I am a heretic among guitarists because don’t hold to the idolatrous worship of Jimi Hendrix that seems to be obligatory for plank-spankers. He was alright, I suppose but not as amazing or as innovative as people make out. Anyway, Music Radar has just run a poll to find the greatest guitar riff ever. Voodoo Child came in at number one. The top five were:

1. Voodoo Child – Jimi Hendrix
2. Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses
3. Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
4. Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
5. Layla - Derek and the Dominos

Music Radar’s editor, Mike Goldsmith, called Jimi Hendrix the ‘undisputed heavyweight champion of rock guitar’ and said: ‘Above all though, our poll seems to indicate one thing – in 2009 classic rock still rules.’

Well, I dispute it and no, it isn’t! If the best rock music all happened 30 years ago, what does that say about rock music? Decadent, repetitively recycling the same old, same old? There’s still new. vibrant, creative music making going on but you won’t find it in the rock world.

BBC news story

50 greatest riffs of all time

Jimi Hendrix, American guitarist (d. 1970)

Back in 1985, I was nineteen and working part time in a grocery store, spending most of my spare change on Heavy Metal albums or cassettes. I was still a teenager trying to find my college and career path back then, making minimum wage really left me with extremely limited funds. Being picky about my purchases in 1985 was out of necessity. To buy a brand new book back then, it had to be good… Heavy Metal good. I would frequent regularly, (most of the time just to browse), a mom & pop bookstore called Bookworks. This store unfortunately no longer exists, thanks to the gigantic, corporate bookstore chains that invaded every corner of the globe. Um, back to the Bookworks store… you see, I happened upon a book that caught my eye instantly sometime back in 1985, the title Heavy Metal Thunder appeared too good to be true. The front cover of the book said it all… sub headings read: The Music, It’s History, It’s Heroes. Plus, a fully adorned Heavy Metal guitarist playing a flying V guitar, on this books front cover, was more than I could possibly resist. I bought Heavy Metal Thunder willingly for $12.95. This was the full cover price back in 1985, quite a bit of cash considering my economic situation back then.

I can remember walking home with this book under my arm, the feeling of striking Heavy Metal gold was resonating through me. Knowing this was a book documenting the history of Heavy Metal up to 1985, enticed me to become the Heavy Metal scholar of my block. I read this book from front to back repeatedly, taking in the facts and timelines of the Heavy Metal history found within it’s pages. As I look back now, this book was as informative as any Heavy Metal book available back in 1985. As I leaf through the pages of Heavy Metal Thunder today, it is obvious this book was written from the perspective of being in the year 1985. Don’t let the year 1985 fool you however, this book is accurate, informative and fact filled with enough Heavy Metal history to still satisfy me in 2009. I wish there was a companion edition of Heavy Metal Thunder that was written, a book that dates from 1985 to the present. The author, Philip Bashe, compiled a timeline of Heavy Metal evolution, in commendable fashion, with this book.

There are 32 full color pages of band and individual musician photos in Heavy Metal Thunder, each photo seems to capture the essence and significance of the Old School Heavy Metal genre. Dozens of black and white photos of Heavy Meal bands and musicians adorn the pages of this great book as well. The featured bands in this book, being depicted in color photos as well, are: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Rush, AC/DC, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot and Motley Crue. Arguably, these were the biggest and most commercially embraced Heavy Metal bands back in 1985. KISS, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Mountain, Blue Cheer, Randy Rhoads, Twisted Sister, Lita Ford, Ronnie James Dio and Led Zeppelin do get their justified due in black and white photographs and are recognized for their importance in shaping and creating the Heavy Metal genre as we know it today. Even The Kinks, The Who and Grand Funk Railroad get their significance pointed out.

For it’s time, Philip Bashe does a top tier job at acknowledging a majority of the bands and musicians that were instrumental in the evolution of Heavy Metal, up to 1985, even if it is a short anecdote, quick mention or fact. From Elvis Presley to the The Doors to Fastway, the links and roots of Heavy Metal are touched upon in such an intriguing way by Philip Bashe, that I find Heavy Metal Thunder to still be a valuable read in 2009. The single most incredible aspect of Heavy Metal Thunder, is the Chronology, (timeline and progression of Heavy Metal Music), which is written so very well by Philip Bashe. This chronology begins on April 28, 1958, with guitarist Link Wray and his million selling instrumental single Rumble and ends on December 31, 1984, with the auto accident of Def Leppard’s drummer, Rick Allen. Believe me, the bands and their respective achievements, that are touched upon in between this timeline, is nothing short of a fascinating read.

Heavy Metal Thunder is a soft cover with 214 pages. A large size book, it measures 8.5″ x 11″ and is written with enough factual research that only adds to it’s total historical credibility. Metalheads both young and old, should find this book completely absorbing, with both it’s written and visual content. I have seen Heavy Metal Thunder for sale on Amazon.com, there were several used copies for sale, as recent as today. I saw the used copy price was for far less than the cover price I paid back in 1985. For me, it was money well spent 25 years ago… for I still own Heavy Metal Thunder to this very day.

130 Miles from Iowa, USA – Big Earl’s clubs in Iowa are putting a new spin on Thanksgiving stuffing, with a new twist on the big, beautiful woman scene and Tony Batman and Schevelle will be your master and mistress of ceremonies for the big event.

Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, 2009, there will be no fluff as plus-size dancers take to the stage at Big Earl’s locations in Des Moines and Davenport, competing for the chance to win a $1000 prize.

Batman is looking forward to the event, “Friday we will hold the contest for the Des Moines ladies, then we move to Davenport for the second contest. This is going to be a huge event and Schevelle and I are happy to be invited. I stole this gig from my buddy, Ron Jeremy and I think he’s going to envy me the experience of a lifetime this presents. . . Kidding Ron!

“Seriously though, this is a great opportunity for girls that have wanted to dance, but didn’t think they could fit into the showgirl mold to start building experience and a following. Schevelle and I will be giving the entrants our full support during these two contests and I think Big Earl’s has a great idea in opening up to the BBW girls and their fans.”

This dynamic duo isn’t going to let the opportunity to spread good will end with the contests, and plan something more. “Tony and I are going to spend our day on Thanksgiving volunteering at a shelter, dishing up meals for people that otherwise wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving of their own,” said Schevelle.

Batman agrees, “Yes, we are doing some good works for our holiday weekend. Schevelle and I are scheduled for interviews with WGGO Classic Rock with Clutch, Kiss 107.5 and Lazer 103.3, where we will not only talk about the contests and our travels on the show circuit, but also about voluntarism. We are very happy that we have gotten so much coverage for our time here. In Iowa, three radio stations interviewing us is pretty much a media blitz!”

Big Earl’s Goldmine is located at 4745 NW 2nd Avenue in Des Moines. Phone 515-237-9902. Big Earl’s Amsterdam is at 643 East 59th in Davenport, Iowa. Phone 563-468-4653.

Read more of Batman and Schevelle’s travel logs at www.tonybatman.com.

Amig@s de ElBaraMetal, la verdad es que este post me nació por el puro gusto, no se necesitan tener pretextos ni razones aparentes para justificar el hablar de un gran, grande, grandísimo disco de rock and roll como lo es The Dark Side Of The Moon, obra de los igualmente enormes Pink Floyd.

Corría el año 1973 cuando Pink Floyd, pioneros del rock progresivo y fieles seguidores de la psicodelia y la “locura” rockera de los años 60, editaron para la posteridad este álbum, considerado uno de los mejores discos de la historia, y tal vez, el que más influencia ha generado desde entonces en músicos de todos los géneros, no sólo del rock.

Y es que DSotM es un ejercicio complejo de creatividad musical, de una inventiva hasta ese momento inexplorada, que sin pensarlo siquiera, explotó y generó ondas expansivas de emociones encontradas en el entramado “floydeano” de la musicalidad exquisita de Gilmour, las letras profundas de Waters y las ambientaciones geniales de Wright y los beats secos pero volátilmente frágiles de Mason.

Todo el disco es genial, es verdad que hay que estar de un humor especial para escucharlo, ya que funciona mejor si se da uno el tiempo para oírlo de principio a fin, pero algunas piezas funcionan igualmente por separado, como la comercialmente magistral Money, Time y su genial introducción (pocas veces he podido escuchar algo más sencillo y a la vez tan complejo de emular y por ende, hermosamente rockero) o Us and Them, con todo el sentimiento explosivo que guarda en sus entrañas progresivas.

De colección este disco, hace poco salió por ahí la reedición especial del 25 aniversario, un disco remasterizado que salva algunos de los sonidos exquisitos del original, este si es para que se lo consigan en original (aquellos que todavía no lo tengan, que creo, serán, o deben ser, pocos).

De todas formas acá hay un sitio donde se lo bajan para que, después de darle unas dos o tres escuchadas, y si todavía no lo tienen, se lo pidan a Santo Clos o a los Reyes Magos ahora que se viene diciembre.

Carpe diem.

Antiga banda do atual vocalista do AC/DC Brian Johnson, uma mistura de hard e classic rock, muito bom!

Faixas do álbum:

1. Keep on Rockin’

2. Give You Till Monday

3. Hope You Like It

4. Don’t Do That

5. All Because of You

6. Old Time Rocker

7. Oh Lord

8. Natural Born Loser

9. Strange Man

10. Ain’t It Just Like a Woman

11. Geordie’s Lost His Liggie

12. Can You Do It

13. Electric Lady

14. Geordie Stomp

15. Black Cat Woman

LINK – Hope You Like It

Parece com? AC/DC, Free.

Vídeo com a música All Because of You.

Enjoy o/

Track listing

This section includes the track listings for the original Greatest Hits and closely-related albums only. For other compilations, including the second and third Greatest Hits albums, see the relevant articles. On this album Mercury has ten songs , Brian May has five and John Deacon has two. Roger Taylor had not released any singles with the group at that time.
1981 UK edition (Parlophone)
Has a photograph of the band as its cover.

1. “Bohemian Rhapsody” (from A Night at the Opera, 1975)
2. “Another One Bites the Dust” (from The Game, 1980)
3. “Killer Queen” (from Sheer Heart Attack, 1974)
4. “Fat Bottomed Girls” (single version, from Jazz, 1978)
5. “Bicycle Race” (from Jazz, 1978)
6. “You’re My Best Friend” (from A Night at the Opera, 1975)
7. “Don’t Stop Me Now” (from Jazz, 1978)
8. “Save Me” (from The Game, 1980)
9. “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (from The Game, 1980)
10. “Somebody to Love” (from A Day at the Races, 1976)
11. “Now I’m Here” (from Sheer Heart Attack, 1974)
12. “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” (from A Day at the Races, 1976)
13. “Play the Game” (from The Game, 1980)
14. “Flash” (single version, from Flash Gordon, 1980)
15. “Seven Seas of Rhye” (from Queen II, 1974)
16. “We Will Rock You” (from News of the World, 1977)
17. “We Are the Champions” (from News of the World, 1977)

Track listing

This section includes the track listings for the original Greatest Hits and closely-related albums only. For other compilations, including the second and third Greatest Hits albums, see the relevant articles. On this album Mercury has ten songs , Brian May has five and John Deacon has two. Roger Taylor had not released any singles with the group at that time.
1981 UK edition (Parlophone)
Has a photograph of the band as its cover.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” (from A Night at the Opera, 1975)
“Another One Bites the Dust” (from The Game, 1980)
“Killer Queen” (from Sheer Heart Attack, 1974)
“Fat Bottomed Girls” (single version, from Jazz, 1978)
“Bicycle Race” (from Jazz, 1978)
“You’re My Best Friend” (from A Night at the Opera, 1975)
“Don’t Stop Me Now” (from Jazz, 1978)
“Save Me” (from The Game, 1980)
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (from The Game, 1980)
“Somebody to Love” (from A Day at the Races, 1976)
“Now I’m Here” (from Sheer Heart Attack, 1974)
“Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” (from A Day at the Races, 1976)
“Play the Game” (from The Game, 1980)
“Flash” (single version, from Flash Gordon, 1980)
“Seven Seas of Rhye” (from Queen II, 1974)
“We Will Rock You” (from News of the World, 1977)
“We Are the Champions” (from News of the World, 1977)

QUEEN GREATEST HITS

— 4SHARE

http://www.4shared.com/file/159460526/d7a94d0e/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_1_Bohemi.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159463894/c03ec954/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_2_Anothe.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159465852/a0837cb1/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_3_Killer.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159471947/7a326daf/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_4_FatBot.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159485739/d567fbe3/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_5_Bicycl.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159494971/3092d50a/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_6_YoureM.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159499478/b3fc2620/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_7_DontSt.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159502246/6aa91283/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_8_SaveMe.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159504099/6957faed/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_9_CrazyL.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159508967/4c704f12/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_10_Someb.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159512737/69445f89/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_11_NowIm.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159515707/dfbe34f3/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_12_GoodO.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159518113/372f65c4/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_13_PlayT.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159519684/c57a3ace/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_14_Flash.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159522288/5b6423e8/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_15_Seven.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159525110/1bec9673/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_16_WeWil.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/159528289/43def31a/Queen_GreatestHitsI_-_17_WeAre.html

— LINKBUCKS

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Hey there, join me tonight for the all new Tuesday Night Rock Show featuring Classic and new rock 6 – 10pm ET on RadioMaxMusic.  Make a request from the front page of the radiomaxmusic.com website.

The Soft Rock Classics Show airs every Saturday evening at 8PM ET and encore onMonday evenings at 10pm ET.  Listen Link http://radiomaxmusic.com/media/wma128k.asx
Also check out Daminic’s home page at http//softrockclassicshow.co.nr

L.A. Guns – L.A. Guns (1988, PolyGram Records/Vertigo Records)

1. “No Mercy” … 2:47
2. “Sex Action” … 3:42
3. “One More Reason” … 3:07
4. “Electric Gypsy” … 3:25
5. “Nothing To Lose” … 4:14
6. “Bitch Is Back” … 2:53
7. “Cry No More” … 1:18
8. “One Way Ticket” … 4:20
9. “Hollywood Tease” … 2:52
10. “Shoot For Thrills” … 4:30
11. “Down In The City” … 3:56

Band:
Phil Lewis – Lead Vocals
Tracii Guns – Lead Guitar
Mick Cripps – Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Kelly Nickels – Bass, Harmonica, Whistle, Backing Vocals
Steve Riley – Drums (credited but did not play)

Additional Musicians:
Nickey “Beat” Alexander – Drums
Alan Jones – Sax
Paul Kaufman – Washboard

Producer: Jim Faraci

I’ve seen some critics call L.A. Guns a combination of Guns N’ Roses and Poison. That’s a pretty good description of them, though I think there’s a dash of Motley Crue as well. The Guns have always seemed to straddle the line between the seedy, sleazy life that GNR wrote about and the sex & party world of glam metal poster boys Poison. It makes for some good rock ‘n’ roll and L.A. Guns have never fully gotten the respect, success and credit that they should have despite having two platinum albums in their catalog (this one and Cocked & Loaded)… They should’ve sold more!

Anyway, this a really good debut. Phil Lewis rocks, guitars are great (Tracii also does not get the respect he should), there’s plenty of sleaze and fun for everyone! But the band has a softer side — there’s “Cry No More”, a pretty instrumental, to break up the album and it leads into the ballad “One Way Ticket”.

“Sex Action” was a small hit for the band, but I tend to think that’s an overrated song. It’s a good song, but I’ve often seen it mentioned as a LAG fave but I think there’s plenty of other songs here that overshadow it. “One More Reason” is my favorite from the disc. Cocked & Loaded is regarded as the quintessential L.A. Guns release. That album is a bit more catchy and melodic, but this one is heavier. I like them both equally.

Original LAG drummer Nicky “Beat” Alexander played on the album, but it was Steve Riley (coming over from W.A.S.P.) who got the album credit and his face in the band photo as he joined the band just before the album was released. Most of these songs were written with L.A. Guns’ previous singer Paul Black. Maybe that’s why Phil was able to get “Hollywood Tease” (from his previous band Girl) on the album?

Picked this up online for about $6. Definitely worth the cash. The cover is really cool too — you’ve got guns, a skull and a Hollywood night in the background. The art was done by Tyler. I wonder if he’s ever done anything else in the hair metal arena?

Highlights: “No Mercy”, “Sex Action”, “One More Reason”, “Electric Gypsy”, “One Way Ticket”, “Shoot For Thrills”

www.laguns.net
www.myspace.com/lagunsofficial

www.getreadytorock.com/best_of_2009.htm

Albums by Magnum, Saxon, House Of Lords and Europe are popular choices som far with more reviewers still to add in their selections.

Okay, I confess. This semester has really had me muddled. I kept insisting that, as soon as I conquered this pile of grading, I was going to get back on track with everything else in my life. Basically, I’ve said that each week and have yet to do it. So I’m not going to promise I’ll be completely sorted until after the semester ends. That said, I have literally just finished my stack of grading. I only work tomorrow afternoon and then have six days completely off work (well, I’ve got to work four hours on the sixth day, but…it’s close enough). That’s not to say that I have no work to do—-but the main thing is I’ll have no grading to do.

So I’ve decided to post a music entry. I listen to the classic rock station in the car (the expensive iPod thing I got for the car and lent to Mr Long Term Ex immediately after buying doesn’t work, but he didn’t tell me this until the 30 day No Hassle Return period had passed). So essentially I listen to the radio for probably about an hour a day. Two things strike me as kind of odd. First off, they play Gary Glitter all the time. At first, I thought, well, maybe he didn’t get much coverage over here. But one time, after the song, the DJ came on and said, “Well, that was Gary Glitter who’s had a bit of trouble from the police.” A bit of trouble? It seems weird to me; it’s not like Americans are casual about pedophilia. I guess the fact that he made a song that gets crowds riled at sports events is more important. In fact, every morning when the DJ is announcing the high school sports scores, he plays “Rock n Roll Part 2″ in the background. It’s kind of sick if you think about it.

The other thing I’ve noticed is that at least once a week, they play the song “Along Again Naturally.” This also seems a bit strange to me. If you really listen to the lyrics, it is an incredibly depressing song. Basically he’s talking about wanting to commit suicide, his parents’ deaths, it’s really pretty tragic. But there’s also something about the tune, which makes it….not cheerful…but at least not quite so tragic. Here you go—have a listen, I’m sure I’ll have to at some point in the car this week.