Tag: rock n roll

Becoming Led Zeppelin

On By bigbadburchIn Movies5 Comments

Earlier this month we got a real rarity – a Led Zeppelin documentary with the full cooperation of the surviving members. Becoming Led Zeppelin was filmed a few years back and, after some theatrical screenings, hit streaming services earlier this month.

The film was put together by Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGoutry, who had previously worked on a music series called American Epic. The series had attracted the attention of the former Zep members, two of whom can be famously prickly about discussing their past. But everyone was on board for this specific treatment, which as far as I know is the first and only Zep documentary done with the participation of Page, Plant and Jones.

This documentary is not a tell-all that follows the band’s entire career. This focuses on what the members were doing in the years before Zeppelin and then runs through the release of Led Zeppelin II and a few landmark gigs from that time frame. And I’ll say that I prefer it this way – I honestly was not terribly familiar with Jones, Plant or Bonham’s pre-Zep days and this was a nice deep dive into their early musical forays. Page I had more knowledge of but it was still nice to have the run down.

What we get is the three surviving members saying their pieces in separate interviews. Some people lament the lack of interaction between the participants but I wasn’t concerned about it. John Bonham is represented by archival interview recordings from 1980, not long before his death. While the three living members don’t speak with each other, they do seem to listen to Bonzo’s parts at times.

I don’t know if this film is for people not familiar with Zeppelin – the pre-Zep days are covered fairly in-depth, but then the film moves fairly quickly through the key events of the band’s formation and rise to success. I do feel like some knowledge of the band’s progress might be warranted to fully appreciate this doc, but it’s entirely possible that folks who aren’t that familiar with the band might still get something out of this.

The main criticisms of the film I see are the separate interviews and also that the film ends “abruptly” without continuing on through their whole career. I’m personally fine with how it was done and I don’t share these criticisms. The only negative point I have to mention is that the audio is kind of hosed – the music performances are LOUD and the talking audio is very, very quiet in comparison. This might work well in an IMAX theater setting, but my humble home TV is not an IMAX. It can be a bit tough to pick up what British people are saying when the audio is super quiet, and the subtitles don’t always help because they are white and fairly often display on very light backgrounds, rendering them unreadable. I had to actively work my volume control through the film to keep things on the level.

That is my only real criticism. Beyond that, this is a very well-done film that offers a lot of lore for the pre-Zep days and hits the highlights of their first few years. There are several live clips in the film well worth checking out. I don’t know the ins and outs of how previously available some of the music footage is, some of it is billed as available for the first time (at least officially).

I do highly recommend this film for anyone with any kind of interest in Led Zeppelin. It’s wonderful to hear the guys talk about their upbringing and the band’s formation, especially the interview with the long-departed John Bonham. We also get plenty of Jimmy Page showcasing his drive to push for more success and John Paul Jones being along for the ride despite having a successful career as a session musician. And while Robert Plant has at times been reticent to lean on past glories, here he is fully willing to revisit his early days and the formation of the band. His recounting of his tough go of it before Jimmy Page found him is compelling, and his tales of working with Bonzo despite John’s wife totally not being into Robert is funny and heartwarming.

There isn’t much more for me to say – this is a great film on one of rock’s biggest bands, and we get the most compelling part of the story with the early years. This is well worth the watch.

Blues Traveler – But Anyway

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year4 Comments

This week I’m going for a bit of an oddball pick for me. It’s originally from 1990 but the song would gain a second life several years after its release through the wondrous mechanism of pop culture.

Blues Traveler got their start in the 1980’s and would offer up their debut album in 1990. It was a self-titled effort and, while it didn’t light the world on fire, the band did get play on college radio and the ball got rolling for them. But Anyway was the lead track from the record and, at the time it didn’t move mountains but did get some buzz on the independent circuit.

Irrelevant to the song but a fun bit of trivia – Joan Osborne provided backing vocals on two songs on the Blues Traveler debut record. This was all a few years before everyone would get famous.

But anyway, Blues Traveler would release a handful more albums up to their set four, released in 1994. This featured the song Run-Around, which became a top ten hit and instantly made the band a household name. The song won a Grammy and the album slammed sales racks for six million copies in the US.

Blues Traveler were now in demand across the spectrum. Their blend of alt-rock and jam band sensibilities gave them a very wide appeal, and one area they became very in-demand was movie soundtracks. Someone could write a decent-sized book on the number of soundtracks that Blues Traveler wound up on in the middle of the decade. The band was so in-demand that their old albums all hit gold in 1995 and movie makers revisited their old catalog for hidden gems to add to their films. This would give But Anyway a second life in a very memorable part in a fantastic film.

In 1996, the Farrelly Brothers released Kingpin. The movie was a dark comedy starring Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid as an alcoholic, down on his luck bowler and an Amish bowling prodigy, respectively. It also featured Vanessa Angel as a whore and Bill Murray as a total asshole in a performance that should have won awards.

I won’t get too much into the movie but I will say Kingpin is absolutely worth a watch. I just went back and watched it for the first time in a long time very recently, when I knew I was going to cover this song. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll make damn sure to pay your rent on time.

Blues Traveler and But Anyway got big billing in the film – the band was featured at the end, dressed up in Amish garb and teaching the Amish village how to throw down. Singer John Popper also got a part as the host of the huge bowling tournament that’s pivotal to the movie. As you might have already ascertained from the video clip, footage from the movie is featured in the song’s music video as well.

All this, but how’s the actual song? But Anyway is a fun, upbeat dive into some mid-paced and music-filled blues rock. Lyrically it pokes fun at life’s silly situations in a playful manner. Musically the band shows off some real chops, including an extended breakdown/jam session that’s cut out of the single version. But there’s plenty of bass and harmonica fun to be had on the full studio cut.

But Anyway would wind up hitting the charts six years after its initial release. It hit number 5 on the Adult Alternative chart and 24 on the Mainstream Top 40 in 1996. Blues Traveler would go on to some more mainstream success through the rest of the 90’s. While they are now more of an independent act these days, the band has kept around all this time, including annual July 4th performances at the famed Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado.

Blues Traveler were all over the place in the mid-90’s and But Anyway is just one testament to their infectious hold on listeners’ ears around that time. It took a movie tie-in to bring this older song a new life but it was all pulled off splendidly, and we’re left with both a song and movie worth checking out.

Picking Five Songs From 1989

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year6 Comments

Welcome back to the “five songs from a year” series. Simple premise, as always – I choose five of my favorite songs from a particular year (not necessarily my five favorite, just five favorites). I started at 1967 and will run all the way through 2025.

Today is bittersweet as I’m now 22 entries into the series, which is really good. But it’s also sad since this is the final entry from the 1980’s. I grew up in that decade and it was a wonderland of entertainment of all avenues. It’s an era that hasn’t been, and probably can’t be, replicated.

All things must come to an end though, and here we are at the end of the ’80’s. Let’s get into my five picks from the end of the line.

Mötley Crüe – Kickstart My Heart

The Crüe had themselves a banner year in 1989. Their album Dr. Feelgood was a well-produced and written affair that saw them ride the end of the hair metal wave on top. The album contained this song, which ranks among the band’s very best. This is a total ass kicking burst of adrenaline that celebrates the band’s triumph of adversity and Nikki Sixx’s cheating death a few years prior. It doesn’t get much better.

Neil Young – Rockin’ In The Free World

Neil Young did NOT have a good decade in the 1980’s. He recorded some off the wall stuff and literally got sued for not sounding like himself. He spent the latter part of the ’80’s righting the ship and then lightning struck at the ass end of the decade with what has become one of his most well-known songs. Neil wrapped up criticism of the first George Bush administration in both poignant and noisy form. The political ramifications of the song have lived on for nearly 40 years since and the track is one of Young’s most beloved cuts from a discography that has roughly 9,000 albums in it.

Nine Inch Nails – Sin

The times they were a changin’, and the proof was in the pudding even before the decade turned. One signpost of the change was the advent of industrial and electronic music, and Nine Inch Nails would lead the charge into the next decade. This one has a bit of a dance beat to it, which isn’t really my thing in general but I’m cool with what Trent Reznor gets up to here. The song is about power struggle, control, lust and other cool stuff like masochism. It’s a twisted good time.

Aerosmith – What It Takes

When that gal who you had that crazy fling with in the last song is done with you, you can lean on this somber ballad from Steven Tyler and company to pull you through the tough times. This isn’t just a breakup song, it’s a lament of the most painful kind of loss, the end of that deep relationship that was supposed to be “the one.” The band did work with Desmond Child to craft this one but wanted to capture a different essence than the “big-time” ballad they went for on the album prior. I’d say they hit a home run.

Faith No More – Epic

Another sign that things were about to get a lot different was Faith No More’s 1989 hit album The Real Thing. It was their first with new singer Mike Patton and the band would become one of the harbingers of the coming weirdness of the next decade. This one would combine hard rock and a rapping vocal style, so feel free to direct the blame for nü-metal right here.

But there’s a lot more here than the primordial ooze that Korn and Limp Bizkit would crawl out of. This has pounding verses and a soaring chorus that will get wedged into any listener’s head. It’s full of musical movements and switches, including a moving piano outro that really flips things on its head. Faith No More were out in left field even for the coming alt-rock revolution, and the next decade would have their stamp all over it.

That does it for 1989 and the golden decade of the 1980’s. Next week I press on into the sea of changes that turned popular music on its head.

Picking Five Songs From 1988

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year3 Comments

We are now to 1988 on this long-running series where I pick five of my favorite songs from a year. Yes, this will run all the way through this year. I imagine this will bleed into next year at this point since I took a good chunk of the early year off, so I’ll go ahead and pick five from ’25 as well.

But we’re a long damn ways away from that. Today we head to 1988. Rock was still running strong in its hair phase, though time was running out on the art form. Things were getting heavier and heavier on the metal end of things, as what we now know as extreme metal saw regular releases in ’88 and beyond. While I do love some 1980’s pop, I had kind of moved away from it by this point and was far more entrenched in the rock and metal end of things. By the time we get to the 2000’s, many of you may not recognize anything I post. But, again, we’re not there yet.

It is 1988, at least for a few minutes around here. Here are five of my favorite songs from the year (as always, not necessarily my five favorite, just five of my favorites). Enjoy.

Queensrÿche – Eyes Of A Stranger

Starting off with the final track of what is my favorite album of all time. Operation: Mindcrime is a metal “opera” with a ton of political intrigue, murder and suspense, and Eyes Of A Stranger wraps up the album better than pretty much any ending to anything in history. The main charcter Nikki is locked up in a prison mental institution, left to recall the sordid events of the album in a drugged-up haze. The production on this song and album is absolutely perfect, and the song’s drive and melody are otherworldly, as is of course the vocal performance of Geoff Tate. There are few finer examples of a song around.

Death – Pull The Plug

Death metal had been on the scene for a few years, and by ’88 it was really getting into gear. Leave it to the namesake band to deliver an all-time classic. This “thrash on steroids” delivered a savage beating to the eardrums of metalheads brave enough to move beyond the mainstream. While Death would go on to become a technical powerhouse, Pull The Plug is some good meat and potatoes, basic death metal.

Bathory – A Fine Day To Die

From Bathory’s fourth album Blood Fire Death, this saw Quorthon blend his now patented black metal with more melodic influences, eventually coining the term Viking metal. This song is an epic journey told through a group who are facing their likely end in battle. It’s a massive song that inspires even my sedentary ass to get up and strive for Valhalla.

Candlemass – Mirror Mirror

And now time for a little doom. Candlemass of Sweden had cut their third album by this point and were in the middle of an arc that is now considered hallowed in the pantheon of doom metal. While doom is traditionally slower, this is one of several Candlemass songs that runs at a faster clip at times. It’s an enchanting track about a cursed mirror that swallows the souls of whoever peers into it. The song is aided immensely by the power and range of the “mad monk” Messiah Marcolin, a true treasure of metal vocals.

Iron Maiden – The Evil That Men Do

And we wrap up with another Iron Maiden song. This one hails from Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, which as I’ve relayed in the past is my favorite Maiden album. The song itself has a few complexities musically but is honestly one of the “simpler” tracks from the album. It is a forward, speedy driver and doesn’t let up throughout. Lyrically it is quite complex, as it deals with the album’s story of a child born of the Devil who gets up to some shit. This song is just before the child’s birth, if I’m recalling the story correctly.

That covers 1988. We are only one year away from putting a bow on the grand decade of the 1980’s. Things really do switch up after we enter the next decade.

And before I go, another quick programming note – I will continue this weekly posting format for what seems to be another four weeks, if I’m counting right. It’ll be a song and also this post, and perhaps another post in the middle of the week. I will run like this up until July 5, which is slated to be Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert. I do intend to livestream that event and I will provide a recap of it that following Monday. The week after that I will return to posting albums on Mondays, and I actually have a backlog going at this point so I should be able to keep up. ‘Till then.

Picking Five Songs From 1987

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year12 Comments

And now we’re on to 1987. This was a massive year at the top end of rock. It’s pretty crazy – the albums Hysteria, Appetite For Destruction and The Joshua Tree sold a combined 75 million copies worldwide. Two of those albums didn’t really gain steam until a year later, but that’s a different story.

Things were moving on musically in the later 1980’s. A lot of bands seemed to be chasing the brass ring and not quite grabbing it. Acts that had vital, fresh albums a few years back were now stagnating. There’s still plenty of good music to be found, but in retrospect, the signs of the coming nuclear assault of 1991 were already there by ’87.

But there’s no need for massive analysis of everything. All I really need to do is pick five songs I really like from 1987. Not necessarily my five definitive favorites, simply five of my favorites. This is a fast and loose exercise so let’s get into it.

Mötley Crüe – Wild Side

The Crüe got back to form after a bit of a letdown a few years prior. Wild Side is a heavy, pounding track that outlines the sleazier part of life. Not everything was fast women and good times in the ’80’s, there was a seedy side to things and Wild Side captured the grit and grime of the streets at night. This is one of my very favorite Crüe songs.

Guns N’ Roses – Welcome To The Jungle

1987 was the year GnR were thrust into the wider world. It would take them a bit to break, but break they did, to the tune of selling 30 million copies of Appetite For Destruction. The tune that really gets me going is the album’s opening track. It is a monster song, and much like the one from their bitter rivals above, relays how the big, bad city can swallow you whole. This threw a whole new level of intensity into the rock scene and made titans out of Guns N’ Roses.

Whitesnake – Still Of The Night

David Coverdale was not to be left out of the big winnings of 1987. Gambling his whole fortune on the album he’d just crafted, he would be paid back in spades as his album sold 10 million copies. While honestly just a song about a romp between the sheets, this is laid out with great care, featuring movements and interludes and the dynamite guitar of John Sykes. This song could be considered Whitesnake’s greatest triumph, though that’s not a question I’m here to discuss today.

U2 – Where The Streets Have No Name

U2 were big winners from 1987, bringing in a haul from their 25 million plus selling The Joshua Tree record. I’m not the band’s biggest fan but there’s no doubt that the album is a piece of work and that this song is absolutely stunning. This is simply a massive rock song packed with emotion and imagery that is too vivid to escape.

Dio – All The Fools Sailed Away

By 1987, Ronnie James Dio was operating without his wunderkid guitarist Vivian Campbell, who departed the band in acrimonious fashion. Though Dio’s “golden era” would be over, he was still capable of striking gold, as he did on this magnificent track. It’s a splendid quasi-ballad that stands alongside his prime cuts as one of his best works.

That wraps it up for 1987. Just two more years of the golden 1980’s to go, then things get really, really different – both in music and in my tastes.

Scorpions – Send Me An Angel

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week6 Comments

Programming note – for the time being, I will keep with the format of doing a song each week, perhaps one other post, then my weekly “five songs from a year” thing. I am working on some album posts and I will resume those on Mondays when I get some posts together and can actually be working ahead for once.

Today let’s step back in time to 1990. The music world was on the cusp of huge changes, but one institution that was still running strong “as is” was the Scorpions. The German machine found great success in the early and mid-80’s, though they did flag a bit in the latter part of the decade.

They would enter the 1990’s in style, though. The album Crazy World would sell great all over the world, giving the band their only number one record in Germany. It hit silver in the UK, their only album to do so there. In the US it hit 21 on the album chart and went on to double platinum status, a very hot seller and just behind Love At First Sting as the band’s best-selling album.

The Scorpions released four singles from the record – the first two were fairly standard Scorpions rockers, while latter two were both ballads. That third single, Wind Of Change, would become the band’s biggest hit, while the fourth and final single is the reason we are gathered here today.

Send Me An Angel was released as a single in September 1991, nearly a year after the Crazy World album release. The song did modest business on the charts, going to number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 8 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It had several top 10 placements throughout Europe, where Wind Of Change had previously scored at the top of those charts. It’s also worth noting that the single came out in the “ground zero” month of 1991 for the grunge takeover of MTV and radio. The Scorpions were able to keep steady while many other 80’s rockers were consigned to the scrap bin in this very time, and the Scorps were at the tail end of this album cycle.

For one other little bit of trivia, the single’s cover depicts a burning angel along with a band photo. The angel was used again a few years later as the cover for Black Sabbath’s Cross Purposes album. Sadly, the gents in the Scorpions did not also make the Sabbath cover.

Today’s song is the album’s final cut and follows a second side of steady rock and roll tracks. This ballad is a lot different, with a ethereal vibe and very atmospheric setting. It evokes a lonely wanderer in a desert setting, which the song’s video plays into.

Lyrically the verses offer the words of a wise man who provides encouragement, while the chorus is Klaus Meine offering the plea for an angel. I’ve always enjoyed when ballads go for lyrical content beyond the typical ’80’s fare of trying to get a woman’s pants off.

Send Me An Angel is a fantastic entry on the list of Scorpions ballads. While Wind Of Change was the band’s colossal hit, I’d argue that this one is the better song. And even while the Scorpions may have crafted their ultimate ballad with the titanic Still Loving You, this song is a worthy competitor in the ballad battle arena.

Picking Five Songs From 1986

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year10 Comments

Ok, so quick update first – just as I was getting ready to start blogging again last month, we wound up buying a house so that took up a bunch of my time. We are now moved and things are getting settled so I have time to get rolling again. Hopefully I can get going here again now that I’m mostly settled. It might take a minute but I should be fine.

We move on now into the later 1980’s with this long-running series. Things were getting bigger and bigger for rock music, though it could be argued that the quality was starting to wane in comparison to the absolute gold of the early decade. Rock was going hair, hair, hair; while heavy metal was getting heavier and heavier. And pop was starting to get weighed down by pale imitators of the sound that was a goldmine a few years prior. But this year was pretty good, as many acts who were “off cycle” the year prior are back and cranked out some quality music.

As usual, this is simply five of my favorite songs from the year. It is not a definitive “top five,” this is a pretty fast and loose exercise.

Iron Maiden – Stranger In A Strange Land

Maiden came back off their world-conquering campaign to kick off their “synth” arc. The results were splendid and this single is one of my all-time favorite Maiden tracks. The song is about an Arctic expedition that discovered a long-dead explorer, it is not related to the famed novel of the same name. While this one keeps the pace reigned in, it doesn’t lack for intensity as the power and melody combine to offer up the long-frozen explorer’s tale.

Queensrÿche – Screaming In Digital

This is almost a rock opera type song about man versus machine, and the now suddenly relevant topic of AI. The lyrical fare might be fresh nearly 40 years later, but the music on this is ungodly and timeless. The instruments and samples are a mesh of chaos, and Geoff Tate delivers while might honestly be his finest vocal performance ever as he handles the tradeoff “arguments” between man and machine. One of my favorite songs of all time.

Motörhead – Orgasmatron

Up next is the venerable legends with one of their many signature offerings. This is a slow, doom-laden marcher that explores the world of war, religion and political power, those dark masters that have taken the lives of many over the centuries. It’s all distilled here in the raw, primal form that only Motörhead can muster. As with the first two offerings, this ranks among my all-time favorites of the band’s catalog.

Metallica – Damage Inc.

1986 was a banner year for the band that would go on to become heavy metal’s biggest act. They released Master Of Puppets, which is often hailed as the quintessential thrash album. The album’s final track is a blistering slab of thrash, and again a song aimed at the bloody power corporations wield over rank and file citizens. The song serves as the final testament of Cliff Burton, mortally departed but always looming immortally over the metal scene he helped shape.

Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs

A bit of a curveball here, given the sheer amount of other heavy music that was released in ’86. But this cut from Dwight’s debut album has long been a favorite of mine. This was a good bit of barroom twang in a time when country was in a bit of a stale, pop-oriented direction. It remains one of Dwight’s top songs from a long and storied career.

That covers 1986. Next week we’ll see what’s up with one of rock music’s biggest ever years.

Picking Five Songs From 1985

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year3 Comments

Moving on with this series it’s time now for 1985. This year was not quite as spectacular as years past. A lot of the acts that cranked out music in 1984 were off cycle for this year, it was touring and live albums and not anything from the studio. And those who were on cycle didn’t necessarily release their best output. Still, there is stuff to be found here so I’ll sift through it and identify five songs I like from the year.

John Mellencamp – Rain On The Scarecrow

1985 might have been a down year for some, but it was a banner year for Mellencamp. Scarecrow remains a high water mark in his catalog and the quasi-title track is an absolute banger that laments the plight of the family farmer. It wasn’t pleasant for the small-time farmer back then and it’s no better now, if there are even any left. This song remains a lament to that way of life and also one of Mellencamp’s best tracks.

Slayer – Hell Awaits

Slayer came out with their second album and it showcased a more honed-in thrash attack compared to the debut. Still evil and sinister as can be, the song lays out what awaits for all of us heathens who headbanged to this over the past forty years. This song in particular is very brutal and fast, perhaps a taste of what was to come on the next record.

Heart – What About Love

The Wilson sisters finished recalibrating themselves for the 1980’s and offered up a self-titled album that conquered the airwaves and reshaped their sound into 80’s rock. Here we have a cover song, though one unused by the group Toronto after they wrote it in ’82. Heart would ride their version to the top ten and this single kicked off their “hair era” in style.

The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary

The Cult were one band who did strike in both 1984 and ’85. Their second album Love hit in ’85 and was the band’s breakout record. It was helped along with this single. The song is mystical, melodic and entrancing. This song also had a life on the dance circuit but it’s the original version I’m concerned with here.

Accept – Metal Heart

Accept also had back to back records in ’84 and ’85. Metal Heart was another in a line of prime German metal albums that ran through the early and mid ’80’s. The band fused a few classical music pieces into the song, both showcasing the link between classical and metal and also playing into the hilarious stereotype of metal showcased by Spinal Tap a year prior.

That wraps up 1985. Next we’ll press on into the later 1980’s and see just how the years play out before the world of music would be turned on its head with the turn of the decade.

Picking Five MORE Songs From 1984

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year4 Comments

I was supposed to post this like last month or whatever. Better late than never I guess as I get the ball rolling on this long-running series again. This is the bonus post for 1984. I did part one last month in case anyone forgot, which is probably everyone since it was awhile ago.

As always – these are five (or for this year ten) of my favorite songs from a year, not necessarily my five absolute favorites. Nothing definitive here, though these are in the ballpark. Whatever the case, let’s get to it.

Prince – Purple Rain

I’ll start off with the spectacular power ballad from the seminal album and film that turned Prince into a massive superstar. This is a gorgeous song that explores coming of age and the day of judgment, which I guess will involve rain. Not sure my copy of Revelations mentions that but I digress. While Prince showcased an array of instrumental and songwriting prowess to this point, here he lets his voice get in on the action.

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The USA

The Boss wrote this to recall the hard times Vietnam War vets faced when coming back into society. The song got confused by some as a patriotic anthem, but it is most certainly not. Rather it’s a dire look at people whose lives are essentially dead ends – no jobs, no hope, no future. I don’t know how so many people got the message mixed up, I turned seven the year this came out and I understood what it was about. No matter though, it is an awesome song and one of Bruce’s shining moments.

Hall and Oates – Out Of Touch

This crazy track was the final top ten hit for the massive pop duo. It’s quite the electro-dance number replete with the smooth harmonies Hall and Oates were famous for. I’m not a “fun and dancing” kind of person but even I can jam out to some Hall and Oates. This was a great way for them to cap off their electric string of hits through the early ’80’s.

Dokken – Don’t Close Your Eyes

This quasi-ballad but super hard rocker was one of many shining stars from the amazing Tooth And Nail record. This song is the perfect marriage of Dokken’s rock attack and melodic sensibilities that would come to define the “hair metal” era.

Ratt – Back For More

This song was re-recorded from an EP released a year prior, but the Out Of The Cellar version is one of many kick ass tracks on an amazing debut album. But this song is the one that puts it all over the edge for me, it’s snarling and pounding and right in your face. Ratt’s sound and presentation would go a long way to defining the 80’s metal movement for sure.

That does it for my bonus 1984 content. It’ll be 5 songs a year from here on out, and I think with my massive procrastination this series will now run into next year. But I’d have to count too much to figure it out one way or another, I’ll know more come September.

Spinal Tap II gets release date

On By bigbadburchIn Movies3 Comments

Yesterday we got official news of the sequel to the iconic movie This Is Spinal Tap. The movie is called Spinal Tap II: The End Continues and will hit theaters September 12 of 2025. This article from Consequence Of Sound lays out a lot of the details.

This sequel, which comes 41 years after the original, features the three main actors from the original film all taking up their roles again – Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel, Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins and Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls. Rob Reiner is again both in the director’s chair and also resuming his on-screen role as mockumentary host Marty Di Bergi.

The first movie featured an array of special guests from both the acting and music worlds, and the new Spinal Tap will feature a few returning guests and several new ones. Coming back to the film are Fran Drescher and Paul Shaffer. Drescher is confirmed to reprise her role as “the hostess with the mostess” Bobbi Flekman, while it’s not entirely confirmed if Shaffer will be back as the useless record label rep Artie Fufkin. (I would assume he is)

We do have quite the roll call for new guests in this second film. No less than Paul McCartney and Elton John will drop by, as well as Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, Questlove, Chad Smith and Lars Ulrich. That’s a pretty titanic guest list and it’s most likely that we don’t have all the details on guest shots right now. And it sets up a funny possibility – both Chad Smith and Lars Ulrich are drummers, and Spinal Tap lore is not kind to drummers. Lars might meet the fictional end that some cynical Metallica fans have been longing for. (not me, I think he’s fine)

There are a host of other actors who will take up new roles, which is fairly obvious since this is a new story set a ways beyond the initial film. But there will sadly be a handful of both regular cast and guests who cannot make the sequel as they are no longer with us – Tony Hendra (Ian Faith) and R.J. Parnell (Mick Shrimpton) are gone, as are guests Bruno Kirby, Fred Willard and Howard Hesseman. (this is not a comprehensive list, the cast list for the first movie is pretty big)

In preparation for the new film, the original This Is Spinal Tap will get a new showing in theaters and then a digital and streaming release this summer.

Of course people are wondering if a sequel is really necessary, especially after this long, and if it will be worthwhile. There are several cynical comments about the new film, but with this being the Internet in 2025, those kind of comments are unavoidable. Plenty of others seem excited by the prospect of the new film, I among them. No, I don’t expect this to be as good as the first film or even nearly as so. That was a cultural moment that is unable to be replicated. But I do expect that the people involved can make an entertaining and amusing film that does justice to the Spinal Tap legacy. I’m not worried about that at all and I fully expect to enjoy the new film. These folks know what they’re doing and I don’t anticipate any real letdown here.

There’s not much left to do besides wait for the film. We don’t have a trailer yet, just a small teaser video included below. We just have to get through the summer so we can tap into another slab of hilarious rock and roll.