Millionaire Rock Stars

Live Earth - the BBC decide that Metallica aint good enough for the great British public, and cut their set to bits. And don't get me started with the shameless treatment of Spinal Tap.

What really peed me off though was one persons comment that 'tallica were their 'usual condescending boring millionaire excuse for a rock band'....yeah right dude - whatever!

If thats what they were, then I'd rather that than some jumped up newbies just out of nappies sounding just like the next jumped up newbies just out of nappies...

All I can say, is that of ALL the gigs I've been to (and, over the last 25 years, thats a quite a few!) Metallica hold top spot for quality, audience reaction and energy. And they are by no means my favourite band - probably just top 20.

Sometimes experience holds sway over youthful enthusiasm!

Spreading the word?

To help out a mate, I've bought a spot on www.buyyourwaytothetop.com - see the special link somewhere around here!

The idea is to buy a spot at the top, and as time goes by, as more peeps buy in, the top spot gets more valuable - it should be interesting to see how much it goes up to!

Anyhows, good luck Dave and keep rocking!!

A Thousand Words?

Some words definately lend themselves to being sung - or so says G. My rocking partner for over 13 years, she is adamant that one reason the new Funeral for a Friend tune is so catchy is that the word 'oblivion' is a great word to sing!

Another great one-word lyric we came up with was matter(s) - as in 'Nothing Else Matters' and that one by Linkin Park (hey - I dunno - LP is her department, being nu-metal!).

As for the other 998 great words, give me a little time...(ah, thats 5 words...)

More Comeback Kings

Of course - straight in at number one must be Aerosmith. Some cracking tunes and albums in the seventies, followed by a decline in both popularity and the bands mental awareness (mmm...wonder why...?) set the scene for a monster collaboration in 1986 with Run DMC and producer Rick Rubin to create a new, rap infused version of Walk This Way.

Try reading those three words without hearing the iconic sound of Steven Tyler's vocal. The track and subsequent mix of re-releases and new material (Love in an Elevator, Dude Looks Like a Lady etc...) relaunched Aerosmith's flagging career, which steamrollers on to this day, and helped keep Heavy Rock ticking over nicely while it waited for Kurt Cobain and pals to get out of bed and invent Grunge.

Comeback Kings

Well thanks to the awesome 'Seven Ages of Rock' (BBC2, 9/6/07) I've learnt (or is it actually reminded??) that Sharon Osbourne was the daughter of Don Arden (b.1926 as Harry Levy) who, amongst others, was the manager of Black Sabbath. Arden also managed The Small Faces and E.L.O.

Which brought me to think - was, as asserted by S.A.of R., Ozzy Osbournes 1980 comeback with Blizzard of Ozz (Randy Rhoads etc) actually the greatest Rock / Metal recovery of all time?

Ozzy was dumped from Sabbath in 1978, went through a drug induced haze for months, and was 'rescued' by Sharon for the Blizzard of Ozz LP.

Other comebacks of note would have to include Dave Mustaine (Metallica to Megadeth), Ian Gillan (Deep Purple, to er, Deep Purple - via, oddly enough Black Sabbath and others!), Ronnie James Dio (hehe - Sabbath again to Dio via Rainbow (or was that Rainbow to Sabs?) .

I'll comeback (sorry) with more shortly!

Welcome - - to The Blog O' Rock

So I've finally succumbed to the temptation of blogging about Rock - music that is. From Jethro Tull to Velvet Revolver, from 1969 to 2007, from Nirvana to The Jam. You get the idea.

Thanks for looking in!