Blog Archives
Song of the Week – You Give Love A Bad Name
I was at a loss for picking today’s Song of the Week. I decided to let my iTunes DJ make the selection by playing the first song that popped up which was Bon Jovi’s classic. Also, I was working out with the wife today (take your mind out of the gutter) and offered to make her a motivational playlist with her music library. She told me her only requirement was to have You Give Love A Bad Name on the list. It was an interesting coincidence (I thought), so here it is! Where do you stand with Bon Jovi? Are you the metalhead of today or do you reach back to some of those 80s classics that had huge impact?
Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #60-56
This is the part of my Top 100 favorite albums list that seems to be fluid. I have moved these bands around several times trying to make sense of how they can be lumped so closely together despite the generation gap. I guess I love these albums for different reasons. Perhaps they mean something different to me from two dissimilar time periods even if I don’t really listen to some of these older albums much today. Either way, they made an impression on me either at 38 or 13. Strangely, it was harder to place these albums in the 60, 50, and 40 range than it was to select my top 20 albums of all time. This all-time list is an ongoing effort started by our friends at The History of Metal page on facebook. Each day we list another album until we get to the end. Below is my next list of five as we near our way to the mid-point and follow-up to #1 several weeks down the road.
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Let Bon Jovi Excite Your Tastebuds with His Special Sauce
Oh, the amount of horrible and vulgar jokes one could make with classic metal legend Bon Jovi‘s latest business venture. John Bon Jovi and his father have released a line of tomato sauces for you to enjoy. Back in Sicily during the 1800′s, great grandma Bongiovi would concoct her special recipe of sauce and feed it with pasta to her entire neighborhood. Over the years the Bongiovi family immigrated to the United States and with them came the tomato sauce recipe they were so famous for back in Italy. The recipe was passed down for generations and was such a hit with family and friends in Bon Jovi’s family that they finally decided to bring their love for pasta sauce to the rest of the world.
Available are the famous marinara, a hearty garden style vegetable, and a spicy arrabbiatta (translates to ‘angry’ from Italian). They are all made in small batches and with the highest quality ingredients to make sure they maintain their home-made flavor. If you would like to swallow down some of Bon Jovi’s sauce you can order some from the Bongiovi website (reachable by clicking the picture below). Enjoy! Peace Love and Metal……… ’Bevis and Butthead giggle’ Bon Jovi’s sauce.
Matt’s(Atleastimhousebroken) Favorite Concerts of 2011
2011 was yet another great year for concerts both in metal and outside the realm. I feel blessed living in Milan with the vast majority of artists making this Italian metropolis their main Italian stop on their tours and usually that stop is just a couple of metro stops away from my home. Can’t beat that. Here are a handful of the concerts I went to this year that really stuck out as awesome shows in no particular order. Now onward to 2012 and looking forward to more great shows(Dream Theater and Gods of Metal(Black Sabbath and Opeth!!!!!) tickets purchased, so can’t wait!!). Enjoy and let us know what your favorite concerts this year were! Peace Love and Metal!!!!
Helloween/Stratovarius: These two bands made a great show filled with a night of top-notch Power Metal. Even though he was coming off of a sickness Stratovarius’ Timo Kotipello put on a great vocal performance and the rest of the band was electric, especially their new guitarist who blew me away with his skill and stage presence. Helloween headlined and proved why they are lauded as the kings of Power Metal. Their setlist was great mix of new and old with a really cool medley of Keeper of the Seven Keys songs and a great performance of “I Want Out” with lots of crowd interaction. If either of these bands pass your way check them out, they’re tons of fun.
Rhapsody of Fire: A couple of weeks after the Helloween/Stratovarius show I was able to catch Italian Fantasy Cheese Power Metal live for the first time and the last time with both Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli sharing the stage together. Their live show is as big as their recorded sound and was special that they played a couple of their songs in Italian for the Italian crowd(and the audience all knew the words). Fabio Leone really stood out as his voice was wonderful that evening nailing the high power metal notes, the deep operatic sounds, and ripping apart the occasional Black Metal rasps(“Reign of Chaos” FTW).
Bon Jovi: Believe it or not I’m a born and bred Jersey boy and I have never been to a Bon Jovi concert before. Well, since they are my wife’s all time favorite band I got to surprise her with tickets to see them in Udine, Italy. Boy, does that man know how to put on a great show. Bon Jovi’s stage presence is unmatched and the energy he puts into the show is immeasurable. The stage was gigantic with 2 jumbotrons on each side and one jumbo-jumbotron in the center showing live footage and all kinds of video to match the songs. The crowd was impressive as well as the 40,000 at the sold out soccer arena sung louder than Bon Jovi could through the P.A. My ears are still ringing from “You Give Love a Bad Name”. If you ever get a chance to see Bon Jovi live do not turn it down, they are some of the best in the game hands down and put on a top-notch concert and will be worth every penny.
Cake: I went to a couple non-metal shows this year, but it was CA’s Cake that stuck out the most for me. Coming home from work one evening my neighbors(who have a great band called Selton whom you should check out, especially if you like stuff like The Beatles and surf rock) were heading out to see them and invited me any my wife along, boy am I glad we took them up on the offer. The venue was outdoors and it was a beautiful evening out and Cake put on such a fun concert playing for over 2 hours with new songs and old ones. The crowd was in great spirits and everyone was dancing around(even me?!?!). John McCrea is a great frontman and for as monotone his voice is he has great personality and kept everyone moving and full of smiles. Cake is also the first and only band I know of that has had a horticulture quiz during a concert with a sapling as a prize, huge win in my book!!
Opeth: I know I said that I will not number these, but, I’m cheating. Opeth was hands down the best concert of the year as my first concert experience with them, and they blew me away. They played a growl free set to match with the mood of Heritage killed it. Never again will I miss Opeth when they come my way, there is a reason that they are one of the most popular current metal bands out there right now. Pain of Salvation opened and also put on a great set and I’m looking forward to seeing them when they head out on a headlining tour. Check out my review of the show if you want 
Theme Thursday – The 1980s
For those of us that remember the decade known as the 80s, it was a fun decade. There were no major wars, no economic crisis that I knew of, and gases prices were lower than we will ever see again. Metal (or rock in general) was on MTV all day and was also on the radio. When I say metal I really mean the long-haired dudes that slightly resembled chicks (See photo to the right and below if you can’t imagine what I am talking about).
I was a tween and a teenager for most of the decade. When I reflected on the 80s I realized that the music (mostly in metal) revolved around three main topics; having a good time; hooking up and/or angst-ridden love; and the third topic was a general state of being heartbroken. The latter of the three usually came in the form of the popular 80s power ballad. Every band at the time had at last one or two. This Thursday’s theme is about a genre of music known affectionately as hair metal or hair bands.
Theme Thrusday- Happy Metal
I’m sure you’re all too familiar with the stereotype that all metal is dark and angry and that people who avidly listen to the metal are the same. Well, as you all know, that is not the case with most metal heads. Of course there are those who fit perfectly into that stereotype, but more often than not, that’s not the case. Like mostly everyone else in the world we like to laugh, smile, and be merry, we’re a happy people.
It’s true that a lot of metal albums are full of anger and sorrow, and that’s cool. A lot of music portrays anger and sorrow, even in pop and jazz music, but the extreme nature of metal intensifies it. It’s normal to enjoy songs about the stated feelings, just about everyone does. But like any good thing, moderation, moderation, moderation. And moderation does exist in metal. Not all metal has to do with anger and hate, the vast majority of the songs deal with various other subjects including love and happiness. So, if the extreme nature of metal can intensify the anger and hate emotions, inversely it can intensify happiness and joy. So today I bring you a nice little list of metal bands, albums, and songs that make me a Happy Metal Guy™. I hope that this list puts a smile on your face and makes you merry(and maybe even introduces you to some new music). This list is just the tip of the iceberg on metal songs that could make someone happy, what are your favorite Happy Metal bands, albums, and songs? Peace Love and Metal!!!!!
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Remember When…
At some point in a metalhead’s life there was a point at which metal entered said life. If you are anything like me, there was a moment when your life changed from what it was to what it is now. I am taking the time in this blog to reflect on where I came from (in musical interests) and the exact moment that my life changed. This is one of those where you when JFK was shot moments…only I wasn’t alive back then.
In the 80′s I was into what was popular and at the time and 80′s hair bands ruled as far as I was concerned. My first declared legitimate favorite band came in 1983 when I was 10 years old. I was so hooked on Def Leppard’s Pyromania record…yeah I had the vinyl. I had one of those portable suitcase type record players and I listened to the shit out that record. At 10 years old I had my first favorite band and I was so jealous that my older brother was going to see them live. My favorite songs on that album were Rock of Ages, Die Hard The Hunter, and Billy’s Got A Gun. They still are.
I wasn’t until 2009 that I would catch Def Leppard live at Download Festival, U.K. It was neat to see them live even if I just came from the Trivium headlining show at the second stage.
From Def Leppard my muscial interests expanded to what is now affectionately known as hair metal, but I usually just call is 80′s rock. My next favorite band is one that I actually got to see live…my first ever concert when I was 14. I bought my own ticket and got myself there. It was actually a fairly short walk from home. The headliner was none other than Loverboy, but the opener was the band I really wanted to see which was Dokken. To this day I still really like Under Lock and Key and Beast From The East. Dokken held the favorite band title for quite some time. I was beginning to dabble with Ozzy and Judas Priest as well, but if you remember the 80′s like I do even Ozzy and Judas Priest were not scary at all and were not far off from the glam and glitz of that time.
Throughout the decade as I was trying to find myself, I was regularly listening to Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Dokken, Def Leppard, Ozzy, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, White Lion, Tesla, Poison, Great White, AC/DC, and just about any other band that played on MTV…when they actually played music. The 80′s bands pretty much dominated MTV at the time so I listened to it all.
Sometime during the summer of 8th grade I had a little job working as a bus boy. I had fun with it allowed me to buy my own music. At this time I moved on to cassette tapes. Anyway, in the back of the restaurant was this slightly older (by a few years) long haired kid who washed dishes. Whenever I brought him stuff to clean he was always listening to this crazy heavy music. I was intrigued, but all too shy to say anything. Then one say said individual asks what I listen to. So I start of rattle off the above mentioned bands. He says that’s cool, but asked if I heard Metallica. I say no, so he hits the play button on his boom box The song that came on was Leper Messiah off Master of Puppets. I remeber hearing Lars go 1,2,1,2,3,4,5 and then bam, ba, ba, bam, bam and so on.
That was it! I never looked back. I mean I definitely never forgot what I used to listen to. But that warm summer New Hampshire day is when it all started. When this kid took some time off I did the dishes for about two weeks and he left a case of tapes behind. I soon heard Iron Maiden, Wasp, Megadeth, King Diamond, and many more. I think that was summer of 87. That’s when it started for me.
Today, I listen to pretty much the same metal, but that has expanded especially in the last two years after being in Europe. I have been exposed to so much more. BUT, after all is said and done I still throw in Under Lock and Key and Pyromania. Do you remember when your metal began? I would love to hear it. Have a great day! Long live metal and those who inspired it.
Photo Credit:
Def Leppard - www.defleppard.com
Dokken – http://memoirsofascreamqueen.blogspot.com/2010/10/music-mondays-dokken-dream-warriors.html
SOTD – 24 Nov 2010
Our song of the day was picked a little differently today. Normally it’s chosen at random from an iTouch as we start our day in the office. Today we embarked on a road trip to Germany for Thanksgiving so I decided to do something different. I let my wife, Anarchy Alicia, pick the song of the day. Granted, all six CDs in my car stereo are mine, I went with a rock neutral selection since my wife is a non-metal listener and I respect that. So the song of the day is :
We Werent Born to Follow from Bon Jovi off the album The Circle.
This is a departure from the Amon Amarth’s and Chimaria’s of the world, but i do share my life with someone and since all CDs in my car were rock neitral I let her make the pick. So there it is. Have a great thanksgiving. I will be back on Friday with something deathly to help you work off that turkey.
