4 Years Ago (2017)
I was busy writing my EOY lists during this week.
8 Years Ago (2013)
From “I Am Giant”, released in 2010.
It has this bass intro that reminds me of the song “Comedown” from Bush and the drum beat makes me think of “When The Levee Breaks” from Led Zeppelin. If you want an introduction into the band, then this is the song to start with.
“Are we living?
Or merely killing time?
BOOM.
Then the distorted guitars crash, mimicking the bass riff.
Check it out
The Buick stage design was a great concept.
It was fitting that they opened up with “That’s What the Water Made Me”, the best song from the “What About Now” album.
And they then went back to 1986 with two classics “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Raise Your Hands” from the “Slippery When Wet” album.
And the 50,000 plus crowd enjoyed every note as the band went through their catalogue of songs.
The story of the Bon Jovi “Greatest Hits” album goes back to 2007. At that time, Jon was very interested in developing the country rock sound that he experimented with on the unexpected hit single, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” which was featured on the 2005 album, “Have A Nice Day”.
The label, Universal Music wasn’t interested in allowing Jon to follow his muse, and instead wanted a “Greatest Hits” package from the band.
In the end, Universal couldn’t stop Jon from going ahead with the album; however the label believed that they would lose a lot of money on it.
So the label made Jon promise that once the country rock album bombs, Jon will deliver a “Greatest Hits” album.
But the“Lost Highway” album and world tour was successful.
After the “Lost Highway” tour, Jon and Richie got together and started writing five songs for the promised “Greatest Hits” package that was to come next.
Then the global financial crisis happened, and according to Richie Sambora, he and Jon just continued writing more than the required amount of songs needed for the “Greatest Hits” package.
Another argument was put forward to the label to release a new album, which in turn would postpone the “Greatest Hits” release again.
From the songs written, most of them would end up on “The Circle” album, with five songs left over for the “Greatest Hits” package.
The “Greatest Hits” was finally released in October 2010, while the band was still touring on “The Circle” album and it gave the band further momentum to hit the road again in 2011.
And I wrote 7000 plus words about the “Greatest Hits” package and the story behind it.
If you want to read about a Swedish band called Blowsight, then read on.
It is a well-known fact that Led Zeppelin has borrowed (or stolen depending on how people view this) bits and pieces from other artists however Zeppelin’s influence and reach is vast and if there was no Led Zeppelin, a lot of bands that we love and like today would have not have existed in the form that we know them.
One such band is Whitesnake.
For a lot of people, their first hearing of Whitesnake was in 1987 and a song called “Still of the Night”.
The song is written by lead singer David Coverdale and guitarist John Sykes.
The Led Zeppelin influence is unmistakable.
The vocal delivery over the F#5 power chord in the intro reminds me of Robert Plant from “Black Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock” from Elvis Presley.
When the riff kicks in straight after, the ears are treated to a combination riff based on “Black Dog” and “Immigrant Song”.
Even though it is derivative, it is hard to burn out on the song because it doesn’t sound like anything else.
It’s hard to believe that “Black Waltz” was Avatar’s fourth release. Another band from Sweden and the famous Gothenburg melodic death metal scene.
I was interested to check this band out after the guys from Five Finger Death Punch mentioned in an interview that Avatar’s new album is doing the rounds while they are on tour and that it is influencing them in the riff department.
Avatar has just so many elements in their music.
Industrial rhythms (like Rammstein) – check
Old Time Rock N Roll boogie – check
Swedish melodic death metal scene (like In Flames) – check
Hyperactive metal (like System of A Down) – check
Modern Metal elements (like Disturbed) – check
Technical Metal elements (like Meshuggah, Sikth) – check
Melodic, arena sized choruses – check
And that is what I got from listening to Black Waltz. A bizarre, melodic, psychotic freakshow.
Check em out.
And that’s another wrap for another week.
destroyerofharmony 
Still of the Night is such a huge monster riff. Man I still love that one!
Speaking of Richie Sambora, I just watched a video of Richie’s last concert with Bon Jovi (before he left without telling anyone) and it is very sad. Jon had no idea what was coming, but also with Jon’s big ego, I felt like I was watching a Jon Bon Jovi solo concert. Also, I don’t understand why the label was pushing for a greatest hits so much when people can just buy the albums with the songs themselves. But I do enjoy that “What Do You Got?” track; it has a pretty melody.
A greatest hits is seen as easy cash. No expenses to curate all the songs into a single package. In Australia it’s one of their biggest albums at 8x Platinum.
And if you go the Wikipedia page for it, you’ll see it sold like crazy around the world.
Ok, so the label wanted more money? Got it. That explains why Kiss has a million greatest hits albums.
Yep, you’re right. On the Wikipedia page, this is what it says: “In the United States the album debuted and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 the week of November 27, 2010 with 88,000 copies sold, exceeding the first week sales of the band’s 1994 hits collection, Cross Road, which sold 84,000 units in its debut week, the next week it dropped to number eighteen; it remained on the chart for eighty five weeks.”
Is it bad though if the greatest hits does better business than some of the band’s studio albums?
There’s a lot of mileage in an artists best work.
Prior to the MTV 80s, acts had a 10 year shelf life max. Most 60s acts were finished up or fading in the 70s and most 70s acts were finished up or fading in the early 80s.
And Most of the artists best work was done during their first 10 year period.
Jovi had a great run between 1983 and 1993. It’s that catalogue of work that provides them with the victory lap.
And they were fading after that until “It’s My Life” resurrected them at the start of the 2000’s.
10 year shelf life sounds about correct, now that I think about it. A band can only be relevant for so long. As for Bon Jovi, “It’s My Life” was my introduction to the band.
It’s a pretty good introduction.
There’s a sports saying that the air is pretty thin on the mountaintop, meaning that you are not meant to be hanging around at the top for a long period.
The same could be applied for music.
Jovi is one of those acts whose sales in the 2000s don’t correspond to what they’re bringing in at the live arena.
Yep, that’s usually what greatest hits do. They introduce the band in a less expensive way, if you don’t want to commit to buying their albums yet.
That’s a good saying and so true, especially for music. Yet, I’ve never heard of that quote before.
Yeah, especially with Jon’s current voice. Definitely not like how it was in the 2000s.
Hey all you Destroyers out there, this is the Bubba guy from NYC. Just a heads up, tmw (Tues) I’m gonna be doing a 4 hr radio show on MakerParkRadio.NYC. Bubba Guitar mix of Xmas holiday tunes + 2021 Rn’R round up & anything else I can think of…Take care all, happy holidays…
Bubba Guitar
Whoops, maybe put the time in right?!? Stunad…
Show will be live from 12:00 – 4:00 Tuesday afternoon, NY time…Thx, take care all…