When Britpop gets brought up, it’s almost always a focus on the “Battle of Britpop” and the rivalry between Oasis and Blur. But when a “best songs of Britpop” list springs up, there’s often a whole other song at the top of it. If you are even halfway decent at guessing, you could probably figure that the song is Common People by the band Pulp.
Common People was the lead single from Pulp’s fifth album Different Class, which released toward the end of 1995 in the height of the Britpop phenomenon. The single was released 5 months in advance of the full-length.
While Pulp benefited from the wave of British alt-rock, they themselves were not newcomers to the scene – Pulp were formed in 1978 and were on the indie circuit until the 1990’s brought their form of music more into style. This was a case of a scene finding a band, rather than a band finding a scene. Nor was the success sudden – Pulp were a rising star already through the early part of the decade as alt-rock became the new dominant form of rock.
Common People is an upbeat, keyboard-driven tune, which has been the general territory of Pulp through the years. Its dance-ability differentiates it from the more rock-oriented “Britpop,” though Blur did have moments of electro-tourism in their music. Pulp’s simpler, “retro disco” themed take on songs worked extremely well here and caught the attention of music fans the world over.
The song’s theme is a big one – it addresses the issue of “slum tourism,” where people of means want to live in squalid conditions as some kind of thrill seeking thing. And while the song was dramatized a fair bit for effect, there is truth behind the opening lines. Common People was inspired by when singer Jarvis Cocker attended St. Martin’s College in 1988. He ran into a girl who was Greek and was studying art, and the girl indicated an interest in living “like common people.”
Cocker did add a bit to the song, chiefly that the girl was pursuing him, while in reality Cocker was pursuing the girl and she was not at all interested. There have also been attempts to nail down who the woman was and a few interesting possibilities came up, though nothing has definitely been said about the matter.
Common People does accomplish its mission in railing against the idea of class tourism. For a well-off person to “slum it” for a bit is really nothing – all that person has to do is pick up the phone and call, as in the case of the girl in the song, she can call her father and he can stop it all. For the common person, there is no one to call to get a lift out of the despair of being broke and having no prospects for a better future beyond a winning lottery ticket that never comes.
This song became a huge hit in the Britpop era of 1995, the single hit number 2 in the UK and sold over a million copies, it also propelled the album Different Class to also move a million each in the UK and on the continent. Common People has endured as a top shelf tune since its release, it is often found at or near the top of most “Best of Britpop” lists and NME magazine even voted it the best song of the 1990’s. Many bands from all across music have covered the song, one very notable rendition came from 2004 and the tandem of William Shatner and Ben Folds. The pair were joined by Joe Jackson for a pretty unique and crazy version of the song that got a lot of attention and did a lot to kick off Shatner’s quirky music career.
For Pulp, Common People would be their magnum opus, though the band held serve through the 1990’s as their sound was more diverse and proved able to navigate the sudden closure of the Britpop shop. Pulp have split and reconvened a few times through the 2000’s, including having just been on a reunion run this year. But no matter what they do now, their crown jewel of a song will remain immortal and speak to the lives of many all over who know all too well what’s it like to live like common people.
It was inevitable – I would someday write about the first Metallica album, as I’m pretty well assured to write about them all at some point. Today is the day for the first one.
Metallica – Kill ‘Em All
Released July 25, 1983 via Megaforce Records
My Favorite Tracks – The Four Horsemen, Jump In The Fire, Whiplash
There is a lot of history behind the rise of Metallica, and that can be accessed in any number of interviews, videos and books so I’ll spare a lot of it here. Essential to this album – A Metallica line-up of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine went cross-country from San Francisco to New York to record this album. Mustaine was let go from the band in New York and replaced by Kirk Hammett in what is probably the most discussed line-up change in heavy metal history.
Megaforce Records founder Jon Zazula (Jonny Z) had put up every dime he had to finance the recording, which is why Metallica hauled ass that far to record in the first place, as Metal Blade Records head Brian Slagel couldn’t quite afford the costs. After necessary re-mixing, Jonny Z was totally out on his ass financially and it took awhile for him to find distribution for this album. I guess many record label execs wanted “Passed on Metallica” as a line item on their resumes.
Metallica wanted to call the album Metal Up Your Ass but Jonny Z convinced them to rename it for marketability purposes, thus Kill Em’ All was born. Once Metallica’s stock began to rise they sold plenty of Metal Up Your Ass t-shirts as well as copies of Kill ‘Em All.
Kill ‘Em All is a fairly hefty album with 10 songs coming in at 51 minutes. There are now several other versions around but I’ll handle the base version today, as I typically do. Dave Mustaine is credited on four songs, he would attest to having been involved with more in what is heavy metal’s biggest argument ever. All I know is that I was about to enter kindergarten when they recorded this and I have no clue who did what.
Hit The Lights
The opener comes in with a grand bit of noise and then kicks into a whole lot more noise. The lyrics are simply a verbal account of what the song and Metallica’s first album will do, which is to play loud, fast and get the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Mission accomplished.
Hit The Lights had a few other versions before the album release so this song was out there a bit. This was a song James Hetfield brought to the band from his prior band, he and Lars re-worked the tune for Metallica.
The Four Horsemen
The next track is one of Mustaine’s contributions and a song he originally brought in. His old version was called Mechanix and had much different lyrical themes. For post-Mustaine Metallica, the band reworked the song into a tale of the riders of the Apocalypse. This is a lengthy track, showing off early that Metallica were unafraid to challenge the conventional length of songs. And the riffs here are totally New Wave Of British Heavy Metal on steroids, showcasing the direct influence of one metal movement on another.
Motorbreath
This is an all-out banger in both music and lyrics. Not subtle at all, this one pounds the point home from start to finish. It’s all about living fast and hard, the inspiration for and rallying cry of this new form of heavy metal back in its infancy. It would seem as though Metallica pulled the title as tribute to their massive influence Motörhead, though band members have said this was coincidental as it relates to this song.
Jump In The Fire
This was another song Dave Mustaine brought into Metallica. It was originally a song about sex, but after Mustaine left it was re-written to be about being damned to Hell and literally “jumping into the fire.” This one really shows off how Metallica could deftly walk the line between savage heaviness and catchy songwriting – sure this is super heavy, but those riffs are attention-grabbing.
Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)
This is a Cliff Burton bass solo. It’s not some typical bass work either – this is effect-laden and shows Cliff using the instrument like a guitar. Burton was a massive part of Metallica’s early legend and remains a mythical figure. Burton played this a lot in his early days and it was what first drew attention from Lars and James.
Whiplash
Celebrated music journalist Mick Wall wrote in his Enter Night: A Biography On Metallica that Whiplash was the moment thrash metal was introduced to the world. He’s totally correct, this is total breakneck stuff that set the template for heavy metal’s 1980’s course. This was also the first single released from the album. Lars has cited Venom as a primary influence for the speed of this song.
Phantom Lord
This is another song that shows off the NWOBHM influence mixed with Metallica’s early savagery. It is a menacing tale of a warmongering tyrant, something that would become a thrash trope over the years. This is another one credited to Dave Mustaine.
No Remorse
This one hangs out mid-tempo for most of its run, the almost marching feel of the rhythm compliments the lyrics about excelling on the battlefield without feeling remorse or regret for one’s actions. In the last few minutes this song explodes out of its mid-paced shell and goes off the rails for a crazy finale.
Seek And Destroy
This extended cut would become a venerable classic in Metallica’s huge live catalog. This one keeps it pretty simple, with a riff that jumps out and grabs hold as the lyrics paint a tale of terrorizing whatever unlucky souls happen to be out at night. It is Metallica’s third most-played song with nearly 1,600 live airings, and assuredly more to come.
Metal Militia
The closer is another thrash monster that celebrates the leather and denim clad legions found at the early thrash shows. This army would grow to millions as the ’80’s went on and Metallica ascended to the kings of the heavy metal mountain.
Kill ‘Em All got the attention of music critics on release, who loved the heavy yet still somewhat refined sound of Metallica’s delivery. Commercially the album sold better than expected out of the gate, allowing Megaforce Records to get more solid financial footing and quickly spreading the word about Metallica. As Metallica gained in stature, Kill ‘Em All was along for the sales ride, eventually breaking 5 million copies worldwide, with 4.5 of those being in the US.
This album is more raw than the band’s offerings afterward, and of course Metallica would conquer the world with a sound more trimmed down from the thrash period of the ’80’s. But this record is a massive landmark in the development of heavy metal. While the mainstream of the 1980’s would be known for hairspray and ballads, Metallica would be the flag-bearers for a far heavier version of metal that spawned countless scenes and offshoots in the decades since. It was ok to play as heavy and fast as you could or wanted, there was an audience for it.
Today I’m talking about a country song revolving around a small town, though this one is 32 years old and wasn’t a political lightning rod, instead it’s just an enjoyable song from the ’90’s country era.
Hal Ketchum came up in the Texas scene and began his recording career in the late 1980’s after playing for several years on the live club circuit. His second album Past The Point Of Rescue would be his major label debut for Curb Records and is where today’s song hails from. The album would go gold for half a million copies sold and was the start of Ketchum’s solid presence on the airwaves of 1990’s country.
Small Town Saturday Night was one of three singles from the album that went to number 2 on the Hot Country charts. This was the lead single and served as Ketchum’s introduction to the national country stage, where he picked up steam right off the bat. While Ketchum did write a lot of his own material, this song was brought in from outside songwriters Pat Alger and Hank DeVito.
Like much of country music from the 1990’s, this song is pretty smooth. Nothing was rough around the edges in this era of high production values and mining for radio hits. There is just a bit of rough and tumble to this song but it’s still a prototypical offering from country of this period.
Lyrically the song’s concept is self-explanatory – some bored kids need something to do on Saturday night in their small town. They have just enough for gas money to go cruising, enough booze to catch a buzz, and absolutely nothing of substance worth doing. The third verse offers a pretty stark reality about small town life – the main “character” Bobby tells his girlfriend Lucy that the world has to be flat because their small town is everything – anyone who leaves never comes back, so the world cant’ be round. And yes it’s a metaphor, that flat earth bullshit wasn’t taken literally in the 1990’s.
And yeah, I can confirm that this is life in a small town, Saturday night or otherwise. The town I grew up in had all of 2,500 people in it. There really wasn’t a lot going on and this song is what a lot of younger folks did. Ketchum didn’t have to stretch to write this song, it’s all right there for anyone who had spent more than a night in a small town. I was a bit more disaffected than most in my childhood so I wasn’t really partying back then, but we would go drive around backroads looking for old abandoned buildings to check out, which there were no shortage of on the old, isolated farm lands. Sometimes you just got in a vehicle and went somewhere, even if that place was nowhere, because it’ wasn’t the nowhere you were living in.
Small Town Saturday Night entered country radio rotation on release in 1991 and it never left. It’s on just about any station that plays classic country today, and even more so now since ’90’s country is having a huge retro appreciation wave. Hal Ketchum continued to record and tour into the late 2010’s when it was announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he would pass away in late 2020.
For me I was never a huge country fan when this stuff was actually going on in the 1990’s. By this point I was well on my way to exploring death metal and all of the “alt-metal” stuff showing up. But I do remember these songs being on, and this one especially was one I kind of always like hearing. As time has gone on I wound up getting more into country and came to appreciate more of these early ’90’s cuts. Country music today has become far too much of a thing for the politically-charged masses to spew venom at each other about, but a song like this is always enjoyable no matter what kind of crap is going on in the news cycle.
When someone asks “where did stoner metal start?” it can be a tough question to answer without the proper knowledge. After this post, everyone will be able to answer the question with no problem.
Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality
Released August 1971 via Vertigo Records
My Favorite Tracks – Children Of The Grave, Into The Void, Lord Of This World
Black Sabbath had recorded their first two albums in rapid fashion, not having time to truly get used to being in a studio. For their third go-round they were not on tour and had the proper amount of time to focus on their work.
One aspect of this was Tony Iommi messing with his guitar sound, though out of practical reasons. Iommi tuned down his guitar on a handful of songs (the same three listed as my favorite tracks, no less) in order to play more comfortably. He had suffered an industrial accident years before that took a few of his fingertips and it was painful to play some things, so he downtuned for the ease of play. This would lead to a heavier sound, which would of course inspire many future generations to tune guitars down and create heavy metal of all styles. Geezer Butler would also tune down his bass to match Iommi, while Ozzy Osbourne would – well, continue to sing in his higher register as always.
Master Of Reality is a short album, featuring 8 tracks at a runtime of 34 minutes. Note that old US pressings of the album list more tracks, the songs Haunting and Deathmask are listed tracks. But these are actually just snippets of Children Of The Grave and Solitude broken off and divided into separate songs, there was no actual bonus content on the US pressings. The track listings and actual song sequences are screwed up on old US editions, it was a funny way to pretend there was more content on the lean record. As we’ll see, this album didn’t need any bloat to succeed.
Sweet Leaf
It’s only fitting that the birth of stoner metal album opens with a love letter to marijuana. Even the opening features a coughing fit Tony Iommi was caught in after taking a hit some prime stuff. But the song is no cheap gimmick – this is a fantastic jam. The main riff is simple and catchy and the music hits hard as Ozzy sings praises to the leaf. And the solo/jam section in the middle of the song is off the rails and fantastic, it was stuff like this that really put early Sabbath over the top. These days Sweet Leaf is legal to hear and consume in 38 of the 50 US states.
After Forever
This one has a pretty bright and upbeat riff though still pounds nicely with the Sabbath heaviness. The song is about religion, but not from the point of view many would think Black Sabbath would write from. This is actually pro-God song. While it might seem this was written in direct response to the accusations of Satanism that loomed over Sabbath, Geezer Butler has stated that he wrote it about the issues plaguing Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Religion was the catalyst behind the decades of troubles in this area and this is Butler’s look at that. This is also where the Dutch power metal band After Forever got their name.
Embryo
Here is a 28 second instrumental guitar piece. Not much to really dig into here. It is kind of funny that this song has a bit over 40,000 streams on Spotify while every other song has at least 14 million and one has over 100 million. This poor little guy just sits there.
Children Of The Grave
Speaking of that song with over 100 million streams, here we are. This was the lone single released from this record and while the song did not do anything on the charts it has become an immortal part of the Sabbath legacy.
This features a dark and pummeling riff that twists and turns though still remains pretty simple in a marching-like rhythm. The lyrics take another anti-war stance that the band had explored previously, this time it is an alarming outlook about the prospects of nuclear destruction. Should humanity not get its shit together, then the children now would become the children of the grave. We’re still here so I guess it didn’t happen, but things don’t necessarily look better.
Children Of The Grave is considered one of Black Sabbath’s greatest songs. It has been covered extensively by acts of many genres and was one Ozzy frequently played during his solo tours. This was even darker and more twisted than prior Sabbath outings and showcased just how hard metal could go.
Orchid
This is another instrumental piece, this time with Iommi on an acoustic guitar. This gets a little more room to air out at 1:30 and is a nice interlude to the grim heaviness of the rest of the record.
Lord Of This World
Up next is a wicked track full of heavy metal destruction. Iommi and Butler are slamming it out on their downtuned instruments along with Bill Ward’s pounding drums. This one is actually all about Satan, the great villain that Sabbath were accused of worshiping. Here the lyrics depict a wicked world full of corrupt people who eventually fall under the dominion of Satan, fulfilling some versions of Christian prophecy. It’s easy to hear the influence on countless future metal bands from this one.
Solitude
It’s now on to a slow tune, this one is very quiet and haunting. Tony Iommi not only loads up on guitar tracks but also plays flute and piano here, perhaps inspired by his super brief stint in Jethro Tull, I don’t know. This song is different from the pack but is still a high quality listen, very atmospheric and depressing stuff. It is simply about a break-up, which is what a lot of songs are about after all.
Into The Void
If you really want to know where stoner rock and sludge metal came from, play this last track. This is an outright banger that keeps the pace mostly down but remains as heavy as hell. Both Bill Ward and Ozzy had problems getting their parts down on this one, as recounted by Tony Iommi.
This song is about a guy in dystopian future, say probably 2023, fleeing Earth to find somewhere better to live. Sounds nice. The song was clearly a massive influence on heavy metal, just playing it will make that evident.
Master Of Reality was a success for Black Sabbath in many ways. The album went to number 5 in the UK and 8 in the US, and had several other top 10 showings through Europe, Canada and Australia. In the US the album went gold purely through advanced orders and wound up selling over 2 million copies.
Beyond the numbers, this album was hugely influential to many who would later reshape music. It has been cited as a primary influence to those in the grunge movement. It was also clearly impactful to the burgeoning heavy metal scene and is a big reason why Black Sabbath are considered the fathers of metal. And it would specifically inspire the coming “stoner rock” or “desert rock” movement of the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, which would include bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Orange Goblin and a huge list of others. The legacy of Black Sabbath is etched into the heaviest of metal, and Master Of Reality is a huge part of why.
I’ve seen a fair few shows in my time but I’ve also missed many acts for whatever reasons. One act I had not seen live was Alice Cooper. It wasn’t for lack of opportunity – Alice has played extensively in this area the entire time I’ve been alive, it’s not like it was ever a chore to see him. I just never got around to doing so.
All that changed this past Tuesday, August 15. Alice has been touring with the Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard perpetual stadium tour and Alice has also been doing solo off-dates. My humble little village was lucky enough to land one of these shows and so now I’ve experienced the thrill of Alice Cooper live.
This show was at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall For The Performing Arts, a theater style venue on the campus of Missouri State University. I wrote about it previously when I recapped seeing John Mellencamp there. I decided to save a few bucks and take in the show from the upper balcony. While the lower two levels were nearly full, the upper portion had a fair few seats left. In my own row of 54, I was the only patron. It was kind of funny watching people in the full first 3 rows of this section jostle back and forth while I sat in peace. I was the highest person up for awhile but then a couple came and sat in the very top row, thus ruining my pointless brag about being the highest one up in the crowd. The view was still fine, though it was a steep haul getting to my seat. Here’s a pic of my view.
This was Alice playing all alone, no openers or anything. Alice has maintained a near-constant live line-up for the past decade or so, with the one exception being the brief departure and return of guitarist Nita Strauss last year. Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen join Nita on guitar, Chuck Garric handles bass and Glen Sobel has the drums.
I won’t bother trying to run down the entire setlist, because whoever from our show updated the list on setlist.fm did a piss poor job of it. I was familiar with all but two or three songs I heard so it’s not some big deal. This did feature something like 22 songs so it was a pretty jam-packed set. This was mostly a hits set, starting with massive classics like No More Mr. Nice Guy and I’m Eighteen. More of the obvious classics were played, like Billion Dollar Babies, Welcome To My Nightmare and Under My Wheels.
There was a fair bit of attention paid to Alice’s late ’80’s/early ’90’s period, as the Hey Stoopid album got three tracks in the set – the title track, Snakebite and Feed My Frankenstein. There was a huge Frankenstein that came out for a brief moment and for a second I was wondering what Eddie was doing there, but that’s the wrong show. Poison from Trash was included, as was Lost In America from The Last Temptation album.
The songs were rapid fire, one right after another. Alice was often changing garb in the very brief dark spots between songs. It’s pretty sad that a guy 30 years older than me can change clothes way faster than me but such is life. There were spots for a short drum solo and also a guitar showcase, mostly featuring Nita.
The stage set was something like a courthouse with two huge staircase things that band members used here and there. All of this would come into play later, as we got a bit of a mini-story with the last handful of songs. The Ballad Of Dwight Frye kicked off with Alice being straight-jacketed and eventually beheaded at the behest of his wife Sheryl and the band moved into I Love The Dead. But then Alice would escape, as the song Escaped kicked off. He seemed to be put away again, but there’s a solution for that – how do you get out of criminal charges? Get elected. (Ok that works most of the time, I guess) Elected ended the little story with Alice running for president, which he actually does every four years as a gag.
There was no long gap before the encore, as the band quickly shifted into School’s Out, which was an extended jam that also featured a portion of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. Alice took time to introduce the band, his wife and himself. Nita honestly got the loudest reception of anyone, she has really staked a name for herself these past few years. The band then wound down School’s Out and that was it.
This was an amazing show, I’m very glad I finally got off my ass and went to see Alice Cooper. The crowd was very lively and into the show, it was impressive because I’ve seen some pretty lame ass crowds at Missouri shows in the past. But this all-ages group was very into Alice and was rocking the whole time. Alice Cooper has been at this for many, many years now and the guy still has it with no signs of slowing down.
I did snap a few pictures but from my bird’s nest view in the mostly dark my pics did not come out worth a damn. Thankfully my buddy Shawn was up far closer and got a few good ones, here’s one at the end of Elected.
It’s finally time – today I present my ranking of the Iron Maiden albums. This is one I sort of fussed over for a bit. I was disrupted in my original plan to do it when I started the blog because of the arrival of Senjutsu. Now that it’s had nearly two years to work itself into the system, I can get this out since it looks like it’ll probably be a bit before a new one. We’re also at the point where we can wonder how many “new ones” we’ll get, but I’d say at least one more is a safe bet.
This ranking comprises the 17 full-length studio albums. I’m not bothering with ranking EP’s and singles, that’s too much of a headache. I’ll provide some links at the bottom to my singles series and also my album cover ranking.
This will be a bit of a beefy boy, no way around that since there are 17 albums. I’m just gonna keep everything on one post for this one so it’s all in one place and easier to reference in the future. I’ll also include links where I’ve discussed an album prior, several of these have been Album of the Week before. That’s about all for the lead-up, so off to the ranking.
#17 – Virtual XI (1998)
The bottom of the barrel here is the band’s second album with singer Blaze Bayley. Never a heralded era of the band, this album exemplifies what’s wrong with that time period, and it’s not Blaze. The songs here are just kind of ghastly. Futureal is pretty good and The Clansman is a triumph. Beyond that, these songs don’t resonate. The Angel And The Gambler is a turd that should have been flushed rather than released, and many other songs on here feel like sort of jokey things or just scraps that were aired out. This album just doesn’t have much going for it.
#16 – No Prayer For The Dying (1990)
Up next is the first of the rather unhallowed ’90’s era. Adrian Smith had left and the band worked in a basic rock style rather than the epic stuff they had ended the ’80’s with. The songs here are fairly consistent in quality. It’s just one those albums with a very low ceiling, nothing happens on here that’s really great. It is cheesy and goofy, which isn’t a problem on its own but that’s all there is here. I don’t even mind playing this album, I can enjoy hearing it but I can also recognize that it doesn’t go much of anywhere.
#15 – The X Factor (1995)
It’s quickly into the first Blaze album. This one holds far more consistent than the second one, and has a fair few good songs with stuff like Sign Of The Cross and Lord Of The Flies. It doesn’t really fall off in quality, the other songs on here are pretty solid. It also doesn’t achieve a great deal and the darker atmosphere and “grunge-like” touches don’t much enhance the Maiden experience, but there is an album worth listening to here.
#14 – Fear Of The Dark (1992)
Probably not a huge shock that all of the ’90’s albums fill out the bottom. This one, the final album with Bruce for several years, does offer a some more variety. A few of these songs are great – the title track has been a Maiden institution since release, Judas Be My Guide is a fantastic gem of a song, and Afraid To Shoot Strangers is really good. All of the album’s singles were pretty quality efforts too.
The only problem here is with the whole rest of the album, which is a lot. It’s a mixed bag of meh song like Fear Is The Key and truly awful stuff like Weekend Warrior and The Apparition. Some editing would have done wonders for this one and it’d rank a hell of a lot higher, its top end of quality is sterling.
#13 – Killers (1981)
The second opus with singer Paul Di’Anno checks in here. This album is a bit of a grab bag, with some crushing metal songs, a couple of instrumentals, an odd stylistic departure and also some other stuff. It does have quality tracks on it but it’s also kind of a comedown off the debut’s crazy energy. Overall it works and is worth a listen but it does kind of pale in comparison to others.
And here is where the most recent album lands. When this came out I was very hyped for it, gotta have something to be excited about and a new album from my favorite band should do it. I played the album a lot on release and I found plenty on there to like – the lead single Writing On The Wall is great, as is the title track. The finale Hell On Earth is in conversation for the best reunion-era song they’ve done. What led to this being dragged down some is, well, most of the rest of it. There are songs on here that are fine but they also don’t quite achieve what Maiden has done, especially elsewhere through the reunion albums. I like hearing them but they’re also not doing a whole lot, and that’s kind of a problem with an album as long as this is.
Senjutsu was previously an Album of the Week feature on release, and one I should revisit someday. That first post is a giant mess.
#11 – The Final Frontier (2010)
This was the band’s fourth reunion album, and the point where we could say the reunion had become its own era – hell, it’s now the band’s longest with a constant line-up. This one kind of flew under the radar at the time. It isn’t an immediate album but there’s some stuff to check out on here. The two epic songs Where The Wild Wind Blows and The Talisman are spectacular, and the ballad Coming Home hits a lot harder than it would have seemed at first. The album is filled out with songs of pretty good quality, nothing here really grates on me. It’s kind of a quiet moment in the band’s catalog but it does pack a punch.
#10 – Iron Maiden (1980)
The band’s debut offered up a platter of metal the likes of which was unheard of at the time. This one has a number of bangers on it, like Prowler, Running Free and the title track. Nothing here is bad, I enjoy it all. Several of these songs see play to this day, it was a remarkable debut record.
The second reunion album offers up a variety of stuff. Most of it is pleasant yet mid-tier fare, while some songs like the title track and Paschendale are amazing. Face In The Sand is also great and is my pick for Maiden’s most underrated song. The cover art is absolutely horrible but the songs help make up for it.
Maiden had a 5-year album gap here and the long wait fueled hype over this one. I was all over the hype train when the album was announced and 8 years later I’m still on that train. The title track on this one is amazing, as is the opener If Eternity Should Fail. The Red And The Black is another epic nearly equaling the size of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, and then this album’s finale Empire Of The Clouds blows past that by 5 minutes. I’ve always liked this one a lot and nothing has diminished for me as time has passed.
#7 – Brave New World (2000)
This was the “reunion” album and it was pure joy to hear Dickinson and Smith back with Maiden. The 1990’s were tough for Maiden and metal in general, but here was the sign that metal was back. This was a nice blend of the classic Iron Maiden sound and a look to the future. Blood Brothers is a magnificent anthem, The Wicker Man a great lead single and stuff like the title track and Ghost Of The Navigator are epic journeys no one had been on since the ’80’s. This was the kick in the ass that everyone needed at the start of the new millennium.
For those who might think your eyes are deceiving you, rest assured they are not. This is the slot for the band’s third album and the debut of Bruce Dickinson. This one does come fairly loaded – Hallowed Be Thy Name is perhaps the band’s best song ever, and cuts like the title track and Run To The Hills are stone cold classics. The Prisoner is another maybe underrated gem, and 22 Acacia Avenue and Children Of The Damned are both nice songs. But Gangland really weights this one down, as does the opener Invaders. A 2022 vinyl reissue of this one put B-side Total Eclipse on the album instead of Gangland, and honestly that version might gain a spot in my rankings, but overall I’m going with the OG stuff. It’s a case of splitting hairs at this point to decide what goes where and just a few bumps in the road give this classic album a bit of a knock in the rankings.
#5 – Piece Of Mind (1983)
And now to the following album, with its crazy cover and fistful of worthy songs. The Trooper is pretty well Maiden’s signature song at this point. Where Eagles Dare, Flight Of Icarus and Revelations are all badass tunes, and Still Life is a nice cut from the second side. The remaining three aren’t great songs but are varying degrees of nice to listen to. This was Maiden truly rounding into form and is a classic album.
#4 – A Matter Of Life And Death (2006)
This 2006 set was grim, grave and absolutely epic. This album heads into war, death and other topics of grand importance. It’s probably wrong to say “Maiden went prog” but fair that there was some prog influence here and there, this is still an Iron Maiden record and not really the first time the band showcased their prog leanings. There are several prime songs here like These Colours Don’t Run, The Longest Day and The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg. And there are three totally badass epic tracks, with Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and The Legacy being completely awesome, and For The Greater Good Of God being on another level than that even. This album was a masterpiece and just mind-blowing stuff from a band about 30 years old at that point.
This album marked the first of Maiden’s two-record “synth” arc. It’s eight songs that work together fantastically and not a dud among the bunch, the synth elements only enhanced the presentation rather than seeing Maiden fall into the “slap some 80’s shit on here” trap. The cover art is totally mind-blowing, with a billion things to be found for the discerning eye. This was also the first Maiden album I ever heard so that’s going to hold a special place, obviously. I have no way of knowing this, but it’s possible that I’ve heard this one more than any other Maiden record, somehow it always winds up on mine or my friends’ stereos.
#2 – Powerslave (1984)
This is the album that turned Iron Maiden into a metal institution. The two singles, Aces High and 2 Minutes To Midnight, are among the best songs Maiden have done, and the album concludes with two monstrous epics – the title track and Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, a 13 minute long plunge that is one of the band’s most celebrated offerings. Between all that is some swordfighting and a return to the realm of The Prisoner. This album is prime Iron Maiden and the reason a great many legions came to follow the band.
Topping the list is this epic sort-of concept album that capped off the synth era. There is a theme revolving around mystical things, the title concept of a person born with extraordinary powers, seeing the future and all of that. Everything is encased in a prog-like shell and provides some of the band’s most ambitious and realized music. It is a bit dense and ponderous but still pretty accessible, songs like Moonchild and The Evil That Men Do fit in quite nicely next to other Maiden songs. And the title track is more low-key one of Maiden’s best epics. This album was a whole world for my then 10-year old self to get lost in and that I certainly did, some may say I never came back from it.
That wraps up this pretty epic undertaking, but one I needed to get done. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below. Here are a few links to other Maiden things I’ve done, plus a placeholder for the upcoming live album series.
I could have just as easily attributed today’s song to Doro Pesch as opposed to Warlock, though officially the song was originally released as part of Warlock’s final album Triumph And Agony in 1987. This was the lead single from that album, one recorded in the US after Doro came over from her native Germany after Warlock began gaining an American audience. While Doro would be caught in a years-long legal battle over the rights to Warlock naming and material, she would launch a solo career that saw her become a heavy metal legend and one of women’s biggest influences in metal music.
All We Are is nothing complicated at all – there are a few verses and the chant-along chorus. The music is to the point and everything comes together to make a simple yet very effective metal anthem. It isn’t quite as easy to craft a simple song as many people seem to think, but here Doro and company got the formula down pat.
This one is easy to get into, whether on a home stereo or in a live setting and this has been Doro’s signature song at her many, many concerts over the decades. Doro did her best to break out in America but grunge came along and sent this traditional style of metal to oblivion for awhile. But she found a willing audience throughout Europe in the ’90’s, and by the time traditional metal got on the rise again in the 2000’s, Doro was hailed as one of the genre’s prime performers. She has only further cemented her legacy in the years since, still going strong in 2023.
All We Are would get a new version in the mid 2000’s. Doro performed the song live as entrance music for Regina Halmich, a German boxer considered one of the world’s greatest and who is also one of Doro’s best friends. Doro was joined by Destruction mainman Schmier, After Forever guitarist Bas Maas and drummer Tim Hsung for this performance. The same group would convene to record a new studio version that was released on an EP in 2007.
All We Are is, unsurprisingly, Doro’s most-played live song. I wouldn’t figure she would do a show without it, the song is her calling card and likely the first thing a lot of people heard of hers. A fair bit of Warlock’s final album still resonates through the metal fanbase 35 years later and it’s something Doro commemorates to this day. Just a few weeks ago Doro played a fair portion of the album on the hallowed stage of the Wacken Open Air Festival grounds in a set jam-packed with guests from all across the heavy metal spectrum.
Doro has been one of the most influential women in heavy metal, and she’s done so by simply executing her songs and playing shows – she made her mark without falling into the trap of scantily-clad 1980’s marketing. When the 1980’s faded away, Doro rose to prominence with a traditional heavy metal sound. And All We Are remains as her calling card all these years later, as she still commands the stage and influences new generations.
This will be a quick and easy AOTW, this live set just hit shelves last Friday and it doesn’t require rocket surgery to have a listen and look at. An old warrior relives his glory days at the site of one of his biggest historic triumphs, getting the rare chance to live in the moment one more time.
Liam Gallagher – Knebworth ’22
Released August 11, 2023 via Warner Records
Oasis played two historic shows at Knebworth House in 1996. Those gigs were the apex of Oasis’ hype and popularity and are often seen as the zenith of the Britpop movement. In 2021 the Gallagher brothers released a live album and documentary about their Knebworth experience, and in 2022 Liam was booked as a solo act to rekindle the old magic again. Over 250,000 people attended the 1996 Oasis gigs, in 2022 Liam would play two nights to a total crowd of 170,000.
Liam played his two shows in early June of ’22, just shy of 26 years after the Oasis sets. He would bring an assortment of material, both from his three-album deep solo catalog and several Oasis standards. While he played 21 songs each night, the album offers a slimmer version with 16 songs, with 9 Oasis songs and 7 Liam solo tunes. Most of the omissions aren’t really a big deal except for one which I’ll get to during the huge encore section. One song did get played on night one but not on night two – the solo single Shockwave, which is on this live package.
There was also an unfortunate omission from Liam’s band – he had often been joined the past few years by former Oasis mate Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs. Bonehead spent a good part of 2022 in treatment for cancer, which he was cleared of last September. He was unable to join Liam’s tour and Liam dedicated More Power to Bonehead at the shows.
The setlist for the live album is as follows:
Hello
Rock N’ Roll Star
Wall Of Glass
Shockwave
Everything’s Electric
Roll It Over
Slide Away
More Power
C’Mon You Know
The River
Once
Cigarettes And Alcohol
Some Might Say
Supersonic
Wonderwall
Champagne Supernova
The live set holds pretty constant through the performances – the songs are executed faithfully by the band, a few of them get an uptick in tempo due to the energy of the huge live performance. Liam holds serve pretty well through this long set. He does get a bit shouty in a few places but I think that’s a consequence of the music going hard as opposed to any issues he was having. Overall Liam sounds really good for someone who has a thyroid disease and had to re-find his voice in order to launch his solo career. He doesn’t get to some of the crazy performances he did in 1996 but his presentation here is well done.
The set jumps between solo songs and Oasis tracks for awhile, one interesting Oasis inclusion is Roll It Over from 2000. It’s not one I’d expect to be on a setlist for a huge show like this but the song works pretty well and is an under the radar pick for the set. Liam performs most of his solo singles here, when he gets to More Power he does a 4-song suite of his songs, concluding with his most renowned solo effort Once. He announces that Once is the last song, though there is one monster of an encore coming.
The encore is an all Oasis affair and kicks off with Cigarettes And Alcohol. That one is performed almost as a heavy metal or punk track, it goes heavy and hard. Some Might Say gets a bit similar treatment, while Supersonic is actually toned down a notch and has a psychedelic vibe to it that stands out even from old Oasis performances. Wonderwall is handled in great fashion, with Liam letting the crowd sing the chorus. The audience knew the words, not only to Wonderwall but most of the other songs, even Liam’s solo singles.
Champagne Supernova closes the night. Liam dedicates the song to his mom Peggy, who is in attendance. It doesn’t seem to be announced from the stage anywhere, at least on the album, but former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire makes a guest spot on the song, just as he did with Oasis at Knebworth in 1996. The album goes out with Liam thanking the crowd and then the guitar ringing out for about a minute after the band is done, apparently they have Nigel Tufnel’s old Fender with that famous sustain.
A few songs were left off, both Oasis cuts like Stand By Me and Liam’s solo songs like Why Me Why Not and Diamond In The Dark. None of those exclusions really bother me, this thing is a 76 minute long album as it is and I can understand making a few tough choices to keep packaging reasonable. But there is one notable exclusion from the Oasis encore section – Live Forever was performed both nights but didn’t wind up on the record. I would have loved to have that song on this album, but for whatever reason it wasn’t included.
The album is pretty well done, there are a few rather abrupt edits that I find odd for a label like Warner to leave on, they clearly cut something out between Liam honoring his mom and the actual start of Champagne Supernova and there are a few other spots that weren’t blended in that well. They aren’t major issues but they do stand out.
Overall Knebworth ’22 does a good job of capturing this historic performance. The atmosphere of an 85,000 strong crowd carries over through the audio, everything feels grand and heavy, like there’s literally electricity in the air. All the instruments sound good, the drums sound almost a little too good but that could just be how they set up to capture things, it’s not all that hard to get a great live sound recorded in the 2020’s. This one is more for the invested Oasis and Liam fan, though people who were in during the 1990’s might find the set a nice bit of nostalgia. It’s about as close to an actual Oasis reunion as we’re likely to get and this set does bring back a bit of that old Knebworth magic from way back when.
Iron Maiden have been known for quite a few epic songs and some grand storytelling. Plenty of songs go heavy in theme, the group have covered topics like wars, threat of nuclear destruction, historical literature, the death of beloved entertainers, and many other things. In one case Maiden did make two songs about roughly the same thing – both The Prisoner and Back In The Village are about the 1960’s TV show The Prisoner. And two other songs link to each other at least spiritually – those being The Clansman and Death Of The Celts.
But the only true saga Iron Maiden have ever engaged isn’t about historical events or grand calamities – no, it’s about a prostitute.
Charlotte The Harlot would make her first appearance in 1980 on the debut record and then she would show up three more times over the years. Calling her saga a “story” is a pretty generous application of the word story, but there’s enough here to look over the course of the second most-known Iron Maiden character.
There isn’t a ton of background info on today’s topic. I browsed through Mick Wall’s book Run To The Hills – An Authroised Biography the other day to get some good source material and all I got was a five word quote from Dave Murray and a bit of background on one other song. The folks in Maiden have not saw fit to elaborate on Charlotte’s story, Steve Harris has declined to elaborate on the matter more than once.
There is an interview somewhere out there from Paul Di’Anno that does discuss the actual woman Charlotte is based off of, but tracking the actual interview is tough. I’ll just mention that he said the woman was really more of an “easy gal” rather than a working woman and that she didn’t actually live on Acacia Avenue.
But this tale doesn’t really need much sourcing or background info – it’s four songs about a hooker, how complicated can it be?
Charlotte The Harlot
The first song in the saga introduces the character Charlotte. The song is from 1980’s self-titled debut record. The song is a bit primitive but still has what would become typical Iron Maiden beats. It isn’t the most celebrated track from the debut but it does get its fair share of discussion.
Dave Murray was the sole composer of this one. He mentioned that Charlotte was “based on a true story” but apparently did not get any further into it. The song sees Charlotte leave her man and become a lady of the night, selling herself for men’s pleasure. Charlotte is the target of the song narrator’s ire, we would suppose that the “protagonist” is the man who Charlotte dumped to go sleep with anyone who had the right change.
There’s no telling what happened here – did someone get hung up on the gal who inspired Charlotte, or did Dave just decide to craft a song about her? I’m not sure and we may never truly know, but this was only the beginning of Charlotte’s story.
22 Acacia Avenue
The next song in Charlotte’s story comes from The Number Of The Beast. This would be significant as Maiden changed singers, with Bruce Dickinson now in the fold. Also along after the debut was guitarist Adrian Smith, who was the main songwriter here. Steve Harris is also credited, though Adrian brought some of this with him from his old band Urchin.
In this song Charlotte’s whoring ways are apparently catching up with her with stuff like diseases and abusive men. The song’s narrator basically takes Charlotte out of the life to get her “cleaned up” or whatever. No telling if the gent from this song is the same one from the first one and I’d gather the band didn’t think that far ahead.
Acacia Avenue is itself pretty interesting. Google returns some vague results about what it means. In some cases it does seem to refer to whorehouses, so that may be why the band chose it. There is another apparent meaning that more simply refers to British suburbs, I suppose in a way it was saying Parklife over a decade before Blur did. But I can’t really trace the authenticity of that claim and it’s not prevalent in search so I don’t know much about it. Either way it wasn’t meant to refer to a real place so it’s not radically important.
Hooks In You
It would be several years for the next installment of the Charlotte saga. This song comes from 1990’s No Prayer For The Dying. This album saw Maiden take a more stripped-down approach after a bit of a foray into more synth-driven epics. The album wasn’t terribly well-received but does have its fans. I personally don’t mind listening to it but I don’t have a ton of nice things to say about it either. It’s also worth mentioning that this song is often cited as the worst one on the album.
There is only one indirect reference to Charlotte in this song, but the reference does certainly establish who we’re talking about. The song’s first line “I got the keys to view at number 22” references Charlotte’s address, I guess she hadn’t moved in several years. She’s about to pretty soon.
The song goes into some goofy stuff about S&M and whatever kinky things a person could think of, at least in 1990. It doesn’t really “add” to Charlotte’s story, it’s just checking in with her and her freakiness. At the song’s end the man is apparently sick of Charlotte and has plans to “set her in concrete.”
This one was co-written by Bruce and Adrian, this was Adrian’s only contribution to this album as he left the band awhile before the record was out. Bruce said he was inspired to write the song based on some stuff he saw in a home he was looking to buy and it wound up becoming a part of the Charlotte story.
So, if we are to take this very loose story at its literal presentation, Charlotte either is dead or was going to be killed. What possibly could happen next?
From Here To Eternity
The final entry in Charlotte’s story comes from 1992’s Fear Of The Dark. This was the one and only time a Charlotte track was released as a single. This final song was composed by Steve Harris.
Here we get Charlotte’s mortal end, as she rides off on a motorcycle with The Beast, aka Satan, aka The Devil. Charlotte had already kind of seen and done it all in terms of mortal men, so her only remaining thrill would be the Devil himself. Apparently they got on really well together and are still riding to this day.
That really is about all there is to this tale of Charlotte. From humble beginnings as a prostitute to the infernal consort of His Unholiness, she lived quite the life. While nothing says Iron Maiden couldn’t add to the Charlotte saga, it would be reasonable to assume that Charlotte’s story is closed. Maiden could have written long sagas about any range of topics but hey, hookers are ok.
There is a lot of rumor and speculation about Charlotte’s story and the band’s motivations for writing about her. I chose not to cover some speculative things because I don’t like posting odd claims without sources, but if anyone wants to go ham in the comments about anything you know or think about the seedy truth behind the Charlotte songs, feel free.
Last Wednesday, August 2nd, was the big occasion, which I missed for reasons spelled out here. But I’ve now been at this site for two years. A late party is still a party, no?
It has been an interesting year – I’ve changed my mind a lot on stuff I want to do. It’s no big deal, this site isn’t big stakes or anything so I can pretty well do what I want. I may switch a format up again in the coming months but as of right now I’m totally undecided on that, and if so it won’t happen any time soon.
I was pleasantly surprised a few months ago to find my posts being dumped into the Google mobile feed, whatever that deal is called. In April of this year I got more views than I had for all of 2022, and that new monthly trend has largely held. While a number of posts have been pored over on it, the Iron Maiden singles series was the main focus of all of that. Perhaps the numbers will hold, if for nothing else than to feed my ego.
One thing I do want to start doing is focusing more on social media – it’s the one area I haven’t generated a great deal of action. Someone buying and then messing with his new toy was the main culprit. Social media is a slog and it can be tough to get any kind of buzz on there, but I won’t get anywhere without putting in some kind of effort.
I will divert for just a moment and talk about music in 2023 – man, there just isn’t a whole lot hitting me real hard this year. I’m sure I’ll be able to fill out a top 10 list at year’s end and there are a few pretty anticipated releases still coming, but this year has seemed kind of quiet compared to the last few. Nothing necessarily wrong with that but it’s kind of hard to write “yeah, that was ok to hear” over and over again. But there’s always the boundless past to explore.
As far as what’s coming up in the rest of 2023, be assured there is more Iron Maiden on the way. Hell, I could probably run various Iron Maiden series for a few years (and I probably will). The Maiden live album series will be up in September and I’ll let that close out the year, then I’ll open 2024 with the psychotically ridiculous song ranking. I’ll also have a new review set coming soon, probably also sometime in September. It’s not huge but it also should run through the next few months.
There will also be a handful of gig recaps on the way as I’m actually going to a few shows in the next little bit. I’m not certain if I’m attending a few more big-ticket concerts (though I’m going to try), but there are a few smaller club shows I will certainly be at. I also totally forgot to run down a show I went to earlier in the summer so I’ll try to get my lazy ass on that soon.
One other thing that will pop up relatively soon – I’ll start doing more one-off album reviews, these with actual scores and all that. There’s no great “system” to it, stuff will just show up when I have it ready. There’s also a fair chance a lot more of the heavier stuff will be included in these, it’s a more suitable format for that than my typical “Album of the Week” presentation.
That probably wraps up all I wanted to say. As always, thank you to all who read these piles of words. I know time is a fleeting thing and there are millions of other things to read, see and do, and I really appreciate everyone who stops by to spend a moment here.
It’s on to year three for this site. And yes, tomorrow’s post is related to Iron Maiden. No great mysteries here.
The Crooked Wanderer 