Rowena and Eline’s Wedding

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!

Next post: Robin Beck- Trouble or Nothin’

Great Rock Albums of 1984: TNT- Knights of New Thunder

You’ve probably guessed that I’ve been off from my main job the past several days or why else would I be able to post three days in a row? That all changes as I’m back in work tonight so before I go, I thought I’d leave it with a post about an album from whom I call my favourite Norwegian band, TNT. Leaves Eyes does come a close second though. I didn’t hear their second album, “Knights of New Thunder” until 1986 and I have to say that I was quite impressed when I did.

“Knights of New Thunder” was the first album to feature American born Tony Harnell, though for some reason, he is credited on the first few TNT albums as Hansen. Anyway, Tony’s fantastic vocal range completed what is essentially a great band. I can totally understand why my sister put him into her band of underrated musicians. Speaking of underrated, guitarist Ronni Le Tekro doesn’t get the true recognition he deserves either. He does hammer out some really amazing guitar solos on this album.

Things open on the album with probably the best known track on it, “Seven Seas.” It seems to be the one most people remember whenever it is mentioned. The reason for this is a no-brainer. Harnell’s vocals shine through straight away supported by Le Tekro’s guitar work. We must not forget the rhythm section of Morty Black and Diesel Dahl who are as tight as any on this album. While “Seven Seas” is the most well known track on “Knights of New Thunder,” the rest of the album is just as good. In fact, the only tracks that might be called filler are “USA” and “Deadly Metal” though I like both of these tracks too. On a personal note, the lyrics to “Break the Ice” were very important to me in late 1986. The title track ranks right up there with the best album closers.

There is one difference in the tracks on the US version and the European version of the album. Having the US one, I was treated to my favourite track on the album, “Eddie,” while Europeans had the track “Tor With the Hammer” which itself is a pretty good track. “Eddie” is a very good power ballad whose lyrics I found very amusing. I think the song is about a deranged dog but I have known humans who fit in quite nicely with the lyrics of the chorus.

“Eddie likes torture and pain;

And Eddie’s crying in the rain;

Eddie’s got a twisted brain;

And neighours think that he’s insane;

Eddie strikes again.” 

Track listing:

1. Seven Seas
2. Ready to Leave
3. Klassik Romance
4. Last Summer’s Evil
5. Lost Without Your Love
6. Break the Ice
7. Tor With the Hammer
8. USA
9. Deadly Metal
10. Knights of New Thunder
11. Eddie (Track 6 on the US version)

TNT

Tony Harnell (Hansen in the credits)- lead vocals

Ronni Le Tekro- guitars, backing vocals

Morty Black- bass, backing vocals, synthesizer

Diesel Dahl- drums

Because of “Eddie,” there are two power ballads on the US version of “Knights of New Thunder.” While I prefer “Eddie” to “Lost Without Your Love,” I do think Le Tekro’s guitar solo on the song is amazing. It has been said that “Knights of New Thunder” would be TNT’s last pure metal album as they would go more glam after. My sister was always jealous of the band’s hair. While, I will explore that theory down the line, I will say for now to just kick back on enjoy the delights of this one.

Next post: Deep Purple- Perfect Strangers

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80sMetalman’s Band of Underrated Musicians

Since tomorrow is my first day of supply (substitute) teaching in the new school year, I thought I’d get a bit of practice in by giving all of you an assignment. Hopefully, you’ll find it as fun as I did although there was a struggle in the area of female lead vocalist. I had to go on Youtube and listen to songs by both ladies before I finally made a choice and that was tough. The choice, I’m talking about not listening to their music. That bit was fun.

Now to the assignment, for nearly the entire life of 80smetalman, I have been banging on about musicians whose talents have been ignored or grossly underrated. So, with my weird and wonderful mind, I thought I would take the ones who I feel were the most underrated and put them together in a band of my own. The theory is that with all that combined under appreciated talent, they would come together and form an awesome band. I think the ones I have chosen, though a few may be deemed controversial, would fill the bill. So, here’s the 80smetalman Under Appreciated Band!

Danny Vaughn- male lead vocals

You know him from Tyketto and Waysted and his own band, Vaughn but I think that Danny Vaughn has never gotten the accolades he so deserves as a lead singer. He’s got a great voice, end of.

Liv Kristine- female lead vocals

When I saw her band, Leaves Eyes, at Bloodstock, 2010, I was totally captivated by the vocals of Liv Kristine. Hailing from Norway, she has a beautiful operatic voice that is just mindblowingly seductive.

Derry Grehan- guitar

I sang Derry’s praises not too long ago when I visited Honeymoon Suite’s first album. I was and still am very impressed by his guitar playing. I talk about underrated guitarists a lot on here but Derry Grehan really is.

Frenzy Phillipon- guitar

You might remember, I came upon this French fingerboard smoker nearly a year ago when I saw his band, Mystery Blue, support Canadian greats, Anvil. His band hasn’t made the big time but boy can he play that guitar.

Dom Lawson- bass

Another amazing discovery from Bloodstock, this time it was 2015. It was then I saw Dom Lawson, in his band Oaf, shred a bass like no one ever has before or since.

John Galvin- keyboards

It was another difficult choice picking a keyboards player. Originally, I was going to go with Claude Schnell of Dio fame but then when I listened to the 1984 Molly Hatchet album, “The Deed is Done” after so many years, I have come to really like John Galvin’s keyboards skills on the album. Southern Rock bands didn’t do much with keyboards but John really shines when given the chance.

Gina Schock- drums

I know this one will seem controversial to some but I am picking former Go Go’s drummer Gina Schock for my band. I think one of the reasons she is underrated as a drummer is because she’s female but I think she’s really good as well.

Well, there’s my band. Now, I want you all to go back, listen to your albums, have a good think and put together your own bands of underrated musicians. Trust me, it will be a fun assignment.

Next post: The Rise of Christian Rock

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80smetalman’s Choices for National Anthems

National Anthems inspire love for one’s country. Every one I’ve heard definitely does that. Some are hard driving like the US, UK or Canada while others are more somber like Japan or Wales. Even Italy’s which reminded me of a parade or Spain’s which sounds like a sixteenth century dance still can inspire love for the country. However, most national anthems are over a century old and while there’s nothing wrong with that, since they still inspire nationalistic feelings, I wonder if more modern ones could be used. See, I have come to associate certain songs by certain bands with the country they come from and that has me thinking. Maybe these songs should be national anthems for their country.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

USA: Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd (I’m talking the full fifteen minute live version)

Led Zeppelin

UK: Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

Rush

Canada: Tom Sawyer by Rush

Bonfire

Germany: Proud of My Country by Bonfire

TNT

Norway- Seven Seas by TNT

Yngwie Malmsteen

Sweden- As Above, So Below by Yngwie Malmsteen

Hanoi Rocks

Finland- Tragedy by Hanoi Rocks

Golden Earring

The Netherlands: Radar Love by Golden Earring

U2

Ireland- Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2

Loudness

Japan- Crazy Nights by Loudness

AC/DC

Australia- Highway to Hell by AC/DC

Note: For Brazil, it would definitely be something by Seputura and France would be a suitable song by Gojira.

While this is meant to be a little bit of fun, I’m sure some of you are cracking your knuckles and limbering your typing fingers to contribute some of your own suggestions. Well, I’m waiting.

Next post: The Scorpions- Blackout

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London

Norweigan Tragedy, A Metalhead’s Take

Several weeks have passed since the tragedy that happened in Norway and I am still trying to get my head around as to why it happened. We now know that Anders Behring Breivik who carried out the atrocity was on the far right of the political spectrum and felt that he was saving his country from a takeover by Islam. Since the 1980s, there has been a more of a polarisation of political thought in Europe with more people going to the extreme right or left. However, for me this doesn’t wholly explain why it happened in the first place.

The main reason I am still struggling with this is because I went to Norway in 1980, not as a tourist, but as a member of the US Marine Corps, where I took part in a large NATO operation. I spent eight days walking the Norweigan countryside and getting rained on. September is the rainy season in Norway and it rained six days out of the eight I was there. But that’s not important, what is important is how extremely friendly the Norweigan people were. On the first night, we captured some Norweigan home guard as part of the war games and they in turn offered us all cigarettes and whisky. I don’t smoke, but did enjoy the latter. This was the case, the rest of the time. We would be in a position and the locals would come out and give us sweets, coffee and even beer. On the last day, as we marched back to the ship, we went past an all girls school and they came out and cheered us as we passed. This is my problem, I can’t understand how such a thing happened in a country where the people are so friendly.

Now you are probably asking yourself, what has this got to do with heavy metal? The answer is quite simple, there is a lot of metal in Norway. The first band that comes to mind is TNT who have been going since the 1980s and it was listening to their album “Realised Fantasies” that gave me the inspiration for this post. TNT have put out 12 studio and two live albums, but it was their first two “Kights of New Thunder” and “Tell No Tales” that are the most memorable for me. That is why I mention them quite a bit in Rock And Roll Children and give an account of the concert I saw at the Marquee in London.

Last year at the Bloodstock Festival, I had the opportunity to see another impressive band from Norway, Leaves Eyes. Of all the acts that were unknown to me before that weekend, Leaves Eyes is the one that impressed me the most. It was the way the operatic, melodic voice of lead singer, Liv Kristine and the more raw vocals of Alex Krull came together with the rest of the band. I suggest you check them out, you won’t be disappointed.

Of course, there are other metal bands in Norway like Angel, Bankok Babes, Wild Side and Hush to name a few. So, if you are trying to make sense of the tragedy, which befell Norway, then listen to a Norweigan metal band, I’m sure it will help you see things in a new light.

Next post: Back to Great Rock Albums of the 70s: The Eagles- Hotel California

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to: www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle