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

On Through The Night

“On Through The Night” has just turned 41 and it’s time for a few spins over a few drinks.

“Rock Brigade” and “Hello America” bring the standard blues hard rock vibes to the album. “Hello America” also has this Beach Boys style vibe, especially after the solo section.

It’s tracks like “Sorrow Is A Woman” (with its wonderful “Stairway To Heaven” inspired lead break and how good is that harmony solo section after it which leads to the outro), “It Could Be You” (shows their love of Mott The Hoople, Sweet and hard rock Queen) and “Satellite” (listen to that tasty palm muted arpeggio riff from Steve Clark in the verses after the first Chorus and how good is that “staring up at the sky” section) which shows the adventurous and melodic spirit of the band.

How good is the clean tone intro to “When The Walls Came Tumbling Down”?

And then it morphs into those galloping style riffs which was a big part of the NWOBHM and something Iron Maiden would use a lot, “The Trooper” comes to mind immediately.

Then the headbanging riff to kick off “Wasted” starts. For those who wanted to question the metal credentials of Def Leppard, I always pointed them to this song.

“Rocks Off” and “It Could Be You” are interchangeable, with very similar riffs being the main riffs. Then again the whole blues hard rock movement was based on the same riffs being re-used by each individual artist.

“It Don’t Matter” could have come from the fingertips of Michael Schenker as “Rock Bottom” comes to mind. And how good is that Chorus, just a simple, “It don’t matter” line repeated in a simple AC/DC style backing vocal.

How good are those harmony leads in the “Answer To The Master” Chorus? And the song has a little drum solo before it moves into a section that reminds me of U.F.O. Finally, the lead break starts, with an open string lick before it morphs into the pentatonic lines.

“Overture” is 7 plus minutes long and it doesn’t feel laboured and boring. At the 2 minute mark it starts to go into a Thin Lizzy style of song, full of energy and harmonies. And my favourite part is the stop start harmony section from the 4.20 mark and at 4.40, Joe Elliot starts singing a haunting melody, before a wah solo kicks in. And from here to the end, it’s that good, that the only thing I could do is press repeat.

For all the multi-platinum and Diamond certifications that came afterwards, there is something simple and organic about the debut.

Check it out.

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

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – March 8 to March 14

4 Years Ago (2017)

I was writing about 1983.

“Frontiers” from Journey is the response from a band at the top of the charts as the “Don’t Stop Believin” and Jonathan Cain era was in full swing.

“Separate Ways” is the piece d resistance. How good is the opening keyboard lick?

“Faithfully” inspired “Purple Rain”. In This Moment also use this song as an influence for the outro of their song “World In Flames”.

“Troubled Child” is one of those underrated gems on an album.

“Bent Out Of Shape” from Rainbow is how far MTV changed the way bands wrote albums. Suddenly experimentation, longer guitar solos or longer songs in general went out the window. Every band was trying to make that arena rock song.

But the single here should have been “Stranded” instead of “Street of Dreams”.

“Flick Of The Switch” from AC/DC is a solid album.

The producer of their holy trinity albums, Mutt Lange was also out. Their manager Peter Mensch was also out. Angus and Malcolm stepped up to give the world a live and raw version of AC/DC.

There is a lot of groove and swagger. The slower tempo’s make it sound HEAVY. But the songs don’t get played live, and the album remains largely forgotten to the masses.

“Never Surrender” from Truimph showed a band that could write ambitious and melodic tracks along with metal and rock tracks as well.

Yngwie Malmsteen was involved with Alcatrazz and “No Parole from Rock N’ Roll” with Graham Bonnet on vocals and “Steeler” with Ron Keel on vocals.

8 Years Ago (2013)

I listened to Bon Jovi’s new album “What About Now” and had a rant over it. And then I heard “That’s What the Water Made Me”.

Cause devils in heaven
There’s angels in hell

We live in a world of fakes, a world of avatars and the lines between good and evil are blurred these days.  

1994 (27 Years Ago)

“Superunknown” from Soundgarden and “The Downward Spiral” from Nine Inch Nails are released.

1987 (34 Years Ago)

U2 started their world domination era with the release of their fifth studio album, “The Joshua Tree”.

1986 (35 Years Ago)

Rick Rubin got Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to record parts of “Walk This Way” so that he and Run DMC could transform it into a hip-hop jam.

Both acts weren’t enthusiastic about the collaboration but money talks and the track resurrected Aerosmith’s career and pushed Run DMC’s name to a whole new audience as well.

1984 (37 Years Ago)

Ian Gillan’s days in Black Sabbath came to an end, just as Mark II of Deep Purple reformed.

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

Australian Method Series – Karnivool

“Sound Awake” was released in 2009 and it peaked at Number 2 on the Australian Charts.

Karnivool is an Australian progressive band formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1997, with an interesting set list of Nirvana and Carcass songs.

The group currently consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass, and Steve Judd on drums.

The last album they did was “Asymmetry” released in 2013. Vocalist, Ian Kenny is also the lead singer in the highly successful pop rock act, “Birds Of Tokyo” which started off as a side project for him and I’m pretty sure it is now his main project as the Gold and Platinum and Multi-Platinum certifications mount up for em.

So, after touring in the US on the “Themata” album, Karnivool returned to Australia in 2008 and entered the studio to write their follow-up. While writing the album, they still toured around Australia, testing out some of the new songs in the live arena.

While “Themata” was written mostly by guitarist Drew Goodard, “Sound Awake” was much more of a collaborative effort from everyone.

“Simple Boy” and Goliath” show an influence from The Mars Volta and pack a one two punch to kick off the album.

“New Day” at 8 minutes long, is a must listen, with its melodic vocals and progressive structures and how it just keeps building. If you want to hear how Birds Of Tokyo sound then this is the bastard child of their sound. It even has a Live feel.

“Set Fire To The Hive” is a nod to Soundgarden’s “Badmotorfinger” days, a bit of modern “System Of A Down” and their Alternative Rock style from the first album.

“Umbra” has a catchy hook to start the song. The ending is excellent, stick around for it.

“All I Know” has an odd riff and a Tool like rhythm.

“The Caudal Lure” is the most progressive track, moving between time signatures and feels.

“Illumine” is a metal cut.

And the last two tracks are the piece d resistance with guitarists Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking shining.

“Deadman” just keeps building up and the song ends around 10 minutes, with some ambient noise and then a re-recorded version of “Change (Part 1)”, starts. But when this song was on “Themata” it built and when we expected it to blast off, it ended. Now we finally hear what comes after the build-up.

“Change (Part 2)” has all the best things of Sabbath, Tool, Radiohead and hard rock.

Musically, Tool, Porcupine Tree and early Muse come to mind. There’s some Deftones and Radiohead there. There’s an Alternative Rock vibe from the debut that’s still there. It’s catchy, has heaps of melody because Ian Kenny is one of Australia’s best singers. The rhythm section of Judd and Stockman is excellent, creative and full of ideas to change it up. And Goddard and Hosking make a wonderful twin guitar outfit.

Check em out.

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To Do What You Love For A Living

The story goes something like this.

A band forms and they play the LA scene. They can’t get a US deal but they end up getting a deal to release albums in the Japanese market. They do two albums on the Japanese deal and then their guitarist leaves to join another project which is just kick starting.

The band calls it quits only to reappear a few years later on a US label “Pasha”, with only the singer left from the original band.

In order to participate in this new scene, the singer signs a deal with the label which gave the bulk of the publishing and royalty payments to the label.

Because when you have nothing, you will sign anything just to have a chance to do what you love for a living. And he wasn’t the only one. Many artists signed deals that benefited the labels a lot more than the artists. And today, these kind of “bad” artist deals still exist.

To everyone’s surprise, the album goes to Number 1, on the back of a cover song, which wasn’t really a hit for the original artist who wrote it, but suddenly, its huge. And all the monies went to the label and the producer and the original song writers. Despite selling millions of physical product throughout the years, the singer died with huge debts and was almost broke.

But as he said once upon a time, “when push comes to shove, I get to do what I love for a living”.

And that my friends, is the brief, short story of Kevin DuBrow. He got to do what he loved and others got wealthy.

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

As Daylight Dies

From Killswitch Engage, released in 2006.

It hasn’t stopped selling.

Not bad for an album that Dutkiewicz once said in a Guitar World interview, “had riffs in it, so he could play and drink beer at the same time”.

Last week it moved 2,000 copies on vinyl. It was already certified Gold in 2009 by the RIAA and the song “My Curse,” was certified Platinum in 2020. At the moment it has over 122 million streams on Spotify.

Howard Jones was on lead vocals with the usual crew of Adam Dutkiewicz on lead guitar, vocals, keyboards and Joel Stroetzel on rhythm guitar. Mike D’Antonio on bass and Justin Foley on drums.

“Daylight Dies” (the song) was also certified Gold in 2009 and their cover of “Holy Diver” was certified Gold in 2020 and at the moment it has over 75 million streams on Spotify.

“This Fire” is at 49.2 million streams. It’s basically “Fixation On The Darkness” just shorter. And it’s used as CM Punks theme song in WWE.

Combining all things great from the Swedish Melodic Death Metal scene with the American thrash scene and a nod to hard rock and classic rock bands, “As Daylight Dies” captures it all.

The album kept the band on the road for three years. But it also strained the relationship between Dutkiewicz and Jones, which eventually led to the departure of Jones and the return of original vocalist, Jesse Leach.

If you like your melodic metal then check out tracks like “Arms Of Sorrow” (it has this “Back In The Village” solo section) and “My Curse” (the big radio single) which has aggressive hardcore verses and a massive arena rock Chorus. Make sure you listen to the head banging verse riff.

“For You” moves between some of the darkest, progressive and heaviest riffs in the verses to the most melodic riffs in the Chorus.

Check out the intro to “Break The Silence” and if you’re not a fan of the screaming verses, stick around for the Chorus.

“Reject Yourself” is loaded with a lot of good riffs.

P.S. There is no way you could play the riffs on this album and drink beer at the same time, as there is a lot of LH movement.

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The Record Vault: Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

Released in 2005, Claudio Sanchez, Travis Stever, Michael Todd and Josh Eppard are back for “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness”, putting in a serious challenge to Meatloaf on the length of album titles.

I call it “Good Apollo IV”.

“Keeping The Blade”/”Always And Never”

It starts off with violins and an ominous piano riff. After about 90 seconds, a piece of music which is familiar appears.

Then an acoustic guitar riff starts for “Always And Never”, while Sanchez sings a haunting vocal melody. But these tracks are a set up for what is about to come.

“Welcome Home”

This is the big one, at 73.7 million streams on Spotify.

That intro. Listen to it.

Then the Kashmir like feel and riff comes in which ends up being the main riff. Listen to it.

That outro. With the Kashmir riff, the lead break and the whoa, oh chants. Listen to it.

And when the song ends, listen to it again.

“Ten Speed (of God’s Blood & Burial)”

It’s a major key rock song with a funky bass groove. Songs like these keep popping up on their albums and most reviewers call em EMO songs, which never made sense to me. They are just great rock songs.

“Crossing the Frame”

It continues the major key pop rock vibe of “Ten Speed”.

“Apollo I: The Writing Writer”

After some synths, the riff which kicks off the song is excellent, based on palm muted arpeggios and single notes, with a progressive bass groove.

And the major key Chorus, so catchy and poppy.

The song moves between these progressive verses and poppy choruses, never losing my interest.

“Once Upon Your Dead Body”

The song continues some of those major key pop vibes from earlier songs.

“Wake Up”

At 12.2 million streams on Spotify, the song is another star from the album.

It’s a ballad, but with no cliches. And seriously the hook is around the words “Kill anyone for you“.

Take that, pop singles with 15 writers.

“The Suffering“

“The Suffering” is the next high point after “Welcome Home” and at 22 million Spotify streams, it’s also one of the big songs from the album.

The most catchiest, especially the vocal line, “listen well, will you marry me and are you well in the suffering” which sounds like the hook from Three Evils’s, “pull the trigger and the nightmare stops“.

And we like it.

“The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court”

Nothing really connected with me on this one.

“Mother May I”

It’s probably the best Police song written in the 2000’s, that Sting, Copeland and Summers didn’t write.

The final 4 songs are part of a suite called “The Willing Well”.

“The Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End”

Not one of their best.

“The Willing Well II: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness”

At the 3.15 mark there is this section with whoa oh oh backing vocals that reminds me of Maiden. Musically it’s got all these other little Maiden sections.

“The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth”

The guitar and bass both play unique progressions and it works so good together, all held tight by the unorthodox drumming of Josh Eppard.

“The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut”

“The Final Cut” closes it nicely, more slower, doomy even. There’s a church organ in the background and the guitars sound like they came from the 70s.

And that wah drenched solo needs to be heard. After it goes into a Gilmour like clean tone solo, which again needs to be heard.

Vocally Sanchez is in the zone.

Press repeat on this one as well.

And now for the story, if you’re interested. Plot spoiler warning.

It takes place in the real world of “The Writer”, the person writing the story and it mixes up the reality of The Writer with the fictional story and I’m not a fan of stories that are written like this.

But in the process of the two stories being told, the sci-fi story progresses as the mental health of The Writer regresses. And I will do my best to summarise what it’s all about.

So from the story point of view, Claudio works out that the Keywork is powered by the energy of enslaved souls who want to be set free, and the only way to free them is by destroying Heaven’s Fence.

From The Writer’s point of view, he wants to do bad things to his cheating ex, Erica Court and his mental health deteriorates even further.

Back to the story, a rebel strike team has disabled a generator on a planet, which allows a rebel spaceship to land.

Sound familiar.

Claudio realises he’s “The Crowing” which is sort of like “The Chosen One” to bring peace to the galaxy.

But the bad guys in the story, Wilhelm (aka The Emperor) and his General (aka Darth Vader) have a trap waiting.

Back to The Writer, he has become like Caligula, and is now talking to his bike called “Ten Speed” (Caligula spoke to his horse and made the horse a Senator). Ten Speed tells the Writer not to murder his ex, but to exact his vengeance metaphorically by killing Ambellina, who represents Erica’s good side in the story, and is the love interest for Claudio, which will in turn cause Claudio to accept his destiny as the Crowing and destroy the Keywork.

Back to the story, Claudio and Ambellina arrive at a meeting place, the Willing Well, in which they can see the Writer’s argument with Ten Speed take place.

The Writer eventually uses the Willing Well to pass into his own story. The Writer explains to Claudio he must kill Ambellina for his own peace of mind, so that the story may have an ending. Claudio refuses and The Writer (who has God like powers in his own story) kills Ambellina, and walks off into the distance with his bicycle, Ten Speed, leaving Claudio with the message “all worlds from here must burn,” implying that it is the Crowing’s duty to destroy the Keywork.

And the next album “No World For Tomorrow” is set up.

Here is the box set the two albums came in.

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Influenced, Music, My Stories

Billboard Album Rock Tracks For Week Ending March 6, 1993

These posts are very time consuming but well worth it, as it gets me listening to songs I hadn’t heard yet, I know how is that possible in this day and age, but it is possible.

Number 1
Pride And Joy – Coverdale/Page

This song had no traction in Australia when it came to the charts but all the American mags I purchased had it advertised.

David Coverdale even made the front cover of a Guitar World issue with Jimmy Page.

And what’s the deal with its digital release. It’s on Spotify Australia, then its removed, then it’s there and now removed again. But YouTube has it.

And everyone said it “sounds like Led Zep” and I’m like, “yeah it will”, because Jimmy Page is a pretty large part of the Led Zep song writing team, so anything he writes will always sound like Led Zep.

Since Led Zep wasn’t doing anything, Coverdale/Page filled the void nicely.

Number 2
Two Princes – Spin Doctors

While “Pride And Joy” from Coverdale/Page got no traction in Australia, “Two Princes” went all the way to Number One here and it was everywhere. 278 plus million streams on Spotify and the song still has value and life in its ecosystem.

Number 3
Don’t Tear Me Up – Mick Jagger

I’d never heard this song until today.

It has that “Walk On The Wild Side” feel in the music.

More U2 like than anything else.

Number 4
Won’t Get Fooled Again – Van Halen

The VH marketing team always tried to keep VH in the Charts. Their live album didn’t really do anything in Australia and neither did their cover of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.

Number 5
Man On The Moon – R.E.M

R.E.M was massive in Australia during the album “Automatic For The People”, to the point that I started to hate every single song on the album. Radio stations played em relentlessly and it didn’t matter to which station you switched.

But time heals all wounds and I’m okay with it.

Number 6
Black – Pearl Jam

My favourite Pearl Jam song, especially that whole 2 minute outro. And to this day, Pearl Jam are massive in Australia.

They would play 5 to 6 sold out shows in the same city during each tour. I had a work friend who followed them around Australia on one of their tours circa 2005/6.

Number 7
Good Lovin’s Hard To Find – Lynyrd Skynyrd

I never got back into the reformed Skynyrd, so today is my first day hearing “Good Lovin’s Hard To Find” and it swings with the horns and the rockabilly blues.

Number 8
Cats In The Cradle – Ugly Kid Joe

Massive in Australia, a cover of Cat Stevens.

The message of a kid, wanting to spend time with his father and the father being too busy to do so because of work or tiredness, resonated with a lot of people.

And as the song nears the end, the father now old and retired, calls up his son to spend time, but the son is too busy because family life and pressures of the workplace and creditors keeps em estranged.

Number 9
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You – Sting

Disturbed covered it recently, trying to cash in on their success of “The Sound Of Silence”.

Sting’s solo career was hit and miss for me. This song is more rooted to his rock ways than some of the other stuff he did and I like it.

Number 10
Sometimes Salvation – The Black Crowes

Ballad like and bluesy with a 70’s Rod Stewart like vocal line. Black Crowes delivered on their earlier albums.

Number 11
Driven By You – Brian May

It’s that usual rock-a-billy style riff in the verses but it wasn’t something that captured my attention for long.

Number 12
Turn It Up Or Turn It Off – Drivin’N’Cryin’

A perfect rock and roll title for 1993. It’s got that heartland style chord progressions that John Mellencamp made famous.

Number 13
Somebody Knockin’ – Izzy Stradlin And The Ju Ju Hounds

The laidback jam like hard rock of Izzy Stradlin and his Ju Ju Hounds was perfect for 1993 and so far removed from what was happening on the main commercial charts.

And it struck a chord with people.

Number 14
Down On Me – Jackyl

And then you have Jackyl who took a riff from The Who and a riff and vocal style from AC/DC. They got no traction in Australia, but the U.S magazines had em featured.

Number 15
Pull Me Under – Dream Theater

When I saw the title, I thought, blah, another band with titles about sexual innuendo and metaphors. But my cousin kept saying, listen to it, it’s got nothing to do with that.

And I still remember hearing the opening arpeggio notes of the intro riff at my cousin’s place. Then the drum tom pattern came in and I was already taping over Side A on a cassette of new music which I just taped a minute before. I was hooked immediately and within a few weeks I would have the original CD in my possession, becoming a lifelong fan in the process.

Eventually the names of Petrucci, Portnoy, Myung, Moore and Labrie would roll of the tongue like the surnames of my best mates.

Number 16
The One I Am – Dan Baird

For a song that was Number 16 on the Charts back in 1993, I would have expected a lot more streams than 25,790 on Spotify.

First time listener today.

I remember seeing the name, but I never invested time or funds to listen. And I like the blues rock vibe. So similar to what the Black Crowes were doing, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Drivin N Crying and Izzy Stradlin.

Number 17
Somebody To Shove – Soul Asylum

It was an MTV Awards performance of “Runaway Train” that made me a fan. When I did some research I saw that this overnight sensation was a decade in the making.

How good is the intro and the verses?

Number 18
Mister Please – Damn Yankees

This band didn’t do much on the charts in Australia. But I was still a buyer based on my fandom of Night Ranger. I didn’t mind Styx and Nugent, but I did like Night Ranger.

And Jack Blades, Tommy Shaw and Ted Nugent, worked well together. The two albums they did are excellent hard rock albums.

Number 19
Eileen – Keith Richards

So we had Mick Jagger at Number 3 and good ole Keith Richards at 19.

How can that be?

Both songs are good Rolling Stones songs.

Number 20
Heart Of An Angel – The Jeff Healy Band

Every time I listen to Jeff Healy (RIP), I think of the “Roadhouse” movie with Patrick Swayze. TJFB is the bar band in the movie and they play behind a Perspex screen so they don’t get destroyed when a fight breaks out.

Healy plays his heart out on the guitar and his soulful bluesy voice fits in perfect.

Crank this one.

Number 21
Waiting For The Sun – Jayhawks

First time, I’m hearing this song. I’ve seen the name “The Jayhawks” mentioned but was never interested at that point in time. And I like the Led Zepp influences and the solo section which sound like it came from “Stairway To Heaven”.

And speaking of solos, you get an outro solo as well.

Number 22
Courage – The Tragically Hip

I have been listening to The Tragically Hip recently as fellow bloggers Buried On Mars and Caught Me Gaming are doing tandem reviews of their discography. They are early in, just up to the “Road Apples” album, released in 1991.

This is the opening track of the next album due “Fully Completely”. And I’m a bit torn comparing it to the tracks from the previous albums I like.

Number 23
She Got Me – Masters Of Reality

First time listener today and it feels like a lot of songs I know. Just think of “Ballroom Blitz” merged with “Radar Love” and a bit of “Let There Be Rock”.

And goddamn it, I like it.

Number 24
Stand – Poison

Poison doing this kind of Country, Rhythm and Blues is perfect for their style. At times it feels like a U2 song and how good are the Gospel singers.

Number 25
In Bloom – Nirvana

This song spawned so many copycat bands in a few years’ time.

Number 26
Return To Serenity – Testament

This song is excellent. The clean tone intro, those little melodic leads and then it goes into a progressive 12/8 swing feel, with a bluesy lead.

This is the Testament I like.

Number 27
Bed Of Roses – Bon Jovi

It’s not my favourite Jovi song, nor is it in my top 100 Bon Jovi songs.

Number 28
Here Comes Trouble – Bad Company

Obviously by this time, I had thought that Bad Company was broken up. But they continued and I heard this album a few years ago.

Brian Howe (RIP) on vocals revitalised the band. This album was mainly written by Howe and guitarist Terry Thomas who also did work with Foreigner, Tommy Shaw and Tesla.

Number 29
Leave It Alone – Living Colour

Great groove rock with a bit of prog added for spice.

Number 30
Say Hello 2 Heaven – Temple Of The Dog

I heard this in the late 90’s as one of the drummers in the band at the time was a big Soundgarden and Pearl Jam fan. It’s like this song was lost in a time warp and resurfaced in the 90’s.

Number 31
Steam – Peter Gabriel

Gabriel tried to re-write “Sledgehammer”.

Number 32
Too Many Ways To Fall – Arc Angels

There is a 10 minute live version on Spotify, with some jamming in the middle section and I like it.

Number 33
Sweating Bullets – Megadeth

Musically, it’s like an Alice Cooper cut, more theatre like but done in a Megadeth way.

How good is that intro?

Number 34
Kiss That Frog – Peter Gabriel

I was way off the Gabriel Express by the 90’s and hearing this song for the first time today, tells me why.

Number 35
Sad But True – Metallica

“Hey, I’m the album that will never stop selling”.

Even in 2021, the self-titled album still moves more units than new releases.

Number 36
Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) – Def Leppard

It’s typical Def Leppard, but by 1993 and after being exposed to this kind of Lep on “Hysteria” and a bit on “Pyromania” it was time for a reset.

And “Slang” in three years’ time was the perfect antidote.

Number 37
I’ll Hate You Better – Suicidal Tendencies

First time listener today, as I never really got into the whole Suicidal Tendencies thing. I know that Rob Trujillo came from em, but even after he joined Metallica, I still didn’t go back and explore his past.

But after hearing this track, I like it. I think some time will be found to listen to “The Art Of Rebellion”.

Number 38
Nearly Lost You – Screaming Trees

First time listener today. I had seen the albums advertised but I never handed cash over. It’s that whole alternative rock vibe, which is okay, but there’s nothing here to get me to commit any further.

Number 39
Stop The World – Extreme

“III Sides To Every Story” is the best Extreme album.

How good is that whole “Stop The World” section, when they repeat the title name over an A, A/G#, A/F# and E chord progression.

All of the vocal layering feels like Queen but it’s not.

Listen to the solo section and how they build it back up.

Number 40
Runnin’ On Faith – Eric Clapton

It’s got that feel from “Wonderful Tonight”. If you like that song, you will like this one.

One thing that is prominent listening to these songs is that the 80’s bands classed as hair metal or glam metal, didn’t get killed by grunge, but by blues rock artists who returned to the source of rock and roll for inspiration.

It also didn’t help all of the 80’s hard rock bands that the labels signed a million other artist that sounded all the same and then saturated the market with D level product.

But in Australia, the alternative and grunge takeover was more prominent, as suddenly the charts and radio stations dropped hard rock bands from their playlists, (except for a few classic acts) and replaced them by alternative acts.

“Peaches” is still played very heavily in Australia.

So many peaches to eat.

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NFT’s

I read that Kings Of Leon are making history to be the first band to release their album as an NFT.

Apart from getting the album, there are six “golden tickets” on auction, which will give the fans who get these tickets, front row tickets to a Kings Of Leon show for life. In addition, there is another package that includes art from the album and Kings Of Leon past. The band is hoping that these rare and scarce items will go for a large price at auction.

And I was curious as to what an NFT is. Here is a great article over at The Conversation which explains the concept of NFT’s.

NFT’s are Non Fungible Tokens, a digital certificate like those authenticity certificates that collectors require for items they buy. This certificate gives the holder a claim of ownership to the asset and it can be transferred or sold onto others. It’s all underpinned by the blockchain technology.

But things are not what they seem. The person who has paid for an NFT, believes they have “ownership” of a digital asset. But this asset can be copied, pasted and shared, such as a movie or JPEG file or any other file. So in relation to the artwork, the Kings Of Leon fans are bidding for, they will only be owning the digital copy of it.

With any new tech, the carbon footprint is also analysed and NFTs are massive energy consumers, as they depend on a lot of computer power to encrypt the tokens.

Marketing Guru, Seth Godin believes NFT’s are a dangerous trap for people.

His blog post starts with the most ominous of warnings, “Like most traps, they’re mysterious and then appealing and then it’s too late.”

Because if you owned a rare baseball card, you had it in your possession and no one else did. And that is the principle that NFT’s are trying to replicate. The person will own a digital token. And the trap for creators is that most of them would fall into the hustle making their fans believe the art they creat is scarce.

As Godin puts it, “that’s the only reason that someone is likely to buy one–like a stock, they hope it will go up in value”.

But a lot of stocks pay dividends and they come with other benefits and rights, however NFT’s don’t. And people who buy NFT’s may not realise that there’s no limit to the supply. Those lifetime “front row” ticket auctions can be replicated over and over and over again. Godin believes the NFT industry has “bubble” written all over it.

And here is a post over at Vice, talking about the NFT art boom.

While artists deserve the right to make money and monetize their fans, let’s hope that the value the fans believe they are buying remains valuable and it doesn’t get exploited by greed.

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Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – March 1 to March 7

4 Years Ago (2017)

This period is always busy for me, with getting the football season up and running in Australia, so as a volunteer to my local club, there’s no time for blogging.

“All The Right Reasons” from Nickelback is certified Diamond for sales of over 10 million copies in the United States. Not bad for a Canadian band who started out as a Metallica copy cat in the garage.

8 Years Ago (2013)

Like 2017, this period is always busy for me, with getting the football season up and running in Australia, so as a volunteer to my local club, there’s no time for blogging.

Also in 2013 an important case happened in a Czech court.

Lamb Of God singer Randy Blythe was charged with manslaughter, stemming from a 2010 gig in Prague in which a fan went onto his stage to stage dive and Blythe pushed him off, which is the norm at these kind of concerts.

In this instance, the fan sustained head injuries during the fall, however he still finished watching the concert, but after the concert he didn’t feel well, fell into a coma and died. When LoG toured Prague again, Blythe was arrested and held in jail.

This happened in June 2012.

After spending more than 8 months in jail Blythe was acquitted of manslaughter and returned home to the U.S.

And here is some other music history.

2003 (18 Years Ago)

Who didn’t hear the “Fallen” album from Evanescence (which came out during this period)?

2002 (19 Years Ago)

“The Osbournes” premiered on MTV which showcased a very high or intoxicated Ozzy trying to work out how to use a remote control and his family at home. In the process it became the most-viewed series on MTV.

1999 (22 Years Ago)

It pisses me off when labels do this to artists, because without the artists the labels would have nothing. In this instance, (and according to Wikipedia) Trauma Entertainment filed a $40 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against the band Bush for their failure to deliver a new album.

1994 (27 Years Ago)

Lemmy wrote some of his best lyrics on “I Don’t Want to Change the World” which appeared on “No More Tears”. And it got Ozzy Osbourne a Best Metal Performance with Vocal.

1991 (30 Years Ago)

“The Doors” biopic from Oliver Stone is released, with Val Kilmer playing the role of Jim Morrison. I watched the movie and I felt like it was the real people, compiled of intimate footage found.

I need to rewatch it and see if it’s stood the test of time.

1986 (35 Years Ago)

Some people call it their greatest album. For me, it’s always “Ride The Lightning”. But during this period, “Master Of Puppets” from Metallica was released.

1984 (37 Years Ago)

“This Is Spinal Tap” is released, one of the best movies I have seen. Well at the time, I thought it was a movie, I must have missed the part at the end that said it was fictional and all that.

1974 (47 Years Ago)

Rush (with no Neil Peart) release their debut album, a blues rock influenced album with some progressive overtones. “Working Man” become the anthem.

1973 (48 Years Ago)

“Dark Side Of The Moon” from Pink Floyd is released. It didn’t set the world on fire initially, but word of mouth kept promoting it and its biggest sales happened between 1977 and 1988.

And that’s it for this week.

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

Australian Method Series – Baby Animals

Well, the Australian Summer is over as we move into Autumn. The first day of Autumn was a 33 degree Celsius scorcher and the good folk that is Thunder Bay decided to pack up and leave our shores, taking with em the Australia variant. But the series focusing on Australian artists will not stop. It will continue each week as the Australian Method Series.

The debut Baby Animals album was everywhere in Australia.

Being added to The Angels live show in 1990, when The Angels were the hottest band in Australia, helped build the momentum needed for when the album dropped.

Released in September 1991, the album debuted at number six on the ARIA Album Charts and spent six weeks at number one, eventually going eight times platinum and becoming the highest-selling debut Australian rock album of all time (until the release of Jet’s album, “Get Born” 12 years later).

I saw em live at the Revesby Workers Club on the tour. An up and coming band called Judge Mercy was opening for them, who unfortunately disappeared when the labels started dropping metal and rock acts in a years’ time.

In relation to the live show, the Baby Animals rocked. Drummer Frank Celenza was huge and along with bassist Eddie Parise, they laid a solid foundation for Dave Leslie on guitar and Suze DeMarchi on guitar to shine. Then you had a the bluesy, soulful tones of DeMarchi on vocals.

The album was produced by task master Mike Chapman and engineered by Kevin Shirley, so you know its gonna sound massive.

And my favourite track is “Working For The Enemy”, that whole break down section, lead break and build up is excellent. My second favourite is the metal like “Waste Of Time” with its energetic double kick intro and heavy blues boogie rock riffs.

“One Too Many” is “Rock N Roll Noise Pollution” in spirit and influence, while “Aint Gonna Get” is AC/DC on steroids and highway speed tempos with a Chorus that reminds me of “I Love Rock And Roll”.

And I haven’t even gotten into the singles yet.

How good is the intro to “One Word”?

But DeMarchi didn’t like the song after it was finished and asked the label to keep it off the album. The song went through a transformation, from a country-ish rock feel in the demo (which can be heard on the 25th Anniversary Edition) to the melodic rock beast it became, as Chapman kept asking them to work on it.

Guitarist Dave Leslie is underrated, paying his dues in a Cold Chisel covers band called Swingshift, playing Australian pub rock classics on a nightly basis and he knew what worked with audiences. His chicken finger picked intro to “One Word” is guitar hero worthy.

“Rush You” is the opener as the power chord crashes down and the cymbals ring before it goes into a double time beat and some series riffage and how cool is that “Back in Black” walking chromatic riff just before the verse.

“Early Warning” begins with the drums while a slide guitar plays a rock riff and the music then stops while DeMarchi sings, “Too Young To Know and Too Old To Listen”.

The band kicks in again. Then the verses come and it’s like a Jimi Hendrix song, before it moves into the power of the Chorus.

“Painless” has this funk blues boogie which I like.

If you haven’t heard it, today is a great day for it.

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