and established Jackson as the one of the biggest entertainers of all time as well as making the 'Thriller' album the most successful album of all time. Eddie performed the song for free and uncredited as a favor for producer Quincy Jones, and if he had asked to be paid for his services on the track, he would have been incredibly wealthy. When vocalist David Lee Roth heard of this decision to play for free, he was appalled: "Eddie and I do not think alike!" This was never more clearer when Eddie decided to branch out on the band's latest album, 'MCMLXXXIV (1984)', released on New Year's Day of that year, with a new instrument: synthesizers. Synths were hot among new wave artists, it was the standard instrument in the early 80's, but something considered too "effeminate" and "unmetal" by many metal purists. Even Diamond Dave insisted to Eddie, "No one wants to hear you play synths". But Eddie was adamant--he would even play tuba if he wanted, and no one would stop him. The album, whose cover featured a young angel smoking a cigarette (Hence the quote from George Orwell's dystopian fiction classic '1984' with the ominous phrase "Big Brother Is Watching You"), contained such huge tracks as "Jump", "Panama", "Drop Dead Legs", "Hot For Teacher", "Top Jimmy", and "I'll Wait". Fans were pleasantly surprised at Eddie's new talent, and his guitar playing did not suffer either. The band came out with some its most familiar videos for "Jump", "Panama", and the horny "Hot For Teacher". Van Halen was selling out concerts in minutes at the peak of their career. But change was in the wind for the mighty band.

Ratt released its full length album, the biggest of their career, 'Out Of the Cellar', that year as well, which featured their successful song and video for "Round And Round", starring a cameo by veteran comedian Milton Beryl. The band, which was fronted by sex god Stephen Pearcy as well as guitar gods Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby, cranked out such hits as "Wanted Man", "Back For More", "Lack Of Communication", "You're In Trouble", "I'm Insane", "In Your Direction", "She Wants Money", and "The Morning After". In addition to their catchy hooks and powerful playing, the band had a perfect MTV-ready look and stage presence and worked the makeup well to their advantage, which made them a hit with women. The band early on described themselves as metal, but in the coming year, the fashion element began to take over. The album cover again featured Tawny Kitaen which helped open doors for her career and made her a big name in the glam metal community. The band was on its way to becoming one of the biggest groups of the '80's.

Dokken was another L.A. metal band with commercial appeal who made it big in Europe years before breaking out in 1984 with their sophomore album 'Back For the Attack'. The band, who was named for lead vocalist Don Dokken and featured dynamite guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson, and drummer Mick Brown, wrote radio-accessible metal songs with decent harmonies such as "Breaking the Chains", "Into the Fire", "Just Got Lucky", and their successful power ballad, "Alone Again". Power ballads were important in that both girls could enjoy the soft, sensitive side of the band while guys could get off on the excellent musicianship of a well-crafted guitar solo. George Lynch, who taught at Randy Rhoads' mother's music school Musonia after missing out on replacing Randy full-time in Ozzy's band, was a rising guitar hero whose brilliant soloing stood out from the songs which often times seemed to play it safe.

One metal band that did not play by the rules was L.A.'s own shock-rock band W.A.S.P., whose name allegedly stood for "We Are Sexual Perverts". The band courted controversy with their macabre stage act which included a scantily-clad woman strapped to a torture divorce while lead vocalist/bassist Blackie Lawless pretended to beat her with a rubber spiked mace, causing fake blood to trickle down her body. The band managed to elicit outrage for their blatantly sexism and theatrical violence, as well as for their single "Animal (F Like a Beast), whose cover depicted a bloody chainsaw codpiece around Lawless's leather-clad groin. The song was omitted from the band's debut album in order to ensure that it would be carried by major record outlets. The debut album featured such popular tracks as "L.O.V.E. Machine", "I Wanna Be Somebody", and "Hellion". Guitarist Chris Holmes would later achieve his own level of noteriety by decade's end, with mixed results. In fact, in the coming year, the band would become a household name by parties not necessarily connected to music.

Speaking of theatrical, Spinal Tap was one fictional metal band who was the subject of a "rockumentary" which became one of the biggest comedy classics of all time, 'This Is Spinal Tap'. The film, which starred "Laverne and Shirley" actor Michael McKean as guitarist David St. Hubbins, comedic actor Christopher Guest as guitarist Nigel Tufnel (who bore a suspicious resemblance both physically and vocally to veteran guitarist Jeff Beck), and actor Harry Shearer (who would go on to provide voices on 'The Simpsons') as bassist Derek Smalls, depicted and parodized the lives and travails of a British metal band whose fortunes appeared to be dwindling while on tour in America. "All In the Family" actor Rob Reiner appeared as filmmaker Marty DiBergi, who documented such incidents which have since become part of the musical lexicon such as the classic quote "These go up to 11!!" (in regards to an amp which played "one louder" than others), the malfunctioning prop of Smalls' sci-fi pod not opening on cue, and the miniscule Stonehenge prop ("nearly trod on by a dwarf!"), which appeared to have been inspired by Black Sabbath's massive Stonehenge set (though both Sabbath and the filmmakers said that this was entirely coincidental). The movie did poorly in theaters, but became a huge success when released on video. Unfortunately, many bands and performers who saw the film were upset in thinking the film was about them, a telling statement about what really went on behind the scenes in rock and roll, as many of the scenes mimicked real life horror stories of actual bands. The movie's soundtrack, which came in a completely black cover ("None more black!") which was named in the movie as 'Smell the Glove' album, featured such "hits" as "Rock And Roll Creation", "Big Bottom",
"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight", "Hell Hole", "Sex Farm", and "Stonehenge", as well as a few hits from their early British Invasion days.

Twisted Sister saw themselves become one of the most popular bands in metal in 1984 due to the success of their album 'Stay Hungry', which featured the hits "We're Not Gonna Take It", "I Wanna Rock", and the popular track
"Burn In Hell". Lead vocalist Dee Snider intentionally made his rather sinister looks into a parody of the whole "glam" scene, and he actually struck an intimidating figure onstage. He was far from the "girlie-man" many had made them out to be. Their videos for "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" featured live action versions of cartoony violence directed at an abusive father and teacher who taunted his rocker son and students for liking the band. However, their presence on MTV also created a problem with the band: Snider noted that many young MTV viewers enjoyed such new wave staples as Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, the Thompson Twins--and Twisted Sister! This was not metal. While Snider was careful not to criticize any hardworking metal band, regardless of whatever stripe of metal they came from, he had nothing but contempt for the hordes of pretentious new wave acts featured endlessly on the music channel. His growing noteriety also brough concern in some quarters about the popularity of metal, and he would have to answer to some of the charges in the coming year.

One L.A. band who followed in Metallica's thrash footsteps, though remaining in Los Angeles, was Slayer, who went out of their way to shock listeners with lurid horror-movie-inspired themes and looks which convinced many that they were the "real deal" as a "Satanic" band, as was claimed also about British band Venom. The band, heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, as well as a few hardcore punk bands, used such props as upside-down crosses, pentagrams, and goat-heads to effect the image of "Satanism", though the band was simply out to shock for entertainment. The band, featuring bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, and drummer Dave Lombardo, made up for lack of virtuosity and polish with extreme amounts of energy and aggression, as they became one of the new big names of the growing thrash scene. Their first two releases, 1983's 'Show No Mercy' and the 1984 EP 'Haunting the Chapel", featured such tracks as "The Antichrist", "Die By the Sword', "Evil Has No Boundaries", "Chemical Warfare", and "Captor Of Sin". The band also recorded a live EP titled 'Live Undead' that year. The band sported makeup and black eyeliner to add a macabre effect, but when one fan told them they would look "heavier" without it, they dropped it, claiming they "gave it back to Motley Crue."

TJL

06-18-2007, 02:39 AM

Let me know when you get to the whole "nu metal" movement, because i think Tool rocks!

ABlairican Pie

06-18-2007, 08:22 AM

Let me know when you get to the whole "nu metal" movement, because i think Tool rocks!I'll be getting to that in a while, first we're in 1984, so I'll be there eventually! I'm not sure if Tool qualifies as "Nu-metal", but I know what you mean, the alternative metal movement, etc.

ABlairican Pie

06-18-2007, 09:11 PM

1984 (Continued): More albums from 1984

The Scorpions released their biggest album that year, 'Love At First Sting', which featured such major hits as "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Big City Nights", "Bad Boys Running Wild", "I'm Leaving You", and the huge power ballad, "Still Loving You". The provocative album cover sparked controversy, as did many Scorpions album covers, prompting many chains to refuse carrying the album. After an alternate cover was chosen, the album was stocked in stores and became a big seller. The band was shown in the liner notes all dressed in identical leather pants and shirts. The band was milkiing machismo for all it was worth.

Iron Maiden returned with one of their finest albums, 'Powerslave', which featured such heavy tracks as "Aces High", one of the greatest anti-war songs of all time "2 Minutes To Midnight", where seconds on the atomic clock counted down to nuclear Armageddon, their 15-minute opus "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", based on the epic poem by 19th century writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Flash Of the Blade", "Losfer Words (Big 'Orraand the title track. Iron Maiden undertook the biggest, longest tour of their careers that year which featured a colossal stage set designed like motifs of ancient Egypt and their mascot Eddy as a resurrected Pharoah. The band even made history when they became on of the first bands to tour behind the Iron Curtain, playing dates in Poland. Bruce Dickinson said that the band was chosen to play there as the communist authorities denied "American capitalist" John Denver from performing there!

Judas Priest followed up with 1984's "Defenders Of the Faith', an album which featured a few progressive features and did not break much ground since the 'Screaming For Vengeance' album. The album featured such tracks as the thrashing scorcher "Freewheel Burning", "Love Bites", "The Sentinel", "Rock Hard, Ride Free", "Jawbreaker", "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll", and "Heavy Duty/Defenders Of the Faith". The title of the album came from an expression by metal fans in Britain who vowed to "defend the faith" of metal. The tour behind the album was huge and successful, but in the coming year, their popularity would be eclipsed by unwanted noteriety brought on by forces who wanted to shut them down completely, as we shall see.

Dio released their second album as a band, 'The Last In Line', featured such songs as "We Rock", "Mystery", "I Speed At Night", and the anthemic title track. The band received their first Platinum on its release and went on a very successful tour. The band also acquired a keyboardist, Claude Schnell, for the tour.

From Finland, the glam metal/hard rock band Hanoi Rocks came to America and was set to launch a tour to promote their Stateside debut, 'Two Steps From the Move', which featured a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Up Around the Bend", "High School", "Don't You Ever Leave Me", and "Million Miles Away". The band was fronted by lead vocalist Michael Monroe and featured members Sam Yaffa and Nasty Suicide. The band, who were inluenced by the New York Dolls, The Stooges, Aerosmith, and KISS, had been popular in Finland for several years and had a strong UK following with a number of albums beneath their star-studded belt. They were about to break big into America when one of rock's most infamous tragedies occurred: In December of 1984, drummer Razzle (Nicholas Dingley), was a passenger in a car driven by Motley Crue's Vince Neil who was intoxicated at the time. Their car crashed in a major collision in downtown Los Angeles, killing Razzle and severely injuring the other motorists. Hanoi Rocks broke up without ever achieving their big break in America, but their trashy glam look would be picked up by countless aspiring glam metal bands--including Motley Crue for their next album.

Danish black metal band Mercyful Fate became popular that year with the release of their second album, 'Don't Break the Oath', which featured such tracks as "A Dangerous Meeting", "Desecration Of Souls", "The Oath", and "Come To the Sabbath". It was a great comfort for many Christians to know that lead singer King Diamond, who sported garish makeup similar to that of KISS' Gene Simmons several years earlier, was in fact not simply writing "satanic" lyrics for shock value, as others did, but did so because he identified himself as a full Satanist--not as a person who worshipped the Evil Dude in a red suit, but explored and embraced his dark side in order to understand it, as a Nietzchean view of self-empowerment, and wrote lyrics openly attacking Christianity. Their first EP, 'Nuns Have No Fun', was followed by 1983's 'Melissa', where he had an actual human skeleton onstage! He sang to it, naming it "Melissa" in concert, and even formed a mic stand made of human bones in the shape of a cross.

Armored Saint was one L.A. metal band which had more in common with bands such as Metallica and others, in terms of straight-on Dio/Maidenesque metal, than it did with its powderpuffed and manicured counterparts. To emphasize their devotion to metal, the band originally played in makeshift knights' armor suits, but when the members of Metallica saw them play, they said they were good enough that they didn't need the armor props. There was a possibility that lead vocalist John Bush would become Metallica's singer, because James Hetfield felt uncomfortable with his role as vocalist, but Bush never got the part. Hetfield would remain as Metallica's vocalist, but Bush would find employment in another major band later on. The band released 1984's 'March Of the Saint', which featured such tracks as the popular hit "Can U Deliver", "Take a Turn", "Seducer", and the title track.

ABlairican Pie

06-18-2007, 11:47 PM

1984 Metal pics (continued)

Whitesnake was a band fronted by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale who replaced previous vocalist Ian Gillan. Coverdale was the only original member of the band which featured a rotating lineup of musicians to be changed at will. Coverdale was often compared to Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant both in vocal style and in looks, and both bands had a strong blues base. Their rather polished 1984 album, the provocatively titled 'Slide It In', featured standout tracks "Slow An' Easy", "Love Ain't No Stranger", "Give Me All Your Love Tonight", and the title track. Though the band had a strong following, their label was frustrated that the band was not as big as it could have been. Former Tygers Of Pan Tang and Thin Lizzy guitarist John Sykes was featured on the album. The album's cover and title track were further evidence of metal's phallically oriented machismo.

And speaking of Deep Purple, after leaving Black Sabbath, main vocalist Ian Gillan decided to bring back the classic lineup with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Jon Lord, and bassist Roger Glover for a new reunited Deep Purple album. The 1984 comeback album, 'Perfect Strangers', featured "Knocking At Your Back Door", "Nobody's Home", "Gypsy's Kiss", and the thunderous title track. A hugely successful tour followed, and a press campaign went out to let newer fans know that Deep Purple was one of the other three major bands along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin who helped found metal. The campaign was also a major success.

From New Jersey came a new pop-metal face, Bon Jovi, fronted by Jon Bon Jovi (real name Jon Bongiovi) who impressed girls with his charming teen idol looks and middle class appeal. His big break came after a single he wrote titled "Runaway" began receiving airplay, and once the song took off, he began putting a band which featured guitarist Ritchie Sambora, bassist Alec John Such, keyboardist David Bryan, and drummer Tico Torres. Their 1984 debut featured "Runaway" and "She Don't Know Me", and the band began its rise to the top opening for bands such as ZZ Top and KISS, and even appeared on American Bandstand.

Former Runaways guitarist and ex-Nikki Sixx squeeze Lita Ford released her first album which was indicative of her full power and personality, 1984's 'Dancin' On the Edge'. The album featured the hit "Gotta Let Go", "Dressed To Kill", "Hit N' Run", and the title track. She gave proof that rock and metal, and even guitar playing, wasn't all just a sexist boys' club, she could hold her alone with the rest of them.

The Scorpions weren't the only metal band of note from Germany, another band of Deutsche distinction belongs to Accept, a band featuring pint-sized lead singer Udo Dirkschneider. The band began in the mid-70's but it was not until the band supported Judas Priest on their 1981 world tour that the band began to be heard outside of Germany and Europe. The band's 1982 album
'Restless And Wild' helped provide the inspiration behind the rising speed metal movement, but it was 1984's 'Balls To the Wall' album that put them fully on the international metal map. The title track of that album became a relentless anthem demanding liberation from oppressive forces.

Nicholas Dingley, AKA Razzle, the sadly departed drummer for sleaze/glam band Hanoi Rocks, was born and raised in Britain in 1960. He played with a number of bands before joining Hanoi Rocks, and while he was with the band, decided not to print the name of the band on his bass drum heads because he felt would not remain forever with the band. He had his sights on bigger gigs such as an arena rock band. Heart was one of his choices. Of course, he never got his chance, as his life was snuffed out in the tragic crash in the car driven by inebriated Vince Neil of Motley Crue while making a beer run. His death ended Hanoi Rocks, until recently.

In a similar crash on New Year's Eve, 1984, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was thrown from his speeding car, which he was driving while inebriated and without a seatbelt, near Sheffield, England. He flew over a stone wall and severed his arm. Doctors' attempts to re-attach it were unsuccessful, infection had set in, requiring re-amputation. The band was devastated, having no idea as to how carry on with a drummer missing an arm. Replacing Allen was out of the question, but how could he remain a drummer if he could no longer play? The solution came with a newly designed electronic drum kit which had drums operated with foot pedals. The band may have been down, but not out. However, recording a followup to 'Pyromania' was going to be a lengthy process.

Rick Allen is featured in the center of the bottom picture below:

TJL

06-19-2007, 01:33 AM

I'll be getting to that in a while, first we're in 1984, so I'll be there eventually! I'm not sure if Tool qualifies as "Nu-metal", but I know what you mean, the alternative metal movement, etc.

I remember years ago some music journalists used the "nu metal" name to describe bands like Tool: they're music is not very head bangy like heavy metal, but for some reason they didn't fit into the hard rock niche either.

Tool was the only band I know of that got branded as "nu metal."

And between you and me, I think they spelled "new" wrong.

;)

ABlairican Pie

06-19-2007, 02:56 AM

21. 1985: Metal's heavenly highs, life-crushing lows: St. Bob and Tipper G.

As metal entered the midpoint of the 80's, it had both hit a commercial peak, yet at the same time faced a cutoff point. The stories run rampant that MTV decided that it would severely curtail, if not end outright, any more airplay for metal videos. This made many bands change their tune instantly. How to be "metal" yet not get dropped from airplay? For practically every band on the planet, MTV was the only outlet for anyone wanting exposure and success. Many bands, such as the new crop of L.A. stars, were only happy to comply. The year 1985 was a strange year for metal. One the one hand, one of rock's (alleged) successful moments gathered musicians together for a moment of compassion to the starving masses in famine-stricken East Africa, including a number of high-profile metal bands. On the down side, metal's popularity was at such an all-time peak that many persons in the government felt so threatened by it that they wanted to bring the industry to its knees....under the guise of "protecting the young".

That summer, the most widely-televised music event in history, Live Aid, broadcast a star-studded rock and roll telethon where viewers all over the world could phone in financial donations which would go to charities and benefit groups fighting crippling hunger in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. "St." Bob Geldof, lead singer of Irish new wave band The Boomtown Rats and so name a "saint" for his humanitarian work, had formed a charity record, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" with a group calling itself Band Aid, which featured a great number of British pop and rock artists who sang on the track. From there, an American version of the group, U.S.A. For Africa, recorded "We Are the World", and from there, the charity single craze was on. By summer, the trend had coalesced into the Live Aid concerts, held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, and featured scores of such huge names as Phil Collins, Madonna, Queen, Duran Duran, Mick Jagger, and others. U2 gave the performance of their lives, but for metal fans, the real excitement came when all original members of Black Sabbath: Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill, reunited for the first time in concert since 1978. The band played three of their biggest songs, "Paranoid", "Iron Man", and "Children Of the Grave". However, this reunion was only for this one time only. It was completely for charity and nothing more. Black Sabbath's manager Don Arden sent lawsuits warning against the band reuniting with Ozzy, but Ozzy and Sharon, Arden's own daughter were furious at the accusation. Both Sabbath and Ozzy had their separate careers to tend to, but it was nice to get back for one more show to help the hungry.

Judas Priest, always a welcome sight at major festivals, also appeared, performing "You've Got Another Thing Coming", "The Green Manalishi With a Two-Pronged Crown", and "Living After Midnight". They worked up the crowd into a total frenzy during their set. Both Black Sabbath and Judas Priest set outprove that metal could change the course of lives across the world and mobilize people to action.

And the biggest surprise of all, the members of Led Zeppelin reunited (though they did not want to go under the name Led Zeppelin without John Bonham, so they simply dubbed themselves "Page, Plant and Jones"), with Phil Collins filling in for John Bonham on drums. The band played "Rock And Roll", "Whole Lotta Love", and "Stairway To Heaven". The longterm results of Live Aid were a matter of some debate, raising questions where the money was going and who benefitted from it, but it was remarkable that metal bands could get together and show that they did have a heart, and help raise money for a worthy cause.

Black Sabbath at Live Aid:

Ozzy

Tony Iommi

Geezer Butler

Bill Ward

Judas Priest at Live Aid:

Led Zeppelin at Live Aid:

Robert Plant

Jimmy Page (with Phil Collins on drums)

ABlairican Pie

06-19-2007, 12:50 PM

1985 (continued)

The push for metal musicians to get involved in charity causes such as the Ethiopian famine in fact began that spring,
as Dio bassist and guitarist Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell noticed that very few metal bands were participating
in the benefits as other performers in pop and new wave were doing. At a Radiothon put on by KLOS radio in Los Angeles,
the two members presented the idea to Ronnie James Dio to put on a charity benefit single, and from that, a new project,
Hear N' Aid, was born. The group, which featured dozens of performers from many major acts of the day such as
Quiet Riot, Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Spinal Tap, Queensryche, and others, performed a benefit single titled "Stars".
In addition to the single, the musical project also raised money with the sales of merchandise such as t-shirts, buttons,
posters and apparel.

But later that summer, just as rock and metal were celebrating its big victory in helping the starving masses, a sinister force
rose to the surface: Tipper Gore, wife of Tennessee senator Al Gore, was outraged and appalled at hearing about "masturbation"
on the song "Darling Nikki" song from the 'Purple Rain' album by Prince she had bought for her pre-teen daughter for her birthday.
Her pristine ears burned upon hearing the utterance, and her indignation sparked a "rightous" cause. How many other record
albums were out there, lying in wait to be sprung on unsuspecting parents not knowing of the horrible expressions within?
Something had to be done. She put together a new organization which struck fear and loathing in the hearts of music fans
and headbangers everywhere, the Parents Music Resource Center, or PMRC, with other political wives, Susan Baker, wife of
Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of Washington
City Council Chairman John Nevius. The "Washington Wives", as they were known, merely wanted to "provide information" for concerned parents as to which albums contained what in order to shield kiddies' tender ears and eyes, through the use of a
magic "Parental Advisory" sticker warning of explicit lyrics. Music proponents and performers claimed the governmental group
was about censorship. The stickering of an album, they claimed, would stigmatize an artist and his work, and besides, who were these nervous Nellies like Tipper and her crew interpreting all these lyrics for us? She sent out her proposals to major record
labels, sharing her "concerns" about the impact of "indecent", "immoral" and "objectionable" lyrics on young people, citing rape and teen pregnancy statistics, but the record industry, fearing reprisals due to the powerful figures the Washington Wives were
married to, gave in without a fight. Tipper and Co. tried to pass themselves off as merely "concerned housewives and
parents"--who just happened to be married to some very mighty and influential names.

The PMRC came up with what they called "The Filthy Fifteen", a list of over a dozen of the "most objectionable" songs ever
recorded in all of mankind, which were listed by ranking in terms of offensiveness, artist, title, and offending content:

1. Prince, "Darling Nikki" (Sex/Masturbation)

2. Sheena Easton, "Sugar Walls" (Sex)

3. Judas Priest, "Eat Me Alive" (Sex)

4. Vanity, "Strap on Robbie Baby" (Sex)

5. Mötley Crüe, "Bastard" (Violence)

6. AC/DC, "Let Me Put My Love into You" (Sex)

7. Twisted Sister, "We're Not Gonna Take It" (Violence)

8. Madonna, "Dress You Up" (Sex)

9. W.A.S.P., "Animal (F:censored: Like a Beast)" (Sex/Language)

10. Def Leppard, "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)" (Drug and Alcohol Use)

11. Mercyful Fate, "Into the Coven" (Occult)

12. Black Sabbath, "Trashed" (Drug and Alcohol Use)

13. Mary Jane Girls, "In My House" (Sex)

14. Venom "Possessed" (Occult)

15. Cyndi Lauper "She Bop" (Sex/Masturbation)

As can be clearly seen, metal occupied a sizeable number of slots in the list. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd
and Queen were targeted by the PMRC for alleged use of backmasking to promote Satanism and drug use. Conservative
Christians cheered the PMRC's attempts shut down the offensive content in the music industry. The PMRC also claimed
that many scholars and psychiatrists of note supported their views on the harmfulness of rock music.

Bands such as Metallica and others were disgusted that their lyrics were being deemed "anti-social" by the PMRC. Tipper
and her ilk found their song "Fade To Black" as one offender, insisting that it "promoted" suicide. James Hetfield and the
band replied that it was a song about suicidal depression, but not at all in favor of having their fans go out
and kill themselves. Tipper failed to understand that the song was written in response to a series of unfortunate events
which had plagued the band a few years before, which had plunged Hetfield into a brief state of depression. She may
have not been aware that young people do experience depression, and the best way to deal with it often is to express it
in a song. Ozzy Osbourne was another culprit "encouraging" suicide. His song "Suicide Solution" was seen as inducing
suicidal thoughts in youngsters, though upon further reading, the lyrics focus on alcholic excess, where alcohol was seen
as a solution (a solution meaning a chemical, not as meaning as a "problem solver") to instill a speedy death from overindulgence. Ozzy was simply writing about his battles with the bottle after his dismissal from Black Sabbath. He was
sued by parents for reportedly encouraging their child to commit suicide (after the parents inexplicably left him alone for
days) when finding an "Ozzy Osbourne" record on the turntable which supposedly contained the offending song. What was
not largely reported was that the actual album was Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' album which featured Ozzy on vocals,
but did not contain the song "Suicide Solution". It appeared that parents and prosecutors wanted to make Ozzy "guilty by association". The judge threw out the lawsuit, saying that if a rock musician were to be sued for writing about suicide,
such literary works such as "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy and other artists would be similarly responsible. Ozzy explained
that if he were actually promoting his fans to go out and kill themselves, he wouldn't have too many fans, now would he?

It all came to a head that September of 1985 when the Senate conducted televised hearings on the PMRC and its battles against "porn-rock", and t.v. audiences got to hear testimony opposing the Washington Wives from Frank Zappa, John Denver,
and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider. Zappa articulately explained, in his typical biting satirical tone, that "the PMRC proposal is an
ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who
are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems
inherent in the proposal's design." He went on to state his suspicion that the hearings were a front for H.R. 2911, a proposed
blank tape tax: "The major record labels need to have H.R. 2911 whiz through a few committees before anybody smells a rat.
One of them is chaired by Senator Thurmond. Is it a coincidence that Mrs. Thurmond is affiliated with the PMRC?" Washington
State Senator Slade Gorton accused Zappa of being "boorish" in his testimony, but this did not deter the veteran musician. Zappa was known for another very astute quote during the hearing:

"It is my understanding that in law First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative.
In this context, the PMRC demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation."

John Denver, long championed as "wholesome and cleancut" for playing nice folky music, offered a few comments of his own.
He, too, was a victim of censorship and misinterpretation; his hit "Rocky Mountain High" was touted by many as a "pro-drug"
song, when no such intention existed, the song was simply about the euphoria of being in nature and the wilderness. The late
70's movie he appeared in, "Oh God" with actor George Burns was also roundly criticized for appearing "blasphemous" to many,
when Denver never implied any disrespect to our Lord in the movie. He quoted Frankin Roosevelt, saying, "We have nothing
to fear but fear itself". One senator injected, "Franklin Roosevelt never read some of these album lyrics," which brought on
laughter, but Denver replied that Roosevelt had more important things to be concerned about.

The Grand Finale of artist testimony was given by none other than Dee Snider, the only artist present whose work had actually
made the PMRC's "Filthy Fifteen". Audiences were tickled by Snider's outspoken and blunt denunciation of Tipper Gore and her
"dirty mind" who accused Twisted Sister's song "Under the Blade" as referring to sadomasochism, bondage, and rape, and "We're
Not Gonna Take It", which had been accused of promoting violence. Snider explained that "Under the Blade" was written about
a band member's fear of impending surgery, and that "the only sadomasochism, bondage, and rape in this song is in the mind of
Ms. Gore." Snider concluded that "The full responsibility for defending children falls on the shoulders of my wife and I, because
there is no one else capable of making these judgments for us." When Snider accused Tipper Gore of having "too much sex on
her mind" before the entire Senate, he noticed that her husband Al Gore was livid. Of course, this did not stop the senators from a counter-attack. Noting Snider's testimony that he and his wife were Catholic who sought to bring up their children
according to decent Christian principles, one senator asked him, "Mr. Snider, you have a fan club called 'S.M.F. Twisted Sister'.
What does that mean?" Snider explained, without blinking an eye, "It stands for 'Sick Motherf:censored:ing Fans of Twisted
Sister'." Everyone in the room either cringed or laughed, to which the senator then asked, "Now what does profanity have to
do with Christianity?" Snider replied, "It has nothing to do with Christianity." Though fans and others laughed at the antics and comments of some of music's biggest names, an unsettling chill descended on the music community from which no one was safe.

phoebe7165

06-19-2007, 02:22 PM

I must've missed something but what was Jason Priestly doing there? And who knew he & Dee Snider were 'friends'? The other guy looks like Griffin Dunne.

ABlairican Pie

06-19-2007, 02:29 PM

I must've missed something but what was Jason Priestly doing there? And who knew he & Dee Snider were 'friends'? The other guy looks like Griffin Dunne.Hey, wow, I never noticed that!! What IS Jason Priestly doing there in Washington with Dee Snider?? :confused: He's not supposed to appear until he shows up on '90210' in another five years!!

Btw, here is another picture of Dee Snider, in relation to the PMRC, that says it all:

ABlairican Pie

06-20-2007, 11:24 PM

1985 (continued)

Motley Crue returned with their new look borrowed straight from their friends in Hanoi Rocks, who called it a day after the devastating loss of their drummer Razzle. Though the Finnish band would never have a chance to make a greater dent on American charts, the band did have a more lasting impact with their sleaze/trash style of glam style of clothing, as evidenced by Motley Crue's updated image. Vince Neil was sent to prison for vehicular manslaughter and DUI for 30 days, but was let out after serving only 18. The victims' families were outraged at Neil's reduction of time served, making it seem like a mere slap on the wrist in light of the nature of the crime. Neil was ordered to do community service messages warning fans of the dangers of drinking and driving. It was ironic to many that "Vince Neil" and "good behavior" could be used in the same sentence, after all, these were the bad boys of rock and roll. Their 1985 album,'Theater Of Pain', was dedicated to the memory of Razzle, and featured a cover of the 1970's Brownsville Station hit "Smoking In the Boys' Room", and their huge hit ballad, "Home Sweet Home", which became one of their biggest songs. The album moved away from their abrasive metal sound of their previous albums and into a more poppy, glam direction.

Ratt returned with 1985's 'Invasion Of Your Privacy', which featured the hits "Lay It Down", "You're In Love", "Dangerous But Worth the Risk", and "What You Give Is What You Get". The album did not hit the same heights as 'Out Of the Cellar', but did sell double platinum. The album was also a step away from the band's metal roots into more radio-oriented pop-metal material. The band said that they didn't want to "scare" anyone with their metal looks or sound, but that they wanted to look and sound good, hence the polishing of their bad-boys-from-off-the streets image they used to sport. Obviously it looked well on MTV, who were going through a major overhaul of metal. Could their updating their looks and sound have deliberately coincided with MTV's second thoughts on metal? If they were a lesser band, chances were they would not have been played. But Ratt had the look and sound, as well as sales, and Stephen Pearcy's massive sex appeal which sold to women, and Warren DeMartini's awesome guitar playing which connected with dudes. However, the PMRC criticized the band for its suggestive, "voyeuristic" cover and title which featured Playboy Playmate Marianne Gravatte.

W.A.S.P. returned with 'The Last Command', their most popular album, which featured such tracks as "Wild Child", their biggest song "Blind In Texas", "Ballcrusher", a cover of Mountain's "Mississippi Queen", and the title track. In concert, Blackie Lawless and Co. tried to intimidate their own way to the top, which frustrated and infuriated many opening bands and co-headliners. Gene Simmons of KISS thought that the band was a little too egotistical for their own good. The band wasn't toning down their sound or image for radio or MTV like everyone else had. Their rude-dude persona would endear them to Tipper Gore and the P.M.R.C., and their placing on the "Filthy Fifteen" prompted the FBI and government to watch the band closely. Many bands named by the PMRC were subject to surveillance, intimidation and investigation, simply because a senator's wife was offended by certain lyrics. Now metal bands were treated as criminals, and any suggestive, raucous lyrics were treated as subversive acts. Lawless spoke for everybody when he claimed that Tipper Gore and the PMRC was resurrected "McCarthyism in drag".

1985 was also a banner year for a new guitar hero who brought a radical new style of playing, Yngwie Malmsteen, a Swedish ex-patriate who immigrated to America to stun audiences and musicians with his fluid style of playing. As a youngster he had no interest in playing and hated having music forced on him by his mother, until September 18, 1970, when he saw a broadcast of Jimi Hendrix, who had passed away that day. Yngwie was so impressed by Jimi's musicianship and showmanship that he picked up the guitar and never stopped playing since. A huge devotee of Hendrix, Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, the Scorpions' Uli Roth, and Brian May of Queen and as well as classical composers such as 19th century violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, Yngwie made his way into American metal bands Steeler and Alcatrazz before setting out on forming his own band, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. His 1984 self-titled debut was hailed as a guitar masterpiece which featured such tracks as "Black Star", "Now Your Ships Are Burned", "Evil Eye","Icarus' Dream Suite Op.4", and "As Above, So Below". His debut release was the beginning of the neo-classical, "shred" movement, where guitarists labored to become faster in their playing and to attempt more demanding, intricate pieces, combining blues as well as classical musics in their performances. His 1985 album 'Marching Out" featured tracks as "I'll See the Light Tonight", "Disciples Of Hell", "I Am a Viking", and the title track. In addition to his immense virtuosity, he was condemned for having an excessive ego and domineering, intimidating personality. Critics of his music could not doubt his great talent, but felt as if his "shredding" ability got tiresome after a few listens. It was simply too much of a good thing. However, his playing made a lasting impression on many guitarists who sought to rise above the mundane as he revitalized composers and musicians from past centuries into the repertoire of rock and roll and heavy metal. Ironically, as much as he was a legend and pioneer among the shred school of metal, he insisted, "I do NOT play heavy metal!"

One band that was sure to get on Tipper Gore's good side was perhaps the coolest anomaly in L.A. metal, Stryper, who became the first Christian metal band to achieve massive popularity in "secular" mainstream markets. Christian rock had long existed in its specialized "contemporary Christian scene" for years, but Stryper was the first band of its kind to appeal directly to non-Christian audiences who were more in tune with Ratt, Dokken, and the like. The band was known for its tight striped "bumblebee" costumes that were eye-catching and fit perfectly in the "loud" fashions of L.A.'s metal scene. The band's name was an anagram standing for "Strength Through Peace Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness", and taken from an Old Testament prophecy of Christ's bloody persecution in Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." The band started out as a "secular" (non-religious) band called Roxx Regime before a friend urged them to give their lives to Christ. This admonishment, as well as repeated viewings of t.v. evangelist (and avowed anti-rock critic) Jimmy Swaggart gave them the idea of starting a band who would play Christian music "in the Devil's own backyard". Thus, Stryper, featuring lead vocalist Matthew Sweet, his brother Robert Sweet, guitarist Oz Fox, and bassist Timothy Gaines, was born. The band, who had a sort of appeal similar to KISS, with more evangelistic, "soul-converting" overtones became a hit on the Sunset Strip, making a habit of tossing pocket Bibles into the crowd and being clearly up-front about their Christian beliefs. The band soon signed with Enigma Records, and faced both hostility and adulation from their non-Christian audiences. Who cared what they were singing about, as long as the music rocked? people said. The band released their first EP, "The Yellow And Black Attack" in 1984, which featured such tracks as "Loud N' Clear", "From Wrong To Right", "You Won't Be Lonely", and "Loving You". Response from Christians was incredulous: How could a band playing loud music like theirs, and with outfits like that be considered "Christian", especially when they were touring with "evil" bands such as Bon Jovi and Ratt? But by 1985, with the release of 'Soldiers Under Command', Christian audiences began to warm up to them, with such songs as "Makes Me Want To Sing", "Together Forever", "Reach Out", "Together As One", and the title track, reaching Gold status with half a million copies sold. Christians began to realize their potential of bringing the life-changing Christian message to rock audiences outside the church.

In 1985, one of the most important bands in metal emerged: former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine, still fuming from his ignoble ejection from the band who was now on its way to fame and fortune, formed his own band, Megadeth. In his words, "After getting fired from Metallica, all I remember is that I wanted blood. Theirs. I wanted to be faster, and heavier than them." For the next two years after his dismissal, he did just that, forming a band that would be completely under his control. He performed faster, more intense versions of songs he wrote with Metallica, and made the entire band revolve his own bloodthirsty vision, writing the songs, playing guitar, composing the melodies, and singing the songs himself. In 1985, the band released their first album, 'Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!' which featured the band's mascot on the cover, Vic Rattlehead, a skull with metal plates over his eyes and metal hooks sealing his mouth. The debut album featured such tracks as "Last Rites/Loved To Deth", "Skull Beneath the Skin", a cover of Nancy Sinatra's 60's hit "These Boots Are Made For Walking" (with altered lyrics), "Looking Down the Cross", and
"Mechanix", which was supposed to be an earlier version of Metallica's "The Four Horsemen". In spite of Mustaine's intentions to create the album that would bury his former bandmates, the initial production of the album was mediocre due to Mustaine's excessive drug and alcohol abuse. Regardless, in addition to Metallica and Slayer, Megadeth became one of the Big Four of the major thrash bands.

The final band in the Big Four of thrash was an East Coast contender, Anthrax, who originated in New York while Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer originated on the West Coast. The band went through a number of lineup changes by the time their first album, 1984's 'Fist Full Of Metal' was recorded, with a lineup including guitarist Scott Ian, vocalist Neil Turbin, bassist Dan Lilker, lead guitarist Dan Spitz, and drummer Charlie Benante on drums. Ian was a huge fan of bands such as Iron Maiden and KISS, and sought to incorporate their sound into the band's relentless music. The debut album featured early hits "Deathrider", "Soldiers Of Metal", "Metal Thrashing Mad", and a cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen". By 1985, the band featured new members Joey Belladonna on vocals and Frank Bello on bass in time for 'Spreading the Disease', which featured "A.I.R. (Adolescence In Red)",
"Madhouse", "Lone Justice", and the title track. This was not the only offering by the rising thrash band, as we shall see.

ABlairican Pie

06-21-2007, 02:23 AM

1985 (continued)

Dokken released their third album, 'Under Lock And Key', which featured more decently commercially accessible pop-metal with songs such as "Unchain the Night", "It's Not Love", "Will the Sun Rise", and one of their biggest hits, "In My Dreams". Apparently the cover indicated that the colors of metal were steering from black and stonewash blue to dayglo and colors louder than the actual music. Most male fans of MTV and more than a few female fans accepted this and embraced this look and sound as pretty much what was considered metal, and there was not much with which to compare it. If it impressed chicks and inspired power ballads to bring on flaming Bics in concert, all the efforts of L.A.'s fashion designers, hair dressers, makeup consultants, and GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology) instructors was not in vain.

Going back to Anthrax, during the Spreading the Disease sessions, members Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, and former bassist Dan Lilker teamed up with vocalist Billy Milano to form a satirical side project called S.O.D. (Stormtroopers Of Death). The band released an album sure to enrage the minions of the politically correct several years before the term entered into the public vocabulary, titled, 'Speak English Or Die'. The band also formed their own mascot named Sargeant D., who was accompanied by a spiteful little caption "I'm not racist, I hate everyone equally, so f:censored: you!" The songs on the album, which lasted often hardly over a minute and a half in length, included "March Of the S.O.D.", "United Forces", "Freddy Krueger", "Douche Crew", "F:censored: the Middle East", and "Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues". Were the band serious about such titles? Lilker insisted it was all a joke, "just something to p*** people off". It must have been a joke, because not too many bands would name themselves after Hitler's Stormtroopers when their lead guitarist, Scott Ian, himself was Jewish.

David Lee Roth took a break from Van Halen to record his first solo EP, 'Crazy From the Heat'. Unfortunately, this break was in fact a little more permanent. Tensions between Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen had reached an insurmountable breaking point: Eddie, a more laidback, softspoken guitarist, was at odds with Roth's dictatorial, controlling personality. Claiming that Roth "sucked the life out of me", Eddie got the rest of the band to dump David Lee Roth from the band. Fans were shocked at the news, but little did they know that the band had always been at odds with Roth from Day One of the band, and it was surprising they had not fired him sooner. But "Diamond Dave" was the star of the show--who now had a chance to show his hammy star quality on his own. His EP contained a cover of the Beach Boys' "California Girls" as well as the pop standards "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody". This was as far away of metal that Roth was ever going to get, it revealed a very show biz, Las Vegas side of him. The hilarious videos for the two songs showed Roth at the peak of his form, as he spoofed everything from The Twilight Zone to practically every major video of the past few years.

Exodus, the Bay Area thrash band which guitarist Kirk Hammett formed then left to join Metallica, featured a burly, over-the-top lead singer by the name of Paul Baloff, who worked up audiences into a frenzy by claiming, "There's a poseur out there!! Let's bring him up onstage and kill him!!" In spite of being such a hellraiser live who acted completely intolerant of any form of false metal (i.e., the L.A. "hair scene"), the band later dropped him a year after the release of their groundbreaking thrash album, 1985's 'Bonded By Blood', which featured "A Lesson In Violence", "Metal Command", and the influential title track. The original cover featured conjoined twins but was replaced by a simple red and black patterned cover with the band logo. The band featured guitarist Rick Hunolt and Gary Holt, the "H-Twins".

In 1985, Iron Maiden released their first double-lve album, 'Live After Death' recorded over three days at Long Beach Arena in Los Angeles and several nights at London's Hammersmith Odeon on their World Slavery Tour behind the Powerslave album. The tour was a long, gruelling, draining experience for the band, but on these three nights, the band delivered one of the finest live albums ever recorded. The album contained such popular tracks as "Aces High", "The Trooper", "Number Of the Beast", "Iron Maiden", "Wrathchild", and others. The cover featured another excellent picture of Eddy, with a comment on a tombstone by 30's sci-fi/horror author H.P. Lovecraft which read" That is not dead which can eternal lie/Yet with strange aeons even death may die." Maiden would not be the first to use that quote, as metal fans would later discover in the following year.

The Scorpions also recorded a live album, 'World Wide Live', released at the peak of the band's career. The album hit near the Top Ten on the charts, with live versions of "Blackout", "Bad Boys Running Wild", "Big City Nights",
"Make It Real", "Still Loving You", and others. The band became not only a hit in America, but in Europe and all over the planet as well. The Scorpions became Germany's ambassadors of rock.

Rush returned from a downturn period in their careers, after 1982's synth-y 'Signals' and 1984's guitar-heavy 'Grace Under Pressure', which saw the band attempting to hit the same commercial and musical heights as 1981's 'Moving Pictures', but this turned out to be a frustrating experience. Instead the band shifted gears and experimented with their sound that was "heavy" in a different way with clean, textural and atmospheric guitars which were miles away from strict shredding, synth-heavy, and very percussive and rhythmic. Their 1985 album, 'Power Windows', signalled a rebirth fo the band, on songs such as "The Big Money", "Grand Designs",
"Manhattan Project" about the development of the atomic bomb,
"Marathon", "Territories", and "Mystic Rhythms". The album featured songs touching on themes of power, (power of money, ideas, war, physical strength, imagination, etc.) though many fans of the '2112'/'Hemispheres' era were disappointed with the "sterile" 80's sound of the band, many other fans thought it to be the best of their career, particularly of the "synth" phase of the band.

ABlairican Pie

06-21-2007, 11:54 PM

1985 (continued)

KISS replaced Vinnie Vincent on guitar with new guitarist Mark St. John for 1984's 'Animalize' album which included the song "Heaven's On Fire". Unfortunately, a medical condition which prevented him from playing resulted in his exit from the band, to be replaced by long time member Bruce Kulick on guitar. His first album with the band was 1985's "Asylum", which featured the hits "Tears Are Falling" and "Uh! All Night". In the mid-80's, however, the more commercially appealing KISS sans makeup was a far cry from the band ten years before who rocked arenas with fire-breathing anthems. KISS had practically become identical to the bands who had been inspired by them.

Swiss black metal band Celtic Frost , featuring guitarist/vocalist Tom Warrior on guitar, released 1985's 'To Mega Therion', with controversial cover art illustrated by famed "Alien" movie set designer and painter H. R. Giger, himself a Swiss artist. In the following year, Giger's artwork would become the center of a lawsuit involving his controversial artwork being included in a Dead Kennedys album. Other black metal artists found inspiration in the album which featured tracks such as "Dawn of Meggido" and "Necromantical Screams". The band not only found its influence in rabid thrash metal but in more slower, doomier metal sounds as well.

Canadian metal band Helix, who had found success in both their 1983 album 'No Rest For the Wicked' album which featured the hit "Heavy Metal Love", followed up with 1984's 'Walkin' the Razor's Edge', which featured their huge hits "Rock You" and "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'". The band's 1985 release, 'Long Way To Heaven" featured the hits "Deep Cuts the Knife" and "The Kids Are All Shakin'". The band's albums soon became a success internationally.

Kix was a glam band from Baltimore, Maryland, fronted by vocalist Steve Whiteman and featuring Brian Forsythe on guitar. The band recorded a few albums in the early 80's until their 1985 album 'Midnite Dynamite' brought them attention with songs such as "Cold Shower", "Sex", and the title track. Their songs were all about fun and nothing too deep, nothing too serious, but they began to take themselves seriously when another West Coast band began to rise to fame using their onstage moves, as we shall seen in the next year.

Metal Church was a Seattle thrash band in the vein of Metallica who in fact opened for the mighty Bay Area band on a number of dates. Their guitarist John Marshall would also begin a lasting relationship with the band in later years. Their self-titled debut album featured the shrieking vocals of David Wayne on such tracks as "Beyond the Black", "Gods Of Wrath", a frenzied cover of Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and the stormy title track. The album also included one of the finest instrumentals in thrash metal, "Merciless Onslaught". Seattle had a thriving metal scene with excellent bands, and the Northwest town was touted as a burgeoning Mecca of metal similar to its southern neighbor in San Francisco.

One pathetic individual who possibly gave the PMRC reasons to believe that heavy metal fomented dark, violent tendencies in young people was serial killer Richard Ramirez, whose murderous spree in Southern California was allegedly inspired by repeated listenings to AC/DC, his favorite band, particularly on the 'Highway To Hell' album closer "Night Prowler". A self-proclaimed Satanist, Ramirez raped and murdered over a dozen people before being apprehended and arrested. He escaped the death penalty and is serving life behind bars. AC/DC insisted that in spite of the assailant's interest in their music, the band was in no way connected with Satanism.

While Dee Snider made headlines with his unflinching testimony before the Senate on the prudish ravings of the PMRC, the band's latest album, 'Come Out And Play', was a rather disappointing affair. The band's big "hit" on the album was a corny cover of "Leader Of the Pack" by the early 60's girl group The Shangri-La's. Was this really the direction metal was going?

ABlairican Pie

06-23-2007, 01:51 AM

22. 1986: The Breakthrough: Living on prayers to the Puppet-masters

After a painful year of confronting the political powers-that-be and facing MTV's axe, metal rebounded with a vengeace in both commercial L.A. pop-metal and the Bay Area thrash scene, and all points in between. Extreme metal hit the charts and soon everyone was talking about it, while the long-standing founders of the 80's movement faced serious competition. The year began with high expectations, though ended on a grim note just as one of its own faced unthinkable tragedy on the verge of much-deserved success. The newfound popularity of all metal was all due to one band, whose moniker was named after their fresh-faced lead singer: Bon Jovi.

In 1985, Bon Jovi released '7800° Fahrenheit', which was a disappointing followup to their widely acclaimed debut, though it did feature the popular song and video "In And Out Of Love". For their next album, the band brought in veteran rock songwriter Desmond Child to pen new lyrics. The results were
amazing: the band had a winning set of new tracks under its belt, "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' On a Prayer", "Raise Your Hands", and the ballads "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and "Never Say Goodbye". The songs were snappy and contained a polished, decent sort of crunch that radio stations were sure to eat up. The Bob Rock-produced-album, 'Slippery When Wet', was recorded in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, the stripper capitol of the world, so no doubt the band had plenty of inspiration while recording. The band enjoyed the soapy antics of women in the clubs who inspired the album's title. The band nearly put a provocative cover of a stripper's scantily-clad torso on the album, but since Tipper Gore and her minions were on a moral rampage over music and decadence in the country, the idea was shelved in favor of a simple, unimaginative doused trash can liner. Interestingly, Jon Bon Jovi even considered naming the album Wanted Dead Or Alive and even wanted to give it the same name of an up-and-coming L.A. band who would become sucessful in the year to come. The album made metal history when it had two consecutive #1 hits on the Top 100 charts,the first hard rock album to spawn three Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits. . Jon was reluctant to release "Livin' On a Prayer" as a single, but after Ritchie Sambora convinced him to re-record it, the song became a pop-metal anthem. singing about two young people's hope amidst hardships, like a hard rock version of fellow Jerseyite Bruce Springsteen. Instantly Bon Jovi became the "face" of metal, though not as heavy as his counterparts. It was not new wave, it was too hard to be simply pop, and though metal purists cringed at this pretty-boy with the perfectly teased mane and perfect smile taking over the metal domain, they would later thank him in the long run for opening doors no one else would have opened. Bon Jovi became the measure of success for similar pop-metal artists: bands demanded to know what makeup and hairspray, which clothing, accessories, etc., he used in order to effect that proper look to ensure their own success. Such bands wanted to know his gift for songwriting, or which writers penned instant hits, how to write with that style. Other bands who had followed his example had more than a fair measure of success of their own. Girls swooned over Bon Jovi, and guys thought Ritchie Sambora was a tight player. The band became every young fan's dream of what a rock and roll band should be, fun, fandemonium, and foxy chicks. Who didn't want to hold high their lighter in one hand and their hottie babe in the other during one of the band's major power ballads during a concert? To look as well-coiffed as Jon Bon Jovi would also guarantee tons of women as well. Bon Jovi was the band responsible for bringing metal to wide mainstream acceptance--what was once a movement with a huge marginalized fan base was now embraced by the media and entertainment industry with a frontman with Hollywood idol looks.

One band that took the pretty-boy persona to an extreme was Sunset Strip band Poison, whose members clearly had no problems applying tons of makeup, lipstick, hairspray, and satin-y slick outfits for the ultimate glam look.
The band, which featured vocalist Bret Michaels, guitarist C.C. DeVille, bassist
Bobby Dall, and drummer Rikki Rockett, migrated to Los Angeles from Pennsylvania, where they brought their love of 70's East Coast glam bands such as the New York Dolls, KISS, Aerosmith, and even Cheap Trick with them and began to form their own band which would write their own simple, straight-on brand of raucous pop-metal. While the band was short on cash for their live club shows, they enthralled audiences by their zany, extremely effeminate apparel and their stunts of blowing up car parts onstage, as well as stage moves and performances which were deliberately ripped off from rival band Kix. They made a big hit on the scene and soon were signed to Stryper's label Enigma. Their debut album 'Look What the Cat Dragged In' certainly made viewers exlaim, "Woah! Look at these hot chicks!!" while other metal purists howled with contempt at this blatant blasphemy of "metal", convinced that the band were the most pathetic group of homosexuals ever in existence. As for the music, deliberately sexist and brainless fun songs and videos like "Talk Dirty To Me", "I Want Action", "Cry Tough" and "I Won't Forget You" made a big splash on MTV, but many music critics dismissed the band as completely juvenile and talentless, unaware of the band's 70's basic glam roots. During recording, producer Michael Wagener found that the band could barely play well together in the studio and had to splice together pieces of the tape to make it sound like workable songs. In spite of the outrage over the band's gender-bending image, many women were enamored of the band which looked better than even they did.

Poison and other "tranny" bands claimed that there was nothing more masculine than to dress as they did, that it was the sign of true rebellion: while young males were expected to live out parents' and society's expectations of being "men" with all their ruggedness and machismo, glam metal gave males a chance to flip the bird in the face of such demands, it was sure to freak dad, coach, and pastor out. Why conform to society's demands for Junior to fix pickup trucks, play football, and wrestle alligators, when he could doll himself up with big hair, a touch of rouge, and chick attire? Chicks dug it and it ticked off dear old dad. Glam metal proved that not only did real men cry, feel sensitive, and eat quiche, but with the right endorsement by Max Factor, they could look darn swanky as well in Jordaches.

Another East Coast big-hair glam band, Cinderella, from Philadelphia, won many fans due to their association with Jon Bon Jovi, who promoted the band to record label bigwigs. Their debut album, 'Night Songs', eventually went triple platinum with the success of majorly kicking sleaze rock songs and videos for "Shake Me", "Somebody Save Me", the power ballad "Nobody's Fool", "Push Push", "Hell On Wheels", and the title song. Cinderella had plenty of attitude reminescent of 70's bands such as Aerosmith, with an 80's crunch. Fans ate up their videos which featured the two (not-so-ugly) stepsisters from the fairy tale who enjoyed taunting the band's namesake as they trotted off to a show by the band. The band, who was fronted by lead vocalist/guitarist Tom Kiefer, bassist Eric Brittingham, guitarist Jeff Labar, and drummer Fred Coury, went on a tour supporting Bon Jovi which broke them major exposure.

On the opposite side of the metal spectrum, Metallica returned with the album which not only became the definitive statement for the band, but one of the biggest, most important albums in the history of metal, 'Master Of Puppets'. The album, which featured such hard-hitting thrash tracks as the relentless "Battery","Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Disposable Heroes",
"Damage, Inc.", "The Thing That Should Not Be", which featured the H.P. quote on Iron Maiden's Live After Death album cover, and the classic title track, surprised everyone when it hit the Top 30 on the Billboard charts, an unheard-of feat for a thrash metal band. Many fans, however, feared that Metallica had "sold out" with the album that had much more commercial polish than their previous releases. Before, having lo-fi production values was a sign of authenticity, the rawness and earthiness of a thrash band. Everyone knew that Metallica was on its way to being huge, but no one figured just how huge. One of the factors in Metallica's mass acceptance was their opening for Ozzy on his Ultimate Sin tour. The band was simply thrilled to be opening for the man who fronted the First Band of Metal, Black Sabbath, whom they counted as their biggest inspiration. During their warm-ups, they would play Black Sabbath songs, which puzzled Ozzy: were they trying to give him a hard time? They replied, "No, we're mad for Sabbath!" They told Ozzy they loved Sabbath, which Ozzy found rather odd--younger bands liked his former band's music after all this time? Ozzy was unaware of his former band's impact on a newer generation of fans. Metallica found both fans and detractors on the tour, while many loved the band's uncompromising fast sound, others simply couldn't understand the band--this was metal?? Lars Ulrich said, "Many people on the Ozzy tour said 'yeayyy!!" Others said, 'Boo!!!' Most everyone else said, 'HUH???!!!'" Metallica found just how much they mattered to their audiences when, while on tour, James Hetfield broke his arm skateboarding, preventing him from playing guitar. When the rest of the band went out and told them that the band couldn't play due to James' injury, they responded by angrily chanting, "BULL-S:censored:!! BULL-S:censored:!!" Fortunately, the band recruited the services of Metal Church guitarist John Marshall, who filled in for James on guitar while he healed up. In spite of fans' fears of the band "selling out", the success of the band ensured that Metallica were indeed The Dudes of all that was metal. Metallica did not even rely on MTV or any radio airplay for their popularity, it was completely by word of mouth. They were streetwise, intense live and on the album, had an ability to connect with fans by being on their level in image, attitude, and an appreciation for real metal. and pretty much cared very little about what anyone thought about their music. Many so-called metal "purists" criticized the band for listening to and being influenced by everything else from ZZ Top to REM and for writing ballads, to which Cliff Burton replied, "whatever". Musical openness was important to their vocabulary. The band was surprisingly literate as well, like progressive rock band such as Rush on their Power Windows album, 'Master Of Puppets' featured songs revolving around themes of power, manipulation and control, with an emphasis on social commentary: the title track focused on the cruel power of cocaine addiction, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" sang about the abuse of the mentally ill, "Disposable Heroes" sang about the helplessness of young soldiers locked in combat with certain death nipping at their heals, and "Leper Messiah", which sang about the growing phenomenon of t.v. preachers exploiting the blind faith of millions out of funds to consolidate their own empires--in the following year, this song would be prophetic as the televangelism ministries would undergo massive scandal and scrutiny. Unfortunately, tragedy would strike the band before the year was out, as we shall see, at the brink of their newfound noteriety.

In the same vein, Megadeth returned with another classic album in the thrash metal canon, 1986's 'Peace Sells....But Who's Buying?' While their debut album showed promise but ultimately failed to completely deliver, their sophomore release was a fiery collection of punishing tunes delivered with Dave Mustaine's customary snarl. The album featured such tracks as "Good Mourning/Black Friday", "Bad Omen", an underrated speed metal masterpiece which shifted from one breakneck tempo to the next with spidery guitar solos dancing all over the fretboards, "My Last Words", "Wake Up Dead", "The Conjuring", a cover of Jeff Beck's "I Ain't Superstitious", and title track which became a thrash anthem. The video for "Peace Sells" spoke perfectly to a generation of youngsters who were getting their news of the day from brutally honest metal vids than from regular cable channel outlets which sought to placate and dull viewers' perceptions. Megadeth became Metallica's clear competitor for thrash supremacy, and would have remained that way had it not been for Mustaine's, and the rest of the band's growing drug and alcohol problem. Their massive addiction to drugs damaged the band's relationships and hampered band unity that after the band had finished
the tour behind the album, members guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Gar Samuelson were out of the picture. Since Dave Mustaine was the undisputed founder and leader, in fact, "was" Megadeth, a new lineup was in order. He knew what he wanted, and simply needed members who would do as he asked. He was known to be a "control freak", though it was getting freakier and less under control as his drug and alcohol problems intensified.

Slayer released their first major label debut, 'Reign In Blood', on hip-hop producer Rick Rubin's Def American label, which was owned by Columbia Records. The band caused controversy with the opening track, "Angel Of Death", which sang about one of the most despicable characters of the 20th century, Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who performed horrific atrocities on Jewish and non-Aryan patients at the death camp of Auschwitz in World War II, barbaric experiments with absolutely no redeeming medical value whatsoever. The record label refused to release the album due to its morbid subject matter, but finally gave it to Geffen Records for release, with appropriate warning stickers concerning content and disavowing any endorsement of Slayer's musical views. The album became a big seller, 28 minutes of pure musical mayhem with songs such as "Piece By Piece",
"Reigning Blood", "Jesus Saves", and "Criminally Insane". The album was so short because it was played faster than most thrash albums, with the atonal, nonmelodic guitar solos reflecting perfectly the damaged world view of a society gone mad. The band moved away from their traditional satanic lyrics to more socially aware lyrics. On "Angel Of Death", the band refused even to moralize on Mengele's atrocities, guitarist Jeff Hanneman explaining that it was
pretty much obvious he was not a good guy, from what he read. The band's feelings were even mixed on the album cover and nearly rejected it in favor of another, but when one band member's mother found the album art
"disgusting", the band decided to keep it after all, if it provided such criticism.
The album, for its brevity, also became one of the most important metal records of all time along with the above two thrash releases, and drew wide critical praise and huge sales.

Van Halen was in a quandary after the dismissal of their longtime frontman David Lee Roth. The band considered who would replace Roth, even considering a female frontperson, but soon the choice was made to include a frontman who would fit in well with the band: the Little Red Rocker Sammy Hagar. He was known to be a wild, charismatic frontman with a flair for acrobatics like Roth, and in fact, even before Van Halen were signed in the late 70's, when the band had problems with Roth prior to their debut album breakthrough, Hagar, as a member of the band Montrose, was even considered to replace Diamond Dave. The band considered this, and knowing that Hagar had a very successful solo career through the late 70's and early 80's, was brought on where surely he would even become a bigger star. The band connected with Sammy's wacky sense of humor and personable nature, and found he would be an ideal frontman for the group. Reaction to Hagar's inclusion into the group was met with both disbelief, derision, and a little curiosity. No one could fill Roth's boots, many said, sure, he had an ego, but he was David freakin' Lee Roth, the star of the show, in addition to Eddie's excellent playing, of course. The cry went out: Bring back Dave!! But the band was resolute, Roth's days with the band were over. The real test for the band, now dubbed "Van Hagar", came with the release of their first post-Dave album, 1986's '5150', named after not only Eddie's home studio
in L.A., but the police code for mentally disturbed. Fans pondered the new material, with such songs as "Why Can't This Be Love", "Best Of Both Worlds",
"Dreams", "Summer Nights", and "Love Walks In". The keyboards were there, same as the previous album, but something was different about the band. It no longer seemed to be about Eddie's, or anyone's, showboating, but the band functioned more as a band, with strong commercial hooks. Older fans were disappointed, but once the band went on tour, fans embraced the new era of Van Halen, Mach II. The band delivered, as was expected, live.

ABlairican Pie

06-24-2007, 12:31 AM

1986 (continued)

David Lee Roth was out for revenge after his firing from Van Halen, which was not only due to Roth's and Eddie's clash of personalities, but also due to Roth's unwillingness to allow the band to further update their sound with synths, keyboards,
and power ballads. Roth felt the rest of the band was rather drunk and lethargic and unwilling to do much of anything, while
he himself was full of energy, ready to tour, release a new album, and even star in his own movie, 'Crazy From the Heat', which unfortunately never came to pass. After leaving Van Halen, Roth came up with his own supergroup featuring Frank Zappa virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai, talented Talas bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette. The band released 'Eat'em And Smile',
which featured the popular hits and videos 'Yankee Rose', 'Goin' Crazy', 'Shy Boy', 'Elephant Gun', 'Tobacco Road', and 'That's
Life'. Listeners were blown away by Roth's choice of Vai as guitarist, his solos were amazingly fast, fluid, and tasteful. Sheehan
was a pure expert on bass as well and played with his own unique sound. The album was touted as "The best album Van Halen
never made." The band went on a wildly successful tour, with Roth being his usual crazy, hilarious showman self, and then some,
and the musicianship was topnotch. Many fortunate enough to have seen Roth on that tour agreed: Van Halen had met its match, David Lee Roth and his new crew was back. Reviewers conceded, '5150' was rather tepid compared to the manic fun shredfest
that was 'Eat'em And Smile'. Roth was laughing, all the way to the bank.

Another band going through changes was metal titans Iron Maiden. Their 1986 album 'Somewhere In Time' marked the first
time the band used sythesizers in their music, as well as making their songs more 'prog' oriented. The album featured such
tracks as the hit "Wasted Years", "Heaven Can Wait", "Caught Somewhere In Time", "Stranger In a Strange Land", "The
Loneliness Of the Long Distance Runner", and the epic "Alexander the Great". The album featured more songs that moved
away from their traditional crunch of familiar anthems, and into progressive territory with dramatic, intricate pieces. The band
was taking a little more creative risks at this time, but would longtime fans embrace the changes? Bruce Dickinson found his
song ideas turned down in favor of guitarist Adrian Smith's songwriting contributions, a situation with which he may not have
been at all comfortable. The band took more than a year to record and release the album, and the following tour depicted
their mascot Eddy in a time-travelling 'Terminator' mercenary motif based on the Arnold Schwarzenegger character who was
hugely popular then. Because of the musical metamorphosis the band was undergoing, the Maiden, and fellow Brits Judas
Priest, found their popularity and street cred being easily challenged and supplanted by the American band who were their
musical descendants, Metallica. Where both British bands were the definition of all that was metal at the turn of the decade,
in the latter half of the decade the crown was being handed to James Hetfield and their "Damage, Inc." crew.

Judas Priest was another metal band bitten by the desire to use synthesizers. While the band was at the peak of its popularity,
the radical change in their sound in order to make it commercial on their 1986 album 'Turbo' was rather puzzling and disappointing. This was not Priest at its most metal stage, the band instead chose to keep up to date with the plethora of hair bands glutting
the scene by recording the most marketable release of their careers. Fans cried out, "Sell-out!!" at the band's abandoning of
their traditional sound. The album featured such polished, poptracks as the hit "Turbo", which resembled more of an action
movie or a soda commercial with its synthed-over sheen, "Locked In", "Out In the Cold", and "Parental Guidance", a slap in the
face against the intrusion of government sensors as the PMRC into the realm of the musical and metal community. The band changed their image to look more sci-fi-ish, and often cartoonish, to win mass appeal on MTV. The album sold well at first,
but soon enough, fans were thoroughly disappointed at the album. This did not stifle a certain underground "documentary"
revolving around the band's tour at that time.

Stryper released their most successful album that year, 'To Hell With the Devil", which made history by becoming both the
first contemporary Christian album and Christian metal album to reach Platinum status on the Billboard charts. Stryper had
finally accomplished what few other Christian artists ever did: have their videos all over MTV and enjoy massive mainstream success. The album featured such hit tracks as "Calling On You", "Free", "Sing-Along Song", the ballad "Honestly", and the
title track. The band first released the album with a cover depicting graphically a verse in the Book of Revelation which
foretold the end of Satan at the close of time when he was bound and sent into the Abyss. Christian bookstores cringed
at the lurid (yet Biblically accurate) album cover, which was then altered to feature simply the band's logo on a black field.
In spite of the popularity of the album, extreme metal fans panned the "sappy", poppy music on the album and polished
production values. This simply was not metal, to them. Vocalist Michael Sweet had more in common with Dennis DeYoung
of Styx than with any real growlers in metal. Even James Hetfield found inspiration in the album: he was so appalled and
disgusted with it, that it compelled him to be a better songwriter.

Ozzy released his highest seller also that year, 'The Ultimate Sin', which was also an album with which he was thoroughly disappointed. The album became more pop-oriented than his previous releases. The big hit on the album, "Shot In the Dark"
was the standout track on the album, while the record featured a number of other noteworthy tracks such as "Lightning Strikes", "Secret Loser", "Thank God For the Bomb", "Killer Of Giants", and the title track, whose video showed the Ozzman
in a parody of the hit prime-time soap opera 'Dallas'. Not only was Ozzy frustrated with his dwindling relationship with
guitarist Jake E. Lee, but he began to have second thoughts about his wardrobe and teased hairstyle which began to resemble Stryper's look every day. One of the positive things about the Ultimate Sin tour was that it gave rising band Metallica massive exposure.

Ratt broke tradition on their 1986 album 'Dancing Undercover' by choosing to feature black and white photos of band members instead of gorgeous models as on the previous records. The band also faced a commercial drop when they stepped away from
their customary pop-metal tunes and experimented with their sound, venturing into a little thrashier territory on the song "Body Talk", which was featured on the Eddy Murphy movie 'The Golden Child'. Interestingly, while traditional metal bands were struggling to keep up with the pop "hair" metal movement, Ratt was one of the few of the L.A. pop-metal bands who smelled the thrash coffee and altered their sound to create something more akin to their Bay Area rivals. The album also featured such songs as the hit "Dance", "Slip Of the Lip", and "One Good Lover". It was critically panned, though commercially embraced and considered by many to be one of their better albums, which took creative chances.

Up north, Seattle, long an area which produced few nationally known metal acts of note with the exception of Metal Church,
and to a lesser extent, Rail and others, spawned a band from the eastside city of Bellevue, Queensryche. The band
emerged in 1983 with an EP which featured such Iron Maiden-esque tracks as "Queen Of the Reich" and "The Lady Wore Black", which featured operatic vocalist Geoff Tate as well as dual lead guitarists Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo. The band released their full-length album, 'The Warning', in 1984, which featured the track "Take Hold Of the Flame". Personally the band was disappointed with the album, though it showed the band moving into more progressive direction. By 1986, the band's
identity was becoming more established with the album 'Rage For Order', which featured the tracks "Gonna Get Close To You",
"I Dream In Infrared", "Surgical Strike", "Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion)", and "Screaming In Digital". The band showed more intelligence than most bands who sported the much-duplicated glam look, as theirs was a little more ethereal--and often more eccentric than their SoCal counterparts.

ABlairican Pie

06-24-2007, 12:10 PM

1986 (continued)

In 1986, W.A.S.P. released an album they considered the nadir of their career, 'Inside the Electric Circus', which Blackie Lawless himself referred to as "a tired record by a tired band". The outrage caused by the PMRC over the band's songs resulted in hundreds of death threats, concert arenas receiving bomb threats, and even Lawless being shot at, though fortunately being missed. Was this the true moral revolution Tipper Gore and her religious ilk envisioned for the country? As was common, though, with all the controversy raised by the PMRC over stickered albums, the band's popularity swelled and so did that of countless other groups targeted by Gore and the others. Stickered albums guaranteed a spike in album sales due to the noteriety of bad language and explicitness. Strangely, a stickered album, which Gore thought would do a favor for concerned retailers, ultimately resulted in stores refusing to stock such albums. Fans had to go elsewhere for their sleazy goodies, such as the sexy single from W.A.S.P., "9-5 N.A.S.T.Y." The album also featured such tracks as "Shoot From the Hip", "King Of Sodom and Gomorrah", and covers by Humble Pie and Uriah Heep, "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Easy Livin'". The strain on the band placed by the PMRC's efforts to shut them down hampered the quality of the band's music on the album. The record even featured Lawless playing guitar instead of bass on the songs. The following year, W.A.S.P. recorded a song, "Scream Until You Like It", for the 'Ghoulies 2" soundtracks.

1986 also saw the comeback of one of rock's legends, Alice Cooper, who had spent the past several years enjoying the fruits of Hollywood celebrity stardom, releasing mediocre avant-garde albums and twice recovering from crippling alcoholism. He released an album which heralded his return to metal,
'Constrictor', and the man who gave the world "Billion Dollar Babies", "Go To Hell", "School's Out", and "Welcome To My Nightmare" in the previous decade set out to prove he was just as rocking, relevant, and entertaining in the 80's. His new album, 'Constrictor', which featured his trademark boa constrictor on the cover, featured such tracks as "Teenage Frankenstein", "Thrill My Gorilla", "Give It Up", "The World Needs Guts", and "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" which was featured for 'Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'. Fans too young to see him during his 70's heyday got a chance to see what the excitement was about a second time around, and The Nightmare Returns Tour was one of the most successful tours of the 80's. Alice shocked, rocked, and thoroughly entertained his way back into fans' sick, twisted little hearts once more with his leather, makeup and macabre performances. Rock's true scariest performer (sorry, Ozzy) was back to give Tipper Gore and her totalitarian tea party more headaches.

Quiet Riot returned with their third album, simply titled 'QRIII' that year, which featured the anti-censorship hit "The Wild And the Young", "Main Attraction", and "Slave To Love". After the enormous success of 1983's 'Metal Health' which became the first metal album to hit #1 on the charts, the band released 1984's commercially lackluster 'Condition Critical', which sold only 3 million units compared to its debut. Though the album featured decent songs such as "Party All Night", "Sign Of the Times", and yet another cover by 70's glam band, Slade, "Mama Weer All Crazy Now". The band's frustration over the lack of sales prompted lead singer Kevin Dubrow to launch a pointless press war against rival bands who became popular in the wake of 'Metal Health''s success: If it weren't for Quiet Riot, he basically warned, the other bands wouldn't be big, they should thank Quiet Riot for topping the charts and opening the doors for their popularity. Dubrow's fit of professional jealousy soured many fans and bands on Quiet Riot. The tour behind the 'III' album saw the band's fortunes dry up where they began to play nearly empty halls, often finding their stages facing the rear seats behind the stage. Dubrow's mouth had killed business for the band, and they promptly fired him that summer.

In spite of the wide acclaim and excitement the Live Aid reunion brough Black Sabbath in the summer of 1985, by early next year, the band was now down to one member, Tony Iommi. Geezer Butler had left over business disagreements with Iommi and went on to form his own band, and Bill Ward, who temporarily rejoined the band for Live Aid, was replaced by future KISS/Alice Cooper drummer Eric Singer. The vocal slot was filled by former Trapeze/Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes (apparently Deep Purple had its run of vocalists). Iommi was going in a different direction in his music, with blusier rock and less heavy material. He wanted to release it as a solo album, but the record company insisted that he release it under the Black Sabbath name. The album, 'Seventh Star', featured such tracks as "No Stranger To Love", whose video featured future 'Star Trek' actress Denise Crosby, "In For the Kill", "Turn To Stone", "Sphinx (The Guardian)", and the title track. Before the tour was to commence behind the album, Hughes' throat was injured in a fight, making it difficult for him to sing. He was replaced by vocalist Ray Gillan. The band began a low point of their career where Iommi was the only original member of the band and felt he could still use the band's name for whatever lineup he could muster, but fans largely ignored the band. In spite of the quality of the songs, no one was interested in hearing Black Sabbath without the original 70's lineup. The band began to struggle under the shadow of its charismatic former lead singer. As the band ran through its list of available lead singers, one name popped up which became a huge question mark for the band: Jeff Fenholt, a former actor/singer whose initial claim to fame was that he appeared in a production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. Fenholt claims that he was a member of Black Sabbath during this time, but left due to finding a born again Christian conversion experience. The rest of the band denies his involvement from the band, believing he may have been only briefly with the band to sing demos, but the general consensus was that he never really was an official member. This did not deter him from making a name for himself on the Christian speaking circuit and a tv show on the religious TBN network where he blathered on incessantly about his drug use and other misdeeds with the band, and creating an utter lack of credibility with his claims of parental abuse and general obnoxious behavior. As much as he and other Christians "hated" Black Sabbath, he needed them to bolster his own Christian career.

Speaking of Ozzy, the legendary frontman began his own acting career in 1986 in the scare-fest movie 'Trick Or Treat', which also featured KISS' Gene Simmons as a radio dj and none other than Marc Price, "Family Ties"' own 'Skippy' as the hero of the show, and former 'Solid Gold' dancer Tony Fields ghoulish metal villain Sammi Curr. The story involves a young man, mourning the death of his metal idol, who comes across a recording of Sammi Curr which contains subliminal "backwards" message intended to raise the malevolent Curr back from the grave when played. Ozzy played a fundamentalist preacher condemning "evil" heavy metal, and the movie's soundtrack was performed by Fastway, the band featuring former Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clark. Fastway was known for the 1983 metal hits "Say What You Will" and "Easy Livin'".

1986 was also a year of tragedy as well as success for Metallica, as the band dealt with the devastating loss of their bassist Cliff Burton. While the band toured behind 'Master Of Puppets' in the late summer/early fall of that year in Europe, the group's tour bus was en route to a concert in Sweden when, in the early morning hours of September 26, 1986, the bus hit a patch of black ice and skidded off the road. The sleeping Burton fell through an open window of the bus, and landed onto the ground. The bus tipped over and landed on Burton, crushing and killing him instantly. The rest of the band and crew suffered minor injuries and a few broken bones as they tumbled inside the bus. They made it out and were horrified to find the lifeless body of their bandmate trapped beneath the fallen bus. They waited for several hours for help to arrive. The band's management arrived and instructed the crew to take the band back to a hotel. Lars Ulrich was shocked by the words, "the band". There was no "band" at this point, it was now just three guys. At the hotel, the band cried and unleashed their rage at the unthinkable loss of their bandmate, getting drunk and smashing objects in the room. Cliff was not some guy who simply played "the four-string motherf:censored:er" in the band, his knowledge of music theory and melody was exceptional, and helped the band perfect their material. He was a pivotal part of the band, often taking the spotlight on certain breaks and playing solos. To many, he was Metallica personified: a don't-give-a-s:censored: kind of guy who had a great sense of humor and laidback "hippie" style for a metal dude in bell bottoms. He had a very commanding presence and in concert, he was known for his manic "headbanging" style, whipping his long mane of hair in a frenzy as he pounded out doom-filled bass notes that shook concert halls. Metallica pondered their fate and for a short while, considered breaking up when they realized Cliff would have been angry at that move, he would have wanted them to go on. And go on they did. When they arrived back home, the band found huge amounts of flowers, gifts, and messages of condolence expressing sadness over their loss. And for the first time, Metallica received regular airplay on the radio. The demise of Cliff Burton was the one event which ultimately thrust Metallica into the national spotlight. For now, the search was on for a new bassist.

ABlairican Pie

06-24-2007, 09:14 PM

1986 (continued)

Also in 1986, a 15-minute documentary, 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot', gave viewers a brief but telling look at the lives and personalities of average metal fans outside an arena where a Judas Priest concert was to take place that evening. Fans were depicted as shirtless, mullet-wearing skinny kids shouting witty, "braindead" banner such as "Madonna's a dick" (now that's not so braindead), and that "that all that punk s:censored: should be sent to Mars". Fans would sing and play air guitar, while others would imbibe on frosty cold fermented refreshments delivered from the backs of cars. Opinions were often divided on metal: some female fans (often in skin-tight outfits) said they really liked opening band Dokken while many of the guys said they thought "Dokken sucked". Fans shouted out the names of "cool" bands such as Priest and Iron Maiden. One girl gave simple one-liners about her interest in Priest and metal: "Hell yeah!" and "They're great." When asked what she would do if she'd met lead vocalist Rob Halford, she said, "I'd jump his bones!" (No word as to what she would have said when Halford gave a few details about his taste in women in the next twelve years). For those critics who had seen the clip, it seemed to confirm the pathetic nature of metal fans as thick drunken teen buffoons with little going on in life than rocking out at a concert, for true fans, the film accurately portrayed the dudes and gals as simple everypersons who were just enjoying one moment of forbidden fun, a precious rarity in the Reaganized day and age where the governmental forces of evil sought to shut down their good times and prepare them for a bleak, uncertain future.

Tesla was one metal band from Sacramento that had foregone the whole hairspray and spandex scene to simply put out straight-on middle class meat-and-potatoes rock. The band named itself after Serbian inventor and electrical engineer Nicola Tesla, who helped develop radio in the early 20th century. Tesla the band itself was geared for radio with decent rocking tunes which included a few acoustic segments, with no over-produced synths nor other contrivances, relying strictly on guitar, bass, and drums. The band, which featured vocalist Jeff Keith and guitarists Frank Hannon and Tommy Skeoch, released 1986's 'Mechanical Resonance', which featured the Cold War-themed track "Modern Day Cowboy", the hit "Little Suzi", "Getting Better", and "Cumin' Atcha Live".

On the opposite side of the planet, Europe came from their native country of Sweden to offer some synth-heavy pop-metal with the album 'The Final Countdown'. The band featured vocalist Joey Tempest and guitarist John Norum, who began as progressive rock band called Force and entered a Swedish rock band contest, where they changed their name to Europe. Upon Tempest's winning for best vocalist and Norum winning for best guitarist, the band recorded their self-titled debut, followed by their record 'Wings Of Tomorrow', which got the CBS record label interested in giving them a contract for further international distribution. The band provided a soundtrack to a movie called 'On the Loose' in their home country as well as helping release a single, "Give a Helping Hand" for Swedish Metal Aid, which featured some of Sweden's biggest metal performers, on a benefit single recorded to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The band's first success in America was the hit album from 1986, 'The Final Countdown', which featured the ballad "Carrie" and the title track, containing Tempest's high-pitched chorus, which was often mimicked and derided as sounding too melodramatic and "whiny" . John Norum was frustrated by the overly commercial polish of the band's sound and heavily synthed style at that point and decided to leave the band after that.

Swiss metal band Krokus released their concert album, 'Alive And Screamin' in 1986, which featured live versions of their hits such as "Long Stick Goes Boom', 'Eat the Rich', 'Screaming In the Night', and their huge cover of Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Stayed Awake All Night", recorded on their previous tour of North America.

Former Anthrax bassist Dan Lilker formed Nuclear Assault, a group which intended to be heavier and more intense than the pioneering thrash band he came from. The band also featured early Anthrax vocalist, John Connelly, who was with the band in its original incarnation in 1982. The band's first album, 'Game Over', featured such tracks as "Live, Suffer, Die", "Radiation Sickness", "After the Holocaust", and "Brain Death".

Neo-classical shred guitar titan Yngwie Malmsteen released 1986's 'Trilogy', an album he dedicated to slain Swedish Minister Olof Palme. The album, which featured Yngwie's revolving-door lineup of bandmates including vocalist Mark Boals, contained such hits as "You'll Never Remember, I'll Never Forget", "Liar", "Fury", "Queen In Love", and "Trilogy Suite Op:5". In the coming year, Yngwie was involved in a serious car accident which landed him in a coma for a week and threatened his playing ability when doctors found he was suffering from nerve damage due to his collision injuries. On top of that, while he was in the hospital, his mother in Sweden had died from cancer. Fortunately, Yngwie underwent therapy for his hand and hired former 80's Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner for singing duties.

ABlairican Pie

06-24-2007, 09:41 PM

Here are a few added bits from 1984 and 1985 worth mentioning:

Keel featured former Steeler vocalist Ron Keel, who formed the band after unsuccessfully auditioning for the vocal slot
in Black Sabbath. The band released their second album 'The Right To Rock', whose title track was a minor anthem in 1985
directed at the busybodies in the PMRC. The album caught the attention of KISS' Gene Simmons, who went on to produce
their followup album. Interestingly, Ron Keel is now a full-time country singer in a band called Iron Horse.

Krokus released 'The Blitz' in 1984, which featured the hit cover of "Ballroom Blitz" by 70's glam band Sweet, as well as tracks
such as their popular track "Our Love", "Midnight Maniac", ""Boys Night Out", and "Rock the Nation". Nothing like hot women on
the cover to sell an album.

ABlairican Pie

06-25-2007, 12:08 AM

One more from 1985:

Loudness was a metal band from Japan who were one of the few artists from the island nation in Asia to have a significant following in the West. Guitarist Akira Takasaki began the band a stint in a Japanese group in the 70's under the name Lazy (perhaps after the Deep Purple song of the same name, due to the classic British band's huge popularity in Japan), the band released a few albums in their home country before moving to Europe to broaden their fanbase. The band caught the ear of Twisted Sister's management who signed them for a major label record deal. Their album 'Thunder In the East' became popular in America, with the release of the song and video "Crazy Night", and guitarist Takasaki drew a worldwide following which hailed him as the Japanese Eddie Van Halen. Fans everywhere were impressed with the band who sang their lyrics in heavily accented English.

After 1985's 'Metal Heart' and live mini-album 'Kaizoku-ban', German metallers returned with 'Russian Roulette' in 1986, which featured the songs "T.V. War", "Monsterman", and the title track. Due the PMRC running rampant at any hint of depicted violence, their record company issued a disclaimer on the album cover shrink wrap claiming that the illustration, featuring the members dressed as Russian military figures passing around a pistol, should not be interpreted as advocating violence against any members of society.

AC/DC released a compilation album, 'Who Made Who', which served as a soundtrack to the Stephen King movie of the same name in 1986, which told the tale of a world where machines began rebelling against their human masters. Author Stephen King was a huge fan of both AC/DC and Anthrax, which he cranked up in his study while writing to prevent being disturbed by others. The album featured various AC/DC favorites and included a new song, not surprisingly titled "Who Made Who".

Also, below is a picture of Krokus from 1984:

ABlairican Pie

06-25-2007, 10:21 PM

A must-have from 1985:

Tipper Gore gave the biggest boost of publicity to a former Seattle three-piece of masked metal warriors who had relocated to Los Angeles, The Mentors, whose x-rated and scatalogical lyrics she had quoted during the Senate hearings. The band, who had featured drummer/vocalist El Duce, guitarist Sickie Wifebeater, and bassist Dr. Heathen Scum, had been previously unknown in the metal world except for a small dedicated following of fans who flocked to their alcohol-fueled shows at biker bars on the West Coast. Tipper was obviously intrigued by their album 'You Axed For It!!' which featured such scintillatiing tracks as "Sandwich Of Love", "Four F Club", "Herpes Two", "Clap Queen", and "Leave Some For the Vultures" (and these are some of the more printable titles), all songs which dealt explicitly with sex and debauchery, guaranteeing they would never share radio airtime with Huey Lewis and the News and 'Til Tuesday. Oddly, their filth-filled albums were very rare to find for the average metal consumer, and props go to Tipper and her ilk for finding this rather obscure little gem. Obviously she knew where to shop. Their previous album was titled 'Sex, Drugs, And Rock And Roll", and their 1986 followup album, "Up the Dose". El Duce would not only be quoted in a popular song in 1987, but also be part of a controversial topic in the following decade, as we shall see.

ABlairican Pie

06-25-2007, 11:52 PM

23. 1987: A Full Metal Menagerie: Leppards, lions, and snakes

In the spring of 1987, Irish alternative arena-rock band U2 had the #1 album in the country with 'The Joshua Tree', selling out concerts everywhere they went with their positive message and empowering music, even garnering themselves a cover story in Time magazine. The next several slots on the Top 40 album charts, however, were all heavy metal bands. Metal had firmly placed itself in the public consciousness. Critics panned it, the PMRC feared it, but there was no stopping it, kids and young people were buying it in droves. The goal of many young dudes was to pick up a guitar and shred like
Yngwie, Hammett, and Rhoads. Big hair was a necessity to prove masculinity and magnetism for chicks . But now that metal was mandatory in the music industry and had a newfound appeal to everyone, there was a certain "sameness" factor: the most popular metal bands on the charts had a slick, polished sound lacking rawness and edge of its predecessors, metal performers had that meticulously permed and groomed look by expert hairstylists as opposed the primal, feral look of suburban 20-nothings from the wrong side of town, and Hollywood and its nearby environs Beverly Hills and Westwood became the Mecca of metal, a place so far removed from the rough working class beginnings of metal in places such as Birmingham, England and elsewhere. Many bands felt all that was necessary to make it big was to have the right look and sound, and a winning set of songs aching to be hits to peddle in Hollywood moguls--and quite often, they did. Often, record labels simply picked up a hair-metal band simply because they needed one on the roster--who cares whether they could actually play, as long as they looked good. All in all, it was a very decent year for metal, or what could be called "metal".

One of the biggest albums of 1987 was Whitesnake's self-titled album, which featured such hit tracks as "Still Of the Night", "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love", a re-make of "Give Me All Your Love", and
"Crying In the Rain". The album was recorded in a period of upheaval for the band, as previously lead vocalist David Coverdale had lost his voice and needed to slowly recover, and the record company was demanding a new album. The new album was taking up to a million dollars to record as well as a long time since 1984's 'Slide It In' record. Finally the album's recording was nearing completion, when Coverdale informed the members of the band that they were fired: guitarist John Sykes, veteran drummer Aynsley Dunbar, and bassist Neil Murray. Upon learning of his dismissal, Sykes went in and laid down some of the finest solos of his career on many of the album's tracks. Guest guitarist Adrian Vandenberg played the solo on "Here I Go Again", and learned he was going to be a permanent member of the band. Upon the release of the album, the band acquired new members, former Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell and former Ozzy/Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo were hired for the new incarnation of the band. The video for the single "Still Of the Night" gave viewers the impression
that the new members were actually the ones playing on the song, when in fact those earlier members were out of the band. Many claimed that "Still Of the Night" was the "greatest song never made"--and in fact, many comparisons to Led Zeppelin were made about David Coverdale and Whitesnake. His major hair (which he grew out long to give audiences in the far back seats something to see in concert) and vocal range made him resemble Robert Plant so that even the famed former Zeppelin vocalist spitefully called him "David Cover Version". The popularity of Whitesnake and their self-titled album, which sold over 8 million copies worldwide, began a brief period in metal where bands shamelessly imitated Led Zeppelin. Whitesnake had long been a traditional hard rock band, but their latest album firmly placed them in the league of hair metal. One other important element in their rise to popularity was their use of David Coverdale's sexy girlfriend, actress Tawny Kitaen, who moved from posing for Ratt album covers to slipping and sliding seductively on cars in her boyfriend's band's videos.

Also in 1987 was the long-awaited return of Def Leppard, who had spent the past few years since drummer Rick Allen's accident rehabilitating him and helping him learn a new style of drum playing. Replacing him was never a consideration. It was strange to have a drummer with one functioning arm and using only both his feet to play pedals on his new electronic kit, but it eventually worked out in the end. The band spent a long while recording the album with producer Mutt Lange, and finally the album was released in the summer of 1987, though with little fanfare. The band wanted to follow in the steps of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' album where each song would be a potential hit. Gradually, this ambition finally became a reality: though the band had stripped down its metal leanings for more electronic pop-metal offerings, fans soon took to their new sound on such songs as "Animal",
"Armageddon It", the ballad "Love Bites", "Rocket", "Women", "Gods Of War", "Don't Shoot Shotgun", and the title track, but it was the song and video for "Pour Some Sugar On Me" which sold the record-buying public on the band's latest album. Initially the video was to feature a comical scenario of a lesbian demolition worker pounding down the band's house with a wrecking ball while the band huddled inside, but everyone agreed it was a silly, insipid concept. Instead, the band was shown in a spectacular live concert setting which showed them at the peak of their performing powers, and instantly, fans bought up their album in truckloads, making it one of the most successful albums of the 80's. Many metal fans who wanted a heavier sequel to 'Pyromania" were disappointed. It was understandable that the band altered its sound to match the new technology available to Rick Allen, but was this all fans could expect from one of the leading lights of metal four years before? The album was purely polished pop and a complete step away from 'Pyromania', and for the first time since their inception, had been welcomed back in their home country of Britain as heroes. However, while the band had overcome one member's tragic loss of a limb, they were now faced with another crippling crisis: Steve Clarke's drinking had become so out of control that his participation on the album had steadily declined. Producer Lange, a strong perfectionist, felt that it was perhaps better for him to not be allowed in the studio in his condition.

Also in the summer of 1987, an August cover issue of Rolling Stone warned that heavy metal was loud, ugly, and it wasn't going away--and the band featured on the cover was none other than L.A. bad boys Motley Crue. Coincidentally, the band had just released their fourth album, 'Girls, Girls, Girls'
that spring, and the consensus was, while it showed the band getting back into their sleazy leather look and a bluesier, rocking sound, the album did not match up to what they could have done. The album featured such tracks as 'Wild Side', whose video showed a phenomenal live arena performance by the Crue, complete with Tommy Lee playing on a rotating, upside-down drum kit. The title track became a strip club anthem all over, but the true controversial song on the album, "You're All I Need", was banned from MTV and radio stations for its gruesome lyrics about a lover's murder. The only thing to top the noteriety of the song was the disturbing report that bassist Nikki Sixx, now a confirmed heroin addict, had been clinically dead for a few minutes from an overdose in December of that year. It took paramedics to inject his heart with shots of adrenaline to revive him, thus saving his life. Ironically, Sixx walked back home from the hospital that night, shot up heroin again and collapsed from the fix. The outgoing message on his answering machine said, "Hi, this is Nikki, I'm not at home right now, because I'm dead." In the coming year, all four band members underwent intense therapy to overcome their addiction.

Also in 1987, Ozzy Osbourne released one last album which gave fans a fuller picture of his departed guitarist Randy Rhoads, 'Tribute'. For the past several years, Ozzy acknowledged the existence of the live concert tapes, recorded on tour in Canada and broadcast on a King Biscuit live program that year, but refused to release them for fear of appearing as if he was simply trying to cash in and exploit Randy's memory. But upon hearing the tapes once more, he was blown away--Randy's live performances were simply that good, it would be a shame to deprive metal fans of hearing his guitar genius once more. With Randy's mother's concent, Ozzy released the album, and fans were delirious with joy over the amazing performances, which included such popular tracks from the 'Diary Of a Madman' tour such as "I Don't Know", "Crazy Train", "Flying High Again", "Believer", "Mr. Crowley",
"Revelation (Mother Earth)", Black Sabbath songs "Iron Man", "Children Of the Grave", and
"Paranoid",and a stunning version of 'Suicide Solution", with blazing guitar solos not featured on the original song. Of course, Tipper Gore attempted to have the album stickered due to its inclusion of the "controversial" track, but fans were more concerned about learning every nuance of Randy's playing than to worry about a Powertown housewife's beef about objectionable lyrics. The vinyl album featured photo clips of Randy, Ozzy, and the band, as well as handwritten diagrams from Randy's guitar notebooks. Ozzy began a run of in-store promotional appearances for the album at K-marts across America that spring.

Whitesnake ('87) album; Whitesnake band photo 1987; David Coverdale's girlfriend Tawny Kitaen in a VH-1 video; Def Leppard's 'Pyromania'; 'Motley Crue's 'Girls, Girls, Girls'; the Crue on the cover of Rolling Stone 1987; guitar transcription book for Ozzy/Randy 'Tribute':

ABlairican Pie

06-27-2007, 01:10 AM

1987 (continued)

In 1985, Aerosmith returned after a long hiatus during which band members had dealt with their excessive drug use. For a while it seemed as if the original lineup, including guitarist Joe Perry who had gone on to a solo career in the early 80's, would not return any time soon. The band's lineup was re-vamped with vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, and drummer Joey Kramer as the only original members for 1982's 'Rock In a Hard Place', and it was not until 1985 when the band fully reunited for the commercially dismal 'Done With Mirrors'. But the tide began to turn for the band when they appeared on the video for rap group Run-DMC's version of "Walk This Way", one of the first hits to combine rap and rock, to huge success. During the filming of the video, the band realized how much they connected emotionally and began to work toward being a fully functioning unit. The band began to undergo treatment for their drug and alcohol addiction--and were warned that it would very much be the end of the band if they did not successfully clean up their drug habits. In 1987, the band released 'Permanent Vacation', which featured the hits penned by professional songwriters such as Desmond Child, who wrote some of Bon Jovi's biggest songs. The album featured such top songs as "Dude Looks Like a Lady", "Rag Doll", and "Angel", as well as a second Beatles cover, "I'm Down" (the previous being 1978's "Come Together", from the ill-fated "Sargeant Pepper" movie starring Peter Frampton the Bee Gees, and Alice Cooper), with some of the most entertaining videos ever shown on MTV. The band was more pop-oriented than they ever had in their careers, not only due to the calculated attempt by their management to become more radio-friendly and re-establish their standing in the rock world, but also because a new L.A. band had pretty much borrowed from their recipe for success from Aerosmith's 70's playbook and was taking it to even greater heights, as we shall soon learn.

Anthrax released one of their most important albums, 'Among the Living', dedicated to the late Cliff Burton in 1987, which featured such socially charged songs as "Indians", "I Am the Law", based on the comic book character Judge Dredd, "Caught In a Mosh", "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L)", ("Nice F:censored"in' Life" backwards), about the drug-related death of actor John Belushi , "A Skeleton In the Closet" based on the Stephen King novella "Apt Pupil", as was the title track based the apocalyptic novel 'The Stand' by Stephen King. Fans were impressed by the thrash classics on the album which became staples of metal on the album. But Anthrax even one step further in making metal history that year: that fall, the band released an EP called 'I'm the Man', which, like Aerosmith, was rock and metal's second major contribution in combining the worlds of metal and rap. The song, simply a novelty thrown together between albums, featured three separate versions of the song in varying degrees of explicitness. In addition to live versions of 'Among the Living' songs, the band also recorded a cover of Black Sabbath's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". The main guitar riff in "I'm the Man" is based on the melody of the Jewish folk song Hava Nagila. The song sampled such things as vitriolic comedian Sam Kinison's trademark screams and a second-long snippet of Metallica's "Master Of Puppets".

Meanwhile, Metallica returned home from their tragically aborted European tour to wide condolences and newfound attention. Radio stations who knew nothing about the band before were tuning in to the band who had lost a major member in the midst of their rise to fame from the metal underground. The band wasted no time in building on that momentum to search for a new bassist. Auditions were held, and the band sent away many young hopefuls, including one who had a bass autographed by one of the members of Quiet Riot, as well as a bassist named Les Claypool, Hammett's former school friend from a San Francisco band called Primus, who wanted to jam with the band on some Isley Brothers tunes. The answer to their call for a bass player came from an Arizona band: Jason Newsted, who played with a group called Flotsam and Jetsam, wept openly at reading the news of Cliff Burton's death. He decided to audition for Metallica, in spite of his unfailing commitment to his original band. To his surprise, he passed the audition, and began his life as the newest member of Metallica. His bandmates were not happy at this news, feeling betrayed by his reversal of fortune. The newly re-charged Metallica recorded an EP with Newsted, 'The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited', which featured such lo-fi cover tunes of NWOBHM and hardcore bands which inspired Metallica in their early days, such as by "Helpless" by Diamond Head, "The Small Hours" by Holocaust, "The Wait" by Killing Joke, "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" by Budgie, and "Last Caress/Green Hell" by The Misfits. At the end of the album, the band played a warped intro to Iron Maiden's "Run To the Hills" as a joke. The album was "not very produced" by Metallica in order to maintain the rawness of the original sound when the band first covered them. The mini-album was again hailed by critics as one of their best. The album would go out of print later on, and the price, originally set at a bargain of nearly $6.00 for the benefit of fans, would spike exponentially as it became a valued collector's item.

Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, who had left the band in 1982 following the departure of fellow bandmate Peter "Cat Man" Criss in 1980, attempted to start a solo career. While his return to the rock field was long in coming, his rather self-destructive behavior was making headlines on a regular basis: his alcohol-fueled high speed police chase and collision in 1982 proved how unstable he was. By 1987, he released his first solo album featuring future David Letterman Show drummer Anton Fig under the band name and album title 'Frehley's Comet'. The album featured such pop-metal and straight on rock tracks as the hit "In the Night", "Rock Soldiers", "Breakout", "We Got Your Rock", and a sequel to his 1978 solo album instrumental "Fractured Mirror" called "Fractured Too". One insider close to Frehley who later ended his friendship with him over bad business dealings claimed that one of the reasons he was kicked out of KISS was due to his donning a Nazi uniform and disturbing Jewish members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons with it while on tour in Japan. While the legitimacy of the story is in question, the real reason for Ace's departure was due to being outvoted in band decisions and having his own music turned down by the band.

One new band from New York who also took a lengthy process before hitting the top was White Lion, fronted by studly lead singer Mike Tramp and guitarist Vito Bratta, who was able to combine his brand of shred playing with a keen sense of pop-metal musicianship. In the early 80's, the band went through a number of lineup changes and record labels before their 1987 album 'Pride' was released. However, it took seven months before the album finally reached the top of the charts, with such hits and videos as "Wait", the ballad "When the Children Cry", and "Tell Me", all tunes ready-made for broad appeal to women, as well as featuring enough guitar licks to keep budding young shredders busy. The band built a following opening for such artists from Ace Frehley to AC/DC in the coming year. Their videos on MTV were largely responsible for their popularity in the late 80's.

One band who were the polar opposite of White Lion's tightly-crafted pop craftsmanship was The Cult, a band not exactly "metal", but having a groovy, retro rocking edge where everything felt 1967 rather than 1987. The band began in England as a goth-y alternative/punk rock band called Southern Death Cult, then Death Cult, which eventually whittled its name down to simply The Cult. The band fronted by Ian Astbury, who eerily evoked the image of The Doors' Jim Morrison, and guitarist Billy Duffy, released their first major label album, 'Love' in 1985, which featured such hits as "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain". The band was known for its use of 60's mystic and shamanistic symbolism and imagery on their album cover and in their lyrics in such songs as "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", "Nirvana", and "Revolution". At this point the band was more of a psychedelic alternative band, but by 1987, the band brought on Slayer producer Rick Rubin for their followup, 'Electric'. Rubin and the band had to haggle with their record label to re-record the album, who had already spent a huge sum of money on its first recording which the band was unhappy with. The decision paid off, as the first single from the album, "Love Removal Machine", hit #4 on the charts. The album was a rawer, rockier offering that surpassed the sales of their previous album. The album also featured such tracks as "Wild Flower", "Li'l Devil", "Aphrodisiac Jacket", "King Contrary Man", and a cover of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild". The band's straight-ahead rock sound, while not strictly metal, drew many comparisons to AC/DC, another rocking, "non-metal" band. Duffy was not a guitarist who favored immaculate shred playing like other guitarists of the day, but drew inspiration from 60's and 70's blues-oriented rockers such as Led Zeppelin and others.

ABlairican Pie

06-27-2007, 09:21 PM

1987 (continued)

In 1987, Judas Priest followed up 'Turbo' with a double-live album, 'Priest...Live!', which featured all albums from their 80's catalogue from that point, with nothing from their 70's albums. The album may have sounded more "live" that their 1979 'Unleashed In the East" record, but oddly, did not sell as well as their previous albums, in spite of their massive popularity at that time. The album featured such live tracks as "Out In The Cold", "Heading Out To The Highway", "Metal Gods", "Breaking The Law",
"Love Bites", "Parental Guidance", "Living After Midnight", "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", and many more.

KISS' 1987 release 'Crazy Nights' became one of the most successful albums of their non-makeup era, selling Platinum in excess of 1,000,000 copies. The album featured such standout tracks as "Reason To Live", Turn On the Night", and the title track. The videos for the songs were featured on MTV in heavy rotation, and their tour, which included a major date at the Monsters Of Rock Festival at Castle Donington in Britain the following year, showed that KISS' popularity was in no way hampered by the the removal of their makeup several years before.

Black Sabbath released 'The Eternal Idol' in 1987 with a singer who was to remain one of their longest lasting members of that time, Tony Martin, whose tenure with the band even outlasted Dio's time with the group. Vocalist Ray Gillan was set to record with the group, but left before recording took place.
Ozzy's former drummer and lyricist Bob Daisley wrote songs for the album, but agreed to let Tony Iommi solely be credited for the songwriting. The album, which featured such tracks as "The Shining", "Ancient Warrior", "Born To Lose", "Scarlet Pimpernel", and the title track, had a very decent sound, but for many fans who were more familiar with the band's "sludgy" 70's style and lineup, the sales of the album began to suffer. The album's cover was striking: the band attempted to secure permission to display a sculpture by Auguste Rodin named "The Eternal Idol" for the cover art, but when this did not take place, a very erotic bronze sculpture was put on the cover instead.

Former Mercyful Fate vocalist King Diamond released his second solo record , 'Abigail', a concept album which told a chilling tale of a cursed demonic child who was born to the new occupants of a haunted mansion. The storyline would be repeated on future albums as well. The album featured such tracks as "Arrival", "A Mansion In Darkness", "The Family Ghost", "The Possession", "Black Horsemen", and the title track. King Diamond's new solo band included the talents of guitarist Andy LaRocque.

After Dokken recorded the title track "Dream Warriors" for the soundtrack for movie A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in 1986, the band released 'Back For the Attack' in the fall of 1987. It was believed that the band would continue in a more pop direction with the new album, but the album in fact took a darker turn in the music. The album featured such songs as the popular "Kiss Of Death", "Heaven Sent", "Mr. Scary", the hit "Burning Like a Flame", and "Dream Warriors". The album was their heaviest yet, and sadly, became their last studio album for the next several years.

Bay Area thrash band Exodus released, 'Pleasures Of the Flesh' in 1987, their first album with new vocalist Steve 'Zetro' Souza, who had replaced former vocalist Paul Baloff earlier. Audience reception to Souza was muted initially, as fans had grown fond of Baloff's outrageous behavior, but audiences began to accept the new vocalist's raspy singing style and embraced him as the current member. The album was to initially depict the band as cannibals about to enjoy a meal of humans, hence the gruesome title, but was turned down in favor of simply the band with skulls on a counter. The album featurd such tracks as "Brain Dead", "Faster Than You'll Ever Live to Be", "Seeds Of Hate", "Chemi-Kill", and the title track.

In 1987, Dio released their fourth album, 'Dream Evil', which featured such tracks as "I Could Have Been a Dreamer", "All the Fools Sailed Away",
"Overlove", and the popular title track. It was also on this album that rumors began circulating that Dio's logo, when inverted, spelled "devil", a far-fetched claim which Ronnie James Dio denied. This was also the last Dio album of the 80's where longtime drummer Vinny Appice would play on.

ABlairican Pie

06-28-2007, 01:22 AM

1987 (continued)

Alice Cooper's comeback tour was a huge success, and it helped that he had rising metal stars Megadeth on the bill. One thing that concerned Alice, though, was the excessive amounts of alcohol and drugs he saw Dave Mustaine consume while on the road with him. He kept close to Dave and became a confidant and mentor to the Megadeth frontman, sharing stories of his struggles with alcohol addiction and how he ultimately overcame them. Dave was extremely grateful for Alice's help with his addictions that he soon called Alice his "Godfather" and became a friend for life. Dave's struggle with the bottle and drugs did not end overnight, but he knew he had a friend in the famed shock rocker. Alice Cooper followed up with 1987's 'Raise Your Fist And Yell', which contained the tracks "Freedom", which slammed against parents', preachers', and politicos' assault on a good time with rock and roll, "Give the Radio Back", "Time To Kill", "Lock Me Up", "Gail", and "Prince Of Darkness". The latter song was featured on the Wes Craven horror movie of the same name, where Cooper had a cameo appearance as a vagrant bent on killing. The band at the time featured guitarist Kane Roberts and a bassist by the name of Kip Winger, who would go on to make his own mark on metal and rock history in the coming year.

The Sunset Strip in Hollywood released yet another fine sleaze-glam band reminescent of Hanoi Rocks by the name of Faster Pussycat, appropriately named after the titillating Russ Meyer film of the same name. The band, fronted by platinum blonde-maned vocalist Taime Downe and featuring guitarists Brent Muscat and Greg Steele, who played in more of a bluesy, trashy 70's glam style than most anything else going on in that time. Their self-titled debut featured such songs as "Bathroom Wall", the excellent "Cathouse", "Don't Change That Song", and "Babylon". While many bands played it safe by being pretty, Faster Pussycat liked throwing a little mud in their makeup case, and they were not alone.

One blues-based L.A. metal band, though not as extreme in appearance or sound as Faster Pussycat, was Great White, named after the vicious shark of the same name. The band began in the early 80's with high-pitched vocalist Jack Russell and guitarist Mark Kendall, who released a few albums before 1984's self-titled release which featured the hit "Stick It". Their 1986 release, 'Shot In the Dark' was followed by their breakthrough album 'Once Bitten...", which featured the hits "Rock Me", "Lady Red Light", "Mistreater", and the tender ballad, "Save Your Love". The album went Platinum as their videos were shown regularly on MTV.

From Germany came another band not entirely in the macho Scorpions or Accept mold, Helloween, a fantasy-orieted power metal band which played and sang more in the vein of Iron Maiden, but only faster. The band's first full-length album, 1986's 'Walls Of Jericho', became the stage name of wrestler Chris Jericho, who went on to form a metal band of his own. In 1987, lead guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen, felt that he was unable to do both singing and playing, so he stuck with guitar while his replacement came in a vocalist who voice resembled that of Bruce Dickinson, Michael Kiske. It was with this lineup that the band recorded one of their first classics, 'Keeper Of the Seven Keys, Part 1' and established the band as one of the most important metal bands in Europe. The birth of true power metal is often established by this album, which featured such tracks as "I'm Alive", "Twilight Of the Gods", "A Tale That Wasn't Right", and "Future World".

One band who dove straight into the shock-rock of bands such as Alice Cooper, W.A.S.P., and others was Lizzy Borden, whose lead singer was a male "gender-bender" figure whose name was his own as well as that of the band, like Alice Cooper. The band and lead singer named themselves after the notorious axe murdering girl who was found guilty, but later acquitted, of killing her parents. The band's albums included 1984's 'Give'Em the Axe' EP, 1985's 'Love You To Pieces', 1986's 'Menace To Society', followed by 'Visual Lies' in 1987, which featured the hit "Me Against the World". MTV featured the above song with frontman Lizzy Borden with frightening hair and makeup lurking around the screen. Guitarist Joe Holmes later briefly played for David Lee Roth and Ozzy.

America had its own version of power metal with Manowar, a band who rose from the East Coast in the early 80's with albums full of triumphant metal anthems such as 1982's 'Battle Hymns',
'Into Glory Ride' from 1983, "Hail To England' and 'Sign Of the Hammer' in 1984, and 'Fighting the World' in 1987, which featured such tracks as "Violence And Bloodshed", "Blow Your Speakers", "Holy War", "Carry On", and the title track, as well as "Defender" which featured the vocals of the late veteran actor Orson Welles, who died two years before the album's release. The members of Manowar, which included Eric Adams on vocals and Ross the Boss on guitars, were the polar opposite of the "girlie-men" of Hollywood's metal scene, they effected a supremely macho pose, often scantily-clad in loincloths and barechested, on each album cover and photo shoot, giving the impression that they were the true lords of metal.

Bottom photo, Manowar, 1987:

ABlairican Pie

06-29-2007, 12:26 AM

1987 (continued)

Another band from the Sunset Strip, Racer X, focused on recording the fastest, neo-classical shred metal guitar playing
on the planet. The band featured young hotshot guitarist Paul Gilbert, who dazzled audiences with his jaw-dropping speedy
guitar prowess, and served as an inspiration for thousands of potential guitar disciples across the country. The band's debut album 'Street Lethal', which contained tracks such as "Frenzy", "Blowin' Up the Radio", "Hotter Than Fire", "Getaway", "Y.R.O." ("Yngwie Rip Off"), and the title track, was released the year before on Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records, who served as an empresario of shred metal guitar bands. The band played their own style of neo-classical music, but not as much as their
own intense brand of L.A. pop-metal, which made the band a huge success on The Strip.

Another fine neo-classical speed-metal band, Cacaphony, featured two excellent shred guitarists, Marty Friedman
and teenage player Jason Becker. The band's first album in 1987, 'Speed Metal Symphony', contained fast, technically
precise and melodic music which astounded guitar enthusiasts everywhere, and became a classic guitar album sought
after by budding young virtuosi. The album contained such tracks as "Savage", "The Ninja", "Concerto", and the title track.
The band's fortunes would plummet by the band's followup, but Friedman would go on to greater heights by the end of the
decade, while Becker would suffer one of the most devastating setbacks ever endured by any musician.

The most popular guitar-only instrumental artist of that era was none other than the supremely talented Joe Satriani, a
Bay Area musician who not only appeared on albums by artists such as 80's singer Greg Kihn, but also taught Metallica's
Kirk Hammett, Steve Vai, as well as other guitarists. Like Yngwie Malmsteen, he was inspired to pick up guitar upon hearing
of Jimi Hendrix's death in 1970. As part of his football team's training session, he went up to his coach and told him he was
quitting the team to focus on guitar. Over the next several years, he studiosly pursued guitar and sought the best teachers.
He recorded his first album, 1986's 'Not Of This Earth', which featured such tracks as "Rubina", "Hordes Of Locusts", and the
title track. It was his 1987 followup, 'Surfing With the Alien', that brought him full attention with metal and music fans
everywhere, no doubt helped by raves given by his former student Steve Vai during his tenure with David Lee Roth. The
album featured such standout songs as radio hit "Satch Boogie" (Satch being his nickname), the soft "Always With Me, Always
With You", "Ice 9", "Hill Of the Skull", "Lords Of Karma", and "Circles". The album featured Marvel Comics' Silver Surfer, though
"Satch" did not consider himself a comic collector, but the cover was indeed striking. Satriani proved that instrumental shred
metal guitar could have a big place in commercial mainstream music, due to both the talent and accessibility of his songs. The
album hit #29 on the charts in 1987.

One thrash band from New Jersey became popular in the metal underground, Overkill . The band formed from the remains
of punk bands in the early 80's before releasing their 1984 demo 'Power In Black' and self-titled album . The band became a
favorite among the heavy tape-trading among thrash fans of the Bay Area thrash scene. The band, which featured guitarists
Bobby Gustafson and Rich Conte, followed up with their 1987 album 'Taking Over' on major thrash label Megaforce Records, with popular tracks "Wrecking Crew", "Deny the Cross", "Fatal If Swallowed", "Powersurge", and "In Union We Stand", the latter which became the band's first video. The band opened up for Helloween on a European tour. Later that year, the band released the
long out-of-print EP, '!!!F:censored: You!!!' which was heavily censored by their label. The band dubbed the EP as "the record
THEY tried to ban." A parental warning sticker was placed on the album as well.

Meanwhile, a different kind of metal band was emerging from the neglected corner of the U.S., Seattle, as a trio going by the
name The Melvins played a sludgier brand of rock with rather cryptic lyrics. Fronted by guitarist/lead vocalist Buzz
Osbourne and featuring drummer Dave Crover, the band released their 1987 album, 'Gluey Porch Treatments', which featured
the tracks "Eye Flys", "Leeech", "Glow God", "Heaviness Of the Load", "Big As the Mountain", and the title track, many of which lasting barely a minute in length. In contrast to the insanely meticulous talent rising from the Bay Area and Los Angeles, the
band played rather slovenly, crude, doomy music which was heavily borrowed from KISS, Black Sabbath, and hardcore punk
band Black Flag. The band went through a run of bass players in this time, one named Lorax, whose real name was Lori Black,
the daughter of 30's child actress Shirley Temple Black. The band went on to have a huge cult following and serve as an
inspiration for countless cutting edge bands. It was at this time that the Seattle area was producing a scene that had been
largely ignored by the rest of the mainstream. The droney metal/punk sound of the area's insular independent scene didn't
even have a name, but by the end of the next year, it definitely would.

Rush returned in 1987 with 'Hold Your Fire', a continuation of the predominantly keyboard-and-jangly guitar theme from 1985's
'Power Windows'. The album not only featured a few more guitar solos by Alex Lifeson in comparison to the more atmospheric,
textural playing on the previous album, but the band's major track, "Time Stand Still", became the first Rush track to include
guest vocals: Aimee Mann, the former lead singer of 'Til Tuesday. The album strangely did not break into the Top Ten as did
other albums, but featured some more of their stellar work on songs such as "Force Ten", "Mission", "Turn the Page", the sensitive "Second Nature", "Open Secrets", "Lock And Key", and "Tai Shan".

Savatage was a Florida power metal band which featured brothers Jon Oliva on vocals and Criss Oliva on guitar. The
band began in the late 70's and trudge through the mid-80's with albums of limited success, including Jon being reduced to
writing songs for pop heavyweights such as John Waite, a potentially career-destroying move. It was not until 1987's 'Hall of
the Mountain King' that the band's fortunes began to turn, with MTV's Headbangers' Ball playing their videos such as the eerie, anthemic title track whose intro segue "Prelude To Madness" was a metal version of Norwegian classical composer Edvard Grieg's
"Hall Of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt Suite. Chriss was now considered a rising metal guitar hero, on songs such as
"24 Hours Ago", "Beyond the Doors Of the Dark", "White Witch", and "Legions".

ABlairican Pie

06-30-2007, 12:58 AM

24. 1987: Welcome To the Jungle: From burger coupons to riches

In 1987, in the vortex of hairspray, Max Factor, and spandex of the Sunset Strip, one band came roaring out from the clubs on its way to international fame and infamy: Guns N' Roses. The band was fronted by lead singer Axl Rose, who began life in Indiana coping with a miserable childhood filled with molestations and hints of mental illness. He had difficulties with his religious parents who deprived him of such things as being able to see Alice Cooper on an episode of an NBC Mystery Movie, which sent him into a tearful rage. As an emotionally alienated youngster, Wiliam Rose decided to head out west for Los Angeles to start a band. He legally changed his name to W. Axl Rose (W.A.R.), with Axl Rose being an anagram for oral sex. Once there he formed a band in 1985 called Hollywood Roses which was merged with L.A. Guns, whose main member Tracii Guns later split from the band. Another member, Saul Hudson, was a young man who was born into a family close to the music industry. Hudson, a person of mixed racial parentage who went by his single-word nickname Slash, responded to an ad which called for a band whose members were influenced by Aerosmith and the Sex Pistols. He became known for playing a suburst Gibson Les Paul, the total opposite of all the candy-colored pointy guitars popular in L.A. at the time. Other members included bassist Duff McKagan, who came from Seattle punk band the F@rts and Ten Minute Warning, guitarist Izzy Stradlin, and drummer Stephen Adler. Life may have been hard for G N' R in the early days, the band having been kicked out of an apartment for damage and being forced to eke out a threadbare existence homeless on the streets of L.A., sustaining themselves on McDonald's coupons for burgers, fries, and sodas. It was not the most glamorous start for the band, but the band felt dependent on each other and their cameraderie strengthened their bond through rough times. All they had was their each other, their music, and the dream of rising above "the jungle" of L.A.'s streets.

After seeing a phenomenal show at one of L.A.'s most popular clubs the Troubadour, Geffen Records A & R representative Tom Zutaut told others about Guns N' Roses, "They suck!" This was to discourage other industry types from taking interest in them, so that he himself could work with them alone. He saw their vast potential, rude, crude, and full of massive attitude. Upfront, Axl demanded $75,000 from Zutaut up front, which he received, then dropped a little bombshell on him: he had promised an A&R executive from Chrysalis that the band would sign with her if she walked naked down Sunset Boulevard! For the next few days, Zutaut watched for a nude woman stroll down the Strip, but nothing happened. He signed the band, who also hired Alan Niven to manage them. This demanding, and receiving, such a huge financial advance, and manipulating record company bigwigs (with the promise of "skin" on the Sunset Strip) showed what kind of power the band knew they wielded in their early days. They were good, and Axl was all about playing hardball. This approach would both later serve them well, and hurt them, in the long run.

In the fall of 1986, the band released their first EP, entitled 'Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide' on their own UZI Suicide label. It opens with Duff McKagan screaming "Hey fers, suck on Guns N' fing Roses!". The EP featured four songs, two original numbers, "Reckless Life" and "Move To the City", and covers of "Nice Boys" by Rose Tattoo and "Mama Kin" by Aerosmith. The EP was printed in limited quantities and has become a valuable collectors' item. The EP succeeded in creating interest and enthusiasm in fans outside of L.A.

In the summer of 1987, the band released their first major label debut, 'Appetite For Destruction', whose cover initially displayed a graphic illustration by artist Robert Williams of a maniacal monster destroys a robot rapist hovering over its female victim. When the album cover was banned by the record label after complaints from religious groups and stores, a simpler cross diagram connecting skull figures representing each band member was used on the front instead. Interestingly, the album did not take off commercially until almost after the first of the next year. The album did manage to become one of the biggest debuts of all time, and was dubbed as one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Songs such as "Welcome To the Jungle", "Sweet Child O' Mine", "Paradise City", "Nightrain", "It's So Easy", "Mr. Brownstone", "My Michelle", "Out Ta Get Me", and the excellent "Rocket Queen" all told tales of the urban wilderness of the big city, along with some of its rather unsavory characters, including all the unstable women in the band's lives. "Welcome To the Jungle", while adequately describing the unforgiving, cruel lair that was Los Angeles, was in fact written in Seattle on one the the band's first club dates there. "Sweet Child O' Mine" was a ballad-esque rock song with a memorable guitar line that, though MTV viewers immediately connected with, guitarist Slash said that he always hated the song, written for one of Axl's girlfriends. Originally, when MTV first aired "Welcome To the Jungle", it was met with total apathy. Record label magnate David Geffen pushed the video onto MTV further by playing it regularly at times with the least amount of viewers, such as early hours, but not to report the playing of the video. He wanted to create a buzz by making people ask, who was that band? Apparently some red-eye rock fans and others took notice, and began requesting the video repeatedly. The video and song took off in a huge way, followed by the massively successful "Sweet Child O' Mine". People saw something vastly different in Guns N' Roses: they were the real full meal deal in L.A. metal, a splash of trash and teased hair, just like their Sunset Strip peers, but didn't play it safe like their makeup-caked rivals. The band brought back blues-based raunch-and-roll to rock, and were so utterly unpretentious that they connected with fans in a huge way. The band was on its way to the top, on a rocket ride fueled by massive amounts of booze, drugs, nicotine, and girls. Slash became the living epitome of rock star excess in a way that even rivaled that of Motley Crue, with his top hat, wavy mane obscuring his eyeballs, trademark cigarette and bottles of Black Death vodka. The band was becoming the biggest name in rock, though little did they see the proverbial Sword of Damocles above them about to lop off a few locks of hair.
But, after all, danger is what they lived for.

ABlairican Pie

06-30-2007, 01:07 AM

1987 (continued)

The ultimate rock and roll icon: Slash of Guns N' Roses

Dr. Thong

06-30-2007, 10:49 AM

One of the finest live albums of all time, from 1975:

Can't argue with you on KISS Alive.

Rap is not my thing, so I don't concern myself with it. I don't get it, but apparently millions of people do.

Making generalizations is foolish. Should we assume that all hispanic people only like salsa music or anything strictly Latino? When the prog-rock band Rush played Rio for the first time in 2002, several thousand Portuguese were not only singing along in English, but were also "singing" along with the instrumental songs. It is a mindblower.

I grew up listening to metal and power rock. Are some of the bands ridiculous? Absolutely. There are bands who I laughed at just by looking at their album covers. I love KISS, but to me, Poison is a watered-down version with bad songs and over the top poseurs.

Even some of the stuff I do like, I can chuckle at the over-dramaticness of the lyrics or songs. But I still enjoy it. Ronnie James Dio sings about dragons and kings and medieval imagery and it's still a driving, dynamic sound.

What I can't stand is the current death metal, where people are just raging in a guttural, bassy voice and screaming all the time. It exhausts me if I have to listen to it for more than a minute. Crap, just crap.

There are two types of music - good and bad. And they exist within all forms of music - you just have to seek them out.

Dr. Thong

06-30-2007, 11:01 AM

Rush returned in 1987 with 'Hold Your Fire', a continuation of the predominantly keyboard-and-jangly guitar theme from 1985's 'Power Windows'. The album not only featured a few more guitar solos by Alex Lifeson in comparison to the more atmospheric, textural playing on the previous album, but the band's major track, "Time Stand Still", became the first Rush track to include guest vocals: Aimee Mann, the former lead singer of 'Til Tuesday. The album strangely did not break into the Top Ten as did other albums, but featured some more of their stellar work on songs such as "Force Ten", "Mission", "Turn the Page", the sensitive "Second Nature", "Open Secrets", "Lock And Key", and "Tai Shan".

I stopped thinking of Rush as a metal band in the early eighties. Some of their early stuff was metallic, but they evolved into more of a prog rock band.

Metal mags like Hit Parader would lump them in with all the hair metal and other metal bands and it used to make me scratch my head. Hold Your Fire can be classified as rock or prog-rock, but it's not metal.

ABlairican Pie

07-01-2007, 12:30 PM

I stopped thinking of Rush as a metal band in the early eighties. Some of their early stuff was metallic, but they evolved into more of a prog rock band.

Metal mags like Hit Parader would lump them in with all the hair metal and other metal bands and it used to make me scratch my head. Hold Your Fire can be classified as rock or prog-rock, but it's not metal.
On the subject of Rush, two albums must be noted by Canada's prime power trio (above Triumph and Mahogany Rush) that indicated that band were moving beyond their metal roots of the 70's. After 1981's monumental album 'Moving Pictures' and their double-live album 'Exit...Stage Left', the band ventured into more prog-oriented territory which had more to do with the current new wave sounds than anything else they had done before. 1982's 'Signals' album showed the band embracing more synths on songs such as the classic "Subdivisions", one of the band's most popular tracks, "The Analog Kid","Chemistry", the reggae-esque "Digital Man", the Cold War-themed "The Weapon" (Part 2 of "The Fear Trilogy"), "Countdown", which documented the band's front-row glimpse of the launching of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and the band's first official hit single, the ska-oriented "New World Man". Geddy Lee's synths were more upfront while Alex Lifeson's clean-toned guitars took a more complimentary approach with a tasty solo thrown in. Longtime Rush fans were disappointed with the change in their direction, while others embraced their willingness to branch out. This was Rush of the 80's, and the days of album-length epic tracks were out of the picture.

The band followed up with 1984's 'Grace Under Pressure', a more guitar-driven album which featured plenty of synths and more forays into ska and modern rock. The band was feeling the "pressure" to duplicate the success of 'Moving Pictures' and were instead feeling a creative block amidst the constraints of meeting deadlines and the like. Their musical offerings on this album suggested a moment of "grace", finding the inspiration to come up with something decent. The album was darker themed, with many songs touching on Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union: the album's opener, "Distant Early Warning", depicted a bleak, post-apocalyptic future after a nuclear war, and was based on reports that the U.S. was installing missile detection systems up north within Canada's borders. "Red Sector A" was inspired by the true story of Geddy Lee's mother's experiences at Bergen-Belsen, the German concentration camp where she had been incarcerated during World War II. She was convinced that contemporary society outside had been dismantled and destroyed, as there could be no other explanation for the hellish conditions which caused the camp to exist. Liberation, she believed, was impossible. "The Enemy Within", Part 1 of the Trilogy of Fear,
was a ska-flavored song dealing with societal paranoia amongst its own citizens. "Red Lenses" featured a more danceable rhythm, though its lyrics spoke of America's obsession of the "Red" Soviet menace. The album's closer, "Between the Wheels", was an intense, synth-heavy song with topics of impending war and the brokenness of "another lost generation". Other songs included
"Afterimage", "The Body Electric", and "Kid Gloves".

Rush had never considered a heavy metal band, though often their songs and albums were in fact very heavy, but in a different way than their peers. The band always considered their music hard to classify, even the term "prog" did not do the band justice. But the band were in fact progressing, and were not afraid to incorporate modern, new wave styles into their sounds and remain completely original and strictly rock. The band may have lost a few fans in their transition from epic album sides to more updated. shorter tunes with sparce-sounding guitar and broader synths, but newer fans who still remained interested were sure to be in for more surprises as to what that little ol' band from Toronto could come up with next.

Below, their 1981 double-live album 'Exit...Stage Left', which included concert versions of "The Spirit Of Radio", "YYZ" with extended drum solo, "Closer To the Heart", "Jacob's Ladder", "The Trees", "Xanadu", and of course, "Tom Sawyer".

ABlairican Pie

07-01-2007, 12:58 PM

Rush, during the 'Grace Under Pressure' era, 1984:

ABlairican Pie

07-01-2007, 09:07 PM

AC/DC was another band, like Rush, who did not consider themselves metal, though they remained a favorite among metal fans. No one rocked harder and louder than they did with their basic, blues-based rock and roll whose roots were steeped in not only blues artists but mid-60's rock: their brother George Young was a member of Australian band the Easybeats, a British Invasion-style group who became the biggest rock and roll group from Australia in the 1960's (the Bee Gees not withstanding) with the big hit "Friday On My Mind" from 1966. AC/DC cringed at the term heavy metal;
guitarist Angus Young thought the term brought images of knights clad in armor to mind (which the band prided themselves in not being, the band were certainly no knights in shining armor). In the 70's the band also cringed at terms as "punk" or even "power pop" to describe their music. Why couldn't people just enjoy them for who they were, just a straight on rock and roll band? People felt the need to categorize them, which made little sense.

After 1981's 'For Those About To Rock', the band also re-released a few of their mid-70's with Bon Scott that were previously available only as imports, such as 'High Voltage', 'T.N.T', and 'Dirty Deeds' which featured such songs as "It's a Long Way To the Top (If You Want To Rock And Roll)", "Live Wire", "Soul Stripper", "Big Balls", and "Rocker". All three albums were released in various versions, Australian-only or international releases, with different song lists on each. In 1983, as the band was now steeped in huge success all over the world, they released 'Flick Of the Switch', which, while not reaching the heights of popularity as 'Back In Black' had done, still managed to include such memorable tracks as "This House Is On Fire", "Guns For Hire", and the title track. 1984's EP ''74 Jailbreak' featured the popular title track with a few covers previously unreleased in America. 1985's album, 'Fly On the Wall' featured such tracks as "Shake Your Foundation", "Sink the Pink", and the title track, though the album was not one of the band's stronger releases. In spite of the band's reluctance to define themselves as heavy metal, many metal fans understood and embraced the band as one of their own. They were a totally honest rock and roll band, if not a "metal" band, which was what mattered.

ABlairican Pie

07-01-2007, 09:54 PM

One band which must be mentioned in the era of pop-metal was Night Ranger, who also had a number of hits throughout the 80's. The band formed when bassist/vocalist Jack Blades, who came from the ashes of 70's band Rubicon, joined up with guitarists Brad Gillis and later, guitarist Jeff Watson for a band called Ranger. As a country band with the same name threatened to sue for copyright infringement, the band re-named themselves Night Ranger, and began to compose rocking songs with major commercial appeal. In 1982, after the tragic death of guitarist Randy Rhoads, Gillis was hired by Ozzy to fill in for the remainder of the tour, and even recorded on the live "Speak Of the Devil" album, which featured solely Black Sabbath covers. After the tour, he returned to Night Ranger and proceeded to release their debut album, 'Dawn Patrol', which featured such tracks as the MTV hit 'Don't Tell Me You Love Me', "Sing Me Away", and the title track.

In 1984, the band followed up with 'Midnight Madness', which featured the hits "Rock In America", "Rumors In the Air", and "When You Close Your Eyes",
but it was their power ballad, "Sister Christian", which launched the band into stardom. While the band was known for the frantic, nimble fretwork of Gillis and Watson, it was this sensitive song which became the band's centerpiece tune. Audiences were drawn to the cautionary theme of a "Christian" girl being warned not to "give 'it' up before her time" at a motor inn. The song was interpreted as a song warning against pre-marital sex, which found a home in conservative America at the end of the Sexual Revolution in the early/mid-80's. The song, in fact, was based on one band member writing for
a girl he knew who didn't want to disclose her name and instead wrote her name as "Christian". It was not their intention to discuss the song as having either a "religious" theme or an abstinence advocacy message. It was simply a nice song the band wanted to release. The song did give the impression, though, that they were all about "power ballads" rather than being a strong rock band. The dashing good looks of bassist Blades confirmed this "girl-candy" image of the band, and their record label was insistent on the band recording another power ballad in that vein. The band followed up with 1985's 'Seven Wishes', which became a concept album with the theme of the band
being relocated to the 30's and 40's retracing the flight of doomed pilot Amelia
Earhart. The big hit from the album was "Sentimental Street". In 1987, the band followed up with the theme song on the Michael J. Fox movie 'The Secret Of My Success'.

ABlairican Pie

07-01-2007, 11:53 PM

A few gems from the 70's that explored metal's manly side:

Alice Cooper promo pic, when Alice Cooper was the name of the band as well as that of its macabre lead singer;

Black Sabbath's 'Sabotage' from 1975, the album which included such major tracks as "Hole In the Sky", the raging "Symptom Of the Universe",
"Megalomania", "The Thrill Of It All", the instrumental "Supertzar" which featured the English Chamber Choir, "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", and "The Writ". The band recorded in the midst of not only the height of their popularity where they sold out arenas all over the world, but mired in deep legal wranglings with their former management which bilked them out of millions while the band personally ended up broke. The album's title refers to their former manager who attempted to "sabotage" their careers for his own personal gain. For this reason the band recorded an intentionally disjointed album with the band dressing in drag, all in order to hurt sales and financially stick it to their greedy management. The album sold rather well.

ABlairican Pie

07-03-2007, 12:15 AM

25. 1988: ...And Justice For Metal: Metallica meets the Monsters Of Rock
1988 was another banner year for metal, the one where Metallica broke wide into the mainstream due to the strength of their provocative video "One", as well as the widespread acclaim over their appearance at the otherwise commercially disappointing Monsters Of Rock Tour, which featured such bands as Kingdom Come, Dokken, the Scorpions, and Van Halen. All in all, it was a banner year for both thrash and glam metal bands, with groups as Metallica contributing to metal's further appeal to listeners who previously approached the genre with skepticism and contempt. Metal proved that it could be smart and have some level of sophistication.

After the release of 'Garage Days', Metallica once again teamed up with producer Fleming Rasmussen to work on the proper followup to 'Master Of Puppets'. The resulting album, 1998's '...And Justice For All', was a lengthy album which took over the space of two vinyl albums in excess of sixty minutes. The album was a total tour de force featuring some of their longest songs, such as "Blackened", penned by new bassist Jason Newsted with harrrowing lyrics about the destruction of the environment as the planet was thrust into a final holocaust, the title track which focused on the corruption of the court system into a morass of greed and ulterior motives, and the popular 'Eye Of the Beholder', directed at the PMRC and their self-appointed status as the final arbiters of determining the intentions of artists. "The Shortest Straw" continued on in that socially aware vein, discussing the power of blacklisting and modern-day McCarthyism, another single, "Harvester
Of Sorrow" featured some the band's most gruesome lyrics, which, not surprisingly, earned the reproach of Tipper Gore, "The Frayed Ends Of Sanity", which featured the chant uttered by the Wicked Witch's castle guardsmen on 'The Wizard of Oz',"To Live Is To Die", one of the band's longest songs whose only lyrics contained a short spoken word poem written by the late Cliff Burton, and "Dyer's Eve", a thrash diatribe intended toward the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of parents over silencing children. The band, who were racing to finish the album before going on the road for the upcoming Monsters Of Rock tour, slapped together the otherwise fine album with noticeable problems in the production: the music lacked the potent Metallicrunch as on the past album, with drums souding clicky and merely tapping instead of thudding, guitars sounding fuzzy instread of churning, and most the most prominent weakness of all, Jason Newstead's bass was practically invisible, which he was not happy about at all.

The one bright spot in the album's release was video for the song "One", Metallica's first video, which featured footage from the 1971 movie 'Johnny Got His Gun', which starred Timothy Bottoms, Jason Robards, and Donald Sutherland. The movie, based on a book by writer/director Dalton Trumbo, told the harrowing story of a young World War I soldier who was thoroughly
incapacitated by a landmine to where he lost all four limbs, loses all of his senses as his face is now missing from the explosion, and is unable to speak. He tries to communicate to doctors about the horrors of war and his desire to die to relieve his pain and helplessness. Metallica had long been opponents
of war, and found the film useful in their message. The band had never released a video before, having no reason to (except for their 'Cliff'Em All' video which featured clips of themselves and Cliff Burton, released the year before). Now that the band was entering into the mainstream, with their thrash outsider integrity still intact, the video had all of MTV, Hollywood, and the whole media and entertainment world talking. On MTV, when the video for "One" first aired, vj Adam Currie exclaimed, "Wow, now that was a bowl of rainbows!" The video went to #1 on the MTV playlist, beating out Michael Jackson. Celebrities and entertainment types, including such persons as Johnny Cash and Iggy Pop, widely praised Metallica for being a true, honest, uncompromising band. People who had long regarded metal as "noise" played by slovenly, unkempt longhair buffoons who sang all about sex, drugs, rock and roll, fast cars, faster women in tight jeans and loose morals gave metal a second look with Metallica. The boys were intelligent, well-read, played professionally, and didn't cop half-assed attitudes. It was not about partying in the back of limos with a thousand celebrity bimbos on Sunset Strip with them. For that, Metallica won much respect, even from people who were not much into metal at all. Apparently U2 were not the only socially conscious band who could sell out arenas that year. In fact, Metallica were the talk of the highly anticipated Monsters Of Rock tour, where they were placed as second opener of the bill.

Many illustrations of Metallica's t-shirts and posters were done by an artist who was friends with the band, Pushead, who was to the group what artist Derek Riggs was to Iron Maiden and his Eddy creations:

LaDolceDita*

07-03-2007, 02:58 PM

I LOVE heavy metal. Yes, there is some crap out there and I cant stand the whole 'metalhead' stereotype but theres alot of good stuff- which is in my opinion songs where the singer doesn't scream their guts out. Thats not pleasant to listen to. For example, i like Pantera's music, but i cant stand Phil Anselmo's voice.

ABlairican Pie

07-04-2007, 01:44 AM

1988 (continued)

The Monsters Of Rock Tour, featuring Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, the Scorpions, and headliners Van Halen, was touted to be the biggest metal tour of the summer. The tour actually took their name from the popular Monsters Of Rock festivals at Castle Donington in England, which a hugely successful attraction each year. However, most metal fans balked at the lineup: each band fell technically under the category of metal, but not all metal fans were in equal devotion to each band. Fans of Metallica were not likely to root for
"hair farmers" Dokken, but they may have been interested somewhat in the Scorpions' Euro-metal (which was a factor in the band's thrash sound). Van Halen fans would most likely get into Scorpions and Dokken, but with Metallica, it could go either way: too noisy, or would they like them too much to be interested in Van Halen? The problem with the fest is that promoters overcalculated the interests and loyalties of metal fans. As a result, the tour lost much money on the expensive quintuple-bill.

Kingdom Come, the first band on the bill, was fronted by former Stone Fury vocalist Lanny Wolfe, who with his previous band had a 1984 hit "Break Down the Walls". Though Kingdom Come had a big debut whose hits, "Get It On" and "What Love Can Be" were featured on MTV, the band was derided as one of the most notorious Led Zeppelin "clone" bands that were popular in the 80's, another notable culprit was Whitesnake. While the David Coverdale-fronted band at least claimed a bit more seniority over the band, having been releasing albums since his departure from Deep Purple over ten years before, "Kingdom Clone" were new at the game, and their musical references to such Zeppelin songs as "The Ocean", "Since I've Been Loving You", and Wolfe's vocal Plant-isms and others made fans cry foul at this blatant "rip off". Interestingly, guitarist Danny Stagg explained that his musical inspiration was not Jimmy Page, but in fact Jimi Hendrix. Though the band heavily borrowed from Led Zeppelin, it almost made sense to do so, because Zeppelin was such a huge influence on everyone. And was a band paying their respects to the gods of rock really a bad thing? Whatever the band did, they did it well, with their take on Zeppelin, and had a soulful, bluesy style on top of that. And Stagg also pointed out, for all of Plant's criticisms of bands mimicking Led Zeppelin, Plant, Page, and the others were equally, if not more, guilty of blatantly stealing from older blues musicians without paying them. Metallica fans notwithstanding, most in the Monsters Of Rock audience enjoyed their performance.

Of course, the band on the bill with the greatest crowd response was Metallica. Though the band had only an hour onstage, fans were delirious with excitement over the powerhouse performance of metal's new masters. So enthralled were they of the band's appearance that many simply marched out after their set that they felt they almost did not want to go back in. Any
act following them would simply pale in comparison. The band delivered a few songs from their new album, whose production values had suffered partly because of their rush to finish before going on the Monsters Of Rock tour. The band was the most talked-about performance on the whole tour, the clear future of the direction not only of metal, but all of rock.

Dokken had the grave misfortune of having to follow Metallica onstage on that tour, and the disappointing placement would cost them dearly. Metallifans, both old and new, had either passed on the band and exited, making it clear that there was little place anymore for Dokken's vocal harmonies and radio-and MTV-friendly pop metal. Guitarist George Lynch was certainly no slouch on guitar, and remains one of the most professional in the business, but in the context of the band's slick sound and lyrical themes of unrequited love, his playing could hold no candle, in the eyes of many, to the shredfest of Kirk Hammett and Metallica's bombast and songs of harsh social realism. The band put out one more album, 'Beast From the East', a live recorded on tour in Japan, which was released that fall. Vocalist Don Dokken and Lynch, who had an acrimonious relationship comparable to that of Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth, traded verbal barbs which sparked a knock-down dragout fight in the back of a limo en route to a concert. The band unleashed its pentup aggression, which was long overdue, and went on to give the performance of their careers. The band broke up after that, closing one chapter of the band, at least for now.

The Scorpions, fourth on the bill, released 'Savage Amusement', with music that was a little tamer than their previous releases. Apparently the band was bitten, or "stung", by the bug of commercialism. As heavyweights Def Leppard and others released radio-ready corporate-friendly albums and hits that tapered down on the heavy factor, the Scorpions followed suit and released a polished album which featured the track "Rhythm Of Love", including a "Star Wars" motif with tons of gorgeous women. The album also featured a more experimental side to the band as well on some tracks. Critics were dismayed by the new direction of the band.

Headliners Van Halen had released their second "Van Hagar" album, 'OU812', resembling a personalized license plate which was intended to poke fun at David Lee Roth's title 'Eat'Em And Smile': "Oh, you ate one, too?" The album featured more synth-y pop-oriented songs from the band, including the ballad-esque "When It's Love", the clean-toned "Finish What Ya Started",
"Cabo Wabo", named for the band's resort in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and "Black And Blue". This album was so far removed from the guitar sound which put Van Halen on the map; it appeared that Eddie was more about being the pop songwriter, with his guitar using many effects rather than his vintage "brown sound" on his early records. Many fans were put off by Eddie's new approach to guitar and songs, and prayed for the day when he would go back to the classic sound--and David Lee Roth back in the fold. Sammy Hagar was fine, but not quite the wacky showman people wanted in Diamond Dave.

http://www.metallicaworld.co.uk/images/tshirts/capns_crunch.jpg

http://www.metallicaworld.co.uk/images/justice/justice10.jpg

ABlairican Pie

07-06-2007, 08:21 AM

1988 (continued)

The Scorpions' 'Savage Amusement'

and

Van Halen's 'OU812':

Dr. Thong

07-06-2007, 06:38 PM

Headliners Van Halen had released their second "Van Hagar" album, 'OU812', resembling a personalized license plate which was intended to poke fun at David Lee Roth's title 'Eat'Em And Smile': "Oh, you ate one, too?" The album featured more synth-y pop-oriented songs from the band, including the ballad-esque "When It's Love", the clean-toned "Finish What Ya Started", "Cabo Wabo", named for the band's resort in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico...

The Cabo Wabo cantina was named after the song. The Cantina was opened in 1990, two years after the song came out. The song got its name because Sammy Hagar was a frequent vacationer in Cabo San Lucas and when he saw a passed out drunk lying in the sand, Sammy said something like "That dude's doin' the Cabo Wabo."

ABlairican Pie

07-07-2007, 08:24 AM

The Cabo Wabo cantina was named after the song. The Cantina was opened in 1990, two years after the song came out. The song got its name because Sammy Hagar was a frequent vacationer in Cabo San Lucas and when he saw a passed out drunk lying in the sand, Sammy said something like "That dude's doin' the Cabo Wabo.":doh: Generally, anything a music journalist/historian (such as Yours Truly) says has to be taken with a grain of salt! :lol:

phoebe7165

07-07-2007, 10:57 AM

Dr. Thong

07-07-2007, 06:50 PM

:doh: Generally, anything a music journalist/historian (such as Yours Truly) says has to be taken with a grain of salt! :lol:

I'll take your posts with a grain of salt and my Cabo Wabo margaritas without. How's that?;)

Speaking of Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar recently sold the manufacturing rights to one of the major liquor manufacturers. He still has a stake in the company, but not a majority one and I think he still controls the merchandising and ownership of the Cabo Wabo restaurants/bars.

ABlairican Pie

07-08-2007, 09:29 PM

I don't mean to sound like an IDIOT, but can you identify the other people in the photo with Alice Cooper. Not quizzing you, I want to know, especially the guy on the right. Can't place him. And I think the guy behind him is a guy named Kane Roberts??No, you're not an idiot for asking, it's a good question. Lots of people have been wondering about the other members of Alice Cooper:

Alice Cooper (the frontman) of course is the figure in lower front with black hair and makeup;

Glen Buxton, guitarist, is either the blonde person to the right of Alice (the photo didn't contain a listing of who was who, so I'm having to look carefully).
Buxton had a severe drinking problem throughout his career and died of pneumonia in 1997.

Michael Bruce - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, is the one with dark hair above Glen;

Dennis Dunaway - bass, backing vocals, appears to the left of Alice with long dark hair;

Neal Smith - drums, is the one holding up the boa constrictor.

I hope I've got these right!

ABlairican Pie

07-08-2007, 09:32 PM

I'll take your posts with a grain of salt and my Cabo Wabo margaritas without. How's that?;)

Speaking of Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar recently sold the manufacturing rights to one of the major liquor manufacturers. He still has a stake in the company, but not a majority one and I think he still controls the merchandising and ownership of the Cabo Wabo restaurants/bars.:thanks: :cheers:

I did read something about Sammy Hagar's sale of rights.

ABlairican Pie

07-08-2007, 09:48 PM

1988 (continued)

While the Monsters Of Rock tour may have been commercially disappointing in America in the summer of 1988, few in the States understood that in the UK, the site of the original festival, was an annual event, though it did not move from one venue to next. It stayed at Castle Donington, where fans would travel all over from England and Europe to attend it. The festival was always a huge success, which over the years had included Judas Priest, AC/DC, Saxon, Twisted Sister, Whitesnake, Metallica, Ozzy, Motorhead, Dio, Bon Jovi, and others had been on the bill over the years since the festival began in 1981.

Iron Maiden, headliners of the 1988 Monsters Of Rock which boasted of the largest attendance record of 100,000, released 'Seventh Son Of a Seventh Son' that year, the second album in their "prog-metal" phase. The album was a sort of concept album about a youth with psychic, prophetic abilities who tries to warn his town of impending doom, but ultimately fails in the process. The album, which featured such tracks as the widely popular "Can I Play With Madness", "Infinite Dreams", "The Evil That Men Do", "The Clairvoyant", "Moonchild", and the title track, was also the first to include keyboards, as opposed to guitar synthesizers on their previous release. The band was further moving away from the heaviness of sound first heard on their NWOBHM releases in the early 80's, and was exploring heavy themes in the music with a more dramatic, majestic sound, while no less rocking. The album was their second to hit #1 in Britain, though their last to go platinum in America.

Guns N' Roses, who had been Maiden's opening act on the Seventh Son tour and ensured the tour's success, was also on the Monsters Of Rock bill at Castle Donington. Tragically, their appearance was marred by disaster: two fans had been crushed to death in a stampede toward the stage. Once the band had been informed onstage of the incident, they pleaded for calm and urged for safety, but fortunately neither them nor headliners Iron Maiden chose to cancel their sets. The deaths were a black mark on the otherwise successful festival. The crowd response, though resulting in tragic fatalities, did prove to all the immense draw a new band such as Guns N' Roses had that year.

Megadeth also scored points with their third album, 'So Far So, So Good...So What!', which featured such intense tracks as "In My Darkest Hour", "Set the World Afire", "Mary Jane", the anti-PMRC diatribe "Hook In Mouth", and a cover of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In the UK", whose title was updated to "Anarchy In the U.S.A.". The band's lineup shifted to include new members guitarist Jeff Young and drummer Chuck Behler, who only lasted for one album. The album was hit with fans, though their reception of the album was not as strong as on 'Peace Sells'. Critics panned the album as an example of Dave Mustaine's attempt to sound as heavy and menacing as possible with end results woefully lacking: the album "lacked conceptual unity and musical bite", and that it "wants to sound threatening but mostly comes off as forced and somewhat juvenile." The video for the song "In My Darkest Hour", however, did manage to get banned from MTV due to the network claiming the song was "promoting suicide". The song in fact was inspired by Mustaine learning of the devastating news of Cliff Burton's death. Mustaine wrote the song about an ex-girlfriend instead. Dave Mustaine and the rest of the band's drug intake was at an all-time high in this period.

Judas Priest followed up with 'Ram It Down' that spring, which was originally intended part of a double-album called 'Twin Turbos' two years before, with one record featuring more polished, synth-oriented tracks, and the other more guitar-driven. But since their record label was leery of double-album sets at that time two years before, the band split the album in two: 1986's synth-y, commercial 'Turbo', and 1988's more rocking 'Ram It Down'. Unfortunately, fans had been dismayed by the commercial, synth-heavy slickness of 'Turbo', and their resentment appeared to have carried on over to 'Ram It Down', though being a heavier album, it had a few synths as well. If it were in fact sold as a double-album, as was originally intended, public opinion may have been different. The only single from the album was a cover of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", and other songs included "Heavy Metal",
"Monsters Of Rock", and the title track.

Monsters Of Rock '88 tour program and review in Kerrang! magazine review:

phoebe7165

07-08-2007, 10:39 PM

1988 (continued)
Guns N' Roses, who had been Maiden's opening act on the Seventh Son tour and ensured the tour's success, was also on the Monsters Of Rock bill at Castle Donington. Tragically, their appearance was marred by disaster: two fans had been crushed to death in a stampede toward the stage. Once the band had been informed onstage of the incident, they pleaded for calm and urged for safety, but fortunately neither them nor headliners Iron Maiden chose to cancel their sets. The deaths were a black mark on the otherwise successful festival. The crowd response, though resulting in tragic fatalities, did prove to all the immense draw a new band such as Guns N' Roses had that year.

Axl at Monsters Of Rock 1988, Castle Donington:

I like Guns N' Roses(the old G-n-R) but I never could stand Axl.

BTW, thanks for the answers, Greg!

coffield3

07-08-2007, 10:43 PM

I like heavy metal but guns and roses were pure cheese **** rock!!

Shine

07-08-2007, 11:13 PM

I like heavy metal but guns and roses were pure cheese **** rock!!

No way!!! GN'R rocked. :rock:

coffield3

07-08-2007, 11:25 PM

Sorry i just never liked them all the idiots i know like them that have no actual music taste other than what everyone else is listening to.;)

ABlairican Pie

07-09-2007, 12:14 AM

Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses at Monsters Of Rock 1988, Castle Donington:

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-68238/ph-axl117.jpg

ABlairican Pie

07-09-2007, 12:27 AM

Interesting about the so-called subgenre known as "c***-rock", sometimes people thought of bands such as Whitesnake as fitting that bill. It made sense, with all the tight revealing spandex,
"masturbatory" guitar solos, bloated machismo and appeal to females, songs about chicks, getting laid, the obligatory power ballad to woo a young babe into bed... G N' R were, at least back in the day, the real deal as far as L.A. metal was concerned. They did more than just cultivate the "image", they really went out and lived the wrong-side-of-the-freeway lifestyle early on. Slash's guitar solos were different from a someone like, say, a technically precise shredder like George Lynch or others, Slash was more blues-based and had more to do with guys like Aerosmith's Joe Perry and others from the 70's.

Which reminds me of a set of albums worth checking into in the 90's. :idea:

ABlairican Pie

07-10-2007, 08:45 AM

1988 (continued)

Poison also hit it big in 1988 with their sophomore release, 'Open Up And Say...Ahh!' which initially featured a model on the cover with a bizarre, phallically-shaped tongue. For some reason, this was too much for their record label, who was already facing the heat from the PMRC and religious groups, so a censored cover released, which was pointlessly blacked out except for the eyes. The real controversy erupted the year before, however: After releasing a cover of KISS' "Rock And Roll All Nite" for the soundtrack to the movie 'Less Than Zero', which starrred Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey Jr., and Jami Gertz (an anti-drug movie which took great liberties with the original novel about the emptiness of the lives of L.A.'s rich kids), the band becamed embroiled in a huge brouhaha with a Geffen publicist by pouring a bucket of ice water over head in retaliation for negative comments Guns N' Roses had made about them in the press. This prompted the members of Guns N' Roses, with whom the publicist had a sort of maternal relationship, to threaten violence against Poison. She pleaded for the G N' R members to not do anything to physically hurt them. Instead, she successfully sued Poison for a million dollars, prompting the band to shrug off the whole matter: "We don't accept any lawsuits for less than a million". At the time Poison felt they were in a position to play hardball financially as well. The album included the songs "Nothin' But a Good Time" with a very popular video, the huge hit power ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", "Fallen Angel", a cover of Loggins and Messina's 1972 hit "Your Mama Don't Dance", and "Look But You Can't Touch". Their major ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was written after lead singer Bret Michaels called his girlfriend long distance and heard a man's voice in the background. Realizing she was cheating on him, he sank into deep depression, took his acoustic guitar to a laundromat and composed the song and lyrics. The song paid off well for the band.

Another band lumped into the "hair metal" category were newcomers Winger, who had a significant advantage over Poison in that the members were extremely talented veterans of previous bands: bassist/vocalist Kip Winger, a piece of eye candy for female fans, played for Alice Cooper's band on the 'Constrictor' tour; shred guitarist Reb Beach, who did session work for artists such as Chaka Kahn, the Bee Gees, and Howard Jones; drummer Rod Morgenstein, formerly of the talented jazz-fusion rock band the Dixie Dregs; and multi-instrumentalist Paul Taylor who played both guitar and keyboards. The band was extremely professional in all that they did, and had a great look and image to boot, which translated well on MTV. Their first self-titled album, released in 1988, featured such hits as "Seventeen", "Madelaine", "Headed For a Heartbreak", which included some very fine fretwork by Reb Beach, "Hungry", and "State Of Emergency". The band opened up for acts such as Ozzy, the Scorpions, Cinderella, and a reformed Bad Company. It was on their opening stint with Bad Company that Winger got a taste of how popular they were with both genders: a stage divider, intended to keep the crowds back, had broken down, resulting in throngs of audience members to storm the stage where the band was playing. Beach notes that "chicks were flocking to see Kip, and the dudes were flocking to see me!" The women in the crowd were enamored by Kip's sexy hunky good looks, while male fans could not get enough of Reb's awesome shred guitar ability. A new guitar hero was on the rise.

Cinderella released their followup, 'Long Cold Winter' in 1988, which featured such hits as the ballad "Don't Know What You Got (Until It's Gone)", rockers such as "Gypsy Road", "The Last Mile", "Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin' Apart At The Seams", "Coming Home", and the title track. The band was showing more of its 70's classic rock side, reminescent of the Stones and Aerosmith, moving a little from their glammier metal roots, but commanding a huge fan response nonetheless. The concert tour behind the album was remembered for such spectacular highlights as (fake) snow falling in arenas, and singer/guitarist Tom Kiefer with white grand piano being lowered onto the stage while playing and singing "Don't Know What You Got". The album became a huge seller by the end of 1988, eventually hitting triple platinum in sales in the next few years.

coffield3

07-10-2007, 08:54 AM

Guns and roses bore me! i only ever liked slash for his guitar playing.

phoebe7165

07-10-2007, 10:53 AM

Guns and roses bore me! i only ever liked slash for his guitar playing.

Has anybody ever seen that skit on SNL from years ago that was an ad for "Heavy metal children's songs"? Adam Sandler played Axl and Keifer Sutherland played Slash? They were doing 'Jimmy Crack Corn' in heavy metal style. Then Sebastian Bach & Rachel Bolan from Skid Row came in and they all did the ABC's heavy metal. It was hilarious!!

ABlairican Pie

07-12-2007, 09:43 AM

1988 (continued)

Ratt followed up with 'Reach For the Sky' which contained a hit song, "Way Cool Jr.", which was similar to "I'm the Man" by Anthrax in that it was one of the first metal songs to have an urban, rap-style rhythm, though with no actual rap. The song was a big hit for the band, though critics dismissed the album as "sloppy" and lacking focus. The band's fortunes were beginning to sour as members dealt with crippling drug and alcohol issues, and were barely functioning as a unit. The other hit from the album was "I Want a Woman", as well as "Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds" and "City To City". The album, which was the last with Beau Hill as producer, featured a surrealistic cover with various cryptic objects--and was about to featured a bare-breasted woman, as vocalist Stephen Pearcy suggested, but was declined by the rest of the band for fear that it would otherwise not make it into stores.

Kix, the L.A. glam transplants from the East Coast whose stage act was upstaged by Poison, finally scored with their breakthrough release, 1988's 'Blow My Fuse', which featured the huge rocking hit "Cold Blood", "Red Light, Green Light, TNT", "She Dropped Me the Bomb", and the anthemic title track, but was known most for its powerful ballad "Don't Close Your Eyes", a song pleading against suicide. The band was finally successful enough to open for the likes of Aerosmith and others. In the age of technically precise shredding, Kix liked to keep it rather simple, and won over fans in the process.

Ozzy Osbourne's release of the Randy Rhoads 'Tribute' album prompted the departure of guitarist Jake E. Lee, who felt that the double-live record was an attempt to make him feel uncomfortable with having to be Rhoads' official replacement in 1983. Not wanting to have Rhoads' legacy rubbed in his face, Lee, who was a definitely talented axeman in his own right, exited the band for his own career. For the past few years his relationship with Ozzy felt strained, and it was time to move on. A new guitarist for Ozzy was waiting in the wings. Ozzy sorted though a stack of audition tapes and photos when he noticed a picture of a "Randy Rhoads clone" that he promptly tossed back on the pile. Weeks later, he was informed of the talents of a young New Jerseyite playing a show with a local band whose likeness matched the "Rhoads clone" photo. Upon hearing the young man's demo, Ozzy decided to audition him. Ozzy was very encouraging to the teen, named Zakk Wylde, who passed the audition. From there, a musical partnership was born, with Zakk becoming Ozzy's most notable guitarist since Randy Rhoads, with his own lightning-fast style and bluesy, Southern rock influence. Zakk, who worshipped at the altar of Rhoads and Sabbath, painted his white Gibson Les Paul guitar with a black target image, so as not to make others think he was "cashing in" on Randy's memory. Ozzy returned with his fifth studio solo album, 1988's 'No Rest For the Wicked', which displayed the powerhouse playing of Wylde on such tracks as "Miracle Man", which poked fun at the foibles of disgraced anti-rock t.v. preacher Jimmy Swaggart who had been caught in a tawdry tryst with a Baton Rouge prostitute,
"Devil's Daughter", "Crazy Babies", which featured excellent slide guitar work by Zakk, "Breaking All the Rules", "Bloodbath In Paradise", about the Charles Manson murders, "Tattooed Dancer", and "Demon Alcohol", which discussed his battles with the bottle. The album cover originally was about to depict Ozzy with a crown of thorns on his head, but, in the hostile climate following the controversial Martin Scorsese movie 'The Last Temptation Of Christ', this idea was struck down.

Anthrax released 'State Of Euphoria' in 1988, which, while not reaching the success of their previous 'Among the Living' album, did feature the MTV hit "Anti-Social", whose video featured a cameo appearance by Ozzy. "Anti-Social" was a cover previously performed by French metal band Trust Other songs included "Be All, End All", "Make Me Laugh", directed against TV preachers, "Who Cares Wins", "Now It's Dark", based on the twisted characters in the suspense movie 'Blue Velvet' starring Dennis Hopper in one of his most memorable roles, and "Schism". The band participated in an MTV contest where the winner would have Anthrax visit and trash their home. One lucky female fan won the contest, and the band promptly went out to wreak havoc on her premises. This event later became part of an episode of "Married...With Children" on which the band appeared.

Slayer released their second Rick Rubin-produced album, 'South Of Heaven', in 1988, which featured more of a slowed-down tempo for the band. The album was a little more accessible than 'Reign In Blood', but no less heavy or fearsome, with such favorite Slayer tracks as anti-war track "Mandatory Suicide", "Spill the Blood", "Silent Scream", "Ghosts Of War", "Read Between the Lies", "Live Undead",
"Behind the Crooked Cross", a Judas Priest cover, "Dissident Aggressor", and the chilling title track. The band felt little of the need to play as fast and heavy as inhumanly possible, wanting to "keep people guessing", in guitarist Kerry King's words. The album caught many fans off-guard with its slower, churning tempos, but eventually grew on them in time. Not surprisingly, Rolling Stone, who was most likely singing the praises of folk singer Tracy Chapman at the time, denounced the album as "genuinely offensive satanic drivel," handing the record only one star in their reviews. Not that the band needed Rolling Stone for legitimacy in the first place. One sign that Slayer had not lessened in their ability to shock was with their single cover of "Mandatory Suicide", which depicted a young man having hanged himself after receiving a draft notice for military service. Even some metal publications, who loathed censorship, had wondered if the band had gone too far this time. It was also during their tour of Germany that noted anti-rock preacher and Christian radio talk show host Bob Larson joined the band to see if Slayer was indeed "satanic", and only observed that the band went through the same obligatory performance ritual each night, but were generally too exhausted to give the Evil Dude his props. They were just a hard-working metal band going through the motions and giving fans what they wanted. Anyone looking for the band as bona fide
"Satanists" were going to be disappointed: the only thing Larson found "satanic" about the band, other than a rifled-through Playboy magazine on the bus, was promoting their "evil" image all in order to make money (though Larson himself would be accused of using his sensationalistic talk show of scamming millions from listeners, as well as a few other misdeeds).

Napalm Death was a band from Birmingham, England, who would play a very important part of extreme metal with their relentlessly fast tempos, as in thrash, but with deep, growling vocals by Nicholas Bullen and Lee Dorian in a new rising movement in the UK known as grindcore. The band, which featured guitarist Bill Steer, who also shared axe duties in another death metal band similar to theirs named Carcass, released 1987's influential 'Scum' album, which depicted a demonic winged creature, figures with bizarre faces and various corporate logos which reflected their social commentary and distaste for contemporary mainstream society. The songs on the album included "Multinational Corporations", "Instinct Of Survival", "Human Garbage", and many others which were played at the astonishing lengths of only less than a minute on several tracks. In fact, one track, "You Suffer", achieved fame in the Guiness Book Of World Records by being the shortest song ever recorded, at only 1.316 seconds long!

AC/DC released 'Blow Up Your Video', which was the band's biggest seller since 1981's 'For Those About To Rock'. The album featured such tracks as current classic "Heatseeker", "That's the Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll", "Go Zone", "Some Sin For Nuthin'", "Kissin' Dynamite", and "Nick Of Time". Many critics felt the album was mostly "filler" material, but this bothered the band not at all. In fact, guitarist Angus Young claimed in an interview two years later that critics accused the band of recording the same old album ten times over. "That's a dirty lie! We've recorded the same album eleven times!" It was on this tour, however, that Angus' brother rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young briefly left the band for treatment for alcoholism, and was replaced for concerts, and their brother Stevie Young took over on guitar. Former Dio drummer Simon Wright, who had replaced original drummer Phil Rudd, sat in on the drum kit for the album and tour.

Dr. Thong

07-12-2007, 05:28 PM

AC/DC released 'Blow Up Your Video', which was the band's biggest seller since 1981's 'For Those About To Rock'. Former Dio drummer Simon Wright, who had replaced original drummer Phil Rudd, sat in on the drum kit for the album and tour.

Simon Wright had already been with the band by three years at that point, his first album with AC/DC having been 1985's Fly On The Wall. He left AC/DC in 1989/1990 to join Dio.

Just my anal retentive gene kicking in. Let the history continue.:D

ABlairican Pie

07-13-2007, 07:03 PM

Simon Wright had already been with the band by three years at that point, his first album with AC/DC having been 1985's Fly On The Wall. He left AC/DC in 1989/1990 to join Dio.

Just my anal retentive gene kicking in. Let the history continue.:DActually, I'm glad you pointed that out, Phil Rudd had been out of the band since 1983 and was replaced by Simon Wright, I was trying to find the right way to phrase it. And I should have also mentioned that Wright left for Dio in 1989 or 1990. I don't mind being corrected, I encourage it, because I'm also very anal about making sure I have the correct facts!! :mooner:

Dr. Thong

07-14-2007, 08:18 PM

Actually, I'm glad you pointed that out, Phil Rudd had been out of the band since 1983 and was replaced by Simon Wright, I was trying to find the right way to phrase it. And I should have also mentioned that Wright left for Dio in 1989 or 1990. I don't mind being corrected, I encourage it, because I'm also very anal about making sure I have the correct facts!! :mooner:

Cool. Some people don't like being corrected, just on principle. I can't help it - I was around when these things happened and I just like to see things put in their proper perspective.

Of course, keeping track of personnel changes in British heavy metal bands can be a full time job. Chances are if you were a major British hard rock musician, you played in either Dio, Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Ozzy or Black Sabbath...or all of them!:D

You need some kind of a flowchart because the same musicians tend to go in and out of these bands. Hell, Black Sabbath alone probably kept one fourth of England's heavy metal musicians off unemployment in the '80s and '90s.

ABlairican Pie

07-15-2007, 08:16 AM

Cool. Some people don't like being corrected, just on principle. I can't help it - I was around when these things happened and I just like to see things put in their proper perspective.

Of course, keeping track of personnel changes in British heavy metal bands can be a full time job. Chances are if you were a major British hard rock musician, you played in either Dio, Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Ozzy or Black Sabbath...or all of them!:D

You need some kind of a flowchart because the same musicians tend to go in and out of these bands. Hell, Black Sabbath alone probably kept one fourth of England's heavy metal musicians off unemployment in the '80s and '90s.I should make a flowchart, it would be very interesting!! :cool:

Dr. Thong

07-15-2007, 10:48 AM

I should make a flowchart, it would be very interesting!! :cool:

I once saw a Deep Purple "family tree". Let's just say it had a lot of branches.;)

ABlairican Pie

07-15-2007, 09:10 PM

1988 (continued)

Seattle area band Queensryche pulled off their first major album with their prog-metal magnum opus 'Operation: Mindcrime', a concept album whichh sent shock waves throughout the rock world with quality music and an engaging story line not heard since Rush's 'Hemispheres' ten years before. Critics even compared the album favorably to 'Tommy' and 'Quadrophenia' by The Who, 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd, and other progressive classics. The album's story deals with a young junkie who gets caught up in assassination plots as part of an underground subversive group which targets corrupt governmental figures, but his love for a former prostitute-turned-nun makes him question his activities. The storyline offered a fascinating Orwellian commentary on contemporary society, mind control, corporate manipulation of the masses and other themes which offered a harrowing glimpse into the future. The songs included "Anarchy X/Revolution Calling", "Speak", "The Needle Lies", "Suite Sister Mary", "Breaking the Silence", "I Don't Believe In Love/Waiting For 22", "Eyes Of a Stranger", and the title track. The band left the story open-ended, with unanswered questions about the death of "Sister Mary" and of the fate of the young hero "Nikki". The band, who brought the album on the road while opening for Metallica in 1988, later played the album in its entirety with visuals, film, and full stage theatrical production with actors and perfomerers. The album further opened the door for other similar progressive metal acts in the coming decade.

Pop-metal heroes Bon Jovi, fearing they would be reduced to being a "one-hit wonder" after the huge success of their 1986 breakthrough, immediately began writing and recording their followup after their Slippery When Wet Tour. The resulting album, 1988's 'New Jersey', once again became a huge success for the band with such tracks as "Bad Medicine", "Lay Your Hands On Me", "I'll Be There For You", "Born To Be My Baby", "Blood On Blood", and "Living In Sin". The band was originally in for a scare on the Slippery tour when Jon Bon Jovi nearly lost his voice due to singing such high vocals, but after undergoing therapy and vocal training with a vocal coach, his voice was back to normal. But on the tour behind the new album, dubbed The New Jersey Syndicate tour which went on over two years, the band nearly broke up over fatigue due to the constant rigors of the road, having taken literally no break between recording and tours. The band needed time apart, and hopefully not a "permanent" vacation. The band proved its staying power and their lasting impact on the music industry during this time, even extending their popularity across the world beyond America's borders, including the Soviet Union.

After the breakup of a popular glam-metal band called King Cobra, which featured former Ozzy Osbourne drummer and veteran percussionist Carmine Appice, a new band formed from its ashes, BulletBoys. The members, who included guitarist Mike Sweda, vocalist Marq Torien, bassist Lonnie Vencent, and drummer Jimmy D'Anda, released their self-titled debut in 1988. The album featured such horny hits as "Smooth Up In Ya", a cover of 70's R & B act The O'Jays' "For the Love Of Money", "Shoot the Preacher Down", and "Kissin' Kitty". The band may have been itself tied in with the "glam" metal scene, yet had a major hint of machismo and muscle behind their image. Torien had strong vocal pipes on such songs as "Smooth Up In Ya", which was a huge MTV hit. (Interesting side note about former King Cobra vocalist Marc Free: he underwent gender re-assignment surgery in 1995 and is now known as Marcie!)

Former vocalist of horror punk band The Misfits, Glenn Danzig formed his own self-named band, Danzig , after breakup of his followup band, Samhain (Celtic word pronounced Sao-win, a pagan Druid holiday which influenced Halloween), producer Rick Rubin became interested in signing them after seeing their final show. He liked Glenn Danzig's dark mystique, resembling a modern-day Jim Morrison, as well as his music being steeped in occultic references. Danzig held auditions for his new band, which included Samhain's Eerie Von on bass, whom Glenn insisted would be in the band. Guitarists John Christ auditioned, and was told the only way to get into the band was to dress in all black and practice the new songs, and get back with them by the end of the week. Christ did just that, practicing day and night until he was ready. When he went in to audition, he played so manically that he accidentally cut himself on a guitar string and began bleeding. Glenn told him that he had passed the audition, but the rest of the band was afraid of him! The band's self-titled debut was more of classic hard rock, rather than heavy metal, album, which featured such dark tracks as "Mother", "Twist Of Cain", "She Rides", "Am I Demon", and "Soul On Fire". The album, whose performances centered around Glenn Danzig's spooky, soulfull vocals, was considered one of the finest hard rock albums of all time, prompting a devoted cult following to develop around the band.

Lita Ford also released 'Lita', a more pop-metal effort than her previous albums, which made her a star on the metal horizon. Now managed by Sharon Osbourne, she made a power ballad duet with Ozzy himself on the hit "Close My Eyes Forever", and performed such sexy hits and videos as "Kiss Me Deadly", and "Can't Catch Me". The success of the album proved that heavy metal wasn't just a sexist boys' club, and though her videos may have appealed to many dudes' hormones with her sultry, sassy moves, it was sexier this time around because she made the choice to do it, rather than just be commanded on cue by a drooling director. Her success was a sign of female empowerment in rock.

Following the tragic concert at the Monsters Of Rock show at Castle Donington that summer, Guns N' Roses had officially earned the title in Britain as "the world's most dangerous band"--however, the band seemed more of a danger to itself than anything: the British musical press called guitarist Slash such names as "Slosh", "Slush", and "Slug" after his constant inebriation made headlines, and noted that guitarist Izzy and drummer Adler were equally impaired. The badmouthing of the band by the music media was the beginning of a long hate affair the band would have with the press, later forcing Axl to have complete dictatorial control over what was being said about them. And the media would have a lot to say: later that year, the band followed up with 'G N' R Lies', an album with a tabloid-esque cover which both featured the four tracks from their 'Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide' EP as well as several new acoustic tracks, including the hit "Patience", "Used To Love Her", "You're Crazy", and the extremely controversial tune, "One In a Million", which shocked listeners with Axl's use of the "n-word", as well as "f****ts" and other ethnic slurs. The song was a crude commentary on Axl's impression of Los Angeles when he arrived there (in a more descriptive manner than "Welcome To the Jungle"), his revulsion toward persons he felt were exploiting the system, and other miscreants who were contributing to the societal decay, but not in fact, as he explained, directed toward members of any ethnic group personally. As for "homophobic" slurs, he also pointed out that two of his favorite performers, Freddy Mercury and Elton John were both either gay or bisexual. He meant no disrespect toward anyone, considering his bandmate, Slash, was part black. He was merely commenting on the problems in L.A. rather than promoting them, but his politically incorrect verbiage seemed to find a home in many audiences who reveled in such shock talk and felt the same frustrations with different ethnicities and social groups in America. This was evident a year later when the band opened for the Rolling Stones in Los Angeles: fans cheered when the offending words were uttered, while others felt Axl had not done enough to distance himself from whatever possible harm such language and themes had caused. But the band had bigger problems on its hands as it faced pending breakup due to rampant drug and alcohol abuse. The band's success had hit them too soon, and now, as the band became the biggest, baddest act in America, they publicly faced an onstage reprimand by Axl, who threatened to breakup the band while performing live, which infuriated Slash and the others for the airing of the band's dirty laundry in front of thousands of paying fans. But they promised to clean up their act and professional disaster was averted.

Living Colour was one band which proved that metal and hard rock was not strictly the territory of whites. The four-piece group which featured shredding guitarist Vernon Reid, vocalist Corey Glover, bassist Muzz Skillings, and drummer Will Calhoun, came from an organization called the Black Rock Coalition, which focused on promoting rock music by black musicians. The band played around New York, with Reid getting interest from Mick Jagger, who promoted the band's demo. The band was soon signed, and their debut album 'Vivid' was released, which featured such songs as "Middle Man", "Funny Vibe", "Glamor Boys", and "Open Letter To a Landlord", "What's Your Favorite Color? (Theme Song)", and "Which Way To America?", all songs which incorporated elements of funk and soul along with an intense metal sound. But it was the hit "Cult Of Personality" which became a huge seller, with the video receiving massive airplay on MTV. Its socially charged lyrics criticizing
power and manipulation, with Orwellian overtones ("I exploit you, yet you still love me; I tell one and one make three"), as well as names such as John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, and Josef Stalin both in print and in the videos attracted fans and viewers. Guitarists of all colors and ethnicities were drawn to Reid's powerful playing, and many fans understood the band's stance against rampant racism within the music industry. The band felt stung by their co-opening the same Rolling Stones concert in Los Angeles which featured Guns N' Roses, where audiences cheered Axl's use of the "n-word". Reid understood that their positive response to the epithet showed how far things had not come in this country. He knew Axl had touched a nerve, and that white audiences felt that persons of color were the cause of too many problems in America. Axl felt too comfortable in his deliberate use of racial and ethnic epithets, and this embracing of such language would spell trouble in the long run. Reid was against censorship, as well as the PMRC, one didn't need to have a third party stifle what anyone said, but he felt that both Axl and Tipper Gore were both "childish". What happened to common decency, respect, and civility for others? Reid knew that this nonchalant attitude toward such speech would not bode well in the approaching decade.

ABlairican Pie

07-15-2007, 10:06 PM

1988 (continued)

Queensryche button;

Jon Bon Jovi Rolling Stone 1989 cover;

BulletBoys;

Danzig;

Lita Ford;

Axl Rose in a decadent pose;

Vernon Reid of Living Colour:

Shine

07-15-2007, 11:32 PM

"One In A Million" was not one of GN'R's finner moments. ohno: That song aside, GN'R Lies is a classic album. "Patience" is a beautiful song. One of my all-time favorites.

ABlairican Pie

07-15-2007, 11:51 PM

"One In A Million" was not one of GN'R's finner moments. ohno: That song aside, GN'R Lies is a classic album. "Patience" is a beautiful song. One of my all-time favorites.I like the other songs as well, the earlier stuff on the album, as well as "Patience". The song "One In a Million" doesn't do much for me at all.

Dr. Thong

07-16-2007, 06:02 PM

Living Colour was like a breath of fresh air amongst the pop metal crap like Poison. They rocked and had attitude to spare. Nice and gritty.

Too bad they broke up after their third (and best) album, 1993's Stain.

They did reunite earlier this decade, but their reunion album, Collideoscope was very disappointing.

ABlairican Pie

07-18-2007, 01:46 AM

1988 (continued)

Another band with a person of color as part of its members was King's X, a band from Houston, Texas, who had originally played in the Christian music scene with the likes of guitar wizard Phil Keaggy and others throughout the 80's. The band later met with Sam Taylor, vice-president of ZZ Top's production company, and landed a deal with Megaforce Records where they released their debut album, 'Out Of the Silent Planet', whose title was based on a book in Christian author C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. The band featured African-American bassist Doug Pinnick, guitarist Ty Tabor, and drummer Jerry Gaskill, who performed with a unique sound perhaps best described as a "Beatles-meets-Metallica-meets-Jimi Hendrix" style, with fresh vocal harmonies. The album featured such tracks as "In the New Age", a song warning of a what was seen as the deceptive cultic influences of the New Age religious movement, then a hot topic for evangelical Christians, "Goldilox", "Power Of
Love", "Wonder", "King", "Shot Of Love", and "Far, Far Away". While all three members described themselves as Christians, they did not want to be referred to as a "Christian" band, finding the term limiting and getting them in hot water from those in the Christian scene who expected some sort of "spiritual agenda" from the band, i.e., proselytizing through their music, using the proper evangelical lingo in songs, etc. There was a definite spiritual theme in their music, with themes of love as well as the struggle to find themselves on one side of the "church vs. secular field" battle. Critics widely praised the album for its musicianship and lack of musical cliches which were common in the metal scene, but the album sold only very modestly. In the coming year, the band's fortunes would begin to improve.

East Coast band Fates Warning was another progressive metal act which found its inspiration in bands such as Iron Maiden and later having a clear connection to groups such as Queensryche. The band, which featured guitarist Jim Matheos and vocalist John Arch, who was later replaced by Ray Alder, released their debut 'Night on Bröcken', in 1984, followed by 'The Spectre Within' in 1985. Their third album, 'Awaken the Guardian' in 1986 was followed by 1988's 'No Exit', a more socially aware album that was a departure from the more fantasy-oriented power metal themes of their previous three releases. The album feautured such tracks as "Anarchy Divine", 'Shades Of Heavenly Death", and the epic track "The Ivory Gate of Dreams", a nearly 22-minute song with the segments "Innocence", "Cold Daze", "Daylight Dreamers", "Quietus", "Ivory Tower", "Whispers on the Wind", "Acquiescence", and
"Retrospect".

L.A. Guns , known as the source band of Guns N' Roses, whose members departed to launch their own foray into superstardom, featured Tracii Guns on guitar and vocals. The band was a hit on the Sunset Strip scene, but chances were unlikely that lightning would strike twice in the Guns' camp. Their self-titled debut was chock full of sleaze-rock performed by members who did their best to project the bad-boy image perfected by former member Axl Rose. Such songs as the hit "Sex Action", "No Mercy", "Hollywood Tease", "One More Reason", and "Shoot For Thrills", did respectably well with the Tinseltown crowd, but it remained to be seen if the band could translate that into greater success nationwide. One of the problems facing the band was the constant lineup changes, and Hollywood was in no short supply of fresh talent to replace departing members. Former singer Michael Jagosz was sent to prison for sending drugs through the U.S. mail, and was replaced by Axl Rose. Member Phil Lewis was previously in the British band Girl, whose members included future Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen.

Suicidal Tendencies was a Los Angeles hardcore band whose members veered toward more metal territory on their 1987 album 'Join the Army', which featured such tracks as "Suicidal Maniac", "You Got, I Want", "Possessed To Skate", "I Feel Your Pain","Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right (But They Make Me Feel a Whole Lot Better)" and the memorable title track. The band caused so much controversy due to their alleged gang connections in the mid-80's that they were banned from playing in their hometown of Los Angeles. During this time they became known for their immensely popular track "Institutionalized", a fast and intense tune where their lead singer Mike Muir mused about his personal problems and was berated by his parents while insisting that "All I wanted was a Pepsi--AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME!!!!" In 1987 the band was joined by metal-oriented African-American guitarist Rocky George for 'Join the Army', a move which disappointed many longtime fans due to the longstanding contempt both hardcore and metal fans had for each other. In 1988, the band released 'How Can I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Smile Today', a more polished effort which combined more metal and hardcore influences while expanding their songs into more complex arrangements. The album featured such songs as "Trip To the Brain", "Pledge Your Allegiance", "Surf And Slam", and the title track.

The long-awaited return of David Lee Roth and his attempt to upstage "Van Hagar" as the monsters of arena rock, as evidenced by the powerful Eat'em and Smile album two years before soon fizzled out on his followup 'Skyscraper'. The 1988 album had the right major hit, the sunshine-y "Just Like Paradise", which featured Steve Vai and his eye-catching heart-shaped double-neck guitar in the video, but otherwise, the sales of the record were rather lackluster. The album was more experimental, and the hits feeling poppier than on the previous release, not being quite the groundbreaker that his first full-length solo effort had been. To add insult to injury, virtuoso bassist Billy Sheehan was handed his walking papers, a move which completely soured him on his experience with the band. He would return in the following year with a new lineup. And even though the tour was a huge success as well, which had critics dubbing it as "the greatest show on earth" and "don't blink or you'll miss something", with Dave riding a surfboard on wires high above the crowd and singing classic rock and roll oldies with the audience, Steve Vai felt also that it was time to leave for greener pastures as well. In addition to "Just Like Paradise", the album featured such tracks as
"Knucklebones", "Damn Good", "Hot Dog And a Shake", and the title track. The cover featured Dave in one of his favorite pursuits, rock climbing (a handy metaphor there?).

After the roaring (or buzzing?) success of 'To Hell With the Devil', the Bible belters of Stryper returned with 1988's 'In God We Trust', an album that resulted in being an utter disappointment for fans of the band. The group had begun to adorn themselves with more glammy attire, a slick, polished pop sound which moved away from their heavier material on previous albums, and the poor choice of the album art left many to wonder: What were Stryper really in the business for? The album cover featured images from a dollar bill with its customary logo, which led many to accuse the band of being all about money. While the band denied this, claiming that the caption on the nation's currency was the album's title and the intent of the band to glorify God above all (and pointing out others should to the same), many listeners were not impressed: why else would Stryper move toward a poppy, more commercial sound on treacly, sappy songs as "Always There For You", "Keep the Fire Burning", "I Believe In You", "It's Up 2 U", and the title track? Sales dropped like inebriated bumblebees after a few weeks on the charts. On top of that, bassist Tim Gaines was not allowed to participate on the album, nor was he able to on the band's previous release, at the peak of the band's success two years before, as the group went through a few bass players--who happened to fit the bee outfits as well. Another group which was not happy with the use of the money motif on the cover was the federal government, who found the images of the dollar sign an infiringement on national currency, which prompted the band from using a green cover to an off-white one.

Yngwie Malmsteen released his most commercially successful release, 1988's 'Odyssey', which featured the hit tracks as "Heaven Tonight" as well as "Rising Force", "Bite the Bullet", "Krakatau",
"Riot In the Dungeons", and "Memories". His new band lineup featured former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, but in spite of Yngwie's newfound success, he felt that songs with vocals was simply a means to an end: commercial success through acquiescing to "pop metal". His commercial songs were really in fact just a way to demonstrate his grandiose virtuosity; mere mortals could not simply comprehend that he was simply in league with classical artists such as Paganini, Beethoven, and others. He did not even consider himself a heavy metal artist, but practically a reincarnated 18th century prodigy armed with a Fender Stratocaster guitar. In fact, he was one of the few artists that year to be honored by the Fender Company with his own signature Stratocaster, as was Eric Clapton. Not everyone bought into his egotism--while often his playing was quite inspired and a perfect demonstration of neo-classical technique, after a while his playing could become a taxing experience, just too much of a good thing. It eventually sounded sterile, lacking humanity and merely just exercises in his fretboard prowess. He considered himself a modern-day version of his heroes Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore, but even these disciples of the Stratocaster gave their playing room to breathe and even be imperfect, being steeped in the more intuitive blues tradition before moving into more classical areas. While many guitarists found inspiration in his music, others broadened their horizons with something more than the technically precise neo-classical movement. As a matter of fact, Joe Lynn Turner said he left Yngwie's band out of "religious reasons--he chose to believe he
was God, and I didn't share in that opinion!"

ABlairican Pie

07-21-2007, 01:06 PM

1988 (continued)

Meanwhile, back in the thrash capitol of the West Coast, Bay Area band Testament released their debut album, 'The Legacy', in 1987. Their first album is considered a classic of the thrash genre, while many claim that this is their finest album, with tracks such as "Over the Wall", "The Haunting", "Burnt Offerings", "C.O.T.L.O.D. (Curse of the Legions of Death)", "First Strike Is Deadly", and "Apocalyptic City". The band, which featured powerful vocalist Chuck Billy, who was suggested to the band after former Exodus vocalist Steve Souza left, shredder extraordinaire Alex Skolnick, and guitarist Eric Peterson, was often compared to Metallica, which could either be taken as high praise or as a derisive comment about how they "cloned" the sound of James, Kirk, and Co. The album was an independent hit on Megaforce Records which did not break them into the mainstream but did get much exposure when they toured with Anthrax. The band originally went by the name Legacy before a jazz group of the same name legally ordered to change their name. The band's followup, 'The New Order', broke the group into the mainstream with such songs as "Trial By Fire", "The Preacher", "Into the Pit", "Disciples Of the Watch", and the title track.

Further proof that women could rock came from Vixen, an all-female L.A. band transplanted from Minnesota whose 1988 self-titled debut album featured the hits "Edge Of a Broken Heart", and "Cryin'", as well as "I Want You To Rock Me", "Cruisin'", and "Love Made Me". The band featured Jan Kuehnemund on guitar, Janet Gardner on vocals and rhythm guitar, Share Pedersen on bass guitar, and Roxy Petrucci on drums. The band spent several years in the mid-80's Sunset Strip scene before their big break. The band's commercially appealing brand of pop-metal eventually won them a gold record as well as tours opening for Bon Jovi, KISS, Ozzy, and the Scorpions. Fans were enamored by the band's gorgeous looks as well as by their ability to play decent Top 40 oriented metal material. Nothing was as sexy as a girl with a guitar in many music ads.

Killer Dwarfs were a Canadian "hair" band from Toronto whose members featured are Russ "Dwarf" Graham on lead vocals, Darrell "Dwarf" Millar on drums, with Mike "Dwarf" Hall on guitar and "Bad Ronbo Dwarf" Mayer on bass. The band was known for their zany antics onstage and warped sense of humor as indicated by their songs and videos from their 1986 album 'Stand Tall', which included "Keep The Spirit Alive", "Through Animal Eyes", and "Stand Tall (Stick To Your Guns". Their 1988 followup 'Big Deal' featured such tracks as "We Stand Alone", "Tell Me Please", and "Startin' To Shine". The band was known for being one of the most successful rock and metal acts from Canada. "Dwarf" Graham was known for his somersaults and wacky stage moves while performing, as well as his high-pitched vocals which would put fellow Ontario native Geddy Lee to shame.

Down south in sunny Orlando, Florida, a new death-metal band, simply called Death, began to make their rounds in the metal underground. The band was founded by guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, whose shredding ability applied to extreme metal won him a wide audience. In the mid-80's, the band struggled to maintain a steady lineup, with Schuldiner at the center of the band. The band's first album, 1987's 'Scream Bloody Gore', is considered the first death-metal album. Death metal was a version of thrash which featured faster tempos, lack of emphasis on polished production values, and growling vocals (reminescent of Cookie Monster binging on a Nabisco truck) with gruesome, gory lyrics about death, sickness, carnage and related topics. On the band's 1988 followup, 'Leprosy', Schuldiner began to write about the above themes with regard to more socially conscious relevance. It was a running commentary about the state of contemporary society and pending breakdown. He began to show that he was a very capable guitarist with much on his mind, and would be an important figure in the coming decade
in the world of cutting edge metal.

The only thing perhaps extreme about Philadelphia glam rockers Britney Fox was the length and height of their hair on their self-titled debut in 1988, as well as the shrieking vocals of "Dizzy" Dean Davidson. The album featured such popular tracks as "Girlschool" (not to be confused with the early 80's female NWOBHM band, more on them coming up), the soaring "Long Way To Love", "In America", "Save the Weak", "Fun In Texas", and "Gudbye T' Jane". The band's first album was in fact one of the strongest debuts that year, selling about one million copies and bringing more than 625,000 fans to their over 130 shows. They also won Metal Edge Magazine's 1988 Reader's Choice Award for Best New Band. The band was much like Poison in the area of "brainless fun" rock which did not take itself so seriously, and their fashions were completely borrowed from Cinderella.

One band that took itself a little more seriously than their East Coast and L.A. counterparts was Seattle's own Sanctuary, whose debut album 'Refuge Denied' produced by Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. The band featured bassist Jim Sheppard (whom Yours ABlairican Truly happened to work with briefly at a Seattle restaurant in the fall of 1988), vocalist Warrell Dane, and guitarists Lenny Rutledge and Sean Blosl. The album featured such tracks as "Battle Angels", "Termination Force", "Die For My Sins", "Soldiers Of Steel", and a cover of the 60's hit "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. The band was at the forefront of a strong local metal scene in Seattle, which featured such bands as Queensryche, Metal Church, Forced Entry, Culprit, TKO, and others, a scene which about to be eclipsed by something else entirely like a Seattle storm front on a summer day. The band went on the road with Megadeth at that time.

Also that year, seven years after the release of the successful music documentary, 'The Decline Of Western Civilization', a 1981 film by Penelope Spheeris about the rowdy punk scene in Los Angeles, the followup film 'The Decline Of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years' came out. The new documentary showed a very telling side of the L.A. metal scene, with interviews with Ozzy, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS, Lemmy of Motorhead, members of Poison, Vixen, and others. But the real stars were in fact such characters as guitarist Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P., who was seen heavily inebriated and slurring as he sat in a floating chair in a back yard swimming pool as his mother looked apprehensively on. Holmes sat and guzzled booze while heaping tons of verbal abuse upon himself, acting like a quintessential classic rock and roll derelict as his mother appeared pained, acting clearly helpless as she watched her son descend into self-destruction and debauchery. She forced a smile as her son poured alcohol on himself for the camera. The other "stars" included the millions of wannabes who performed in bands all along the Sunset Strip, all with dreams of hitting big and lacking any practical plans if things did not pan out. One member of the band Odin repeatedly insisted to the director interviewing him when asked if he did not make it, what then? "But I will make it!" He said the thought never crossed his mind that he would not. He would make it no matter what, so perish the thought of defeat. This blind belief in pending stardom was common among many interviewed for the movie, the throngs of fans and hangers-on who were more intent on partying and shacking up with hot chicks and groupies than committing themselves to music with a reasonable fall-back plan. The movie was a wakeup call to many of these irresponsible minstrels of mayhem to change their tune, as the sunny skies of L.A. were about to undergo a pending cloudburst from the north--but the real wakeup in the film came from a live performance by Megadeth, who performed a blistering version of their thrash classic, "In My Darkest Hour".

ABlairican Pie

07-24-2007, 12:19 AM

26. 1989, Part I: Dirty, Filthy, Rotten, Stinking Rich: Metal makes the moolah

1989, the final year of a very metal decade, had brought the most successful music of the 80's to its greatest heights of visibility. Sleaze-rock bands from Motley Crue to Aerosmith had released the biggest, most lucrative albums of their careers, and new stars loomed on the horizon. Hollywood was pumping a new metal act at the rate of 2.357 per second, much of the time simply by the virtue of a perfectly coiffed and permed bio publicity photo, actually hearing the music be damned. Metal was pretty much a commodity that could be bought, a fashion style that could be duplicated at hair salon or boutique, and could easily be co-opted by both men and women alike, all thanks to the likes of Bon Jovi and others. Even the new "cutting edge" version of metal known as thrash began to take on signs of respectability. Record labels sought to find the next Metallica, and production values began to improve on albums, erasing the lo-fi feel of such thrash pioneers of Venom and others. Metal hit a high mark by Metallica becoming the first band to appear on the Grammies, while before the year was out, the world had witnessed the end of the Cold War and the breaking down of the Berlin Wall in Eastern Europe--all significant developments due to rock and roll, and metal, giving the disenfranchised on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

Motley Crue decided to curb their wild, reckless antics by becoming a "clean and sober" band by the end of the decade. Their brushes with the law and Nikki Sixx's near-death experience with heroin about a year and a half before became a wakeup call for the band, as well as the band's management cancelling a European tour on account of their out-of-control drug and alcohol abuse. Could the band be counted on for following through? It appeared so on their 1989 release, 'Dr. Feelgood', produced by Bob Rock. The commitment to sobriety appeared to do wonders for the band, as each member found themselves playing better than they had ever done before. The band was incredibly focused, and came out with the biggest album of their career, with such tracks as "Kickstart My Heart", "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)", "S.O.S. (Same Ol' Situation)", "Without You", "Rattlesnake Shake", and "She Goes Down". The band had put out a batch of solid, strong tunes that landed them all over the radio and MTV, as well as having ample bank accounts. But was this the same bad boy bunch as before, or had they gone "soft" and pop? Or did it really matter? Many complained that the band lacked street cred because of their new digs in Beverly Hills rather than in Tinseltown on Sunset Strip, just a world away accessible by BMWs with a full tank of gas. On top of that, the band's individual egos began to clash, prompting Bob Rock to have each member record their parts separately.

Aerosmith also scored with the biggest hit of their career due to their own pursuit of sobriety with the album Bruce Fairbairn-produced 'Pump'. The band had foresaken their blistering bad-boy blues-rock sound, now that Guns N' Roses had cornered the market on that, and instead adopted a radio-friendly style with a slick production values. Such songs as "Love In an Elevator", "Jamie's Got a Gun", which prompted controversy over its "violent" content about an incest victim exacting revenge, "What It Takes", "The Other Side", "Monkey On My Back", about drug abuse, "Young Lust", and "F.I.N.E." brought rave reviews from critics who believed that the band had delivered its finest record ever. The band was once again one of the biggest bands on the planet, perhaps bigger than in their 70's heyday. "Janie's Got a Gun" received the band's first Grammy award, and was the first song by the band to hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. Additionally, it is the only Aerosmith album to date to have three Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and three #1 singles on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. But still, the question remained, did the band now sound too commercial, lacking that certain edge?

Metallica also made metal history by becoming the first metal band to perform on the Grammys as part of the newly introduced Hard Rock/Heavy Metal category. More pop-oriented fans huddled under their recliners in terror as explosions rocked the stage littered with munitions and military refuse. Lars Ulrich's drums thundered from behind a chain link fence enclosure as the rest of the band launched into their anti-war atrocity hit "One". As the Grammy audience in Los Angeles and the rest of the country sought to catch their collective breaths, the show's host, comedian Gary Shandling quipped, "The lyrics of that song were written by Steve Allen." The rest of the audience laughed at this while minions of metalheads high-fived each other in eager anticipation: after a killer performance like that, how could Metallica not get the Grammy? The presenters for the hard-rock/heavy metal award, Alice Cooper and Lita Ford read the list of candidates for top metal/hard rock song--and the award went to--'Crest Of a Knave' by Jethro Tull??Metal fans were aghast. Jethro Tull, those old geezers? How many decades ago were they relevant?? Metallifans howled in outrage, it appeared that the Grammy nomination committee was woefully behind the times. But Alice Cooper responded that regardless who won, it was still great that someone won for that category, and that metal and hard rock was getting respect (and Jethro Tull's album was not a bad record, as a matter of fact. It just seemed rather anticlimactic that such an album would receive the award after Metallica's earthshaking performance). As a result, thousands of labels on Metallica's '...And Justice For All' album were placed on the cover reading "Grammy Award Losers!!" as joke.

Warrant was one glam band who hit the Sunset Strip in a huge way in the late 80's. The band was so confident in themselves that when they signed with Columbia, they even asked their label to advance them money before their debut album was released, so they could tour. Apparently, the gamble paid off, as the band created a huge buzz, especially with lead signer Jani Lane's platinum blonde good looks. Their abum 'Dirty Filthy Rotten Stinking Rich' was a record chock full of catchy pop-metal with decent ballads and memorable hooks on such songs as the hit "Down Boys", the major tear-jerkers "Heaven" and "Sometimes She Cries", the rocker "32 Pennies", "Big Talk", "So Damn Pretty (Should Be Against the Law)", and the title track. However, for their success, rumors ran rampant that the band's members did not even play on the album. This was unverified, though one session guitarist later did admit that he played on the album. In fact, this was not surprising, even Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, a session player himself who participated on Michael Jackson's "Beat It" session on the rhythm part with Eddie Van Halen's lead playing, admitted that many guitar spots on upcoming pop-metal albums of the time were done entirely by session musicians. Regardless, the band did play well live, and were a huge sensation throughout the country that year, making the power ballads "Heaven" and "Sometimes She Cries" two of the biggest songs of the year. The band was about to face even greater stardom in the coming year.

After the departure from David Lee Roth's band, virtuoso bassist Billy Sheehan teamed up with former Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert for a new band, Mr. Big, which featured lead singer Eric Martin and drummer Pat Torpey. This "hair" band was one with a difference, Sheehan and Gilbert were not afraid to show off their amazing chops on their songs which admittedly had Top 40 potential. Their self-titled debut featured the hit "Addicted To That Rush", which opened with the fastest bass riff practically ever recorded, as well as Gilbert's shredding guitar leads which perfectly complimented Sheehan's playing. Other songs included "Merciless", "Wind Me Up", and "Had Enough". The band received plenty of exposure on their subsequent tour opening for Rush, a perfect match which combined two of rock's greatest bassists and guitarists. Sheehan would play a bass solo and Gilbert would demonstrate his use of a power drill's vibrations on his guitar. During the band's set supporting Rush as they played "Addicted To That Rush", Eric Martin asked the crowd, "Are you addicted to Rush??!!" The crowd erupted fanatically at this. The band even joined Rush onstage for a jam on the Canadian trio's classic "In the Mood". Later, Geddy Lee thanked Mr Big for joining them on the tour--it was the first time Rush had seen women in the audience!

Joe Satriani continued to capture the ears of younger shredders with his latest album, 1989's 'Flying In a Blue Dream'. In addition to his blazing chops, "Satch" offered a new surprise as well: Joe actually sang on a number of tracks such as the hit "Big Bad Moon", "I Believe", "The Phone Call" and others, and various standout instrumental tracks included 'The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing", "Back To Shalla-Bal", a reference to the Marvel Comics character the Silver Surfer (whose image was featured on the previous 'Surfing With the Alien'), "Day at the Beach (New Rays from an Ancient Sun)", "One Big Rush", which was featured on the movie 'Say Anything', "The Forgotten (Parts 1 and 2)" and "The Bells of Lal (Parts 1 and 2, the latter being used on a Labatt's beer commercial in Canada)". Satriani impressed guitarists with his own signature model of Ibanez guitar. The album indicated that shred guitar was about to launch into the stratosphere at the beginning of the next decade. It was an exciting time for shred players, if guitar was this good now, it would simply be amazing and out of this year in the 90's.

Skid Row was another band that both tried to steal Guns N' Roses thunder as the reigning bad boys of sleaze metal while at the same time were under the tutelage of Bon Jovi. The band emerged from the East Coast and had bought their name from former Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore's old band Skid Row. The band, which featured guitarists Dave "Snake" Szabo and Scotti Hill, along with bassist Rachel Bolan and drummer Rob Affusio, recruited lead vocalist Sebastian Bach who proved to be not only a hellion on vocals but in real life. The band, with the help of Bon Jovi, were signed to Atlantic, where their first album featured such popular tracks as "Youth Gone Wild", the power ballad "18 And Life", "I Remember You", "Big Guns", "Sweet Little Sister", and "Rattlesnake Shake". While the band was considered a "badder" version of their peers in Bon Jovi, it was in fact hellraiser Sebastian Bach who garnered the most, unwelcome, attention. Not only did Bach wear pathetic t-shirts with messages such as "AIDS kills f:censored:gs dead", which embarrased the rest of the band, a skirmish during a set opening for Aerosmith later that year, known as "the Bottle Incident", forever established Bach's notoriety. A member of the audience threw a bottle onstage and hit Bach. The singer responded by throwing the bottle back into the audience and uttering a few uncivil words. Bach later apologized for the wearing of the AIDS shirt, however, which had been thrown up onstage by a fan. Bach after the concert apologized, stating "My grandmother had recently died of cancer, I guess I would be pissed too if I saw someone wearing a "CANCER Kills Grandmothers Dead" shirt" . In later years Bach apologized seriously for wearing the shirt, and made a substantial donation to an AIDS charity. During this time Bach became the "face" of Skid Row, as he was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. His antics would now be forever tied in with the band, and would cement the band's reputation as being irresponsible and thuggish, in spite of his attempts to make amends.

Pic #3: Metallica at the Grammies 1989:

Bottom pic: Skid Row:

ABlairican Pie

07-26-2007, 01:14 AM

1989 (continued)

KISS' final album of the 80's, 1989's 'Hot In the Shade', was not as huge a seller as their previous albums, though it did manage to feature a Top Ten single, the power ballad "Forever", which was co-written by Michael Bolton. The album ran for nearly an hour long, with songs such as "Hide Your Heart", "Rise To It", and "You Love Me To Hate You". The success of the ballad forever was a sign that KISS was a creative slump with mediocre songs that barely matched the power of their songs in their 70's prime. The decision to go pop-metal was one which bassist Gene Simmons would long regret. The album was also the last one to feature drummer Eric Carr.

In related KISS news, former guitarist Ace Frehley released his fourth solo album 'Trouble Walkin'', which, given his battles to maintain sobriety in recent years, made some joke that the title was a reference to his inebriation. Ace replied that the title meant that he was a "modern day James Dean, a bad boy, trouble on two legs", but the comparison with the iconic 50's actor did not fit (though a major auto crash would have, under less fortunate circumstances). The album featured such tracks as "Shot Full Of Rock", an ELO cover "Do Ya", "Hide Your Heart", the Desmond Child-penned tune which was also featured on the KISS 'Hot In the Shade' album, and the title track. This was to be the final Ace Frehley album, with fans still waiting for a followup after nearly two decades.

The other former KISS guitarist, Vinnie Vincent, Ace's replacement, had formed his own solo band a few years later, the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, who featured bassist Dana Strum and vocalist Mark Slaughter. The band's first self-titled album, released in 1986, featured such songs as "Boyz
Are Gonna Rock", "Shoot U Full Of Love", "Animal", and "Invasion". The band's followup, 'All Systems Go', included such tracks as "Naughty Naughty", "Love Kills", "Let Freedom Rock", and "Dirty Rhythm". While Mark Slaughter, who replaced previous vocalist Robert Fleischman, was the frontman for the band, the real star of course was Vinnie Vincent, who was not only flamboyant in his appearance but in his manic playing and stage presence. One raucous video showed him trashing his Jackson Rhoads V guitar into an amp for an extended period of time at the end to demonstrate how over-the-top he was. It was his being rather eccentric, and very egotistical, which got him booted out of KISS in the first place. In fact, Strum and Slaughter left the band, clearly in an acrimonious, hostile state with Vincent, to form their own group.

The band that Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum formed, the self-named Slaughter, became one of the biggest pop-metal sensations at the end of the 80's. Mark Slaughter was a heartthrob vocalist who won a huge following of girls, and the band featured guitarist Tim Kelly and drummer Blas Elias. Strum was also known for being the L.A. musician who introduced Randy Rhoads to Ozzy Osbourne in 1979. The band's debut, 'Stick It To Ya', included such hits as "Up All Night", the ballad "Fly To the Angels", "Spend My Life", and "She Wants More". One song, "Shout It Out", was released on the
'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" soundtrack. The album sold three million copies and was Best Metal Album of the year on the American Music Awards (which said something right there about the selection committee). Mark Slaughter's perfect high-pitched vocals and teen appeal made more hardcore metal minions howl in disgust as their videos were shown repeatedly on MTV.

Whitesnake attempted to make lightning strike twice with their followup to their hugely successful self-titled album, 1989's 'Slip Of the Tongue', and this time they had the perfect secret weapon: former David Lee Roth guitarist extraordinaire Steve Vai. This all came about after the tour behind the 1987 came to a close and time came to work on a new album. Guitarist Vivian Campbell was frustrated with the pop direction of the band and bitterly complained, which frustrated guitarist Adrian Vandenberg. The relationship between the two guitarists soured, which prompted vocalist David Coverdale to excuse Campbell from the band. While the band rehearsed for the new album, Vandenberg was sidelined by hand injuries due to improperly practicing on his guitar. While he recuperated, Vai was called in to perform Vandenberg's guitar parts. It almost seemed like a match made in heaven, with one of rock's biggest shredders playing on one of the biggest bands of the past few years, but unfortunately, the new album sold a disappointing three million copies. Vai's playing ability did not quite mesh with Vandenberg's songwriting and composition, and to make matters worse, Coverdale felt threatened by Vai's upstaging him while performing live, and limited his guitar solo slots in concert. The album, which contained standout tracks as "Fool For Your Lovin'", the very decent "Kitten's Got Claws", "Cheap An' Nasty", "The Deeper the Love", and "Now You're Gone", was a respectable release, but did not do as well as its 1987 monster predecessor. It was also during this time that Coverdale married actress and video model Tawny Kitaen (a number of years before she achieved her own noteriety). The marriage did not last, and for a long while, neither did Whitesnake's name on lists of must-see bands for over the next decade.

White Lion returned with 'Big Game' in 1989, complete with more pop metal hits that, while not reaching the same heights as the 'Pride' album, did show a different side to the band that was not expected in glam/"hair" metal circles: They had a social consciousness. The band's hit song and video "Little Fighter" was dedicated to the crew of the Rainbow Warrior, the ship owned by environmental activist group Greenpeace which was illegally attacked and bombed by French commandos. The band addressed issues such as endangered species in interviews, as well as apartheid in songs such as "Cry For Freedom", "Broken Home", about divorce, and typical hair songs such as "Dirty Women", "If My Mind Be Evil", and a cover of Golden Earring's "Radar Love". The band took no break between albums and met major fatigue after touring behind 'Big Game'. The album was a commercial disappointment, but "Little Fighter" is a very strong song with an excellent guitar solo courtesy of Vito Bratta.

Extreme was a Boston band which featured lead singer Gary Cherone and shred guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, who incorporated funk into his playing. The band's debut featured such tracks as
"Mutha (Don't Want to Go to School Today)," "Little Girls," "Watching, Waiting", "Big Boys Don't Cry," and "Play With Me", which was "played" by Beethoven in 'Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure'. The band's first single, "Kid Ego", was not at all a personal favorite of Cherone. The band, which displayed some very formidable talent in all its members, wanted to break out of the "box" of predictable pop metal on the next album.

Dr. Thong

07-26-2007, 07:00 PM

ABlairican Pie

07-26-2007, 08:41 PM

I've been a KISS fan for 30 years and Hot In The Shade is my least favorite KISS album. The album is basically demos that the band took into the studio and overdubbed and embellished. The band owed Polygram Records a new album for the fall and didn't have much time, so they ended up throwing together this lackluster effort.

BTW, it's not widely known, but Eric Singer played drums on "Forever." Even though Eric Carr's pictured in the video, it's Singer on drums. Singer had played on Paul Stanley's solo tour in the winter of '89 and worked on the demo for the song. This is not surprising, as this isn't the first instance where KISS used "ghost musicians" in the studio.

Ironically, I liked Ace's album better than KISS's. Trouble Walkin' is easily the best of Ace's post-KISS solo albums. "Do Ya" is an excellent choice for a cover tune, given Ace's vocal range. Frehley dumped the "Frehley's Comet" band name and guitarist/vocalist Tod Howarth, giving the band a more harder rocking sound.

Even more ironically, Ace covered KISS's "Hide Your Heart," which had only been released a month earlier on their Hot In The Shade album. Even more bizarre is that were at least two other cover versions that came out in and around that time, by singer Robin Beck and - believe it or not - Molly Hatchet.

I'm not making this up.I wonder if Eric Singer was playing drums on the album because of Eric Carr's health decline?

ABlairican Pie

07-26-2007, 10:21 PM

1989 (continued)

Former Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee decided to put so many miles between himself and his former gig that he formed a new band called Badlands, which featured vocalist Ray Gillan, who had sung briefly with Black Sabbath, as well as drummer Eric Singer, who had also performed with the seminal metal band. Bassist Greg Chaisson completed the lineup, and the new band set out to record and release its self-titled debut, which featured such songs as "High Wire", "Dreams In the Dark", "Winter's Call", "Jade's Song", "Rumblin' Train", and "Ball And Chain". Ozzy and Racer X fans who wanted to check up on their former members were very impressed with the offering. The band was a polished yet tough version of L.A. metal with a classic rock sound reminescent of Bad Company and Led Zeppelin. MTV played their videos for "Dreams In the Dark" and "Winter's Call" regularly, which boosted the album's chart position to #57.

Dangerous Toys was a band from Texas who, like many others of the sleaze/glam genre, did not take itself very seriously. The band released its self-titled debut amidst lineup changes not reflected on the album's cover and liner notes. The record featured such popular tracks as the provocatively titled "Sportin' a Woody", "Teasn' Pleasn'", "Scared", and "Ten Boots (Stompin')". The band was brief hit on MTV, with videos containing their maniacal clown mascot. Lead vocalist Jason McMaster provided his raspy, shrill style of singing which was very popular at the time with just about everyone.

Great White followed up with their 1989 album '...Twice Shy', which featured the band's biggest hit, a cover of 70's band Mott the Hoople's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". Other songs included the bluesy hit "House Of Broken Love", "Mista Bone", and "Move It". Fans noted singer Jack Kendall's vocal resemblance to Robert Plant, though it would take some time before they matched the mighty Zeppelin in terms of impact. The band played tasty blues rock with much swagger and seasoning, foregoing the plentiful shred-metal which had become a staple in L.A. The album included their biggest hit, Once Bitten, Twice Shy for which they received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The album was certified platinum in July 1989 and then double platinum in September of that same year. The model Bobbie Brown appeared in the video for "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" as well.

Tesla, another meat-and-potatoes band with middle-class leanings and appeal, released 'The Great Radio Controversy' also that year, which not only featured such hits as "Hang Tough", "Lady Luck", the rocking "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)", "The Way It Is", and the hit power ballad, "Love Song", but a history lesson as well: inside the album's liner notes was the story about the rivalry between inventor of the radio Serbian electrician Nikola Tesla, the band's namesake, and Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who in fact stole the credit of radio's invention from Tesla and claimed it for himself. The album contained another batch of acoustically tinged rockers, but it was at this point Tesla was touted as a "ballad" band by the industry in much the same way Night Ranger had eventually become.

Pretty Boy Floyd was one band who became perhaps even more the epitome of all things wrong with hair metal than even Poison and others. The band was a big draw on the Sunset Strip scene, which led to the band signing to a major label. Their debut album, ' Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz' featured two hits and videos "Rock And Roll (Is Gonna Set the Night On Fire)" and the ballad-esque "I Wanna Be With You", as well as "Forty-Eight Hours", the power ballad "Wild Angels", a Motley Crue cover "Toast Of the Town", "Rock And Roll Outlaws", "Only the Young", and the excellent title track. Critics panned the band as group of big-hair poseurs, who in fact did bear a suspicious resemblance both visually and vocally to Vince and Co. The album featured straight-on party anthems, but their over-the-top glam-tacular image was a bit much for many to swallow. The band featured Steve "Sex" Summers on lead vocals, Kristy "Krash" Majors on guitar, Vinnie Chas on bass, and Kari "The Mouth" Kane on drums, but none of these were about to become big names any time soon. As good as they played and as "bad" as they tried to look, they had to stand in line with countless other bands of that stripe who were nearly identical. Their status as a "Motley Crue Jr." was not meant to be, unfortunately. The band became embroiled in a legal dispute with a Canadian band who shared the same name, and fortunately, the Sunset Strip 'Floyds were allowed to keep their name. The band's song "48 Hours" was featured in the 'Karate Kid III' movie, but after that, little much came from the band. Lack of label support and squabbles within the band brought their tenure to an end.

Another band of that ilk with a little more of a track record, Faster Pussycat, hit pay dirt with their followup, 'Wake Me When It's Over', which featured the hit ballad about absent fathers, the tear-jerking "House Of Pain", an autobiographical song about lead singer Taime Downe's upbringing, as well as the swaggering bluesy rocker, "Poison Ivy", both of which were huge hits on MTV. Other songs included the sleazy, politically incorrect "Where There's a Whip, There's a Way", "Pulling Weeds", and "Slip Of the Tongue". The band's album indicated a more traditional, blues-oriented direction for pop-metal in general. However, drummer Mark Michaels was fired from the band after being arrested for attempting to mail heroin to his hotel. Quiet Riot drummer briefly filled in for the tour being replaced by long-term drummer Brent Bradshaw. As the band entered the new decade, their fortunes would take a turn for the worse.

Shotgun Messiah was one Sunset Strip band from Sweden which featured the guitar talents of hotshot guitarist Harry Cody, vocalist Zinny J. Zan, bassist Tim Tim Skold, and drummer Stixx. The band's self-titled debut, a re-working of their initial Swedish album 'Welcome To Bop City', featured such tracks as "Shout It Out", a big hit on MTV's Headbanger's Ball, "Bop City", "I Don't Care 'Bout Nothin'", and "Squeezin' Teasin'". The band had the obligatory sleazebag look and sound of every other rising Tinseltown tramp knocking at record label doors, and for a while it looked like success was iminent. Unfortunately, Zan left the band, and the remaining members sought a vocalist to take his place.

Dr. Thong

07-27-2007, 05:34 PM

I wonder if Eric Singer was playing drums on the album because of Eric Carr's health decline?

You're thinking about the album Revenge. Eric Carr became ill in early 1991, after the Hot In The Shade tour.

ABlairican Pie

07-29-2007, 09:01 AM

1989 (continued)

Black Sabbath followed up with their second album with Tony "The Cat" Martin on vocals, 1989's The Headless Cross,
which also featured veteran drummer Cozy Powell. The album was a return to form for Sabbath, with its lyrical themes
of dark, macabre themes of the occult and all things satanic, on such tracks as "When Death Calls", "Black Moon",
"Call Of the Wild", "Nightwing", "The Gates Of Hell", "Devil and Daughter", "Kill In the Spirit World", and the title track.
Ozzy said in an interview a year later that "(guitarist)Tony (Iommi) needs to stop writing about devils and bulls:censored:
because it's all been done!" But of course, when Black Sabbath did it, they did it better than anyone. Clearly, Ozzy had a
number of unresolved issues with his former bandmate that had not yet healed for ten years after his dismissal. And while
this version of Sabbath was not the most stable lineup, Martin and Powell were two members who had a little more longevity
than most of the others who went through the revolving-door era. Black Sabbath had created some of its most significant
work with Martin in its post-Ozzy/Dio years, and 'The Headless Cross' was critically acclaimed as one of the band's
stronger works. The sound of the album was "blacker" than many of the band's releases in recent years.

Alice Cooper's comeback experienced a real revival on his 1989 'Trash', which featured the Top Ten hit single, "Poison",
as well as other tracks as "House Of Fire", "Only My Heart Talkin'", "Bed Of Nails", and the title track. The album, produced
by hit songwriter Desmond Child, also had guest appearances by Jon Bon Jovi and Steven Tyler. "Poison" had become his
highest charting hit since 1977's hit ballad "You And Me". A lengthy tour followed for the album which was named "Alice
Cooper Trashes The World Tour". The video for the song "Trash" was aired later at night on MTV due to its implied nudity
of the female model performing in the track.

Bay Area thrashers Exodus released what would be their biggest album, 1989's 'Fabulous Disaster', which featured
the moshpit anthem "The Toxic Waltz", as well as a cover of War's "Low Rider". Other classic songs included "Cajun Hell",
"The Last Act Of Defiance", "Like Father, Like Son", and the title track. The video for "The Toxic Waltz" showed the band in
a concert setting with a throng of manic moshers and stage divers flying off like planes at the San Francisco Airport. For the
uninformed, moshing, or slamdancing, is a sort of "dance" where participants run about in a deranged circle, or pit, flailing
arms and legs before throwing their bodies into each other and bouncing back and forth off other moshers. The purpose of
moshing is an aggressive form of communal male-bonding, and not intentional violent to hurt or harm others. Part of moshpit
ettiquette requests that members help other fallen members who may have tumbled to the floor in the melee so as not to be
trampled upon by other moshers. However, many venues, concerned for possible injuries due to moshpit mayhem, attempted
to curtail moshing at thrash or hardcore shows, such as ones where Exodus played.

Neo-classical shredder Yngwie Malmsteen released 1989's concert album 'Trial By Fire', which was recorded live in Leningrad
at a time when the Cold War finally collapsed and the Soviet Union was more receptive to Western music and culture. The
album featured live versions of "Liar", "Queen In Love", "Heaven Tonight", "You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget", and a cover
of Jimi Hendrix's "Spanish Castle Music". The concert in Leningrad was perhaps the largest ever by a western artist in the
Soviet Union.

Another international metal band, Canada's Voivod, who hailed from Quebec, were a unique progressive thrash group
which wrote about Orwellian, post-apocalyptic science fiction themes in their lyrics. Musically, the band was influenced by
prog artists such as Rush and Pink Floyd, as well as NWOBHM and even contemporary Reagan era political and cultural angst.
The band's members, whose lineup would change over the years, consisted of such one-word monikers as guitarist Piggy
(Denis D'Amour), bassist Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault), drummer Away (Michel Langevin), and vocalist Snake (Denis Bélanger).
The single names were perhaps used to make fans outside of their native Quebec more familiar with them if they had trouble
with their names in French. Voivod was one of the few bands from a francophone region of North America to have some measure
of success outside of their native province, which in fact brought unwelcome controversy to the band as native citizens of
Quebec were very intolerant of any of their own speaking English rather than French. But the band knew that in order to gain
a wider audience, they needed to sing in English. The band's first albums were 1984's 'War And Pain', 'Rrröööaaarrr' from 1986,
and 1987's 'Killing Technology'. The first two albums were standard thrash and speed metal, but by 1987 the band incorporated
more progressive elements into their sound. In 1988 the band released 'Dimension Hatross', which featured such tracks as
"Technocratic Manipulators", "Macrosolutions to Megaproblems", "Brain Scan", and "Psychic Vacuum". It was in 1989
with the album 'Nothingface' that America and the rest of the world began to take notice of the band, as they had
become more progressive and experimental than ever. It was because of their intriguing cover of Pink Floyd's Syd
Barrett-era track "Astronomy Domine" that brought them attention, and while they did not exactly become a household
name among even metal fans everywhere, they proved they were a band with something to offer, and brought about a
devoted cult followiing. Other songs included "The Unknown Knows", "Missing Sequences", "X-Ray Mirror", "Inner Combustion",
"Pre-Ignition", "Into My Hypercube", "Sub-Effect", and the title track.

Looking a little further south of the border was Brazil's own Sepultura, whose name in Portuguese means "grave".
The band featured brothers Max and Igor Cavalera on guitar and drums, respectively, who played Slayer-style thrash
with elements of hardcore punk. Like Voivod, they wrote and sang about themes of societal decline and social disorder.
Their first album, 1986's "Morbid Visions", contained lyrics of a cliched "satanic" nature, but their followup, 1987's 'Schizophrenia',
featured more socially conscious lyrics, including their first single, "Troops Of Doom". The album brought them international
attention and was re-released on Roadrunner in 1990. But it was their followup, 1989's 'Beneath the Remains', that became
one of the finest thrash albums of all time. Such songs as "Stronger Than Hate", "Mass Hypnosis", "Sarcastic Existence",
"Slaves of Pain", "Lobotomy", and the title track became required listening for metal fans wanting something a little faster,
and more topically relevant, than anything else.

Testament returned with what would become their most popular album, 1989's 'Practice What You Preach', another classic
of speed metal during its most successful era. The band had moved away from the lyrical excesses of occultic and arcane
themes to those of more straight-on social commentary. The title track condemned hypocrisy and corruption in religion
and politics, and other songs such as "Perilous Nation", "Greenhouse Effect", "Time Is Coming", and "Sins of Omission"
touched on social ills facing the end of the millenium. It was on one track, "The Ballad", which fully demonstrated guitarist
Alex Skolnick's tasteful, fluid playing, combining sensitivity with heavy passages. The album peaked at #77 on the charts.

ABlairican Pie

07-30-2007, 01:45 AM

1989 (continued)

One extrememly popular program to cater to the tastes of metal headbangers was MTV Headbanger's Ball, a weekend staple which exclusively aired metal and hard rock videos for several hours on Saturday night. The show debuted on April 18, 1987, replacing the brief "Heavy Metal Mania" show on MTV which was hosted by Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. Headbanger's Ball first featured host vj Kevin Seal, who was followed by popular vj Adam Curry, and later, Riki Rachtman, who became the show's most famous host, though many viewers were appalled at the network's decision to replace Curry. Even Curry himself was unhappy with their decision and long held a grudge at Rachtman. The show became one of the biggest shows on MTV, and helped further popularize metal via video, airing predominantly radio-friendly "hair" metal, but giving ample time to heavier acts as well. The show featured interviews with bands and performers as well as go on location with bands in cross-country segments.

Chicago band Enuff Z'Nuff was a "hair" metal band with power-pop influences such as Cheap Trick and The Beatles. The band, whose members included bassist Chip Z'nuff, vocalist Donnie Vie, guitarist Derek Frigo, and Vikki Fox, first recorded a song, "Fingers On It", for the 1986 movie "Henry: Portrait Of a Serial Killer", which was not released until 1989 due to disagreements with the MIAA over its violent content. It was also in 1989 that the band's debut 'New Thing' was released, which featured such hits as the ballad "Fly High Michelle" and the rousing title track, as well as "She Wants More", "Hot Little Summer Girl", and "Little Indian Angel". The band reeked of a totally glam pretty-boy image, but their videos appeared to hint of irony and intentional parody over the glammy look, playing with the whole image and day-glo atmosphere. Rolling Stone named the band as the Hot New Band in their 1989 Hot Issue, and were highly acclaimed by both critics and fans alike.

Tora Tora was one band from Memphis, Tennessee, who was known most for their 'Surprise Attack' album from 1989 with the minor hit "Walkin' Shoes". The hit was a more blues-oriented track with an acoustic guitar riff opening the song, a further sign of metal going back to rock's Delta roots. Other songs included "Love's a Bitch", "28 Days", "Hard Times", and "She's Good, She's Bad". The most popular item about the band was its sexy album cover, which deserved to be one of the greatest record illustrations of all time. The band, whose name was the signal for the attack by Japanese forces on Pearl Harbor, may have been actually taken from the Van Halen song of the same name.

Bang Tango was another L.A. sleaze/glam band with funk roots whose 1989 album 'Psycho Cafe' featured the major single "Someone Like You". Their record label signed them on the spot without so much even hearing a demo. Fortunately the band took off for a while for the next few years. The band was not able to capitalize on their success after the single, and spent several more years on the circuit before calling it a day. The band's members went on to other ventures before regrouping off and on.

L.A. Guns released their most popular album, 'Cocked & Loaded', in 1989, which featured the hits "Rip And Tear", "Never Enough", and the touching top hit, "The Ballad Of Jayne", dedicated to the memory of fallen 60's actress Jayne Mansfield, though the ballad was nothing like their aspirations toward more sleaze-oriented pop-metal. The album also included songs such as "Slap In The Face", " Sleazy Come Easy Go", "Magdalaine", "Showdown (Riot On Sunset)", and "Wheels Of Fire". Even though the album eventually went gold, lead guitarist Tracii Guns agonized and felt that he had sold himself out by agreeing to tour with other "happening" pretty-boy bands such as Slaughter and others at the time, which did not fit with his band's image of being a rock and roll "bad boy" group.

The Cult went in an even more commercial, pop-metal direction with 1989's
'Sonic Temple', which featured Bob Rock's slick production values on such tracks as the hit "Fire Woman", "Sun King", the ballad "Edie (Ciao Baby)", which was dedicated to the pop artist Andy Warhol's girlfriend, actress and model Edie Sedgwick, a troubled Bohemian socialite figure who died nearly twenty years before from a drug overdose. Other songs included "Sweet Soul Sister", "American Horse", "New York City", which featured Iggy Pop on background vocals, and "Soldier Blue", many of which managed to retain the band's 60's retro feel of their past albums. The album became a huge seller, going Platinum, no doubt helped by opening for Metallica on the 1989"Damaged Justice" tour. Drummer Matt Sorum also joined the band during that time.

Danger Danger was a glam metal band from New York who appeared as polished and pop as they came. The band, which featured guitarist Andy Timmons, a rising guitar star, released their self-titled debut in 1989. The album featured such songs with titles as repetitive as their name as the hit "Naughty Naughty" and "Bang Bang", as well as "Under The Gun", "Don't Walk Away", and "Rock America". The band went on tour opening for KISS, Alice Cooper, Extreme and Warrant.

ABlairican Pie

07-31-2007, 08:21 AM

1989 (continued)

Doro Pesch was a female singer from Germany who, like Lita Ford and Girlschool before her, defied expectations
of what women in rock should do by proudly singing metal. Her band, simply called Doro, went through many lineup
changes while she remained the constant figure. She achieved international fame in 1989 with the song "All We Are"
and the album "Force Majeure". She experienced the struggle of women in rock who were intended to sing and play
nicely in the rock business and insisted that she sing metal, and that she was not going to sing pop or soft music.

Bonham was a band who was named after drummer Jason Bonham, the son of the late John Bonham of Led
Zeppelin. While the band's 1989 debut, 'The Disregard Of Timekeeping' did not hit the heights of popularity of his
father's band's recordings, it did feature a huge drum sound on songs such as the more pop-metal track "Wait For
You", a hugely successful hit single which featured a few traces of the Zeppelin sound in vocals and guitar.

Nuclear Assault was a thrash band formed by former Anthrax bassist Dan Lilker who released albums such
as 1986's 'Game Over' and 1988's 'Survive' before their 1989 album 'Handle With Care' briefly launched them into
the limelight with the song and video for 'Critical Mass", a environmentally conscious track decrying pollution and
deforestation. The video also featured a sexy cameo appearance by newly madeover Jessica Hahn, the former
church secretary who was at the center of the PTL scandal with televangelist Jim Bakker, who reportedly coerced
a sexual encounter with her. Many songs from the band's albums dealt with socially aware themes.

King's X released their second album, a sort of concept album, 'Gretchen Goes To Nebraska', in 1989, and this time
the band became an up-and-coming name to watch for, being touted by the music press as a band to watch for in
the coming decade. The band impressed many with an intriguing story written by drummer Jerry Gaskill similar to Alice's
Adventures In Wonderland or The Wizard Of Oz, about a girl who enters into a fantastical land and fanciful series of
adventures. Songs such as the major track and video, "Over My Head", "Summerland", "Pleaides", "Everybody Knows A
Little Bit Of Something", "Fall On Me", and "Send a Message" captured listeners with its insightful lyrics, vocal harmonies,
and guitarist Ty Tabor's unique dropped-D tuning. Christian fans were quick to point out the band as one of the most
unique groups of Christians in the secular field, and many popular musicians listed them as new favorites. The album
began to sell as the music industry was abuzz with the new multi-racial trio with hip songs written in a progressive
rock lyrical vein.

Speaking of progressive rock trios, Rush entered 1989 with a new live album and ended it with a new new studio disc
on a new label. The band released their third live album, 'A Show Of Hands', which focused mostly on their 80's output
with songs such as "The Big Money", "Subdivisions", "Marathon", "Mission", "Witch Hunt", "Early Distant Warning", and
others, recorded during the Power Windows and Hold Your Fire tours. Rolling Stone magazine, unsurprisingly never a
huge fan of the band, gave the album a one-and-a-half star review, but Rush could care less. They didn't need the
magazine's exalted opinion when it cared more about covering Wilson Phillips and other pop types anyway. The album
also featured Neil Peart's dazzling drum solo under the title "Rhythm Method". In the fall of that year, Rush switched
from the PolyGram label to Atlantic, and the new album under their new label, 'Presto', indicated a change in the band's
sound back to a more guitar-driven rock. The band felt that the synthesizer as a central part of the band's sound was
played out, and though it was still used in the band's music, it was more peripheral to the guitar and bass. The album
may not have featured the band's strongest material, but as a transition album, it contained decent songs such as
"Show Don't Tell", "Chain Lightning", "War Paint", "Red Tide", which warned of environmental collapse, "Superconductor",
"The Pass", a sensitive song warning against suicide which became one of the stand-out tracks on the album, and the
acoustic-filled title track. The songs on the album reflected the theme of vision and perception. The band's personal
visibility was enhanced by rising stars Mr. Big opening on the tour, as well as the sight of two colossal rabbits on magicians'
top hats on either side of the stage.

In one of the most significant musical events of 1989, the music world celebrated the opening of the Soviet Union and
the pending collapse of the Cold War at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, a huge concert which featured such
big names as Cinderella, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions, Skid Row, and Bon Jovi, as well as Russian band
Gorky Park. But in spite of the spirit of charity and peace under which the festival supposed promoted, the lineup was
rife with hostility and clashing egos: many bands simply did not want to be followed by other bands whom they felt were
inferior to themselves. Ozzy did not want to go on before his one-time support act Motley Crue, and other bands haggled
over set times and the use of pyrotechnics and other effects. Most bands were livid that Bon Jovi was the headliner and
were permitted to use pyrotechnics and a lengthier set time, so in a gesture of graciousness, Bon Jovi chose to let some
other band have the headlining spot. In spite of the backstage bickering, the event was a massive success, with over
100,000 in attendance at the Lenin Stadium in Moscow, all of whom were ecstatic over the stellar lineup of metal musicians
gathered on one stage on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The event was brought together by rock manager Doc McGhee,
who managed such acts as Motley Crue and others, and was constantly in legal trouble over drugs. To atone for his misdeeds,
he formed the group the Make a Wish Foundation, which supported anti-drug causes, and the Moscow Festival was designed
to be a charity event with funds going to drug abuse prevention programs and the like, in spite of many of the musicans
engaging in drugs and alcohol themselves. In spite of the contention and squabbles backstage over billing, most Muscovites
were greatly enthused by the power of rock and roll to bring nations and cultures together in the name of harmony.

ABlairican Pie

07-31-2007, 08:44 AM

Pics from the Moscow Music Peace Festival, August 11 and 12, 1989:

Bon Jovi at the Kremlin

Russian girl waving a Russian flag

Unidentified band member (Cinderella?) giving high kick on guitar

MMPF album

Jeff Labar of Cinderella listens for crowd

ABlairican Pie

08-02-2007, 11:50 PM

27. 1989, Part 2: Big Ugly Truth: Metal's mutant metamorphosis?

While most metal bands were were making millions sporting perfectly teased hair and note-perfect solos while wearing skin-tight, loin-revealing spandex all over MTV, there was a growing undercurrent of bands who could technically be called metal, yet had a very different sound which incorporated
elements from various alternative scenes, many of them on the West Coast from such major metropolitan areas as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and even--Seattle? Many bands fused punk, funk, psychedelic, and avant-garde sounds into their brand of metal, though often times it felt awkward to call themselves metal. But regardless, this proposed to be the sound of metal in the future. Even though many of the bands could not technically be called metal, it would do well for metal bands and fans to take notice of a new crop of bands that were beginning to redefine hard rock.

Faith No More was one alternative band from the Bay Area which first achieved fame for their track "We Care a Lot". The band, which first formed in the early 80's under the moniker Faith No Man, due to their first lead singer being named Mike "The Man" Morris, but when "The Man" left, the band re-named themselves Faith No More, as The Man was a part of the band "no more". The band with frontman Chuck Mosely recorded "We Care a Lot" in 1987 as a parody of charity benefit singles. The single was followed by the debut album 'Introduce Yourself', though the band was constantly close to breaking up due to infighting within members. But after Mosely left, it was under manic frontman Mike Patton that the band achieved its first real brush with fame with their album 'The Real Thing' in 1989. The album featured the hit "Epic", a churning song with heavy bassline and rapped lyrics, as well as the chorus "You want it all, but you can't have it." The video became a huge staple on MTV with its surrealistic images, as well as ensuing controversy when a fish flopping in open air was decried by animal rights groups as being cruel to the helpless creature. In response, the band assured them that the fish was put back in the water alive. Other songs included the popular track and video "Falling To Pieces", "Surprise! You're Dead!', "Woodpecker From Mars", "Zombie Eaters", "Edge Of the World", and a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs". The band also featured guitarist Jim Martin, who played a very simple metal style on a Gibson Flying V and did not concern himself much with the latest shred techniques and was largely unfamiliar with most bands on MTV at the moment. Metallica, with whom the band was close friends, considered them the "heaviest" band around and took them on tour with them. The band, who were touted as first major band of the 90's by SPIN magazine and others, were important in alternative metal not only for their cutting edge sound but for being one of the first metal bands to infuse rap and funk elements into their music.

Soundgarden was a pioneering alternative band who became one of the groups most associated with what was known as "the Seattle sound". As record label scouts combed the countryside looking for new talent, they found a pocket of veritable talent in the northwest corner of the United States, one existing outside the mainstream of major markets such as Los Angeles or New York. The sound of bands in Seattle was raw, stripped down, and the polar opposite of the polished prettiness of the Sunset Strip acts glutting Hollywood. Soundgarden was a band who played things in dropped-D tuning in a slow, sluggish tempo, with a sound that resembled Black Sabbath on a
Starbuck's hangover. Kim Thayil, a fan of KISS as well as avant-garde bands and even Iggy and the Stooges, was the band's twisted Tony Iommi while vocalist Chris Cornell was their resident Robert Plant, with Hiro Yamamoto on bass and Matt Cameron on drums. The band, who were named after a a wind-channeling pipe sculpture, "The Sound Garden," located in Magnuson Park, Seattle, released their first independent EPs in 1987 and 1989,, 'Screaming Life' and 'Fopp' on a new rising label, Sub Pop, which specialized in underground acts. The band was a huge success with the punk crowd in Seattle and on the West Coast. The EPs featured such tracks as "Hunted Down", "Tears To Forget", "Hand Of God", "Fopp", and "Swallow My Pride". The band was very impressive live, as Cornell swung his mane of hair all over while singing his air raid vocals, and their appearances helped to build a massive following locally. The band followed up with their first debut album, "Ultramega OK" in 1988 on SST Records, which featured the popular track "Flower", which received some airplay on MTV, as well as the songs "All Your Lies" and "Circle Of Power". However, when the band signed with the major label A & M, punks and underground music fans decried the move, accusing the band of betraying their independent roots and "selling out" to corporate labels. The band released their first major-label album, 1989's 'Louder Than Love', which featured tracks such as "Big Ugly Truth", the huge "Hands All Over", "Gun", "Get On the Snake", "Big Dumb Sex", with its provocative lyrics parodying sexist macho rock star posing, and the incendiary title track. Far from having sold out, the album's tortured sound put Seattle on the map in the late 80's, and Soundgarden became another band to watch for in the coming decade.

In addition to Soundgarden, one Seattle band epitomized the sound on a more primal, basic level, the band Mudhoney. The band had a completely lo-fi, garage rock sound which borrowed completely from punk, 70's metal, and proto-punk bands of the late 60's and early 70's. The sound of Mudhoney was even rawer than Soundgarden and others, as members Mark Arm and guitarist Steve Turner slugged out their songs on pawnshop prize guitars and . The band formed from the ashes of seminal Northwest band Green River and named themselves after a Russ Meyer movie. With bassist Matt Lukin formerly of The Melvins joining them, the band released their first Sub Pop EP, 'Superfuzz Bigmuff', namd after the band's guitar effects pedals, which featured the track "Slidin' In and Out Of Grace", as well as the local single indie hit "Touch Me, I'm Sick", which became their first big song. In 1989, the band released their self-titled debut album, which featured tracks such as dark and relentless "This Gift", "Get Into Yours", and "Here Comes Sickness". With the rise of Mudhoney, music journalist and indie music insiders gave this (not-so) new, lo-fi, garage-rock DIY (Do-It-Yourself) pile of sludgy noise-driven guitar rock a name: Grunge.

The pioneering Seattle sound band in the mid-80's was Green River, the seminal band which featured both future Mudhoney members Arm and Turner, as well as guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, and later Bruce Fairweather. Green River, named after the infamous, then-elusive serial killer who dumped his victims' bodies in the rural area surrounding the Green River valley in the county south of Seattle, was the first band to officially play grunge. Their 1985 EP 'Come On Down' and the 1986 single 'This Town' were the first grunge album and hit, though it caused a minor buzz only locally. The band followed up with their 1987 EP 'Dry As a Bone', but by the time the band followed up with their first, and only full-length, album, 'Rehab Doll', the band fell apart due to infighting and creative and professional differences.

The one thing about the Seattle scene which appealed to music industry types was the "image-lessness" of the town. Everyone pretty much wore plaid flannel shirts to protect themselves from the gloomy, cold and damp weather. One band who captured the perfect "anti-'tude" attitude was Nirvana, a trio, though at one point a four-piece, with a frontman who fit the living definition of a slacker: Kurt Cobain was a shy young man who fled his native coastal city of Aberdeen, Washington, to escape his home life shattered by divorce and "redneck" mentality rampant through the logging town. His solace came through music, and he trekked to Seattle where he became friends with Melvins' singer Buzz Osbourne, who suggested that he form a band. Nirvana's lineup featured bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl. Influenced by such artists as The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, and local punk bands, Nirvana's debut performances were a rather quiet affair, but soon, the band began to draw a following. Their first release was the single, "Love Buzz/Big Cheese" in 1988. In 1989, the band released th