There are always things to consider about having a physical collection of music – what’s your favorite piece? What’s the most expensive thing you have? What act’s works are complete in your collection? What rare or out of the way pieces do you own that are cool to have? And the most important question that we ask all of the time and plagues our bank accounts – what’s next?
Today I’m not going to ask or answer any of those questions. The one I’m going to work with is this – what is the weirdest thing in my collection?
Being weird isn’t a matter of the music itself – I have a bunch of stuff on my shelves that would be considered weird. Death metal and jazz is a hell of a combo and I’m not sure why I own several examples of it. But that’s not the issue at hand today.
What I’m concerned with is weird, as in format or presentation. I have a few oddball things that do stick out, like a few albums on DVD audio that are in bigger cases, oddly-sized box sets and things of that nature. But none of those really qualify as the most weird thing in my collection.
I considered the question for a moment but then I quickly remembered something I’ve owned for a long time that easily qualifies to answer this question. I proudly present the 2007 album from British doom merchants Paradise Lost, In Requiem.
There’s nothing odd about the album itself – Paradise Lost are a great band and I really enjoyed their material in the 00’s. But if you notice the box in the picture, this presentation is a box set. And it’s a box set of 7-inch vinyl. Yes, this is the full album presented on four small records, as opposed to a standard 12-inch record. And yes, the album is available in that standard format as well.
This box set did come with a few extras – it has the CD version of the album as well as a poster. The CD was important at the time, as we were in the “digital collection” age and it was super cool to get a CD along with vinyl so we could import the album into our collections with ease. Those days are long gone, as streaming has rendered a digital collection unneeded for many.
This edition also comes with a few bonus tracks – the vinyl has a bonus called Missing, while the CD includes that as well as Silent In Heart. These two songs were also available on a few deluxe CD versions of the album but those and this seem to be the only sources of the material. So I guess this can qualify as weird but not necessarily useless.
I honestly can’t say why I even bought this. I don’t specifically recall wanting it. I did used to order from Century Media records on occasion back then and I probably just thought it was a neat thing to have so I put it in with my usual order. It’s possible they also had it on clearance, but again I don’t remember. All I know is I bought it and here it is 17 years later.
And, all else being equal, it will remain in my collection. The box has a tiny premium online, not enough to really bother with unloading – it’s just a hair more “valuable” than its retail price. I would also figure that the box is not a high demand item – there aren’t lines of people queued up to score a 7-inch box set copy of a doom metal album from 2007.
So I will speculate that this oddball box set will remain in my collection until I’m not around to have a collection anymore. The only practical way this gets unseated as the weirdest thing in my collection is if I buy something weirder than it. I don’t go out of my way to find weird music stuff but it is out there, so that is certainly a possibility.
Do you have questions, comments or concerns? Feel free to use the comment form below, or head to my contact page.
I switched gears for this week after finding out this album just had its 32nd anniversary (or birthday, whichever) over the weekend. It is a mixed bag for sure and the record marked the end of an era for the group as they continued drifting away from the golden years of the 1980’s.
Iron Maiden – Fear Of The Dark
Released May 11, 1992 via EMI Records
Iron Maiden has entered the 1990’s with a retooled, stripped-down sound. The synth era of the late ’80’s was over and the band explored a meat and potatoes rock approach on No Prayer For The Dying. That album spawned the band’s only UK number one hit but is also widely held as one of the worst albums of the entire catalog. There was more variety on display here but the sounds and vibes weren’t terribly far off of this record’s predecessor.
The band’s line-up was the same as the album prior – Steve Harris as always on bass and band leading, Bruce Dickinson on vocals, Dave Murray and Janick Gers on guitar and Nicko McBrain on drums. Martin Birch helped Steve Harris produce, it marked Birch’s final involvement with Maiden as he would head into retirement. This was also Dickinson’s final album with the group until 2000, Bruce was off to his solo career about a year later.
This also marks the end of the line for Derek Riggs album covers – this one was done by Melyvn Grant, who is now the second-most credited artist for Maiden covers. And this one was a pretty good job, very nice and different depiction of Eddie.
This is one loaded album – it is 12 tracks at 57:58, marking Maiden’s first double album. As I recall from my Iron Maiden album ranking, this one did not place very well at all, landing at number 14 on my list. As I said then, this album has a lot of variety but also a lot of varied results, so let’s jump in and see what’s what.
Be Quick Or Be Dead
The opener also served as the lead single. It is a very fast and aggressive song, something a bit over the bar for Maiden. The intensity helps drive home the song’s message about how screwed up corporations and governments are, something that has only gotten worse 32 years on. This one is really good and certainly among the album’s keepers. Grade: B
From Here To Eternity
Another single and the conclusion of the long-running Charlotte saga. It’s a muscular hard rock affair that is fairly basic but I enjoy what it has on offer. It won’t set the world on fire but I don’t have an issue listening to it. Grade: C+
Afraid To Shoot Strangers
On now to a song that fits the Iron Maiden identity full and true. This haunting track starts quietly then builds into explosive action later and it features the movements and thoughtfulness typically expected from Maiden. The song examines the first Gulf War from the eyes of a young soldier who is sent to kill – it’s a new take on the classic “government starts the war and poor people fight it” trope found in music of all stripes. It could be said this is what Maiden used to sound like before the 1990’s shift, but I think it’s more accurate to say that this is what Maiden would sound like in their second “golden” era in the coming reunion years. An absolute whale of a song, very well done. Grade: A
Fear Is The Key
Up next is a song lyrically inspired by the death of Freddy Mercury to AIDS and the concept how how no one really “gave a shit” about the disease until celebrities started dying to it. The issues around HIV and AIDS were a massive shitshow in the 1980’s and early ’90’s for sure.
This song has some good hooks and riffs though it does feel a bit odd in structure. And the song’s last few minutes really throw a wrench into the works – I don’t know what’s going on but it reminds me of Spinal Tap playing Jazz Odyssey. Hilarious in the movie, not so hot on record. Overall this one doesn’t command my attention much, bit of a roller coaster. Grade: D+
Childhood’s End
Another bit of a fierce pounder here and a song that very much offers the sound of Maiden to come for the rest of the decade. Interesting use of drums here and everything comes off pretty sharp and well done. It’s a look at how the whims of politicians lead to children around the world caught up in war, famine and other shitty situations. While this song is one of the album’s secondary tracks, it does a pretty good job. Grade: B
Wasting Love
If you had “Iron Maiden will release a power ballad in 1992” on your bingo card way back when, well, you probably cashed in. I don’t know why Maiden would do a ballad or why they’d release one in 1992 when the ballad was persona non grata in the alt-music world. But none of that is really important because the song is pretty damn good. It’s a sad look at someone trying to end their loneliness through casual hook-ups and only finding more loneliness at the end of it all. This one was a curveball but curveballs are valid pitches to throw. Grade: B+
The Fugitive
Here’s one inspired by the old TV show, there were since movie remakes and whatever. Not a bad song but not radically interesting either, easy to listen to but also easy to forget. Grade: C
Chains Of Misery
It’s a song about the “devil on your shoulder” concept. It’s an outright sleazy glam track with gang vocals and the whole nine yards. It’s not a terrible song per se but it’s so out of place on an Iron Maiden record. This song is another curveball but the pitch doesn’t really land. It’s musically just good enough to not be a total trash affair. Grade: C-
The Apparition
Whether or not you like this song hinges on what you think of Bruce’s climbing vocals through the verses here. If you like them then you probably think this ghost tale is at least ok. I personally don’t like them much and it’s all the song does so I think it’s awful. One way to make a double album is to not make it and cut certain songs that don’t work – this would be one of them. Grade: D
Judas Be My Guide
This one’s about how everyone is basically “for sale,” in that everyone has a price and will eventually sell out to the high bidder. It’s of course tied to the biblical story of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. It’s also an absolutely fantastic song. It’s short and a quick rock track but it works on every level. The Iron Maiden “butt rock” era could have been something else if more of the songs were like this. I and many others consider this to be one of the most underrated tracks of the Maiden catalog, this one is a true hidden gem. Grade: A+
Weekend Warrior
The Maiden butt rock era might have worked with more songs like the last one, unfortunately there were also tracks like this. It’s a song about football/soccer hooliganism, something Steve Harris is quite familiar with as a West Ham United fan. Whatever the topic, I don’t know what the hell is going on with this song – it’s so basic that it hurts and it goes nowhere. It’s very close to the worst Maiden song I’ve ever heard. Grade: F
Fear Of The Dark
The title track and album closer offers a very simple premise – it’s about being afraid of the dark, being paranoid about what might lurk in the shadows and corners that light doesn’t penetrate. It’s also the Maiden song from the 1990’s that has endured and earned the title of classic.
This song is a total Iron Maiden track through and through, with running riffs and quiet/loud dynamics and about anything you’d want out of a Maiden song. After slogging through an uneven album that has some massive question marks in creative choices, this song nails everything about Iron Maiden. Grade: A+
Although this era of Iron Maiden is lightly regarded, Fear Of The Dark was a bit of a success as the group pressed on in the wilderness of the 1990’s. The album charted at 12 in the US, 1 in the UK and claimed many other top 10 positions. It has been certified gold in 5 countries and has a platinum cert from Italy. It was, as of 2008, at least in the ballpark of a US gold certification as well, no known updates on that.
So what happens when you have a few really awesome songs, a handful of average tracks, and a few real stinkers? I guess, in the end things kind of average out and I can consider this an average album. It’s not average in that all of the songs are consistent and ok – it’s average because it’s great in a few spots and awful in a few others. But average is average when all is said and done.
Album Grade: C
This would be the end of an era for Iron Maiden – they would spend the balance of the decade with a new singer and song direction before restoring the glory years line-up in 1999 and being at the forefront of the new interest in traditional metal in the 2000’s. It is easy to dismiss these albums as a lost period, but there are songs certainly worth visiting on this one.
For an explanation of the grading scale, head here.
For questions, comments or concerns, either use the comment form below or head to my contact page.
For more of what I’ve posted about Iron Maiden, check out the band index.
For my song pick this week I’m headed back to that glorious year of 1984. Today’s song was the fourth and final single from Van Halen’s monumental album 1984. The album was a smash success, making Van Halen one of 1984’s biggest acts and eventually moving over 10 million copies. Our single today did not hit quite as well as other singles from the record, clocking in at a modest 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it is still a beloved offering from the band.
Hot For Teacher is a fun, all out rocker that gets going from the word go with a drum intro that sounds like a motorcycle. It is a very attention-grabbing thing to hear what Alex got up to there. The band jumps in after a bit and keeps up the bombastic instrumentation for a bit, then things settle down a hair and we get the first instance of David Lee Roth.
Roth comes in with introductory banter. While DLR’s ramblings are a point of contention with some in a fair few Van Halen songs, he was totally on point here as he set the table for the song’s topic of, well, being hot for teacher. There are a few other spoken word bits through the song and here they all fit very well.
When Roth does get to actual singing he is in full force, and it’s pure magic paired with the heavy and playful riff that Eddie Van Halen lays out. Van Halen often toed the line between rock and heavy metal and at times were the line, and this song is a prime example of it. Fun and rocking yet heavy and slamming, it’s all here on display.
The music video for this one pulled out all the bells and whistles. It features the concept of a nerdy kid being overwhelmed in school by a kid version of the Van Halen band as well as a few teachers who were certainly easy to be hot for. The kid, named Waldo, was voiced by Phil Hartman. The video shows what “happened” to the band members when they grew up and old Waldo really turned his image around after growing up. In terms of concept and added entertainment value, Hot For Teacher is the number one video from the early Van Halen era.
The video came with a bit of controversy – some felt it was objectifying and sexualized, and some broadcasts used black boxes to censor when band members would grab their crotches. There are uncorroborated reports on various sites that the video did, in part, influence Tipper Gore to start the PMRC. It should be noted that neither the song nor Van Halen made the infamous Filthy Fifteen list.
As I said in the open, this was the final single from 1984. That would also mean it was the final single from the first David Lee Roth era of the band. The song was featured in the band’s set through the 9 months of touring before Roth left the band, and it appeared again once Roth returned in 2007. It ended up getting 285 live airings, not a bad total considering the song didn’t see stage from 1984 to 2004. If setlist.fm is to be taken as an accurate source, Van Halen did the song with Sammy Hagar one time in 2004. I have no idea how correct that is, though.
At the end of it all, Hot For Teacher is one monster of a Van Halen song and a great addition to the list of hallowed songs from the year 1984. The song’s subject matter rings true with a great many students over the decades – though I must admit I personally never really had a “hot for teacher” issue. But hey, I do have this amazing song to jam out to.
This week I’m heading back to 1992 and digging up one of the most revered albums of the period.
Alice In Chains – Dirt
Released September 29, 1992 via Columbia Records
Alice In Chains were the first of the grunge bands to hit the scene in a big way in 1990. By 1992, the “Seattle sound” had taken over national airwaves and a new era of rock music was underway. This was the environment AiC found themselves in while recording their second album.
Dirt was recorded with the same line-up as Facelift – Layne Stayley on vocals, Jerry Cantrell on guitar and vocals, Mike Starr on bass and Sean Kinney on drums. The album was produced by Dave Jerden, also producer for Facelift.
This is one very dark record, with tales of drug abuse and mortality. While each big grunge act was set against a particular kind of rock that helped shape their sounds, Alice In Chains had heavy metal in their blood and were always a downcast lot. Layne Stayle’s personal demons also went a long way to informing the music of AiC, as several of the songs here form a mini-story of an addicted person crashing all the way.
Dirt comes in with a lofty 13 tracks at a runtime of 57:37. Some early pressings of the album had the track Down In A Hole as the 12th song, while most versions have it in the band’s preferred sequence at number 4. The album saw 5 single releases, all of which charted on the US Mainstream Rock charts and the UK Charts. Note that the band never actually charted on the Billboard Hot 100 until 2009, an odd fact that I wasn’t aware of until just now. This is at least what I could find while looking, it could possibly be incorrect information.
Them Bones
The album opens with a sick, heavy riff with Stayley reflecting on mortality over it. The song is a fatalistic look at how we’re all going to wind up a pile of bones, no matter what. The monstrous riff and Stayley occasionally yelling out suddenly add a creepy feel to the proceedings.
Grade: A
Dam That River
This one is heavy and more fast-paced, conventional rocker. The song was apparently written about a fight that Sean Kinney and Jerry Cantrell had – Kinney smashed a table over Cantrell’s head and the blood flow was such that “you couldn’t dam that river.” It’s kind of amazing that they kept together and also wrote a song about it. Grade: A-
Rain When I Die
This has a very nice, funky and creepy guitar running through it. The lyrics are a lament of a relationship not gone right and may have been composed based on experiences from both Stayley and Cantrell. The title “rain when I die” invokes various old cultural customs that it should rain when someone dies to cleanse everything still remaining. And yes, it did rain the day Layne Stayley died in 2002, which probably amounts to him having lived in Seattle where it rains all the time. Grade: A
Down In A Hole
This magnificent ballad that just drips in misery was crafted by Cantrell about his girlfriend at the time. I won’t get too heavy into it as I discussed this song in the past here. It is my favorite AiC song and one of my favorite songs of all time from anyone. Also, the name of the old series where I covered it was called S-Tier Songs, so the grade should be obvious. Grade: S
Sickman
This is one of several songs owing to drug addiction, which Layne Stayley would live in the grip of for the remainder of his life. Stayley asked Cantrell to write the sickest and darkest thing he could for this song, and the lyrics deal with someone who is totally aware they are messed up but are unable to fight their own thoughts and do anything about it. Grade: A-
Rooster
Up next is probably the most well-known song from the album. Cantrell wrote this about his father’s time in the Vietnam War. It is a harrowing tale of being stuck fighting a war no one wanted in the jungle of a hot, tropical land against a ruthless enemy. The song is fantastically done and maintains a tradition across generations of musicians speaking out about this war. Grade: A+
Junkhead
This one slows things down with a bit of a groovy doom-crawl. It brings the point home that it’s very tough to understand the mind of an addict, that many times it’s only another addict who can grasp what’s really going on with someone. The outsider doesn’t experience the euphoria of the high and escape from the despair of reality that the addict does. Grade: B+
Dirt
The music is another twisted mire and the subject matter is devastating – this is someone at the bottom who doesn’t want to exist anymore. It is a very deep and disturbing jaunt through the mind of someone who seems totally gone. Grade: A-
God Smack
This has a few running riffs that Jerry Cantrell would use to great effect in both AiC and his solo career. The song is about heroin, the term “god smack” refers to a heroin overdose. The music along with the willing descent of someone into addiction is like a dark circus trip. Grade: B+
Untitled (or ‘Iron Gland’)
This brief interlude was something Cantrell used to mess around with in rehearsal. It was mashed up in a small way with Black Sabbath’s Iron Man for a little fun. The few vocals here are provided by Tom Araya of Slayer. Grade: B
Hate To Feel
This is the first of two songs Layne Stayley wrote entirely on his own for Dirt. There are some interesting jumps from the quiet, buzzy verse to a noisy chorus. Here Stayley regrets even being able to feel – he knows he is an addict and is tired of the constant realization that he needs to get better, and is also sick of the judgment of outsiders who think he should “just stop,” as if it were that easy. Grade: A
Angry Chair
The other song composed by Stayley, this is a very, very dark and twisted song. This one is still about the grip of addiction, though it is couched in more abstract and metaphorical language. It is one wild ride and a very enjoyable cut. Grade: A+
Would?
The album’s closer is a tribute to Andrew Wood. He was the singer of Mother Love Bone and died of a heroin overdose in 1991. The song itself offers up a bit more bright atmosphere than the rest of the very dark record, though the lyrical fare is still an addict asking if he’s even alive or if he has already died and has left everyone behind. Grade: A+
Dirt would quickly become Alice In Chains’ magnum opus. The album hit the Billboard 200 at number 6. Its 30th anniversary reissue would re-enter the same chart at number 9 in 2022. The record has been certified five times platinum in the US.
The band toured behind this album, playing all manner of shows alongside both rock and metal acts. This would mark the practical end of touring for Alice In Chains, despite releasing one more album and a celebrated MTV Unplugged set, the group would not get out on the road much in this original incarnation. Mike Starr would exit the band in 1993, replaced by Mike Inez.
But that wouldn’t matter as Dirt cemented a legacy as one of the best albums of the 1990’s. The five singles were in constant rotation on radio and MTV for years after release and are still found out and about today. While grunge was considered a reaction movement to the rock music of the time, Alice In Chains were a bridge act that made it very easy for metalheads to enjoy. AiC perfectly complimented the other alternative metal of the time, bringing in a uniquely creative scene that has yet to be replicated since.
Album Grade: A+
Dirt is a stone cold classic. The real pain of Layne Stayley’s addiction was mined for the most haunting and memorable song material. Jerry Cantrell provided a guitar masterclass in writing compelling riffs that both grab attention and work for the song. The album is harrowing in that both Stayley and Starr would lose their lives to addictions in 2002 and 2011 respectively, but it does not detract from the gift we were given with this masterpiece of a record.
For an explanation of the grading scale, head here.
For questions, comments or concerns, use the comment for below or head to my contact page.
My posting schedule is still all messed up – though the things that happen are minor in significance, things do keep happening and they keep pushing me back. I will again pivot and adjust and get things on track.
This week I’m going to pull out the “EASY” button. Slayer did not release an album proper in 1984, but they did release two distinct records – an EP and a live set. Today I’ll discuss the EP, which is very short but a significant marker in Slayer’s development.
Slayer – Haunting The Chapel
Released June 1984 via Metal Blade Records
Slayer’s debut record Show No Mercy was a huge success for upstart label Metal Blade, so label head Brian Slagel quickly commissioned an EP from his hot new act. The members of Slayer – Tom Araya on vocals and bass, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on guitar, and Dave Lombardo on drums – were brought to a North Hollywood studio with Slagel himself turning the knobs on the production console.
The studio would have a negative effect on sound initially but also provide a hell of a positive. The studio did not have carpeting, which meant that drums slid everywhere when Dave Lombardo tried to play them. He had to resort to having the band’s roadie help out by holding the drums. This roadie was Gene Hoglan, widely known today as one of heavy metal’s greatest drummers after stints with Dark Angel, Death, Testament, Strapping Young Lad and many others. Hoglan also helped Lombardo set up the latter’s first double kick drum and helped him along with how to play it. All these years later both drummers are considered the top of the pack, but forty years ago it was them trying to figure out how to hold a kit together in a shitty studio.
Since this is just an EP there’s room for another funny Gene Hoglan story – Gene recounted in this 2006 interview with Decibel Magazine about Slayer that when he joined up to be the band’s roadie, he thought he was only going to be working the lights. He didn’t know he was also supposed to help schlep gear in and out and set up the stage show. The band gave Hoglan his walking papers a bit later, and he would join Dark Angel not long after.
Also involved in the EP’s production was Bill Metoyer, who held the engineering role on Show No Mercy. Metoyer recounts in the same Decibel interview that he was Catholic but for whatever reason had no problems with the lyrics on the debut album. But when he heard Tom Araya belting out the first lyrics to the EP, which were “The Holy Cross, symbol of lies, intimates the lives of Christians born, he quipped that he would be going to Hell for it. Metoyer seemed to take it in stride and is still very much among the non-Hell dwelling living today, having served as producer to a massive list of metal albums since then.
With those amusing stories out of the way, let’s get to the topic at hand. The original version of Haunting The Chapel was three songs, the first three in order here. The fourth song was added later on in a reissue capacity, I will include it here today because it’s not a ton of ground to cover. The total runtime with the added song is 16:55, I hope you all didn’t have anywhere important to be.
Chemical Warfare
Up first is a track with a fairly hefty six minutes. Slayer here shift gears some from the “general chaos and evil” of their debut album and head decidedly into a thrash direction. And this song is thrash, 100% through. It does retain that cavernous, evil Slayer feel but this is pure thrash. There are a few changes in structure to keep the fairly long track moving along.
This is a wicked song with its lyrical depiction of being hit with chemical weapons, a terrible way to die or be wounded. Anyone who thinks Kerry King or Jeff Hanneman couldn’t play solos should listen to this song – they were both quite capable of playing. The song is great and is an early Slayer classic. Grade: A
Captor Of Sin
This one calls back to the evil ways of Show No Mercy, though still retaining a thrash underpinning to it. It’s a wild ride as the son of Satan comes to Earth and takes over, vanquishing everything in its path. The bad guys win this one. Grade: B+
Haunting The Chapel
The title track is another Satanic romp through holy victims. It’s another dissonant, thrash-filled journey on the Dark Lord’s conquest of the mortal realm. It doesn’t offer a whole ton of dynamics but it’s still a quality Slayer track. Grade: B
Aggressive Perfector
This final song, a bonus on reissue versions of the EP, was originally released on the third volume of the Metal Massacre series. This was the first Slayer song ever released, pre-dating the debut album. It does stand out with a bit less production than the other three songs but this is not a rudimentary throw-away track – it’s a very good early offering from the group. Grade: B
Haunting The Chapel did not perform on charts but it was a solid release that kept Slayer’s name in the forefront as the thrash scene unfolded in the mid-’80s. Even today with the band’s work (apparently) done, the EP stands as a fan favorite for its marked transition between the first two albums. The first two songs remained live favorites through Slayer’s entire career and the EP is still sought after 40 years later.
Album Grade: B+
This was a well-done EP that offered up fresh material, it was not by any means a throw-away effort just to make a buck. It was a smart way to help out both upstart band and record label, both of whom became central to heavy metal in the years since.
I’m gonna stick with 1984 for the song this week. I’ve long since talked about this album, which was a given since it’s my favorite Judas Priest record. Today I’ll have a look at the album’s lead single.
Freewheel Burning was released in January 1984 as the first single from Defenders Of The Faith. Oddly, the single was apparently released the same day as the album, at least from the sources I can gather. The single held a few very modest chart positions though the album as a whole was quite successful.
This song is 100% quintessential heavy metal. While Priest have always been a heavy metal band devoid of sub-genres like thrash, this song does easily fit the speed metal category. It is fast and furious, just as the first words of the song indicate. Fast And Furious was also the working title for the song before recording, just imagine the crossovers Priest could have had with the movie franchise.
Two stars of this show are the classic guitar tandem of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. Not only is the song’s main riff a total barnburner, but the extended solo section of this song is absolute fire.
Also of note, as would be expected, is Rob Halford’s vocal performance. He is all over this one, shrieking through the verses while using a bit of his range in the bridge. He also delivers a rapid-fire performance a few minutes in that moves faster than rap, it’s a Halford machine gun. It’s certainly among his signature performances.
The theme with this one is simple – it’s about getting in your car and going fast. Not only fast, but as fast as possible. There’s nothing more to read into this one, just grab your vehicle of choice and put the pedal to the metal, high speed at all costs. Given the sorry state of US drivers these days, it’s like this song is used for driver’s ed.
Freewheel Burning has been a favorite song among Priest fans since 1984. Surprisingly, the song ranks a rather modest 20th in terms of how many times it’s been played live. I would have expected more but that’s why I look these things up. But it is a favorite when it does get set time, and I was happy to hear it when I saw them in 2018.
One other fun little bit of trivia – on the vinyl single, there is an extra guitar intro that isn’t heard anywhere else. It’s a slow, atmospheric bit that takes up an extra 50 or so seconds. Sadly I can’t find a good video of it so if you want to check that out you’ll have to hunt down the single or watch some video of a dude playing it on his turntable.
That’s about all there is to it, it’s pretty quick and easy to run down this speedy beast of a song. It was yet another triumph for Judas Priest as they helped cement the foundation of heavy metal in the 1980’s and are still leading the charge 40 years later.
The 40 year celebration of 1984 marches on, and today it’s a monumental debut that would turn the decade’s rock and metal music on its head.
Ratt – Out Of The Cellar
Released February 17, 1984 via Atlantic Records
The early history of Ratt is actually long and a bit windy, but this is their debut full-length after an EP one year prior so it’s the best place to pick up the story. In short, the band formed out of a series of other California-based groups (including Dokken) and the line-up eventually solidified into a recording and touring group.
That line-up featured Stephen Pearcy on vocals, Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby on guitar, Juan Croucier on bass and Bobby Blotzer on drums. The album was produced by Beau Hill, who had broke into Atlantic Records after work with Stevie Nicks and Sandy Stewart. After this album, Hill’s production career would move into full swing. Ratt were also managed by Marshall Berle. This would pay dividends as Berle had a famous uncle who would contribute to the video for Ratt’s signature song.
The album cover features a starlet of 80’s lore – actress and model Tawny Kitaen is featured in full on here after having her legs on the EP cover. Kitaean was dating Robbin Crosby at the time and would go on to be the face and body of hair metal after her turn in the 1987 Whitesnake videos.
Today’s album features 10 songs at a quite lean 36:41 runtime. It is all action here today, as we will soon see.
Wanted Man
1984 meets the Old West here as the Ratt gang saddle up for some outlaw adventures. The song walks the fine line between melody and edge very well, an ever-present feature of the album. It’s wasn’t very often that hair metal met western movie culture but it was done by Ratt splendidly. Grade: A+
You’re In Trouble
This song came from some versions of the EP a year prior. It’s a mid-paced banger with a great guitar solo and keeps with the rougher theme of things, almost being a spiritual sequel to Wanted Man. This early version of what would become hair metal had a ton more attitude to it than what was on offer by the late ’80’s. Grade: A
Round And Round
Up next is the song Ratt is best known for. This one was an MTV staple and would be the band’s biggest hit, going to 12 on Billboard.
And this is an expertly crafted hit song. Everything from riff, verse and chorus is so catchy that it could be its own STD. The song’s premise is simple enough – the Ratt gang is out on the prowl and kicking ass. Nothing that requires a philosopher’s interpretation here.
The video for Round And Round was all over the place back in the ’80’s. It guest-starred famed actor and comedian Milton Berle, the uncle of Ratt’s manager. Berle played two characters in the video, both a “normal” guy and in drag. The clip stands as one of the immortal videos of ’80’s rock.
It’s no surprise that Round And Round became the song for Ratt. It hooks you in from the word go and maintains its hold throughout. This one has been in wide use in TV, movies and commercials since 1984 and hasn’t gone away yet, it is Ratt’s legacy summed up in a song. Grade: A+
In Your Direction
A meaty riff here and a touch more bite to this song. As with everything on the album, this has a perfect rhythm across all facets of the song – in riffs and vocal delivery, and the back end of the drums and bass. Ratt were not considered virtuoso’s beyond the guitar of DeMartini, but their ability to get the tempo and rhythm of a song perfect is unsurpassed. Grade: A
She Wants Money
Ratt excel in the mid-pace offerings of the songs before, but this one kicks up the speed by a good bit. It is a tale as old as time, or at least money – if you want the girl, you gotta have some cash. No one likes some broke dude. This one is a nice way to switch things up a bit. Grade: A-
Lack Of Communication
The opening riff here leaps out of the speaker and pounds you in the head, and keeps up through the song’s length. This song stomps through humanity’s universal problem as illustrated in the title. No doubt this is the theme song for every single work place in recorded history. The song does a great job of communicating the problem, no issues here. Grade: A+
Back For More
Another cut from the EP that was redone for the full-length. It again sits in that mid-paced pocket that Ratt have masterfully established, though this one does have a bit more noise in the riffs and vocals. It’s a grimy tale of an on-again, off-again relationship and may have been based on the hook-up between Robbin Crosby and Tawny Kitaen. This song did get a video but wasn’t officially a single, the history on this is a bit confusing.
What isn’t confusing is that this song absolutely rocks. There’s just enough of things here and there in the track to push this one over the other songs, which are already excellent. Grade: S
The Morning After
Time to rock out again. Super great riff running through this one and Stephen Pearcy delivers the news of an impending one-night stand with the requisite force. A nice extended solo in this one too, this album is definitely not sputtering out towards the end. Grade: A
I’m Insane
Another hot rocker about a favorite topic in heavy metal, being crazy. There isn’t a lot to discuss about it – it’s a song that works great and keeps the energy up heading into the album’s close. Grade: A
Scene Of The Crime
The closer offers up a fair bit of melody, though the subject matter is far from bright and cheery. The “crime” is a figure for two-timing, or at least that’s what I get from it. The song is, like everything else, fantastically done and makes most people wish there were another ten songs of this album to go. Grade: A
Out Of The Cellar was a massive debut for Ratt. It would peak at number 7 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified 3 times platinum. Note that certifications are not always kept up to date by record labels and the album is believed to have moved at least 5 million copies. Ratt would continue to have multi-platinum success through the decade though this album remains their hottest seller.
With this album, Ratt would be instrumental in shaping the rock scene for the coming years. There is little doubt that they played a huge role in the ascension of hair metal, the sound that was so pervasive through the ’80’s. It’s also clear that there’s more on offer here than what would come by the time hair metal became a ballad writing machine. But that’s the usual state of music – it’s usually the early innovators who had the freshest stuff on offer.
Grading this album couldn’t be easier, the justification for my grade is laid out in the song grades and there’s not much else to say. This record has no weaknesses and many strengths.
Album Grade: A+
I suppose people who didn’t enjoy hair metal might actually wish to blame Ratt for being a central cog in its formation. But for those of us who did like it, it never really got much better than Out Of The Cellar. An amazing album that stands toward the top of the brilliant offerings of 1984.
Today I’m off back to that wonderful year of 1984 and into my ongoing celebration of the 40th anniversary.
I do run into one problem when I do this year-long 1984-versary – I’ve already covered a lot of this ground already. And in today’s case I’ve covered it twice – I have long since talked about Powerslave, one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums. And I’ve talked about the song before, when I ran it down as a part of the series where I visited the Maiden singles in my collection. But the occasion to celberate 1984 and also Iron Maiden gives me the opportunity to talk about this song yet again.
Aces High was released on the Powerslave album and was also released as the second single from that record. The song charted decently in the band’s native UK, going number 20 there as well as 29 in Ireland. But the sheer immortality of the song goes far beyond chart positions.
Aces High has a clear subject matter on hand – it depicts a British RAF pilot flying his Spitfire during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The British held out over a long campaign of German bombing that caused devastating damage to England’s cities and military infrastructure. But the inability of Nazi Germany to affect a British surrender would be a major turning point in World War II, and the resolve of the British people during a horrifying time is the stuff of legend.
One main way Britain held off Germany’s assault was through the use of the Spitfire, which was not in vast production at the onset of the battle but did showcase that it could keep up with the Luftwaffe’s well-rendered aircraft. And while the song today doesn’t identify the RAF pilot who flew these sorties, the single’s cover clearly depicts one Eddie as the pilot in question.
The lyrics paint a daring and detailed picture of the bombings and the dogfights that would ensue to defend Great Britain. The first line mentions the air raid siren, which was a constant feature of life in England during this campaign and also, likely coincidental, is the nickname of singer Bruce Dickinson. The rest of the lyrics are filled with the plane fight to shoot down bombers and then engage German fighters. The chorus soars, just as a plane does up in the open sky.
Not only do the words do a great job of communicating the story of the Spitfire, but the music is a muscular beast that also compliments the plane fight theme. The song is all action, kicking off hard from the word go and not letting up for a millisecond throughout. The guitar work from Dave Murray and Adrian Smith is exactly the kind of twin guitar attack you’d want to depict a dogfight, and Steve Harris’ bassline here is one of the best of his career. Accompanied by the bashing of skins from Nicko McBrain, this is a metal song that couldn’t get any more complete.
As presented on Powerslave and on the single, you simply get Aces High the song. But Maiden quickly appended a verbal introduction to the video as well as when playing the song live and it has become just as much a part of the song as the instruments and vocals. The verbiage in question is from Winston Churchill and is a part of his famous June 1940 speech, informally referred to as “On the beaches.” Churchill had been vehemently opposed to Hitler for the Nazi tyrant’s entire career, and Churchill’s dogged adversity would pay off when he became Prime Minister and helped lead Great Britain through the war. His speech was a celebrated rallying cry when delivered in Parliament. Do note that Churchill’s recording of the speech is actually from 1949, the original speech was not recorded.
Aces High instantly became a highlight piece of Iron Maiden’s catalog. It would open the World Slavery tour, as famously represented on Live After Death. While the song ranks at a relatively modest number 19 in terms of how many times Maiden have played it live, it is no doubt one of the band’s most-known and loved tracks. The list of signature Maiden songs can get a bit long but Aces High belongs there no question.
1984 was a banner year for heavy metal, and it was also the year Iron Maiden unleashed one of their best albums and truly took over the world. Aces High is one of the standout metal songs from that year, from Iron Maiden and honestly from heavy metal in general.
I was absent from here last week, had a minor injury that laid me up for a moment. All is well now and things should be routine from this point.
Also – this week I’m introducing a new aspect to this – I’ll grade each song as well as the album. Instead of reviewing by numbers I’ve chosen to use letter grades. This transition will take a little time to become a regular feature and I’ll do a quick post later this week to explain it more, but I decided to go with it starting today as I’ve been sitting on it for awhile now.
Today I’m going back to 1992 and looking at an album that saw Megadeth gain a great deal of mainstream success, though not quite as much as one member was hoping for.
Megadeth – Countdown To Extinction
Released July 14, 1992 via Capitol Records
Megadeth were hot off of their 1990 masterwork Rust In Peace, widely considered one of thrash metal’s finest hours. By 1992 the music scene was still reshuffling from the nuclear fallout of the summer of 1991 – while hair metal was the biggest casualty, thrash also suffered under the weight of grunge.
Thrash also suffered due to its biggest practitioner changing tack – concurrent with grunge was the arrival of Metallica’s “Black Album,” which abandoned the general structure of thrash and offered a more accessible version of heavy metal. Dave Mustaine’s former band saw the highest levels of success possible from this shift, and less than a year later a more accessible version of Megadeth was on offer.
The band accomplished something they had not managed before this point – they brought back every member from the prior album. Dave Mustaine would lead the band on guitars and vocals. Marty Friedman was the lead guitarist. Dave Ellefson provided bass and Nick Menza was the drummer. Songwriting was credited to Mustaine, with individual music and lyrics offered up by the other members and credited as such. The album was produced by Max Norman and Dave Mustaine.
This record features 11 songs at a time of 47:26. There are several re-issue versions available with a wealth of bonus material, today I’ll stick to the base album. Four songs were released as singles and were constant presences on MTV during the album cycle.
Skin o’ My Teeth
The opener shows that Megadeth didn’t sacrifice being heavy in the quest to be more accessible. This is a rolling, groovy beast of a song that quickly establishes itself as one of the album’s highlights. The song has its subject escape a number of near-death situations. It’s not entirely clear of this is a suicidal rampage or just bad luck and Mustaine has waffled on the answer to that over the years.
Whatever the case, this is one banger of a track and even while shifting direction, Megadeth kept their heaviness and guitar-focused attack in place. Grade: A+
Symphony Of Destruction
Up next is the album’s lead single and what has become Megadeth’s most widely recognized song. This one is super simple, with a riff that anyone can play and short, concise lyrics about how power corrupts and some world leaders send their people into chaos. It borders on being overly simple but still possesses the trademark Megadeth precision and Mustaine’s snarling delivery really enhances the track. Grade: A
Architecture Of Aggression
The song itself punches well but it also very straightforward, perhaps to its detriment. Its subject matter is that of the first Gulf War in 1991, and parts of CNN reporting on the first night of bombing are interspersed through the song. The song also offers the message that a nation’s leader is often credited for building their country, while the truth is that the country is often built upon the bones and blood of common people. Grade: B
Foreclosure Of A Dream
This one offers up a bit of thrash to it while also incorporating some acoustic runs alongside the more conventional electric passages. This one is concise but does offer up some movement to it, shaping up to be a more dynamic offering. The topic at hand is the end of the American Dream, as the 1980’s and early ’90’s saw erosion of the job base and farming sector of average US households. The dream was sold out for favorable deals with corporations, something that has only grown in scope 30 years later. This song does a great job of both delivering its message and making a heavy song accessible. Grade: A
Sweating Bullets
Up next is easily the most contentious song from this record. It does seem in some cases that whether or not someone likes the album hinges on what they think of this song.
It’s a song about insanity, Mustaine inserts several references to multiple personalities and schizophrenia here as well as overall metal health demise. Some of the song’s lines can be funny or cringe, depending on how someone takes them. While I wouldn’t suggest Dave Mustaine is mentally ill, he is clearly nuts so this probably wasn’t hard for him to write. The music is again suitably heavy and kept simple.
So what do I think? I personally love this song. Hell of a jam. Grade: A
This Was My Life
This is a song that keeps pretty strictly on the rails. Here Mustaine ruminates over the wreckage of an old affair he had and has apparently composed several songs about over the years. This song is fine but it does pale compared to a lot of the other stuff on this album. Just not nearly as much going on here. Grade: C+
Countdown To Extinction
Megadeth covered nuclear annihilation on their last album but here they take the title track and do something a bit different. The band focus on the extinction of species as well as the practice of “canned hunting,” where animals are kept in confined spaces and unscrupulous hunters pay big money to “hunt” them in close quarters. This is not Ted Nugent’s favorite song.
This tracks is very well done, a melodic and mid-paced tune with a socially conscious message very much in place with the atmosphere of the early ’90’s. Grade: A
High Speed Dirt
The pace kicks up a bit here as Megadeth offer up a song about skydiving, something they were very much into around this time and did on MTV’s Headbangers Ball in a memorable episode. There is a kicker, of course – the term “high speed dirt” means the diver is getting to the ground far faster than they’re supposed to, as in the parachute isn’t working. At some point there will be a splat. Grade: B+
Psychotron
This one is a plodder to a degree, another mid-paced marching riff kind of thing that Megadeth would use a lot over the next many years. The song is about the semi-obscure Marvel comics character Deathlok, a partial cyborg of some kind. The song is good though not really a standout. Grade: B-
Captive Honour
Up next is one very curious track. It is pretty well done musically, with the arrangement going a few different places and moving the song along more than the straightline approach on many others here. The subject matter is about the pretty awful conditions of US prisons, how some young punk who did something seriously wrong gets tossed into the can and becomes the “bitch of the block.”
The lyrical presentation here is a bit all over the place and does cast the song in a dimmer light for me. There’s rumination on the famous Stalin quote “one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic” and then there’s a whole skit between judge and convict that seems more goofy than anything. About the time the phrase “man-pussy” is used is when I kind of check out on this one, though again the music is really good and it’s a very mixed bag. Grade: C
Ashes In Your Mouth
The album’s closer is the longest song and also the biggest throwback to prior Megadeth albums. This is a blistering jam that recalls some of the more complex passages of Rust In Peace, though also keeps the verses slimmer in keeping with this album’s presentation. It’s a pretty brutal track about the human condition and the need to inflict violence on one another for perceived transgressions, all the while never being satisfied with the hollow victory of revenge. This is a total smokeshow of a song and a fantastic entry in the Megadeth catalog. Grade: A+
Countdown To Extinction would do what Mustaine set out to – generate a wider audience for Megadeth. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard chart and has been certified 2 times platinum, both career highs for Megadeth. It may have alienated some of the old school metalheads, but by 1992 that contingent was pretty much alienated from all sides. The pick-up of new fans more than made up for any disgruntled old fans.
Someone else who might have been disgruntled was Dave Mustaine. While Megadeth was seeing more success than ever, they still paled in comparison to Metallica, who were at stratospheric heights by this time. I do recall some derision over this album only getting to number 2, when Metallica’s opus hit the top spot. I don’t know totally how Mustaine felt about it all, trying to track his thoughts over the years would be utter madness. But barely anyone in music through that decade touched what Metallica did, there shouldn’t be any shame in how Megadeth fared in these years. Mustaine would chase the elusive “radio single” for awhile after this.
I always enjoyed Countdown To Extinction. I think it has a lot of great songs on it and even the songs that aren’t all that hot are pretty decent listens. The change to more lean songs didn’t bother me, I already had my mind well blown by the music shift of 1991 and I was game for anything by this point.
I was happy to see Megadeth get their due and with a quality album that still ran heavy and with a strain of socially aware topics.
Album Grade: A
Countdown To Extinction is a fantastic cut of metal from the “alt-metal” years of the 1990’s. Megadeth fashioned songs that could reach out to a wider audience but also held up credibly well against the rest of the now legendary Megadeth catalog. The album’s singles were memorable cuts, the lyrical commentary was often more sophisticated that what was found across other metal albums, and Mustaine and Friedman were still able to include a fair bit of guitar theatrics. Great work all around.
For today I’m gonna continue extolling the virtues of the music of 1984. In this case I have long since covered the album in question and I’ve also talked about the song a bit when I covered the cassette singles I have. But today I’m gonna go more in-depth on one of my favorite Metallica songs, which just so happens to be from that hallowed year of 1984.
Creeping Death was the only actual single released to market from the album Ride The Lightning. Two other songs, For Whom The Bell Tolls and Fade To Black, were released as promo copies to radio. While today we talk about Ride The Lightning in terms of an album that has sold roughly seven million copies in the US alone, bear in mind a lot of those sales came during the band’s world-conquering run for their 1991 Black album. The album didn’t go gold until 1987, while today’s single only has a gold certification from Australia for 35,000 copies sold. What happened in 1984, while vital to the band’s reputation and success, was a far cry from what happened when they became literally the biggest band of the 1990’s.
So let’s peel back all the layers of Metallica’s legacy and get to the core of Creeping Death – this song is an epic thrash masterpiece that centers around the plagues of Egypt as told by the Holy Bible. The verses that tell this story are in the Book of Exodus, which will become especially ironic in a moment. I don’t have the specific verses on hand but I consider it a spectacular passage from the Bible and I don’t even subscribe to the religion. It’s a goldmine for heavy metal references, only surpassed by the concluding Book of Revelations.
The short version of the biblical story is this – the Hebrew people were kept as slaves in Egypt for several hundred years. Their god finally grew tired of it and appointed Moses as his prophet to lead them out of their hardship. The Egyptian pharaoh did not release the Hebrews, so their god delivered ten plagues as reprisal. After this, the Hebrews were freed and began their forty year exodus to the promised land of Israel.
Metallica’s song picks up at the tenth and final plague, which was awfully heinous. A destroyer was sent to kill the first born son of every Egyptian family. Hebrew families were instructed to paint lamb’s blood on their doors so that the Destroyer would “pass over” their dwellings, this is the origin of the Jewish Passover holiday.
The song is unique in that it tells the story from the perspective of the Destroyer. Usually this story is recounted in the terms of Moses and his people led out of Egypt, or the Pharaoh and his dumb decisions during and after the plagues that led to he and his forces being drowned in the Red Sea. But we are dwelling in thrash metal here and we get to the heart of the matter – sometimes things are brutal.
Metallica does a masterful job of telling this story. The verses are interspersed with specific passages outlining the plight of the Hebrews and the coming storm the Egyptians faced, while the chorus outlines the role of the Destroyer and the devastation he is about to bring to Egypt. It’s honestly pretty clear and concise, nothing is really left to interpretation here even though the whole premise of the story is widely open to interpretation.
And the music only serves to further the brutal nature of the plagues. This is an absolute thrash magnum opus, being a massive serving of riffs and pummeling despite its length of 6:36. There is a bit of an intro before the meat of the song kicks in and the riffs keep slamming in consistent fashion through both verses and chorus. And of course we get a wild solo from Kirk Hammett before the most famous part of the song kicks in.
After the solo, the song breaks down into a chunky bridge that has become central to the Metallica experience. James Hetfield shouts “Die by my hand, I creep across the land, killing first-born man” as gang vocals shout “Die!” behind him. This part is often extended for several minutes live to encourage crowd participation and is one of the most compelling moments in live music.
As for how the song came about, that story comes in two parts. It was Kirk Hammett who originally came up with the signature bridge riff when he was just 16 years old, which puts this early thrash riff in 1978. He would introduce it to the band he was in prior to Metallica, who was ironically the pioneering thrash act Exodus. Exodus messed around with a demo called Die By My Hand but it went unused, then Kirk brought it to Metallica when he joined in 1983. Kirk outlined this story to Louder.com in a 2014 interview.
Metallica would fill out the song as they were writing for Ride The Lightning. While sources are locked behind unaccesible interviews, the band got the idea for the song from the old Charlton Heston movie The Ten Commandments. It was Cliff Burton who coined the “creeping death” idea from the movie, and then the band was off to the races to flesh out the song.
Creeping Death has reigned as one of Metallica’s dearest signature songs, even in a career filled with many examples of prime material. It ranks as the band’s second most-played song live, just behind Master Of Puppets. The song has been widely covered by acts like Stone Sour, Drowning Pool and Bullet For My Valentine. It has also made the cut on to classic rock radio despite not getting a ton of airplay originally.
It was dark days in Egypt when the Destroyer visited destruction upon the populace of Egypt, but it was absolute heavy metal glory when Metallica recorded a song about it a few thousand years later. For all of the arguing about Metallica these days, there is no arguing their undisputed mastery of the genre they were central to the creation of forty years ago, and Creeping Death is a pinnacle example of that.
The Crooked Wanderer 