Cru's Desert Island Discs

I just looked back and realized this is my longest blog yet, so let’s get right to it. We’re talking about our ‘Desert Island Discs’, which for me is a somewhat revolving list of the albums that I would most want to have with me if I were ever stranded on a desert island. Presumably, these would be the only bits of music I would ever be able to hear again, so I will now divulge my top 10 list and (as always) invite your feedback and your own submissions.

There is no particular order to this list, but I would say the first 3-4 are ones that never rotate out.

Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction: This shouldn’t really surprise anyone that’s talked to me for more than 30 minutes about music. Quite simply, an absolute masterpiece and the greatest debut album of all time, in my opinion. EVERY song is brilliant. Musically, lyrically, sonically, this album is perfect. Perfect. I could write pages and pages and pages about this album, and it is without a doubt, my favorite record of all time. Equally as important as the songs themselves is the mix of this record. Without a long detailed explanation, I will give you an assignment that will allow you to instantly understand what I’m talking about. After you read this blog and make whatever comments you want to make, go and put on Appetite and listen to it through headphones (for most of you, this will be the first time you’ve done this, so believe me, it’s worth it)… Listen to the record in its entirety 3 times… The first time, I want you to turn the balance all the way to the left and listen to the whole record. The second time, turn the balance all the way to the right. Lastly, after having done steps 1 and 2, listen to the record in both ears and you will truly hear it for the first time. I won’t say anymore about it. Do what I tell you and you will understand. And your appreciation for this record and the performances therein should increase exponentially.

Pearl Jam – Ten: A document of the early 90s Seattle music scene and the debut album from my favorite band of all time. Quite simply, this is the album that started it all for me and pushed my overall musical appreciation and appetite to another level. I never get tired of this record. The guitar work is a perfect mix of funky riffs, wailing leads and rhythmic grooving. The rhythm section keeps a constant energy to the record, even on the mellower songs. Eddie Vedder’s voice and range and emotional expression, especially on tracks like Release and Garden, literally has brought me to tears before (yes, I said that). One of the few records in my entire catalog that I know every word to, which is a big deal for me because I’ve always been a music-first-then-lyrics guy. This is the well from which everything else that Pearl Jam has become originally sprang and that is why it is THE record of theirs I could least live without. As a side note, the boys in the band have finally made a decision that’s been years coming, which is to release a remixed version of the record. For more info, and for a great gift idea for any PJ friends of yours, go here: https://www.pearljam.com/news/pearl-jam-announces-reissue-band%E2%80%99s-debut-album-ten (It’s a reissue and remix of Ten)

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon: There isn’t much I can say about this album that has not been said already. Literally, books have been written and documentary films made about this record. But the fact is, Roger Waters and his bandmates, at a fairly young age, were able to identify and channel pretty much every fear and challenge that one faces in life and combined that with the very personal history of the band and its founder, Syd Barrett, to make the mother of all concept albums. There’s a reason this was the international smash it was and continues to be. As Pink Floyd moved into the creative peak of their careers, DSOTM stands as an absolute classic record and an example of how a well-executed concept can reach across musical genres, language barriers and geo-political borders to strike a chord with just about anyone that exists in modern society. To me, Dark Side is more of a novel that is simply told through the medium of music instead of printed words. That said, it's a must-have for the desert island because sonically and narratively, it doesn't get much better than this.

Dwight Yoakam –dwightyoakamacoustic.net: This one may be a head-scratcher to all but my closest friends, since ordinarily I despise anything even remotely country-music related. But I have always enjoyed Dwight Yoakam and respect him as a songwriter and an artist that never gave into the typical Nashville way of doing things and stuck to what he knows best, which is heavier on the rockabilly than the formulaic crap that you find on most country stations today. This particular album was introduced to me by my buddy Hooks and it consists of just Dwight and an acoustic guitar as he goes through some of his classics, some new cuts and a healthy dose of covers and country standards. Literally sounding like he is just sitting in the middle of an empty room, this record gives me chills just because of how raw the performance is and how much emotion Dwight brings to the vocal performance. An underrated guitarist, Dwight handles every lick on this record, with few exceptions. Why would I have it with me on a Desert Island? Possibly because it is the antithesis to Appetite for Destruction, meaning the sound of one man, one guitar and an uncomplicated approach to the songs themselves is something that I find myself often reaching for when I want a change of pace.

Incubus – Light Grenades: Ahhhh, Incubus… the band that started as just another Nu-Metal douchefest from Southern California and has evolved quite completely into a rock solid airtight, funk/metal/rock/world music machine… This, their latest release, is their best work to date and illustrates the end result (for now) of that evolution. What I like most about this record is the completeness of the work. Most Incubus records prior to this one were simply collections of whatever songs they had put together during that recording session and lumped together as an album. This is the most album-like of their work, rather than just a collection of songs, even to the extent that in “Earth to Bella”, they have 2 different parts of the same song that close what would be Sides 1 and 2 of a traditional vinyl release. From the ethereal-sounding introduction of Quicksand, featuring Brandon Boyd’s echo-laden haunting vocals over a plodding rhythm and various electronic effects, all the way through the end of the album, they simply don’t let up. Indeed, I found that most times I have listened to this record, I’m always surprised at how quickly it seems to go by, testament to the fact that there are no major distractions or interruptions in the flow of the album. Additionally, it’s one of those great records where every time I listen to it, I hear another little new piece of production value that I appreciate, whether it’s a previously unnoticed double-tracking of a vocal, or a guitar lick or sample in the background that adds subtle flavor to an already tasty dish. Must be heard on headphones for full appreciation… although that’s pretty much true with every record ever.

Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain: So, this is part 1 of my dive into the pop genre for my desert island listening. Packed with hits from start to finish (Let’s Go Crazy, Computer Blue, Darling Nikki, When Doves Cry , I Would Die 4 U, and Purple Rain, the great thing about this record is that the ‘filler’ material is also excellent. Weird synth-driven ballads, electronic drums of all kinds, heavy guitars, soulful vocal delivery, plenty of sampled sounds, this album was and still is ahead of its time. There is a continuity to it that without a doubt makes this, in my opinion, the most complete work His Purple Majesty ever has created. Two things I know about Prince: He’s probably THE most underrated guitarist around and Purple Rain is kick-ass all-around. If I’m stuck on an island, I doubt I’d do much dancing, but in the off chance that I had the chance to do some love-makin’ with a mermaid, I’d need some love-makin’ music. And this is love-makin’ music at its finest.

Blind Melon – Blind Melon: Probably the single most-listened to album during my freshman year in college, there is so much more to this record than the pop ditty “No Rain”. As with Appetite, the interplaying of the guitars and excellent mix of acoustic and electric riffing and rhythm work, combined with the fluid drumming and Shannon Hoon’s whiny-but-never-annoying voice makes me feel like I’m laying in the middle of a field, looking at the clouds and just feeling happy to be alive. Although the subject matter of the songs varies substantially, this was Blind Melon at their purest, before drugs took hold of Shannon and pushed the band in a more experimental direction, as heard on Soup and Nico. This record is a snapshot of five dudes from Indiana that were immune to what was 'popular' at the time and stuck to what they knew best: folk and roots-influenced rock that was best enjoyed with a cold beer, or whatever your medicine of choice is. Nothing too weighty in the material, but as with previous entries on this list, very easy transitions from song to song and an infectious energy that comes through in the performances. This, on the island, would be my “I feel like a hippie today and just want to hang out and throw rocks into the ocean for an hour” listening music.

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti: OK, OK, I am cheating here. Yes, I am aware that Physical Graffiti is a double album, but it’s my blog, so I get to pick it as a single recording. Since I can only choose one of their works, this is the most representative of everything Zep ever was or ever became. Blues still being the root of it all, but with the growing experimentation and effects and synth-playing that would become more and more common in later releases, especially on In Through the Out Door. What other band could have two songs as diametric in their catalog as Black Country Woman and Kashmir, and yet decide to put them on the same album? Add to that two of my personal favorite Zep tunes in Ten Years Gone and Down By The Seaside, and you have a great core group of songs on this record that never get old. On Physical Graffiti, Zeppelin rocks (Custard Pie, The Wanton Song), they float (Seaside, In The Light), they boogie (Night Flight, Trampled Under Foot), they play the blues (BCW), they simply do EVERYTHING they ever did, and they do it as well as they ever did it, which is saying a lot.

Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique: Outside of rock and roll, there is no other band that I have been into more than the Beastie Boys. Of course, they do their share of rocking, whether it’s sampling Led Zeppelin and The Beatles (as they do here on The Sounds of Science) or picking up and playing the instruments themselves, these three dudes from The Big Apple were groundbreaking, influential across multiple genres and just wicked talented. Paul’s Boutique has a little slice of everything. You get the humorous rhymes that they had built their reputation on with Licensed to Ill, but also get flecks of disco (Hey Ladies), metal (Lookin’ Down The Barrel Of A Gun), old school turntable-driven hip-hop (B-Boy Bouillabaisse and 3-Minute Rule), and stuff that can just be characterized as classic Beasties (Shake Your Rump, Egg Man, Shadrach). I’d want to launch myself off a cliff if I could never listen to the Beastie Boys again, so for the sake of staying alive on the island, Paul’s Boutique fits the bill. Yet again, no filler here. Every track is unique and kick-ass and the album is widely regarded as being the most Beastie record of them all because of all the different styles and influences that come together on this collection. For that reason, it’s the BB disc I can’t live without.

Duran Duran – Seven and the Ragged Tiger: Part 2 of my dive into pop music. My favorite record as a child. This was THE record that I listened to more than anything else, at least until Van Halen’s 1984 came out. I am without a doubt a product of the first MTV generation and I still remember sitting on my living room floor in Houston when I first saw the video for The Reflex. Did they all look like a bunch of fancy boys with whacked out hairdos and uber-gay shirts and pants? Damn right they did. Was that considered super cool at the time? Fuckin’ right. Other than Ace Frehley, I don’t recall a ‘rock star’ that I literally wanted to BE more than John Taylor, at least up to that point in my life. So Mom and Dad were cool and got me this record for my 8^th birthday. They were convinced that KISS stood for “Kids in Satan’s Service” so I had no chance at getting a KISS record. Duran Duran was a perfectly suitable alternative, for them and for me. And you know what? From a purely musical standpoint, these guys wrote some great songs. The sound is a funky combination of JT’s heavily disco-influenced bass lines, Andy Taylor’s rock guitar style, and Nick Rhodes’ synthesized keyboards adding a very 80s sound to the whole thing. Certainly a sound that is not represented on my list so far. And Simon LeBon is simply an icon of 80s music, whose voice set Duran Duran apart from all the other bands that came out after them, trying to mimic their sound and especially their success. What’s ironic is that Duran Duran is probably the least-80s sounding band that was around in those days. Really, was there ever an era of music that produced more one-hit wonders than the 80s pop scene? I doubt it. But Duran Duran were/are global superstars and they have sustained that success 25 years later, proving that substance always supercedes style. The best song on the record (The Seventh Stranger) wasn’t even released as a single, so there’s some mega-quality stuff to be heard here. Hell, even the instrumental track (Tiger Tiger) works and doesn’t distract from the overall continuity of the record. So this is a must have for me.

So, that’s it… Another long-winded blog from Cru on his musical tastes. Countless bands and records got left out of this list, but that’s part of the fun with an exercise like this.

So, what do you think of the list? What are your can’t-live-without discs? Why?
Discuss…

Rock on,
Cru

The greatest soundtrack of all time... can there be just one?

What is it???

If I am rating soundtracks, I tend to think that there are two obvious elements to what makes a great one great. It has to stand on its own as a collection of music and it must add something to the film. Pretty obvious, right? I would also say that most good soundtracks have songs on them that instantly conjure up imagery associated with the film. Examples include:

Uma Thurman dancing around her living room singing along to Urge Overkill's version of "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" just before snorting an awfully big hit of heroin up her nose. If you don't know what movie that's from, I can't really help you. But for those that do, you know exactly what I mean.

Or how about one of the most obvious? John Cusack standing in Ione Skye's driveway, boombox held high overhead as Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" comes through as the perfect statement of his affection for and dedication to the love of his young life.

Ladies, if you hear Kenny Loggins' mid-80s hit "Playing With The Boys", do you not immediately flash back to the infamous, highly homo-erotic volleyball scene from Top Gun? Of course you do... or from the same film, who can hear "Take My Breath Away" from Berlin without thinking of that love scene with Cruise and McGillis where the closest you get to gratuitous nudity is the silhouette of their tongues as they make out like 8th-graders waiting for the late bus to bring them home?

A good soundtrack can unveil new music from an already established artist (Metallica: Mission Impossible 2, Singles: Pearl Jam), reintroduce an already well-loved song to a modern audience (Almost Famous: Tiny Dancer by Elton John, Reservoir Dogs: Stuck In The Middle With You by Gerry Rafferty) or introduce new artists to the general population (Reality Bites: Lisa Loeb, Garden State: The Shins).

So, I'll throw out some of my personal faves, with a quick note on each. What I really want to know is what your favorites are and why...

My top 5, in no order:
Singles - Pretty much every band I loved at the time was on this one and almost all the songs were new at the time, including tracks from Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins and Paul Westerberg. The relevance is that other than the Pumpkins, all the bands were from Seattle and most from the early 90s, which is when and where the film is set. Gotta love the cameos in the film from the boys from Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell, and Tad Doyle, as well as the live performances from Alice In Chains and Soundgarden.

Fast Times At Ridgemont High - Most easily identified with Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby", this is another soundtrack that is so perfectly suited to the film that you almost don't notice the music. Great cuts from Billy Squier, Joe Walsh, and Jimmy Buffett help round out a collection of late 70s era guitar rock that Jeff Spicoli probably still listens to while he's getting wasted in his bathroom.

The Breakfast Club - That John Hughes not only knew how to write and direct brilliant films about teenage living in the 80s, he also knew exactly what music to include. Trust me, everyone knows Simple Minds' career-defining hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and knows it's from this movie, but you also know every other nugget of music in the film, even if you have no idea who the artists that created it are or what the titles of the songs are.

The Wedding Singer - Almost self-explanatory, but a whole hell of a lot of 80s one-hit wonder artists are wanting to buy Adam Sandler a drink for helping them get a new influx of royalty checks in the late 90s. Classic 80s songs like Love My Way by Psychedelic Furs, Hold Me Now by Thompson Twins, How Soon Is Now? by the Smiths, and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? by Culture Club, plus a bunch of other old favorites. Shit, it was so good, they released a second album's worth that was almost just as good... As comprehensive a soundtrack as there's ever been...

Pulp Fiction - How the fuck did Quentin Tarantino so perfectly nail the retro-chic look, feel and sound of this film? How did he combine Al Green, Urge Overkill, and Dick Dale so perfectly together to make a fluid, flowing soundtrack that is as easy to listen to on its own as it is vital to the film's success and pop culture iconic status? The answer is, I have no idea, but I'll keep listening to see if I can figure it out...

I realize I'm leaving out plenty of classics, but those are the ones that come to my mind. What are YOUR favorites???

Rock on,
Cru

Chinese Democracy, at last...

Well, I don't have to tell you that Chinese Democracy finally arrived, after however many years it's taken to put this record together. So let's just dive right into the review... And considering it took so long to get the record out, this review may turn out to be a little long, but that's only because I want to express my thoughts on the songs, and the band itself, in one complete review.

First off, despite the fact that Axl is the only original member left over, I do consider this a Guns N' Roses record. Although the personnel is different, there's not anything on the record that I think is a 100% complete departure from where Guns' original lineup could have gone, had they not imploded. Besides that, the sound of the guitars, Axl's voice, the production, the mix, the song structures are all very Guns... Some of the drum tracks are definitely departures from the Adler/Sorum style of play, but still, this is much more than Axl Rose's first solo record. Despite being an unbridled egomaniac, I think even Axl realizes that it was all of Guns N' Roses, not just his singing, that captured our attention for a six year period in the late 80s/early 90s and made them the biggest band in the world, if only for a little while.

Also, and I think this is important to point out, the way that Axl handled the packaging, credits and liner notes shows that he certainly feels this was a band project, not just using hired guns (no pun intended) to create the sound he wanted. The fact that he makes the effort to identify the players on each song, who handles the guitar solos, co-writing credits, etc shows that he is not trying to treat this as a 100% self-driven project. In reality, there has been more continuity in the lineup since the other originals left than most people choose to acknowledge. Tommy Stinson is the only bass player GnR has had since Duff's departure in 1997, Richard Fortus and Paul Tobias were the two 'Izzy' figures in the band that handled rhythm guitar duties, Brian Mantia played most of the drum tracks on the record, Dizzy Reed has been with GnR since 1990, and both Buckethead and especially Robin Finck were guitarists for the band for long stretches... My point is that despite the fact that there were so many people that were at some point attached or involved with this record, including Josh Freese, current drummer Frank Ferrer, current lead guitarist Ron Thal, Zakk Wylde, Jerry Cantrell, and Dave Navarro, the core players have been fairly consistent. And their contribution to the record is certainly palpable, in terms of performance and helping drive the record forward. Look at it this way, Buckethead hasn't been in the band for almost 5 years now, but his playing is still a major part of most of the songs on Chinese Democracy. Same with Robin Finck, who has only been gone for a year or two, but was involved in the project for the better part of 10 years.

So what about the songs, you ask? Well, despite the fact that Use Your Illusion was a double album's worth of material, there is a lot more diversity to the songs on Chinese Democracy than any other record GnR ever put out. Appetite for Destruction was the explosive energy of 5 guys that literally came from the streets and took a gang mentality to their version of rock and roll. GnR Lies saw them soften a bit and explore a quieter, softer side of things, as well as offering a "live" taste of their early raw sound which got them signed to Geffen. Use Your Illusion was the culmination of years of playing the Appetite-era songs and wanting to unload all the new material that had been created during the incessant touring that occurred during the 3 years after their debut release. Chinese Democracy is similar to Illusion in that sense, as it seems to me that this is a culling of the 'top' songs from the various musical movements and lineups that have happened since the breakup. The major difference is that Illusion was presented as the best 28 songs during the post-Appetite era (30 total tracks, but Don't Cry is on there twice and My World simply doesn't exist, in my opinion). The aforementioned post-Appetite era was only about 3-4 years long. Chinese Democracy is 14 tracks long, but it took 17 years to create (based on Illusion being their last original material, released in 1991). Which leads me to my analysis of the record itself.

First off, it took SEVENTEEN years to release this album. Sorry, but I can't ignore that. If Democracy had been released in 1996 or 1997, then I'd say it was something of a masterpiece. This is because there are so many new directions on this record, as well as several 'classic GnR' songs. So if this had all been spawned in a normal or even somewhat longer recording schedule, I'd herald it as something much greater than how I feel about it now. The fact that it took 17 years and has so many different flavors to it makes it feel more like a compilation to me than anything else. Supposedly, over 50 songs were written, recorded and completed in that time and one is forced to assume that the top cuts from each session are what made the final record. And I don't get that... The Rolling Stones are an obvious rock and roll band, but they made a country record, a disco-influenced record, and other less pronounced departures from their tried and true sound. REM helped create a unique flavor of rock music in the 80s, but they too released an electronic record and other experimental albums that often were difficult to recognize as being REM at all. U2 has gone through a number of different phases in their musical growth and each album of theirs represents a slight departure from the previous work and a step forward into new territory. The Beatles had a variety of different sounds for each of their albums, after breaking free of their initial pop image and songwriting style. Pink Floyd went through a number of different phases in their discography, but always maintained that true Floyd sound. The point is that when you think of those bands, and consider their lifetime of work, the collective opinion would be that they are some of the greatest bands in music history, even if they had some temporary departures from their signature sound.

In my opinion, Guns N' Roses is (or could be) that kind of band. Time will tell if they are held in the same regard as some of the other groups I just mentioned, but what I don't get is why we're getting a 'greatest hits' collection from the last 17 years instead of several complete albums that are each more deeply representative of the different phases GnR went through since Illusion came out. Why didn't they release the full industrial-influenced and electronic-heavy record whose sessions clearly spawned songs like the title track, Shackler's Revenge, Riad N' The Bedouins, Madagascar, and Oh My God (from the End of Days soundtrack, released in 99)? Why didn't they release another album of more traditional GnR fare like I.R.S., Street of Dreams, Catcher in the Rye, and This I Love? And lastly, why not put out a full album of where those two different phases led to, to create what I feel are the strongest cuts on the album and the most representative of what GnR would have naturally evolved into: Better, Scraped, Prostitute, There Was A Time, and If The World. Those tracks, heavy on the guitar, but with an updated sound that includes sampling and drum loops that serve the song well, instead of distracting from it, are the real gems of Chinese Democracy... Those are the ones that I hope show us where GnR may continue to go, although let's hope it doesn't take another 17 years to get a release from Axl and Co...

This is no profound opinion, but Axl has backed himself into a corner that I don't think Chinese Democracy will get him out of. That is, it will be impossible for it to be as universally accepted as Appetite for Destruction or Use Your Illusion. He simply tried to do too much with this record and, as a collective work, it seems to buckle under the weight of expectation. I applaud Axl and his co-collaborators for releasing an extremely listenable and solid rock and roll record. At long last he has put something out and it IS of a quality that you would expect. But compared to the other original works that GnR put out in its highly charged, but short-lived lifespan, Chinese Democracy seems less of a look forward to where the band is going, and instead is more of a surface-level recap of all the mystery and intrigue that surrounded the highly publicized, over-dramatized recording of the first album from Guns N' Roses version 2.0. In that sense, it's more like reading the Cliff's Notes version of a masterpiece of literature instead of totally immersing oneself into the full work. Let's hope Mr. Rose gives himself a dose of reality after the smoke clears and realizes that having a sonically superior record is not what causes people to love or hate a body of music. The production value is not nearly as important as having a record that helps its listeners try to understand whatever headspace the artists involved are occupying at that time. In that respect, Chinese Democracy has bright moments, but I think time will show that this record does more to detract from the Guns N' Roses legend than to add to it.

What do you think???

Rock on,
Cru

What my T9 dictionary says about me...

So, this is only marginally related to rock, but the other day, I was trying to input a girl's name into a text message I was sending and her name did not show up in T9's predefined list of names. I find that T9 will have common names like Brian, Nick, Craig, Sarah, Jen, stuff like that. But since I frequently input this girl's name into text (she's my buddy's girlfriend and when he and I are making plans, we often have to name other people we're inviting, her being one of the usual suspects obviously) and I get tired of inputting her name in manually, I tried saving her name into my dictionary. When I did so, it said my dictionary was full and I had to delete other entries before I could add this new one.

I thought this was kind of odd, since I only really remembered having put maybe a dozen or so words into the dictionary since buying the phone a couple years ago. Boy, was I wrong. I just got done scrolling through my dictionary and deleting probably 30 words or so, some of which I can't imagine why I would have ever even put them into my dictionary in the first place. Examples would be "jedi", "stoudemires", "Heidi", "turncoat" and "ff".

More interesting than the words I deleted though, are the ones that I kept. As a social experiment, I would encourage you to go through your T9 custom dictionary and look at the words you think are important enough in your vernacular that you take the time to add them, so you can reuse them again and again. In today's world of speed-messaging, texting, mobile communications, etc, I think it's a good way of learning a little something about yourself. What I've learned is that I have a foul mouth, a dirty mind, plenty of bands and music-related terms that I must use a lot, and several friends with weird names (at least weird by T9's standards).

I offer you my full listing. No explanations will be given. Just know that I use these words enough that I kept them in my dictionary.
Ahwatukee, Akimel, Altima, Astros, bitch, blog, boob, boobs, booger, Buckcherry, bueno, chandler, Cinco, CK, Cory, crap, damn, dirtier, Doh, douche, Dvd, Elissa, farting, fuck, fucked, fucks, fucker, fucking, gotcha, haha, howdy, Kak, Korn, Lollapalooza, Lydia, mallrat, nah, Ozzfest, penis, Phoenician, pissed, pissing, portofino, presale, puke, pussy, pussycat, rockfest, salsa, Scottsdale, scumbag, Sevendust, shit, shitty, shucks, Slipknot, snotty, Stephanie, sushi, taco, tango, tequila, tits, Tuke, turd, tyson, weirdo, whore, wiener, Wtf, yummy, Zach, Zia

You'd think that words like 'douchebag' or 'cocksucker' would be in here too. But I use those words enough that I know that when I type in douche and then bag, a quick backspace puts them together to make douchebag. Same with cocksucker. There are a number of different word combos that can be created using a term from my dictionary and a term from the pre-defined T9 dictionary. So I don't feel the need to use up a dictionary entry creating that word.

That's all for now. More blogs to come. I've been lazy recently, but I have some shows I can review (including Metallica's opening night of the Death Magnetic tour) and some new records I can discuss (Twilight Singers, Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone, the new Guns N Roses single). So I'll make an effort at getting another blog up this weekend.

Rock on,
Cru

Being in the Pit at a metal show: a study in contrast

There is no purpose or meaning to this post at all.

February, 2002... America West Arena... Phoenix, Arizona
The "Pop Sucks" tour from Korn, who at the time were the undisputed kings of Nu Metal and the sounding board through which a new generation of disgruntled teenagers and disillusioned young adults found a common voice... Or, for a soon-to-be-28-year-old recently divorced dude, a great place to crank down beers and try to get some of my pent-up aggression out. Life had not been kind in the previous 12 months or so, 9/11 occurring, my marriage disintegrating before my eyes, relocating across half the country and finding myself in a social and financial situation the likes of which I would never wish on my worst enemy.

But fuck it, back to the show. Having seen Korn as one of the main acts on Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour in 2000, I had been blown away. As we watched from our free luxury box (another story altogether), I was amazed at how the entire audience seemed to be one giant, moving organism, pulsing to the rhythms of Korn's assault on the eardrums. Those boys fucking ROCKED... I came away saying they would never play another show in Arizona that I would not see. And that was true up until Head left the band... But I digress...

GA seats, the whole floor is open in the arena that semi-cold winter night. Attending with me were 3 of my closest friends and we had done a good amount of pre-partying before going into the show, drinking who knows how many beers. Imagine our shock and horror when we entered the arena and found that alcohol sales were suspended that evening. That's right. We were now locked inside the building and had nothing more to drink. This irked all of us a bit and I decided then and there that I would spend the whole night in the pit, getting as close to the stage as possible and letting the music take me away, albeit not quite in the Calgon sense of things...

From the moment the lights went down until the final notes of Got The Life, their closer that evening, I was pushed and pulled, shoved, punched, picked up, knocked down, scratched and battered. Don't get me wrong. I'm a pretty big dude and my buddy Steve and I were giving as good as we were getting, probably better. But it was all in good fun... Only one dipshit took everything personally and got in my buddy's face, but after getting decked by someone from behind, he was pulled out and never heard from again. My point is that there was a community there, a dare I say brotherhood of metalheads that used the pit as a way of expressing themselves, even if the only words spoken were lyrics shouted at the top of the lung or the oft-heard "FUCK YEAAAAAAAAAH!" that you tend to hear at shows like that... It was therapeutic, no harm no foul on any of the people I hit or that hit me. In fact, I didn't even notice that I wasn't drinking anymore (which would have been impossible with all the bumping and hitting), since the energy of the pit sustained my 'high' throughout the show. The setlist was insane that night, seemingly intended to never let the audience come up for air, and we didn't... For the next several years, every time Korn was in town, I was always found in the pit, finding that the activity up there was almost just as much a part of the show as the music and the band's performance...

Fast forward six years to a recent warm mid-summer evening with Iron Maiden, outdoors at Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix. With the reunited lineup that included all 3 guitarists that were in the band during its heyday, and a 2 1/2 hour setlist set against the backdrop of a combination of the Powerslave and Somewhere In Time stage setups, I sprung for a GA "Pit" ticket for this show as well, procured via eBay for the tidy sum of $50... Now, let it be said, my moshing days are behind me. Now, when I'm up front, I'm usually either in front of or behind the pit, not in the middle of it. See, life's been pretty great for the last 4-5 years and I have no more reason to want to bang into people. I'm at an age now where I just want to stand and watch the show, with the best and closest view possible. Let me tell you, this was NOT a problem that night.

See, there's a big difference between 2002 Korn and 2008 Iron Maiden. Maiden's in the midst of a rebirth, and their popularity has never been higher, especially now that their target audience doesn't really have a problem with $40 t-shirts and expensive concert tickets. As long as Bruce is hittin' the high notes (and he still does) and they're playing the hits, everyone is happy. The "Pit", and I use that term loosely, mostly consisted of moderately overweight, wrinkled men and women, still squeezing into that old Killers era t-shirt and holding onto every last stringy hair on their head, even if the only place it grows anymore is in the classic ring pattern, with nothing but shine on the scalp. I don't think a single person ran into me that night, even though the "Pit" was full. The only movement at all was the unified raising of fists and the incessant head-banging popularized all those years ago.

As much as I loved being close, the fact that the whole pit was so tame was a big letdown for me. No, I didn't want to mosh it up, but I did want to feel the energy from everyone banging around and rocking out. The static nature of the classic headbang is just not conducive to creating that energy...

Anyway, I learned something that night. Next time Maiden comes to town, I'll be just fine with a seat to the show, no need to be in the pit. I ended up back in the luxury box that my friends had and enjoyed the show just as much from there. I guess you need to choose wisely when it makes sense to get into the pit at a rock show.

Please go and reread the first sentence again before posting your comments. I'm just banging away on the keyboard, trying to squeeze the last bit of time out of my workday and I thought I'd tackle a topic that only occurred to me that night at the Maiden show...

Rock on,
Cru

Metallica - Death Magnetic - Their Best Effort Ever?

It's early yet, but after having listened to Death Magnetic front to back about 4 times now, I honestly think I may consider this their greatest album ever over time. I still need to study the lyrics, listen for the subtle sonic nuances that you don't get when listening in a car, sitting in traffic in the morning and evening. But I think we may have a keeper here...

A little of my personal history with Metallica: I first came across the boys from the Bay Area one summer when I was attending a week-long baseball camp in about 1987. While driving to and from the camp each day, my brother and our two friends blasted Master Of Puppets the whole way. I had never heard anything like it before and although the songs were more complex and much harder than anything I'd listened to before, I knew that it somehow got into my mind, my body and my soul. Maybe it was the first time I actually had ever FELT music, instead of just hearing it. Over the next few years, I made a point of 'studying up' on Metallica, buying their earlier records and eagerly jumping on Garage Days when it came out. But MoP was still my favorite.

When ...And Justice For All came out, I finally got my first chance to see the band live, with The Cult opening. To say that my mind almost melted at the show would be an understatement. Here I was, only 14 years old at the time, and an avid listener of hair metal and other 80s rock, but Metallica kicked my ass that night, even though I was sitting in the mezzanine. I had never dreamed of such energy and fury onstage and the set was absolutely punishing... i could go off on many tangents here, but let's just say that when the Black Album came out, I was already convinced that Metallica was the greatest metal band in the world. I lost a little touch with them in the 90s, during the Load era, but with the second Garage Days album, realized they still had plenty in the tank. St. Anger was a mild disappointment for me, but I still think there's an energy there that most bands are never able to touch in their whole careers. After seeing them live again on the Black tour, the Summer Sanitarium 2000 tour, and the St. Anger "In the Round" tour, I feel like I've seen the band continue to progress, both in terms of personnel and maturity, as well as in attitude, sound and performance.

So, this brings us to Death Magnetic. I bought pit passes for the opening show of the tour, in my current hometown of Phoenix. Included with the ticket was the live download of that show and a copy of Death Magnetic, which I received a few days ago. Now, this is my blog, but I'm hoping that it becomes interactive and I want to hear what you have to say. But I'll put it this way: I have never bought a Metallica record and loved it from start to finish as instantly as I do with this record. I had to hear Puppets over and over before I really started appreciating it and the Black album had to grow on me a bit, even though I instantly loved Sandman, Unforgiven and Of Wolf and Man. ...Justice was great, but such a massive change in their sound and song structure that it took a while for me on that one too. Death Magnetic is the culmination of all that Metallica ever was, is and can continue to be. There are flashes of the Bob Rock influenced simple poppy melodies, and the groove that he instilled in the band, even if it's all turned up to 11 and melting your face off. There are the longer song structures and changes that were early hallmarks of their career on Ride The Lightning and MoP... There is the frenetic energy that permeated through Kill 'Em All and St. Anger. And the boys just seem to be having a good fucking time again, which I think you can hear on Garage Days and the Load records... They're not TRYING to do anything. They're just BEING Metallica... They've come full circle and are back to being the boys in the band... And the end result is simply epic... I'm almost afraid to say this could eventually knock Master of Puppets off the podium as greatest Metallica record ever, but that's how I'm feeling right now.

How do you feel?

Rock on,
Cru