Tag Archives: Heavy Metal

A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories

The Record Vault: Def Leppard – Retro Active

I had this on CD but I don’t have it anymore.

Against my better judgement (and pressure from my older brothers), I gave it to a local DJ (a family friend as well) to play at a party he was MC at, but he had a chequered history of not returning peoples music.

And as per the script, when I asked him for the CD back after the party, he told me that his DJ gear and the music he had was stolen after the party. But it appeared “somehow” magically the following fortnight for another party.

I also dubbed it on cassette before I lent it, so I might have had an inkling that it would never come back.

So what is “Retro Active”?

Released in 1993 to the slogan of “We’ve pretty much cleared out the shelves with this album”, “Retro Active” is a compilation album featuring re-worked versions of B-sides and previously unreleased recordings from the band’s recording sessions between 1984 to 1993. The creativity of the band members during this period was an all time high.

The press release for the album wanted to make clear, that;

“This is not a new Def Leppard album – nor is it an old Def Leppard record. It is “Retro-Active”, a collection of songs that have appeared in hard to find places or, in certain cases, never made it out of the studio until now.”

The band wanted to do this kind of album after “Hysteria”, with a release in 1989, however those plans didn’t eventuate.

Pretty cool album cover as well by Nels Israelson and Hugh Syme and how two different images can be seen when viewed from a distance.

Vivian Campbell gets a chance to adding his own textures of electric guitars, acoustic guitars and backing vocals, on top of everything else that was already there by Rick Allen, Steve Clark, Phil Collen, Joe Elliot and Rick Savage.

Desert Song

Michael Schenker came to mind when I saw this title.

And this is a great opening track, written by Clark, Elliott and Savage. Listed as an unreleased outtake from the “Hysteria” sessions.

The Arabic/Dio/Blackmore feel of the main riff reminds me of early Def Leppard. And when the Pre-Chorus (or is it the Chorus) kicks in, you get smacked in the face by the “Hysteria” multi-layered vocals.

There is this quietened down section in the middle of the song, which reminds me of the 70’s and the arrangements that bands used to do back then. The middle section gives way to a lead break and to an outro with has minimal singing, however Elliot is using his voice like another instrument.

Fractured Love

My favourite song on this album and another unreleased outtake from the “Hysteria” sessions.

Written by Clark, Elliott and Savage. It was part of the original “Hysteria” track listing in the Spring of 1985, but once Mutt Lange returned, the song was shelved.

The drum like intro was actually recorded by Elliot, by tapping his fingers on the studio vocal booth “baffles”. The sound was then enhanced and looped to form the atmospheric intro.

The E-bow effects by Collen are haunting. The open string build up in the verses reminds me of Queensryche and songs from “Operation Mindcrime”.

And when the whole band crashes in for the multi-layered Chorus, its head banging time.

Action

A Sweet cover written by Andy Scott, Brian Connolly, Steve Priest and Mick Tucker. It was originally released on the “Make Love Like a Man” single; this version has re-recorded snare drums.

While the band Sweet had some traction in Australia, it was artists covering their songs in the 80’s and 90’s that got me interested to check them out.

And I like how Def Leppard just made it their own, rocking out, shredding out and in sections bringing in the multi-layered vocals.

Two Steps Behind

Written by Elliot. The unexpected hit.

This is the acoustic version and an electric version is further down the track list. It’s very Bryan Adams sounding.

It got some traction from the film “Last Action Hero” and it was originally released on the “Make Love Like a Man” single.

She’s Too Tough

Another cut written by Elliott and I dig it when his voice gets all Bon Scott throaty. Press play to hear him rock and roll in the verses like this.

This was a B-side included as a bonus track on the Japanese pressings of “Adrenalize”. Written in 1985, the song first appeared on the Helix album “Wild in the Streets” in 1987.

It was redone by the Lep and also released on the singles for “Heaven Is”, “Tonight”, and “Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)”.

Miss You in a Heartbeat

This acoustic version has this gospel feel which I like.

The song was released on the “Make Love Like a Man” single as well as the Japanese versions of “Adrenalize”.

Phil Collen wrote it and it first appeared on an album by “The Law” featuring Paul Rodgers, released in 1991.

Only After Dark

A Mick Ronson cover, written by Ronson and Scott Richardson.

The song previously appeared on the “Let’s Get Rocked” single, and extra guitars were added for this release.

And the groove is still funky.

Ride Into The Sun (1987 re-recording)

This cut is listed as coming from the “Hysteria” sessions, however it goes back to “The Def Leppard E.P” from 1979.

It’s also listed as being written by Clark, Collen (I’m not sure what he added musically to get a credit as he wasn’t in the band when this song was originally written), Elliot and Savage.

And it’s pretty close to the original version in the verses and chorus.

Slight differences are from the “Hysteria” era cut is that it featured a Rick Allen drum solo intro, whereas the version here has a honky tonk piano intro provided by Ian Hunter.

From the Inside (with the Hothouse Flowers)

Another cut written by Joe Elliott for the “Adrenalize” album. I actually like the R.E.M vibe they have happening here.

It appeared as a B side to the “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” single and some single releases of “Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)”.

Ring of Fire

How this song never made the cut for “Hysteria” is a tragedy. It’s a pure hard rocker that borders on the early NWOBHM sound of the first two albums.

It will forever be known as a B side from the “Hysteria” sessions.

The song writing gang is also back with Clark, Collen, Elliot, Lange and Savage listed as writers.

It was originally released on the 1988 singles “Pour Some Sugar on Me” in the U.S and “Armageddon It” in the UK.

Press play and let the hard rock sounds wash over you.

I Wanna Be Your Hero

Another cut forever known as a B side from the “Hysteria” sessions and also written by the gang of Clark, Collen, Elliot, Lange and Savage.

It was originally released on the 1987 singles “Animal” in the U.S and “Pour Some Sugar on Me” in the UK.

Miss You in a Heartbeat (Electric Version)

How many versions of the same song could you want?

Well for this song, we get three versions.

Two Steps Behind (Electric Version)

Squeezing more mileage out of this one. And while I said the acoustic version sounds like Bryan Adams, this version seals the deal. It could be interchanged with another ballad from a Bryan Adams album.

Miss You in a Heartbeat (Piano Version)

It’s listed as a hidden track.

In relation to “Miss You In A Heartbeat” and “Two Steps Behind”, it goes to show how Def Leppard tried many different ways to bring the song to life. It’s not easy re-doing and re-creating a song.

And with this album, an era was done and the band was ready to start fresh.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – February 21 to February 27

4 Years Ago (2018)

THE CRIMSON IDOL

It’s a favourite.

Back in 1992, “The Crimson Idol” ended up being a perfect album for me, in a time when the labels started to put all of their marketing monies into Seattle. I played it a lot, learned riff after riff and lick after lick and it didn’t matter how much time passed between listens, I still knew every lick, every drum roll and every word.

Fast forward many years later (circa 2008) and “The Crimson Idol” was released as a Double special edition CD, with two new tracks. “Phantoms In The Mirror” (which I would place after “The Invisible Boy” in the story arc) and “The Eulogy” (which I would place at the end).

Fast forward another decade (2018) and “The Crimson Idol” has been “Re-Idolized” with additional songs added to the storyline however, “Phantoms In The Mirror” and “The Eulogy” have been left off.

Confused. Me too.

But the review might clarify some things for ya.

8 Years Ago (2014)

RICHIE SAMBORA – Live At The Enmore Theatre, Sydney; 26 February 2014

It renewed my faith in live music.

The previous night to this, I watched Five Finger Death Punch and Avenged Sevenfold. While that was a great concert, the songs got played more or less “note for note” as per the album recordings.

But, Richie Sambora was “communicating musically”. The sheriff was back in town. With three different hand motions he led the band into jams, out of jams and into sing a longs.

Sambora engraved himself into our hearts. He stopped and he talked. Sometimes it felt like for ages. I haven’t seen a lot of people do that kind of a rock show for a while as they are scared in case they lose the audience. Sambora was a true pro. He was endearing himself, creating a bond. And what a show he delivered.

Read the review here.

JAKE E LEE

A lot of people don’t know who Jake E Lee is. Do a survey and you will see?

US sales for week ending February 5, 2014 had Red Dragon Cartel listed with 5,300 sold. The hard-core fans. The niche. And then it didn’t show up on any of the sales charts the following week.

Then again sales of recorded music is not a true measure of success these days. Streaming is.

Are people still listening to the music?

Red Dragon Cartel has a small audience of approx. 2600 who are listening on Spotify.

But there isn’t a song on the Red Dragon Cartel album that can market/sell/push the album.

“Bark At The Moon” marketed the album that carried its title, while “Shot In The Dark” marketed “The Ultimate Sin” album. When Badlands released their self-titled debut, “High Wire” was the song that marketed the album, while “The Last Time” marketed “Voodoo Highway”.

Opening track “Deceived” has a riff, very similar in style and structure. So it is fitting that the vocal melodies are styled from the Ozzy Osbourne vocal phrasing book. I have no issue with artists referencing the past.

“Shout It Out” sounds like it belongs on a Saliva album. Not that it’s a bad thing, it just wasn’t what I was expecting from Jake E Lee.

“War Machine” sounded like a joke as the “War Pigs” intro moves over into “N.I.B”. I guess progress is derivative.

“Fall From The Sky” has a solo that is very reminiscent to the “You’re No Different” outro solo from Jake’s Ozzy’s days and “Redeem Me” captures the Badlands vibe.

Unfortunately, the Robin Zander (Feeder), Maria Brink (Big Mouth) and Paul DiAnno (Wasted) vocal songs just don’t resonate.

If there is a song to comes close to being “the song” to push the debut, that honour goes to “Slave”.

It has the best of Jake E Lee. Metallic riffing, fast single note picking, tritone melodic infusions and it encompasses what Jake E Lee is all about.

WHEN WOULD “SMOKE ON THE WATER” ENTER THE PUBLIC DOMAIN?

The majority of the music that I like will still be under copyright by the time I die. And it’s a tragedy.

Let’s use “Smoke On The Water” as an example.

It was released in 1972.

Copyright on the work is meant to last the lifetime of the songwriters plus 70 years. The male life expectancy is 80 years. The songwriters listed for “Smoke On The Water” are Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Roger Glover and Jon Lord (RIP).

Let’s start with Jon Lord. Due to his death in 2012, his copyright in the song will expire in 2082. However the song will still remain under copyright due to the later deaths of the other members.

Let’s assume that all of the members live to the life expectancy age of 80 years old. That would mean Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover would have an end date of 2025. Add another 70 years to that and the copyright that they hold in the song would expire in 2095.

In other words the copyright monopoly held by the corporations on “Smoke On The Water” will finally expire in 120 plus years after the song was released. It is at this time, the public (provided that no more retroactive extensions are added) are allowed to use the song to build other works on or to create derivative versions or to cover it without any penalty.

But when the artists created this work, the copyright term was 56 years. And the short copyright didn’t stop them from creating.

THE ROCK DREAM

The days of rocking all night and partying every day are gone, replaced by social media/gaming/surfing all night and going to work every day. Rockers are not drinking heavily anymore, nor are they doing copious amounts of drugs.

The sound of a stereo is now captured in expensive headphones.

The days of becoming the legends of the local scene first and then the world are gone. If a band/act is doing great in a city, the whole world will know about it. But you can have a career within a niche.

And it’s not a rockers world anymore. The new rockers are the technologists. The podcasters. They are the ones that everyone is listening too. Check out the applause they get when they hit the stage.

Once upon a time, guitar heroes mattered. They broke ground in song writing, technique, sound and guitar making, inspiring us by demonstrating simplicity in complexity.

I remember when a record could bring about change. When “Shout At The Devil” broke, every band dressed up in leather and studs. When “Slippery When Wet” broke out, all the bands went to pop metal. When “Appetite For Destruction” broke out, bands moved to a more blues based sound. When Metallica broke out twice, bands moved to a faster dirtier sound and then moved to a big heavy groove orientated sound.

The rock dream was never about the money. It was about a lifestyle.

And that’s a wrap for another week.

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Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – February 14 to February 20

2018 (8 Years Ago)

SPEAKING UP

When artists write lyrics that reflect society and our politics back at us, people get upset. When I think about the past, people who made real change persisted even when others tried their best to silence them.

Artists once formed the chorus of dissent to social ills and corruption. It’s probably a reason why we got so many songs that still stand the test of time today.

Artists told the record label heads what to do, not the other way around.

Machine Head’s new album at the time “Catharsis” was causing division amongst their American fan base. Europe, Asia and Australia didn’t really care about its Anti-Trump stance. Fans of any artist come from different sides of the political debate. It’s expected. No one can agree on everything. If people did, everyone would wear the same outfit. The world would be pretty bland if people all agreed. Wouldn’t it.

It never would occur to me to stop listening to an artist because of a stance they have on an topic.

Artists are not the enemy. They are mirrors, reflecting the world back to us. What we choose to do with the reflection is a different story.

CASSETTE COPYING INCORPORATED

Copying of music has always been there. We used to listen to the radio and record songs from it. We used to record video clips from TV music stations. We would make a copy of an LP from a friend or a family member. We would even re-copy a copied album. The music industry grew because of copying.

So if we used the buzzword of the modern era, piracy was rampant back in the 80’s. Most of my music collection during that period was made up of music copied onto blank cassettes.

You know that peak year of sales for the recording business in 1998. Well there is research out there which suggests it was due to two reasons. One reason was people replacing their vinyl collections with CD’s and the other reason is the people who had music copied on blank cassettes in the 80’s had enough disposable income to buy those albums on CD.

If I didn’t borrow and copy (which the labels call stealing and piracy), I probably never would have become the fan of music I am. As my Dad would always say, “I probably would have had four houses paid off, instead I have a tonne of grey concert T-Shirts, ticket stubs and a wall to wall record collection.” I wouldn’t have it any other way, because the memories are the stories I tell.

1979

Here is the kick off from 1979.

AC/DC – Highway to Hell

Six months after the album release date, Bon Scott would be dead. Mutt Lange is on board to produce at the strong insistence of their U.S record label and it was the start of the holy trinity of albums. Malcolm was less than pleased because it meant older brother George, was no longer involved.

“Highway To Hell” is a rite of passage. It might have been about touring, however timeless songs have lyrics that can be interpreted in many different ways. Plus the riff to kick it off is iconic. Credit Malcolm.

Livin’ easy, Livin’ free

Pink Floyd – The Wall

“The Wall” is Roger Waters lasting legacy. But the best song on the album to me is “Comfortably Numb” written by Gilmour and Waters. Credit producer Bob Ezrin for persisting to get Gilmour’s music on the record. However, it was “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2” that was all over the radio.

Check out “Goodbye Blue Sky” as well, which served as the inspiration for “Fade To Black” from Metallica.

And that outro solo in “Comfortably Numb”. Perfection.

Judas Priest – Hell Bent for Leather/Killing Machine

The first time I heard “Delivering The Goods” was via Skid Row’s “B-Side Ourselves” EP. I enjoyed the Skid’s live take on it, so I went seeking for the album in the second hand record stores. I actually own both copies, the “Killing Machine” version and the “Hell Bent For Leather” version.

Or the iconic riff in “Hell Bent For Leather” which is so derivative that many other bands had a similar riff before and after this song, like the opening riff in “2 Minutes To Midnight”. They even used it again for “Running Wild”.

In relation to guitar playing, Glenn Tipton always kept an eye and ear out for what was hot in guitar circles and he would go away, master these new styles and incorporate those influences and styles into his guitar playing. In this case, he breaks out a tapping lick which was obviously influenced by EVH. On albums from the mid 80’s, Tipton would start to incorporate sweep picking courtesy of Yngwie Malmsteen’s influence.

“The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)” is a great cover of a Fleetwood Mac song, which is written by their original and largely forgotten guitarist Peter Green (RIP), and it works pretty cool in the hands of Judas Priest.

Journey – Evolution

It has “Lovin, Touchin’ Squeezin’” but it’s not my favourite. The three listed songs are for various reasons.

“Lovin’ You Is Easy” has upbeat music and it’s always good to hear Schon rocking out.

“Do You Recall” has melodies which appear in Jovi songs.

“Lady Luck” grooves, taking its cues from Led Zeppelin.

The Police – Reggatta de Blanc

The Police didn’t really write a perfect album from start to finish, but they could write classic tracks.

The intro to “Message In A Bottle” hooks me. And it’s guitarist Andy Summers who saves the day with his add9 chord voicings over a simple bass groove.

Whitesnake – Lovehunter

I didn’t hear this album until very late in the 90’s. During this time I was buying so many second hand LP’s from record fairs and second hand book shops, I can’t even place a memory as to when I purchased it. But I do know I was always a sucker for the 3 for $5 bins.

Press play to hear “Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues” which is written by David Coverdale and the underrated Bernie Marsden.

It all started with the blues. Rock was built on the bones of the 30/40’s blues artists. Metal was also built on the bones of those same artists, along with the defiance and rebellion of rock music. Without the blues, the music I listen to, would not be possible.

KISS – Dynasty

One of the first albums I owned from Kiss and I played it to death, so it’s no surprise I have a few songs from it on my list.

“I Was Made for Loving You” was the obvious single, but it was still an unexpected hit, written by Paul Stanley, Vini Poncia and Desmond Child. Stanley also performs bass duties on this one.

“Sure Know Something” is a mixture between melodic rock, disco and new wave. In the end, it’s still Kiss. The bass groove is unique and the lead guitar break from Stanley is worth the listen.

“Dirty Livin’” is an excellent track. It could have been on a Steely Dan album or a Doobie Brothers record. Instead it’s on a Kiss record and it rocks. Peter Criss sings, it and he co-wrote it with Stan Penridge and Vini Poncia. It’s actually the only track that Peter Criss drums on. Anton Fig played drums on all of the other songs.

“Magic Touch” is solely written by Paul Stanley, which comes loaded with a melodic riff and a pop melody. Still to this day it’s a favourite, purely for its sense of melody.

“Hard Times” is from Ace Frehley and its another Kiss rocker.

2014 (8 Years Ago)

MORE RECORD LABEL INNOVATION

The record labels just kept getting my attention like trying to get the Courts to set a precedent in which the Internet Service Providers act as the Police to monitor music pirates based on the labels say so.

And my favourite was Principle Management (U2’s Management Company) losing money for the fourth year in a row, so its Chairman Paul McGuiness was quick to blame Google for his losses. Talk about sense of entitlement.

BADLANDS

With Jake E Lee excommunicated from the Osbourne camp no one was sure what he would do next. But in 1988, Badlands formed.

The original Badlands line up was Ray Gillen on vocals, Eric Singer on drums, Greg Chaisson on bass and of course Jake E Lee on guitar. And we will never be able to see the band that cut the self-titled debut album reunite. Ray Gillen has passed and Eric Singer said in an interview on the “Daves on Tour” website that his memories of Badlands aren’t good ones.

Eric Singer auditioned for Ozzy back in 1985 and he didn’t get the gig. Greg Chaisson also auditioned for Ozzy around the same period and he also didn’t get the gig. Both of them lost out to Randy Castillo and Phil Soussan. The outcome for both Singer and Chaisson was that they got to meet Jake E Lee and have a jam with him.

Eric Singer also did a stint in Black Sabbath during the Glenn Hughes/Ray Gillen era. Music is a relationship business and it was these relationships, albeit small ones once upon a time, that ended up getting together to create one hell of a debut album.

In an interview with Kerrang from May 1989, this is what Ray Gillen had to say on the bands beginnings;

“I was particularly keen on the project because I had to pick myself up off the floor after my involvement with the Blue Murder project had gone sour. I was basically asked to leave the band due to outside record company pressure. John Kalodner, one of the top people at Geffen Records, simply said that I couldn’t sing!”

Wearing their Seventies classic rock influences on their sleeves and very cleverly merging the minor key riff remnants of the mid-Eighties heavy metal sound, Badlands hit the target. Each song was unique.

The standout song on the debut is “High Wire”. It cemented Jake’s reputation. You can’t keep a super star down and what a great way to open the album.

Seriously, how good is that opening riff?

The beauty of the song is the simplicity. It is a simple A to C, A to D riff, the cornerstone to all classic blues/classic rock songs.

“Winter’s Call” is the most Zeppelinesque song on the album, especially in the verses, combining Middle Eastern drones with Celtic modes. It is also one of the oldest songs on the album, as the song’s roots go back to 1983.

“Streets Cry Freedom” is the next gem and a great way to close off side one. When vinyl was king, albums got sequenced by having a great opening track and a great closing track. The comparisons to Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie and Bad Company are prevalent in this song. The song’s verses are a typical 12 bars blues. Instead of playing it in the standard way, Jake E Lee shows his guitar smarts by arpeggiating the verses.

“Seasons” is the gem on the second side. It reminds me a lot of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”.

This was 1989 and MTV ruled. Bands needed a hit to get recognition. So while “Dreams In The Dark” did the video rounds, as the record label decided it had the most “hit” potential, songs like “Winters Call”, “Seasons” and “Streets Cry Freedom” slipped under the radar.

The self titled album is brilliant. While other artists went with the one hit single per album and the rest as filler, Badlands delivered an album strong from start to finish.

THE WALKING DEAD

So how did a TV show, based on a niche Zombie comic, explode into the mainstream and into people’s consciousness.

In order to understand the answer you need to go back to the beginning. And the beginning for “The Walking Dead” goes back to 1968 and a movie called “Night Of The Living Dead”.

“The Walking Dead” is a classic case of building on works already in the public domain as well as building on existing copyrighted works by creating derivative works.

First the whole Zombie genre owes a large debt to George A. Romero’s classic “Night Of The Living Dead”. Many of the accepted Zombie formulas started here. Something that is quite common to us in 2014, was all brand new to audiences in 1968.

Due to a late name change from “Night Of The Flesh Eaters” to “Night Of The Living Dead”, the distributor forgot to include a copyright symbol on the release and due to this omission, the movie entered the Public Domain on its actual release date. That meant that anyone could do derivative works and also build on the existing story.

The whole opening scene from “The Walking Dead” of Rick Grimes waking up in the hospital alone, is a combination of what has come before.

In “The Day of The Triffids, the main character awakes to a silent hospital to find that his town has been overrun with blinded people.

In “28 Days Later”, a bicycle courier awakens from a coma to find the hospital and the city, completely deserted and overrun by people infected by the rage virus.

In “The Walking Dead”, Rick Grimes wakes from a coma in the hospital to find his town overrun with walking corpses, referred to as ‘walkers’.

Romero did miss out on a hefty payday due to the copyright bungle with “Night of The Living Dead”, but Romero’s story ends well. The film’s popularity OPENED UP MORE OPPORTUNITIES. Romero continued to create movies and the fame that his Public Domain movie gave him, opened up other offers around comics and novels.

In the end, the lack of copyright around one movie, grew and helped define the zombie genre in the same way that the lack of copyright around earlier blues and folk standards helped define the classic rock genre. So next time someone tells you they need stronger copyrights or longer copyrights, point them to the “Night Of The Living Dead” example.

SHARING MUSIC

I got a 8GB USB stick of music given to me recently by a musician friend who told me that I need to check out the bands on the stick. When I was growing up we used to these kinds of trades on cassettes. Back then we had an hours or hour and a half worth of music. Today 8 gigs worth of music is about 270 songs at 320kbps. Yep, that is how it is done today.

Some of the bands on that key are still favourites today like Degreed and Riverside.

RECLAIMING YOUR RECORDINGS

In between solo albums, Henley was busy with the Eagles, Geffen contract issues, Copyright issues against Record Labels, termination rights on songs and the Eagles again.

Henley knows his rights.

While people criticise musicians who turn into business people, it was inevitable that musicians would end up taking the business path.

The great record label rip off/exploitation made them seek this path. It is just unfortunate that a lot of the musicians that didn’t achieve world-wide domination still don’t realise their rights on their songs. Not a lot of hard rock and heavy metal artists are serving notice to their record label to reclaim songs they had written 35 years ago.

While I don’t agree on everything Henley does, like sending a cease and desist letter to an independent band or trying to get a remix law taken off the radar, the bottom line is this, he is a musician that looks out for his own interests. And that is why we loved our heroes.

And that’s a wrap for another week.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – February 7 to February 13

2018 (4 Years Ago)

REMEMBERING THE MUSIC

The problem with writing about 80’s music is those who remember it, care about it and those who don’t remember it or did not grow up in it, don’t really care about it. Well not all people. There are some.

But for those of us who lived it, the artists inhabit a special place inside us, where our memories are triggered by the melodies and distortion. Play a Top 100 Rock list from the 80’s and you’ll be surprised how many songs you can sing along to.

2014 (8 Years Ago)

MUSIC BUSINESS INNOVATION

The Music Business launches an Anti-Piracy Game App to educate young people on piracy while at the same time copyright infringement of music is declining each year due to decent and well-priced legal alternatives.

The game allows players to select an aspiring artist from a list of hopefuls, compose tracks from a roster of song-writers, producers and studio technicians and balance the books by keeping an eye on how radio play, streaming and piracy impact on profits. But the game doesn’t show the players how much an artist REALLY gets for a song and how much the labels keep for themselves.

In the metal and rock sphere, two record labels come to mind, where I feel that their intentions are motivated by having a copyright monopoly on certain songs.

One is Frontiers and the other is Rock Candy. Frontiers are getting a lot of the Eighties greats to create forgeries of their hits, while Rock Candy is buying up albums from the Eighties and re-releasing them with expanded packaging, so that all these forgeries and new versions of the Eighties albums fall under a new copyright term.

MORE INNOVATION (take that word with a lot of sarcasm) FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES

Remember when Voltage Pictures went after people sharing the “Dallas Buyers Club” movie.

IN THIS MOMENT AND ATLANTIC

I wrote back in 2014 that “In This Moment” would regret signing with Atlantic Records.

Remember “Bush”. After three successful releases on a smaller label, “Bush” signed a big dollar deal with Atlantic for their fourth release and in return they had their least successful album. And the label wasn’t happy. So with no mainstream success and a lack of label support, “Bush” called it quits.

“Winger” was signed by Atlantic and they had success with them and Atlantic reaped in millions from the first two “Winger” albums while the band was classed as still in debt. After “Winger” delivered their best album “Down Incognito”, “Beavis and Butthead” also happened, and after the dui lynched a Winger loving family in one of their episodes, Atlantic Records suddenly developed amnesia and claimed that they had never heard of “Winger”.

“Collective Soul” already had a demo version of their massive hit “Shine” doing the rounds on radio for about six months before Atlantic picked them up and re-released the same demo album under the Atlantic brand. What an artist and development program at Atlantic. While the band kept selling, Atlantic loved them. Then when the sales started to decline (although still great numbers compared to other bands), the label started to lose interest and after 7 years of making Atlantic wealthy, once their contract ended, it wasn’t renewed.

“Pride” from White Lion broke out and Atlantic pushed them to write more hit singles for the next record. This pressure to create “hit songs” caused a conflicted Vito Bratta even more conflict and when that attempt at “hit songs” failed to provide an increase in sales for “Big Game”, the label just stopped caring. As a last resort, they gave them a lot of money for the “Mane Attraction” album but the band took their time and they were out of the music scene for 12 months recording that album. And Atlantic had already moved on. The album was released with no marketing budget and within 5 months, the band was over. No one from the label even called them.

“Twisted Sister” had a huge local following, however US labels just kept on rejecting them. Eventually, they went looking for a deal in Europe and after a false start with Secret Records, they ended up getting signed to Atlantic Europe. So of course, Atlantic US came knocking, signed them (even though they ignored and rejected them for ten years prior to that), made a huge amount of money of the “Stay Hungry” album and then dropped them three years later.

“Zebra” had a huge local following before they got signed with Atlantic Records. Then the “Zebra” debut album became one of the fastest selling releases on the Atlantic roster. Three years later, Atlantic dropped the band, however they kept an option open on Randy Jackson. So Jackson finished the “China Rain” record in 1990 and Atlantic Records decided not to release it but they wouldn’t allow him to take the masters and release it with a different label.

“Badlands” was signed by Atlantic. The self-titled debut came out and it achieved cult like status among the jaded metal community. “Voodoo Highway” came next however Atlantic was not impressed as the label wanted hit songs for MTV and they wanted those songs written to a strict radio formula. Ray Gillen apparently had songs that suited what the label was looking for. Those frustrations came to a head when Jake E. Lee accused Ray Gillen of going behind his back. In the end, Atlantic broke the band up and then dropped them when they went chasing the grunge dollars. And there albums will never see the light of day on digital services or re-releases because of Ray Gillen infecting the daughter of an Atlantic Exec with HIV.

DAVE MUSTAINE

Dave Mustaine will never have to spend another dollar on marketing. I have a Google Alert set up for Dave Mustaine, and man, what can I say, the web is a flux with Dave Mustaine news. Because he likes to express his opinions. And people either hate him or love him.

In an interview on the FasterLouder website, Mustaine is asked questions, around the then recent album “Super Collider” and how it is seen as a failure. Mustaine responded by saying it debuted at No 6 on the Billboard charts, so he wouldn’t call that a failure.

It’s important to note that the charts do not have the same meaning and influence as they once did. When someone comes up with a chart that combines sales, streaming counts, YouTube views along with the conversation occurring on social media, only then can we call the charts sensible.

And the album “Super Collider” is a failure.

In the end, we are mainly interested in what is great and it is better to release great more frequently instead of an album every 2 years that has a couple of great tracks.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NIKKI SIXX

“When you spend nine months working on an album, all the work that goes into it and recording it, mixing it, mastering it, then you release it and it falls on deaf ears.”

“I’d rather work on two songs under that plan (exploring the idea of placing their songs in films, or signing sponsorships deals through integrated marketing with other types of companies that want to use their song specifically to reach tens of millions of people) than do eleven songs that only reach 100,000 people.”

Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue said the above in an interview on the Classic Rock website back in 2014. The link to the story is in the original blog post.

The record labels and the RIAA will say that artists would stop recording less because people pirate/copyright infringe. They will call for stronger copyright enforcement.

Sociologist would say that sales of recorded music have declined due to the rise of other desirables, like apps and gaming in general. Look at the sales of the “Halo” games series by Microsoft. “Halo 4” made $220 million in 24 hours. Overall, the whole series has grossed over $3.4 billion.

Have any rock bands reached that many people or made $220 million in sales in one day?

And artists are still creating and still releasing and still breaking through. Just not the big artists from yesteryear.

Critics will say, that Motley Crue should release something worth buying and that they will buy it.

Musicians took risks and stood for something. They made money, they blew money, some did drugs, and they made money again. Basically rock stars did it their way. There was no safety net. That is why we flocked to them. That is why we became fans. They represented an attitude, a sense of freedom that connected with us.

That’s a wrap for another week.

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

1986 – Part 4.7: Ratt – Dancing Undercover

I missed this album in 1986, picking it up a few years later. I’m glad I did pick it up, because as soon as I dropped the needle I liked what I head musically.

It had groove, it was heavy and it was music I was familiar with, like the “Van Halen II” album.

“Dancing Undercover” is the third studio album.

Ratt was on an album per year cycle, as the label knew that time at the top is fleeting, so they capitalized as much as they can.

Produced by Beau Hill, he kept the Ratt’sters of Stephen Pearcy (Vocals), Robbin Crosby (Guitar), Warren DeMartini (Guitar), Juan Croucier (Bass) and Bobby Blotzer (Drums) in line to deliver another Platinum album.

However it’s important to remember that Platinum awards were given out to artists based on shipments alone before Soundscan became a thing.

Did they really sell a million?

I don’t think they did. Then again in a country of 332 million, what is a million in sales.

It’s less than 1 percent. 0.3 to be exact.

That’s the reach.

Anyway.

Dance

Written by Crosby, Pearcy, DeMartini and producer Beau Hill.

Before “Girls, Girls, Girls” there was “Dance”.

Check out the digital delay melodic lead at the start is perfect.

Does it remind you of the piano riff on “Bat Out Of Hell”?

One Good Lover

Written by Crosby and Pearcy.

Check out the “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” riff in the Intro and Chorus. Crosby was a master at taking something that came before and making it Ratt’N’Roll material. And he also took the feel, the key and groove of “You Really Got Me” in the verses as well.

Drive Me Crazy

Written by Crosby, Pearcy, DeMartini and Blotzer.

The dudes borrow from another L.A shredder in Mr George Lynch with the Intro/Chorus riff and a certain EVH in the Verses and Pre.

Slip Of The Lip

Written by DeMartini, Croucier and Pearcy.

Its blues rock groove was better than anything that AC/DC was releasing and DeMartini was in pentatonic heaven with his leads.

Body Talk

“Light Up The Sky” comes to mind immediately.

So press play and enjoy that main riff from DeMartini, which is something he had written a while ago, but never knew what to do with it.

Until Croucier heard it, wrote some more music for it and arranged the song, with Pearcy contributing lyrics.

A perfect Side 1 closer.

Looking for Love

The Side 2 opener written by Crosby, Croucier and Pearcy.

How catchy is the vocal line in the Chorus on this?

But press play to check out the NWOBHM riff in the intro.

It’s heavy fucking metal.

7th Avenue

Written by DeMartini and Pearcy.

The metal blues groove on this is perfection, something which Izzy and Slash would use a lot on the debut GNR album.

It Doesn’t Matter

Written by Croucier and Pearcy.

Musically it’s very VH like.

The Chorus lyrics are great with the message to let your individual freak flag fly, as it doesn’t matter at all the clothes you wear.

But the Verse lyrics are not in sync.

Take a Chance

Written by DeMartini, Croucier and Pearcy.

CC DeVille would be inspired for “Unskinny Bop” and DeMartini would re-use some of the riffs for “Way Cool Jnr”. It could even pass as a derivative version of “Slip Of The Lip” or a track on a David Lee Roth album.

Enough Is Enough

Written by DeMartini, Crosby, Croucier and Pearcy it’s basically “You’re In Love” in clean tone.

Croucier is all over this album, with co-writes on almost every track. Pearcy was never Shakespeare when it came to lyrics, but there is always room for dumb party sex songs.

Then again, not if your Eddie Vedder.

Press play.

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

The Record Vault: Def Leppard – Hysteria (7 inch US Version)

“Hysteria” is the title track of the album, released in 1987 as the third single. Its perfection was lost in Australia as a single.

But we became reacquainted with it after the album started to get traction on the back of “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.

“Ride Into The Sun” is an oldie, originally released on the rare Def Leppard EP from 1979. The song just kept coming back into the mix for an album release, but never officially made it.

And that rare EP from 1979 is still rare if you have the original pressing, however if you don’t have the original pressing, the EP has been released on various Def Leppard Box sets and reissued as a RSD purchase in 2017.

Riff wise, its Def Leppard at their metal best. The riff actually reminds me of “Aint Talking Bout Love”, just beefed up.

There is this little riff in G major, in between the E minor riffs that I like. When you hear it, you will know what I mean. It’s those little things that hook me in.

And the Chorus is very British rock, like Sweet and Slade, something which Def Leppard wear on their sleeves with pride. There’s even a pretty unflattering photo of the band in Union Jack T-shirts and small shorts around the “Pyromania” period. I’m surprised a testicle didn’t pop out, that’s how short the shorts were.

For the song “Hysteria”, well it’s one of those songs that can be classed as a perfect mix of hard rock and soft rock. I mentioned in the album review one word for the song.

Perfection.

Press play and enjoy.

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1986 – Part 4.5: Krokus – Change Of Address

“Change of Address” came out in 1986 and its listed as album number 9 for Krokus.

The band for the album is Marc Storace on Vocals, Fernando von Arb on Lead Guitar, Mark Kohler on Rhythm Guitar, Tommy Keiser on Bass and Jeff Klaven on drums. Paul Fox and Jan Winding contribute keyboards.

Production is handled by Tom Werman as Producer and Mixer, with Duane Baron as the engineer and von Arb as Co-Producer.

A special mention to the outfits on the back cover. The 80’s are well known for the wardrobe choices of artists. And Krokus play into this as well.

Check em out in jump suits that mechanics would wear at a Formula 1 race. But they are in a bunker, to highlight the demolition of a building that looks like the White House.

Now (All Through the Night)

Written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

How good is the Chorus?

It’s like Journey vocally and melodic hard rock musically.

One of my favourite tracks on the album but the midi drum sounds bother me.

You can blame ZZ Top for this, but at least when ZZ did it, it was still sounding like it belonged in the rock domain, whereas, the drum sound here feels like it belongs on a Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine album.

Hot Shot City

Written by Tommy Keiser, Mark Kohler, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

I’m not sure what’s happening with this song.

It’s like they wanted to bring in influences from Robert Palmer and Huey Lewis into their sound. It could have worked.

School’s Out

This is like old school Krokus and after hearing AOR Krokus on the first two tracks, this is a welcome relief of rock and roll.

For those that don’t know, this is a cover of the classic Alice Cooper cut.

But it’s also not necessary to have this on the album. Then again, most 80’s album had a cover of a 60’s or 70’s track on it. For some bands it was pure filler and for others, it was their biggest song.

Let This Love Begin

Written by von Arb and Klaven.

An acoustic guitar arpeggio riff starts it all off, very Malmsteen like with a bit of Vinnie Vincent and “I Still Love You” from Kiss. Once the distorted riffs kick in, its more Foreigner than Malmsteen.

Check out the lead break, bluesy and emotive, which reminds me of Jimmy Page and “Stairway To Heaven”.

Burning Up the Night

The side 1 closer is written by von Arb and Storace.

Its AC/DC “Long Way To The Top” like in the verses and the Chorus could have come from a REO Speedwagon album.

Say Goodbye

Side 2 opens up with this track, written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

At 5.18, its length shows that it wasn’t written for radio. It has this reggae feel in the verses which I like and the backing vocals remind me of “Black Diamond” from Kiss.

The major key Chorus is like those major key Power Metal choruses.

This is the side to listen to first if you are a Krokus fan. There isn’t a bad song on this side.

And if the intro riff sounds familiar, it should as it was used by Krokus on “Tokyo Nights” from the “Metal Rendezvous” album.

World on Fire

My favourite track of the album at 6 plus minutes long, written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

While the riffs are metal and hard rock like, the vocal delivery in the verses is very Robert Plant like and I like it.

If you want to press play on a track from this album, start with this track.

Hard Luck Hero

Written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace it feels like it’s a cross between Bryan Adams, Night Ranger, early Foreigner and Autograph.

And I like it.

There is this section just before the solo, when Def Leppard also comes to mind.

Long Way from Home

5 plus minutes long and written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

It’s another Krokus classic song, rooted in their past and perfect to move with into the future.

The Chorus has this Kiss feel which I like and Allan Holdsworth also does the guitar solo a fusion of string skipping and whammy bar madness.

The album did decent business in Switzerland and Sweden, but in the U.S it was up against some decent competition and it failed.

The band would later admit the change in style and sound was due to the label Arista not approving the recording until they heard more radio friendly songs.

But this wasn’t a problem tied to Krokus alone.

All of the bands during this period had albums that sounded radio friendly.

Judas Priest and “Turbo”.

Quiet Riot and “QRIII”.

To name a few.

Overall, the album still sounds like a hard rock album once you get past the first two tracks.

Werman has copped some flak from artists he’s worked with, but one thing is certain. The bands he produces, sound good. Even though I don’t like the midi drum triggers, the album still sounds good.

And if you purchased a Krokus album expecting to hear Shakespearean lyrics, well, it ain’t going to happen.

Enjoy Krokus for what they are, a hard rock band trying to survive in an ever changing market place.

And Krokus does change well.

When all the rage in the scene was about the NWOBHM and AC/DC they gave us “Headhunter” and “The Blitz”.

And when the rage shifted to AOR and midi triggers and synths, well they gave us “Change Of Address”.

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

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – January 31 to February 6

4 Years Ago (2018)

CATHARSIS

I have no issues with lyrics of any kind. I also have no issue with artists taking a stance and commenting on what they see is the state of the world. Opinions are important whether I agree or disagree with them.

So it’s no surprise that on “Catharsis”, Robb Flynn is giving his take on the world. It’s not pretty, but no one said the six o’clock news is pretty.

Check out my review of the album.

APPETITE FOR COPYRIGHT

Seriously you can’t make up the madness that Copyright comes up.

The labels get richer as they keep making licensing deals with techies. Facebook was another techie who made a deal back then.

None of the licensing fee goes back to the musicians, even though it’s the musicians works the labels used in the negotiations. So far Universal and Sony have made the deal and Warner Music Group is in conversation.

And music creators believe a government bill increasing the royalty rate services that play music need to pay, will increase the payments get back. Umm, it won’t. The record labels and publishers will have more money in their bank account and the creators will still get the payments they always get based on their publishing and label contract.

You see, this is what happens when you create a law that creates a monopoly, which in turn gives rise to corporations who become powerful entities. They are all about their own pockets. People who have created no value and no art are living high, from the hard work of artists.

8 Years Ago (2014)

ROADWAY

I was listening to their self-titled EP from 2011.

They had a song on it called “This Is Why” which is a derivative version of “Soldier of Fortune” from the David Coverdale era of Deep Purple.

“This Is Why” is a great song and no one has even heard it. By the way, it features Doogie White and it actually made me call up “Soldier Of Fortune” on Spotify. Yep, “This Is Why” made me want to revisit the Coverdale era of Purple. I even set up a playlist with both of the songs. It is also their most played song on Spotify, however at 60,000 streams it’s virtually unknown.

Roadway does Seventies hard rock vibe. They have it down and it is so refreshing to hear a current band be influenced by that era, especially when the main songwriter Ross McEwen was born in 1988.

And in 2013, they released another EP called “Set In Stone”.

Check em out on Spotify. You will not be disappointed.

THE METAL MANIFESTO

So without further delay, here is The Metal Manifesto;

  • Metal music is a way to belong. We wear the patches/colours of our favourite bands on t-shirts.
  • Metal heads question everything, as we strive to find our own place in society and our own road to walk on.
  • Metal music is a lifestyle. We live it and we breathe it.
  • Metal music is empowerment. It is freedom. It is release.
  • Metal music has its own heavy metal salute, a call to arms, in which the pinkie and forefinger are raised over a clenched fist. Credit Ronnie James Dio for the salute.
  • Metal music is confrontational. Deal with it.
  • Metal music is diversity. It doesn’t matter what colour, religion or country you are from. We are all one.
  • Metal will never fade into obscurity. It is always there, a survivor of the times.

ALTERNATE HISTORY

What kind of musical history would we have if Randy Rhoads didn’t get on that plane?

The “Bark At The Moon” album would still have been written as Ozzy Osbourne had the song titles already and lyricist Bob Daisley was on board to write lyrics again. The big difference would be the music. Instead of hearing the Jake E Lee riff we would be hearing a Randy Rhoads riff instead.

It is pretty clear from all interviews that Randy Rhoads was growing tired with the touring and the Osbourne camp. And that he would leave Ozzy.

So if Randy Rhoads walks away from Ozzy after the “Bark At The Moon” album, Jake E Lee could still be a candidate for the Ozzy job, as Rough Cutt was nowhere near the level of a platinum selling act.

But Dio might have picked him up after Vivian Campbell left. So how different would the “Dream Evil” album be if Jake E Lee brought the riffs that made up the Ozzy BATM album.

But would the Badlands project have existed if Jake E Lee didn’t get a guitarist gig with a high profile act?

And that’s another wrap for another week.

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A to Z of Making It, movies, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – January 24 to January 30

4 Years Ago (2018)

ZAKK WYLDE

I overdosed on “A Love Unreal” from Black Label Society.

Since 2014, I have been playing “Angel Of Mercy” non-stop. It’s made my 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 end of year lists. It’s always in my Top 100 Spotify songs I play each year. The guitar solo on it is “guitar hero” level. With “A Love Unreal” Zakk has orchestrated another candidate. The guitar solo on this song is a 10 out of 10 for me.

It’s a song within a song. God damn, the whole solo section is 1 minute and 20 seconds long. There are pop songs on the charts which are 2 minutes long.

8 Years Ago (2014)

METALLICA

The Grammy’s is not about the awards, it is about the performances. The Grammy organisation exists solely to sell a TV show and advertising.

The music websites back then wrote about the performances, and how Metallica mashed up “One” with classical pianist Lang Lang. And they got a 125% boost in Spotify streams for the song “One”. Overall, across their whole catalogue, their Grammy performance gave them a 63% increase.

No one wrote about the actual winners in the Best Metal category.

Who was it again?

That’s right, it was “God Is Dead?” from Black Sabbath, And it didn’t get any traction after the awards.

METAL HEADS

We overpay for music in Australia.

The ACCC, our competition watchdog launched an inquiry into the pricing. The techies went in front of the commission and stated that they didn’t set the price for music in Australia and that the price was set by the Record Labels.

It was found by the Commission that there should be no reason why Australians should pay more for software and music.

However, nothing has changed in relation to the prices. If anything, with the labels pushing vinyl, the prices have quadrupled, with a brand new double vinyl set going for $80.

And music sites would talk about the return of vinyl, but its miniscule compared to what digital brings in. Music is about data. It’s not about how many albums or songs are sold.

Are people listening, sharing and talking about your music?

And if they are, where are these people located, so you can organise ways to tour there and monetise.

DEPRESSING SONGS

I don’t see myself as depressive, but I do have a lot of songs in playlists that are classed as depressive or sad. So I wrote about some of the songs. The link is more in depth however I will summarise.

“Give Me A Sign” is from the album “Dear Agony” by Breaking Benjamin released in 2009. “Break Away” is from the album “The Illusion Of Progress” by Staind released in 2008.

“What A Shame” is from the album “The Sound Of Madness” by Shinedown released in 2008. “Broken Bones” is from the album “Light Me Up” by “The Rev Theory” released in 2008.

“Let Me Be Myself” is from the self-tilted Three Doors Down album released in 2008. “Alias” is from the album, “A Sense Of Purpose”, released in 2009.

“Wake Up” is from Story Of The Year, who are a very underrated band in the metal community. From the outset they got labelled as Emo. However, to me I always saw them as a metal band. This song is from the “The Black Swan”, released in 2008.

“That Was Just Your Life” has so many familiar bits, like the “Enter Sandman” riff backwards, the harmony guitars at about the 5.50 minute mark ripping Thin Lizzy rip offs and a section in which they plagiarise “Jump In The Fire”. Call it a great song, to open up the “Death Magnetic”.

“The Forgotten” is from the last album of the Howard Jones/Killswitch Engage era released in 2009 and what an album it is.

“The Unforgiven III” is another Metallica classic.

Set sail to sea, but pulled off course

LIFE MESSAGES FROM MOVIES

American Hustle and The Wolf Of Wall Street

These two movies are for all the people who believe that if you work hard, get a good education and put in the 12 hour days, that somehow, success will work itself out and befall on them.

But it doesn’t really happen that way at all. Everybody is putting a scam in motion.

What these movies have shown is that it doesn’t matter what level of education a person has. It doesn’t mean that they will win. Quitters never win and it is the winners that write history. The winners write history because they bend the laws and they twist social morals to suit them. People may not like it, but it’s the truth.

Oblivion

I love it’s eeriness.

This movie is for the people who only believe what they are told and even when they come across something that questions that belief, they re-frame it and twist it, so that it conforms with what they believe in, because that is all the know. Whatever Mission Control said was the truth and the whole truth.

We life in an information society right now with everything at our fingertips.

Don’t be a fool. Do your own research and question everything. Don’t just follow. Whereas “The Wolf Of Wall Street” and “American Hustle” reflect the hustling mentality of life, “Oblivion” reflects our servitude to institutions.

Now You See Me

This movie is a sleeper hit. For a movie that cost $75 million to make and promote, it has returned over $350 million.

World War Z

I wrote back then how we have had a pretty clean run in relation to pandemics compared to previous centuries. I guess it was a bit premature.

In “World War Z” the virus needs a viable host to spread and therefore it is found that people inflicted with various diseases are immune from the zombie swarms as they cannot spread the disease.

Respect our world is the message that I get from WWZ. The more we disrespect it and pollute it, the more we and our future generations will suffer.

And the rich pharmaceutical companies care about treatments. There is no money in cures for them.

RICHIE SAMBORA

I found an Hot Metal article from November 1991 on Richie Sambora, so I did the painstaking task of typing it all up and adding my own comments. The interviewer is Stefan Chirazi and it was part of Sambora’s press campaign for his first solo album “Stranger In This Town”.

1991 was three years after “New Jersey” came out and five years after “Slippery When Wet.” The band Bon Jovi was on hiatus meanwhile Jon Bon Jovi had another hit with “Blaze Of Glory.” This was a crucial time for the artist known as Richie Sambora.

Here are some quotes from the article;

“I don’t consider myself a rock or pop star, I consider myself a musician and I would like people to consider me as an artist.”

“At the time Blaze Of Glory hit, Jon said he didn’t really know if he wanted to go on with the band again. That kind of left me in a difficult position because I didn’t have a record contract and I didn’t have a contract with Bon Jovi.”

“Then, at the end of our last tour, we had some disagreements about different things. I owned the record company which is now Jamco and used to be The Underground – Jon and I and Doc McGhee owned it all together. And I didn’t wanna be part of that anymore because I was so tired and beat up from being out there so long.”

“Bon Jovi’s sold 30 million records and I can’t even evaluate that or relate it to real terms. All I know is that I work as hard as I can, and at this stage of my career I’m still working this hard.”

1992 – The Year That Hard Rock Forgot

1992 was the year of transition.

Once the year was over; hard rock, melodic rock, glam rock and so forth would never be the same. In relation to hard rock releases, what a year it was. So many great albums got released, however according to the record labels barometer of success, those albums failed miserably.

One of the best releases from 1992 was “Blood and Bullets” by Widowmaker. Not only is it a great album, it was also the first “official” album to feature Dee Snider from Twisted Sister after Twisted Sister.

Along with the self-titled Lynch Mob album, “The Crimson Idol” from W.A.S.P., “Dog Eat Dog” from Warrant, “III Sides to Every Story” from Extreme, “Sin-Decade” from Pretty Maids and “Revenge” from Kiss, it formed my decadent seven wonders of heavy rock.

My metal tastes got serviced by “Countdown to Extinction” from Megadeth, “Fear of the Dark” from Iron Maiden, “The Ritual” from Testament, “Dehumanizer” from Black Sabbath, “A Vulgar Display of Power” from Pantera and a new band from Seattle called Alice In Chains” and their excellent “Dirt”.

Dream Theater blew me away with “Images and Words” while Yngwie Malmsteen delivered the excellent “Fire and Ice” and no one outside of his hardcore fan base heard it. Another neo-classical shredder Tony MacAlpine released “Freedom To Fly” and boy didn’t he fly with it.

“Hold Your Fire” from Firehouse, “Five Wicked Ways” from Candy Harlots, “Don’t Tread” from Damn Yankees, “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion” from The Black Crowes, “The Wild Life” from Slaughter, “Nothing Sacred” by Babylon A.D., “Hear” from Trixter, “Tangled In Reins” from Steelheart, “Double Eclipse” from Hardline and “Adrenalize” from Def Leppard satisfied by hard rock cravings.

And the record labels just abandoned this music.

PEARL JAM – BLACK

Smith and Myers cover this song.

I didn’t like “Even Flow” or “Alive” when they hit the air waves back in 1991. They just didn’t connect with me at that point in time. In addition, I was really anti-grunge because all of the rock bands that I was into started to disappear.

So I was staying loyal to my team. The hard rock team.

Then in 1993, I saw a live performance of the band on MTV doing “Jeremy” and then they went into “Rockin In The Free World” with Neil Young and suddenly, I was interested. Loyalty to hard/glam rock was still strong, however in the end I am a fan of music and if there is great music to hear from other genre’s I will dig deep and hear it. So I asked a previous hard rock friend of mine who switched to the grunge side to copy the album onto a cassette for me.

Oh, the shame of admitting defeat.

And that’s another wrap for another week.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories

The Record Vault: Def Leppard – Pyromania

In 1983 and 84, it felt like there was “Pyromania” and then there was everything else.

Quiet Riot didn’t have the same success in Australia that they had in the U.S and Motley Crue was a few years away from their “Home Sweet Home” fame in Australia.

The Lep’s wanted to be on top of the pop charts. That was their mission. The rise was slow but gradual.

If you like rock and metal music, you would like this album. If you like pop and other forms of music, you would still like this album.

The “Pyromania” story begins with “High ’N’ Dry”.

The album didn’t sell what the band and the label expected it to sell. And their UK headlining tour had them selling 25% of the tickets. In other words, they were pulling in between 400-500 people in 2000-seat theatres.

Def Leppard was then given a supporting slot on the European Leg of the “Point Of Entry” tour by Judas Priest. But they never had a chance to make an impact, coming on second after Accept, who had massive momentum with “Balls To The Wall”.

The tour finished in December, 1981.

But the band was busy writing riffs on the road and man, they sure had a lot for new songs. They also revisited some older songs and rewrote em lyrically or rearranged em musically.

“Medicine Man” wasnt good enough to make the “High ‘N’ Dry” album but it was beefed up and retitled “Rock Rock (Till You Drop)”. With new lyrics, it became the album opener.

There was another unfinished track which was described as “a dual-guitar pop song” by Joe Elliot in an interview at TeamRock.com. Well that song was also finally completed, and it became known as “Photograph”.

Producer Mutt Lange, was also on board, being listed as a co-writer on all of the album’s 10 tracks which bothered Willis as he believed that wasn’t the case.

When the band was given the green light to record, the budget was tight. Two albums in, the band was in debt to their label to the tune of £700,000, and each band member was on wages of £40 a week.

A cold hard truth on the realities of the recording business and the creative accounting of the labels is that the bands incur debts that could last forever.

The album finally hit the streets in January 1983.

But.

The album was selling slow in the U.K. A showcase gig at the Marquee Club in London on February 9 had a very small attendance.

But in North America, it was a different story.

MTV put the songs “Photograph,” “Foolin’” and “Rock of Ages” on constant rotation.

Suddenly rock and metal bands changed the way they recorded. NWOBHM bands started to sing more melodically and with multi-layered backing vocals.

Joe Elliot once said that he wanted the power of AC/DC mixed with the variety of Queen for Def Leppard. That equals “Pyromania”.

I had the vinyl but it was also in the same box that went missing during a house move however I picked this up on CD.

Rock Rock (Till You Drop)

It’s a sound and groove that Cinderella and Kix and many other U.S acts would put to good use to build careers’ on.

But it was guitarist Pete Willis who wrote the riff to “Rock Rock (Till You Drop)” however he’s not credited.

Willis and Lange didn’t get along at all, constantly clashing with each other in the studio which then also led to tension with the other members.

As a founding member, Willis didn’t believe he could be removed or fired. But removed he was.

Anything goes

Photograph

There is no denying the riff. It’s as good as any of the classic riffs that guitarists play in guitar shops and so forth. Structurally, the song goes all AC/DC style riffing in the verses and pop rock like in the Chorus.

Stagefright

Rick Savage came up “Stagefright”.

It’s got this Sweet “Action” vibe merged with metal riffage in the verses and a pop chorus.

Too Late For Love

As soon as this song starts off, I swear I’ve heard it somewhere else.

Die Hard The Hunter

You feel the sadness as soon as the Emadd9 clean tone arpeggios kick in and it gets even sadder when Joe starts singing “Let’s toast”. Then it goes into a riff that Queensryche used when they wrote “Revolution Calling”.

That section from 4.05 to 5.05 always gets me to stop what I’m doing and start paying attention.

Foolin

The opener to Side 2, with that majestic guitar part.

The magic is in the arpeggiated intro and the eventual build up with the layered backing vocals singing “Is anybody out there?”.

This song stands the test of time.

The lead break begins with a call and response. It reminds me of “Over The Mountain” from Randy Rhoads and Ozzy.

Rock Of Ages

The first time I heard em.

Yeah, it’s better to burn out / Yeah, than fade away

A rock and rollers creed.

Rise up, gather ’round / Rock this place to the ground

Burn it up, let’s go for broke / Watch the night go up in smoke

Rock on (rock on) / Drive me crazier / No serenade, no fire brigade / Just the pyromania, come on

This is the embryo of “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and they take inspiration from Queen, by using songs like “We Will Rock You” and “Another One Bites The Dust” as influences for the verse delivery/structure.

When the Chorus comes in after two verses, it’s well worth the wait. “Don’t Stop Believin’” from Journey also used this kind of song structure.

Rock of ages, rock of ages / Still rollin’, keep a-rollin’

Rock of ages, rock of ages / Still rollin’, rock ‘n’ rollin’

You won’t be able to stop yourself from singing along with the chorus.

Comin Under Fire

This song is a must for any guitarist. It merges 70’s classic rock, with the NWOBHM sound with Scorpions Euro Metal.

The intro alone has it all.

Arpeggiated guitar lines hook you in and then the pedal point riff blasts through the speakers.

When the verses come in, we are greeted with volume swells that outline the different chords.

Like the pre-chorus of “Foolin”, the chorus of “Comin Under Fire” has excellent layered backing vocals. Lyrically, it’s not the best, but musically, it rules.

Billy’s Got A Gun

Steve Clark was a Jimmy Page fan, so it was no surprise that he was the one who created this Zeppelin-influenced epic.

Never underestimate the ability of a song to paint a picture.

This is my favourite Def Leppard cut and it has so many good bits.

The verse bass riff reminds me of “Heaven and Hell”. The backing vocals are so layered, melodic and operatic. The overall drum groove reminds of “Kashmir”. And I guarantee you that Chris DeGarmo, Geoff Tate and Michael Wilton all had this album and paid particular attention to this song as the “Operation Mindcrime” album is musically influenced by “Billy’s Got A Gun”.

And you get an unbelievable solo and an ending that makes you press play again, so you hear the album over and over and over again.

As time marches forward, the greatness and power of this song is being forgotten.

And it’s like the band made a crossroads deal to achieve fame. The success of this album put the band members on different paths than the previous ones they were on and that would lead to different outcomes for them.

On New Years Eve, 1984, Rick Allen went to overtake a car and failed to negotiate the bend. He lost part of his left hand in the accident and surgery to reattach it, led to an infection and then eventual surgical amputation.

And no one knew it at the time, but it was going to be long wait for the next album.

On a side note, Trevor Rabin and Mike Slamer are both thanked in the credits.

Those two dudes are very well known session guitarists, so I’m asking the question; did they actually play on this?

Slamer was used by producer Beau Hill on most of the records he produced in the 80s. If you have an Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe, Twisted Sister and Ratt album, then there is a high chance that Slamer played on it.

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