Tag Archives: Heavy Metal

A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

1996 – Part 4.2: Slayer – Undisputed Attitude

“Undisputed Attitude” is the seventh studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on May 28, 1996.

The album consists almost entirely of covers of punk rock and hardcore punk songs. It also includes two tracks written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman in 1984 and 1985 for a side project called Pap Smear and its closing track, “Gemini”, is the only original track.

The album was largely the brainchild of guitarist Kerry King, who stated that the songs chosen were from highly influential bands who “made Slayer what it is”.

The album was initially to feature material from classic heavy metal artists such as Judas Priest, UFO and Deep Purple. However, after several rehearsals “things didn’t pan out” according to King, so the band instead elected to cover punk songs. Then again, maybe Tom Araya’s rough bark just didn’t suit the Judas Priest, UFO and Deep Purple style of songs.

The band for this album is Tom Araya on Bass and Vocals, Kerry King on Guitars, Jeff Hanneman (RIP) on Guitars and Paul Bostaph on Drums. The way Araya sounds vocally on this is how James Hetfield would sound on “St Anger” in six to seven years’ time.

The album is produced by Dave Sardy with Rick Rubin listed as an Executive Producer, whatever an Exec Producer means.

“Disintegration/Free Money”

The original artist is Verbal Abuse and its 1.41 of fast and aggressive metal punk.

“Verbal Abuse/Leeches”

And its followed up by another Verbal Abuse cover, which clocks in at 1.58. While its fast and aggressive punk, there is a small breakdown section which slows things down a little.

“Abolish Government/Superficial Love”

A T.S.O.L. cover and it’s a full 1:48 in length.

Three songs in and it’s like listening to one song.

“Can’t Stand You”

Written by Jeff Hanneman and listed as a Pap Smear cover which clocks in at 1:27. And Tom Araya doesn’t take a breath as he spits out the verses.

“DDAMM (Drunk Drivers Against Mad Mothers)”

Another track written by Jeff Hanneman and listed as a Pap Smear cover which clocks in at the super long length of 1:01.

“Guilty of Being White”

A cover from Minor Threat and it clocks in at another super long time of 1:07.

When the album was released in 1996, there was no controversy over the song or any possible message of white supremacy.

But the internet and social networks are different beasts and people take a moral high ground.

The other controversy was changing the lyrics in the songs ending from “guilty of being white” to “guilty of being right”.

This little changed didn’t go down well with Minor Threat front man Ian MacKaye, who found this change “offensive”.

“I Hate You”

Verbal Abuse makes another appearance on this album with a song that goes into the 2 minute range. This one is more punk like, with a rock tempo and Sex Pistols “Anarchy” style attitude.

“Filler/I Don’t Want to Hear It”

And Minor Threat makes another appearance with a super-fast punk hardcore song.

“Spiritual Law”

A cover from D.I. and its pushing at being the longest song on the album at 3 minutes long. Press play to hear the intro which is very Metal like, otherwise the rest is stock standard fast beats, vocals that cover the microphone in spit and fast alternate picked punk metal riffs.

But at 1.20 a Sabbath like doom groove comes in, before it picks back up into the fast punk metal at the 2.10 mark.

“Mr. Freeze”

A cover from Dr Know. Its 2.24 in length and at times when the song goes into its rock riffs I feel like I am listening to Beatsie Boys, “Fight For Your Rights”.

“Violent Pacification”

A cover from D.R.I. at 2:38 in length.

All I can say about this song is chaos until the 46 second mark, when the drums start a rock style groove and the tempo of the song goes down a notch for the band to rock out. And Tom Araya is barking out “Violent Pacification” over and over and over again.

“Richard Hung Himself”

A cover from D.I. and this song takes the title for the longest song of the cover songs at 3:22.

And for a song with a grisly title it’s actually a catchy rock song.

“I’m Gonna Be Your God” (“I Wanna Be Your Dog”)

A song from The Stooges, clocking in over the 3 minute mark and it received a makeover and some slightly modified lyrics and a faster tempo.

It’s by far my favorite cover and it leads in perfectly to the original track.

“Gemini”

Written by Kerry King and Tom Araya, and it is the longest song on the album at 4.53.

The song begins as a sludge/doom number reminding me of “Season In The Abyss”, before becoming a more typical Slayer song.

But being added to the end, doesn’t do this song proper justice. It’s one of their best tracks written in the 90’s.

And Tom Araya is evil reincarnated with his melodic but sinister vocal melody.

In the end, this is a 33-minute-long release and Slayer wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s not a classic album but the song “Gemini” makes up for it.

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

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – November 28 to December 4

4 Years Ago (2017)

OUR BEST WORK

When you create your most important work, it could be ignored by the audience because it’s ahead of its time. It requires people to change their thoughts and beliefs. But all important work ends up rising above the noise.

Black Sabbath’s debut album didn’t reach platinum in the U.S until October 13, 1986. Yep 16 years later, the most influential heavy metal album had moved a million units in the U.S.

But their tours sold out, which goes to show that people didn’t always buy recorded music.

You could be an artist creating work which is popular, and it resonates with the audience who already like what you do. “Dr Feelgood” was always going to be Motley’s best seller. They spent 7 plus years building an audience with each release and tour.

In addition, it spawned a new production sound that would become known as the “Black” sound after Metallica’s self-titled album destroyed our senses and the charts.

Our best work is the heart of what we do and sometimes getting it out there is a long difficult journey full of scams and rip offs, highs and lows, good and bad people, rejection and acceptance.

But you will not get there if you quit. It’s what you do in the dark, which will make you shine in the light.

8 Years Ago (2013)

CONCERT ATTENDANCES

The highs of success and fame are brief. The air at the top of the mountain is thin, so you’re not expected to hang around for a long time.

Vince Neil

On July 6, 2013, Vince Neil played a solo show in Mexico City.

The venue was Jose Cuervo Salon.

The capacity of the venue is 1,500. The attendance was 64 people.

That’s right, less than 5% of the total venue size.

Total Gross sales for the night was $2,286.

Does anyone really care about Vince Neil outside of Motley Crue?

Based on the ticket sales, Mexico sure don’t.

What a hard truth that is.

His debut album “Exposed” celebrated 20 years in 2013, but Vince went out and played Motley songs.

Power Metal Rules In Europe

On April 18, 2013, Helloween, Gamma Ray and Shadowside played a Power Metal feast in Hamburg, Germany. The venue was the Docks.

The capacity of the venue is 1,500. The attendance was 1,171.

Total Gross sales for the night was $51,299.

The thing with power metal bands is that they know the size of their audience. It is a niche and it has a hard core and devoted fan base.

The Black Crowes still do good business

On July 19, 2013, The Black Crowes, Tedeschi Trucks Band and The London Souls played a show in Nashville, Tennesse.

The venue was the Woods Amphitheater at Fontanel.

The capacity of the venue is 4,056. The attendance was 3,273.

Total Gross sales for the night was $215,641.

In the end there is plenty of money available in music and the more people that have access to recorded music means more fans that could turn into customers.

COPYRIGHT TERMS

In Australia (and a lot of other countries) a copyright for a sound recording lasts for the life of the creator + 70 years after death.

If the creator lives to 80, then the Total Copyright is a 150 year term.

And since the large Corporations control a lot of the copyrights, a 150 year term benefits them.

Keith Richards famously said that you can’t copyright the blues.

The acts from the Sixties and Seventies, brazenly borrowed and built upon songs that already existed.

And didn’t we got a lot of glorious music.

RED DRAGON CARTEL

As a fan of Jake E. Lee and the work he did with Ozzy and Badlands, it was cool to hear that he made the decision to record music again.

Frontiers Records signed the project.

Are there any Classic Eighties metal/rock bands or stars that Frontiers haven’t signed?

And “Feeder” was doing the rounds and i didn’t like it because there was no classic riff that stuck around forever to haunt my eardrums.

The expectation that most artists have is that since they have talent, can write a song and love what they do, they should be able to charge people to listen.

The reality is that there are thousands of artists trying to reach the same fans that are very careful with the money they spend on music.

Music is never a sure thing.

LOYALTY PROGRAM

We live in a world of loyalty schemes. If you shop at any major retailer there is a pretty good chance that you have signed up to their loyalty scheme and after you spend a certain amount of dollars with them, you get a discount or some other reward for your next purchase.

So why isn’t this happening in the music business.

THE BATTLE FOR QUEENSRYCHE

Back in 2013, two Queensryche bands did the rounds.

The Geoff Tate version is on Cleopatra Records and the Todd LaTorre version is on Century Media Records.

And there wasn’t a demand for two versions of Queensryche?

Then again demand for Queensryche was diminishing since Chris DeGarmo left.

And that’s another wrap for another week.

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The Record Vault: Deep Purple – Burn

When a band loses members, no one really knows what would come next. Will the band break up or will they continue with new members?

When bands lose their lead singers, the uncertainty is even higher.

But when Deep Purple lost Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, Richie Blackmore stepped up even more to push the band forward. As far as Blackmore was concerned, he was the driving force behind the band and this grit and determination would lead him to find not one but two vocalists who would assist him in moving forward with the massive riffs he was coming up with.

“Burn” is the eighth studio album, released in February 1974, and the first to feature an unknown David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes, from Trapeze, on bass and vocals.

The album was recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 1973, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.

Deep Purple MK3 is Ritchie Blackmore on Guitars, David Coverdale on Vocals, Glenn Hughes on Bass and Vocals, Jon Lord on Keyboards and Ian Paice on Drums.

Production was still listed with the band as Producers and Mixers (but all they had to do was just say yes or no to the takes and mixes), with Martin Birch doing the bulk of the work capturing the sounds and actually mixing the album.

Burn

It owes some of its thought and structure to “Highway Star” as the DP guys wanted to have another high energy song to open the show and new album with.

It also has structured organ and guitar solos like “Highway Star”, around Bach like sequences which Lord and Blackmore worked out.

Coverdale mentioned in the “The Purple Album Track By Track”, that “Burn” was the first song that he started working on with Richie Blackmore, which he called sounded like “Symphonic Rock”. He also wrote four different lyrical versions for the song, with the Sci Fi version being selected by the guys in the band as the one to use.

David Coverdale loved the riff so much, that “Children Of The Night” from the 1987 self-titled album was the result. I would add that part of “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again” also has some of the “Burn” feel.

And as good as all of the riffs and solos are, Ian Paice behind the kit, just brings the power and the pace. As soon as his drums come in, the foot is tapping and the head is moving.

It’s my favourite Deep Purple song which gets performed at Whitesnake or Glenn Hughes or Yngwie Malmsteen concerts instead of Deep Purple concerts because of the singers.

Might Just Take Your Life

The Jon Lord organ riff to start it off is from “Woman From Tokyo”.

Jon Lord was the primary writer for Deep Purple on the first couple of albums until Richie Blackmore had enough and started to become the primary songwriter from “In Rock”.

The melodies came from a relaxed jam session that Coverdale and Lord were having.

Overall it’s got that British blues rock feel.

But press play to hear Coverdale and Hughes harmonize in the Chorus.

Lay Down, Stay Down

It’s got that blues rock feel from the “Who Do We Think We Are” album and that sound and riff is something that Blackmore would come back to with his Rainbow project.

Ian Paice again showcases his drumming abilities.

Sail Away

Its got that “Superstition” and “Play That Funky Music” funk rock groove that Blackmore came up with.

Its sung by both Coverdale and Hughes however both could have done the song justice if only one of em just sang it.

This song and “Mistreated” sums up what Coverdale brought to the Purple sound on this album.

Press play to listen to the funky bass playing from Glen Hughes. Hughes was also a co-writer, but he wasn’t credited due to being tied to another recording contract at the time.

The 30th Anniversary release fixed that.

You Fool No One

Coverdale and Hughes doing dual harmonies.

Ian Paice also showing his love of John Bonham and coming up with a definitive drum groove which formed the basis of the track for Blackmore to build on.

The middle solo section is almost Jazz Rock fusion, progressive like.

Press play and just enjoy.

What’s Goin’ On Here

A fun blues song based around a Jimi Hendrix song called “Highway Chile”.

Mistreated

It’s listed as being written by Blackmore and Coverdale.

Coverdale (who calls himself a “Domestic Guitar Hero) wrote a riff on Blackmore’s White Strat, in the Crypts of a Castle they were rehearsing at and when Blackmore heard it, instead of playing the riff with the Coverdale chords, Blackmore played the single notes.

And “Mistreated” was born.

And that opening vocal “I’ve been mistreated” is iconic.

This version is my go to version but on the Purple album from Whitesnake, Reb Beach takes the solo spotlight and creates a fresh and emotive blues shred lead.

‘A’ 200

An instrumental.

Coronarias Redig

It’s a B-side and if no one had heard it in the 70s, it appeared on the “30th Anniversary Edition” as a bonus track.

It’s a blues Rock song but those Hammond Organ chords give it a soul gospel feel.

And press play to hear Blackmore’s leads.

In Australia, the M3 version of DP went to number 5 on the charts. In Austria, Denmark, Germany and Norway it went to number 1. In Canada, Holland, Finland, France, UK and US it was a Top 10 album.

In other words people liked it.

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

The Record Vault: Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are

The success of “Hush” in 1968 was more luck than anything. After that they struggled while Richie Blackmore kept evolving the band and the sound. Once the MKII version was in place, things started to change.

“In Rock” was released in 1970 and it definitely got people really interested. “Fireball” came quickly in 1971 and is often overlooked, but it kept the momentum going. “Machine Head” broke the band to a bigger audience in 1972 and in order to capture that success, the label released a live album called “Made In Japan” in December 1972.

Four albums in three years.

And then at the height of their fame, they dropped “Who Do We Think We Are” in 1973, their seventh studio album overall and fifth album in four years.

It would also be Deep Purple’s last album with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover until 1984’s “Perfect Strangers”.

Fame is definitely a funny thing. You bust your ass to get there and then break up once you there.

Because of the touring, the album was recorded in two stages.

In July, 1972, they had some time in Rome to write and record new songs via the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. The songs from these sessions that are known are “Woman From Tokyo” and an outtake known as “Painted Horse”.

In October, 1972, they had some time to do the same in Frankfurt, West Germany. This is where the remainder of the songs were completed.

Woman From Tokyo

It was the first track recorded in July, written about their life on the road and touring Japan for the first time. It’s also their best track from this album.

As soon as the drum groove started I was thinking of “Run To The Hills” from Maiden.

Mary Long

Ian Gillan combined the names of two people who represented things he hated in the prudish older generation of the time, which made him question how they even had sex.

How did you lose your virginity Mary Long?

It feels like a Lynyrd Skynyrd cut. But this is Deep Purple, the masters of speed, heavy and melodic rock, with a flourish of blues.

Super Trouper

It’s almost like early AOR blues rock, something that bands like Foreigner and Survivor would use on their earlier albums.

It’s short but it gets me interested.

Smooth Dancer

The comparison to “Speed King” was always going to happen.

And Jon Lord owns this track with his honky tonk piano and neo-classical Hammond organ solos.

Rat Bat Blue

I like the blues rock riff that starts this song off. A young Jake E Lee, would have been woodshedding this riff, ready to unleash it with Badlands.

Then the keyboard solo kicks in, over another groovy riff by Blackmore and suddenly power metal is born in Finland.

Place in Line

ZZ Top comes to mind here. It’s got that Texan strut, which is a bit different to the way the Brits did the blues.

Our Lady

It reminds me of The Beatles and I like it.

Actually it reminds me of the song “The Real Thing” from Russel Morris who was an Australian artist from the mid 60’s. The song was a hit in Australia and the U.S and it’s got that Beatles influence.

Painted Horse

This track was released on the Anniversary edition.

Blackmore would also use the riff from this for “Man On The Silver Mountain” with some minor tweaks.

Musically, it was a move to a more blues-based sound, and the album was criticized for its American sounding songs in the U.K, for “Super Trouper” and “Smooth Dancer”.

And when Gillan and Glover left, everyone thought the band was done. But not Richie Blackmore. He had other ideas and MK3 was about to be born.

This version would release two of my favorite albums would be released.

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2001 – Part 4.7: Ill Nino – Revolution/Revolución

The late 90’s and early 2000’s was a time of pushing the limits of heavy metal music. From when I first came across metal albums in the 80’s, the genre had evolved so much that the bands classed as metal back then became totally unrecognisable to the new breed of bands doing the rounds.

Bands like Tool, Dream Theater, NIN, Ministry, Faith No More, Limp Bizkit, Fear Factory, Korn, Creed, Disturbed, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Machine Head and Pantera pushed the genre forward during this period. Each act bringing into their sound something that wasn’t there before. Suddenly Metallica sounded like a pop band compared to these bands.

And then I came across Ill Nino. A fusion of Latin Flamenco rhythms and percussion with metal riffs and singing which moved between aggressive screaming and melodic singing.

On September 18, 2001, Ill Niño released their debut album, “Revolution Revolución”.

The album was a commercial success for Roadrunner Records, moving over 350,000 albums worldwide in the first two years after release.

The Personnel for the album is Cristian Machado on Vocals and Samples, Jardel Martins Paisante and Marc Rizzo on Guitar, Lazaro Pina on Bass, Dave Chavarri on Drums and Samples and Roger Vasquez on Percussion.

And seeing a person called DJ Skratch on Turntables as an additional musician will either scare people off or make them curious.

God Save Us

It’s like Groove Nu-Metal. Vocally its aggressive in the verses, with a melodic Chorus.

Check out the flamenco like interlude at 2.30.

If You Still Hate Me

It’s like Industrial Nu-Metal at the start.

But at the 2 minute mark a flamenco metal section appears and then a head banging circle pit riff afterwards. The movement between styles is why this album got my attention.

Unreal

Distorted guitars and Latin percussion working to create something unique.

Nothing’s Clear

Screaming verses and a melodic Chorus. The duality of modern American metal at the start of the new century.

And chuck in a Bridge delivered in Spanish.

What Comes Around

The most catchiest song on the album. A Nu-Metal riff kicks it off, and then an atmospheric Korn like guitar riff in the verses, while the melodic singing carries the vocal melody.

Liar

The flamenco and percussion in the intro gives way to a Disturbed meets Limp Bizkit riff.

Rumba

The Latin percussion and distorted guitars is a delightful mash up. Vocally, the screaming loses me and the melodic singing re-captures my interest.

Predisposed

I like the Intro riff on this. Its head banging groove metal.

I Am Loco

Who isn’t loco these days?

No Murder

Press play to hear one guitar play a riff on the higher registers while another plays chords.

Rip Out Your Eyes

So much violence.

Revolution/Revolución

The intro riff is head banging heavy.

With You

It’s a flamenco acoustic rock cut. Santana is not the only musician that plays this style, but he is one of the biggest crossover artists, and because of that, this song reminds me of Santana.

The next album “Confession” is a lot more melodic and my favourite but if you want to start with something, then start with this.

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

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

4 Years Ago (2017)

For some strange reason I didn’t post anything during this period.

8 Years Ago (2013)

ZOLTAN BATHORY

If you look at the Wikipedia page for Zoltan Bathory, the earliest musical output you get is from 2004, where he played bass in the band “U.P.O”. However his story begins a long time before that, in communist Hungary.

He was basically trying to succeed in a genre that didn’t have a voice in communist Hungary.

So he comes to America.

And the first FFDP album was recorded by the band. They produced it and paid for it.

REFORMS

REFORMS and CHANGES present challenges for every business. So why should it be any different for the Music and Entertainment Business?

TV content providers and streaming services take a lot of gambles with shows, just to remain relevant.

Are the labels doing that?

The Entertainment business instead asks for laws to be re-written in order to protect their business labels.

Music is always a risk game.

No one is entitled to make it in the music business.

There is no safety net.

VOLITION

I was still listening to Protest The Hero and writing about it.

PROGRESS IS DERIVATIVE

Society today is all about multi-tasking.

My drive home from work at that time consisted of the following songs;

“Shepherd Of Fire” – Avenged Sevenfold
“Lift Me Up” – Five Finger Death Punch
“Mist” – Protest The Hero
“Live In Love” – Times of Grace
“Fallen” – Volbeat
“Bulletproof” – Evans Blue
“Be Still and Know” – Machine Head

And all of the above songs can be traced back to other songs.

Here are some examples;

“Shepherd Of Fire” – the influence of Megadeth’s “Trust” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” are unmistakable.

Of course “Enter Sandman” had its main riff come from a band called Excel and a 1989 song called “Tapping Into The Emotional Void.” Megadeth’s “Trust” intro was also inspired by the Pittsburgh Penguins’ entrance theme “The Boys of Winter.”

“Lift Me Up” – the vocal melody influence is from “The Ultimate Sin” is very similar.

And then the post morphed into a Bad Company review.

SALES

Dream Theater had a 5 week sale run and by week 6 the album was done.

Avenged Sevenfold was still going strong after 12 weeks.

Five Finger Death Punch was also going strong after 16 weeks.

Black Sabbath had an 18 week run before it disappeared to come back again.

Trivium had a 4 week run of sales. It was a quick spiral out of the public consciousness and a lot of people didn’t like the Draiman influence on it.

And Stryper had a two week sale run.

There is no safety net.

DOING DOUBLE

A lot of artists are doing multiple projects. It’s not all about the one band.

Jared Leto does acting and Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Corey Taylor does Slipknot, Stone Sour and book writing.

Rob Zombie does his solo project and Directing.

Nikki Sixx at the time was doing Motley Crue, Sixx: A.M. + Radio DJ, Book Author and Photographer.

Claudio Sanchez was doing Coheed and Cambra, his Prized Fighter Inferno side project and Comic / Book Author.

It’s the way to survive in the business.

And that’s another wrap for another week.

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2001 – Part 4.6: Within Temptation – Mother Earth

Within Temptation is a Metal band from Holland.

Their style of Metal has symphonic influences.

It was “The Heart Of Everything” album released in 2007 that made me a fan especially the song “What Have You Done”. And I wanted to hear more.

“Mother Earth” is the second studio album released on 24 December 2000 in the Netherlands, and 21 August 2001 in other parts of Europe.

It was a sleeper hit in Holland, reaching the number 3 spot, two years after it’s release and in the backs of the second single “Ice Queen”.

Wikipedia tells me how the band was enthralled by a movie at that time called “Braveheart” and the Celtic influences are very evident.

The band is Sharon den Adel on vocals, Robert Westerholt on rhythm guitar and vocals on “Mother Earth” and spoken words on “The Promise”. Michiel Papenhove is on lead guitar, Jeroen van Veen on bass, Martijn Westerholt on keyboards and Ivar de Graaf on drums.

Mother Earth

It’s soundtrack music. Medieval like “Braveheart”.

Ice Queen

It’s a hard rock song, with the symphonic elements. Vocally Sharon den Adel is very Kate Bush like and early Pat Benatar.

Our Farewell

It’s a piano piece. Evanescence would become famous on their “My Immortal” ballad, but Within Temptation was doing it earlier.

Caged

The start reminds me of “The Last Samurai”.

The Promise

When the distorted guitar riff kicks in with the Symphony, I am reminded of S&M from Metallica.

Never-ending Story

A piano riff that keeps reminding me of movies.

Deceiver of Fools

The symphonic choir starts it off. When the vocals come in, they are operatic.

But Press play on this to hear how the guitars kick in at the 2 minute mark. Powerful and emotive.

Intro

It’s like a horror/thriller soundtrack.

Dark Wings

This song is excellent. A mixture of progressive Metal with the symphonic

Arjen Lucassen from Ayreon plays the guitar solo.

But press play to hear Sharon den Adel do these exotic like ohs and ahs vocals between 1.50 and 2.20.

In Perfect Harmony

The song is in a Major key so it has that happy vibe to end the album. You know those end scenes in movies when the goodies have won and the end credits roll.

By the end of it, I felt like I was at the movies. The music is cinematic and grand.

And the rise was starting. Austria, Belgium, Holland, German, Norway and Switzerland were on board. This is how artists did it. A few places at a time.

In relation to certifications, the album was certified Platinum in Holland and Gold in Belgium and Germany.

Check em out.

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The Record Vault: Deep Purple – Machine Head

“Machine Head” is the sixth studio album released on 25 March 1972 on Purple Records.

The success of this album didn’t just happen. The band had been touring and recording in between live shows since 1969. Any new song they wrote would get debuted live before it was recorded.

But the band felt that these earlier studio albums did not sound as good as their live performances, and wanted to record in a stage environment.

As legend would have it, Deep Purple planned to record the “Machine Head” album at Montreux Casino in Switzerland during December 1971. But some “stupid with a flare gun burned the whole place to the ground”.

Deep Purple relocated to another hotel called “The Pavilion” however the neighbors kept calling the police over the noise and Deep Purple got evicted. The basic tracks to “Smoke On The Water” were recorded here.

They searched for other recording locations and settled with the empty Grand Hotel, on the edge of Montreux.

The band for the album is the classic line up of Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Jon Lord on keyboards, Hammond organ and Ian Paice on drums.

The album is listed as being produced by Deep Purple with Martin Birch doing the engineering and the mixing with Deep Purple.

Highway Star

It’s a speed Metal song before it became a thing.

Written on the bus while touring. Management arranged for the band to travel to the gig with a group of music journalists who could interview the band at their leisure.

One of them asked Blackmore how he wrote songs and the opening riff was the result. The rest of the band completed the arrangement during rehearsals and it was added to the show on the evening of the gig.

Blackmore based his guitar solo around a figure that he learned from rockabilly artists Johnny Burnette who was active between 1952 and 1964 when he drowned.

Maybe I”m A Leo

I like the blues rock riff on this which Glover wrote the song’s main riff after listening to John Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep?” Hell it could have been based on “Come Together” which was based on a Chuck Berry song.

It had a working title of “One Just Before Midnight”, which appears in a picture of a recording sheet on the album sleeve.

Pictures of Home

Montreux had become their home away from home and this song covers that period.

A fast drum solo Intro starts it off before the band crashes in. The major key pentatonic soloing reminds me of Thin Lizzy before Thin Lizzy became famous.

Never Before

I love the blues when it’s done right. And on this track Deep Purple nail it.

This style of blues rock would form the foundation of the Rainbow sound.

Smoke On The Water

The opening riff and the whole build up with the drums and then bass.

That’s why you press play on this.

Lazy

It was played live in 1971. Glover said the song was roughly based on an Oscar Brown song, “Sleepy”, while Blackmore stated it was inspired by Eric Clapton’s “Stepping Out”.

Either way, it’s how music is created.

Take our influences and create something new.

The song was designed for the live show with each instrument having a break to showcase the talents of the player. Even Ian Gillan got a harmonica spot.

Space Truckin’

“So come on”.

And the rest is history. Nonsense lyrics or not it’s a classic Deep Purple jam.

When A Blind Man Cries

No one called these kind of songs ballads back in the day. It was just a slower rock song.

Listen to the little leads and the lead break itself. So much emotion. Blackmore doesn’t get enough credit for being a great blues player.

In Australia it went to number 1, along with other countries like Denmark, France, West Germany as it was known back then, the UK and Holland.

Certifications will be viewed in the future as a small memory of the music business, the way the piano player is forgotten and vaudeville productions. Once upon a time they ruled. What happened to em?

But when people talk about this album, they talk about it’s 2x Platinum certification in the US and it’s Gold certifications in France, Italy, Japan and the UK.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

2001 – Part 4.4: Staind – Break The Cycle

Aaron Lewis has been in the news recently. He is touring in the U.S for his “Frayed At Both Ends” Country album, getting criticized for playing the same song at a gig twice and a few months ago he released a song called “Am I The Only One” in which he expressed his political views and questioned the patriotism of Bruce Springsteen.

Music industry blogger Bob Lefsetz didn’t like it and Lefsetz called out Lewis and his label boss Scott Borchetta. However Borchetta in an open letter back to Lefsetz, said that even though Lewis and Borchetta have opposing political views, Borchetta is not going to cancel or drop Aaron Lewis.

Moving away from “Politics 2021”, back in the early 2000’s, Lewis was busy writing and recording “Break the Cycle”, the third studio album by Staind. Released through Elektra and Flip Records in 2001, it is Staind’s most successful album to date, and it was the album that broke them into the mainstream.

Supported by Fred Durst who signed them to his Flip Records label originally, they had the fortunate or maybe unfortunate tag as Durst prodigies. The debut album, “Tormented” was ignored by the press, but Elektra wanted a piece of the action and “Dysfunction” is the result of major label support.

Then came “Break The Cycle”.

At 28 years of age, Aaron Lewis had lived and experienced enough sadness and happiness to put his life and thoughts into his lyrics.

A total of 5 singles were released from this album, “It’s Been Awhile”, “Fade”, “Outside”, “For You” and “Epiphany”, all of which did reasonably well.

On a side note, the album did cost $800K to make and Elektra along with Flip Records, just weren’t sure they would even get close to recouping.

But in its first three weeks, it sold over a million copies in the U.S. Currently it is certified 5x Platinum for U.S sales. In Canada and New Zealand it was certified 2x Platinum and in the U.K it was certified Platinum. In Australia and Sweden it was certified Gold.

And the label is still saying that Staind owe em money.

The band for the album is Aaron Lewis on Lead vocals and Rhythm guitar, Mike Mushok is on Lead Guitar, Johnny April is on Bass and Jon Wysocki on Drums.

Open Your Eyes

It’s like a Jekyll and Hyde. The lush strummed lightly dirty electric guitar which is the verse riff and part of the intro is calm and beautiful.

The riff that kicks in with the natural harmonics and downtuned riffing is aggressive and ugly. Sonically they just don’t go but the jarring difference works this time around.

Pressure

Written by Staind and producer Josh Abraham.

It has metal like riffs and a verse that is very Grunge like.

Fade

One of their best songs.

The bass groove is great and the way the guitar decorates the spaces shows the skills of Mike Mushok.

And of course, Aaron Lewis is more than capable of crafting and carrying a vocal melody.

It’s Been Awhile

I suppose this was the song that got a lot of people to check out Staind and at 194.497 million streams on Spotify it’s remained in the conversation and the various playlists.

Change

A huge metal like riff starts it off before the clean tone verses kick in.

The Pre-Chorus or is it the Chorus, feels like it could come from a Bush song.

Can’t Believe

Not a favourite. It sounds like the vocals are screamed through a loudspeaker and it does nothing for me.

Epiphany

An Aaron Lewis cut, as the acoustic guitar is prominent with a haunting vocal melody.

Suffer

It’s a hard rock riff however the down tuning and phrasing makes it sound like it isn’t.

Warm Safe Place

It’s just down-tuned too much, that the riff sounds like a muddled mess.

For You

My favourite track on the album.

That opening riff is good enough to challenge some of the best metal riffs from the 80’s.

Outside

Lewis again brings his acoustic guitar and melodies to the table.

The song has 95.057 million streams on Spotify.

Waste

A simple drum groove starts it off, almost jazz blues like. A clean tone guitar plays the riff and Lewis delivers his emotive vocal melody.

In the Chorus, the distorted guitar dynamic kicks in before it moves back to the subdued clean tone verses.

Take It

Another killer riff to start it off.

If there is a problem with the album, it’s the down tuning. On some songs it is excessive, to the point that it sounds muddled. But when they get it right, the songs elevate themselves and the slower acoustic pieces add a lot of variety.

Regardless of political alliances, Aaron Lewis does have a great voice. There are YouTube videos in which he covers “Black” by Pearl Jam and “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger live.

Lyrically, he’s copped a lot of flak for his lyrics to the point that people have called em depressive, but then again, no one said that life is all sunshine, happiness and smiling selfies in exotic locations.

Press play on this and start with “For You”.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories

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

4 Years Ago (2017)

SYSTEMS

Everything we do today is controlled, stored and read by a machine.

Yes they’re making lists of people interested in this
And anyone who speaks their mind is labelled anarchist
“Are You Interested?” By Cog

There is no doubt that technology rules our lives.

For how long our data will be stored will never be known. What security our data has and who controls it, will never be known.

Up here in space
I’m looking down on you
My lasers trace
Everything you do
You think you’ve private lives
Think nothing of the kind
There is no true escape
I’m watching all the time
“Electric Eye” by Judas Priest

My Spotify.me algorithm tells me I must be a traveller.

Did it make that assertion based on the length of my playlists or is it taking into account my location/s when I’m listening to music.

My “Maps” app on the iPhone tells me if there is a traffic incident every Monday to Friday on my route to work. It tells me before I even leave home.

Should I care that an AI knows what time I leave home for work and what time I get to work.

At the end of the day I know,
That we work all our lives to pay for a cage they own
It ain’t no coincidence that the whole world is caught in an endless debt
“Problem Reaction Solution” by Cog

COPYRIGHT

It’s a mess.

Politicians introduce and pass Copyright bills and then refuse to pay the appropriate fees to use music in their ads.

And the Copyright industries, if they can’t get the politicians to pass new laws, they go to courts instead.

In the U.K, Copyright complaints take up most of the High Court’s time. The world is dealing with all forms of crime, but intellectual property crimes are more important.

1986/87

When you look back to the 1986/87 period, the artists who had their biggest hits and sales during that period, never replicated those numbers again.

Bon Jovi never topped “Slippery When Wet”. Europe never topped “The Final Countdown”. White Lion never topped “Pride”. Whitesnake never topped their “self-titled” album. Guns N Roses never topped “Appetite For Destruction”. INXS never topped “Kick”. Joe Satriani never topped “Surfing With The Alien”. Def Leppard never topped “Hysteria”. U2 never topped “The Joshua Tree”. Stryper never topped “To Hell With The Devil”.

RELEASE DAY FRIDAY

It was a good Release Day Friday playlist which included “This Is War” by Audrey Horne, “Beyond The Pale” by Machine Head, “Walk On Water” (Acoustic) by Thirty Seconds to Mars, “Miracle” by Story of the Year and “American Soul” by U2

You are rock and roll
You and I are rock and roll
You are rock and roll
I came here looking for American soul

NOV 9, 1985

The following albums came out;

  • Y&T – Down For The Count
  • Dokken – Under Lock and Key
  • Twisted Sister – Come Out And Play
  • W.A.S.P – The Last Command

In Australia, we had to wait. A geographical windowed release is the business name for it. And one of the main drivers of piracy was windowed releases. Fans of music in other parts of the world, wanted access to new music on the same day, U.S fans had access to it.

Check out my track by track breakdown.

8 Years Ago (2013)

HEAVY METAL

It doesn’t matter how many times the labels tried to kill it, mainstream it or commercialize it,

Heavy Metal has remained consistent from when it began. Whenever pop music becomes pretentious, heavy metal would rise up as an alternative answer.

Heavy Metal is the answer to all things corrupt. It is the soundtrack.

THE SLOW METAL HIT

The fan has the power as the fan could pick and choose what track they could listen too.

Alter Bridge released “One Day Remains” in 2004. “Open Your Eyes”, “Find the Real” and “Broken Wings” followed as promotional singles.

However it was the metal heavy “Metalingus” that the fans selected as the hits. On Spotify, “Metalingus” has 79 million streams and “In Loving Memory” has 25.37 million streams.

Metal and rock songs are always late bloomers. There is no formula as to why certain songs resonate more than others with fans.

In the end all artists need to do is create great music. The fans will latch onto it eventually.

PROTEST THE HERO

Every band wanted to be like Bon Jovi in 1987 and by 1988 every band wanted to be like Guns N Roses and by 1989 every band wanted to be sober like Motley Crue and by 1991 every band wanted to be Metallica and by 1992 every band started to incorporate grunge influences.

I started thinking about the above, after listening to the song “Underbite” from Protest The Hero and watching the hilarious puppet clip.

The song “Underbite” has lyrics like “An understanding between you and I that the ground that you stand on is somehow less than mine” and “Now you comprehend our complex relationship—consumer/consumed, You’re just some stupid kid and I’m a megalomaniac.”

The part in the film clip where the fan goes to purchase the merchandise is so spot on. I could relate as it happens to me all the time.

First, the merchandise stand rarely has the size that I want.

Then the prices are ridiculous. So as the clip shows, you end up forking out a decent amount of cash for a band t-shirt that doesn’t fit or is too large.

“Let’s not repackage the same old performance, Original content is so much more rewarding.”

I don’t agree with the viewpoints put out by some artists, that there is no need to create new music.

Listen to the song. There are some hard truths in there and Protest The Hero try to cover them all.

VOLITION

After the success of their debut album “Kezia” back in 2005, Protest The Hero was expected to go into a more commercially viable and poppy influence.

So what did the band do?

They released “Fortress” in 2008, which was less poppy and more technical. As lead singer Rody Walker put it, “a natural progression into further obscurity.”

My favourite song on the “Volition” album is “Mist.”

The song is basically talking about Newfoundland and Rody Walker’s love for it.

And “Skies” is what progressive music should be.

As an artist you have the power to make your own choices. Make them and live by them. Protest The Hero have. They are a special band. Support them.

And that’s another wrap for another week.

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