First of all, I’m rather silly for not asking any of the ladies if their group had an official name but no worries, they provided some good entertainment for a Saturday afternoon in Stroud, Gloucestershire in the UK. We went because Mrs. 80smetalman knows some of the group, particularly Sue (on the far left wearing the black hat). They share a granddaughter. So, we went and saw them perform at the venue where Mrs. 80smetalman and Sue play bingo together on Mondays. The show was pretty good and I’m including some snippets of the performance.
Opening song, Walking on Sunshine
Elsie, aged 10, blew a lot of minds, including mine. She has potential.
Singing Heart’s classic Alone. If they kept the guitar solo.
Sue singing Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird.” I wish people showed more consideration
Josie is 16 and pretty good too.
Playing a long to an instrumental
My biggest mistake this day was to put my mobile phone away too soon as they ended the day with Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and Abba’s “Waterloo.” Both songs were done very well. In any case, I hope you enjoy the videos.
Here’s the fourth and final installment of the greatest metal compilation album of 1989 and possibly all time. The sad part of this is that some of these bands have faded into obscurity.
Dream Theater- The Killing Hand
Acid Reign- Goddess
Femme Fatale- Falling In and Out of Love
Tigertailz- Love Overload
Wrathchild- (Na Na) Nukklear Rokket
Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction- Backseat Education
House of Lords- I Wanna Be Loved
Well, that completes it. I hope you all loved this entire album. If there was any one compilation which caught the entire essence of heavy metal at the time, then it was “Protect the Innocent.”
Next post: I haven’t fully finished with this album yet. There are two tracks from the final installment which are from albums I missed on the tour of 1988. Therefore, I’m going back and covering those albums. So the next album is Femme Fatale.
To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
The “The Protect the Innocent” saga goes on with side three, “The Wild and the Willing.” However, there seems to be no let up in the great metal this album has.
Magnum- Start Talking Love
Vow Wow- Helter Skelter
Megadeath- Rattlehead
Saxon- Back on the Streets
Lita Ford- Kiss Me Deadly
Lisa Dominique- Rock ‘N’ Roll Lady
Exodus- Fabulous Disaster
I hope you’re continuing to enjoy. Three sides down one more to go.
Next post: Protect the Innocent- Side 4, The Wanton and the Warriors
To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
Like I said, I’ve been snowed under with everyone wanting me to do Continuing Professional Development courses, (CPD), that I’m not able to give albums my full attention. In some of my most recent posts, I have made reference to a compilation album which came out in 1989. The album is called, “Protect the Innocent” and you will see what a magnificent album this really is. Because there are 30 blockbuster metal tunes on it, I’m going break it down like it’s done on the record. Therefore, you get side 1 called, “The First Chapter.”
Steppenwolf- Born to Be Wild
Black Sabbath- Paranoid
Deep Purple- Fireball
Motorhead- Ace of Spades
Judas Priest- Breaking the Law
Ted Nugent- Scream Dream
Ozzy Osbourne- The Ultimate Sin
Blue Oyster Cult- Don’t Fear the Reaper
There you have it, enjoy!
Next post: Part 2- The Second Reign
To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
British band, Mammoth, first came to my attention via a compilation album which I’m going to cover in the very near future. The song represented on that album from this debut is “Fatman” and it was a good choice as for me, it’s the best song on the debut. It’s a good heads up rocker and I get the impression that the band are laughing at themselves with it, in a good way of course.
Of course, we got to ask about the rest of the album. If they were looking for Top of the Pops chart success, then the opener “All the Days” would be a prime candidate. It does open with a pop oriented intro but never gets too heavy for the delicate ears of the top 40 brigade. However, there is a cool guitar solo in the middle. Mac Baker is a decent guitarist.
Like with so many bands on their debut albums, some might say that Mammoth were trying to discover what they were. True, on the album songs go in a variety of directions but they mostly stay with the hard rock formula. “Can’t Take the Hurt” is another mid tempo rocker which also could have been released as a single. With the video, maybe it was as it’s the closest they come to a true ballad. The history behind the band is vague at best.
They prove they can rock on tracks like “Bet You Wish,” “Long Time Coming” and “30 Pieces of Silver.” These are good hard rocking tracks and “Bad Times” is a steady melodic one. However, they venture into more progressive metal territory on “Dark Star” and the closer, “Home From the Storm,” and they sound pretty good. I put forward the argument that Mammoth weren’t necessarily trying to find their sound as opposed to the belief that they just wanted to make music.
Track Listing:
All the Days
Fatman
Can’t Take the Hurt
30 Pieces of Silver
Dark Star
Bet You Wish
Long Time Coming
Bad Times
Home From the Storm
Mammoth
Nicky Moore- vocals, keyboards
Mac Baker- guitar
John McCoy- bass, guitar, synth guitar
Vinnie Reed- drums, percussion
Additional Musicians:
Bernie Torme- guitar
Kenny Cox- guitar
Rob Fisher- keyboards
David Lloyd, Mark Williamson- backing vocals
Steve Sidelynk- percussion
Mammoth was one of those bands who came and went without getting much notice. According to sources, they wouldn’t release another record until 1997. Shame, because with this debut, they were certainly heading in the right direction.
Next post: Dream Theater- When Dream and Day Unite
To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
Main objective behind writing “Rock and Roll Children” was to remind people, especially metalheads, of heavy metal history. At the time I began writing, there seemed to be a push by mainstream media to downplay the role heavy metal played in during its golden decade, the 1980s and that decade, contrary to what the media was pushing was not all Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Like it or not, heavy metal was a dominant force in the 1980s. True, it got little radio play and minimal play on MTV but the most successful bands sold millions of albums and played to packed out arenas. So, we can safely say that the 1980s was the golden age of heavy metal and I wrote “Rock and Roll Children” to bring home that point.
With all that said, the 80s for me was a busy decade and there were a lot of events, both music related and not, which took place in the time period in the book, 1984-7. That is the purpose of today’s post, to give you a history refresher of the events, (sorry, it’s the teacher in me) and by some weird hope, more of you will buy the book.
Non- Musical Events
U.S. Marines in Lebanon- In the story, Bob’s older brother, Mitch, served with the US Marines in their ‘peacekeeping’ mission in Lebanon. Although, he wasn’t there when the big tragedy happened in October 1983, some of his friends were. He is clearly effected by his experiences there, getting wounded when a grenade went off near him.
McDonald’s Mass Shooting- In the summer of 1984, a man went into a McDonald’s in California and shot and killed 22 people. Before he left, the shooter declared he was going to hunt humans. In “Rock and Roll Children,” the main characters joke that if they go to McDonald’s, they’re going to get shot.
Famine in Africa- I make reference to this in the book because it led to one of the greatest musical events of the decade, which I will mention more further down.
Ronald Reagan’s Re-election: This is briefly mentioned because Mitch is upset that the country re-elected the man who sent him to Lebanon where he was wounded.
Super Bowls XIX, XX and XXI- All three of these super bowls get mentioned.
The Bombing of Libya- When the US bombed Libya in 1986, there was concerns for the safety of Americans travelling in Europe. Jeff had been accepted to the University of London and while he wasn’t worried, some others were.
Reagan’s Contra War in Nicaragua- Bob becomes an anti- Contra Aid protester in light of events. He saw what Lebanon had done to his brother and this is what drives him here.
Arthur Fowler’s Imprisonment- When I got to England, I became engrossed in the very popular soap opera, “East Enders.” (Today it holds no interest for me.) In one episode, the character Arthur Fowler gets sent to prison for stealing money from a Christmas Club. A couple of nights later, I saw stickers at one underground station saying, “Free Arthur Fowler.”
Herald of Free Enterprise Disaster- In March, 1987, a British ferry called The Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 crew and passengers. This was a huge tragedy. One month after the event, Jeff and his roommate, Henry, take a ferry to France and this does worry them a little.
Music Related Events
Concerts- Every concert which takes place in the story actually happened and at the time they actually occurred.
Vince Neil’s Accident- This rocked the heavy metal community hard and gave plenty of ammunition to the anti-metal establishment. In case anyone has been living on Jupiter, Vince was more than twice over the drink-drive limit and crashed his car, injuring two people and killing Hanoi Rocks drummer, Razzle. It had an effect on the major characters in the story as after that, they made sure that they didn’t overdo it if they had to drive.
Rick Allen’s Accident- Rick’s accident happened about three weeks after Vince’s. While Rick and his girlfriend survived, Rick lost his arm as a result of the accident and the entire heavy metal world held their breath as to whether he would play the drums ever again.
Aerosmith’s Bottle Incident- The actual event happened seven years before it gets mentioned in the book, therefore, it’s told retrospectively. The character Tammy was at the concert in Philadelphia in 1979 when some moron threw a bottle on stage hitting Steve Tyler. She gives her full account of the incident and alludes to why Aerosmith seemed to holding back their best efforts when they played Philadelphia in 1986.
Live Aid- This was the musical event of the 80s I mentioned earlier. The concert was put on to raise money to help those in famine stricken Africa. Two concerts took place simultaneously, one in London, the other in Philadelphia. In “Rock and Roll Children,” I focused more on the two metal acts which performed that day, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
Farm Aid- This was a concert to raise money to help American farmers who were losing their farms. The main takeaway from that concert was Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar playing together for the first time. The rest of the story is history.
Jesus Freaks at Concerts- I wrote a post about this. Starting in 1986, whenever people went to a metal concert in America, there were the Jesus freaks all there telling people they were going to hell for seeing that band. It was a great source of entertainment.
Bon Jovi and Europe Being in the top 10 in the UK Charts- In November, 1986, Bon Jovi was at number nine in the UK charts with “Living on a Prayer” and Europe at number two with “The Final Countdown.” For many of us metalheads, it was a slap in the face to the mainstream music industry.
Prosecution of Jello Biafra- This made the news in England. Former Dead Kennedys singer, Jello Biafra, was prosecuted and fortunately acquitted on the charge of distributing pornographic material to minors on the DK album, “Frankenchrist.” While Jeff was reading about it on the train to the airport to return home, it gave him a wake up call about the society he was heading back to.
See, you do learn about history if you read “Rock and Roll Children.” One thing I was criticized for but make no apologies was how metalheads were discriminated against in the 1980s. Not that we let that stop us. Maybe I did over-pound the point but it was real. There were a lot of great and tragic events both musically and not throughout the 80s. I tried to bring history to life and maybe that was the problem, I wrote it too much like a history book.
To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
It’s a good thing I now go back and read posts from bands’ albums which came out previous to the band I’m writing about. In the case of Lizzy Borden’s “Master of Disguise,” if I hadn’t done so, then this post might have gone a different direction. When I first listened to the album, I thought that Lizzy was heading in a more progressive metal direction, which the album is. However, after re-reading my post on their previous album, “Visual Lies,” they were heading in that way on the last few tracks of that one.
The only remaining members of the band on the album were Lizzy himself and drummer Joey Scott Harges as long term guitarist and songwriter, Gene Allen, departed the band. Therefore, other musicians were brought in for the guitar, bass and keyboard parts, although Steve Lukather wasn’t one of them. Now and it’s probably me thinking too much, I wonder if there is any relation to Gene’s departure and the new progressive metal direction.
“Master of Disguise’s” progressive sound comes through on the opening title track. A theatrical keyboard introduction welcomes the album in but it’s not long before Lizzy Borden remind you they’re a metal band. The track gets and holds your attention. More evidence of the progressive comes in the form of the ballad like “One False Move.” It’s an acoustic number, less that three minutes but it would fit in nicely on a concept album. After that, we get the intended single, at least there’s a video to it, “Love is a Crime.” Once again, Lizzy Borden have a song which is totally suited for commercial radio play but never got picked up. Further proof that commercial radio has sucked since 1985.
For me personally, the middle part is my favourite part of the album. Tracks four through nine really make this album what it is and could be why it is Lizzy Borden’s highest charting album. Starting the party is the charging straight forward melodic metal tune, “Sins of the Flesh.” This one has me head banging away even through the more prog rock sounding guitar solo. It would have been my choice for hidden gem had it not been for the next track, “Phantoms.”
“Phantoms,” is the song which completely defines the album. Like the opener, it starts off with a scene setting keyboard influenced intro and then going into an acoustic instrumental after which transforms into a cool metal tune. I really love the guitar solo on this and I would love to know which of the contributing guitarists on the album plays it. Furthermore, Lizzy is at his vocal best with both the lead and backing vocals.
The next four tracks don’t disappoint either, “Never Too Young” has a piano intro before going metal, which would have gotten a thumbs up from Jon Oliva or so I’d like to think. The guitar solo and vocals are really good on it. The coolest intro comes on “Be One of Us.” It is none other than Bach’s “Toccata in D Minor,” which for movie buffs is also the theme song for the 1975 film, “Rollerball.” Again, the rest of the song is pure metal. I would be repeating myself in regards to “Psychodrama” and “Waiting in the Wings,” but who cares? They are both cool tunes.
Penultimate track, “Under the Rose,” is similar to the second track, an acoustic, ballad like number. Closer, “We Got the Power,” sounds like it’s recorded live and the way it’s done, it’s the best way to close the album.
Track Listing:
Master of Disugise
One False Move
Love is a Crime
Sins of the Flesh
Phantoms
Never Too Young
Be One of Us
Psychodrama
Waiting in the Wings
Roll Over and Play Dead
Under the Rose
We Got Power
Lizzy Borden
Joey Scott Harges
Lizzy Borden- lead and backing vocals
Joey Scott Harges- drums
Additional Musicians:
Ronnie Jude, David Michael Phillips, Mike Razzatti- guitar
Mike Davis, Joey Vera, Brian Perry- bass
Elliot Solomon, William Kidd- keyboards
Tim Stithem- additional percussion
Brian Coyle, Jacques Voymont, Jerry Moore, John Chuboda, TJ Santos, Tim Taylor- horns
Black, White and Brown Orchestra- backing vocals on track 12
As stated previously, “Master of Disguise” is Lizzy Borden’s most commercially successful album. Could it be the more progressive metal direction? Possibly or maybe it’s because it’s just a good album. This album puts Lizzy Borden firmly on my list of American artists not to have cracked the UK.
It is now my sad duty to announce the passing of former Cockney Rebel frontman, Steve Harley, who quietly passed away at his home age 73. Rest in Peace Steve.
Next post: Bitch- A Rose By Any Other Name
To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
I think this is great news, especially as heavy metal music and its followers are often snubbed by the so-called mainstream of society. So, I take my hat off to Birmingham City Council for this wise decision.
Here’s where I bore you all to death with my daughter Rowena’s wedding, which took place yesterday. It wasn’t a huge spectacle as the only ones in attendance were the two brides of course, both mothers, two friends and me. Eline’s father couldn’t make it due to work. Eline hails from the same country as bands like TNT, Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir and Leaves Eyes. Fifty 8osmetalman points if you can guess correctly. So, without any more prattling on, here’s many photos from that very special day.
Pre Wedding Photos
Eline on the left, Rowena on the right
Pre wedding Brunch
The brides with their mothers
More Pre-Wedding photos, from the local park
Eline with her mother, Mona
Proud father of the bride
Proud parents (my ex wife Elisabeth, we’re on good terms)
My big moment in the spotlight, giving my daughter away.
Me telling her Rowena it’s not too late to change her mind, just kidding
The Ceremony:
Signing the register
All of us with the newly married couple
After the wedding: There was no reception but we did go for a very nice meal in the evening.
The pagan custom of jumping over the broomstick but an umbrella had to suffice in this case.
I hope you all enjoyed the photos. It was a great day!
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