Van Halen: 1984

Van Halen: 1984

I bought 1984 in coincidentally 1984 with lawn mowing and paper route money on cassette. The first song I heard on from it was the mega successful hit single Jump. Of course I didn't actually hear the song on the radio I saw the video on "the MTV". I was 13 and Edward Van Halen was unquestionably the hottest guitarist around and 1984 featured the single greatest riff I had ever heard up until that point in my life: "Panama". At age 13 I was also really liked Marvel comics, although if I had money it was spent on cassettes and video games, not comic books. I had friends and cousins who did buy comics and let me read theirs so I never had to buy any of my own. I also pictured in my mind a superhero who was a cross between Marvel comics Sandman and the Human Torch using "Panama" as his theme music. Not that any of Marvel's characters used theme music, but that didn't matter to me. It just seemed like a really cool idea. It also never occurred to me that such a character would instantly turn to glass either.

At 13 I was also really into Dungeons and Dragons. My friends and I played, but we really bent the rules. Our characters were artificially inflated to a degree never seen before or seen since. I also remember making up my own role playing game based around the Marvel Universe with several dozen self invented heroes and villains as well. I even managed to convince some of my other friends to play it as well. In retrospect I think it really speaks well of my circle of friends, that although we spent our fair share of time playing video games, we had pretty well rounded imaginations and were actually interested in a creative form of interactive story telling. In short we were creating our very own "crummy world of plot holes and spelling errors".

Musically, 1984 still kicks serious butt. It is sad to think that this was the last original lineup Van Halen album ever. No one knew it at the time but once 5150 hit the shelves you realized what was gone. I'm not a total hater Van Hagar either. I think F.U.C.K. is the best of the Hagar era and all of the Hagar discs have merit, but none measure up to 1984. Also, 1984 hinted at where Van Halen was headed in the future, with "Jump", the title track, and "I'll Wait", so all the blame of the direction change can't shouldered by Hagar.

Deep Purple: Who do we think we are!

During the second semester of my sophomore year in high school (spring 1987), I really got into Deep Purple. The main reason I got into this band was because of I was a fan of the spinoff band Rainbow, who got a decent amount of airplay on MTV back in 1981-1983 or so. This was also the semester of school I spent a lot of time trying to earn money to buy my first guitar so I could learn that famous first riff: "Smoke on the Water". Machine Head is considered the classic Deep Purple record, but my favorite is Who Do We Think We Are.

In 1987, Deep Purple was pretty much viewed as a standard classic rock band amongst my peers. Most of school friends, who were rock fans, liked the songs "Smoke on the Water" and "My Woman From Tokyo" but no one was really a fan of Deep Purple, except me*. In a lot of ways it was more puzzling to my peers than anything else. Friends would say things like:

"I like Mississippi Queen"
"wow, I've heard of them but I never heard anything by them"
"they are really old aren't they?"
"are they psychedelic"
"my brother was into them"
"Bon Jovi!"

Another interesting thing happened when I talked about Deep Purple to guys who were 10+ years older than me. They were impressed that I liked the band, but also surprised since they were about a decade out of date. One person I remember in particular was the guy who drove the bus on our band trip that year. I remember getting into a long conversation with him about music for some reason. I also remember that he was an Aerosmith fan, which was still a little unusual in early 1987. Contrast all this to now when youtube is full of teenagers making videos of themselves playing 40 year old music and no one thinks twice about it. It's also amazing that my fandom with Deep Purple goes back 24 years, and that Deep Purple is still recording and touring, albiet on a very infrequent basis. Even more amazing is that the only consistant member is drummer Ian Paice. It's like a reverse Spinal Tap. Another thing about Deep Purple is that they have a much larger fan base in St. Louis, where I live now, than they have back home again in Indiana. Even better is the fact that the musicians around here also truly get Deep Purple.



I also spent a crazy amount of time obsessing over the various lineups of Deep Purple, the spinoffs and related bands. In early 1987 the same teenagers who had no clue who Deep Purple was, were about to become major fans of their most successful spin-off, Whitesnake.

Who Do We think We Are is my favorite DP disc based on the second side of it. There are only 3 songs on side 2 of WDWTWA: Rat Bat Blue, Place In Line, & Our Lady. Rat Bat Blue is a great lost classic. Great riffs, killer vocals and one crazy Jon Lord solo. Place in Line proved once again that Deep Purple could be a great blues-rock band, much like Lazy on Machine Head did. Our Lady is a musical outlier in Deep Purple's long career. It's almost a power ballad but not very atmospheric and ethereal. Who knows, maybe 40 years from now teenagers will still be listening to late 60s - early 70s rock.

*I think by the 1st semester of my junior year the second real Deep Purple fan showed up.

Kiss Unplugged & Blazefest

It would be nearly impossible to say something about Kiss that hasn't been said before either pro or con. Their influence on the industry is nearly unmatched. If you are a rock fan you are a Kiss fan, either directly or indirectly. Meaning, either you are a fan or some band you are a fan of has Kiss fans in it. And if you play rock or metal, and started playing after 1978 or so, either you are influenced by Kiss or one of your influences was influenced by Kiss. You cannot escape the influence of Gene, Paul, Ace, Peter or (INSERT NAME OF HIRED GUN MEMBER HERE). I'm not going to write about any of the classic discs, because I was way too young when they came out. I really didn't become a card carrying fan until the early 1990s. It seems a little strange to write about how a disc that came out in 1975 reminds me of 1992. So, in my life the two biggest Kiss related events were Blazefest(1994)and the official conventions in 1995.

Blazefest was a radio station sponsored show in suburban Chicago in 1994 and it was one of two shows that Kiss played that year. The CD is a bootleg. What is significant about this show is that it proved that Kiss was not just a gimmick. Kiss played a 100% request only show with no light show, no makeup, & no special effects in a small venue. Basically, you got to see Kiss as a "pure" rock band. They had nothing to hide behind and musically it stood up. It also proved that the Gene, Paul, Bruce K., Eric S. lineup was as strong as the original and could make the vintage Kiss music their own. I went with my old college bud Chuck K. It was the second show we had gone to together that year, the first being Rush w.s.g. Primus on the Counterparts tour. One of the opening acts at Blazefest was guitarist Dave Uhrich, who I have been a fan of ever since and I even became friends with him on Facebook.

The Kiss conventions of 1995 are what spurred the reunion tour in 1996, and the rebirth of Kiss as major stars. Kiss conventions gave fans the chance, for the bargain price of $100.00 a ticket, to
 *see costumes/instruments up close
 *interact with other Kiss superfans
 *see never before seen Kiss footage from the 1970s on
 *see a tribute band
 *see Eric and Bruce give clinics on their respective instruments
 *have a candid no B.S. Q&A session with the band
 *see/participate in an unplugged Kiss concert, which became the basis of the Kiss Unplugged CD.
 *see Paul Stanley's real personallity. a/k/a Stan Eisen
 *meet & greet Gene, Paul, Bruce, & Eric, get pictures & autographs.

Compared to what concert tickets cost today, it was a HELL of a bargain. And a once in a lifetime experience. I even had 3 seconds of a conversation with Paul Stanley. It's too bad this happened before the days of cheap digital cameras/recorders. I wish I had more than just a few snapshots and memories of this event. I went with my musical co-conspirator Greg C, who has been a major Kiss fan since the late 1970s. This was also during the early stages of forming our first band together, Primal Faith. In retrospect Primal Faith was almost the perfect storm of "striking while the iron is cold". We lived in Indianapolis, IN which is totally dominated by country and blues music, and it was the mid 1990s, which was totally dominated by corporate alternative, rap and country. Timing is everything in the industry.

4 for 1994!

Dream Theater: Awake
Queensryche: Promised Land
Savatage: Handful of Rain
Fates Warning: Inside Out

1994: A year of transition. Movies were still generally speaking original ideas, not remakes of old TV shows, comic books or other movies. The TV landscape was still 3 big networks, 1 smaller network and a few specialty cable channels, not like today where there are dozens of single subject cable channels. "The Simpson's" were really starting to enter their peak years with great humor and almost true to life characters. The internet was taking baby steps towards becoming mainstream. Grunge/Alternative was at its peak but the boy bands were beginning their 15 minutes of fame. The guitar solo was beginning to die off entirely. Shred was dead. Classic metal was dead too. Hair bands were double, super dead. MTV was transitioning out of playing videos and into showing reality TV shows. But somehow 4 major label releases by progressive metal bands hit the shelves in the fall of 1994. My life was in transition too, from college to post college.

1994 was the year that these bands were transitioning too. All four of these discs represent in my mind the closing of a chapter. "Handful of Rain" was the last CD Savatage would record as a set of unrelated songs. The next 3 discs would be rock operas and in 2 years a little side project called Trans-siberian orchestra would record their debut Christmas album and become a world wide sensation. Savatage eventually became absorbed by Trans-siberian orchestra and hasn't been heard from since 2001. I consider my self lucky that I got to see them live, and meet them, before they made the transition.

Queensryche's "Promised Land" sold a fraction of what "Empire" did 4 years earlier. In my view, it's the last Queensryche disc that sounds like Queensryche. In 1997 they recorded their first alternative rock disc and in 1999 they gave us their first genuine grunge CD, "Q2k". Fates Warning's "Inside Out" proved to be their last (so far) disc recorded as 2 lead guitar quintet. Musically, this disc is hit and miss. Hits are "Island In the Stream", "Monument", "Pale Fire", "Inward Bound","Outside Looking In", and the weird ballad "Afterglow". The rest isn't bad but, compared to their earlier work mostly forgettable. I really do miss the old Queensryche and Fates Warning!

Dream Theater's "Awake" is my favorite of these 4 discs and also, but alas, DT was also "in transition". Keyboard player Kevin Moore recorded the disc with the band but left shortly thereafter. I know Jordan Rudess is the definitive keyboard player for DT, but Kevin Moore is still my favorite. I don't think DT has ever sounded as good as they did on they disc. Part of the reason was Kevin Moore's heavily distorted keyboard tone. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of classic Jon Lord. I remember buying and listening to this disc on its release day. I was working at National City Bank at the time and didn't quite have the resources to move out, which put a huge damper on my romantic life. Within 6 months, I got my first place on my own and was perfectly willing to work 2 jobs to pay the bills, buy CDs, and have a good, but frugal post college life. Things weren't perfect for me, but I was willing to work and be self reliant, a strategy that worked well ever since.

Judas Priest "Painkiller" & "Jugulator"

Although "British Steel" is arguably the definitive Judas Priest album, I have much better stories associated with Painkiller and Jugulator.

1990 was my first year at Ball State University. One of the first people I met there was named Matt P. (he's actually one of three guys named Matt I was friends with there, if you can't keep them all straight don't worry about it.) Anyways Matt P. was (is) a huge Judas Priest fan too, although Matt P. is not what you would call a total Metalhead, like me. He lent me a couple of Judas Priest tapes I had never heard before. (Sin After Sin and Hero, Hero) Judas Priest was also in a slump in the late 1980s. Turbo was a bit too poppy and full of sythesizers and Ram It Down was too mechanical and by the numbers sounding.

Painkiller changed all that. With a new drummer (X-Racer X-er Scott Travis) and a new outlook Judas Priest suddenly redefined themselves. They hit the road with Megadeth and Testament opening up for them. My concert going bud, Matt Socey, got tickets to see them and by the sheer perserverance of waiting 5 hours in line, we got 2nd row seats! Testament and Megadeth were awesome from 10' feet away but Judas Priest still blew them out of the water. The craziest part of the show? When they hit the stage the set of some pyrotechnic bombs that were about 10' feet away from me. I remember being completely dazed and disoriented when this happened. Suddenly everything moved in slow motion for what seemed like a minute or two but really only a few seconds had passed. This is sometimes called time dilation. One of the best known examples of this is in the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan. I'm probably lucky I didn't crap my pants too! I also remember this happening to me in 1981 when I was hit by a car at age 10. I was too young to buy my own music at that age so there's no CD associated with that incident!

Jugulator is a forgotten Judas Priest album recorded with Tim 'Ripper' Owens on lead vocals. Judas Priest did their first tour in 6 years and I was not going to miss them. It was a general admission show in a small theater and I managed to make it to the front row. After the show, I decided I was going to meet the band, because I would probably never have a chance to do so. Amazingly all of them came out to meet their fans and behaved exactly like a bunch of stereotypical middle aged Englishmen. It was one of the best experiences I had during the late 1990s which were not exactly a golden period of my life, or a golden period for heavy metal. All the guys were so willing to talk to fans and just hangout with no reservations and without security. This right here is the biggest perk of being a metal fan. Your favorite bands are (usually) not a bunch of superstars. Most of them came from working class backgrounds and they still have that outlook.

Painkiller is considered a power metal classic, but I do wish Rob had toned down the falsetto screaming just a little bit. His natural voice is really good and we all know he can hit the highest notes, therefore he doesn't have to sing entire songs in his highest octave. Ripper did well as a temporary replacement. The biggest difference between in sound between Jugulator and the rest of the Judas Priest catalog is the fact that K.K. and Glenn tuned down a whole step for a looser and lower feel. There are definitely 2 classic songs on Jugulator: Bullet Train and Cathedral Spires. If you haven't heard them, download them.

AC/DC For Those About to Rock

AC/DC: For those About To Rock, We Salute You (and others)

My first exposure with AC/DC was in grade school seeing long haired scary teenagers wearing shirts with the logo on it. Most of them were probably named Rob or Travis and drove what would now be considered classic Chevy Cameros and Monte Carlos.

I first became aquainted with AC/DC's music in 1982 or 1983 when MTV put the title track to this record in semi-regular rotation. I remember loving the sound of the guitars, the riffs and especially the cannons. Even though AC/DC has been hugely successful they have never become generic celebrities like Aerosmith, Metallica, Green Day or Ozzy Osbourne. So I still have a lot respect for them for that.


It is often said, even by the band, that AC/DC has released the same record over and over since their debut. (There is some truth to that but some are definitely better than others)

In the spirit of that observation, I will be talking about more than one AC/DC disc. AC/DC was a huge part of my musical life and will always be connected with 1986 - 1992 to me.


1986:I spent this year buying as much AC/DC on cassette as I could. Most of the money came from lawn mowing. During the summer of 1986 I was mowing at least 4 lawns a week from $5 to $10 a pop. My grandfather was the only person paying me $10.00 but he did have a pretty big lawn. I managed to get Back in Black, For Those About To Rock, Fly on the Wall, and Who Made Who. I also remember watching Maximum Overdrive every chance I got when it was on Showtime, which is still one of the great horrendous sci-horror movies of all time. AC/DC was one of Steven King's favorite bands and had them do the sound track to Maximum Overdrive. Early printings of the record emphasized this, later printings de-emphasized this. I also remember various people denying this connection existed in college.


1988: My first disillusionment with AC/DC came. "Blow Up Your Video". I'm not a huge fan of the disc even to this day. It has 2 good songs and the rest was filler. I was still a pretty big fan though and even learned how to play a song or two by them.


1990: Saw them live with my friend Matt Socey at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. I remember being underwhelmed because a large part of the set was Bon Scott era material that I wasn't as familiar with. Also, some of the dragged out versions of songs got annoying. One or two extended songs is fine but they did at least 2 or 3 songs that passed the 10 minute mark. I felt the pacing got a little tiresome. The opening act was also pretty lame, Love/Hate. Ironically, the Razor's Edge came out in 1990 which is when AC/DC had officially lost their edge, although this disc was MTV gold and made them piles of money.


1991: Saw them again on the same tour as before at an outdoor venue and I did enjoy it more because I was a little more familiar with the Bon Scott era songs. I remember going to the show with a guy I worked with at the time and running into one of my college friends and his girlfriend. This was also the year my college friend's band really got going and they played at least 3 or 4 AC/DC songs a night which always went over well. L.A. Guns opened for them this time around who have 5 or 6 songs that I really like, but I'm definitely not a fan of them.

1992: AC/DC's live 2 disc set comes out. I think this was actually the point where my fandom with AC/DC peaked. This was the last AC/DC disc I went out of my way to buy. I still like AC/DC but I don't go out of my way to get the new discs and I haven't seen them live since 1991. I guess that's the risk of making the same disc over and over and over. Certain devoted fans will move beyond what you are doing and seek out something different.

Iced Earth: Alive In Athens

2000 Iced Earth: Alive in Athens

I got this disc during the summer of 2000, 5 or 6 months after the Y2K bug was supposed to have ended civilization. I spent the summer of 2000 working as a temp doing accounts payable for the Indiana Pacers and this was the year they made it to the NBA Finals. For the past couple years I had been doing similar accounting jobs. The biggest difference was that sometimes names like "Reggie Miller", "Derek McKey" or "Austin Croshere" would show up on invoices. I didn't get to meet any players in any real way, but occaisionly I did see Al Harrington, who now plays for the Denver Nuggets, the afore mentioned Derek McKey and Brian Cardinal, who now plays for the Dallas Mavericks. I did manage to see a few memorable games for free too.

But back to Iced Earth. They are a legendary power metal band thoughout Europe who are chart toppers in Germany and Greece. This disc is as great as any of the classic live metal albums of the 1970s and 1980s. (Live After Death, Alive I and II, World Wide Live, Unleashed in the East etc) But what is really crazy is that these guys at that time were living outside of Columbus, Indiana. I found this out when my friend and bandmate Greg went to see Dio live at a bowling alley that was converted to a bar. I just happened to run into their lead singer Matt Barlow and their guitarist Jon Shaeffer. I saw three people wearing Iced Earth T-Shirts after the show and I asked them kind of sarcastically "Are we having an Iced Earth convention here?" and suddenly I realized I was looking at lead singer Matt Barlow, but my brain is telling me, "That's Impossible!" Matt then tells me that he lives in Columbus, IN because that's Iced Earth base of operation because Jon Shaeffer lives there too. We also met Ronnie James Dio, Jimmy Bain, Craig Goldy and Simon Wright that night too. More on that later.

Academically, I was kicking ass and taking names as a student of computer technology. Not only was I understanding the subject matter, I was getting A's as well. For the first time ever no one could accuse me of slacking off academically. Conventional wisdom says that older students will do much better than their younger counterparts and this really was the case for me. This actually led to first real position as a software developer.

Musically, this was also a disc that proved that metal was still alive, even in the darkest days of boy bands, grunge rock, alternative and all of the other manufactured musical trends of the 1990s. Better days for metal were just around the corner.

Symphony X: The Divine WIngs of Tragedy

Symphony X: The Divine Wings of Tragedy

1999 was the beginning of a real transition in my life. This was the year things really started moving in the right direction for me. I was taking math and computer technology classes and working various temporary jobs, but living at mom and dad's to pay for it. One of these jobs was being an auditor in cigarette warehouse. It was my job to make sure that all the boxes were in the right places. Sounds dumb, but a box of cigarettes is on average worth a $1000.00 retail so they had to make sure they knew where each box was and that all incoming and outgoing shipments were correct. This was also the first year that had a CD player installed in my car. Cassettes were becoming a thing of the past (finally).

I had two more or less annual rituals going on that summer: A trip to South Carolina and a trip to a Kiss convention. (More on how these traditions started later) This was also the year when my main source of new music information had fully switched from 'radio' or 'guitar/music magazine' to 'internet message board'.

My friend Greg (former lead singer of Primal Faith and Edgar Blunt) and I would generally go to the local Kiss convention, hang out other Kiss fans and spend a little time with Bruce Kulick or Eric Singer. There were always vendors with Kiss related collectables (read "crap that makes Gene Simmons' wallet thicker") and sometimes guys selling import and or idie label metal cds. In 1999 I became aware of the band Symphony X, thanks to the internet message board for the band Fates Warning. I was really intrigued just reading what the fans had to say about them. I had even heard an mp3 because it was 1999 and downloading an mp3 wasn't going to happen because of 'dial up.' Right in front of me at the convention was a guy selling all four Symphony X discs. I went ahead and bought 3 of the 4, which a first for me. I had bought plenty of discs in my life "sound unheard" but never 75% of a band's catalog in one fell swoop that was basically unheard.

1 of the 3 totally blew me away: The Divine Wings of Tragedy. The impact is still there. The others are still great but The Divine Wings of Tragedy flat out blew me away. There is one section of the title track that borrows Bach's Mass in B minor. Now my other annual ritual came into play because a few days after the Kiss convention. I drove down to Charleston, SC to see my friend Matt and hit the beach for a couple days. Having the right CDs made the 11 hour drive totally worth it. When I was younger I could spend hours on hours listening to CDs, but as I got older and started working all the time and going back school again, I didn't have that luxury anymore. So having 11 hours to rock out with a stack of CDs was just what I needed. I made this trip many times and had memorized virtually every mile of it. At some points the scenery is so breath taking you can't help but be mezmerised. Having the right sound track just made everything that much more memorable. The Divine Wings of Tragedy was perfect more me.

Of course Charleston, SC has breath taking scenery too. Go there and you'll know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean. I'm still a huge Symphony X fan, and they hold the record in my book for "most spent on a single concert". (More on this later)

Flotsam & Jetsam: Drift

Flotsam & Jetsam: Drift

1998 was a tough year for me for many reasons. It really was the point I had bottomed out and had nowhere to go up. During the first half of the year, I was in the absolute worst job I had ever had. I cannot even begin to describe how dysfunctional the boss/employee relationship was at the company I worked at. What made it even worse is the fact that these people had more or less hand selected me to work for them based on the relationship I had with them when I worked at National City Bank. This was the point that I figured it was time to rethink what I was doing for my day job. I also felt like musically things were falling apart too. The band I was in was losing its chemistry, in my opinion. It had become a 'job' and a 'place to be and a certain time every week'. The late 1990s were still a pretty directionless period of time for rock and metal. Alternative was 100% mainstream and the local scene was as dead as a doornail. I wasn't seeing a reason or a way to get ahead musically. I was also having some arm problems related to a 7 year old fracture in my elbow. So basically 1998 as a whole wasn't a great year for me.

This disc, while completey unknown outside of Flotsam & Jetsam's fanbase described what was going on with me. It was a disc written about frustration, anger, self doubt and disillusionment. Flotsam and Jetsam were pretty much known only as the answer to a trivia question, (What band was Jason Newsted in before Metallica?) and I think this was beginning to wear on them. When I listen to this disc now I remember how bad rock music was throughout the 1990s. Alternative was mainstream and metal was considered a bygone relic. Guitar solos were absent or frowned upon and technique was considered a bad thing. Alternative rock radio was milking the fad to death and many fair weather fans and wanna bees were popping up by the dozen.

Flotsam and Jetsam were also not a 1980's hair band, but they were still getting the same cold shoulder the industry was giving to hair bands in the mid 1990s. In other words it seemed like an arbritray decision for the industry to shun them. F&J had more in common with Metallica and Alice In Chains than Warrant, Winger or Motley Crue but were still treated as if they were like the latter bands. In some ways, I felt the same way about my professional life. I had a good degree, a decent GPA and looked as good in a suit as any other recent college grad, but could never land a job in my field. (I felt the same way about my dating life at this time too, but that's for another time.)

Much like Fates Warning's No Exit, F&J's Drift is about a frame of mind and an emotional state. When I am in this state of mind, this is a disc I have gone to a lot. Musically it still holds up today and would recommend this disc to anyone.

Blank Tape!

Cassette Recordings of various bands I was in:

These represent 11 years of time starting in 1987 and ending in 1998 and are mostly lost in time now. Here's some memorable moments caught on cassette.

1987 - My friend Aaron, another guy named Kevin and myself used to  play really badly in Aaron's basement after school and record it on a boombox. That's not totally a fair statement because Aaron was several years ahead of himself in the musical developement arena, Kevin and I played badly because we were really inexperienced. Aaron recorded this song on his own using multiple boom boxes to acheive multi-track recording called 'Jamaican Dreams(?)' It was as good as any novelty record ever written and I still crack up when I think up the surrealistic lyrical gems he penned such as '500,000 years have passed me by, but all I got for Christmas was a big bow tie'. For the most you had to be there to appreciate it, I was there and I still appreciate it, 24 years later. Aaron's mother always said it sounded good, but I'm sure what really sounded good was the fact that she knew where her teenage son was and what he was doing with his friends even if the music was 'music' in vaguest sense of the word.

1990 - Aaron and I did a 4 song demo on a 4 track recorder. He played bass guitar and drums and I played guitar. I still sometimes listen to this one. I was going get someone to sing on it, but it never happened. I was thinking that I could send this demo to Mike Varney at Shrapnel records and get a deal to do a solo album.

1996 - I was in a band called Primal Faith with 3 other guys and low and behold, we recorded a couple practices on cassette tape. Back then my day job was working at a bank and everyone there knew I played in a band. No one really said much about that one way or the other but at some point someone did ask if we had ever made a tape. I brought it in and got surprisingly good feedback, but none of my bank coworkers ever showed up for gig.

1997 - Primal Faith went into the "studio" on a couple Sunday nights and recorded 4 songs on cassette. Unfortunately, I don't think this recording really captured us at our best. The biggest problem in retrospect was amp quality. No matter what anyone says, bad gear can kill a band's sound, and the cheap solid state amps we had gave a raw lo-fi sound but not in a good way.

1998 - After Primal Faith fizzled out, a second band called Edgar Blunt was attempted (more on this later) We went into a studio and recorded a 4 song demo on cassette that turned out pretty good. I managed to get a copy of this tape into the hands of Savatage/TSO guitarist Chris Cafferty. I wonder if he ever listened to it or not, or if it just ended up flung out of a tour bus leaving Cincinatti.

I listened to all of these cassettes over and over again. They reprsented small victories and milestones in my musical life. I really wish I could hear them one more time, but that is fleeting nature of life. No dress rehearsals, no rewinds. You get one shot in life sometimes so you better take it. I'm glad I took it back then and committed it to tape. Who knew the day would come that everyone and his brother would be able to do their own digital recording on CD in their bedroom? Not the guys bashing it away in the parent's basements in the late 1980s, that's for sure. I still record my own stuff to this day, even if no one else will ever hear it, because that is the nature of the creative musician.

Watch this space!

Blogger's note:

2 new posts coming up shortly dealing with 1997 and 1998. These have hard years to write about in any coherent fashion, hence the lack of new posts. So, 2 new posts should be up in the next couple days.

J

Queensryche: The Warning

1995 was the year I graduated from Ball State University with my Finance degree.  I spent my last semester of college as a suitcase student commuting back and forth from Ball State to Indianapolis on the weekends to do a couple of jobs; working as teller for a big bank and working Sunday mornings at a Little Caeser's. I was living at Elliot Hall, a 21+ dorm on college that somehow had been invaded by a bunch of foreign exchange students. Unfortunately, most of them were obviously well to do Europeans who thought they were better than us midwesterners. Arrogance and elitism became the order of the day to fit into the social scene and I wasn't going there. If you wanted to friends with most of them, you basically had to bash the US at every opportunity.

I didn't really get a professional job upon graduation. I still had the job as a teller with the 'big bank' but was looking to get into either commercial lending or branch management. I also had a second job at Pizza Hut* to keep me in luxuries, like effect pedals and more CDs. I figured in a year or two, I could get ahead at the bank and start a real life. In May of 1995 I graduated, moved out and said goodbye to few remaining friends I had at Ball State. One odd piece of trivia is that the last person I said goodbye to was a singer named Jeff, who by strange coincidence was the first or second person I met at Ball State who became a long term friend.

This was also the year that my friend Greg and I started our second band, which became known as Primal Faith. Greg was a singer/ryhthm guitarist and I was switch hitter between lead guitar and bass guitar. Greg and I were in a failed attempt of a band in 1994 that I won't get into now. He called me in 1995 and was interested in starting a band. It sounded like a good idea to me! We started out as a 'double guitar duo' writing original songs and learning covers. We spent our weekends of the summer of 1995 writing tunes in the spare bedroom of his house on the east side of Indianapolis. There was a real creative chemistry between us. More than once we found out that we had compatible parts of incomplete songs that we could put together to create something that more than the sum of its parts.

This was also the year that I moved out of the parents house for good awhile. I had my first real apartment just a few blocks away from the bank that I worked at. Sometimes, I even got to see it because I was working 40 hours at the bank, 15 hours at Pizza Hut, and working on music with Greg for another 5-10 hours per week. There will be more about Greg and Primal Faith in the future.

I bought Queensryche: The Warning because of the song "Take Hold of the Flame" which seemed to be the high point of their set when I saw them in 1988. I really felt like I needed to Take Hold of The Flame and do something with my life. Everytime I put in this disc, I am taken back to 1995. None of the events of 1995, meaning the bank, the band or Pizza Hut turned out to be my destiny. More on all of this later.

I'm also going to add that this a metal classic and was the start of a signficant period of creativity for Queensryche. It has aged incredibly well and is a 9 out of 10.

*(more on the switch between Little Caeser's and Pizza Hut later on)

Rainbow: Long Live Rock 'n Roll

"How to build a massively huge collection of CDs on a limited budget"

Back before Napster, CD burners, iPods, podcasts, satellite radios, hipsters, the best way to get music cheaply was the music club. The big two were RCA Music Club and Columbia house. If you are over 35, you probably remember the drill, get "x" number of CDs for "free" but then you have to have to buy a certain number of "regular priced" CDs. You also had to make sure to mail in the card each month saying "I don't want this months selection", or else you might end up with a copy of 'Lionel Ritchie's Greatest Hits'. I started doing the math on the clubs and determined that you were really paying about $5.00 per CD. I was a business major in college and this was one of the first places I started using 'cost analysis' in real life. Take your total expenditures related with being in one of the clubs divided by the total number CDs you get and it comes out to about $5.00 a disc.

This was a system I learned to game to an almost criminal level. There were times when I had 2 or 3 memberships going simultaneously. The best part about the clubs was that everytime you signed up a friend, or in my case an alias, you got more free CDs. At one point I had memberships under the names of John Hellert and J. Mark Hellert, both going to the same address through RCA. At one point I even added a third alias, Jon E. Helle (pronounced Johnny Hell) for even more CDs. But what really takes the cake is that every time I tried to end a membership under one of the aliases, I would get a letter back saying "Please don't leave RCA music service, we'll even give you more free CDs if you renew". Even when I tried to end Jon E. Helle's membership, this happened. Eventually after a couple hundred CDs, I left the clubs. I had complete works (or almost complete works) of Black Sabbath, Dio, Rainbow, Rush, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Deep Purple, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Kiss, etc, etc...

Notice I did say almost criminal level of gaming. The reason the clubs kept asking my aliases to rejoin is because I paid every invoice they sent me. I look at it this way: I liked getting cheap CDs and they liked getting checks that cleared on time. Completely win/win for everyone.

Back to the subject of this post: Long Live Rock 'n Roll by Rainbow. This is truly the best of the three Rainbow albums with Ronnie James Dio. I really wish this lineup would have recorded one more studio album together. They really had it going on creatively. Dio may be gone, but he will not be soon forgotten. Long Live Ronnie James! And yes, I did get this particular by gaming the RCA Music service.

Black Sabbath: Dehumanizer

Black Sabbath: Dehumanizer

This disc was a reunion between Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio.

I bought it during the summer of 1992 while between semesters at Ball State University. That summer I was taking a math class through Purdue University at IUPUI. The class was called "Brief Survey of Calculus" and was geared primarily to business majors. I studied hard and earned an A. It was the first ever A I earned in a math class. This was my first experience with Purdue University and I left the class being significantly impressed by the teacher, who was probably a grad student looking to teach math full time. I am 100% sure that this is where the seed to get a Purdue degree was planted. There was also a young lady that I had a pretty good rapport with in this class, but she told me she had a boyfriend. It was probably true. One thing I remember most about my 20's is that 99.999999999% of the women I met had boyfriends, even the completely unattractive and bitchy ones. Sometimes it seemed like 'especially the unattractive and bitchy ones'.

Later on that year, my friend Matt Socey, a friend of his, I went to go see Black Sabbath on the dehumanizer tour. He actually scored a press pass for himself because he wrote for the school newspaper. He interviewed the opening band Exodus before the show and they were gracious enough to let me sit on the interview. It was quite and experience for me. I got to meet thrash metal legends and get in their tour bus. Their lead singer Steve Souza told us lots of tales and the history of the band and also how he used to be in the band that eventually became Testament. The most interesting thing Steve Souza told us was that he went Ronnie James Dio's 50th birthday party that summer. This blew my mind because, I knew Ronnie was a little older than your average rock star, but not that much older. This meant that Ronnie James Dio was much, much closer in age to my parents than he was to me. Holy generation gap, Batman!

Matt got to meet Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi after the show. I had brought a copy of Dehumanizer with me to get signed by the band because I knew this in advance. I'm 99% sure this was the last concert I had attended with Matt Socey. This was probably the most memorable one although seeing Judas Priest, Megadeth & Testament from the 2nd row was pretty memorable too. As I said before Matt has done well for himself as a music and movie critic. You can hear him deliver public radio goodness on WFYI radio in Indianapolis, IN (Check out my post on Mr. Big for more info about Matt Socey)

Musically, this disc still kicks ass and totally destroys Ozzy's 'No More Tears' disc. There is nothing on Dehumanizer that even resembles a power ballad. And the fact that neither Ronnie James Dio or Black Sabbath were pulling a fake retirement stunt gives them 100x the metal credibilty that Ozzy had in 1991.

Spinal Tap: Smell The Glove

Spinal Tap: Smell The Glove

The single greatest and most influential disc that doesn't even exist. I guess it really is the movie that the memories are attached to, but Smell the Glove is essential to the 'plot' of 'This Is Spinal Tap.' Much like Led Zeppelin IV, there is very little I can say about 'This Is Spinal Tap' that hasn't been said before. So all I can do is share with you how Spinal Tap has fit into my life.

I first heard about Spinal Tap in 1984 on MTV. I didn't really grasp the concept because at first they (being MTV) seemed to be treating Tap as if they were a real band and there was a real tour and this was a 'real' movie. This may not be totally accurate because I was 13 at the time and may not be remembering things correctly. As most people know, This Is Spinal Tap bombed at the box office, but became an underground sensation due to cable tv and video rentals. It eventually spawned a series of pseudo-sequels in the form of other fake documentaries done on subjects ranking from dog shows, folk music, and amateur theater.

I first saw This Is Spinal Tap in 1988 or 1989 with my friend Aaron. I don't remember whose idea it was to get it, but whoever suggested it was a genius. So that means it was probably him. I remember loving the movie from the get go, even when it seemed to make no sense at all. The next time this movie came up when when I went to go see Joe Satriani for the first in 1990. I went with my friend Aaron and my former guitar teacher Chris. It was one of the things we all had in common, we had all seen This Is Spinal Tap and could recite the ridiculous dialoge off the top of our heads. I also watched this movie a couple times when I lived with my parents and they did not understand it.

Once I was at Ball State and starting really forging lifelong friendships, Spinal Tap mania totally exploded. All of my good friends, fellow musicians, loved Spinal Tap. Watching, reciting, eating, breathing and living all things Spinal Tap was considered a normal part of college life. How any of us become productive members of society is beyond my comprehension at age 40. I remember getting a genuine piece of Marshall promo material with Christopher Guest dressed up as Nigel pimping the Marshall JCM 900 amps, which had a gain knob that went to 20. It had the caption "Now it goes 20. That's 11 louder innit?" I ended up giving this poster to my good friend Joe. I hope he still has it, and has explained its significance to his many offspring.

The next time Spinal Tap came up significantly was in 2004 once directly, and once indirectly. It came up directly because my mother asked me about it. This blew my mind. I asked her why the sudden interest in Tap? It turns out a critic on NPR said some thing good things about it on the radio and this piqued her interest. We watched it and she liked it. The question now is why did she like it in 2004 but not 15 years before? Spinal Tap really was 20 years ahead of its time. By the mid 1990s the media was saturated with celebrities  and washed out celebrities spouting off ill informed and asinine opinions about any subject you wanted to know, and if you think about it that's what 2/3rds of Spinal Tap is: washed out rockers spouting mindless opinions. Spinal Tap came up indirectly in 2004 when my then girlfriend came to visit me with the stack of pseudo-sequels to Spinal Tap. That was a clear sign that my days as a bachelor were numbered.

New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited

New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisted

I consider 1991 to be a red letter year in my life. If I found out that I was caught in a time
loop that repeated this infinitely, like Groundhog Day, I'd be a happy camper. I had friends
like I had never had before and never had since. I had time to practice guitar and ride my
bike. I had long hair. I had classes that challenged me but weren't impossible. I went to more concerts that year that I can remember. I was still working fast food, but I was a shift manager so I finally was not just a lowly crew member. My sister was a student at IU and I went to the Little 500 that year. Well... I just partied with her friends the whole time. I even broke my left elbow in 1991 and I still view this as a red letter year. That should tell you how good of a time I was having that year. This disc set is 1991 to me.

On to the disc at hand. This disc was a compliation project done by Lars Ulrich in 1989. In  1989 Lars & Metallica still had a lot of street credibility as metal musicians and still had a real connection to the underground metal scene that had influenced them. This disc was a tribute to those bands, and a couple other bands that went from being unknowns to being household names. (Iron Maiden & Def Leppard) How obscure are the rest of the bands on this? Ever hear of Sweet Savage, Sledgehammer, Angel Witch or Vardis? Didn't think so.

One thing about this disc has been a running gag with me and my friend 'Matt the K' for 20 years now: The Cover. Featured on the cover is the drummer for a band called Samson. (which once had Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden as a lead screamer) This guy's stage name is  Thunderstick. He's like a member of Slipknot that existed 15 years before the band actually did. 'Matt the K' and I for years would make jokes about him working at McDonalds, being a rent a gimp, providing security services or being a secret consultant working behind the scenes of the global music business. Through the wonders of MySpace, I actually got a hold of the real life Thunderstick and traded several emails with him. He seems like a great guy who has had a great time living his dual life in character as Thunderstick and out of character in his regular life.

The other thing that really strikes me about this disc is that it is a perfect illustration
about how time flows differently when you are younger. Lars made this compliation when he was 26 years old and was nostalgic about the music he loved at age 16. At 36 I think it's safe to say he wasn't as nostalgic about the music he loved at age 26. I'm sure the 20 years that have passed since this was released flew by for him much,much faster than the 10 years between 1979 and 1989. At least that's the way it's been for me.

Does this disc set hold up? Mostly yes. Lars made some good choices and really let us hear the music that has his teenage memories are attached to. If you want to know what Lars was jamming to in 1979, this is the disc set for you.

Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind

This album is the latter part of the summer of 1990 in a nutshell. I think I bought this a few days before I went away to college and those last few days were pretty memorable. I was working at a grocery store just a few blocks from home at the time saving up money for my first semester at Ball State University. I actually made a few friends at the grocery store. We were all pretty young; ages 16 - 18. On a couple of occasions we went to a water slide park north of town, all piled into my dad's station wagon. Good times. I remember meeting up at one of the cashier's house one night to play Euchre. It was good, on the level times. But a few other things were going on too. This wasn't just a male only party. One of my high school buds... we'll call him 'Chris' and one of the cashiers... we'll call her 'Jane' were bagging more than just groceries, so to speak. 'Chris' was a good looking guy with a lot of charm with the ladies. He was (and still is) the kind of person who could tell you the most ridiculous thing in the world and you couldn't really tell if he believed it or not. 'Jane' wasn't bad looking but was not drop dead gorgeous either. She somewhere in the middle area that makes a girl approachable and I think she was 21 too. She had a boyfriend who was probably a schmuck but he was about half the size of Chris so it wasn't a concern of his if he got caught.

Anyways, 'Jane' had a least one good female friend at the grocery store named 'Veronica' who was 23 or 24 but looked  all of 17 years old. She was blonde and pretty and very sweet. She was involved with someone but I don't think it was too serious. I also think she had 2 kids too. So what happened was 'Chris', 'Jane', 'Veronica' and I all went to the state fair together. It wasn't a 'date-date' or 'double date' but it was definitely one of my first date like experiences. It was actually a really good time. She even held my hand a few times, which really blew my mind. Hey, any female contact was good female contact, especially when they looked like her. But the really funny part, that really sticks with me is that at about midnight, 'Veronica' suggested we go to a night club. I'm thinking... 'you realize I'm only 19, right?' "Don't worry about it, they know me there and they don't check ID's this late at night," was her response. Well, she was right. It was my first real experience at a night club with no ID. I remember the place was packed and being totally self conscious. I didn't dare go to the bar an order a beer, so Veronica went ahead and got me one! At this same bar was someone else my age, from my graduating class. Her name was 'Lucy' (yeah I'm changing all these names) We actually had a pretty good conversation, which we probably never did in high school. She was really pretty, and still is to this day. Turns out that she, like me, felt like she was never accepted in school. That blew my mind. I thought she was popular party girl, but that may have all been an illusion. She was there with some other guy who I knew and had good relations with, even though I barely knew him. But for the longest time, I remembered talking with 'Lucy' that night, thinking how I really didn't know her but we had so much in common. I'm sure no one else really remembers the events of that night. It was all just fun, but it has always stuck with me. In some ways I divide my life between 'pre college', 'college' and 'post college' and this night really represented the last night of my 'pre college' life.

There's nothing in the post about the music so far, but Piece of Mind is always connected to that night, those places, and those people even if time has slipped away. The bridge between my pre college life and my college life is the place mentally that Piece of Mind occupies. Musically, it still holds up 100% even if 'Quest for Fire' is not a great song. This was Iron Maiden at a creative peak during metal's glory years. Up the Irons!

Mr. Big

Mr. Big

This disc epotomizes how music is more than just background noise or entertainment. Music has the power to make connections, forge friendships and change lives. The year was 1989. I had a 'freshly minted' high school diploma, a fast food job with Little Caeser's Pizza, dreams of rock stardom and the well thought out plan of going to college part time at IUPUI. I labored under the delusion that a social scene existed at IUPUI. (it's a commuter school in downtown Indianapolis)  I soon found out I wasn't going to make any real friends there. Most people didn't want to know your name and a large percentage of the student body was late 20's to early 30's in age. So I made friends where I could and kept up with some of my friends from high school who were still around. I had a couple failed relationships too. In retrospect they were nothing I should have really got too concerned about, but I didn't see things that way at 18. But back to how Mr. Big fits into this.

This was a really anticipated album for me. Their guitarist Paul Gilbert was somewhat of an idol of mine. In December of 1989, Mr. Big played a show in Indianapolis and had a record signing/meet and greet session at a local record store. Not only did I have a chance to see them live I would have a chance to meet them as well. This was the second time that I got to meet one of my musical heros and get a couple autographs. Meeting Mr. Big turned out to be a total blast. They were cordial and easy going with no ego at all.

But how does Mr. Big hold up musically? This disc is a solid B+ performance. Top notch chops mixed with pretty good songwriting. Nothing ground breaking and a only 1 power ballad. It's aged pretty well and doesn't sound ridiculously dated, but it is a little dated nonetheless. The touches of humor found throughout were a good idea. These guys really don't take themselves all that seriously and it shows in the music, unlike a lot of the hairbands.
But that's only half of this story.

In front of me in line was a guy about my age who was also a huge rock/metal fan. We got to talking and basically had the same interests and tastes. He mentioned to me that he went to Ball State University and wrote for their student newspaper. I had never met him and he had never met me before. It was much like what Fight Club called "a single serving friendship". This is where it gets hazy to me now after 21.5 years. I was not happy living at home and going to IUPUI. I wanted to transfer out after the first year but wasn't sure where to go. I'm starting to think now that that this guy influenced me to go to the same school he did. Shortly thereafter, I turned in the paper work to transfer to Ball State. Months passed. I was accepted... I moved in... a few days later. I ran into my single serving friend! Turns out we lived in the same building. Turns out we became more than just 'single serving friends'. He was one of my best buds for at least 3 years while I was at Ball State. We went to other concerts including Judas Priest, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath.

As years passed we drifted but still kept in touch. We still have many mutual friends in Indiana, St Louis and other places. He is now a well respected music/movie critic and a part time play director. You can hear him deliver Public Radio Goodness on WFYI radio in Indianapolis, IN

You can find me right here on this blog and you can find him here: http://www.wfyi.org/radio/localPrograms/radioBluesHouseParty.asp

Fates Warning: No Exit

Year released 1988
Year purchased 1988

Time for some old school underground progressive metal! I first heard of Fates Warning while in high school from a guy who I would categorize as 'Least Likely to be into underground metal'. I remember him saying he thought they were great but had to be the most anti-life band ever. A few months later on MTV's Headbanger's Ball. The video for Silent Cries (No Exit) came on. It. Blew. My. Mind. Great riffs, great dynamics/textures, great guitar solos, great Halford-esque screams. I had to get this on cassette as soon as possible. The whole album blew me away. Side 2 (remember album sides?) was one 20 minute composition: The Ivory Gate of Dreams. This was exactly what I needed; A band that was equal parts Rush and Judas Priest. It is straight forward metal perfectly mixed with progressive rock and even some thrash influence. To me this was the metal of the future and in some ways I was proven right. (Dream Theater anyone?)

I bought this album near the beginning of my senior year and high school and it really fit me perfectly. By this time I was 100% metal head, I was become proficient on guitar and after 11 years of school finally felt like I had achieved some level of peer acceptance in school. I still didn't fit in, but I think I was respected at this point and had an identity. (metal fanatic, guitar fanatic, future rock star. 2 of those 3 are still true today)

One thing that sticks with me about this disc is how our perceptions of our 'rock stars' are completely distorted. I was 17 when I bought this and if you had asked me 'How old is lead singer Ray Alder and where is he from?' I would have said 'probably 25 or 30', because all rock stars were between those ages, and he's an American because he looked like an American. The real answer is Ray was 19 and Mexican. Also it's pretty comedic to think of Fates Warning as being rock stars. They probably all had day jobs in 1988. It was also common to think that anyone not famous in the US was famous in Europe, therefore they were still rich and famous, just not in the US.

One other piece of personal trivia attached to this album. I've bought it 3 times in my life. Twice on cassette, once on CD. If I lost or broke my CD version and lost all mp3s files of this disc, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

Does this disc have an 'anti-life' view? I would say no. It is possibly the most pessimistic disc that I own but it's not anti-life. This disc has helped get me through and understand times of my life that seemed unwinnable, when it seemd there was truly 'No Exit'. I realize now that 'all we do and we dream is NOT doomed to drown in a hopeless stream'. But when it seemed that way, it was reassuring to know that someone else had felt that way. Some really tough years for me were 1993, 1998 and 2001. Having this disc around helped me navigate tough times and brought me back to 1988 which was a pretty good year for me.

Does this disc hold up today? The guitar tones are a little thin but musically this disc is a true gem from beginning to end. Still worth the time/money.
More on this band in the future...

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin IV a/k/a Runes or Zoso

There's very little that can be said about this disc that hasn't been said before. Led Zeppelin seems to be the band that ended 60's rock and are quite possibly the first band to really become timeless. What about the Beatles or the Rolling Stones you say? In my opinion, they are the quintessential bands of the 1960s and that does not take anything away from what they accomplished, but their music is not timeless. As soon as I hear either one I immediately think '1960 something'. But Led Zeppelin doesn't sound ahead of their time but more 'out of time'. It's more like Led Zeppelin doesn't fit into any decade at all, which is why they still have huge appeal to this day.

I'm going to discuss this disc song by song and various memories associated with each one, since some of these memories span multiple decades.

Black Dog: Years ago I hung out in a little guitar shop in Speedway Indiana called Don Lynn's music. They had a bass guitar teacher whose face I can vividly recall but his name escapes me. He said he had a student who wanted to learn this song so he stayed up all night learning it, because they bass line is really tough. The student was shocked to hear this because, he picked the song because he figured the teacher couldn't learn it.

Rock 'n Roll: Senior Convocation 1989, I played this song live with 4 friends Mike, Chris, Aaron, and Kevin. This was my one moment as a star in school. Whatever labels students had put on me were gone, for one night. Kids cheered me and wanted to hear me cut loose on my guitar for one night. I also remember taping this song off the radio as part of series of mix tapes that I made for myself back in 1986 or so. I'm sure the quality was terrible but I loved this song and wanted a copy of it. Bands constantly cover it, but really very few do it justice because they leave out 2 key elements: the piano line and the hidden guitar part.

Battle of Evermore: I had the disc at least 15 years before I really understood what was going on in it. Dense layers of mandolin and background vocals by Sandy Denny.

Stairway To Heaven: Wayne's World "No Stairway" sign. Nuff said. Again, what can I say about this song that hasn't been said before.

Misty Mountain Hop & 4 Sticks: I was wrong. I have no significant memories associated with these two songs! They're still great though.

Going to California: A guy I used to work with moved to California for a short period of time and quoted this song to me. I knew exactly what he was talking about and had a good laugh. From what I understand, he didn't stay out in California too long.

When the Levee Breaks: In 2004 I worked with an aspiring professional drummer named Steve to create a drum machine part for one of my original tunes. We took the transcribed drum parts from a book of sheet music and programmed into a drum machine program. We made a few alterations/improvements and went with it. It was a song called Smoke and Embers which I've played in a couple different bands. Steve was a guy I met at an open stage back in Indiana at a little bar called the Hideaway on Hilltop. I played that open stage for almost 2 years until the bar decided to stop hosting it. Those were great times....

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

I first saw/heard Aerosmith on MTV. Believe it or not, it wasn't RUN DMC's Walk this Way, it was Lightning Strikes Again off of the now forgotten 'Rock in A Hard Place' disc, which must was released when I was a sixth grader in 1982. I probably saw the video twice and it went in one ear and out the other. My next exposure to Aerosmith was RUN DMC's Walk this Way. Still. Not. Impressed. Seeing all the white males in my high school acting like rap was part of their culture didn't help either. They were just a bunch teenagers hopping on a fad best I could tell and that irked me then.

Fast forward about a year and a half. I was in high school band and our band had an annual car wash to raise money for an annual trip. Someone brought a boom box and handful of cassettes, I couldn't tell you what any of those cassettes were but one of them was Aerosmith's Greatest Hits. After hearing AGHs, I soon was realized that many random songs that I liked on the radio were actually Aerosmith. (Sweet Emotion, Dream On, Back In The Saddle Again) I had one of my friends make me a copy of AGHs on cassette and I really got into Aerosmith. I bought as much Aerosmith after that as I could afford and became entranced with Get Your Wings, Toys in The Attic, Done With Mirrors, Rocks and their then latest and greatest, Permanent Vacation.

In 1987 I spent a whopping $12.00 or so and saw Aerosmith live with special guests Dokken. (more on these guys later) After the show, the guys I was with and I were approached by an EMT guy who showed us a scrap of paper signed by future American Idol judge/Generic Celebrity Steve Tyler. He didn't care at all about Aerosmith so he was looking to get a couple bucks for it. I paid him $2 or $3 and still have this small scrap of paper. I've seen Steve Tyler's signature in various media and it does match. I've told various people the real story about how I got it and have told other people that I met Steve Tyler too.

I don't even own this on CD. I have no need to. I've bought all the studio albums that these songs came from within months of getting my cassette copy. Back in the day, dubbed tapes often led to purchases of original albums, t-shirts, and concert tickets. I really quit being a die hard Aerosmith fan in 1989, once they made the transition from being 'rock stars' to being 'generic celebrities'. The old stuff is the best, as cliche as it is to say so.

Rush: Power Windows

Artist: Rush
Album: Power Windows
Year released/purchased: 1985

This was the first album by Rush I ever bought and was the soundtrack to the second semester of my freshman year in high school. I bought it partially based on a budding fandom that existed in me after seeing videos for "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", "Subdivisions", "Distant Early Warning" and "Vital Signs" on MTV. But what really got me to buy the album was the song Big Money. I saw the video on MTV and heard it on WFBQ and I was hooked.

I couldn't judge Power Windows in comparison to any other Rush disc, because I had never heard any other Rush discs. Many Rush fans today look at the Signals/Grace Under Pressure/Power Windows/Hold You Fire era as being weaker than what came before it mostly because Rush was willing to experiment with synths and electronic drums. I liked the dense arrangements, keyboards and overdubs in Power Windows, even if the Rush 'purists' of the day didn't. Like I said, I didn't go into Power Windows with any expectations. I judged it on its own merits and music. Power Windows also became my gateway drug into Rush addiction. Shortly thereafter, my cousin Patrick made me copies of Moving Pictures, Signals, Fly By Night, Hemispheres, Caress of Steel and Farewell to Kings off of his vinyl copies. Rush addiction soon built a friendship with a very talented young drummer in my high school band named Aaron who was also a Rush fanatic. (More on this guy later.)

Does Power Windows still hold up? It's definitely not in my top 5 favorite Rush discs. I didn't 'rush out' and buy it on CD once I owned a CD player either. There are other Rush discs that hold far more appeal to me. It's definitely not a timeless disc either; it screams 'mid 1980s' from the get go, and not always in a good way. Some records become known as classics, and Power Windows isn't a classic. It's just a good snapshot of what Rush was interested in musically in 1985 and how their interests were transformed into new music. I would say it deserves a good solid 'B' grade though. Nothing that transcends time but still worth a listen.



Dio: The Last in Line

Artist: Dio

Album: The Last in Line

Year released: 1984 Purchased by me in 1985 on cassette and in the mid 1990s on CD

This was probably the first true heavy metal album I had ever purchased. I bought it because I had heard the title track on the radio and saw the video once on MTV. I originally purchased it through the RCA Music club. I had my own membership at 13, which was against the rules. (OOOOPS!!!!) I paid for my purchases with allowance, lawn mowing money, left over lunch money, paper route money... etc etc. if I could get my hands on some money, if it wasn't spent on video games, at that age it was spent on music. I also got a Ronnie James Dio poster that I hung on my bedroom wall, which caused as much controversy as the "leg lamp in the front room window in A Christmas Story".

Musically and lyrically this disc blew my 13 year old mind. I really had no idea just how great Ronnie James Dio was or how important to heavy metal he was, but I knew these songs were awesome. I still think that way today. I remember playing this tape for anyone who would listen. Most people didn't get it or were shocked that I was into Dio. I was (is) a preacher's kid and all! I remember shocking some of my schools resident metal heads by talking authoritatively on this disc.

This disc has held up pretty well over the years. This is the "real" Dio lineup to me. Vivian Campbell, Claude Schnell, Jimmy Bain, Vinnie Appice and Ronnie James Dio. No other lineup has ever been to fire on all cylinders the way the orginal did. I've managed to meet some of my musical heroes over the years and Ronnie was a true professional and gentleman. The guy paid his dues musically and always had humble gratitude towards his fans, even if he didn't suffer the fools of the music business gladly. His voice may be silenced now, but the discs will spin in my player (and reside on my hard drive) for many years to come

Triumph: Allied Forces

Artist: Triumph

Album: Allied Forces

Year released: 1981 Purchased by me 1983 on cassette and in 1991 or 1992 on CD.

There is a lot of emotional and personal historic ground related to this album. In 1982, MTV was picked up by my local cable company and Triumph was in regular rotation those days. The first video of theirs that caught my eyes/ears was “Say Goodbye”. The video is pretty dated looking, like 99% of all videos 2 years after their initial release date, but does feature Rik Emmett playing a double neck guitar. Chances are very good Rik did this in homage to one of his heroes, Jimmy Page.  I always wanted a T-Shirt with the album cover on it. If ever I saw someone in public wearing one my eyes would bug out and I would think there was nothing cooler.

This disc really brings me back to my pre-teen years. It’s all about being young wild and free. In 1982 I was going into the 6^th grade at Wheeler Elementary in Speedway, Indiana. My musical seeds were really planted by this disc. I imagined that in an alternate universe *I* wrote and played these songs, not Triumph. I don’t think I had made the connection that I could possibly play guitar myself and write songs at that age. So I did the next best thing and started visualizing myself in a fictitious band in a fake universe that played songs that existed in this real world.

Allied Forces also was a huge bonding agent between me and my cousin Patrick who is the same age as me. We were both huge Rush and Triumph fans in our younger days. His tastes and musical direction has changed but mine has stayed pretty constant over the decades.  Triumph was never really a ‘hip’ band amongst my peer group growing up, so having a fellow Triumph fan in my cousin Patrick was beyond cool to me.

The good times playing Atari 2600 friends or my cousins is what this disc is about to me. Which brings up an important question: How does it hold up musically? I’d say in this decade pretty well. Other than a couple of outdated slang expressions, (“Hey mama, say what you wanna” in Fool For You Love comes to mind) it holds up pretty well. It features a timeless “Gibson through Marshall sound”, although I suspect a lot of the guitar parts were played with Framus Akkerman or Dean guitar. All of the drums are acoustic drums with no machines or samples and the bass playing is solid. There are also hints of early guitar synth and a Hammond B3 as well, but both are used sparingly.

One last aside about this disc. I remember getting on cassette as a prize from my employer, the Indianapolis Star, for selling a couple new newspaper subscriptions.