My Musical Evolution – Page 16 – Mapping Influences Over Time

My Musical Evolution – Part 263 Roach Days Revisited The Knack

Why was there such a frenzy over My Sharona? It seemed to swoop in and capture everybody’s attention. My Sharona was a staple on the party mix tapes. The crowd would react as soon as they heard that familiar opening.

I don’t know anything about The Knack. A couple fo their songs showed up on my Chipmunk Punk album back in The Academy Days. They always made me think of The Kinks. I won’t say remind me of The Kinks, just make me think of. I guess musically they have some similar sensibilities. I suppose it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that The Knack might show up in a If you like The Kinks, you may also like The Knack type of context.

Another song by The Knack that always made the party rotation was my favorite Good Girls Don’t. Not only is it an excellent song, the subject was perfect for that kind of atmosphere. If I could get a girl to sing that song with me, it was a painless way to say “we’re about to do some things that are commonly associated with bad girls but don’t worry, you will always be a good girl to me”. Some times that was all the reassurance that was needed. The mix tapes were a special blend of music and psychology. Science!

Frustrated was also a good song from this album and overall, it is very easy to listen to. I don’t often listen to The Knack these days unless it rolls around in a shuffle but there are times when I need to hear Good Girls Don’t again.

Good Girls Don’t

My Sharona

Frustrated

My Musical Evolution – Part 262 Roach Days Revisited You’re Gonna Want More Cowbell

Blue Öyster Cult first entered my consciousness on the beloved Heavy Metal Soundtrack with Veteran Of The Psychic Wars. It was one on my favorites on that soundtrack. The next time I heard of Blue Öyster Cult it was in Fast Times At Ridgemont High while Mike Damone is trying to sell tickets. “No I don’t have any Blue Öyster Cult! I ate fourteen pairs last time around. Where were you? The next stop was John Carpenter’s Halloween and (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. It was this last step that lead to the purchase of Agents Of Fortune.

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper is such a classic song. There are a couple other cool picks here as well but the real draw is Reaper. I can see the effects of the Mix Tape in play here. The two or three songs that made it to the tapes are familiar but the rest feel almost like I’m hearing them for the first time. Definitely after the listen to the entire album all the time era.

I also see the absence of the internet at play. I realize that I know very little about Blue Öyster Cult. I can search the web for them now and in doing so found out some things that surprise me. The main being that Blue Öyster Cult was considered Heavy Metal at some point and that they were trying to be the American answer to Black Sabbath. I really don’t see that in the small sampling that I’ve acquired. In fact the dots over the O and the hook and cross symbol were in pursuit of heavy metal themes. They were one of the first dotted vowel groups. The hook and cross was a symbol from alchemy for Lead, a very heavy metal.

I still don’t think of metal when I listen to Blue Öyster Cult. I think of something more progressively album oriented like Pink Floyd or Alan Parsons Project.

This Ain’t The Summer Of Love

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper – I got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell

E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)

I could have used more cowbell

My Musical Evolution – Part 261 The Metal Years Loudness

There is something a little bit different about Loudness’ sound. It seems to sound just a little bit bigger than it iactually is. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maye it is the recording and mixing production. They sound like they are in some huge arena.

I saw Loudness open for AC/DC once. It was a Rock & Roll Crazy Night. There were kids of Japanese descent in the audience that were dressed up just like them. I have to give some credit to Loudness. They don’t speak English and yet they have learned to sing all their songs in a language that they don’t understand. In between songs on the show the guy would yell “Its f*cking great to be America” or “We get crazy tonight!” I could tell that he didn’t understand what he was saying because he left the apostrophe out of It’s.

Their command of their instruments makes me think of Ninjas. Maybe that is somehow racist but I dont’t care. Their precision is technically very sharp sounding. They guys can play but playing is only part of the recipe.

Loudness has a good sound that I find very appealing. I think the problem with Loudness is just timing. They came along too late in my Metal Years and as a result, they did not get the love and support that they would have gotten a year or two earlier. Just a couple years ago I finally bought Thunder In The East on Compact Disc. I hadn’t heard it since the last time I had a turntable which was 1988. Listening to it right now, I can still see why I liked them.

Crazy Nights

Heavy Chains

We Could Be Together / Clockwork Toy

My Musical Evolution – Part 260 The Metal Years Ballcrusher

It has been interesting to do this project. I’m discovering things that may not have been so obvious as they unfolded in real time back in the 1980’s. For example, I can see my interest in Heavy Metal waning a lot faster than I remembered it. Originally it seemed that The Metal Years lasted so much longer than they actually did. It was still a fairly long time and the end of The Metal Years didn’t mean I stopped listening to metal music completely. It just became a smaller portion of the listening and the active acquiring of new metal albums would all but cease.

I can feel it as I write. with each metal album to discuss, there seems to be less enthusiasm and in many cases, I cannot remember listening to them much. Compare that to the albums at the beginning ofThe Metal Yearswhere every song was committed to memory and associated with so manyremember whenevents.

The Last Command is firmly on that stack of albums that mark the beginning of the end of The Metal Years. I don’t wish to demean it, it has some good stuff on it and even MTV was playing W*A*S*P videos from this album. You could tell that the record company told Blackie Lawless toclean it up a little to make it more marketable.

The Last Command is one of the few albums I had on vinyl that I had not replaced on Compact Disc. It is on the list and it will happen someday. I like it enough to put it on the someday list.

Wild Child

Ballcrusher

Jack Action

My Musical Evolution – Part 259 Roach Days Revisited Genesis

I have to thank Aric for my introductory course in Genesis. Their latest album Genesis was kicking out the hits one right after the other and it vaulted them into an even higher plane of super group. I had long been meaning to but Genesis but so much other stuff was happening that I could never fully justify the expense. The crazy thing is that even now, it is still on my buy this sometime list. I still haven’t even though I know it is good.

Aric didn’t seem to have that problem. He had several Genesis albums during The Roach Days and it was there that I got to really listen too them. I wouldn’t say that we listened to them often or with any regualirty. Sometimes the mood would strike and we’d turn down the W*A*S*P and turn on the Genesis.

I can’t say for certain but I think Genesis was one of those bands along with Rush that filled the gap between Aric’s KISS Age and Metal Years. They really are a talented bunch and we probably should have listened to them more. After the end of The Roach Days, I didn’t have access to any Genesis albums and it wasn’t until just about a year ago that I suddenly had the urge to listen to them so I bought all of the albums you see abouve with one exception. The one that I originally wanted back then, the one that has been on the shopping list for 30 years. Why haven’t I bought Genesis?

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

No Reply At All

Abacab

Turn It On Again

A Trick Of The Tail

That’s All

Taking It All Too Hard

My Musical Evolution – Part 258 The Metal Years Motörhead

I bought Motörhead’s No Remorse because it had been some time since i bought anything that had the two dots over a vowel. Actually, we discovered Motörhead on The Young Ones playing Ace Of Spades and it wasn’t long after that we saw a video for Killed By Death on MTV. I had to investigate.

When plunging to unknown territory like this I find that it is usually a safe bet to try the Greatest Hits album first. Then work outward from there. Find the songs you like best on the Greatest Hits album then find the album with your favorite songs on it. It never got that far with Motörhead. No Remorse is the only Motörhead I’ve ever owned.

I think that it was more of a timing issue rather than an indictment of Motörhead. No Remorse has some really good hard driving stuff that I’m quite fond of but overall, I think my interest in Metal was on the way out. Looking at my preliminary list, there are only a handful of albums left in The Metal Years.Aric and I wanted to be where the girls were and the girls were definately not where Lemmy Kilminster and Motörhead were. I saw Lemmy on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno once. Jay asked “What kind of name is Lemmy anyway?” To which Lemmy replied “A f*cking stupid name.”

No Remorse was good enough for me to buy twice. I replaced my vinyl with CD eventually and was disappointed to find that the CD omitted the Motörhead cover of Louie, Louie. Yeah, THAT Louie, Louie. It was another of those rare gems that would find its way to my party tapes. The movie Animal House had turned Louie, Louie into a drunken sing-along song. The very interesting thing about Motörhead’s version was that you could understand every single word. This was a double dose of contradiction. First, in every other version of Louie, Louie that I’ve heard, you can’t understand half of what they are saying. Second, in every other Motörhead song I’ve heard you can’t understand half of what they are saying. So mathematically, they cancel each other out and you can understand all of it. Understand?

Ace Of Spades

Jailbait

Killed By Death

Bomber

Iron Fist

Locomotive

My Musical Evolution – Part 257 Roach Days Revisited Lucky Star

I back tracked into Madonna’s first album. I had really enjoyed Like A Virgin and her earlier hits like Lucky Star, Borderline and Holiday were attractive and energetic. As I listen to her right now, part of me smiles with warm memories of this era in my life and the seemingly uncomplicated notion of living and dancing. The other part of me feels a sadness at the obvious realization that there is no going back. I really do miss this Madonna. I wonder if she does too.

This was just before her rise to icon status. I remember seeing her on Bandstand back in the day and she seemed young and amibtious with dreams of fame and success. It was before she made controversy her vehicle. This Madonna was just about dancing, singing and riding the wave of her efforts. It was before she became the poster child for pushing any envelopes.

MTV was showing clips of her Like A Virgin concert. Too bad that one isn’t available on DVD. I wouldn’t mind capturing that era’s Madonna in concert. Again the question pops up. Is it typical that a guy that was so into Metallica could also be so fond of Madonna? Does this say anything about My Musical Evolution?

Lucky Star

Borderline

Holiday

Physical Attraction

Everybody

My Musical Evolution – Part 256 The Metal Years A Shot In The Dark

OK so Ozzy was a werewolf on the last album. What is he this time a bug? A bat? A demonoid? I think this album was the pinnacle for Ozzy as far as the hype machine was concerned. Of course he continued to be successful and is still successful now over 25 years later. I just feel that the record company was really behined him on this one. Of course it could just have been the nature of the times. This was back when stage shows were big productions, back before Nirvana made us feel ashamed to like larger than life characters.

Aric bought this when it came out in early 1986 and while it never quite seemed to reach Blizzard or Diary status. It was still a good. A Shot In The Dark was a regular on the MTV metal shows that were starting to pop up. The Ozzy Bug Creature seemed to be everywhere.

We took a caravan down to Indy to Ozzy at Market Square Arena. Metallica was opening. Of course Ozzy was great and his stage set, complete with giant bug / demonoid / bat throne descending from the ceiling, was visually entertaining.

The real draw for me though was Metallica. I had been listening to their first three albums and thought that they were amazing. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see them at this point in time. The first three albums are still what I consider the Best of Metallica. It also was the last tour with original bassist Cliff Burton. A few months after this showm Cliff would be killed in an accident involving their tour bus somewhere in Europe.

The Ultimate Sinalbum always takes me back to The Roach Days.

The Ultimate Sin

Secret Loser

Never Know Why

Killer Of Giants

Shot In The Dark

My Musical Evolution – Part 255 The Metal Years Live After Death

I’ve owned Live After Death in several different formats. First came the video taped copy that I got from somewhere on television. I’m still not sure if it was MTV, Night Flight or something else. We watched it a lot. Next came the vinyl double album version. I also eventually bought the video on DVD. I never replaced my double vinyl with Cd because at the time it was just a single CD and it omitted several of the tracks. Finally, I somehow ended up with Live After Death on cassette. I know I didn’t buy it and it only appeared recently. It may have been in the glove box of a used car we bought. Who knows.

The Live After Death album is done very well. The audio quality is fantastic. The selection of songs is outstanding. Still, I don’t recommend this album to people. The real thrill of Live After Death is watching it. Buy the DVD. It delivers everything the album does plus you get to see the spectacle of Iron Maiden at their best.

The Egyptian theme, Eddie the mummy, the lights, this is definately one to watch. This was still before Nirvana ruined the stage show so there is elaborate lights and costumes and props. I had two chances to see Iron Maiden on this tour, one in Chicago and one in Indianpolis. Both fell through which I regret. I saw them on the following tour and even though that was awesome, Live After Death was the peak of Iron Maiden as far as I’m concerned.

Live After Death

My Musical Evolution – Part 254 Roach Days Revisited Guitar Upgrades

I had been playing Aric’s crappy pawn shop bass for several months. Likewise, he was becoming proficient on my cheap ass pawn shop guitar. I want to take this moment to clarify that at no point do I ever consider myself a musician. To me a musician is somebody that understands music as it applies to playing an instrument. A musician knows about things like musical Scales, Keys and Time Signature. That is not me. I got familar with notes and the bass clef and the fretboard but never got to be a musician. I consider myself a mimic. I can listen to a bass line and if I can hear it clearly enough and if it isn’t crazy ridiculously Geddy Lee hard, I can usually figure it out and eventually play it. This is fine for just messing around but it is not practical for playing in a band unless theband plays all the songs just like they are on the album.

By the time I decided to buy my own bass, I had a reasonably good sized set of songs in my command. Aric and I went to a place on Harrison Street called Triad I think. I don’t know why we chose that play, maybe they had a deal going on or something with financing. I don’t really remember much about that day. How many bass guitars did I look at? I know I ended up with a glossy black Ibanez Destroyer III. I wish I could recall if there was a runner up. Why the Ibanez? I know that I liked the arrangment of the pickups and the neck was slender and comfortable. I have to believe that the body shape was a big influence though. I was still deep inThe Metal Years and this bass look metal for the time.

A funny thing about this so called Metal Bass is buying was the beginning of the end ofThe Metal Years. As we got better at playing our instruments for the girls that would visit us, it became apparent that they would rather not listen to us play AC/DC or Motörhead songs. So we changed gears and soon were playing songs like these.

Sammy Hagar – Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy

The Cars – Just What I Needed

Robert Palmer – Addicted To Love

Foreigner – Urgent

Billy Idol – White Wedding

Boston -More Than A Feeling