Unrest in the Forest...

[Charger]

My 8th one is a cold cold one...

As it talks about ICED EARTH!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Pick number 9

Metal Church - Dead on the Vine

Vines are a type of plant... this is great song from the guys.

[Vyn]

From 1959, The Coasters sing about that nasty plant Poison Ivy. Although I'm thinking there might be some innuendo going on here...

Number eight:

[Zzzptm]

What? Innuendo in the fifties??? Surely not...

Side note: generally, if a song got into the pop charts in the 50s/early 60s, it was either clean or clean enough... in the case of Poison Ivy, the group were ostensibly singing about a young lady who had undesirable characteristics as a potential long-term romantic partner with matrimony as the final objective. Sure, it could be taken other ways, but since it could be read as a clean track, it was clean enough.

On the other hand, if it hit the top of the R&B charts, there was no such conclusion that could be drawn. Wynonie Harris had a song about "churning butter" that was highly graphic, Dinah Washington had one about a boyfriend that exhibited freight handling skills, and Big Joe Turner had one about a big-legged woman... none of those can I play on my show, as they go too far. There's another by Eddie Cochran about peanuts at the movies, but "peanuts" gets real sloppy in pronunciation... so, nope, I don't play that one, neither.

Side note the second: Check out the Stones' version of "Poison Ivy", it's able to stand up next to The Coasters' version toe-to-toe in a true Rock and Roll Football classic!

***

I'll stay with heavy rock for my official 9th submission, "Wicked Willow" from Mos Generator. This is a great track, very much in feel to what Black Sabbath had on Vol. 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

[Charger]

My 9th comes from CATHEDRAL who take us to the INERTIA's CAVE!

[Vyn]

Number 9:

Sweaty Teddy sings about The Great White Buffalo:

[Charger]

For my final pick I'll go with DIO and them telling us it's time to LOCK UP THE WOLVES!!

Not a huge fan of this album BUT this title track is actually among DIO's best!

[Zzzptm]

Gotta go with Jerkin' Crocus by Mott the Hoople to round things out...

They play it faster live than on the studio disc, and I love the live recording from their official live album, but be warned it's the start of a medley. The standalone live recordings are all muddy bootlegs, don't do Mott any justice.

Back to the point, crocus is a flower. But, somehow, I get the impression the lads aren't discussing gardening... 

[Vyn]

Number 10 - Orchid by Black Sabbath. No lyrics, but smells flowery, like an orchid.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

My pick number 10

The Osmonds - Wild Horses

If you're not familiar with the group... may I suggest you don't seek out any of their back catalogue as this is the only one that rocks!

[Zzzptm]

^ Osmonds had a few hard rock bangers in their career, but yeah they're mostly bubblegum pop.

But that one reminds me of a GREAT Tommy Bolin track... and he just so happened to have Deep Purple as his backing band on this performance...

Deep Purple / Tommy Bolin - "Wild Dogs"

It's one of those slow rockers that doesn't have to crank up the speed at the end to get good. It holds steady all the way through and delivers an exceptionally well-crafted song. Bolin stepped off this planet too soon, man...

[Zzzptm]

Then this one pops to mind, needs inclusion here...

Atomic Rooster "Black Snake"

The live version with Chris Farlowe is amazing. Man eats a sandwich in the middle of the track, like a boss. Well worth hitting the button to play it on YouTube if you haven't heard it, or just haven't heard it in a while.