Author Archives: destroyerofharmony

A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Influenced, movies, Music, My Stories, Stupidity, Unsung Heroes

Past Success

Is past success a good indication that you will have success again in the future?

Netflix thinks so, with the signing of the “Game Of Thrones” TV show creators to a $200 million deal. Their track record on reinterpreting other peoples material is pretty good, but their original content is pending review especially how they reinterpreted the last two seasons of GoT without really having source material to fill in the details.

This is like signing an artist to a $200 million deal when all of their songs are written by outside writers.

Remember the band Bananarama. They had a hit with “Venus”, a cover song and then their other hits were songs written by a British songwriting team called Stock-Aitken-Waterman. Well they got the mega deal, but didn’t really get the hits again.

Kevin DuBrow was given a million dollar contract to form his own band DuBrow but what the label failed to notice was that Quiet Riot’s two biggest songs are cover songs. Or offering Jay Jay French from Twisted Sister the same deal when Dee Snider wrote the material which made the band famous.

When Dokken splintered, Geffen went after Don Dokken and Elektra went after George Lynch, but what both labels failed to notice was that Jeff Pilson was the maestro, with a hand in co-writing all of Dokken’s most successful tracks. But no label went after him.

Even when Vince Neil left Motley Crue, he was courted by label’s and Warner Bros eventually signed him. But his fame is based on tracks Nikki Sixx had written.

Good business sense would be to see what their original shows or movies end up like.

But businesses don’t think like that. Netflix is losing subscribers for the first time in 11 years, Disney is taking back their content for their own streaming service and HBO and Amazon are also keen to get the GoT guys.

So by Netflix having these guys on board, by 2022 they would expect something in return. And Netflix would count on people keeping their subscriptions because of what they have in the pipeline.

But it’s all based on one key metric, as long as the GoT TV show creators brand doesn’t get further damaged in the meantime.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

1984 – VI – The Reckless Knights Of Thunder Seven And The Purple Rain

Was the news we read and saw on TV ever legit, independent and free from corporate interests.

These days, it’s evident that 99% of news publishers are teamed up with a corporation who sets the agenda. And the public interests are not served at all. Which means, the public needs to read critically and make up their own mind on the situation.

But researchers are finding out that the majority will read the headline, maybe the opening paragraph and then move on to another story. It wasn’t like that before. I remember my older brothers buying three different newspapers, from three different organisations. And the same stories had vastly different headlines.

Sort of like when you purchased a music magazine back in the day. When it was all just metal, it was okay. Then the magazines diverged into metal and rock and suddenly, the metal mags had nothing good to say about “rock” bands which a few months before were “metal” bands. And then those metal bands became hair bands and the cycle repeats.

Anyway, here are some artists that rock as hard as the rock heads and metal heads but you wouldn’t see them written up in any of those magazines.

Here are the previous parts of the 1984 series if you’re interested;

Part 1 – Ep 1

Part 2 – Ep 2

Part 3 – Are We Evil Or Divine?

Part 4 – The Warning

Part 5 – Grace Under Pressure

And here is the Spotify playlist for Part 6.

TNT – Knights Of The New Thunder

TNT.

What can I say about this band?

From Finland, who had a record deal with Polygram. They had a guitar hero in Ronnie Le Tekro who is still virtually unknown outside of the TNT fan base and a vocalist in Tony Harnell (Hansen on the album) who had the chops.

They got me interested, they lost me, they got me interested again and lost me again. I still check them out to this day.

Let’s talk about the title track.

Has anyone heard it?

“Knights Of The New Thunder” has an intro keyboard riff that Jack White might have heard at some point and then decided to use that same keyboard riff for a song called “Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes.

And of course, “Seven Nation Army” becomes huge, makes a lot of money and Jack White, along with his publisher are now going after any artist who has anything similar. A recent Eurovision winner from Israel copped a lawsuit from Jack White’s publisher.

But, but, TNT was there many years before that. And I am sure if someone digs in deeper, they will find that riff in previous songs before that even going back to classical music.

Regardless both songs are great.

“Seven Seas” has a riff which I like and a chorus melody which is catchy.

“We are rulers of the ocean, kings of the seven seas”

“Tor With The Hammer” is dumb lyrically, but a great listen for the riffs.

“Break The Ice” and “U.S.A” is typical LA Sunset Strip fare and either song could have appeared on any RATT or Motley Crue album.

And TNT’s style on this album is something that Crimson Glory would use and follow a few years later. But TNT would keep evolving and changing from their metal influences into a more glam rock direction.

Honeymoon Suite – Honeymoon Suite

They did cross over into the mainstream for a while, but for me, it’s the album songs, that rock.

“Burning In Love” is the song that hooked me musically, especially the section from 2 minutes onwards. And the outro solo is perfect.

“Stay In The Light” has a cool palm muted arpeggio riff in the intro, which made me pick up the guitar to learn it. And the keyboard lead over it which is the chorus vocal line,  reminds me of the UK pop scene like Duran Duran and New Order.  

“Now That You Got Me” has a cool distorted riff which drives the song. And the chorus musically, is syncopated with the keys and the guitar and it’s addictive.

“Funny Business” is a feel good up-tempo rocker which feels like it could come from a Van Halen album.

Lyrically, there was no connection for me, but musically, the four songs above connected enough to make me want to learn how to play them.

Bryan Adams – Reckless

This album was my first exposure to Bryan Adams. And it’s a perfect introduction to any person wanting to learn how to write good hard rock songs with a pop rock influence. It had a mixture of a lot of styles, like a classic Led Zep/Queen album and man, didn’t the music buying public splash out on it.

The unsung heroes on this album is the song writing team of Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. They had a connection, and hell, they even wrote, “War Machine” for Kiss.

Guitarist Keith Scott, decorates the songs with leads and licks and melodic motifs. Finally, the guitar playing abilities of Bryan Adams is never mentioned, but the dude has chops and he can play.

The power chords of “One Night Love Affair” in the intro got me interested. The arpeggios in the Chorus seal the deal and the vocal melody remains with me long after the song is finished. Basically I was hooked.

“She’s Only Happy When She’s Dancing” could have come from a John Cougar or Bruce Springsteen album. But it’s all Bryan.

“Run To You” is a song I used to cover in bands and it has that iconic guitar arpeggio intro which is as good as the “Stairway To Heaven” or “Smoke On The Water” or “Enter Sandman” riffs.

The ballad “Heaven” is huge and when you translate the vocal melody, the piano and the guitar to one guitar track, it’s worth investing time to learn.

“Somebody” is my favourite track, and I think it’s because it reminds me of “We Don’t Need Another Hero” from Tina Turner and the Mad Max movie “Beyond Thunderdome”.

And the knockout punches keep coming with “Summer of 69”. It wasn’t a hit when it came out as a single, because during the album run, people had already purchased the full album, and they knew the song, so there was no need to purchase the single.  

Sort of like “Wanted Dead Or Alive” from Jovi. It’s a classic track, a hit, but it never went to number 1 as a single, because by the time it came out as single, everyone who was into the band already had the album.

The “Kids Wanna Rock” has this 12 bar blues style which works perfectly in a pop context and it was so true in the 80’s, everywhere artists went, the kids wanted to turn up, pay for their ticket and rock. A duet with Tina Turner called “It’s Only Love” rounds out a perfect album for me. The last two songs could have been left off and no one would have complained.

And looking back at this album today, I think the secret to liking it for me is the fact that each song made me want to pick up the guitar and learn it. So I invested time, learning the licks, the chords and in some cases, the vocal melodies.

Prince and The Revolution – Purple Rain

I’m not a Prince fan by any means, but man, on occasions he wrote songs which crossed over into multiple styles and eras.

“When Doves Cry” has a drum beat which establishes a cool groove and Prince’s vocal melody is perfect, outlining the chord structure with the words.

“Purple Rain” and “Faithfully” from Journey are pretty similar but hey, no one in the music business wrote a song without hearing a song before it.  

REO Speedwagon – Wheels Are Turnin’

How do you follow up the mega million “Keep On Lovin’ You”?

The thing is you don’t, but artists, pushed on by their labels, want the same public acceptance for their new tracks as their old tracks. So the artist is now writing to get another hit, instead of writing to please themselves and to get their message across.

“Can’t Fight This Feeling” was the song offered up as “Keep On Loving You” part 2. And it got what the label wanted, but it also further removed the rockers from REO’s audience, because songs like “Gotta Feel More” don’t even get a mention these days. It’s a rocker and there is this synth line which is addictive and the guitars do a great job decorating it. “Rock And Roll Star” is another cool song with an outro solo which I like.

Triumph – Thunder Seven

They could write songs and they could really play their instruments. Sometimes when you get musicians this good into a room, it becomes a mess of epic proportions and sometimes, you get some great music. Triumph sits on the great side, as they had a magical run up to the late 80’s.

Man that riff to kick off “Spellbound”.

How good is it?

And when the whole band kicks in, it’s perfect.

How good is “Rock Out, Roll On”?

The intro riff and feel reminds me of the “Kashmir” groove plus the vocal melody and performance is excellent.

“Cool Down” is Led Zep territory and “Follow Your Heart” takes it out of the ballpark with its “Dance The Night Away” riff merged with “Unchained”.

“Time Goes By” is sitting at track 5 and its one of those tracks that highlights the diversity of “Triumph”, morphing between metal like riffage to hard rock riffage to pop rock riffage.

And that’s where I stop my listening experience with this album. Those first five tracks are all killer, no filler.

The Cars – Heartbeat City

I didn’t hear this album until I heard the song “Drive” in 2007 from the first Transformers movie.

And man, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the album.

It’s different, but it still rocked enough for me to pick up the guitar and play along to it. You know how songs from artists like Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and New Order work well in a rock and metal context, well, The Cars fall into that same category.

“Hello Again” starts off with a layered vocal line that could have come from Def Leppard and combined with “Looking For Love” it’s a great opening one two combination.

“Magic” could have come from any rock band with it’s “I Love Rock N Roll” inspired riff in the verses and a pre chorus which sounds like it came from “Hysteria” before “Hysteria” was written.

And “Drive” is one of those tracks that crosses over. It’s got a simple drum groove and the iconic lyric of “whose gonna drive you home” that remains long after the song is done.

“Why Can’t I Have You” has all the new tech from the mid 80’s around midi’s and a multi-layered Chorus like Def Leppard in the Chorus.

Steve Perry – Street Talk

I got this album at the same time I got “Raised On Radio” from Journey, well into the 90’s. I was expecting both albums to be rock albums and it wasn’t to be.

In saying that, “Oh Sherrie” has keyboard parts which sound good on guitar and man, Steve Perry can carry a song on his voice alone.

To me, the best songs like “You Should Be Happy”, “Captured By The Moment” and “Strung Out” are hidden deep within the album. The verses on “You Should Be Happy” are excellent, as the riff rocks and Perry’s vocal melody is hooky. “Captured By The Moment” has an arena rock chorus while “Strung Out” could have come from a Bryan Adams album.

38 Special – Tour De Force

Another band I got into very late.

“If I’d Been The One” just feels good as soon as it blasts out from the speakers. “Back Where You Belong” continues that feel good theme. It’s pop hard rock at its best.

“Twentieth Century Fox” is more on the rock side, with its Status Quo meets AC/DC vibe meets ZZ Top “La Grange” vibe.

“Long Distance Affair” has a cool lead break, “One Of The Lonely Ones” is back to the melodic rock and “Undercover Lover” closes the album with pure hard rock gold.

Basically, it’s a cool melodic rock album to listen to.

Jefferson Starship – Nuclear Furniture

The big keyboard riffs in “Layin’ It On The Line” get me hooked.

“Sorry Me, Sorry You” rocks out of the gate, with a lead guitar that reminds me of “Wild Frontier” from Gary Moore and the vocal melody in the chorus is excellent.

“Shining In The Moonlight” has a cool riff to kick it off before it morphs into clean tone arpeggios for the verses.

Basically, this is another cool melodic rock album to listen to.

John Waite – No Brakes

I wasn’t expecting the Van Halen “Hot For Teacher” style drumming and fast picked guitar riff in “Saturday Night” to kick off a John Waite album. But it did and it kept me listening.

And then it went into the big radio rocker, “Missing You” which to be honest is a cool listen. But man, after that frantic opening song, “Missing You” as track two was just too much of a departure. John Kalodner should have been on the scene here to co-ordinate the track sequencing.

“Dark Side Of The Sun” is subdued as it smoulders along while “Euroshima” is another fast paced rocker.

The Cult – Dreamtime

How good is the start of “Spiritwalker” with the arpeggio guitar riff and the drum groove along with Ian Astbury’s native Indian like chant?

And ’83rd Dream” has this progressive feel to it which I like. “A Flower In The Desert” has “The Call of Ktulu” style riff, which is based around the “Kashmir” riff which moves up chromatically.

Fates Warning – Night on Brocken

This album came to me at a time when I was in the mindset to hear progressive metal and Fates Warning became a favourite instantly.

“Buried Alive” kicks it off and “Kiss Of Death” musically sounds like a Rush song, with the distortion cranked to 10 and the tempo’s increased a little bit more.

“S.E.K” is a short minute and a half song, that’s like a classical/flamenco style acoustic guitar arrangement.

The opening riff in “Misfit” reappeared again in “Be Quick Or Be Dead” by the might Maiden and a harmony lead that reminds me of Megadeth’s “She Wolf”.

“Shadowfax” and “Jump In The Fire” sound like they were written from the same source material, being Rush. But after the intro, it sounds like a Maiden song.

Well that’s Part 6 done. 1984 was a big year for releases, so there are a few more parts to come. Stay tuned.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

The Billions Artists Don’t Get But Should

This is the world that the artists have created when they signed away their masters and Copyrights to a record label. And for this tragedy to be fixed, the artists need to understand that it starts with them.

The labels have been the recording music gatekeepers for decades and they had full control to sign artists to contracts with less favourable terms.

In the process, the labels amassed a catalogue of music which gave them negotiating power at the table and when it came to take overs or selling off parts of the label, these profitable back catalogues bring in a lot of money.

French entertainment giant Vivendi owns Universal Music Group (UMG). Now Chinese tech company Tencent is looking at a 10% stake in UMG worth up to $3.6 billion dollars. The worth of that stake is because of the artists and the works UMG holds on behalf of the artists; works which they more or less paid a pittance for and works which have probably really recouped 100 times over.

How much of those billions would go back to the artists?

But hey, artists instead are forming a lobby group to fight against the tech lobby groups in the U.S. Because the distributor is now a problem. This is the same as the artists forming a lobby group in the past to fight against the truck drivers and the record stores.

I’m all for more power to the artist. It’s the artist that creates the song which connects with audiences and makes dollars. But for the artist to also have a fair say, they need to lobby hard against their employers (if they have a label deal) and the publishers, because these organisations make billions from the deals they organise with streaming companies and by selling off their small stake in the company.

And going back to the Music Artists Coalition (MAC), which also includes high profile managers, I don’t see how they will advocate for the 98% of artists doing it tough, when they represent the 2%.

But it’s a start.

Will MAC get back the masters from the labels. Oh, wait, most of those masters got destroyed in a Universal Warehouse fire.

We’ll lucky for the Public, that there is a copy of the music online. Otherwise, the tunes would be lost forever, in peoples records collections, which either end up in the trash or in a second hand book shop.

Because the labels don’t really care about this history. If they did, they would have stored the masters better, in a climate controlled room instead of a basic warehouse and they would have stored the back-ups at a different location instead of the same building.

All the labels care about is the free Spotify and YouTube users and those users who “stream rip”.

The labels (with their lobby groups) have court granted blocking on their side in most countries, so visits to sites like The Pirate Bay have reduced. However, fans of music just use YouTube and the free tier of Spotify to access music (which are both legal) and the labels don’t like it, because they are unable to find a way to convert the users of the free tiers to paying subscribers, especially in Italy.

So in this case, the labels cant increase the price to access music because people are not paying the current price as it is. So the price needs to come down. But the labels don’t want that. The option they want is to cut off the free-tiers, however this will just drive people back to the pirate sites.

And if the price to stream in Italy comes down, the record labels need to be reasonable here and still pay the artists their fair share, but we know that the words fair and reasonable are not associated with the labels.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Compensating Artists

Social media connects artists to fans. And that is a good thing.

The issue is that a lot of artists use social media as a one way street to market themselves and push their product. But for people to invest in you, you need to connect with them, and there are artists who do it better than others.

Dee Snider comes to mind immediately as one who does a great job connecting with fans. Dave Mustaine and Sebastian Bach do a good job as well, while Robb Flynn and Nikki Sixx do a fantastic job. Another artist who has two way comms going is Corey Taylor. There are a lot more, I know and I follow quite a few.

A simple question from a Depressed Reds Fan user account to Corey Taylor on Twitter got me interested;

“Just curious, where does the main source of income come from? I’d assume touring and merchandise, but I really don’t know.”

Corey Taylor responded with the following;

“We HAVE to tour. It’s the only way we can make a living. Merch helps, but the merch companies make the lion’s share. Streaming is pricing artists – old AND new – out of careers.”

Another user “Rock Feed” added that;

“People have this idea that bands are filthy rich. Royalties are so low for bands once all the suits get their take.”

And this started a conversation from the fans about what they try to do as consumers to make it profitable for the artist they support to earn a decent wage and continue creating music.

But, in order to fix the argument about streaming payments or digital payments or how the artist can be compensated, there needs to be a line drawn in the sand, because it is NOT THE CONSUMERS FAULT.

As consumers, we stream, we buy, we go to the shows, we buy the merch and we buy the collector’s edition.

How much more can the consumer do?

Of course, according to the record labels, we should pay more for streaming. Because if we did, more royalties would go to the artists which is all BS. The royalties going to the artist would be the same regardless of what the streaming rate is.

What about the record labels paying more to the artists in royalties?

Then you have the government controlling the rate of payments, which means, music doesn’t operate in a free market, instead it operates in a government granted monopoly.

And Publishers make billions for doing really nothing and pay out nothing because hey, it’s the consumers fault and the streaming companies fault according to them.

Other posts from other artists got screen shotted and re-tweeted.

James Blunt said he got paid 00.0004499368 pounds per stream. Beers are on him. Another user jumped on that and did the math that 1,000,000 streams of a song = 440 pounds. And when you split that amongst band members it doesn’t add up to a lot.

Another user called Source Code tweeted that they read;

“The Who back in the 70’s started a tour 40K in debt. They had a very successful time but afterwards the band were told they were still 40K in debt. It wasn’t the drinking or smashing up equipment that cost them, it was the anonymous greedy suits stealing.”

Corey Taylor re-added that;

“Musicians are LITERALLY the last to be paid”.

And that is true.

Artists are paid once all the expenses are paid. That advance payment has to be recouped. Studio time and promotion needs to be recouped. Legal needs to be paid and Management needs to be paid. Somewhere in between, the digital service provider takes up to 30% of the royalty paid. The label takes the rest and then distributes what the contact states to the artist. Then you have the publishers. Same deal there. The digital service provider takes up to 30% and the publisher takes the rest, distributing the money according to the contract they have with the artist. If the artist sells vinyl and product, they get a higher rate once the monies are recouped.

You know when you see articles like Steve Perry signing a publishing agreement or Nikki Sixx signing a publishing agreement and you can interchange any other artist who has a valuable back catalogue into the phrase.

Well, those artists don’t sign those agreements and get nothing in return. Obviously they are in a position of power to sign an agreement to their terms and get a favourable royalty rate, but there will be rules that the publisher would pay up front an advance fee and recoup that fee over the term.  

And when artists go out on tour and depending on their pull, they even scalp their own tickets to make more money on the show, because why should the booking agent, the venue, the parking stations and the food places make more than the artist. It’s wrong but legal.

Phil Labonte from All That Remains posted that their biggest song has 67 million views on YouTube and they have over 1.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify but see nothing from it.

Phil further mentioned that the band ends up making between 10 to 15% of gross on a tour. Then they need to split that amount 5 ways and pay their taxes. Once that is don’t, they can start paying their bills.

Bigger bands, will take an upfront payment and then negotiate this per show split afterwards.

But for a smaller band, if they have a show that has 1000 people at $20 a ticket, then that is $20,000 in gross earnings. Based on Phil’s numbers, the band stands to make between $2K to $3K for the show. Split 5 ways, it’s $400 to $600 per person. Play 20 shows and if you get the same crowds, then that’s $8K to $12K per person. Gross. Then tax.

And by the end of all the conversations, the artists didn’t care how people got the music, they just wanted to be compensated.

But music operates in a government granted bubble, and not a free market price, so the prices set are relient on Copyright rules (created by the Government) to make up the difference.

Artists tried “pay as you want” bundles (which is a way to test what the free market would pay for your work) and I don’t see too many of those bundles on offer today.

And there was two way communications between Corey and fans, who said, that since Corey plays music in a genre which isn’t popular, how can he expect to make coin on royalties to which Corey replied back with that he doesn’t believe that is the case, as all of the shows sell out and the genre is popular to the masses.

Its back to the same old argument; metal fans don’t stream as much as pop fans. And as an artist, do you want your fans to buy your album or stream it or both.

The best part of all of the conversations was the comment from Corey which said;

“As long as the RECORD LABELS get THEIR money, they don’t CARE if the ARTIST gets paid at ALL. Or who plays their music – unless it’s a critic on YouTube, THEN THEY’RE UP IN ARMS.”

So much truth there. The bottom line is this; the Record Labels own a stake in Spotify. And they own this stake, because they had negotiating power from all the Copyrights they held, who really should be owned by the artists.

Did anyone notice that Tool recently entered the world of streaming?

And they would have done it on their terms, and their own rate. And they will be well compensated.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Copyright For Nothing And The Chicks For Free

Reading copyright stories elicits two responses from me. The “Are you freaking kidding me?” response and the “This is stupid” response.

The mighty Meatloaf along with writer , Jim Steinman (who is credited as the songwriter) had a copyright spat on their hands for “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”.

An artist called Jon Dunmore Sinclair claimed he wrote the song and Meat Loaf along with Steinman, stole it. Mmm, I am sure Mr Sinclair, still had possession of the song he wrote and it wasn’t stolen, but hey, let’s associate stealing with copyright infringement as well. Oh, wait, it already is associated, because the record labels have done a great PR job convincing people that accessing music illegally is stealing.

The story goes that Jim Steinman and Jon Sinclair had the same attorney, and via this attorney, is how Steinman heard Sinclair’s song called “(I’d Do) Anything For You”. Meatloaf argued that having a similar lyrical phrase is not copyright infringement, however without having access to hear Sinclair’s song, it’s hard to tell.

Meatloaf settled out of court, while Kate Perry and her team went to court and lost.

Now this one is a complete, “what the!, how stupid is that?” verdict.

You see, in this case, an artist called Marcus Gray (who uses the name Flame) claims that Perry ripped off his beat, and a small musical pattern.

These kind of claims trouble me, because the person claiming to be ripped off is stating that their work is so original and free from influence and not inspired by anything else that came before it. But people should check out this Vox article which shows how similar Flame’s Christian rap song is to another song back in 1983.

But hey, while Perry and her team relied on telling the story of how the song was created, Flame (original name as well) relied on pseudo gurus in musicologists to prove that they are similar. And the court agreed with the musicologists.

Which brings me to the next troubling issue, judges and juries changing the intent for what Copyright is meant to be. Then again, the labels have created this litigious monster themselves when they lobbied hard to get Copyright terms extended to life of the artists plus 70 years.

These kind of cases really started when the heirs of artists started suing.

And for the record, this never should have been an issue. If Kate Perry ripped off Flame then Van Halen can claim to be ripped off as well for “Why Can’t This Be Love”, because they have a C to B note transition. Throw in every other artist who has a song with a musical bar passage which goes from C to B in a staccato way. As Dr Luke (one of the writers) said on the stands), its basic building blocks. It’s like saying a writer can’t use the words “the”, “a” or “and”.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – Adelitas Way

The self-titled debut was released in 2009. I downloaded it illegally and it got me by the throat, smacked me down and made me a fan.

How good is “Invincible”?

It’s as good as any monster 80’s song, plus it was featured in the WWF or WWC and it just has over a million views on YouTube and on Spotify it has close to 25 million. I guess Spotify is the place fans go to listen these days. But to the labels, YouTube is still a problem.

“Scream” has a lead break that has me playing air guitar. “Dirty Little Thing” is about a woman who takes him to places that he’s never been and it would have been a number one hit if it was on a Motley Crue album.

“Last Stand” has clean tone arpeggios which got me interested, a vocal line and tone in the verses which remind me of Chris Daughtry and a Chorus vocal tone which reminds me of the Hinder vocalist. Basically, these little connections to other bands hooked me in, which is rare for a ballad.

“Hate Love” rocks from the gate and it has a lyric line which speaks truth, “every time that I hate you I love you.”

“So What If You Go” has a riff that makes me want to pick up the guitar and the vocal melody, laced with anger, remains long after the song is finished.

“Closer To You” is slower, but still hooky, while “Just A Little Bit” is one of the best Bon Jovi songs that Bon Jovi didn’t write. Just think of the song “One Wild Night”.

“All Falls Down” is “Simple Man” from Lynyrd Skynyrd re-written into a shorter concise pop rock song and “My Derailment” shows the train wreck a relationship can wreak on the heart and mind of a person. The closer, “Brother” is a cross between “Drops Of Jupiter” and “With A Little Help Of My Friends”.

And I listened to the album on YouTube.

The comments from people who listened to the tracks, couldn’t believe that they didn’t have over 100 million views per track.

With so much music out there, the audience is fragmented and for it to cross over into the pop mainstream, it needs promotion like the old days, but then again, the audience listening to music is different to what it was in the old days and scorched earth marketing polices don’t work.

Also Spotify has overtaken YouTube as the place to listen to music.

“High School Valedictorian” came out in 2011. And album number 2 didn’t disappoint. Like the debut, I got the album for free, but man, I was hooked, and I committed.

Do you feel “The Collapse”?

And I’ll take, I don’t ask
This breath will be your last
Do you feel the collapse?

I know one thing. When I felt wronged in the past, I wanted that person to face hell. But like anything, as you get older, that lizard brain response just seemed so dumb.

“Sick” has 4.8 million views on YouTube. It’s standard modern rock, with a chorus that screams, if you’re sick like me there’s no stopping now. Sort of like in Maths, two negatives make a positive, two sickos make a positive sicko or something else. Maybe the mathematical analogy wasn’t the best.

“Alive” has almost 2.5 million views on YouTube. The theme of “being alive when your with someone you love” might be clichéd, but you can still rock out to it, especially when it is done right.

And three songs in, I remember clearly why this band really connected with me. The first song reminded me of Shinedown, the second song reminded me of Breaking Benjamin and the third song reminded me of Lifehouse. It’s those little connections to past bands that hook me in and then they deliver with a song which hangs around long after its finished.

“Criticize” foot stomps its way through my mind, with the brilliant chorus lines of “I like the way you won’t apologize, I like the way you just demoralize, I like the way you always roll your eyes, Someone as perfect as you is hard to criticize”.

Man, I’ve been on both sides of that. I’ve thrown those words out and those words have been thrown back at me. And there is no winner or making up when it gets to that stage. It’s just a matter of time before the break happens.

“Good Enough” continues the themes present in “Criticize”.

There was a time
When my best was good enough

Damn right, once upon a time, everything was okay.

So how did it all go wrong?

Did responsibilities and pressures of life get in the way of friendships or relationships?

“Cage The Beast” has the theme of being unable to cage the beast inside. Listening to it today, it gets me thinking of The Beast character in the Glass movie.

Check out the breakdown section with the lead break.

Plus it’s one of their top 5 songs on Spotify with over 7 million streams.

“I Can Tell” deals with unreciprocated love. They are still together, but one partner has already left the relationship emotionally and mentally, just not physically.

“Somebody Wishes They Were You” has a lyric line that you can tattoo on your skin.

Life ain’t that bad, look what you have
When the highs aren’t so high, just do what you can

Be grateful each day that you have survived as humans by natures design are meant to survive and produce. And as much as we wish every day to be perfect, and every high to last forever, they don’t.

And then Adelitas Way disappeared. “Stuck” came out on 2014, but I didn’t know about it and I don’t remember hearing it.

“Getaway” came out in 2016 and I was heavily into streaming services. And it was lost in the noise, although I did hear the title track which I enjoyed.

Since then they have dropped “Notorious” in 2017 and a new single called “What It Takes” has hit streaming services recently, so I’m expecting a new album to drop.

And the one song which really stands out during this period is “Ready For War (Pray For Peace)”. If you haven’t heard it, you should.

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Music, My Stories

Happy and Sad

“Humans are not designed to be happy, or even content. Instead, we are designed primarily to survive and reproduce, like every other creature in the natural world. A state of contentment is discouraged by nature because it would lower our guard against possible threats to our survival.”

The quote above is from an article I read in The Conversation.

Humans, by natures creation, are designed to survive and the fact that they are alive, should make them happy. But it doesn’t. And there is a billion dollar industry preaching self-help guides to happiness and what not.

As the article states, “even when all our material and biological needs are satisfied, a state of sustained happiness will still remain a theoretical and elusive goal”.

Advertisers have done a great job telling the public that their lives are crap and if they got the product they are advertising, it would make their life so much better and they will be happy.

Remember computers were meant to create the paperless office. Advertisers marketed that to companies. I work in an office and papers are still here.

Maybe our natural design to not be happy is a big reason why minor key music is so popular, as the minor key is known as the “unhappy” key and metal/hard rock music is awash with songs in minor keys.

If you even go back to the masters like Beethoven, Bach, Paganini and Mozart, their most popular works are concertos in a minor key.

There is a YouTube video of a guitarist playing metal songs in a major key instead of the minor keys they’re normally in. Check it out and hear the difference between major and minor. Slayer actually sounds cool in a major key, but it’s not the same impact.

My life overturned, unfair the despair
All these scars keep ripping open

Mudvayne’s “Happy” was anything except happy. Referencing a relationship breakdown, the song is saying, I gave up a lot of who I was to you, it put me in a dark place doing so and you were never happy.  

Peel me, from the skin
Tear me, from the rind
Does it make you happy now?
Tear me, from the bone
Tear me, from myself
Are you feeling happy now?

How much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice to make someone else happy?

We do this in a friend relationship, a love relationship, a work/professional relationship.

Love yourself first, be who you are and it will fall into place.

“If you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that demands urgent repair, as the happiness gurus would have it. Far from it. This fluctuation is, in fact, what makes you human.”

So what we can do about it, because no one really wants to live in a state of unhappiness?

As doctors and psychiatrists are very keen to prescribe pills because it’s too hard to analyse that a persons current state of mind and feelings could be due to other reasons.

Remember advertisers from day dot, have made it their task to make us all feel like we are missing something or we have problems, and they offer something as a solution to our problems.

And these days, advertisers are not just marketing companies, it is your best friends on social media, making you feel inadequate as they post away their glorious lives.

Love yourself, love your family and friends and follow your interests, instead of caring how your other friends (otherwise known as undercover haters) see you. Don’t let their words affect you because there viewpoints don’t matter not one little bit.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Anyone Still Watch Film Clips?

Once upon a time music videos used to cost anywhere between $100K to a cool million. Of course all charged to the band by the record labels. There was no way the label would pay this out of their goodwill bank account or the bank account which shows how the labels have recouped the monies spent on the album a thousand times over.

And a good song with a good clip would push a bands record into the platinum sphere.

Twisted Sister went platinum on the “You Can’t Stop Rock N Roll” album because the film clip of the title track was excellent.

It had a story theme of the “noise police” chasing the band around the city for “noise violations”. And while the noise police were doing their job, the rock and roll/heavy metal music they were exposed to, was slowly converting them into metal/rock heads.

As MTV grew in its reach, so did the artists that got rotation on it. They went triple platinum on “Stay Hungry” from the “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” film clips.

But artists believed that the film clip existed to break them into the mainstream. It didn’t.

How their music connected with fans was the secret sauce that would provide the artist with an audience that could sustain their career.

Because while music film clips could propel an artist’s career forward, it could also kill an artist’s career.

Did someone say Billy Squier?

So what is the aim of the film clip these days?

Queen recently had a post that stated “Bohemian Rhapsody” had surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube.

So is the point of the film clip to get as many hits online as an artist possibly can.

If it is about marketing the band and promoting awareness, what comes next?

There’s no doubt that a music video can be crucial to an artist’s success.

Just think of “Gangnam Style”. The dance moves is a huge reason why the song went into the stratosphere. And you saw those moves in a film clip.

If you are not using the music clip to connect with your audience and build a fan base, then it is a large expense for zero results.

I haven’t watched a film clip since I stopped watching music television in the late 90s. Maybe seeing Steve Tyler coveting his dick in Living On The Edge” was enough for me to know that this medium had done its course.

In saying that, I do believe that the music video is a valuable tool especially in these current times even if they don’t watch it and use it to listen to the music.

Because fans want instant access, instead of waiting for a music television show to play their favorite clip, or requesting a music television show to play their favorite clip, they can just call it up on YouTube.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – Adrenaline Mob

Omertà

2012 gave us “Omerta” and I was very intrigued to hear the metal project that involved Portnoy.

It is a balls to the wall metal classic in the style of Accept, Scorpions, Dio merged with the new metal stylings of Disturbed and Godsmack. “Undaunted”, “All On The Line”, “Angel Sky”, “Indifferent” and “Hit The Wall” are worthy additions to any metal bands setlist.

The cover of Duran Duran’s “Come Undone” is also a fitting metal tribute to a pop tune.

The album was number 4 on my list for releases in 2012, that’s how high I rated it.

I hold the vocal talents of Russell Allen and the guitar talents of Mike Orlando in high regard. And Mike Portnoy commands the drum kit.

2013 gave us “Coverta” and 2014 gave us “Men Of Honour”.

“Men Of Honour” is a really good solid hard rock / heavy metal album in the same vein as all of the great hard rock albums of this genre from the Eighties.

And that is what Adrenaline Mob essentially is. Seasoned professionals collaborating on a hard rock project. For some reason they remind me of Night Ranger and how all those band members had past successes with previous bands.

Listening to “Men Of Honour”, it comes across as a band having fun and man it rocks hard and it is saturated with groove.

“The Mob Is Back” has that Eddie Van Halen “Eruption” thing for the first minute before it moves into the actual song. Remember the era when bands used to write songs purely for the rock n roll show instead of the charts. Well, this is one such song. It is a live song. A song to let our hair down to and rock away.

“Turn out the lights, we are all here tonight, We came to throw down, the Mob’s back in town.”

I don’t know what to call Orlando’s guitar style. One term I have for it is “Technical Chaos”. He has the chops, but he plays more with improvised abandonment then precision and I like that.

I always saw Adrenaline Mob as a band that will make their money from touring and merchandise because their songs sound like they are specifically written for the live show.

2015 gave us “Dearly Departed”.

In between, Mike Portnoy left and AJ Pero came in. They went on tour and AJ Pero died. Bassist, John Moyer also left and other bassists came in.

Finally, Adrenaline Mob would release one more album, “We The People” in 2017. I don’t own it but I stream it.

As expected, they went on tour and an accident on the road, claimed the life of bassist David Z and their tour manager. The other guys also suffered injuries. Mike Orlando has said in recent interviews, that there are too many scars to go back to the Mob but anything is possible.

So we wait.

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Music, My Stories, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Master Of Scalpers

The Forbes article.

It’s a fucked up world when Metallica scalps it’s own tickets. 88,000 Metallica tickets went to a reseller before they were even offered to the fans/public.

And for one simple reason.

More profits.

They believe that the market value of a Metallica ticket is considerably higher than the selling value. Well if they believe the tickets are worth more, put up the price. People will either pay it or they won’t pay it. The Rolling Stones did that 5 or so years ago and guess what, a week before the shows, the tickets got dramatically reduced so the venue fills up.

Metallica is an organization today, however before it became one, its fan base was built on their fan centric connections, like tape trading and allowing fans to film their shows.

Would Metallica (the band) have known about the shady practice of scalping their own tickets?

Maybe.

The truth is, the act is always in control.

I’m sure the band will do a press release blaming Ticketmaster, but the truth is Ticketmaster does what Metallica wants.

From a band point of view, it’s a good thing that concert tickets are selling, but is it worth ripping your fans off when thousands of tickets are sold in the first minute to StubHub, which then put the tickets up at a higher price.

Wouldn’t you want your fans to have first dig at these tickets?

The again, once upon a time people liked to buy tickets 6 to 8 months in advance, but these days people also like to buy tickets a few weeks before the gig because life is unpredictable. It’s a big reason why StubHub has grown into a huge business.

The demand for tickets is insane. Just look at the numbers Metallica is doing in Europe.

And if Metallica is doing it, they are all doing it. The Gunners, Jovi, AC/DC and any touring act who has a rabid fan base.

Why should someone else get the profits when the band can?

And are the people who are buying the StubHub tickets real fans, the ones who will support the band through the hard times?

Other articles portray these people who pay top dollar at StubHub as people who have dollars to burn and they want to say they went to the show, take a selfie of being there and move on to the next band because it’s the cool thing to do. And they normally buy very close to the show.

For me, I haven’t been to a Metallica show since the St Anger tour. The prices then were excessive, and at that point in time I put it down to our Australian dollar being very weak compared to the US dollar.

And I watched a great energetic show but I still remember Lars not playing any of the double kick bits from the St Anger songs and Kirk being sloppy and very improv in his leads, which didn’t work for me.

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