Poison: Live, Raw & Uncut- with Sebastian Bach!

Post #32

The following is my concert review for Poison on tour with Sebastian Bach, Summer 2008.

It was a perfect summer afternoon in July when my brother & I hit the road for Peoria, IL to catch Poison live in concert with Sebastian Bach, from Skid Row, as the opening act. With a 3+ hour drive ahead of us, we stocked up our relevant CDs for music for the road, and set out on our journey...

Between the 2 of us, I was more of a Skid Row fan back in the early 90's, while my bro was the big Poison fan. That being said we spent much of the drive down there listening to albums from both artists, and mixing in a few others for good measure (we're also seeing the Metal Masters tour later this summer, so we threw some Judas Priest & Black Sabbath into the mix).

I knew that Bach had a new CD released recently, and I had one song from it on a recent sampler CD from a heavy metal magazine. My brother & I both enjoyed that one, and we were both familiar with Skid Row's oldie-but-goodie hits from their hey-day: Youth Gone Wild, 18 & Life, etc... Alternately, when we switched to Poison's material, we focused mostly on their later and more obscure material. Turns out that Poison have had a few CDs come out more recently that I never got around to ever hearing (Crack a Smile, Power to the People, Hollyweird). We also listened to a couple alternate, acoustic versions of Stand and Something To Believe In (with alternate lyrics) from the "Best of Ballads & Blues" compilation.

We arrived in plenty of time to find our seats and browse the memorabilia before the show kicked off. It was nice to take in the wide variety of fans that showed up for this show: teenagers, college kids, parents and their kids. Generally speaking I'd say the majority of the crowd were middle-age women; in other words, the same majority of fans Poison had in the 80's. There were still enough guys at the show that we didn't feel out of place. It was a little funny seeing hip-looking, teenage tough-guys sporting tee-shirts with the logo of one of the biggest hair-metal bands there ever was, but it goes to show a little of the staying power of simple rock-n-roll music.

We were sitting in our seats conversing about some random topic, and then the lights went down...

A guitar riff rings out loudly from the amplifiers, accompanied by a steady snare & bass drum beat. The rhythm builds, the volume steadily increases... My brother looks my way with a quizzical look on his face, and says, "Is this 'Back In The Saddle'?" And sure enough, it was "Back in the Saddle", a cover of the classic Aerosmith song we had just heard in the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game. We would later find out that Sebastian has a recording of this song included on his new CD, "Angel Down".

Sebastian continued his opening set with a healthy mix of his new material and Skid Row classics. I was really enjoying this part of the concert. I had actually seen Sebastian in concert at this same venue 10 years earlier, when he opened for Anthrax & Pantera; and I've also seen Skid Row without Sebastian when they opened for Kiss on their "farewell" tour in 2000. Sebastian's current band played all the old songs as well, or better, than both of those previous acts. Most importantly, his unmistakable voice sounded as good as ever! And his band sounded very heavy, like "Slave to the Grind"-era Skid Row.

As his band closed their set with the unforgettable hair-metal anthem, "Youth Gone Wild", he reminded us to get ready for Poison. And so we did, our anticipation began to build again...
15-20 minutes later, the video screen lit-up with a Poison logo, and shortly later a disclaimer was projected on the big screen: "Caution: The show you are about to witness contains material of an adult nature. ...Would you expect anything less?"

A few minutes later Poison took the stage, opening their set with a brief instru-medley intro that quickly morphed into "Look What The Cat Dragged In". And just like that the whole stadium was rocking-out to Poison like it was 1988 and nothing had changed as they played almost every one of their big hits from the 80's & early 90's!

My brother commented that he was surprised when they played "Ride The Wind". This was one of his favorite songs, but it was never as big as many of their other hits. I, on the other hand, was impressed when they played "Cry Tough", their first song from their first album, and also their first-ever single. Accompanying this song, they also played the music video for it on the huge video screen behind the stage. It was an interesting, contrasting view to see the present-day band playing a perfect rendition of this song, while the 22-year-old music video displayed what was probably the peak of the Glam/Hair Metal scene as they played. At one point Bret Michaels walked up to the cat-walk and sang a verse essentially super-imposed over the biggest fashion statement his band ever made in the 80's. As the song's message filled the arena; "You gotta cry tough out in the streets to make your dreams happen. You gotta cry out, out to the world to make them all come true." We really got the impression that this band has truly come full-circle. They bought into (if not invented) one of the biggest fads from the 80's, lost a lot of ground when the music scene drastically changed course in the 90's, had break-ups, solo efforts that fell short, a revolving door of members for a few years, and finally a reunion, and have persevered by coming back to the sound they were first know for (but also leaving the dated Hair-metal image rightfully in the past!)

It wasn't until the last portion of the show when they finally brought out some hits from their second album, "Open Up and Say... Ah!" When they began to play "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", the crowd reacted enthusiastically. And when they closed the number, Bret told a little story about the only guitar lesson he ever took in his life, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania for $12.00: the first 4 notes he ever learned to play on the guitar... are the same 4 notes as the grand finale of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"-possibly their biggest hit... and then he strummed the final chord.
I was slightly disappointed when they were playing "Fallen Angel", my personal favorite, and CC's guitar pick-up gave out during the guitar solo. He quickly swapped guitars with a stage-hand, and finished the song in good fashion, except my favorite guitar solo, from my favorite Poison song was skipped in the process! I didn't let it bother me though, as the next song was the finale: "Talk Dirty To Me". For the whole 3 or 4 minute duration of this classic Poison anthem, the stage was bombarded with every variety of bra imaginable, and a few panties too. Well, you can't blame them, they did warn of "content of an adult nature". And besides, it's Rock N' Roll!

Last but not least, after 5-10 minutes of a roaring crowd, they came back on stage and played "Nothin' But a Good Time" as their final encore. I was a little surprised to see that they never played any of their own newer material. The newest song they played was a cover of "What I Like About You" originally by The Romantics, from their '07 cover album, "Poison'd". That being said, the show was still a great Rock N' Roll concert. Even if it was mostly to feel nostalgia for the music of the 80's, it was great fun!

The setlist for both artists was as follows:

Sebastian Bach

Back In The Saddle

Slave to the Grind

Stuck Inside

18 & Life

American Metalhead

(Life is a) Bitchslap

By Your Side

Monkey Business

You Don't Understand

I Remember You

Youth Gone Wild

POISON

Look What The Cat Dragged In

I Want Action

Ride The Wind

I Won't Forget You

What I Like About You

Cry Tough

Something To Believe In

Your Mama Don't Dance

Unskinny Bop

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Fallen Angel

Talk Dirty To Me

~~~~~~~~~

Nothin' But A Good Time

State of the Blog Address

Post #31
It's been several months now that I've been writing on this blog, and I thought now is a good time to just say what's on my mind about it. I've greatly enjoyed putting my opinions of Heavy Metal music in writing, and hope you have found some entertainment in the reading of my posts. I plan to continue this trend of reviewing Heavy Metal music one artist or album at a time, but also expanding the style of the blog a bit.

The monthly poll is a great vehicle to keep a new topic on the horizon for me, as well as making sure it's music at least some of you are interested in. (You'll find that I always review the poll winner within a month of the closing of the poll, and label that post as a "poll winner"). The poll topics themselves may change in the coming months; as I begin run low on ideas, I might occasionally simply use a trivia question as a monthly poll. So polls of this nature would actually have a correct answer, and not be solely based on readers' opinions.

For those who are relatively new to this blog, I was going to write 2 simple posts in the near future just summarizing the previous "Lyric Quotes of the Month" up to the present, as well as the history of the monthly poll-winners (including my personal vote and my reason for that choice).

I was also considering writing concert reviews from concerts I have attended both past and present. I've given a bit of a taste of this when I've reviewed artists I've seen at Ozzfest (see the posts labeled with "Ozzfest"). Basically, I'll go one step further and review the entire show and highlights from the set list for a given concert, bringing more of a narrative to this blog.

Last but not least, I have a plan to write another "Music Mix" post that will be a "Best of Heavy Metal 107: Volume I". I plan to fill an 80-min CDR with one or two songs from each post on this blog in chronological order and see how far I get. Periodically I'll add a "Volume II" & "III" etc... as the posts on this blog continue to grow! In the end it should amount to a pretty unique mix of Heavy Metal music!

Another small point: you may find that I sometimes add artwork to a post several weeks after I post the text. This is simply a matter of me getting the free time to track down some artwork and uploading it to the blog. So if you go back and check out the same post at a later date, it may look different.

That's about all the thoughts I have for now. I'll update you again as I get new ideas. In the meantime you can always see the "Coming Soon" section to see the music I'm listening to & composing my thoughts on for future posts.

Later!
J.A.B.

The Kings of Thrash Metal...

Post #30 Poll Winner: Favorite Thrash band

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before I got around to writing about Metallica. In a way I'm glad they won the "thrash" poll, it forces me to work a Metallica review into my plans more quickly. Otherwise I might not have gotten around to it until their new CD is out.

It's no surprise that Metallica won the "Favorite Thrash Band" poll. One could even argue that the whole Thrash/Speed/Power Metal conglomerate would never have made it off the ground if it weren't for Metallica. Factor into the equation the fact that Dave Mustaine only formed Megadeth after being ousted from Metallica, and you might be looking at the history of Heavy Metal without 2 of the biggest titans in the Thrash genre. In short, we might owe more of metal's legacy to the existence of Metallica than we think!

During the early 80's the thrash metal bands formed in the wake of the influence of the (New) Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). [from this point on I'm dropping the "new"; I mean, come on, the late 70's & early 80's aren't "new" anymore, are they?] Thrash took many aspects of classic heavy metal to new heights. The speed, crunch, distortion, and overall intensity seemed to jump a couple notches each year from about 1982-1987. Metallica were at the forefront of this movement every step of the way. Their albums spread like wild-fire in the heavy metal underground. They stole the show repeatedly from Ozzy Osbourne when they opened for him on his '86 tour. And when they decided to film a music video for their song "One" to air on MTV, doors were blasted open for all of thrash metal.

When they recorded their self-titled "Black" album in 1991 they exhibited a significant phase-shift in their songwriting, as a few songs on the album were notably softer than most of their previous material. After years of touring in support of the "Black" album, Metallica took a thuroughly deserved hiatus, and wouldn't release a new recording until 1996. Thrash-metal as we knew it from Metallica had come to an end. The band has gone on to ever greater success since, but has continued to experiment and expand upon their sound over the years, leaving an ever-growing legacy that few heavy metal bands may ever equal.

Here's a very brief list of recommended songs by Metallica. Eventually I'll write a more in-depth review of their music and highlight my favorite songs album-by-album, so watch for that in the future. For now, try...

-One

-(Welcome Home) Sanitarium

-Holier Than Thou

-King Nothing

-Frantic

-Phantom Lord

-Fight Fire With Fire

-Fade To Black

-No Leaf Clover

-Am I Evil?
-The Unforgiven

Patriotic Rock for the 4th!

Post #29
Every 4th of July when we celebrate our national independence, I can't help but to make a point to listen to a few hard rockin' renditions of patriotic songs. Here are some of my favorites to listen to this time of year:

-Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix

-4th of July by Soundgarden
-Light Up The Sky by Van Halen (this one isn't really about patriotism, but I like it because it makes me think of fireworks displays!)
-In America by Britny Fox
-Star Spangled Banner by Kiss
-Star Spangled Banner & Declaration Day by Iced Earth
-Rockin' In The USA by Kiss
-American Girl by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
-Pink Houses by John Mellencamp

HappyHeadbanger online radio premiers!

Post #28
Hey there readers, tired of browsing through my endless babble of heavy metal in dull, boring silence? Well, now those days are over! To hear free, online radio, with a play-list modeled after my own suggestions, simply click the link at the bottom of this blog and click "play this station". You may need to create a free account with Pandora.com in order to hear the music, but at least now you can all bang your heads while you read.

I plan to continue to add all my suggested artists, albums, and songs to the play-list over the next few weeks. Keep listening as HappyHeadbanger Radio evolves! Enjoy!

1976: The Greatest Year in Rock!

Post #27
I'll admit I'm a bit biased about the year 1976 (being that it's the year I was born), but the more I consider the lasting power of much of the rock music that came out that year, I find it harder and harder to argue there was any other year that produced as many great rock songs. Whether you grew up in the 70's or discovered the music of that era as you tracked down the influential artists of many of today's rock bands, you may be surprised at how many essential rock songs were first heard in the year 1976.

Consider for a second a world of rock music without some of these songs; Hotel California (Eagles), Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult), Detroit Rock City (Kiss), Hurricane (Dylan)... all from 1976. And there's more where those came from, not to mention several other great songs from the albums those songs came from.

I'll let this post serve as foreshadowing of an upcoming poll question. It's certain to be the toughest poll yet! So study-up on your music collection form '76- it'll help you decide which album to vote for next month...

Some notable releases from 1976 that might be included in the poll:
Eagles-Hotel California
Boston
Kiss-Destroyer
Rush-2112
Bob Dylan-Desire
Ramones

And don't worry, there's more where those came from! Good luck and happy listening

KISS Unplugged-The KISS Reunion Captured Live!

Post #26 Poll Winner-Favorite 'Unplugged' albumAs far as "Unplugged" albums go, I love how they almost always provide a thurough glimpse of a different side of an artist we don't usually see. When you add to this an unexpected reunion with former or original band members, it becomes even more special. With KISS' Unplugged album, you get both sides of this experience.

More than at any other point of their career, MTV Unplugged is a crossroads in KISS' history. It is a one-time performance where their past met their present, and re-routed their future. For much of the performance, it was a simple setlist performed by the KISS line-up that had been intact since '92, although many of the songs were old, rare tunes that were scarcely (if at all) performed live before. Then, just when the show seemed to be winding down, Paul announces that they "Have some members of the family here tonight... and I'm not talking about Mom & Dad."

For however many of the faithful followers of KISS who happened to be watching this performance, what happened next was the shock of any rock-music fan's life... Ace Frehley & Peter Criss, the original members of KISS, strolled onto the stage and finished the rest of the show along side Gene, Paul, Bruce Kulick, & Eric Singer.


This unique 6-member line-up performed the final four songs of the show and added a new twist to each one. I'll never forget seeing that show, and how it set the stage for the reunion of the original KISS, and their return to their trade-make make-up & stage show. It was only after the KISS reunion that I ever got to see them in concert, and I've managed to see them 3 times.


My picks for this one-of-a-kind Unplugged album...
-Comin' Home
-Goin' Blind
-Rock Bottom
-2,000 Man
-Nothin' to Lose (This one is really special. Taken from their 1st album, the original 4 members belt it out like never before!)
-Got to Choose (DVD only, or else you can find it on the KISS Box Set.)
-Beth (This arrangement & performance is the best recording of this classic ballad. Having 3 guitars to interpret parts of the song originally played by an orchestra brings the song to new heights)

A Bargain Hunter's Finds (More Iced Earth!)

Post #25
My music collection is always growing. I occasionally sell back some titles at used CD stores, but it's a rare occurance. Mostly, I find the used music market is always the best place to find those elusive recordings that I missed out on when they were 1st released. Truthfully it's only a handful of times a year that I even buy a music title new from a retailer (and often I redeem either coupons or gift cards to do so!) The used market is much easier on the pocketbook too! Aside from that I also utilize the Audio-visual section of my local library to keep up on hot, new rock music artists.


One of my favorite used CD stores places to frequent is Half Price Books. HPB is a chain in the midwest. You can find their nearest location to you at their website: http://www.halfpricebooks.com/. I recently found some great deals on heavy metal CDs there...


First, by random luck, while browsing through the "I"'s I ran across Iced Earth's "Days of Purgatory" 2-CD set... for $7.98!!! I couldn't pass this up. A collection of their early material re-recorded with Matt Barlow on vocals. A really great find.



Later that same week, I was out visiting family and we decided to go out shopping and we checked out another HPB location. At this one I restricted myself to the clearance section for music. I still couldn't escape without a great find as I ran across Iced Earth's 4th album, "The Dark Saga" for a mere $2.00!!!!!!!!!



Needless to say I was quite satisfied with these finds for the week, and managed to fill in a big chunck of my Iced Earth collection for under $10.00. I've given them a fair amount of listening already, and can give you some recommended tracks:



From "The Dark Saga"
-Dark Saga
-Violate
-The Hunter
-Slave to the Dark

From "Days of Purgatory"
-Angels Holocaust
-Stormrider
-When The Night Falls
-Desert Rain
-Travel in Stygian

Music Mix Mania! (pt. 2) Metallic Catastrophe

Post #24
Sometimes I find that I've collected a vast amount of excellent, shredding metal music in a relatively short period of time that I have difficulty thoroughly enjoying each title. Sometimes it's moments like these that drive me to burn another good mix CD, allowing a balanced sampling of newly acquired music. This was the case when I compiled "Metallic Catastrophe!"- A really rippin' mix of some excellent (mostly) new heavy metal tunes.


Here's an annotated list of the songs I chose for this mix:


1-Bruce Dickinson-"Abduction" This is from Bruce's most recent solo album, "Tyranny of Souls". I have this song on a sampler CD I got in Classic Rock magazine. I've yet to collect the whole album, but if "Abduction" is any indication of the rest of the CD, then I'm missing out on some good metal!

2-Black Tide-"Shockwave" I've said plenty about Black Tide already on this blog, the reason I've included this song on this mix CD should be obvious... this song kicks ass!!!

3-Trivium-"Anthem (We Are The Fire)" I'm still listening to The Crusade 3-4 times a week. I had to put a song from this album on this mix. "Anthem" is true to it's name; an anthem for heavy metal. You feel an urge to scream along, "We are the Fire!" when you're hearing this song!

4-Avenged Sevenfold-"Chapter Four" This is one of the older songs on this mostly brand-new song collection. From Waking the Fallen, this is probably my favorite song.

5-Megadeth-"Gears of War" From their newest album. I could have easily chosen "Washington Is Next!" or "Sleepwalker", but I think I chose "Gears of War" because I had a lyric from this song in my head while I was making this mix. The lyric... "Smart bombs, precision guided armaments. A more sophisticated way to end up dead!"

6-Serj Tankian-"Sky Is Over" I got Serj's Elect The Dead CD as a gift this past Christmas. This song jumped out at me after my first listen. I still think it's one of the best songs on this solo project from the System of a Down front-man.

7-Iced Earth-"The Clouding" I mentioned this song in my Iced Earth post. I include it on this mix for the same reasons; it's a great epic song that transforms from melodic to thrashy about halfway through. I placed it in the middle of this mix because of its length (if not, I fear I'd run out of room on the CD!)

8-Trivium-"Becoming the Dragon" Another Trivium song. I'm still very into this CD! I couldn't help but to put another selection from "The Crusade" on this mix. I chose this particular song for the intentional play-on-words I utilized with the following song...

9-DragonForce-"Through the Fire and Flames" Wow! How can I describe DragonForce? I'll have to figure it out before I complete my upcoming post on them. I chose this song to put on this mix because it's not only their best know song (with their performing & promoting it on their Ozzfest appearance, as well as its appearance in the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock), it is also a great example of Herman Li & Sam Totman's unfathomable lead soloing skills. You'll find about 2 minutes worth of non-stop guitar soloing in this song!

10-Lordi-"The Kids Who Wanna Play With The Dead" It's almost unfair to any song I would have follow a DragonForce song. However, since I elected not to have DragonForce as the closing song, someone had to follow. I really dig Lordi. Their horrific visions depicted in their lyrics are very entertaining. Again, you have to keep a horror-movie frame of mind while listening to Lordi. "Kids" is also a great rocking-metallic song.

11-Dokken-"Drown" Of all the songs on this mix, this one is the curve-ball. "Dokken?" you may ask? But trust me, this one is worth a listen. It comes from one of the better of their many come-back efforts throughout the late 90's- "Erase the Slate". This also features the great Reb Beach on lead guitar, replacing George Lynch. Reb brought his intense ripping lead guitar style into the Dokken sound quite smoothly. And Don's songwriting wasn't so bad either. "Drown" features a dark and haunting riff that really stuck in my head...

12-Dream Theater-"Constant Motion" Dream Theater are such a great band. They're quite heavy but also are top-notch musicians, and it's apparent in their ambitious music. The only downside is probably that they almost put out albums faster that I can keep up with. I put a selection from their newest album, "Systematic Chaos" on this mix so that I can get some more exposure to their music. I can't wait to write a full post about them. It might take me awhile though...

13-Demons & Wizards-"Crimson King" A Stephen King inspired song (from The Dark Tower series!). This band is a side project from members of Iced Earth & Blind Guardian. This heavy and fast song comes from an album highly influenced by King's Dark Tower series. If you're a Dark Tower reader & enjoy this song, check out the album "Touched by the Crimson King"

14-Lordi-"They Only Come Out at Night" Another Lordi song. Again, it's filled with great haunting imagery backed by heavy rock guitar riffage!

15-Iron Maiden-"The Longest Day" I had to have at least one song from Maiden's "A Matter Of Life And Death" album, and this was my favorite at the time. Listening to this song always makes me feel like I'm watching the opening sequence of the film, "Saving Private Ryan"- where they're storming the beaches under heavy fire. I also like having Bruce Dickinson singing on the last song here; it book-ends this collection well.

Black Tide: Light From Above

Post #23
Well, I promised I'd follow up with this band once I heard their debut album, and I'm pleased to say I've added it to my collection and I'm far from disappointed. I bought this CD the day it was released, so I've had several weeks to properly digest their debut material for this review. Black Tide more than live up to the expectations I had from seeing them at Ozzfest a year ago, and hearing their 2-song sampler distributed at Hot Topic. These guys really could be the future of metal (as "Ultimate Revenge Magazine" said in a quote on the promotional sticker on the CD). "Light From Above" is filled with classic metal riffs, melodic grooves, and ripping guitar solos that respectfully honor the band's many influences. The album is oozing with raw potential from start to finish.

The band's frontman, Gabriel Garcia, has proven he has some great song-writing potential, and he's so young (age 14 when they played Ozzfest!) there's no way he can do anything but improve. His voice is a bit reminiscent of the early days of Silverchair's Daniel Johns (I know it's weird I should make that comparison since Johns was also under 18 when he recorded the 1st Silverchair album, Frogstomp). But the rest of the band's sound seems to draw from many sources of inspiration. In addition to Megadeth, Metallica, & Guns N' Roses (all referenced in Spin's quote on the Promo sticker), there are distinct elements of Iron Maiden apparent in songs like "Warriors of Time", & "Enterprise". Black Tide also have a few songs that sound like they fit right in with some of their Ozzfest '06 tour-mates. The closing title track, "Light From Above" could sound like an Avenged Sevenfold song, and "Let Me" has an intro riff that betrays an influence from Black Label Society's (& Ozzy Osbourne guitarist) Zakk Wylde. "Show Me the Way" re-works a Megadeth riff from "The Conjuring", but it develops into a very enjoyable metal song. "Give Me a Chance" and "Live Fast, Die Young" are much more 'rock' oriented songs and less 'metal'.

And last but not least, I have to mention their cover of Metallica's "Hit the Lights". This was the 1st song I heard them perform live at Ozzfest, and was hesitant to recommend it on my first post because I wasn't sure they would record it for their debut album. However they did record it, and it is a near flawless rendition. I even went so far as to listen to both versions simultaneously. I was amazed to hear that the tempo and intensity of this cover was practically a perfect match. The only differences are 1: the guitar solos (obviously, soloing is the most artistic aspect of heavy metal guitar playing, and I'd have been a bit let down if Garcia just copied Kirk's solos note for note), and 2: the tempo of the "breakdown" segment. You'll find Metallica whip through that part a little faster than Black Tide, and you'll have to pause one CD player & let the other catch up. All things considered, they couldn't have performed it better. It's perhaps a bit symbolic that they choose this Metallica tune to cover. It was Metallica's first song on their first album, back when they hadn't truly established a direction for their own music (as they later did on their next 2 albums). It's a mission-statement song for metal if ever there was one!


All-in-all Light From Above is packed with a vast variety of rock & metal song-styles. It might be the only down-side of this CD, that there's too much variety. However if you're looking for a versatile new heavy metal band, then here's the band you've been waiting for. As young as they are, Black Tide have the potential to pull the heavy metal genre in their direction. I foresee that they will refine their sound & direction over 2-3 more albums as they continue to write music, possibly incorporating many of their apparent influences more cohesively into future songs. To paraphrase the lyrics of "Give Me a Chance"; we should give Black Tide a chance to figure out who they are. I'm sure we'll not be disappointed.

In addition to my previous recommendations (Shockwave & Warriors of Time) from my previous post on Black Tide, I recommend...
-Enterprise
-Give Me a Chance
-Hit The Lights
-Light From Above

Nirvana-The 1st Name in Grunge

Post #22 (Poll Winner: Favorite Grunge Band)
That Nirvana won the "Favorite Grunge Band" Poll was a fact I probably could have predicted. You have to admit that the first song of the whole Grunge scene you can probably recall is "Smells Like Teen Spirit", right? And don't forget the video that was always playing on MTV.... the flannel wearing teens with the unkempt hair, cheering Nirvana in their high school gymnasium, while cheerleaders sporting tank-tops emblazoned with the anarchy symbol shook their ratty pom-poms... it was pretty much a snapshot of the image that became know as "grunge".

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the whole Nirvana phenomenon
is probably Kurt Cobain himself. He truly became the prototype
image of grunge. The scraggly hair, and scratchy-scream vocals he
provided to the music... these were aspects of grunge that were
endlessly emulated by the alt-rock bands that followed in the footsteps
of grunge. And lastly the fact that Cobain took his own life during the
peak of his band's career was sure to leave an impression on the
hearts of those who loved the grunge scene, and particularly fans of
Nirvana.

Without further adieu, my picks from Nirvana:
-Heart Shaped Box
-Smells Like Teen Spirit
-Rape Me
-Big Cheese
-About a Girl
-Pennyroyal tea
-Polly
-Something in The Way
-I Hate Myself & Want to Die
-All Apologies

(covers)
-Do You Love Me (You can find this one on the Kiss tribute entitled "Hard to
Believe", it is a pre-Bleach recording by Nirvana)
-Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam
-The Man Who Sold the World
-Lake of Fire
-Where Did You Sleep Last Night (trad. also done by Bob Dylan & The
Grateful Dead)

The Lost Disciples of Eddie Van Halen

...Or "The Unsung Guitar Heroes of the Hair-Metal Era." 

Post #21 

In the late 70's, a dude named Eddie Van Halen was developing some of the most revolutionary self-taught lead-guitar techniques. So much so, that before they had a recording contract, Eddie would play his guitar solos with his back to the crowd so nobody could steal his techniques. At one show, Gene Simmons of Kiss happened to be watching and immediately decided to fund a demo session for them. The demo quickly earned them a contract with Warner Bros. Records.

 

One day while Van Halen were recording their first album, their producer, Ted Templeton, happened to walk into the studio during Eddie Van Halen's 'warm-up drill', which he always did before a show or recording session. He asked, "Hey Eddie, what was that you just played?" "Nothing, really. I'm just warming up." he replied. "Can you play it again?" Ted asked, and pressed the 'record' button. Eddie replied, "Sure." The resulting 1:42 of music was given a name (Eruption), and was made the 2nd track on VH's debut album in 1978. The world of electric guitar has never been the same since. 

Eddie's revolutionary new sound & techniques quickly spawned a whole generation of guitarists that would fill the air-waves with a new sub-genre in rock & metal music. It has become know as Glam, or Hair Metal. Nearly every one of these bands had a phenomenal guitarist in their own right. However, when having an excellent guitarist is so common-place, not everyone ends up so well-remembered. 

 In the early 90's the Grunge/Alternative bands from Seattle hijacked the angsty hearts of the country's youth, and the Hair-Metal genre quickly had the floor drop out from underneath it. Flashy technical guitar solos were no longer 'in', and this whole generation of guitar phenoms was pretty much forgotten.

Here's a look at some of the better names from that era that may not be as fresh in your mind as Eddie Van Halen, but are still worthy of more respect than you might think. I'll let the music speak for itself, and recommend some songs from each artist that highlight their lead guitarist. So check them out. 

Here are the names you shouldn't have forgotten... In roughly ascending order... 

  Warren DeMartini (Ratt) 

Ratt are best know for their only top-40 hit, "Round and Round". However, this band quietly had a lot of albums and singles through the 80's that filled rock-radio play-lists and video air-time on MTV. Some of Ratt's better songs that highlight DeMartini's skill as a lead guitarist are: 

-Back for More 

-Body Talk 

-Giving Yourself Away 

-Way Cool Jr. 

-Dance 

-All or Nothing 

-Nobody Rides for Free 

  CC Deville (Poison) 

The first name that comes to mind from the band Poison is probably Bret Michaels. He's back in the headlines lately, via his many Reality TV show appearances (Nashville Star as a judge, and VH-1's Rock of Love 2). However, you should keep in mind that he was a lead singer for a Hair Metal band 1st, and that's still his original claim to fame. Many of his songs are made memorable by the great guitar solos provided by C.C. Deville. Here are some of the best examples. 

-Play Dirty 

-Every Rose Has its Thorn 

-Fallen Angel 

-Your Mama Don't Dance 

-Flesh & Blood 

-Po' Boy Blues 

  Bruce Kulick (KISS) 

After Ace Frehley left Kiss in 1981, the band struggled to find a replacement who would fit. The first couple of replacements lasted for just one album with the band. Finally in '86, Kiss hired Bruce Kulick to fill the lead guitarist role... Even though the late 80's can probably be considered KISS' low-point of their career, Bruce made sure that most of these songs had at least a 30 second highlight... his guitar solos! Bruce was a younger guitarist, bringing a fresh guitar style to the band. He was also a product of the Eddie Van Halen era. EVH's influence can be heard in Bruce's lead guitar style, most notably on the following songs: 

-No No No (After hearing the intro to this song there's no denying Kulick was under the influence of Eddie) 

-Love's A Deadly Weapon 

-Crazy, Crazy Nights 

-The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away 

  Stevie Blaze (Lillian Axe) 

Lillian Axe were one of the hair metal bands that really hit too late for their own good; their 1st major-label release coming in 1990 (at the tail end of the hair-metal era). While they quickly fell into obscurity after 2 semi-successful albums, those who took the time to discover them should have been impressed with Stevie Blaze's ripping guitar solos. If you missed out the first time around, check out these songs: 

-Innocence (Awesome acoustic guitar solo on this one!) 

-Dying to Live (Shades of Blue) 

-She's My Salvation 

-Stop The Hate 

-The Needle & Your Pain 

 

  Vito Bratta (White Lion) 

White Lion thrived in the hair-metal era, and if their excellent lead-guitarist Vitto Bratta is guilty of anything, it may be sounding a little too much like Eddie Van Halen (Heck, he even looks alot like Eddie!) He was, however, vital to making many of Mike Tramp's catchy songs stand out from the hair-metal-crowded air-waves in the mid-to-late 80's. Some of his best guitar solos can be found on the following songs: 

-Let's Get Crazy (Listen to this song, then pop in Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" and tell me you don't hear the influence of Eddie!) 

-Little Fighter 

-Radar Love (I know the true highlight of this song is the drum solo, but Bratta's guitar soloing throughout is pretty cool too!) 

-Wait 

-When The Children Cry 

-All You Need is Rock N' Roll (Live) 

  Reb Beach (Winger) 

Winger are a band that were cursed by the hair-metal era, for underneath the glammy appearance they had in their early years, they were great musicians. Their best material is found on their least popular 3rd album, "Pull". This effort fit into neither Hair-metal, nor the up-&-coming Grunge era of the time, but if you give it a fair chance you'll probably find you like it quite a bit. Kip Winger continued a trend of excellent songwriting into his obscure solo-career, but its the phenomenal talent of lead guitarist Reb Beach I'm keeping in mind with the following suggestions: 

-Headed for a Heartbreak 

-Purple Haze (Just attempting to cover a Hendrix song is risky, but Reb has the talent to both pull it off, and give it his own twist.) 

-Baptized by Fire (It's the intro of this song that merits the recommendation, I wouldn't blame you if you stop it when Kip starts to rap) 

-Spell I'm Under 

-Junk Yard Dog (Tears on Stone) (This one is my all-time personal favorite from Winger) 

-No Man's Land 

-Black Magic (Reb's true masterpiece isn't found on any Winger album... To listen to this one you'll need to track down an old compilation CD by Guitar World magazine: Guitars That Rule The World. Others included on this great collection include Yngwie Malmsteen & Zakk Wylde, but I think "Black Magic" is the best track from the album, and certainly the best example of Reb's skill.) 

  George Lynch (Dokken) 

Dokken were one of the first hair-metal bands, but their members fell victim to the clash of their own personalities too soon to make it through the entire 80's hair-metal scene. Who knows how different their legacy might have been had they stuck together? All things considered, no one can deny Lynch's excellence as a lead guitarist. For some of the best guitar solos that sound somewhere between Eddie Van Halen & Marty Friedman, check out George's solos on these songs: 

-Paris Is Burning 

-Tooth & Nail 

-Into The Fire 

-Mr. Scary (For this one I mean the live version from the album "Beast From the East". Lynch's extended guitar solo precedes the band's performance of Mr. Scary. George does so much in this solo that in some ways it's unfair to compare him to any other guitarist!) 

-Unchain the Night 

-Kiss of Death 

-Cry of the Gypsy 

-Night by Night 

  Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) 

...And last but far from least... Nuno! It's perhaps the biggest tragedy of all rock guitar history that Extreme couldn't salvage some success after the decline of the Hair-Metal Era. They're most well known for their hit ballad "More Than Words", but Nuno truly was the greatest player of 6-strings since Eddie Van Halen. Its a crime that more people aren't aware of this fact. That's what this post is for. If you choose only one of these artists to track down some of their music after reading this post, I hope its Extreme. You deserve to hear some of the fastest, coolest, shredding-est electric guitar showmanship there ever was in the 80's/90's. Some of the best guitar solos you may never have heard of before, simply because they were either never released as a single, or because they were hidden among many other great solos from this underrated era. For the best of Bettencourt, find these songs & listen to them: 

-Mutha (Don't Wanna Go To School Today) 

-Rock A Bye Bye (Though you may find this a slow & boring ballad, stick it out to the end where you'll find a great melodic electric guitar solo!) 

-Play With Me (Made famous from the movie, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: where Genghis Khan & co. ravage the San Dimas mall while Beethoven jams on electric keyboard; this is also the finale song from the game, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's) 

-Get The Funk Out 

-Flight of the Wounded Bumble-Bee (this is an intro to the song, "He-Man Woman-Hater", and for all intents & purposes, this is Nuno's "Eruption") 

-Song For Love (careful not to leave a half-full wine glass on you speakers during this song's guitar solo, the final note of the solo has shattered  glass goblets.) Enjoy these re-discovered guitar gods!

Epic Rock Songs of the 70's!

Post #20 (Poll Winner: Fovorite Epic Rock Song from the 70's)
In 1965, Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone" as a single. It was a #2 billboard hit, and the first song longer than 6 minutes to reach that level of the top 40 chart. It was a true turning point for rock music. It broke down the door for recording artists, and made the record industry realize that song length really wasn't as big a deal as previously believed. Long songs became more common over the next few years, and by the time the 70's were in full swing, it seemed almost every big-name rock band had an 'epic' rock-song hit.

The most memorable of these long rock songs has to be Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". I've talked with some people from my parents' generation about this song, and without fail, they say how it dominated the airwaves seemingly forever. The song has permanently attached itself to the early 70's era, and is one of the most intricate, and expertly crafted hard-rock songs of all-time.

It's a cultural phenomenon within itself. Remember the scene from the movie Wayne's World, where the guitar-shop owner stopped Wayne from playing the opening notes of "Stairway" because a sign in the store declared: "No Stairway to Heaven"? Don't forget my mentioning the compilation CD, "Stairways to Heaven" from my previous Led Zep post: a collection of different interpretations of the classic song.

I'll leave you with this quote that closes the song:
"And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll."