Category Archives: Music

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

1984 – IV – The Warning

It’s time for another 1984 post. Part 1 can be found here, Part 2 can be found here and Part 3 can be found here.

And here is the Spotify playlist.

Quiet Riot – Condition Critical

This album was always going to be a hard sell. Kevin DuBrow had troubles controlling his ego. He slagged off other LA bands who got signed to major labels post Quiet Riots success.

He said Ozzy sings like a frog, then Nikki Sixx and Rudy Sarzo got in a slanging match, with Rudy winning the day, with his quote of “the only difference between Quiet Riot and Motley Crue is that QR had a hit with somebody else’s song and Crue didn’t. But Nikki Sixx won everything else after that. And Peter Mensch who was managing Def Leppard at the time, said that QR had already peaked. If you don’t believe me, check out the article over at LouderSound.

So how do you follow up a number 1 album that had a cover song which also went to number 1?

You release an album with a different cover song but from the same band the first cover song came from.

All Quiet Riot did was make a shitload of money for the original writers of the songs from the band Slade.

The rewards go to those testing the limits. And Slade got the rewards, while Quiet Riot got their 15 minutes of fame, because apart from Bang You Head, Quiet Riot (the 80s version) really struggled in the songwriting department.

On this album, “Mama, Were All Crazee Know” and “Condition Critical” are worth a mention.

Actually what came first “Condition Critical” or Motley Crue’s “Louder Than Hell” (as it was called “Hotter Than Hell”) for the “Shout At The Devil” demos. Even the drum feel reminds me of “Too Young To Fall In Love”. And I dig the “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” Bridge/Solo section.

In the end, the audience might like where you’ve been, but if you stay where you are, others pass you by. That’s the Quiet Riot story.

And according to Wikipedia, this album is famous for a two word review: “Prognosis: Terminal”.

Strangeways – Strangeways

Not sure when this was released 1984 or 1986. Regardless, I’ll take the earlier date.

Tony Liddell is on vocals on this one and he would be replaced by Terry Brock who would be known as fronting the “classic” line up.

When I heard the debut, the following three tracks rock hard.

“Hold Back Your Love”, “Power Play” and “More Than Promises”.

Helix – Walking The Razors Edge

My cousin Mega likes the whole album, but for me, it’s these four songs; “Young and Restless”, “Animal House”, “When The Hammer Falls” and “My Kind Of Rock”.

Actually I dig the typical head banging riff, in “My Kind Of Rock” as it’s in the vein of Y&T.

Anthrax – Fistful Of Metal

The definitive story is over at loudersound.

Give it a read, but be warned, you just need to survive all the ads.

“Deathrider”, “Metal Thrashing Mad” and “Death From Above” are the standouts for me. And vocalist Neil Turbin is a bit over the shop, but hey, it’s energetic and trashy and that’s exactly what we wanted.

Hanoi Rocks – All Those Wasted Years

I don’t know what to make of this band or album. During my reefer days, “Up Around The Bend” always got me laughing and I thought “I Can’t Get It” was a Rolling Stones song.

Alcatrazz – Live Sentence

I picked this up on vinyl at a record fair in the 90s. I enjoyed listening to it and hearing Malmsteen before he became the fury.

Hiroshima Mon Amour has got the dumbest lyrics about a serious subject matter, but musically Malmsteen brings it.

There are a lot of Rainbow songs like “Since You’ve Been Gone”, “All Night Long” and “Lost In Hollywood” plus a cool cover of Michael Shenker’s “Desert Song”. The last two mentioned songs are not on the vinyl version.

And of course, Malmsteen is the star here, so he gets to introduce “Evil Eye” an instrumental song which would appear on his debut album.

Queensryche – The Warning

It was a game changer. Fates Warning built a career on this style. Mike Portnoy made the decision he wanted a Geoff Tate like vocalist for a band he was about to start up called Majesty after hearing this album.

“The Warning had a prophetic tinge, with an apocalyptic element. I suppose you could say it was a mystical look into the future.” Chris DeGarmo, Raw, November 1988

The Warning

“The song was about this gifted child who could see everything and knew what was coming, and it wasn’t a very good picture. A warning was being issued.” Chris DeGarmo, RIP, October 1991

Now see the hands of the working man
He’s leaning back against the wall
Once busy hands are idle.
Standing ready for the fall

We attach our status to the money we earn, the job we have and the life we portray to others. Unemployment is real and scary. And in the times of today, nothing is certain, not even employment.

En Force

The battered remains of a world gone insane

What’s happening to the world?

Money rules the day while all sides of religion are trying to keep their control. In the end, the ones who control the money will get a win in the short term but in the process there will be long term pain.

Deliverance

It’s the embryo of “Speak” from the “Operation Mindcrime” album.

This one is about a king who will die, to be reborn, so he can deliver them from the wrongs.

No Sanctuary

Oh, can’t you see the lies in front of you

A lot of us try, and the rest surround them selves with people who hold the same point of view as them.

Until the end I’ll fight and die to be free

No you won’t. You’ll do what you need to do to remain comfortable. No one likes to operate without a safety net these days and the ones who do, end up changing the world.

NM 156

It could have been on a Megadeth album about a dystopian Orwellian future.

Now social control requires population termination

When social control is needed, a war is just around the corner. Anyone seen the movie “The Purge”. For a 12 hour period, all murder and crimes are legal, so basically you have the poor and homeless who can’t afford security systems get eradicated.

Is that future closer to becoming a reality?

Microchip logic
Have we no more thought

I see people everyday spend forever on their Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat feeds. Just aimlessly scrolling without any thought, squandering their potential and power by clicking and following instead of innovating and leading. It’s exactly like they have no more thought and the microchips are the social tools who make billions from our personal data.

Take Hold Of The Flame

You can hear the embryo of the ‘Operation Mindcrime” album in this song.

“The song is about people who have missed opportunities. The opening line is, “We see the line of those who find the world has passed them by / Too late to save a dream that’s gone cold.” It’s about people who have missed their chance; they didn’t capitalize on their potential for whatever reason. The light just seemed to pass them by. We felt that we had ahold of the light, and when Geoff wrote the chorus, he rewrote it as, “Take hold of the flame.”
Chris DeGarmo, RIP, October 1991

So take hold of the flame
You’ve got nothing to lose but everything to gain

People don’t realize how much power they actually have. Our data made Facebook, Google, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram billions. We watch YouTube videos instead of making them.

But it’s uncomfortable to take hold of the flame and the majority of people don’t like this responsibility.

Child Of Fire

It’s like “Children Of The Damned” from about the 2 minute mark.

Conquering masses in wonton deception
Blood red your black flag waves high

Any leader in a democracy who does the bidding of the Corporations instead of the people.

Road To Madness

Most of this is memory now
I’ve gone too far to turn back now
I’m Not quite what I thought I was but
Then again I’m maybe more

You know those times when people tell ya “trash is all your worth”. But it’s not the case. No one is special but everyone is worth so much more.

Foreigner – Agent Provocateur

Yeah, everyone knows the story about how “I Want To Know What Love Is” sold this album, but man, I was really surprised by the other songs, which are more or less ignored and “Tooth And Nail” became a staple for me.

Tooth And Nail

It sounds over produced on the album but I used to cover this song in one of my bands and that opening riff on my 5150 amp sounded heavy as fuck. People even thought it was an original.

Other tracks outside the mega ballad worthy of a listen are “That Was Yesterday”, “Growing Up The Hardway” and “Reaction To Action”.

That’s it for Part 4, stay tuned for Part 5.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Gods Of War

Ronald Reagan:

Message to terrorists everywhere: You can run, but you can’t hide.

Margaret Thatcher:

We’re determined to stand together… and we’re determined to take action.

Ronald Reagan:

We’re not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states.

We will not cave in.

Today, we have done what we had to do.

He counted on America to be passive… He counted wrong.

Has anything really changed these last 30 plus years?

This is from 2001.

George Bush Jnr:

Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them. Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.

And the terror attacks have kept on coming. France, Belgium, England and Sweden come to mind, having suffered their fair share of attacks over the last 10 years.

And people are still involved in wars against outlaw states with no end in sight. The first Gulf War did nothing to solve the problem. The Balkan Wars over the breakup of Yugoslavia exterminated thousands and people went to The Hague for human rights abuses. Afghanistan and Iraq post 9/11, led to human rights abuses from the democratic countries and no one went to The Hague for it.

After that you had the Arab Spring and the civil war in Syria which has the Russians supporting the current government and the “allies” providing arms to the resistance. And when you add in the hostilities happening in African countries, you get a feeling that nothing has changed.

And it’s bizarrely funny, because most democratic countries have anti-discrimination and anti-racial laws to protect the people they more or less go to war against.

So after the backward guitar effects and machine gun like samples, a simple drum and bass groove kick it off.

In typical Def Lep fashion, the main into riff is underpinned by a guitar lick instead of a chord progression. And throughout the song, Steve Clark and Phil Collen, play the twin guitars like professionals, as one holds down the foundation and the other decorates the song like a Christmas tree.

We’re fightin’ for the gods of war
But what the hell we fightin’ for?
We’re fightin’ with the gods of war
But I’m a rebel
And I ain’t gonna fight no more, no way

How good is the Chorus and those multi-layered vocals?

I guess we are slaves to the gods of war, the corporations who lobby government ministers to get their hands on resources in other countries.

Every time our leaders choose to commit soldiers, the people who voted them in are thinking why. In Australia we still don’t know why we had to commit troops to US issues. Yeah, there is an old WWII agreement that states we will help each other but WWII was like 70 plus years ago.

And that outro section from about 5.20 that has the above mentioned voice overs and war sounds is a total departure from the main part of the song but it fits like a glove.

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

Take A Walk On The Stream Side

You can buy an album and never listen to it, however if you do listen to the purchased album, the artist has no idea how many times you played it.

Streams means you listened, and it tells the artist which song/s you listened to, even if it was in the background. It tells the artists from which area you are from. It arms the artist with tools to plan their tours.

And it’s rare that you will stream the whole album. You probably will only stream the songs which are your “hits” or if the album crosses over, maybe the actual hits.

And in the same way you cherry-picked your favourites and made that awesome mix tape, or CD once upon a time, you do the same in the digital era with a playlist.

And if artists want fans to buy albums, where do they expect the majority to play them?

Most computers don’t even come with a CD drive and most new cars also don’t have a CD drive either. As for those super expensive stereo systems from the 80’s, are now marketed to audiophiles.

And for iTunes files, its an overpriced offering compared to what is available. I stream and still buy some albums on CD throughout the year. It’s because I can’t stop buying. But the new generation is all about on demand and streaming. It’s a different market and artists need to adjust.

And if artists are waiting on just sales to get traction, they are operating in the old world. Without big streaming numbers, acts get no traction in the mainstream, but acts can have a career on the outer edges, satisfying their core, niche market.

Every artist should be getting their fans to stream. But we still get the voices against streaming services and how these services pay poorly. If that’s the case, you need to renegotiate your terms with the corporations which hold your Copyright.

But streaming shows your fans. If anybody is streaming your music a lot, they’re a fan, and they’ll pay to see you live and they will buy VIP tickets and merchandise and any special edition of an album you put out. Don’t you want to know that information?

And the chart that matters is one of listens. But artists still want sales and that number 1 Billboard spot (for bragging rights) and they package their album with tickets. Metallica did it with “Hardwired” and Jovi did it with their last two albums.

But seriously, is selling an album with tickets reflective of the albums success?

Of course not, it’s typical record label creative accounting. It might matter to the artist, but fans don’t give a shit. And remember, for an artist to have a career, it’s a relationship between fan and artist.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Sales in 84 vs Sales in 90

In 1984, over 360 million units of recorded music got sold in the US.

In 1986, about 280 million units of recorded music got sold in the US. A huge reduction from 2 years ago.

By 1988, about 300 million units of recorded music gold sold in the US. Still a reduction from 1984, but an increase from 1986.

By 1990, about 320 million units of recorded music got sold in the US, with the majority of sales made up from CD purchases.

Between 1984 and 1990 there was a reduction of 11% in overall sales of recorded music however a big increase in dollars as CDs started to replace vinyl and had a better return for the labels which they kept in their balance sheets as a return on investment.

So if a band moved a million units of vinyl in 1984, and provided they still stuck together, you would expect their album in 1990 would sell about 890,000 units based on the trends.

And that same band who moved a million units in 1984 had a high chance of selling 834,000 units for their next album in 1986 because the reduction was even greater between these two years.

In relation to hard rock and metal, some bands had bigger reductions in sales than the 11%, some bands didn’t make it to 1990 and some bands bucked the trend and had an increase in sales.

Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister and Ratt are three bands that come to mind which followed this kind of trajectory. High selling albums circa 1983/84 to low selling albums or to just ceasing to be even together by 1990.

“Out Of The Cellar” by Ratt sold 2 million units in 1984 and “Detonator” their most solid album, only sold 500K by December 1990.

Van Halen’s “1984” album sold 4 million by October of the same year. “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” sold 2 million in 1991 when it came out.

“Eliminator” from ZZ Top came out in 1983 and by the end of the year it had sold a million units and by the end of 1984, it had sold 4 million units which means it moved 3 million units for that year. “Recycler” only moved a million units in 1990 when it came out.

Meanwhile, Bon Jovi went from a band who couldn’t move 500,000 units of their debut album in 1984 to selling 3 million units in 1986 with “Slippery When Wet”.

So when you think about the 22.2% reduction in sales from 1984 to 1986, Bon Jovi went against the trend here. With a reduced music buying public, they grabbed a larger share of it, more so than the other bands. And that large share, still provides Jovi with his victory lap.

And Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze Of Glory” album moved 2 million units in 1990.

And when fans of Quiet Riot heard “Condition Critical” and “QRIII”, it was a no brainer to jump ship and move to a better sounding and catchy band like Bon Jovi and Europe.

Actually Europe in 1986 didn’t sell much in the US, however by the end of 1987, they moved 2 million units in the US of “The Final Countdown” album.

However their “Prisoners In Paradise” album, didn’t even get to 500K units in 1992.

Motley Crue didn’t buck the trend either as their peak was “Shout At The Devil”. “Theatre Of Pain” and “Girls, Girls, Girls” became album’s to get the band back on the road because bands on occasions have low selling albums but tours that do great business at the box office. It wasn’t until “Dr Feelgood” hit the streets that Motley Crue went against the statistics and sold a lot more than others.

Iron Maiden is a band who didn’t sell multi millions of an album, but they cashed in on the live business and merchandise. Kiss as well.

In the end the base of hard core music consumers in the 80s who purchased music has stayed on average year after year. The only difference is we kept on shifting our allegiances.

The cost of purchasing music increased with CD’s and there was a period when CDs started to takeover people sort of stopped purchasing because of the price.

However when the 70s and 80s generation had grown up and started to repurchase their vinyl collections in the 90’s you get to that magical summit that the record labels always allude to when they talk about pre Napster. Between the years 1999 and 2002, CD units stayed above 900 million units.

And through it all, the record labels and the artists had no idea who their fans were. All they knew was a sale happened. If that sale led to the person listening to the album thousands of times or just once was not known.

So even though an artist might have sold 30,000 units in a city, it didn’t correlate to 30,000 fans. Hard rock bands in the late 80s had to cancel shows or play to half full arenas in cities where their record based on sales stats, sold well. But streaming stats tell the artist who is listening and from which city they are listening. A connection is made immediately.

P.S. Sale stats by RIAA Gold and Platinum database.

P.S.S. The total units sold came from the graph in this Spin article titled “Did Vinyl Really Die In The 90s”.

P.S.S.S. I started this post a while back and kept on returning to it, doing a little bit more than previously and sometimes I struggled with it.

But it all came together recently when a fellow blogger called Deke over at Thunder Bay listed his Top 10 posts of 2018 and he linked to a blog post over at 1001 Albums in 10 years.

And it all made sense how you can use a little bit of math to get your point across. So thanks to the WordPress Bloggers for posting and sharing their minds.

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Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

The Hard Reality When You Rely On Others To Build Your Dream

You are in a band and yet get signed. The record label isn’t really known for promoting heavy metal music, but hey, a recording contract is a recording contract and without it, you cannot move forward in your quest for global stardom.

Other bands who play a similar style have already released their albums and are starting to make headway. Meanwhile, the label keeps you in the studio, writing and recording demos before they give the green light for an album to be made.

Those “competing” bands are now onto album number 2 and 3 and your label is watching those other bands with interest, while telling you to write more songs that sound like this band and that band.

They are grooming you to be the labels competition to a band who is selling and making coin on the live circuit.

Then when you are ready to launch your assault, the label is sold to another label and you are dropped from their roster because you are unproven.

What do you do?

Do you pack up, head home and get a job or do you stick to it and restart again?

Not all members have the same drive and hard work ethic to try again, so they leave, replaced by other members with ambition that hasn’t been crushed by a record label.

“We were on MCA (record label) for three records and they were grooming us to be their version of the metal thing in the scene (like Metallica) and we got to a certain point where they’re ready to launch us on the world and then they got bought out by a bigger corporation and all the bands that they had never heard of before they just got rid of. We were one of those bands.

They were grooming us to be something big, [and] then we just got dumped for no reason at the last minute. That was kind of a big, emotional hit for us, I think. It knocked us back down to earth and we had to decide whether we were doing this for the love of music or if we were doing this for the wrong reasons.”

Flotsam and Jetson frontman Eric A. Knutson

And even when you released albums with a major label, it doesn’t mean that you got paid millions.

“After certain amount of time on a major label like Elektra, you find out how the business works, which in our particular case it was not working in our favour, you learn the definition of the word recoup.

And then you realize there is no way you can make any money unless you break big like Metallica but until then you are operating in Debt and you will never break out. Everybody gets paid first and the band gets paid last. I have the publishing which are not much money but no other royalties.

We are still in debt on the first few albums. Not only that but it’s tough to find out how much debt or profit after all these years. They send statements that you can’t read unless you are a lawyer, so I just wrote it off.

Your in debt for tour support, your in debt for videos, your in debt for everything and those are the reasons why I really like the new music business, there is more good about the new music business than there is bad. It’s more direct artists to fans and us old guys can still have a career.”

Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof

In a game that has Corporations acting as gatekeepers, the decks are stacked against the artist unless for some reason a band connects on so many levels that they have the power to demand a better deal.

And when gatekeepers control everything, they also control the legislation which gets passed, filling the pockets of politicians to protect their business models with basically perpetual copyright terms and what not.

But artists are fighting back. Bryan Adams is pushing for Copyright reform in Canada.

He wants a better copyright arrangement that benefits the artists. He argues against longer copyright terms, as they only benefit and make money for the record labels and the collection agencies and not the artists.

Adams wants a shorter reversion term so after a period of time, the artist should have their copyrights returned to them. Adams also states that long copyright terms have no benefit to the creators.

As I’ve said many times on this blog, basically, no one decides to start creating because copyright terms are not long enough. They create because they need to create.

And Adams lays it out that it’s the record labels and publishing houses who lobby hard for longer copyright terms, not the artists.

He even mentioned how Government committees set up to assist artists have a committee made up of record label and publishing people and no artists.

Van Morrison said that when his third album “Moondance” was released, he was paid $100 a week to survive and he earned no money from the album, because the people he trusted signed away his rights for the first three albums to Warner Bros, pocketed the money and Van Morrison got a weekly wage in the process.

And to top it off, for Morrison to get a higher wage, he had to join a Union for session players. So imagine that, Van Morrison had to be a session singer on his own fucking album. He got paid as a session singer instead of an artist. And in order to get paid he had to submit a shitload of forms and then wait for payment.

But he learned from it, has more control and is 40 albums deep into his career.

And you know what he said, when the interviewer asked what drives him to create.

He replied back with “It’s what I do.”

He didn’t mention it’s because copyright terms last 70 years after his death.

It’s because there is a need inside him to create and that is what drives him. Having an audience or the chance of an potential audience who cares, motivates him. Not copyright.

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Copyright, Derivative Works, Music, My Stories

The Right To Use A Song

Artists have fans from all sides of the political debate, from all sides of religion and from all different races.

It’s okay to take money from fans for concert tickets, recorded product and merchandise who support a political party you don’t support or fans who believe in a religion you don’t believe in.

But when a political figure plays music at a rally or releases their own Spotify playlist for sharing, artists decide its time to take a moral stance, asking said politician to stop playing their music at rallies or to remove their song from their Spotify playlist.

It happens in Australia and it happens in other countries as well.

If the artist creates art for public consumption, why do they get upset if people use it publicly, especially when all of the Copyright licenses are satisfied.

I’m not a Trump supporter or the Australian version of Trump, Clive Palmer. But both of em have used “We’re Not Gonna Take It” from Twisted Sister as part of their campaigns. Trump at rallies and Palmer in an ad, with the lyrics “Australia’s not gonna cop it” to music from “We’re Not Gonna Take It” in a different key.

There is no chance in hell that fans of Dee Snider or Twisted Sister would think that they endorse Palmer. It never occurred to me at all.

Dee and Jay Jay might not like it, but Copyright was never meant to be about censoring other people especially if the normal licenses are paid.

And the main issue which no one addresses is how Copyright has developed into a right to censor people and prosecute people.

And of course, in typical Palmer fashion he slammed Dee Snider, saying that he owns the Copyright to the words he wrote, and that Dee is trying to generate publicity to sell tickets to his Aussie shows.

I guess Palmer has no idea how Dee follows things through or who is messing with, because if anyone is not going to take it, it’s Dee.

And one last thought, who is going to ensure that the artists words are not misused after they are departed as Copyright does extend 70 years after death (with the MPAA and RIAA pushing for 90 years after death)?

Based on current trends, no one will, because as long as a fee is paid to the heirs, their lawyers and the Corporation who holds the rights, it will be allowed.

In the end Copyright was always meant to give an artist an incentive to create, not to censor, regardless if they agree or disagree with the people using their material.

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

2018 – III – The Year We Have Known Is Gone

Here is the final wrap of 2018. Have a safe break and see ya all in the new year.

Click on the playlist here.

I Am The One
We Got Tonite
Outloud

What can I say, I’m a sucker for melodic rock.

You Can’t Take Me Down
Playing With Fire
Dream Child

Craig Goldy’s little project is doing okay. People are interested, let’s see what comes next.

Lover, Leaver
Greta Van Fleet

They finally dropped an album and its selling, their previous EP is selling and people are listening. The only way is up. It’s up to them.

Self-Inflicted Wounds
Joe Bonamassa

From his “Redemption” album. On each album, there is always a track or two that connects with me.

Oblivion
Stratovarius

Can’t say I’m a fan of the band, but this song is good.

The whole Unheavenly Creatures album.
Coheed and Cambria

Read my review of it here.

Royal Beggars
Hereafter
A Wasted Hymn
Architects

Sometimes the vocal screaming gets to me, but in these three songs it’s a good mix of emotions and musically there is a lot to unpack.

The whole Firesign album.
Dynazty

Check out my review here.

The One You Loved Is Gone
Slash, Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators

Read my review here.

Are You Ready
The Best Ones Lie
Disturbed

These two are the best on the album and ignore the rest.

All The Time In The World
Whitesnake

From the surprise “Unzipped” album.

As I Fall
Afterlife
After Midnight
Andy James

Great instrumental guitar playing.

Hold The Line
Bonfire

From their “Legends” album covering a classic song that I used to cover in bands.

Swallow
I Am Fuel
Panoptical
Sons Of War
The End Will Begin Again
Thieves and Legend
Days Of Jupiter

Every era has a band that sounds similar to a famous band and then end up overtaking the band that influenced them in songwriting and risk taking.

In this case Days Of Jupiter runs rings around Disturbed but Disturbed is the one with the popularity.

Threatening War
Far Below
White Mist
Shed A Light
The Pineapple Thief

From their “Dissolution” album which is their twelfth album. Yep, you read that correct. Album number twelve and I’m hearing about the band for the first time.

It’s the way of our world know and it takes time to rise above the static noise. Just be patient and remember, music is a lifers game.

I’m A Ratt
Stephen Pearcy

From his “View To A Thrill” album. This song sounds like the ratt and roll that Robin Crosby used to bring to RATT.

First Time
Aftermath
Freedom
Long Shot
Royal Tusk

I was taken by surprise by “Tusk II”. It’s more rockier, even metal at certain times and the lyrics are more angrier.

Just Tell Me Something (featuring Danny Worsnop)
All That Remains

From their “Victims Of The New World” album. It’s the first song that stood out to me and demanded I press repeat.

What will happen to the band remains to be seen.

The Messenger
Circles

From “The Last One” album.

They are from Australia and ead this review of the album, as I totally agree with it and feel no need to further elaborate. http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2018/08/29/circles-the-last-one/

Life On Titan
Vault Of Heaven
Voices From The Fuselage

Ashe from TesseracT is back with his pre-TesseracT band.

Mayday
Digital Summer

A fully independent band who control their own destiny. They have been releasing singles from a forthcoming album in between jobs as paramedics and raising kids.

The Clincher – Version 103
Chevelle

From their “12 Bloody Spies: B Sides and Rarities” album. The vocal feel hooks me in.

Without You I’m Nothing
Rockin With The Boys
Bronx Boy
Mission To Mars
Ace Frehley

From his “Spaceman” album. Read Deke’s review over at Thunder Bay.

And that’s it. 2018 is a wrap. See ya next year.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Who Owns What

Should this be in the courts. Should a painting on a guitar body be protected by Copyright?

What about the other million guitar designs and paintings that happened on guitars of musicians who didn’t make it?

Who owns what there?

Of course, Copyright doesn’t matter or care when no money is involved. Copyright only goes to the courts if there is money involved. Copyright is only important and needs stricter enforcement when there is money to be gained or lost.

And the estate of Dimebag really shouldn’t have control over this design anyway. Dimebag didn’t even own the copyright to the artwork himself, (it was owned by his friend who painted the design) so how can it fall into the hands of his estate.

People will argue that he played a guitar made by Dean with that design on it and made it popular. Yes, that’s correct, but he still didn’t own the copyright on the guitar to pass it on to his estate after death.

Also the lightning design is pretty generic and it looks like the lightning on the “Ride The Lightning” cover and there is nothing really distinctive about it. As far as I’m concerned, the Estate or the Guitar maker should not have a Copyright over this design.

People and Corporations who offer no value to culture, make money from people who did offer value and change culture after death. This is basic hijacking of what Copyright was designed to do and it shouldn’t exist.

And as I mentioned before, what about the millions of other artists who tried to impact culture and didn’t. There was always copyright infringement happening.

The “Sunset Strip” sound in the early 80s was pretty much the same across the bands. And for the bands who made it like Motley Crue and Ratt, thousands of other bands who had similar/same songs didn’t make it, however they influenced the bands who made it to a certain extent.

How come they don’t make the news?

CC DeVille took a riff another person wrote in his previous band and used it for “Talk Dirty To Me”, without any credit to the writer. James Hetfield took a riff another person wrote and used it for “Hit The Lights” without any credit.

Copyright allows Corporations to amass power from art created by others. These Corporations keep this power long after the artist has passed away. This is wrong and against the interest of the public.

When one small artist who has a low status has an issue, it is irrelevant to everyone however when a bigger artist has an issue it is relevant.

And people wonder why small low worth artists are suing high net worth artists?

Instead of creating incentives to create, copyright is creating incentives to sue.

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

Henrik’s Spotify List

Here is the playlist.

Henrik is a regular reader and commenter of this blog and a week ago he shared his Top 100 Spotify list for 2018.

Well, like all things that deal with music, I had to give it a listen, especially when I saw his number one was from a band I’ve never heard of. It’s always cool to see similar musical tastes/songs in other people’s playlists and it’s even cooler to be introduced to bands I have never heard before.

So after listening to the playlist, here are my selections of Henrik’s Top 100 Spotify List.

John Carpenter Powder Ballad
Turbonegro
From the album “Rock N Roll Machine”.

It’s the first time I’ve heard the song and the band. And its good. Don’t know how the band name would go down in the U.S, but hey from reading their Wikipedia page it looks like they like to push the political correctness debates.

For me, I’m a fan and the last minute of the song, makes me want to press repeat.

Hot For Nietzsche
Turbonegro
From the album “Rock and Roll Machine”

I dig all the references to “The Who” and so many other bands I like.

No Surrender
Judas Priest
From the Firepower album.

This was on my list as well.

In The Heat Of The Night
Make The Move
U.D.O
From the Steelfactory album.

U.D.O is hit and miss for me, but these songs have riffs and grooves too good to refuse. Especially, “Make The Move” which has a riff and vocal feel, very similar to a certain Beatsie Boys song called “Fight For Your Right To Party”.

Mess You Made
Only Human
Vega
From the Only Human album.

I’m interested, clicked on follow and we will see what the band does next.

Black Smoke Rising
Safari Song
Greta Van Fleet
From the “From The Fires” album.

Their path is like Led Zep. Coming out around 1968/2018 with a folk hard rock sound and tweaking it as they move into the 1970’s/2020’s.

Walk In The Shadows
Queensryche
From the “Rage For Order” album.

The song that made sense on this album on the first listen. The rest of the album took some time to digest, but this one was easy.

Dance Macabre
Ghost
From the “Prequelle” album.

It’s also in my 100.

Perfect Storm
Breathless
Volster
From the “Perfect Storm” album.

The first time i heard this band. And I clicked save on the songs and I also follow the band.

Distance
My Allied Ocean
Evergrey
From the “Storm Within” album.

These appeared on my list for 2017, and “Distance” also appeared in 2018.

A new album will drop in 2019, so expect to see Evergrey in my list next year.

This Time
Sometimes The World Aint Enough
The Night Flight Orchestra
From the “Sometimes The World Aint Enough” album.

These are also on my list.

Life On Death Road
Jorn
from the “Life On Death Road” album.

The riff is brilliant, and those outro leads make me press repeat.

Suite Sister Mary
Queensryche
From the “Operation Mindcrime” album.

I haven’t heard this in a long time.

Those voices/choirs remind me of the “Omen” movies. So powerful and it takes the song into the stratosphere.

Bark At The Moon
Ozzy Osbourne
From the “Bark At The Moon”

Here is the classic riff that Ozzy wrote with one finger on a piano while Jake E.Lee watched.

And that outro lead. I guess Ozzy’s finger moved really fast to write it and then show Jake E. Lee.

This is the bullshit of music copyright and how people with money and status can fuck up the real writers, in this case Bob Daisley and Jake E. Lee.

Quicksand Jesus
Skid Row
From the “Slave To The Grind” album.

One of the best Skid Row songs, especially when Sebastian Bach takes it to another level with his Bridge and Outro vocals. This is also on my lists of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Fuel The Fire
One More Round
Bullet
From the album “Dust To Gold”.

I swear i thought i was listening to Keel singing. And to be honest, it’s the vocals that stop me from getting into it.

Fool On Fire
One Million Miles
Babylon A.D
From the album “Revelation Highway”.

“Fool On Fire” is not my favaourite as I prefered other songs over this one. But still cool to see Babylon A.D on another listeners list.

On the other hand, “One Million Miles” is up there as a sleeper classic.

The Art Of Loss
Redemption
From the album “The Art Of Loss”.

Any song that starts off with sweep picking, alternate picking scalar runs and a wicked beat/riff under it, is up there in my book.

Hope Dies Last
Redemption
From the album “The Art Of Loss”.

You need to be in the mood to sink your teeth into a 10 minute song. This one is also a favourite of mine, because it feels like a Fates Warning song.

And that section from about the 5.50 minute mark to the 6.10 minute mark is finger breaking stuff.

Master Of The Universe
Man Behind The Gun
Cool Runnin’
Palace

Never heard of the band before, however there sound is up there with the melodic rock i dig. I’m interested, what comes next is up to the band.

Show Dont Tell
Rush
From the album “Presto”.

No Rush made it to my list this year, but man, there was a big Rush period between 94 and 2004 for me.

I remember this song well, sitting down to learn the riffs, the feel and the groove.

And those open chord voicings from Alex Lifeson are perfect. A true master at simplicity and yet it sounds complicated.

Breathe With Me
In The Arms Of A Devil
Dynazty
From the album “Firesign”.

Yep, these ones are on my list as well. And those guitar solos, its guitar hero stuff. Sweep picking, string skipping, legato lines, bends, tapping, alternate picking. It’s got everything.

Break Down The Wall
Stone Fury

Ahh yes, Lenny Wolf’s German band before his U.S band, Kingdom Come conquered the world with their Led Zep influences and then when interviewers questioned them, they told everyone they have never heard of Led Zep. It’s okay to say you are influenced by others, it’s how music works.

This song is perfect melodic rock and you can more or less hear the embryo of Kingdom Come’s melodic side right here. I actually have it in a Kingdom Come playlist and it’s not out of place.

For The Love Of God
Bellevue Suite

Another new band to sink my teeth into.

Let It Go
Def Leppard
From the “High N Dry” album.

When you hear Def Leppard’s earlier songs, you get to hear the metal and rock ethos they started out with and this rock and metal spirit would sustain them.

This song rocks as hard as any song that came out during this period, but the embryo of those multi-layered vocals that took “Hysteria” to millions in sales are here.

Face It
Grand Design
From the album “Viva La Paradise”

Man, i really dig the music and the melodies, but the tone of the helium vocals is too much.

Take Hold Of The Flame
Queensryche
From “The Warning”

You can hear the embryo of the ‘Operation Mindcrime” album in this song.

The Warning
En Force
Queensryche
From “The Warning”

Two classic metal songs.

Please give that verse riff in “En Force” a real listen and try to pick out which song it’s borrowing from as it always eludes me. Is it a Thin Lizzy song?

Star Of Rio
The Night Flight Orchestra
From the “Amber Galactic” album.

Yep, this song is on my playlist for 2018 and it was in there for 2017. It’s a classic in my book.

Downtown
In And Out Of Trouble
H.E.A.T
From the “Live In London” album.

This band delivers a sound and style i like, and they are a tight band on this live album. Provided that the live album didnt fix things up back in the studio.

Masque Of The Red Death
Crimson Glory
From the “Transcendence” album

This is a blast from the past. I have this on CD, but i haven’t listened to Crimson Glory on Spotify at all.

One Night In The City – Live at Pinkpop Festival
Dio
From the album “The Last In Line” Deluxe Edition

Hearing Dio live, you get a sense of what a super tight band he had, especially Vinny Appice.

Man, the guy doesnt miss a beat at all.

King Of Errors
Evergrey
From the “Hymns For The Broken” album.

This song crushes.

The verse riff is simple and effective and the Queensryche “Operation Mindcrime” sounding Chorus riff is perfect.

What about that lead break?

Killer
Crazy Lixx
From the album “Ruff Justice”

This one is also saved on my playlists as it reminds me of Yngwie Malmsteen.

Marathon – Live In Birmingham England/1988
Rush
From the “A Show Of Hands” album.

Hearing Rush in a live setting, you get a feel for how good they really are and how tight they are as a live band. Especially for a three piece.

A perfect example of paying your dues and honing your chops for years before you make it.

Eyes You Dare Not Meet In Dreams
Redemption
From the album “Long Night’s Journey Into Day”.

Yep, this one is also in my list.

Havana
Red Dragon Cartel
From the album “Patina”.

Jake E Lee lays down a mean blues boogie shuffle in typical Jake fashion, but the vocal line melodies do not connect at all with me.

Bodom Beach Terror
Triple Corpse Hammerblow
Children Of Bodom
From the album “Hate Crew Deathroll”

Musically this band is brilliant and Alexi Laiho (i am spelling from memory here, so maybe there is a mistake) is one unbelievable guitarist. When you hear his style, it’s so heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads, which is perfect to my ears. Vocally it’s not my thing, but musically i really enjoy it.

Check out the solo in “Triple Corpse Hammerblow” and it’s “Over The Mountain” influence.

I even wanted to cover their songs in bands i was in and have the vocal melodies sung instead of growled.

Lock And Key
Rush
From the album “Hold Your Fire”.

Man i havent heard this song for a long time. I feel a Rush binge coming up for the Xmas holidays.

Tightrope
Vandenberg’s MoonKings
From the MK-II album.

Adrian Vandenberg sure knows how to write a good four minute song. This came across my playlists as well, but with so many releases coming through, it sort of got dropped off.

Reign Of Fire
Armored Saint
From the “Symbol Of Salvation” album.

This song is also on my lists. That opening riff is enough to break your desk and start swinging air punches.

Nobody’s Hero
Rush
From the album “Counterparts”

Again, it’s been a long time since we’ve shared a listening experience, so welcome back “Counterparts”.

Life In Still Water
Fates Warning
From the album “Parallels”.

It’s also been a long time since i’ve listened to the “Parallels” album, so it was cool to see this song on a playlist.

Thanks for the playlist Henrik and others should also check it out.

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

Fight The Copyright Powers That Be

I know this is a site about metal and rock but sometimes I need to go outside these styles.

Case in point.

Taylor Swift and her new record deal.

She left Big Machine Record’s and signed with Republic Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

In her new deal, Swift owns her Copyright. In other words, those master recordings are hers.

Remember I’ve been saying those who own their own copyright will win in the end. Swift isn’t stupid, she has seen how much streaming services pay the “copyright holders” of recordings. So instead of selling her rights to the corporation for a large advance right now, she’s keeping her future songs in her bank.

But that’s assuming that her future songs will have the same impact and success as her Big Machine Records catalogue, which in this case all stays with Big Machine Records.

The big one for me is how the sale of Universal Music Group Spotify shares are distributed (provided the sale happens).

Basically the label was in a powerful negotiating position against the streaming service because it had amassed a shit load of copyrights over the years. It held the rights of songs other people had written even when those songs should have been in the public domain.

So if Universal sells its Spotify stake, the label must pay all of its artists a cut of the sale as non-recoupable. Universal’s stake in Spotify is estimated to be above $850 million.

Sony already sold its stake for $768 million and Warner Brothers sold some of their stake for $504 million. Both labels, cashed up, distributed monies to their artists differently. Sony artists got monies paid as non-recoupable and Warner Brothers artists got the monies applied to their recoupable balances.

The VOX article gives a great example of why this happens:

When an artist signs with a music label, the label advances the artist some of the money it thinks the artist will bring in. Essentially, if an artist signs a $3 million contract, the label is saying, “We’re pretty sure you’ll earn $3 million in royalties in your first year of sales, so here’s that money early.” But that means the artist doesn’t get any more royalty payments until they’ve earned back that $3 million.

Whenever an artist hasn’t yet earned back an advance, they have what’s called “an unrecouped balance” with their label. As far as the label’s accounting books are concerned, the artist owes the label money.

So when a label sells Spotify shares — which means a big payday — it’s got two possible ways of sharing that payday with its artists. It can either count the money toward any unrecouped balances, or it can choose not to.

Sony decided that when it shared its Spotify money with its artists, it was going to ignore any unrecouped balances and send them the money directly, without applying it to their advances. Warner Brothers did the opposite, and applied the Spotify money to artists’ unrecouped balances before passing any of it along. In practice, that meant Sony artists got a big paycheck out of the Spotify deal, but the only thing that a lot of Warner Brothers artists got was the promise that they were a little bit closer to seeing an actual royalty statement someday.

For Universal, Taylor Swift is forcing their hand to distribute the monies to all artists regardless if they owe the label money or not.

Swift’s spirit here is the rock and roll spirit.

So how did a country artists who crossed over into pop become a rock star in ethos by standing up to the powers that be?

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” was the war anthem for a whole new metal/rock generation. But what are the rockers and metal heads doing right now.

Metallica with their label went to court against their fans, while Swift is seen as an artist standing up for other artists against the Copyright monopolies and greed of the record labels.

Like her or not, she had issues with Spotify and Apple over payments, and then probably realized it’s her label that was the issue.

Regardless, in true rock and roll spirit she asked for her music to be removed and it was. Until she decided it was time to put it back on, at the price she believed it was worth.

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