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ROCK AND ROLL! => All Them Other Guys => Topic started by: Zzzptm on September 10, 2025, 11:19:27 AM
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I honestly don't know how easy or hard this one will be. This isn't about cities or towns or provinces or states or countries, but about geological features. That's the box we need to tick with these tunes.
I'd say if the geological feature is in the title or mentioned prominently in the song, it's a go. Even if it's a euphemism or metaphor, taking it at face value gets rock about rocks, and that's what we need here.
So I'll start with "Lips in the Hills" by Blue Oyster Cult. Hills are geological, check! The song rocks hard, from the excellent Cultosaurus Erectus album, and it's about being so messed up in the head from cosmic horrors that one sees lips in the hills... or is one able to see them because the illusions are finally stripped away??? :smug:
Fun song, and it's rock about rocks.
Your turns await, gents! GO!
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Well I'm gonna kick this one off with this one because...well...someone will take it if I won't!
RAINBOW- THE MAN ON THE SILVER MOUNTAIN!
Mountain is a big rock!
Also this song kicks some major league ass!
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^ :smug:
I *knew* that one would be claimed early on! It's a great, great rocker! I was happy to go with obscure for my first pick.
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If I had started my list I think Man on a Silver Mountain may well have made it. However...
Pick #1
Hawkwind - The Hills Have Ears
From a more recent Hawkwind album 2012s Onward, one of their best in the recent years. This starts with an ambient section, has a heavy section, then another ambient section before ending with another heavy section.
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For my second one I'm gonna do a cover as I feel it is better than the original which also is a very good track.
This is NIGHTWISH preforming a version of the old GARY MOORE classic OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY!
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:headbanger: :headbanger: :headbanger:
Great early-era Ozzy solo stuff: Over the what? The MOUNTAIN! Job done, we got geology in the song! :smug:
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^^^
Duuuude! That was one my list!
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^^^
Duuuude! That was one my list!
Yeah this top 10 list is shaping up to be a cutthroat scavenger hunt. I got some oldies, country, and gospel with geological titles, but I'm going to try to keep my picks in the hard rock/metal area.
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Still not completed my list... but yes a good chance Over the Mountain might have made it!
Pick #2
Metal Church - Badlands
One of my favourite Metal Church songs.
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OH MAN that is a good one!
This is getting REALLY cutthroat now!
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I'm thinking I managed to compile the rest of my list so that you lot won't be snatching anything away...Hopefully.
At Number 3 I'm gonna go with a very famous rock along the river Rhine.
This rock has long to be thought of as a magical place and even that sirens might live there. Reason for that has been that it sits on a very treacherous part of the river where countless ships crashed and countless lives have been lost. Also there used to be some currents and a waterfall and some cavern in the rock that made a murmuring noise...thus the orignal name Lurein which translates to Murmur Rock...
Nowadays it's called LORELEY (or Lorelei in german) and this is BLACKMORE's NIGHT!
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OK, Blackmore's Night I do not have on my list, so that's a bit of relief. :)
My pick #3 is from Mos Generator and it showcases their potential at producing heavy rock that's quite close to early 70s Black Sabbath. Hard riffs with just a touch of prog and it doesn't hurt that singer/guitarist Tony Reed is incredibly talented.
Mos Generator - "Electric Mountain Majesty" (emphasis mine)
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Hey that's a pretty rockin' tune!
I have been wanting to check out Mos Generator for a while now but I think this one might push me to do so now.
There's a slight Black Label Society vibe here as well...maybe because of the vocals...the singer sounds surprisingly much like Zakk!
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There are times he sounds a LOT like Ozzy. His vocals on "Strangest Times" got me thinkin' about old Black Sabbath and made me check out what had become of the old Black Sabbath mailing list, and, well... hello, gents!
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Pick 3
Jello Biafra and NoMeansNo - Ride the Flume
Might be slightly tenuous but this is a song about riding down a mountain side on a log flume.
I also have a sneaking suspicion I've posted this before on another Top 10!
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^ I think you and Vyn have made selections from this album. Maybe not that one in particular, but I've seen that cover before.
I'm going to have to start on my oldies for this thread, as I've got precious few geological metal tunes. This one is a fun dance soul tune by Al "TNT" Braggs, "Earthquake". Earthquakes, of course, result from plate tectonics, and that's straight-up geology, right there!
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At #4 I think I'll throw in some DiscoDoom (as it was called at the time) from CATHEDRAL
This is about the MIDNIGHT MOUNTAIN!
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Disco Doom, cool. :)
My next one is an old old old old song first recorded in 1940 and was a big band staple. Fats Domino did a swamp-rock version in 1956 and first thing his manager said after coming home from a vacation was, "Don't release it! It'll ruin his career!"
But it had already been released and was scorching up the charts, hitting #2 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts. Say hello to the classic tune, "Blueberry Hill."
This track ages so very well. Fats Domino was an excellent performer and musician, and this is one of the reasons he was a top-selling artist in his day. Legend.
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Nose Pick #4!
The Stranglers - Norfolk Coast
Norfolk Coast was the last album with Paul Roberts on vocals. This live version has a 90 second intro which is a little irritating!
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For my number 5 we'll gonna start climbing up a mountain side in search of a sanctuary from a winter storm only to find ourselves in a danger much greater than any storm.
This is JON OLIVA's PAIN brining us the story of a WINTER HAVEN!
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The Hollywood Flames - "Strollin' on the Beach"
For the late 50's this one is about as fast and hard as they could get. OK, not much compared to Slayer, but it's a banger of a track and a beach is geological feature, so there ya go! :smug:
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Number 5
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Overground
Off the atmospheric debut album 1978s The Scream.
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No round without SAXON!
So at number 6 we have a song about the famous burial site in ancient Egypt. Which is a large geologial formation.
VALLEY OF THE KINGS this one!
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Valleys are geology! I hadn't thought of those! Well played, Charger!
Given the latest turn of events, I can submit "Ghost Valley Truckers" by Black Sky Giant:
Instrumental space rock track with a heavy beat to it.
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I need to catch up on those tracks, but it's quite late now so I'll do that tomorrow.
Pick number 6... yes valleys count!
Iced Earth - Valley Forge
Another from The Glorious Burden. I think this relates to the American Civil War... but I could be wrong!
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^Valley Forge would be from the War of American Independence.
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Indeed war against the brits that one.
I was thinking about that one but left it out as it is my least favourite track from that album.
For my number 7 I'm gonna go with a song from LUCIFER's brilliant debut album...the one that also features Cathedral's Gaz Jennings on guitar.
Here's a song that has both mountains and valleys.
WHITE MOUNTAIN
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Thinking about wide open expanses, I recall Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia"
It's a wonderful work of Russian Romanticism and is one of the pieces that helped me to *really* get into Classical music.
But that ain't rock and roll, Sally, so I need another entry for today...
So I go with "Black Sand Beach" by Yuzo Kayama and The Launchers
Incredible guitar work on this track, and I've sung its praises before, so I'll sing them again.
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Pick #7
The Shadows - Wonderful Land
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Pick 8
Rush - Carve Away the Stone
From the much maligned album Test for Echoes.
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OK fine, fer shure, fer shure, she's a...
VALLEY GIRL
Go Frank Zappa go!
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Oops forgot to post yesterday!
So for my number 8 I'm gonna go with a lady in a mystical lake. Most Lakes are formed on geological formations so I think it applies here.
Lots of stories about this Lake and the lady that inhabits it...but this one comes from RAINBOW.
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Journey from their first album, when they were a hard rock jam band...
Mystery Mountain
Some great guitar work here that speaks to their quality in their pre-pop years. I treasure those first three Journey albums for gems like this one.
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Pick number 9
Gary Moore and Phil Lynott - Out in the Fields
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Number 9 for me is a rocky metaphor.
This is DIO telling us you can't get BLOOD FROM A STONE!
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Iron Maiden - "Run to the Hills"
I held off on this until the end, wanted to see if anyone else got it first. :smug:
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^^^
Thought of it... instantly dismissed it!!
Final Pick... there were a couple of Sabbath tracks I thought about, but in the end went with...
Motorhead - Stone Dead Forever
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For my final pick I'm gonna go with a big one...
Both song wise and geologically speaking.
This GLENN TIPTON talking about the tallest and biggest mountain range on Earth the HIMALAYA!
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Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, obviously smitten with each other, singing about how geological features - as well as hydrological ones - will not be capable of maintaining distance between them.
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Had not heard that Tipton track about the Himalayas, awesome! I've not been participating in this go-round as I've been rather distracted, but certainly listen to the tunes I don't know.
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I still need to go through and catch up on a few I'm not familiar with.
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Had not heard that Tipton track about the Himalayas, awesome! I've not been participating in this go-round as I've been rather distracted, but certainly listen to the tunes I don't know.
Glad you enjoyed that...it's one of my favourites from the album. Great atmospheric tune. I still do wish that Glenn had chosen a proper singer for the album...I still kind of imagine Tim singing these tunes...man how awesome would that have been!