Books that Rock: Alice Cooper- Golf Monster ('07), with Life and Crimes Box Set

Post #388

Alice Cooper is a living legend and the original 'shock rocker'. His career has spanned over 5 decades, and he continues to record new music and tour. His career in music has had him cross paths with everyone from Rob Zombie, to Megadeth, to Paul McCartney, to Elvis Presley, to Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd... to name just a few.

As I finally got around to reading his '07 autobiography, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict, I found it to be one of the most enjoyable rock musicians' biographies I've read in a long time! I had fun going back and listening to several albums as I read through the stories behind them, appreciating the new perspective gained by having Alice's own insight into them fresh in my mind.

While the book does follow his music career from his high school beginnings with The Spiders, all the way up to his late 1990's releases, he also gives several very thorough tips and instructions and analogies about golf, it's similarities to music, the unending challenges the sport presents, and numerous tips on how to improve your own game. He puts chapters on golf in between those on life and music. The chapters of the book alternate in this fashion pretty regularly. If you are not interested in golf, or even interested enough in Alice's obsession with golf, then you'll probably be bored with almost half of this book. But I recommend giving it a fair chance, as Alice does tie the two parts of his life together quite nicely by the end.

Now, as you're reading through these reminiscences you can also treat yourself to a thorough sampling of the songs from Alice Cooper while you read, or at the very least, in between chapters. The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper is a 4 disc box set released in 1999, soon after his album The Last Temptation. While this biography was published years after the box set, in 2007, the majority of the discussion about his music career only goes up to The Last Temptation. That album was a significant statement for Alice on several levels. You'll have to read the book to find out those reasons yourself.;-) He mentions the albums Brutal Planet (2000) and Dragontown (2001) only in passing. No further music projects are mentioned, although in closing Alice does say that he continues to record music and/or tour every year. He says he'll keep doing it for as long as he can...

God bless you Alice! As a fan, I can only look forward to hearing your next album, seeing your next tour, and if I'm fortunate enough for our paths to ever cross, I wouldn't say no to a round of golf! My game has nothing to do but improve!

Recommended Alice Cooper tracks:
-Why Don't You Love Me? (The Spiders-1965)
-I'm Eighteen (1970)
-Elected (Alice mentions that John Lennon once said it was his favorite Alice Cooper song. 1972)
-Cold Ethyl (1975)
-Teenage Frankenstein (1986)
-Poison (This was the song that introduced me to Alice Cooper when I was a teen myself. I can never get enough of this one! 1989)
-Stolen Prayer (An especially treasured favorite of mine, featuring guest vocals by Chris Cornell. 1994)
-Brutal Planet (2000)
-Disgraceland (2001)
-School's Out/Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 (Hollywood Vampires-2015. This rerecorded version reflects the manner in which Alice has performed this song live in concert for years. I love it to death!)
-My Dead Drunk Friends (Hollywood Vampires-2015)

Happy Headbanging!

Dear Deadly-It's Not Over Yet (2017)

Post #387

Dead Deadly are a melodic metal band from the greater Chicago area of Illinois. I happened to catch them live in concert in the Spring of last year- a concert I reviewed in Post #375. In the fall of 2019 they won this blog's annual Independent Band of the Year reader's poll. They are hard at work on a full length album coming soon. For this post I'll take a close look at their 2017 EP It's Not Over Yet.

It's Not Over Yet is a tight, yet diverse collection of 6 original heavy metal songs. At times you could call it hard rock, or post-grunge, or nu-metal, or alternative metal, and you wouldn't be wrong. Consistent throughout is their melodic vocals, sharp and crisp guitar tones, tight rhythm section and high production quality. Many lead guitar solos are highlights of several songs. Lyrics are delivered with vocal strength and control to evoke many emotions form one track to the next.

The best part of following this band online is the fact that they've produced music videos, or lyric videos, for almost every track on this EP. I will embed or link to most of them below. If you like what you hear and see, then take a minute to follow them, download a track or the whole EP, and stream their songs and videos!

As the 2020 Spring and early Summer season of concerts and tours have been canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems unlikely that I'll be able to promote any shows for them in the near future, but I'll be sure to do so once these events resume. In the meantime I'll try to think of other ways to promote them and their music in the months ahead. Follow this blog or HappyHeadbanger on Facebook for future content.

Visit Dear Deadly's Facebook page to follow their activity
Visit Dear Deadly on Instagram.

Songs from It's Not Over Yet
-Very Wicked Things


-Deviant (My top pick! The lyric video follows a vampire theme, but they also have an official video that's entirely footage of motorcycle stunts!)


-The Devil You Know (An original! Not a cover of the Anthrax song of a similar name!)


-Conviction (A teaser clip-guitar solo only, but still awesome!)


-I Tried (Showing a slightly softer side, this especially melodic song is a mellow self-reflective type of song)

-The Hopeless (A great song with social-political themes, and the inspiration behind their promotional bumper stickers!)

Lost In Vegas- Hip-hop Fans' Reaction Videos to Rock and Metal Music

Post #386

In the last couple years I've discovered a new favorite YouTube channel: Lost In Vegas. These guys are a couple self-described "Hip-Hop Heads", who've adopted a 'free-thinkers' approach to discovering new genres of music.

For a quick intro to their channel I'm going to highlight 3 of my favorite reactions of theirs from September to October of 2017. The first of these, Megadeth's 'Holy Wars', is one of the key reaction videos that I believe started to grow their following. Lost In Vegas, if you're out there reading this, please feel free to confirm or deny this hypothesis.

Lost In Vegas reacts to 'Holy Wars' by Megadeth From (9-15-17)...



For people new to metal music to be given this iconic song to react to early in their journey into the depths of metal, the veteran metalhead may ask (as I did), "If they think so highly of this song, what are they going to think when they hear Metallica's 'Master of Puppets'?" We'll get to that in a moment, but they had another great reaction before they got to 'Master of Puppets', and I'm talking about when they first heard Judas Priest- 'Painkiller'!

From October 6th, 2017... Lost In Vegas reacting to 'Painkiller' by Judas Priest...



And last but not least, Lost In Vegas' reaction to Metallica's 'Master of Puppets' from October 18th, 2017...



Now, these were all from about a year and a half ago, and Ryan and George have kept their youtube channel going strong, as well as adding a Patreon.com page, where they have more reaction videos beyond what they're able to post on youtube. You can follow their Twitter profile, and vote in polls they post. They have also updated their equipment so the audio on their newer reaction videos is much better. See for yourself! So if these three reactions have you entertained, by all means keep checking them out! They do reaction videos to ALL GENRES of music, not just metal, but as I'm a heavy metal reviewer, these are the ones I gravitate to...

Enjoy! And Happy Headbanging to all!

For the original music videos for each of these songs please use the following links:
Megadeth-Holy Wars... ...The Punishment Due
Judas Priest-Painkiller
Metallica-Master of Puppets

Rock USA Oshkosh, 2014, Day 3: Like A Storm, Black Stone Cherry, Halestorm, 3 Doors Down, KoRn

Post #385

(an overdue review from 4 summers ago... See here for review of Day 2)

As Rock USA continued for its 3rd day on July 19th, 2014, I would again be taking in a variety of rock and metal music for an entire afternoon. The line-up on this day featured several bands I was looking forward to (Halestorm and Korn), and a few that were totally new to me (Like a Storm and Black Stone Cherry). In any case, it promised to be a day filled with awesome hard rock and metal music.

The first band I caught on the main stage was Like a Storm. They are a brand new band out of New Zealand, touring here in the States in support of their new album, Chaos Theory: Part 1, featuring their hit song 'I Love the Way You Hate Me'. They switched things up a bit with their alt-metal cover of Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise'. When it comes to their sound, between the vocals and guitar tones I felt they were comparable to Seether. These guys were something else! They even incorporate a didgeridoo into their music.

Next band on the main stage was Black Stone Cherry. They delivered their brand of hard rock with a veteran presence on-stage. Their songs were hard-edged yet made for mainstream radio. I recognized their main hit, 'White Trash Millionaire'. Their set was enjoyable and kept the crowd rocking out.

Halestorm were next, and they were one of the bands I'd been anticipating the most. It was late afternoon by this point and this band kept the crown engaged. Participation was encouraged by the band and the crowd responded. They opened with 'I Miss the Misery', a favorite of mine and a big hit of theirs. Lzzy proved to be one of the best band leaders of the whole fest. She kept the crowd engaged in the music, leading crowd participation segments, and interacting with her band mates. One of the best points of their set was here interaction with drummer (also her brother) during the drum solo. Another favorite from their set was 'A Familiar Taste of Poison'- a song I'd heard covered at Dame Nation Fest... But for me the real show stopping moment was when they launched into their cover of 'Dissident Aggressor'- the classic Judas Priest number (also a setlist staple for Slayer). Lzzy's voice sounded brilliant covering this metal classic, and she more than did the song justice, as Halestorm practically made it their own.

3 Doors Down performed on the main stage as the penultimate act of the day. They opened with 'Time of My Life', and their show was off and running. They delivered a great set, touching on all their major hits, and included  a new song from their (then) upcoming release. I was pleased to hear several songs from their debut album, The Better Life, as it is the album of theirs I know best. Of course the played Kryptonite- perhaps their most trademark of songs. Then it was down to Korn to close out the night...

Korn hit the stage with their unique, dark and twisted presence. 'Falling Away From Me' was the opening number. From heavy riffs to haunting 7-string lead guitars, dousing the outdoor ampitheater in the shadows of minor-key tones of ominous darkness, Korn blew the crowd away. Jonathan Davis' unique voice made spines tingle throughout the crowd. They closed this day of rock and metal music with a performance to be remembered. Not to be overlooked, they saved their early hit 'Blind' for their encore-closer.

All-in-all, it was a great day of live music enjoyed to the fullest. Setlists for these band on this day are as follows...

Like A Storm
-Chemical Infatuation
-Never Surrender
-Just Save Me
-Alone
-Nothing Remains
-Gangsta's Paradise (Coolio cover)
-Enemy
-T.N.T. (AC/DC cover)
-Love the Way You Hate Me

Black Stone Cherry
-Maybe Someday
-Me and Mary Jane
-Ghost of Floyd Collins
-Yeah Man
-Like I Roll
-Rain Wizard
-In My Blood
-Blind Man
-Fiesta del Fuego
-White Trash Millionaire
-Blame it on the Boom Boom
-Lonely Train
-30 Seconds of Death Metal

Halestorm
-I Miss the Misery
-Love Bites (So Do I)
-It's Not You
-Freak Like Me
-Break In
-Familiar Taste of Poison
-(drum solo)
-Dissident Aggressor (Judas Priest cover)
-Mz. Hyde
-Daughters of Darkness
-I Get Off

3 Doors Down
-Time of My Life
-It's Not My Time
-Duck and Run
-Away From the Sun
-Behind Those Eyes
-Loser
-Citizen/Soldier
-You Better Believe It
-Here Without You
-The Better Life
-Kryptonite
-When I'm Gone

KORN
-Falling Away From Me
-Twist
-Got the Life
-Did My Time
-Spike in My Veins
-Hater
-Shoots and Ladders
-Coming Undone
-Here to Stay
-Never Never
-Freak on a Leash
----
-Blind