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Album Review – Whitesnake – Forevermore
Seriously, I am reviewing Whitesnake. After all the metal that has been reviewed and discussed on this blog I am going to review the latest installment from Coverdale and company AKA Whitesnake. Why? Well, it’s simple, I am a product of the decade otherwise known as the decade of decadence, the 1980′s. Yup, I am that old and I did not forget where I came from. Before I found my niche in metal with the Big Four and many others such as Overkill and Testament, I was listening to what we now call “Hair Bands” and Whitesnake was one of them…one of the better ones if you ask me. Some of the others that I still have room in heart for are Dokken, Ratt, Bon Jovi, and OMFG I am going to admit it, Winger! If I lost credibility I can deal with that, at least I am honest. I loved the 80′s. It’s nice to reminisce, but I do love my metal. I fall back for nostalgic reasons now and then.
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
