The Community
ROCK AND ROLL! => All Them Other Guys => Topic started by: KiloDeltaCharlie on April 23, 2020, 07:18:33 AM
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I'm doing this on Facebook as I got nominated by a friend, thought I would copy here as well...
Day 1
I have been given a task by a Facebook firend to choose ten albums that greatly influenced my taste in music. One album per day for ten consecutive days. No explanations, no reviews, just album covers.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/The_Jam_-_All_Mod_Cons.jpg)
I will comment on this album because it was the first or second album I ever bought (along with the album I post tomorrow, I forget which was actually the first!). These were my favourite band from 1978 until I discovered heavy metal in 1980!
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(https://img.discogs.com/G_hPJwXqCln90EHpZC3AaKLx_dk=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1345091-1413118161-6517.jpeg.jpg)
I got no issue with comments being made. Personal stories are great fun.
I had already bought all the Zeppelin studio albums and El Loco by ZZ Top, which was a disappointment. So this was the 10th album I had ever bought, a few months into 8th Grade, when I was 13.
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^^^
I'll probably comment in some way on each of them as they're posted.
Is that your Day 1 also Zs? I was hoping others might join in.
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^^^
I'll probably comment in some way on each of them as they're posted.
Is that your Day 1 also Zs? I was hoping others might join in.
That's my Day 1 LP, yes. I'll also say that, while getting all the Zep albums didn't result in me getting my mind blown by anything I hadn't already heard on the radio, that DP collection gave me 8 brain benders I'd never before heard. Speed King, Fireball, Child in Time, Stormbringer, Burn, Demon's Eye, Black Night, Strange Kind of Woman - all totally new to me and made me want to hunt down those albums!
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Several of the albums I will be posting predated me, but I grew up listening to them due to my parents playing the crap out of them from the time I was born. This is the first. The harmonizing and simple lyrical concepts resulted in songs that seemed effortless. It is difficult for me to imagine they were considered subversive rock and roll.
(https://img.discogs.com/Yv4F8gJJGEKHRB2aNkk41zc96EM=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2813917-1410007382-5537.jpeg.jpg)
Edited because I'm stupid.
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Kiss_alive_album_cover.jpg)
This was the first album I ever owned. Given to me for Christmas of 1978. Kiss first came to my attention after seeing a full page spread about them in one of my mums old women’s magazines earlier that year while having to cut out pictures of various things, living, material etc and paste them on a poster for a prep school assignment. But it wasn’t until I saw the video for Detroit Rock City later that year on a Saturday morning music video show that I remembered who they were from the magazine and quickly developed a fascination with them. I subsequently asked for a Kiss record for Christmas that year and Kiss Alive was the album I was given. Hence it started my love and obsession with Kiss and heavier music in general. However I remember being a little disappointed Detroit Rock City wasn’t actually on the album as it had been released in 75 and only had songs from the their first 3 albums.
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Hmm I did this on facebook last year sometime....I need to look for them there and post here..
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Day 2
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/WayneTWOTW.jpg)
The first or second album I bought back in '78 (see Day 1). I still listen to this version regularly. The cast were perfect for their roles and the whole album is musically impeccable and very atmospheric. Still the best version of War of the Worlds in any medium (well, except maybe the original book!).
Far superior to the New Generation re-recording from 2012.
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Day 2
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/IronMaiden_NumberOfBeast.jpg)
So by the time 1982 had rolled around I had become bored and disillusioned with Kiss. They’d released two very mediocre poppy albums in Dynasty and Unmasked back to back in 79, 80 and a concept album in 81 called Music From The Elder which I though was ok, but they were on the wane. I hadn’t really gravitated to any other bands or music in that time as nothing had really got me enthused, until I heard Run To The Hills played on radio. After hearing it several times I decided to look into the band and album at my local record store. On seeing the album cover my jaw hit the floor. Thought is was the most awesome artwork I had ever seen. I begged my mother to buy me the album and I would pay her back within a couple of weeks with my paper round money. After initially being very reluctant, she eventually gave in to my begging and so, my metal journey had officially begun. Still one of my favourite ever albums.
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Some very interesting and varied choices chaps, this excercise could be fascinating! ;)
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I was barely 10 years old when my parents bought a record player and therefore the first vinyls: they offered me a record of Indian pan flute and this one to my big brother. Thanks to them. I listened to the first track of mine and put it back in its pocket ... forever. My brother's had turned out well.
I just managed to find the cover on the net this morning !
(https://www.le-livre.fr/photos/R13/R130001803.jpg)
Some time later it was this. Apart from 1 or 2 tracks, the rest was very boring. And I was far too young for this style of music. The artwork fascinated me and I still have it.
(https://img.discogs.com/is-ubud9AdrfkkEvlqBDdoy5w8g=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-551300-1512911098-1078.jpeg.jpg)
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... and this the very first Heavy Metal album I bought when it was released :
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71avQFjAx-L._SY355_.jpg)
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... BUT, the first Hard Rock album I listened to was:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71xtLV1tO7L._SS500_.jpg)
A real shock, like a defloration. I was 12 .This is how I can describe what I felt when I heard for the first time Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be. Nothing was the same after. One of the strongest moments of my life. I asked myself the question: We have the right to make this kind of music ???? The artwork was so violent ! so subversive.
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... and this the very first Heavy Metal album I bought when it was released :
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71avQFjAx-L._SY355_.jpg)
Such a great introduction first metal album Tyr with the perfect opening track.
My first Saxon album was Power & The Glory in 83 which I loved, so subsequently worked my way back and discovered this gem along with Wheels of Steal and Denim and Leather. What a great 4 album run they had.
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/26/Led_Zeppelin_-_Led_Zeppelin_IV.jpg/220px-Led_Zeppelin_-_Led_Zeppelin_IV.jpg)
This was the first album that I bought with my own money. I was 6 at the time and this was my first taste of heavier music compared to what my parents would listen to. Though my mom was actually a fan of Zep and Deep Purple they mostly listened to Fleetwood Mac and that kind of more accessible rock.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f4/Ridetl.png/220px-Ridetl.png)
This was my second 'special' album and I believe I got it the year after it was released. This was something heavier and meaner compared to the Zep and some other Classic rock I was used to. This album turned me into a Metal Head, and a fan of Extreme music for the rest of my life.
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I've given this some more thought. Out of all of the music my folks used to play, Phil and Don stand out the most and I think are a good representation for the type of music that served as a foundation for everything else to come.
(https://img.discogs.com/n53054TRX8lbH4jAB7XJzezD1qc=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-4270009-1511300237-2122.jpeg.jpg)
One of my uncle's gave it to me, I was nine or ten. It was gritty, but smoothed-out at the same time. And it wasn't the Beatles. It probably served to form my enjoyment of jazz music later on.
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My first Saxon album was Power & The Glory in 83 which I loved, so subsequently worked my way back and discovered this gem along with Wheels of Steal and Denim and Leather. What a great 4 album run they had.
My thoughts exactly.
Power and The Glory is clearly my favorite. More modern than the previous 3 albums when I had felt a slight drop in form on Denim and Leather that the fantastic Live will quickly heal. Crusader will have the effect of a cold shower ... Time for changes ,Thrash was already ravaging on both sides of Atlantic . :rockon:
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Seeing some great stuff here. And Thel and I have a "first album I ever bought" in common with Zep's fourth.
But my number two... hmmm... the DP got me to start trying stuff that I hadn't heard on the radio, to go ahead and judge an album by its cover (and lineup) and to give it a go. So I bought a LOT of rock and metal, and it was good.
And then my brother started getting into jazz and was buying albums of his own and I thought, what the heck, I'll give one of them a spin:
(https://img.discogs.com/xAKfkAFU_1iD3VeiPcIOMZv7mvk=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-31381-1433259143-8522.jpeg.jpg)
And about 10 seconds into it, I was a fan of jazz-funk, which developed into a love of modern jazz, once I discovered Hancock's earlier work.
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My first Saxon album was Power & The Glory in 83 which I loved, so subsequently worked my way back and discovered this gem along with Wheels of Steal and Denim and Leather. What a great 4 album run they had.
My thoughts exactly.
Power and The Glory is clearly my favorite. More modern than the previous 3 albums when I had felt a slight drop in form on Denim and Leather that the fantastic Live will quickly heal. Crusader will have the effect of a cold shower ... Time for changes ,Thrash was already ravaging on both sides of Atlantic . :rockon:
Yep, Crusader was such a letdown, really lacks the energy and catchy songwriting of their previous albums and sadly for them their time had come and gone with thrash taking off and the pretty boy bands of glam which left Saxon in no mans land.
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Best song on Crusader was "Sailing to America". The rest were meh.
The best song on Denim and Leather was all of them. :yes:
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Day 3
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mgCqZeqxL.jpg)
If Kiss Alive set the path and The Number of the Beast started the journey, Speak of the Devil was when the journey became a life-long obsession. I remember it was late 82 as my sister and her then boyfriend had just returned home from Christmas shopping. The boyfriend was a huge Beatles freak but was also deep into the 70’s heavy bands Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple and Heep. He had purchased an album while out Christmas shopping and asked if he could use my turntable in the rumpus room to play it. I said sure and inquired about the album he had bought. He asked me if I’d heard of Ozzy Osbourne. I said no. As he was putting the album on the turntable he proceeded to lecture me about how Kiss were a gimmick band and that Ozzy Osbourne was the real deal. “He bites bats heads off on stage” he proclaimed “Not like fake blood Kiss uses” He then handed me the album just as the opening riff to Symptom of the Universe kicked in and my jaw literally hit the floor. Staring at this crazy looking Ozzy guy on the front cover with fangs, mouth wide open full of chunky blood and a massive flaming dragon head tattoo on his chest while hearing the heaviest riff I’d ever heard playing and thinking about him biting bats heads off had me in a trance like state. By the time the song had finished and Ozzy yelled in guttural voice that the madman was back, I was completely hooked in. The boyfriend ended up leaving me the album to record to tape, and from that moment on, Ozzy, Sabbath and heavy metal became a life-long obsession.
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Day 3
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/eb/Stranglers_-_Rattus_Norvegicus_album_cover.jpg)
The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus.
Their debut album from 1977 (although I didn't discover it until late 78 or early 79). Never particularly 'punk', more pub-rock maybe, the album that gave us Peaches, (Get A) Grip (On Yourself), Sometimes, Princess of the Street and Hangin' Around. They never bettered this album and in later years they became a little experimental, which is always going to have mixed results.
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Day 4
There's more 70s albums to come but I thought I would jump forward to the most recent album in my list. 2004s The Glorious Burden by power metal band Iced Earth.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/TheGloriousBurden.jpg)
A concept album of sorts the songs cover topics of conflict over the centuries from Atilla, Waterloo, American Independance and World War I among others. The album culminates with the 32 minute hard rock / orchestral cross over Gettysburg 1863 trilogy one of the finest peices of music ever recorded.
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Day 4
(https://www.discrepancy-records.com.au/assets/full/WA-35415008.jpg?1557934970)
By mid 83 my record collection was expanding at a rapid rate. I’d graduated from delivering the afternoon newspaper on my pushbike earning $9 a week to selling papers after school at the local drivethru bottle shop which also entailed grabbing a bunch of papers every half hour and taking a walk around the pub next door selling papers to the drinking patrons inside which was earning me $25-$30 a week with tips. That was quite a lot of cash for a 11-12yo back then which allowed me to fund my new obsession. I was buying 1 sometimes 2 albums a week and one of those albums was British Steel which I bought on the album artwork alone which you did a lot back then. If they had a cool sounding name, logo and an awesome cover you’d just buy it without hearing it and on first listen it either hooked you in and was a keeper or it didn’t and was put on the back-burner for another time.
British Steel was not only a keeper but still one of my all time favourite albums. Have always loved the sound of this album, especially the guitars, they are up front and right in your face and the drums are super punchy and the overall mix with Ian’s Bass is spot on. The playing and production is stripped back and tight and all the songs are diverse with a good balance of Rob’s higher and lower register. The two bookends are my favourite tracks but I pretty much love every track on the album. Just a great classic heavy metal album.
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/87/Misfits_-_Misfits_%28Collection_I%29_cover.jpg/220px-Misfits_-_Misfits_%28Collection_I%29_cover.jpg)
I bought this at a pawn shop that I practically lived at when I was just starting high school. This was unlike anything I had heard before excluding the covers that Metallica did on the 5.98 E.P. The production was horrible on most of the songs but that made them more memorable somehow.
The lyrics had a horror movies/books influenced aspect to them. There was something about the energy in every song and Danzig's Elvis influenced delivery that made them something truly unique.
It did lead to me exploring the Punk scene, and there are some bands that I still listen to today but none of them ever had the impact that the Misfits had on me.
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Day 3
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mgCqZeqxL.jpg)
If Kiss Alive set the path and The Number of the Beast started the journey, Speak of the Devil was when the journey became a life-long obsession. I remember it was late 82 as my sister and her then boyfriend had just returned home from Christmas shopping. The boyfriend was a huge Beatles freak but was also deep into the 70’s heavy bands Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple and Heep. He had purchased an album while out Christmas shopping and asked if he could use my turntable in the rumpus room to play it. I said sure and inquired about the album he had bought. He asked me if I’d heard of Ozzy Osbourne. I said no. As he was putting the album on the turntable he proceeded to lecture me about how Kiss were a gimmick band and that Ozzy Osbourne was the real deal. “He bites bats heads off on stage” he proclaimed “Not like fake blood Kiss uses” He then handed me the album just as the opening riff to Symptom of the Universe kicked in and my jaw literally hit the floor. Staring at this crazy looking Ozzy guy on the front cover with fangs, mouth wide open full of chunky blood and a massive flaming dragon head tattoo on his chest while hearing the heaviest riff I’d ever heard playing and thinking about him biting bats heads off had me in a trance like state. By the time the song had finished and Ozzy yelled in guttural voice that the madman was back, I was completely hooked in. The boyfriend ended up leaving me the album to record to tape, and from that moment on, Ozzy, Sabbath and heavy metal became a life-long obsession.
December 1982: Locked in a listening room with my brother, we were going to discover and enter the world of Black Sabbath without knowing it yet ... It was at a record store in our city of birth.
I was hooked by this cover art. Everything smelled of sulfur: title, Steve Joule's graphics, the photo of Ozzy framed by this Gothic form, all this surrounding black and once again all this mysterious symbolism around the titles tracks and pic on the back cover. The bat on the inner sleeves added a little more unhealthy vibrations. We were not yet introduced to the Black Sabbath of the 70s and ignore the names of the authors of the songs alongside that of Ozzy: Iommi, Butler, Ward? Who are they ? The delay will quickly catch up then.
The first listening was crucial. The sound of the public, this incredible riff of Symptoms. And this voice so particular, unique and finally these screams intended for the public. At the time, we listened to FULL side A of the first volume. Unthinkable today.uUnforgettable moment.
A must .
The latest recent revelations on the veracity of the "Live" side of this album will never alter the pleasure I still have playing Speak Of The Devil and still don't prevent me from thinking that SOTD is better than Live Evil.
Great choice Jack .
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Day 4
(https://www.discrepancy-records.com.au/assets/full/WA-35415008.jpg?1557934970)
By mid 83 my record collection was expanding at a rapid rate. I’d graduated from delivering the afternoon newspaper on my pushbike earning $9 a week to selling papers after school at the local drivethru bottle shop which also entailed grabbing a bunch of papers every half hour and taking a walk around the pub next door selling papers to the drinking patrons inside which was earning me $25-$30 a week with tips. That was quite a lot of cash for a 11-12yo back then which allowed me to fund my new obsession. I was buying 1 sometimes 2 albums a week and one of those albums was British Steel which I bought on the album artwork alone which you did a lot back then. If they had a cool sounding name, logo and an awesome cover you’d just buy it without hearing it and on first listen it either hooked you in and was a keeper or it didn’t and was put on the back-burner for another time.
British Steel was not only a keeper but still one of my all time favourite albums. Have always loved the sound of this album, especially the guitars, they are up front and right in your face and the drums are super punchy and the overall mix with Ian’s Bass is spot on. The playing and production is stripped back and tight and all the songs are diverse with a good balance of Rob’s higher and lower register. The two bookends are my favourite tracks but I pretty much love every track on the album. Just a great classic heavy metal album.
I can remember when I first got into my Judas Priest phase, something that I have frankly never gotten out of! Well this album did not grab me like say Screaming For Vengeance. Later on I did grow to love it like most Priest but I hold it below some of their other albums.
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Ive written about this elsewhere. I was drawn in by the song Paranoid, and this album started me down the path of -heavy-. To this day, if my family is together for some occasion and music is brought up, my dad will say "if it isn't Ironman he probably doesn't know what it is." LOL
(https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5c003746ab7f225be6a30d6a/1:1/w_320/black%20sabbath_paranoid.jpg)
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3b/Black_Sabbath_SbS.jpg/220px-Black_Sabbath_SbS.jpg)
I bought this sometime a little later at the same pawn shop. This totally changed my mind about music in general. This was something that dripped venom but also exceptionalism. It was astounding music and it touched me somewhere in the feels :rockon:
The album is one of the greatest of all Rock and Metal. An incredible achievement in popular music. I knew that I would always be a Sabbath fan and a Metal Head for life after hearing it.
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Ive written about this elsewhere. I was drawn in by the song Paranoid, and this album started me down the path of -heavy-. To this day, if my family is together for some occasion and music is brought up, my dad will say "if it isn't Ironman he probably doesn't know what it is." LOL
(https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5c003746ab7f225be6a30d6a/1:1/w_320/black%20sabbath_paranoid.jpg)
The second Sabbath album I heard!! Damn I can remember hearing Hand Of Doom for the first time!! What a unique record!!
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Love reading stories like yours Tyr. Very relatable. Your SOTD story was very eloquently put too btw. A lot of the early purchased albums and band discoveries hold stories that are so profound and vivid in the mind. The early/mid 80’s was such an exciting time for metal. New bands and new sounds were breaking out everywhere and older classic bands continued to raise the bar.
I’ve met and read of so many people that were introduced to Sabbath and Ozzy solo via Speak of the Devil...Such an impactful album.
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I need to do my day 3 and then my day 4, sorry I missed yesterday!
Day 3...
High school is behind me and I'm at college for my first year. Dorm rooms are tiny things: no LPs! It's tapes all the way, cassettes everywhere. Don't leave them in your car or they'll get stolen! Careful where you stack them so they don't fall behind the cabinet! Big, zippered cases of cassettes so that they're "portable".
I had been there a few weeks and met a young lady who would become my wife. Started dating her the Friday before Labor Day 1986, haven't been apart since. We would be married a year later, both of us only 19, but that's another story.
So, it's a week or two after we started dating and we're talking about music. We both had similar tastes, so now we're seeing how all of them measure up. She mentions Metallica and I'm not so sure if I'm ready to go "Very Metal". Sure, I had Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, all of the 70s stuff I could gather with lawnmowing money and used record stores over five years. But this new stuff? I wasn't so sure.
So she put the tape on and got to the point. It was Master of Puppets. We all know how it opens up. "Battery" is make-or-break. If you don't' like that tune, there's no point in going forward. If you like it, well, the rest of the tape beckons.
(https://img.discogs.com/DU2jcfs2NIEGONHxdzEvbqbXiCw=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1942494-1457195531-9769.jpeg.jpg)
And beckon it did.
From that moment, thrash was on the table for my musical tastes.
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Day 4...
I'm now 27, the year is 1995. I am a teacher now and I have 2 children, one born just a few months before. I'm young and poor, but I know how to hustle. Since I'm a teacher, I have access to the Half-Price Books donations warehouse. I can go there and get books for my students for free. They also have vinyl there that never moved in the stores, so I can pick that up, as well - for free.
The books I put into a library in my class. I ask that the students return the books and talk about them with me for extra credit and so the books can be shared with other students. To stock the library, I load it up with Stephen King - everyone seems to want to read that! As an English teacher, I'm happy with anything that's read. But I don't give a lot of points for the King books. I want them to hit classic titles, which I also have plenty of. Some of the classics I've read before, some I picked up because they were free and I heard they were good.
What was wild was how some books in those dusty classics were seized upon by my students and I had to wait my turn to get a chance to read! Hesse's Siddharta was one of those titles I remember vividly as having been recommended to me multiple times by my students. The extra credit didn't matter, we were all taking turns reading it. Camus' The Stranger was another of those rapidly-rotated books that got touted to me.
At the same time, I had a turntable in my classroom and that's where the free vinyl paid its first visit. Lots of the free records were classical music. I could play that a little at a time, or everyone would pass out in relaxation. But the kids like the oldies - they were almost all Hispanic, and oldies rock was and still is an integral part of classic car culture that goes with low riding and Saturday mornings. So I played a lot of old R&B and Blues, and there was plenty of that in the free pile. Lots of greatest hits and all that.
And then there were the albums I picked up for free just because I was curious. With no financial cost, the only thing I would spend would be my time. Some of the records I picked up were battered, but still listenable, pop albums from the 70s that due to sheer volume were always cheap as chips - especially best of compilations. Others had intriguing covers and that made me want to give them a go. I picked up a lot of fusion rock that way, and I was glad that it was free. :)
But one album held a different sort of "give it a go" promise. It was a John McLaughlin album, and I'd read about how he was this awesome guitarist that went spiritual and all acoustic. This was an acoustic performance with a trio of Indian instrumentalists and the title was Shakti, meaning "power" in Hindi.
(https://img.discogs.com/ljgSmYC7c8A9B0_Ralc-uB7viPY=/fit-in/600x598/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2248564-1330052411.jpeg.jpg)
It was a live album, opening to sounds of applause and last-minute tuning. John thanked the audience for the warm welcome, and then...
... it was like liquid sunshine. Immediately, I felt an emotional draw from the music and was swept along in its currents. Now, I had always enjoyed George Harrison's dabblings in Indian music, but this was much more than that. This was my first musical experience from beyond the USA, Canada, and Western Europe. Although there was still a connection to the West through McLaughlin, it was certainly my first real taste of what world music had to offer. And I didn't want it to be just world music all lumped together in a pile, either. I wanted to get the taste of the different regions, to know something of each part of the world and what it had to share with me. Because of this album, my heart was opened up and ready to receive the guqin, koto, erhu, oud, kanun; I was prepped for Bollywood, High Life, Cantopop, Tejano, Merengue, Qawwali, and Rai.
Every time I give this album a thought or a play, I also give thanks.
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I'm really enjoying this thread. I might have to seek out a few albums!
This thread is the one I orginally thought of posting for my "Obligation", I think it works better like this!
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Okay finally managed to dig up the album choices I made two years ago when this challenge hit my facebook...granted it was called favourite albums at the time but the difference is minimal anyways.
So Day 1 for me:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fi/thumb/8/84/Holy_diver.jpg/260px-Holy_diver.jpg)
This was my very first DIO album. I knew Ronnie from Sabbath at the time and absolutely adored his vocals and lyrics and his delivery already so I thought I knew what I was in for, but honestly no...I had no idea just how amazing this album really was.
And now looking back for more than 20 years of listening to this one...it still rocks my socks just as hard as it did back then.
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Day 5
Back to the 1970s. This will be no surprise to some of you: 2112 by Canadian prog-rockers Rush.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Rush_2112.jpg)
Rush's 4th album, it came out in 1976. I was vaguely aware of Rush (now probably my 2nd favourite band) when a college friend played this album to me in around 1983. The 20 minute title track was exactly what my life had been missing! But this is no 1-track wonder as the 5 songs on side two are more than just filler and A Passage to Bangkok is one of the best 3½-minutes songs ever.
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Day 5
(https://img.discogs.com/ogX_t5D8Q8r58kECtembLBGOAnE=/fit-in/600x594/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-501210-1468698525-7509.jpeg.jpg)
I’m forever grateful I discovered Dio solo before Dio Sabbath. It made me love and appreciate the great man without forming a strong bias towards either era’s of Sabbath. Holy Diver was another album I bought solely on album cover art. Dio’s behemoth mascot Murray lurking from behind jagged mountains, whipping a long chain and ensnaring a helpless Priest struggling to keep his head above water was a huge attention grabber amongst the other albums in the metal section of the record store.
And of course the music backed up the awesomeness of the cover. Holy Diver was a keeper from the start. First off, Ronnie’s singing was an obvious standout, he could sing with a growl-tinged vocal to an all out powerful operatic vocal which was perfectly showcased on songs like Stand Up and Shout, Rainbow in the Dark and the phenomenal Don’t Talk To Strangers, the former being one of the great anthemic album openers ever. The other standout was Vivian Campbell’s guitar playing, his riffs were razor sharp & heavy, his solos were fast and fiery but very melodic and memorable which made him an instant guitar god in my world. Then you throw in Vinny’s powerful drumming and killer fills and old Rainbow band mate Jimmy Bain’s tasty bass lines and it made for one hell of a lineup and an amazing debut heavy metal album. The title track is an obvious stand out but they’re all standout songs to me with no mediocre tracks at all. It’s such a well crafted album with diverse songs ranging from dynamic hard rock to all out aggressive heavy metal. The only thing I didn’t like was the keyboards in Rainbow in the Dark...Man I wish it didn’t have them...
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AC/DC will forever be my portal giving access to the so subversive heavy music. My brother and I therefore decided to collect all the albums (the European ones, because we didn't know that there were the first Australian versions). Although Powerage is my favorite, these are the first two albums I quickly acquired :
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51lcSGjzc0L.jpg)(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81WPWx+iDNL._SS500_.jpg)
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/John_Coltrane_-_Blue_Train.jpg/220px-John_Coltrane_-_Blue_Train.jpg)
This was my first Jazz album. I was blown away by the music I was hearing and I quickly bought Love Supreme after getting this album. It started a life long relationship with Jazz and Coltrane is still my fav of that incredible genre.
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(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/rs-144260-a2b29e06643f6eead54bbfe690e6f24034bfe90b.jpg)
I bought this because I thought it had Honky Tonk Women on it. Not knowing the exact name of that song at the time, but having heard it on the radio and thought it was cool.
I was disappointed, and after listening to the album I was left with a hollow feeling. I didn't understand why. So I listened to it some more. I talked to some guys who were older about the record, and they all sang its praises. I was intrigued by it, but couldn't put my finger on where that hollowness came from.
I was too young to understand that part of it.
It wasn't until I matured some that it made sense. Whereas Black Sabbath always had hope buried in their message, Let it Bleed was an expression of bleakness. A picture of life of resigned hopelessness at 33 and a third rpm. Very powerful and well done, it served to inform what would become my musical obsession for the next several years.
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.. and Coltrane is still my fav of that incredible genre.
Love Jazz, and Blue Train is rock solid.
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DAY 2
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/611Wko53U6L._SX355_.jpg)
My very first IRON MAIDEN album. I had heard few songs in both wav and midi (yes I am THAT old) from a school buddy back in 1997 from Maiden and loved them. The very first track I ever heard was the instrumental Losfer Words (big 'orra) in midi and loved it. Then I went to look for a Maiden album in the local second hand record store and the only album they had was this one. It wasn't in a great shape had some scratches on it and the booklet was torn so I think I paid like 10mk (about 2€ in current money)...Went home and put it on and I was totally blown away. I remember a track or two that didn't play right so the very next week I remember travelling to the city and went to a record store to buy a new version.
This still remains my second favourite Maiden (powerslave is #1 by a slight margin) album even after all these years. I think the albums that first introduce you to a band always remain special...and that certainly has been the case with The X Factor. The darker themes, the amazing lyrics, the complex compositions, Blazes strong vocals...it's got it all...not to mention the brutal artwork. This was probably the most brutal artwork I had seen...and still remains one of the most graphic ones that I own...and I love it.
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My day 5...
The year is 1997, and I'm working a long-term contract out in California. I had left teaching 2 years before and was now in IT. I was flying out on Monday and flying home on Friday every week and it was making me go nuts.
So a project manager suggested I find some diversions while I was out in California. He asked what do I like. I replied, "Music."
He said, "OK, go buy some CDs. Try something new. Expense them as entertainment, have some fun."
The next several weeks were a period of significant album acquisition for me... :smug:
But in that "something new" department was a great CD that put me on the trail of funk and soul music ever after.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/i-iXLdGIP3c/hqdefault.jpg)
I bought it for "For the Love of Money", but I stayed with it for "992 Arguments" and "Backstabbers". In truth, I loved every song. I've since learned that not every group was as tight as the O'Jays, and that they set a very high standard for performance and dynamism. They're a great place to start, should you want to explore the classic funk/soul sounds of the 70s.
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Day 6
One of the most consistant bands over the last 40-odd years, today I'm going with The Black Album by punk / goth pioneers The Damned.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Thedamnedblackalbum.jpg)
Not their best album (but close) it was this album which really made The Damned one of my top 5 favourite acts. This is the album where they did less punk and more gothic with songs like Twisted Nerve, the 17 minute Curtain Call, 13th Floor Vendetta and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Originally released in 1980 as a double album with side 3 being Curtain Call and side 4 being a bunch of live tracks.
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Day 6
(https://img.discogs.com/Nnv2eVQZwZChudnNtjflw2A0orU=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-795522-1417351341-1573.jpeg.jpg)
Restless And Wild was an unexpected discovery for me. I knew nothing about Accept or had I remembered seeing any of their records in the stores I frequented. It was nearing the end of my first year in high school in 1983. None of my friends or anyone I knew was into metal. Until I ran into an old mate I’d went to primary school with. We had went our seperate ways after primary school as he attended a different high school to me. Anyway, we got chatting and we quickly ascertained that in the nearly 12 months we hadn’t seen each other we’d both acquired a newfound love for the same sort of music. I reeled off the bands to him I was into and he reeled off the bands he was into. Some of the bands he mentioned though I had never heard of. They were Venom, Accept, Exciter, Raven and Mercyful Fate. We ended up hanging out and checking out each other’s record collection. The album that took my particular attention from his collection was Accept’s Restless and Wild, he had mentioned they were his favourite band and I was taken by the cover which featured two white Gibson Flying V’s standing up crossed over each other at the top of their necks and fully ablaze.
He put the record on and a bewilderment came over me, it was some old German folk song or something playing and after about 10 seconds I was just about to say “what the fuck is this shit!? thinking he was taking the piss! Then suddenly it sounded like the needle on the turntable was fucked and sliding across the record, but then corrected itself and an almighty scream was let out and a fast and fearsome riff exploded out of the speakers and was then joined by this machine gun like double bass drumming. To say it absolutely floored me is an understatement. It was the fastest and heaviest thing I had ever heard and instantly I had to have it. I stayed and listened to the rest of the record and the whole thing just blew me away. It was packed with so many killer riffs and amazing guitar solo’s. I ended up picking the vinyl a month or so later but in the meantime I gave him a couple of blank 90minute tapes to record it for me which you could fit two full albums on each tape. Heavy Metal Maniac, Black Metal, and Melissa were the other albums he taped for me. Inturn I taped some albums for him that he didn’t have.
He also told me about a couple of awesome dedicated Heavy Metal shops in the heart of the city that stocked a lot of stuff you couldn’t find in the chain stores, which turned out to be the most awesome and valuable bit of information I ever received in my teenage years. Those two shops were like heavy metal mecca to me with many hours of my weekends dedicated there and lots of money dropped.
Accept have been in my top half a dozen bands ever since, but what discovering them also did was make me realise there was also awesome metal from other countries outside of the UK and the US.
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^^^
I don't mind Accept, I've got an early compilation, which had a good mix of songs. Yes some were a little cheesey but most of it was strong, interesting, heavy and very 80s! ;)
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^^^
I don't mind Accept, I've got an early compilation, which had a good mix of songs. Yes some were a little cheesey but most of it was strong, interesting, heavy and very 80s! ;)
Yeah they were one on the heavier traditional metal bands of the 80’s. They just had a sound and style that just made me really gravitate to them as a kid and they've stuck with me ever since. I’ve never stopped being a fan.
Was that compilation ”Hungry Years”?
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^^^
I don't mind Accept, I've got an early compilation, which had a good mix of songs. Yes some were a little cheesey but most of it was strong, interesting, heavy and very 80s! ;)
Was that compilation %u201DHungry Years%u201D?
No, and I'm not sure it is an "official" compilation, I can't find it in their wiki discography, and my copy has a big fat Import label on it. It's called A Compilation of the Best of Balls to the Wall / Restless & Wild published in 1986 on CBSs Portrait subsidiary.
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^^^
I don't mind Accept, I've got an early compilation, which had a good mix of songs. Yes some were a little cheesey but most of it was strong, interesting, heavy and very 80s! ;)
Was that compilation %u201DHungry Years%u201D?
No, and I'm not sure it is an "official" compilation, I can't find it in their wiki discography, and my copy has a big fat Import label on it. It's called A Compilation of the Best of Balls to the Wall / Restless & Wild published in 1986 on CBSs Portrait subsidiary.
Yep I’m aware of that one. It was released on Portrait which was a subsidery of CBS which handled their US/CAN/UK distribution. Polydor was their German label after they parted with Brain.
It’s one of those unofficial official releases. In other words it wasn’t band sanctioned.
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Day 6
The year in my life is now 1998 and I'm done with the consulting gig and am working as an everyday IT guy for a medium-size company. There's plenty of time to shoot the breeze in our office area and we talk music every now and again. There's so much downtime, I start a Deep Purple mailing list which I run for about 3 years. It's also when I first was active on the Black Sabbath mailing list.
Well, during that down time, waiting for stuff to break so I can fix it, I have a lot of time to listen to my music at a reasonable volume. I'm also 30, and I'm finding that my body doesn't bend and flex as easily as it used to. Around that time, there was a really big Steely Dan fan working in IT with me and he made some excellent points about how all the best musicians seem to be playing on SD records, and they're always on point. At the same time, I'm playing Purpendicular a lot and starting to appreciated the slower-tempo tracks, especially "The Aviator." And then, it hits me. This is music for when your knees hurt. You're not young anymore, age is teaching you some lessons, and it's time to shift around in life. You can still enjoy things, just don't be reckless.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/66/Purpendicular_-_Deep_Purple.jpg/220px-Purpendicular_-_Deep_Purple.jpg) (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Steely_Dan_-_Gaucho.jpg)
I honestly can't say which of the two had a bigger impact at the time, so they each share half a credit at that time period. Both were ones that I was familiar with but which I had rediscovered. DP's Come Taste the Band was another rediscovery, but that wasn't an album that opened up a new chapter in my life. These albums were that opening up, and my tastes brought in work that was lighter and easier and subtler in its stylings and applications. Once I'd accepted and appreciated that change in my life, I could go back to my collection and put on songs that were once slow and dragging to my teenage ears that were now ready to be listened to as thoughtful and well-crafted. It wasn't all or nothing for me anymore.
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Day 3
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Cryptic_writings_cover.jpg)
It seems that this pretty much becomes my "first albums" list but like I said before it is quite often that the first album you listen to from a band leaves an everlasting impression.
My distant cousin brought this album to me back in 1998 I think...might have been late 97 too. We used to listen to a lot of music together back in the day and we had similar tastes it we swapped albums quite a bit. Anyways we were playing Carmageddon together one day and it was his turn to bring the music and he brought this. I had never even heard of the band Megadeth at that time but he had already (eventhough he was a year younger than me) been a fan of their for some time. He said this was the best he'd heard them yet and told me to put it on. And I did and I gotta say I was hooked from the first drum beats of Trust! This remained our Carmageddon driving soundtrack for quite a while back then.
I made a copy of it for myself but it didn't take me long to buy my own album. And it was my first bought Megadeth album and it still remains my absolute favourite album from them...I know lot of people say Rust In Peace but for me this one holds a special place.
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Haven't listened to Cryptic Writings in a long time. Going to give it a whirl, thanks Charger!
Some miscreant brought this to a Bicentennial party and played it. I was in love:
(https://img.discogs.com/qMx2hQc_g2AZO1M11kjSEayYXqM=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-890352-1420036176-9038.jpeg.jpg)
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Bicentennial party... that reminded me of the Super Bowl X halftime show...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ScWjvoc-Q
Go to 3:01, that song STILL pops in my head from time to time...
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Day 7
(https://img.discogs.com/xA3qXkPnfpQf_hleAHklwaFCIwU=/fit-in/571x572/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1163351-1466074944-7414.jpeg.jpg)
(https://img.discogs.com/DaZEVgPovnmdCSkZjsleparh5ck=/fit-in/600x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1163351-1418026814-6231.jpeg.jpg)
By the time 83 had turned into 84 I was fully immersed into metal, I’d built my record collection substantially. Ozzy, Maiden, Sabbath & Priest had released new albums since my initial gateway albums and I was quickly filling the gaps in their back catalogues as well as made new discoveries in Saxon, Dio, Accept, Motörhead, Exciter, Venom, Raven and others.
My younger brother had taken notice of my newfound passion and what I was listening to and asked me if I had any Mötley Crüe or heard of them. He said his mate’s sister was into them and that apparently they hold their guitar picks in such a way that they do the evil horns while they’re playing(lol) which turned out to be a fallacy but at the time had me really intrigued and on a mission to check them out next time I was at the record store. When that next time came the only album I could find was Shout At The Devil which had been released a few months prior. The album was an attention grabber straight off. An all mat black cover with a shiny embossed black pentagram with Mötley Crüe emblazoned in red at the top and Shout At The Devil in red at the bottom. I took the album out of the clear plastic sleeve while in the store and opened the gatefold. What confronted me I was not expecting. Four leather and spiked clad dudes in goth glam make up, each with a seperate pose taking up the whole inside gatefold. They looked like something out of Mad Max 2(which was my favourite movie at the time) or a more eviler version of Kiss. I bought the album and excitedly rushed home to play it.
From the moment the eerie synth and sermon like narration started that transitioned into the pounding drums and slow grinding heavy riff of the opening title track which featured a repeated gang vocal of “Shout” “Shout”, I was fully enthralled. The rest of the album turned out to be an awesome & exciting listen with lots of catchy hooks, kick ass heavy riffs and big gang vocal choruses which are featured throughout the album. The whole recording has a dark and raw feel to it with a good variation of songs ranging from bludgeoning heavy rockers in “Bastard” and “Red Hot” to some mid paced heavy drivers in “Looks That Kill” and “Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid”, and a couple of slower numbers in “Too Young Too Fall In Love” and “Danger”
Shout At The Devil turned out to be Mötley’s heaviest and best album of their career as they would change up their sound and image for future releases in search for the mainstream dollar. But it remains one of my favourite musical discoveries as a kid. It was also gateway album to some other bands from LA in Ratt, Dokken and one of my all time favourite bands in W.A.S.P. as well as started a new craze for me in buying shirts, posters and collecting metal magazines as Mötley Crüe had such an aura and eye-catching image about them during that SATD era it made me crave more than just the albums.
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Day 7
Beer & Sex & Chips & Gravy by crude, satirical drunks The Macc Lads.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/Macclads_black.jpg)
This came out in 1985, and I first heard a couple of songs off a compilation album a friend had not long after. The songs are not diverse basically dealing with alcohol, their sexual prowess and Gordon's takeaway. The songs are simple but lyrically witty and well performed. Their subsequent albums are equally as fun and filthy!
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^^I have not even heard of that band. You’ve always had a strong leaning to Punk it seems. Were you into punk first then metal drifted in or the other way around? Or maybe both genres just blended in at the same time? I loved the Sex Pistols but were never able to get into other punk bands for some reason unless they were crossover.
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^^I have not even heard of that band. You’ve always had a strong leaning to Punk it seems. Were you into punk first then metal drifted in or the other way around? Or maybe both genres just blended in at the same time? I loved the Sex Pistols but were never able to get into other punk bands for some reason unless they were crossover.
Initially I enjoyed the early-mid 70s Glam Rock of groups like Slade, Sweet and T-Rex, then Queen were my favourites from about 1975-78-ish. I picked up on punk a little late, it came to the forefront in 77 but I didn't really get into it until about a year later, but even then it was the more musically competent punk acts like The Jam, The Boomtown Rats, The Stranglers, The Damned and, yes The Sex Pistols.
About 1978 I also started to see heavy metal bands on Top of the Pops and remember seeing Judas Priest and Motorhead and enjoying what I heard. But it really wasn't until 1980 that my love for rock took off, that year saw some very important releases including Back In Black and Heaven & Hell. And while I still enjoyed the punk / new wave and subsequently indie rock it was now Hard Rock/Metal that I loved the most.
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Thought I had already posted this, but I must have been dreaming.
Anyway, I had heard some Black Flag but never really got into it. Then Henry joined the fold and this record changed my whole outlook:
(https://img.discogs.com/yIABJBUmRBHtZijMQBo4IlKDVyE=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-383099-1378778949-1075.jpeg.jpg)
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Day 4
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/Judaspainkiller.JPG)
Well look and behold...the first album on my list that was NOT my intruction album to the band in question.
This was in fact my third or fourth (can't be quite sure as I bought this and Defenders very close to eachother back in the early 2000s) Priest album. They had already sucked me in with Demolition, and British Steel...still love both of those albums as well but I think the fierceness of the Painkiller was what truly sold me to the band. This is the fastest album from Priest and it is a solid heavy metal masterpiece. Actually this is probably as close to thrash metal Priest ever got. The title track alone still gives me chills. Rob never was able to fully pull it off live but Tim did a damn good job and even he didn't fully pull it off. I can only imagine how many takes Rob needed to finish the track in the studio but the end result it just amazing.
Honestly though same goes for pretty much the full album...not a single weak track. Out of all the Priest studio albums this is the one that still gets the most rotations. Just a killer album.
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^^^
I might have mentioned this before... but that is also my favourite Judas Priest album also.
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Good taste you have sir! :)
Painkiller is not just a great priest album it's a great album...period. One of my all time favourites.
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Day 7
I was in IT for seven years and returned to teaching in 2002, where I'd be for the next 11 years. In my first year back, I started a message board for my classes, where we could continue class discussions online. Fun times.
Of course, we would have a non-classwork area and that's where we talked about likes and dislikes and the price of tea in China and stuff and things like that. There was a thread on music and someone mentioned electronica. I said I wasn't a fan, but then later admitted that I really hadn't heard all that much. One of my students took it upon himself to outline some of the different subgenres and what they were all about.
Remembering how I owed a debt of gratitude to other students of mine for turning me on to Camus and Hesse, I decided to take the young fellow seriously and to give electronica another try. I listened to a few tracks of dubstep and wasn't at all impressed. There was some other poppy, dancy-dance stuff that I didn't like, either. That was day one of my voyage into electronica.
Day two, we're in class, and I have some time to play some stuff I *liked* to the student. It was "Pictures of Home" by Deep Purple. The kid had a prescription for me: Trance. His buddies in the same class agreed, yeah, man, trance. They gave me names like Ferry Corsten and George Acosta and DJ Tiesto and Ministry of Sound. Ministry of Sound sounded cool, appealing to my Social Studies side. That night, I found a George Acosta release under the Ministry of Sound label - Trance Nation America 2. So I downloaded it and gave it a play.
(https://img.discogs.com/TqY88xJ0oyb8Xh7AbAkrRpV2pGY=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-9866568-1487649734-9995.jpeg.jpg)
Mind opened up for sure on that one. Since then, I've been very much into trance - especially Goa trance - chill, lounge, liquid drum 'n' bass, and house. House led to a rediscovery of disco, which fed back to my interests in funk and soul. But this is the album that kicked it off for me, and I'm thankful to Rasy Ran for getting me started on this very enjoyable path.
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Day 8
The joint earliest album on my list is 1973s Brain Salad Surgery by prog trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/ELP_-_Brain_Salad_Surgery.jpg)
I'm not going to pretend that the Gieger cover wasn't an influence in my interest in this album, but the music is first rate also. Ranging from classical re-interpretations (Toccata), covers of classics (Jerusalem), silliness in Benny the Bouncer and typical prog fare with the 30-minute Karn Evil 9. I love all of it and it introduced me to Progressive rock around 1981/82.
Back to the cover and the the vinyl's cover opened like a book to reveal this image of the woman:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/BrainSaladSurgery.jpg)
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Day 8
(https://img.discogs.com/Z1FFWbSiLUplje0LuCkP8NPcU0Y=/fit-in/600x596/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1167277-1347390317-8930.jpeg.jpg)
1984 was the most significant year for me in my musical journey. It was the year Metallica came into my life who would not only strongly influence my future musical taste but influence my life in general.
That year I had also discovered a 2 hour weekly metal show on a little independent radio station which proved to be a great and important avenue for discovering new metal bands and keeping in the loop with others. When the radio station had an advanced copy of a new album or was premiering a new song from a band I was into, I would throw a tape in and record the song or songs. On one particular show they premiered a brand new album by a band called Metallica. That album was Ride The Lightning.
I knew next to nothing about them at the time so didn’t bother to have a tape at the ready. The first song they played was Creeping Death. Well, within 30 seconds of the song starting I was quickly scampering for a tape and was that desperate to get a tape in I grabbed any old tape that already had a full album from another band on it and proceeded to record over it. The song was flat out the most incredible piece of music my ears had ever heard. It was like Sabbath, Maiden and Priest combined on steroids. The heavy chugging guitars stood out the most along with Hetfield’s voice and the general epic nature of the music. The other song they played later on in the show was Fight Fire With Fire which equally blew me away with its speed and heaviness. It was by far the most exciting and awesome music I’d heard to that point and couldn’t wait to get my hands on the album. I played those two taped songs virtually non stop for the next few weeks at home until I was able to get to the metal store in the city which was the only place you could buy it. I also grabbed Kill ‘Em All at the same time, but given that album was a much rawer and under developed in sound it’s fair to say it took a backseat for a period of time while I fully immersed myself in Ride The Lightning. Metallica had virtually become my favourite band overnight and would be for the remainder of the 80’s and beyond. They were next level and Ride The Lightning genuinely felt like a total game changer in the world of metal.
Metallica would also influence me to into exploring a more heavier side of metal which came to be known as thrash with Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus and Megadeth becoming my next new and exciting discoveries. James Hetfield’s lyrics were also the the first time I felt a real deep connection to lyrics and and his rhythm playing was the catalyst for me finally taking up learning guitar in 1985
Metallica are undoubtedly my favourite music discovery growing up and James Hetfield will always be my favourite musician and biggest influence...So much so I even ended up naming my first born son after him.
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^^^
Yep, a great album, the vocals were so much better than on Kill 'Em All. I might have gone with Master of Puppets but I knew MoP first so that might be a factor.
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^^^
Yep, a great album, the vocals were so much better than on Kill 'Em All. I might have gone with Master of Puppets but I knew MoP first so that might be a factor.
Yep both are stone cold classics. Very similar albums too, they’re practically twins with the song writing, pacing and track sequencing.
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^^^
Ride isn't my favourite Metallica album but I can only imagine how incredible and new and fresh and different it must have sounded back in the day. I think it was even big more of a ground breaking album than Kill 'em All and it solidified Thrash metal once and for all.
Day 5
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fi/thumb/1/15/Brutal_Planet.jpg/260px-Brutal_Planet.jpg)
Back in 2000 when I was in High School I had a very cool english teacher (who I kept in touch with years after I finished school too) who was a big music fan and liked a lot of different genres including heavy metal and hard rock. He also used to play a lot of music in class. He always also had the lyrics to the songs printed out on a projector sheet for the class to follow.
He put on Poison one day, which I do think I had heard on the radio before but never really paid much attention to it for what ever reason, but hearing it there it clicked. I remember going out few days later to the second hand record store and found a copy of Trash, and I really liked it....especially Alice's voice. Then a while later I found out he had a brand new album out so I just had to go and buy it eventhough it cost a lot of money. I remember putting it on the car stereo on the ride back and I was totally blown away! From the opening bars of the title track I knew I had something special here...It was clearly Alice Cooper but just heavy as fuck. I remember playing this album over and over again. I think it was my most played album at the time. Couldn't get enough of it.
Pretty soon Alice grew to be one of my favourites and after that I always bought every new Alice album pretty much on the day it came out. And honestly the only time I have been disappointed by one since this one was with The Eyes Of...that album wasn't very good...at all. But all the others starting from Trash have been more or more brilliant.
And after all this time Brutal Planet still my absolute favourite Alice Cooper album and the one that made me an eternal fan. Eventhough the earlier stuff wasn't nearly as heavy, it still had that same magic that grabbed me on this album.
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Day 8
As I taught high school, I got more electronica, world music, Bollywood, classical, and classic rock. But one complaint I kept having was that the rock music the kids were bringing me was either too lame, too cheesy, or too extreme. I could still trust "gramps with amps" like Deep Purple, Megadeth, and the like, but I just couldn't find a new rock band that clicked with me. I could find plenty of bands from behind the Iron Curtain from the 70s that rocked, but nothing from the 2000s or 2010s.
In my search for more of "the good stuff", I finally gave Hawkwind a go. Most of their albums were OK, some were meh, some I didn't even give a second listen. But Space Ritual was pretty dang cool, my favorite of the lot. It also got me to read Michael Moorcock's The Black Corridor, one of the chillingest sci-fi reads I've gone through, but that's another story.
I left teaching in 2013 and studied hard for Cisco certification exams so I could get back to IT, where I am today in my career.
When I studied for the tests and did the labs, I listened to a lot of Hawkwind's Space Ritual. A LOT. There was something in Mr. Brock's space rock that allowed me to focus on the material, and I still love to play it when I'm dealing with a technical issue, especially "Master of the Universe". Did the music bond to my soul and make me a superfan of the band forever and ever? No. Did the music enable me to change careers in a matter of months and put my life on a different track? No question, it absolutely made that possible. In terms of influencing my life, this is the album that enabled me to cross a major bridge in my life.
(https://img.discogs.com/TTfSDKrjMbBILEslWYdSZKPfFvM=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-9100072-1474784550-8876.jpeg.jpg)
This is an album that I don't listen to when I want to. I listen to it when I *need* to.
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^^^
I'm a big Hawkwind fan, but their experimental nature tends to make each album a little uneven. Some songs are up there with the best from anybody, but it's next to some piece of poetry or ambient sound effect so I can never really love a whole album.
Master of the Universe is one of my favourites too.
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I tend to like their live albums better, as there's less room for the experimental stuff that doesn't jam out.
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Day 9
Today we have 1989s "Thunder and Consolation" by indie rock band New Model Army.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/ThunderConsolation.jpg)
Not the first album I had by NMA, and while their earlier albums are mightily enjoyable it was this album and the follow up -- 1990s Impurity -- that made me go wow! They're one of my 5 favourite bands of all time.
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(https://img.discogs.com/varzN8uHKfVS2K1woAf2ti6x-Ok=/fit-in/600x598/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-373186-1374947323-5895.jpeg.jpg)
1986 was a disappointing year for metal, but also arguably its greatest ever. Disappointing in that you had Priest, Ozzy, Accept, W.A.S.P., Savatage and to a lesser extent Maiden releasing more commercialised/watered down albums on the back of Dio and Mötley Crüe doing the same the year before, seemingly in search of a more mainstream/MTV audience. You also had glam bands starting to bob up everywhere. Thankfully thrash was there to save the day with Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer all releasing their heaviest, most complex and revered albums to date. The most menacing and brutal of those was undoubtedly Slayer’s Reign In Blood.
I first discovered Slayer via their debut album Show No Mercy and their follow up EP Haunting the Chapel which I purchased at the same time around the end of 84. I got them from the 2nd of the two metal shops in the city called Pipe Imports which was located at the end of a tiny arcade off the city’s main street. The shop was no bigger than the size of a small bedroom and run by a racist German guy who by all reports didn’t allow non-white Anglo people into his shop. He was always serious and never smiled. He only specialised in very underground music, one side of the shop was Electronic/Industrial/Kraut and the other side was Punk/Hardcore/Thrash. You wouldn’t find Powerslave or Defenders of the Faith there, but you would Apocalyptic Raids & Haunting the Chapel. Later he would only specialise in Death & Black metal. Anyway, he’d suss out your taste while you were browsing and give you recommendations. He had two phrases he liked to use(in thick German accent) “You need to have dis album” and “It’s virgin metal, hasn’t been fucked yet” which was his way of describing a band that hadn’t sold out by signing to a major label or hadn’t compromised their sound to appease their record company. So he gave me his recommendations this particular day which where “Show No Mercy” and “Haunting the Chapel” So I purchased both...
I thought they were good, creepy covers, very Venom -esque in sound & style with bits of Maiden & Priest thrown in, but they didn’t blow me away or anything. Both felt very raw and underdeveloped, even a little amateurish in terms of writing and production. The follow up Hell Awaits released in 85 seemed a step backwards and disappointing to my ears and I found it really hard to get into. Little did I know at the time it was really a step forward for them in their progression in dropping the strong influences of their debut and developing more of their own sound. By the time Reign In Blood hit the following year I had no real great expectations for it. Metallica were at the top of the thrash world and metal world for that matter after releasing Master of Puppets earlier in the year which was an incredible achievement in metal following the game changing Ride The Lightning, and Megadeth had upped their sound and songwriting to a another level with Peace Sells... But Who’s Buying? So Slayer was at a little bit at the crossroads for me in terms of being a genuine keeper or dropping off and losing interest in them.
Not only did they become a genuine keeper but Reign In Blood became possibly the the greatest pure thrash album in history. From the opening track Angel of Death you knew it was on an entirely different level to Hell Awaits or anything else at the time. The songwriting, the riffs, the drumming, the speed, the complexity, vocals, production, everything had been taken to a new & advanced level. Clocking in at under 30 minutes it was was packed with ferocious, brutal, satanic, horrifying thrash. Where’s Metallica had taken metal to a new level of heaviness and complexity with Ride the Lighting, Slayer had done the same in Reign In Blood with pure speed and ferocity!
Reign In Blood... A classic for the ages.
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Day 6
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71UerWdAIGL._SX466_.jpg)
Time to step outside of metal for a bit.
Before I discovered metal I wasn't listening all that much of music but occationally some poppier stuff...there was a lot of it in the early to mid 90s. I wasn't really a fan of anything truth be told...well I don't know how young one can even be a fan of anything? Anyways at some point I came home from school and there was this music show that aired back in the day here and they played a lot of music videos and Spice Girls' Wannabe was on and that to me was something special. It was bit different from anything else. So one might say I became an instant fan at that point. And one might even say that my first fan experience was Spice Girls. However I did not have the money to buy their album, so it kind of just remained a tv fandom. Checking out the music shows (which at the time were plenty) to see if their videos came on. When Spice World came out a year later I had already discovered metal but I still got that album too and really enjoyed it. But after that the interest faded as metal became more and more important part of my life.
BUT then I heard I Turn To You on a radio and thought damn this girl sounds familiar and the song is off the charts brilliant. And as soon as the dj said Melanie C I went "OFCOURSE!" I need to get this. So I think I bought this on the week it came out...or pretty close. I always thought that Melanie was the best singer in Spice Girls and her voice was something special. And that was totally solidified by Northern Star. Also the fact that there were a lot more deeper and more complex songs as well not just those basic easy SG stuff. And her voice...damn.
There is a fantastic combination of pop stuff, deeper more melodic stuff and something borderlines rock or atleast pop rock on the album. And Melanie can sing it all. And she proved once and for all with this that he isn't just another Spice Girl but that she is a singer and song writer of her own right.
This album has remained one of my all time favourite albums through out the years. When ever I feel I want to step away from metal, I Turn To You first Melanie...for a reason.
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I'm slackin'. For all of my running in the punk scene, I was still picking up and listening to the latest Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, etc.
This record turned my head for sure:
(https://img.discogs.com/FEdS1DVYPR8sR94M3fXh7GZfLw0=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-500147-1545639271-9534.jpeg.jpg)
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Day 9
After changing careers in 2013, I started working at a company about an hour away from my house. Lots of driving. I listened to a lot of music because I can't do podcasts, they make me either too distracted or too sleepy, and that's not good for the hour of driving. I had listened to just about everything put out by the gramps with amps and a fair amount of electronica, Latin, and old school Texas outlaw country... I got to where I needed some really new stuff after a few years of that.
Not just new stuff by bands I already knew, but new stuff from bands I didn't know. I started looking again for any signs of rock and roll life out there among the kids.
I started with the space rock scene and wasn't happy with looooooooooooooooong noodling jams that all sounded like Spinal Tap Mark II doing "Jazz Odyssey". Jams I could dig, but I wanted something crunchier, something chunkier than most of the space rock out there.
I tried out Clutch, but really only liked a few of their songs. They were heavy, sure, but something was just missing that I needed. I tried Kyuss and the singer was a total turnoff for me. Orange Goblin was good, but they had at least one song per album that managed to piss me off. Fu Manchu worked out a lot better, but I found that their strongest work was with Brandt Bjork on drums and that era was over. Bjork himself had some cool stuff and I felt that the stoner/desert vein had something in it that I'd like to mine.
YouTube recommendations then came into play: I kept getting links to Wo Fat's The Black Code and MOS Generator's Abyssinia.
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1386353032_16.jpg) (https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1459159064_16.jpg)
YouTube was right on, both of those. This was the growl, chunk, and crunch I was looking for. In 2017, I got my official induction into full-on stoner/desert rock fandom with these two albums. There's other stuff out there, sure, but this is what got me going. From these bands of dudes roughly my age, I found other bands where the kids were making that good stuff. That renewed my faith in hard rock. There were plenty of bands that didn't have to use cookie monster vocals or rap or extreme stuff - they put on their jeans or cargo shorts, plugged their Gibson SGs into Orange amps, and played that great 70s discovery - blues-based hard rock, that proto-metal we've heard so much about. They could go metal when they needed to, or mix in punk or goth, it was all good, all rockin', dude.
And it's because the singer for MOS Generator sounds so much like Ozzy that made me decide to see if the old Black Sabbath mailing list had gone over to being a message board. It had, and that's how I wound up meeting you lot. :smug:
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Day 10
(https://img.discogs.com/FPdVazv2ylsobK3YMWnfI1Km_0Q=/fit-in/600x603/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-375756-1399735242-2149.jpeg.jpg)
SO I’m gonna go off broadway here for my last day just to highlight the fact I’m not just all about metal. I tossed up between 2 bands and 2 albums as to which would take the final day spot and ended up going with the one that still gets the most spins.
My earliest recollections of hearing/listening to music was the music emanating from my dads stereo in the 70’s. He’s always been a big music buff which I think I inherited from him and he was always playing music in the house when I was growing up. He had a semi big collection of vinyls he’d collected since his childhood and most of the music he played was current from the 70’s. The bands I remember him playing most were Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Elton John, Queen, Wings, ELO, Bee Gees, ABBA, that Frampton Comes Alive album(which I think every child from the 70’s parents owned) and some Aussie bands like Skyhooks and Cold Chisel.
The one band that stood out the most though was Pink Floyd and he would particularly play the Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were here albums incessantly and the songs always seemed to stick in my head long after he’d finished his listening session. I would often throw those albums on and sneak a listen when he was out. The album that grabbed me the most though was Wish You Were Here. It wasn’t an album that you could just put on for a song or two though, it needed to be listened all the way through. Quite often my dad would come home in the middle of me listening and I would have to rush to turn the music off, quickly pack the vinyl away and adjust the settings on his stereo back to what they were. He hated when anyone fucked with his stereo system and always seemed to know when someone had.
Pink Floyd’s music just always sounded epic but tranquil to me and Gilmour’s guitar playing was like from another planet. So very emotional and dreamy even when he tore it up a bit more. I loved his voice also. Very calming and soothing with a beautiful timbre to it.
Pink Floyd along with the Beatles are far and away my favourite non metal bands, Wish You Were Here and The White album are my favourite non metal albums and David Gilmour & John Lennon my favourite non metal musicians.
I saw Pink Floyd in 88 on The Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour and have seen Roger Waters on a couple of occasions doing the The Wall album in it’s entirety and more recently the US+Them tour which I took my dad along to which was kinda special.
P.S. I have to say I’ve really enjoyed this thread, it’s been a cathartic experience to recollect these memories and actually get them down in writing in some detail and also read others recollections and their influential albums because I’m sure as time goes on the memories will fade away...So well done Kilo for starting this thread. Was thinking we could do something similar down the track on movies. The movies that have stayed with you or meant the most to you growing up.
Cheers!
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Thanks Jack, I've really enjoyed this thread too, it has worked so much better than I had hoped.
And regarding your final choice, a great choice: but that is not the cover I'm familiar with for Wish You Were here, the person who nominated me on FB to do this also used that cover, the one I know is:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Wish_You_Were_Here_album_first_issue_vinyl_Pink_Floyd_black_plastic_wrap.jpg)
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Day 10
Those of you who know me will not be surprised that the final choice on my list is 1973s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by the pioneers of hard rock / heavy metal Black Sabbath:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Black_Sabbath_SbS.jpg)
A school friend sold me this album second hand in 1980, and it completely changed my life. To this day Black Sabbath are my favourite group and this album is my all time favourite album. It's heavy, varied, imaginative and intelligent music. Ozzy is on fine form and Geezer was obviously under the influence of something when he wrote the brilliant lyrics. Tony has some of his best ever riffs, and Rick Wakeman was in an adjacent studio during the recording and chips in with some keyboards.
This really did influence my life more than anything else I can think of in any way!
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Thanks Jack, I've really enjoyed this thread too, it has worked so much better than I had hoped.
And regarding your final choice, a great choice: but that is not the cover I'm familiar with for Wish You Were here, the person who nominated me on FB to do this also used that cover, the one I know is:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Wish_You_Were_Here_album_first_issue_vinyl_Pink_Floyd_black_plastic_wrap.jpg)
That was the original shrink wrap that concealed the real cover inside which was the two men handshaking. Was also on the the actual record labels.
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^^^Heres one in the original black shrink wrap with sticker
I think some later reissues in the 2000s used it that as the cover. Otherwise it’s always been the men handshaking.
(https://img.discogs.com/Nfz0BCSHYC-796Sfpu-DDaghqeU=/fit-in/592x591/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-463597-1369835820-1824.jpeg.jpg)
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^^^
I've only ever had a CD which I'm sure I bought late 80s and which I think came out in 1985 (but there's no date on it!). It's a UK edition, and the hand shaking image is in the booklet with a couple of other images.
BTW, I'm going to do a Day 11 which will be 3 or 4 albums that didn't quite make the 10 but are worth a mention!
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Yeah there might have been some CD reissues in the 80’s I’m not sure. Come to think of it the later vinyl reissues might have been in a black slip case that encased the cardboard album cover of the men handshaking. But the actual original vinyl cover that housed the records was the men handshaking and it came in a black Shrink wrap with a sticker which most of them were discarded on opening the vinyl. They are worth quite a bit of money now in the original shrink wrap.
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(https://img.discogs.com/wQoRC1rxnYv2FSXyU3Cow8GtVwk=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-10912359-1506409605-2913.jpeg.jpg)
Punk aesthetic, loud, hard, heavy, and fast. Fucking brilliant.
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Day 7
(https://kaaoszine.fi/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/bs.jpg)
After my mind was completely blown by the incredible Dehumanizer album I knew I needed more Black Sabbath. Not knowing much about the band (as there wasn't much in the way of internet yet back in those days nor google for that matter) I went to a record store and looked for Black Sabbath. There were few albums there (don't remember what they were though) and I went with the one with the coolest cover art (as that was the main reason I bought the Dehumanizer because of that incredible artwork)...I remember getting home and opening the album and putting it on while reading the credits and I was kind of shocked when the singer was NOT Ronnie James Dio but some guy called Ozzy Osbourne...anyways while I was reading that the rain and the church bell intro ran and then the first heavy bar from Iommi's guitar came in and I remember I just stopped reading and just sat there listening...it was clearly very different from what I thought it would be but it was really awesome anyways...well untill Ozzy started singing that is...I remember thinking "Oh god...they replaced that incredible Dio guy with this!?!?" :D
But honestly Ozzy's voice grew on me quite fast though....eventhough he didn't have the presense nor versatility of Ronnie...And ofcourse it didn't take too long to find out this was actually their first album. I do remember putting this on the back burner for a bit as it didn't quite match what I though I was in for. But soon I went back to it and I remember reading the lyrics (which aren't quite right on the Castle Remaster which I did note already back then eventhough my english wasn't all that good back then at the age of 15-16) and listening to the music and getting used to Ozzy's voice and soon this album fully opened the door to all things Black Sabbath...and finding out about Joe's site and mailing list and all those cool things of the late 90s. I think in a year or so I knew almost everything there was to know about Sabbath....and my eternal love affair with the band had been forged.
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Day 10
Since 1986 to 2020, my mom's done a radio show on community radio here in Dallas, 89.3 FM KNON. I helped her on and off through the years, but started to help her regularly with her show in 2012. The show is The Magic Time Warp Show and it plays every Saturday from 10-noon here in Dallas. We focused on music from 1945-1963, the roots of Rock and Roll. A few years ago, we opened things up for the younger audience and added Motown and Stax/Volt. :smug:
This year, my mom came to the conclusion that she couldn't be the main person on the fun side of the microphone and has handed things over to me. During the quarantine, she's only able to call in and listen to the show. That's a bit sad for me, because I always enjoyed spending those 2 hours/week with my mom, having fun, playing records, doing goofy radio stuff. Now that's fading. Not gone, but I know that day comes one day.
My choice for today isn't an album. It's a 45. I remember seeing it when I was barely done being a toddler, when my mom would play stacks of 45s as I ran around and around the pool table in our house. I remember the Fee Bee label and the great bass line for that voice in the group. It's always been a favorite of mine. When my mom chose it as the theme for the show, "Because it's the best Rock and Roll song ever made," I had no argument against it.
"Whispering Bells" is going to be a song that always has a deep meaning in my family because it's my mom's theme. I grew up with it, I play it every week, my kids hear it more than once or twice a year, it's in our family for sure. This one song has affected about 2 hours of my life every week for the last 8 years, and will continue to do so for years to come. Led Zeppelin's 4th album may have been the first record I ever bought, but I was raised up on the Del Vikings, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Hank Ballard, The Coasters, Fats Domino, and all the greats of the Golden Age of Rock.
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Day 11 - Bonus Day
Just some albums which didn't make the final 10 but I think are worth a mention:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Marillion_-_Script_for_a_Jester%27s_Tear.jpg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Iron_Maiden_-_Piece_Of_Mind.jpg)
(https://img.discogs.com/sJDalbIdMAchcvUpucw1xbA7_7c=/fit-in/600x596/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1052399-1435766379-6667.jpeg.jpg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Katebushhoundsoflove.png)
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Bonus Day
Going to finish off with 5 albums which I’ve included for various reasons.
Overkill was my introduction to Motörhead and probably my favourite album of theirs when it’s all said & done. Lemmy, Eddie & Phil were an unbeatable threesome.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Mot%C3%B6rhead_-_Overkill_1979.jpg)
Bought Blizzard & Diary the same day but Diary ended up just winning. The bookend songs are two of the best opening/closing songs on any album ever. Eternal RR fan after hearing these albums.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Ozzy_Osbourne_Diary_of_a_Madman.jpg)
The satanic imagery, the lyrics, the bestial voice of Cronos with the rawness of the music & production literally made this album feel like it was straight from Hell itself. There was a time when Venom’s Black Metal album genuinely scared me as a kid.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Venomblackmetal.jpg)
1984’s “The Dungeons Are Calling” was my gateway to Savatage but 87’s Hall Of The Mountain King turned me from just merely liking them to truly loving them. One of the great traditional metal albums of the 80’s.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/SavatageMountainKing.jpg)
Proud Megadeth fan from the beginning so I couldn’t do this without including an album. Purely putting it in because it’s not only Dave’s best work but Rust In Peace is one of the great metal albums of all time, and in my humble opinion the last truly great legendary thrash album. One of the most addictive listening experiences ever when it came out and I’ll never tire of it.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/Megadeth-RustInPeace.jpg)
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^^^
Damn, I should have put Rust In Peace in my bonus day! And probably Master of Puppets too!
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^^^
Damn, I should have put Rust In Peace in my bonus day! And probably Master of Puppets too!
In normal circumstances I would’ve included MOP but I’ve really tried to limit it to one album per band. I referred to Rust In Peace as being one of the most addictive albums when it came out well Master of Puppets literally was the most I’ve ever been addicted to an album. The anticipation knowing the follow up to RTL was coming and then to deliver what they did was just incredible at the time.
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Lol, I already had 2 bonus albums in my list!
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Day 8
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/RainbowRainbowRising.jpg)
After getting some more information about Ronnie James Dio and finding out he was in an other band before joining Sabbath (this must have been around 1998 or 1999...I had gotten Holy Diver and I think Strange Highways already at this point) I went out and bought the very first Rainbow album I could find...and it was this one. I knew nothing of the band part from the fact that Ronnie James Dio was without a doubt the best singer I had ever heard. So it was a very virgin experience putting this record on for the first time.
And I gotta say if you want your musical cherry popped properly...this album does the job. It simply just blew my mind. It was heavy, but not so heavy, it was fast, but not so fast but most importantly it was melodic, and full of brilliant playing. Right away the other thing that stood out was the guitar playing. Some incredible stuff...very different from what I'd learned to like from Sabbath or Maiden which were the two main bands for me at the time. It was much more "techincal"...Ritchie was just all over the place...it was unlike anything I had heard before. So naturally I had to find out more about him. Thankfully the proto version of Internet with it's altavista search engine came to the aid...and ofcourse then I learned about a band called Deep Purple, but that's another story.
This album quickly became one of my most played albums at the time. And it made me want more Rainbow so off I went to buy another one and came back with an album called Bent Out Of Shape and with great excitement I put it on...and was totally shocked at what I was hearing...how in the hell is this the same band!??! It can't be...this must be some east european knock off group....right?!? But no I read the name Ritchie Blackmore from the booklet..I was totally stunned...how could the man that played on a track like Stargazer (which probably at the time was one of THE greatest pieces of music I had ever heard...and shit...IT STILL IS!!!) could be involved in pop rock garbage like this...well that question still lingers in the back of my mind after all these years...
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^^^
Yeah, I think we all wonder "what could have been" with Richie, he's done very little of note in the last 20-30 years!!
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^^^
Well some of the Blackmore's Night stuff is really really good though. And it showcases Ritche's immense talent quite well. I'd rather listen to any of the Blackmore's Night albums over those pop-Rainbow albums any day.
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It’s a shame Ritchie turned his back on heavy rock music for so many years and we ultimately never got that Rainbow reunion with Ronnie but his acoustic playing is sublime though.
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"The banjo player took a hike." - Ian Gillan
:smug:
But, yes, that is one awesome album. Always one of my hard rock favorites.
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Day 9
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fi/1/1a/Machine_head.JPG)
This was my first Deep Purple album...well my second actually after the Deepest Purple collection but the first ACTUAL album.
After learning more about Ritchie Blackmore I had to find out what that other band of his was like and bought the Deepest Purple collection and it just shook me up! What an amazing band it was so ofcourse I had to get more of their albums and learing the best songs from the collection came from Machine Head it kind of was the obvious choice...And it did not disappoint! No bad tracks on it and the remastered version was great sounding even if some of the remixes sounded bit odd.
The thing that really got me was how they could make such a simple song like Smoke On The Water sound so epic. And a complex song like Lazy sound so effortless. This was the album that solidified Deep Purple as one of my favourite bands!
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It's absolutely one of the best rock albums, ever. It's a true desert island disc, if ever there was one.
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Day 10
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fi/5/5d/Dehumanizer.jpg)
And this is it! The definitive album...the one that has influenced my life more than any other as this was the album that opened the door to all things heavy metal and that made me a proper music fan.
I was at my local second hand record store and was checking out albums not really for buying just for the heck of it and came across this one...the cover art was probably the greatest thing I'd ever seen. Such an incredible piece of art and I knew nothing of the band or the music but something inside me just said "BUY THIS" so I did.
I remember getting home from school and putting this on and it was an instant WOW-factor. I'd never heard music like this before. The ultra heaviness of the guitar, the drums, the bass...and then the vocals...my god those vocals. I'd never heard anything like it. The sheer power behind that microphone was unmatched.
I remember listening to this every chance I got. And it didn't take long for me to get more things Sabbath and ofcourse more things heavy metal.
This was the album that started my journey into the world of heavy metal and it's journey I'm still on and will never stop.
Thank you Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vinny Appice and Geoff Nicholls for opening my world.
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^^^
I love that album, it's my 3rd favourite Sabbath album and as such probably my 3rd favourite album of all time!
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I certainly won't say no to some Dehumanizer!
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^^
Who would? ;D
^^^
I love that album, it's my 3rd favourite Sabbath album and as such probably my 3rd favourite album of all time!
Probably mine too...
It's
Mob Rules
Master Of Reality
Dehumanizer
A very very tight group.
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My day 6 - I know I am way behind :wall:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/16/Revolver.jpg/220px-Revolver.jpg)
I bought this around the end of my tenure in high school, Now I was a dedicated Metal Head but I would still listen to anything that had worth. I of course had heard the Beatles a ton from my parents but that was mostly the early years of their career.
This is still my favorite album by the fab four, a milestone in the history of Rock N Roll.
I became a rabid Beatle fan and soon had all of their studio albums.
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Revolver is when I start to like The Beatles' catalog... and where my mom starts to hate it. :lol:
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/14/Leprosy_Album.jpg/220px-Leprosy_Album.jpg)
This started a 25 year obsession with everything related to this band and it's strong willed leader Chuck Schuldiner.
Not their best album by any means but it was definitely the album from them that made me a fan. Also the most extreme thing I had heard up to that point, and made me seek out the realm of practitioners of Death Metal like Obituary, Vader and many others.