Influential Albums

I know most people who are into music like I am (especially metalheads) have a number of albums that they would point to that shaped their listening habits today. My focus of this blog post is to recall the albums that got me into metal and it's sub genres.

KISS - Alive II (Back in 1980 my mom used to babysit some kids at our house. One day they brought this over on two cassettes and let me borrow it for a while. I remember not listening to the live portions. I was only interested in the studio tracks at the end. Those studio songs are still some of my favorite KISS songs to this day. This album was a small stepping stone for me. I wasn't quite ready for hard rock just yet. It took another three years for that to happen.)

Quiet Riot - Metal Health (This was THE album that got me into metal. In late 83 and 84 I would listen to this endlessly. I loved it and wanted more. I can still listen to Metal Health and get all nostalgic. Saw em live once. RIP Kevin Dubrow.)

Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil (My mom actually bought this for me on vinyl for Easter because I asked for it. Motley Crue quickly became my favorite band. I practically wore the grooves out on this album. Besides most of the Overkill albums there probably isn't an album I've listened to more than Shout At The Devil.)

Ratt - Out Of The Cellar (Yet another huge album from the early/mid 80's. This one got heavy rotation in my cassette deck in 1984. I've even seen Ratt live three times. Lack Of Communication is still one of my all time favorite songs. It rocks! RIP Robbin Crosby.)

Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry (I played the holy hell out of this cassette. During the summer of 1984 I probably watched the We're Not Gonna Take It video 500 times. It never got boring to me.)

Dokken - Tooth & Nail (This to me is a perfect hard rock/metal album. There isn't a weak song on this album imo. I still listen to this album, and all the albums I'm mentioning for that matter. Saw them live once.)

Def Leppard - Pyromania (There are so many great classics on Pyromania. Then of course things went to hell when they released Hysteria which to me is mostly terrible minus a couple of songs. Talk about watered down pop metal. Blah!!)

Tesla - Mechanical Resonance (This is another album that to me is flawless. It's just a great rockin' album full of good memorable songs. Saw them live once.)

Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance (Perfection. This is one of the greatest metal albums ever created and easily my favorite Priest album. Electric Eye is Metal personified. I've seen Priest live three times.)

Iron Maiden - Powerslave (I bought this on cassette in 1984 when I was 12 years old with birthday money. I couldn't get enough of 2 Minutes To Midnight. What a great song. What a great band. What a great album. Saw Maiden live once.)

W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P. (Great debut album that they never matched in my opinion. Talk about an album that appealed to angst filled teens and pre-teens.)

Grim Reaper - See You In Hell (I first saw the video for the title track on Mtv late at night and was blown away. Hey I was only 12 so give me a break. Great album though.)

Metallica - Master Of Puppets (I heard the title track on one of our local rock stations and went to the mall that day and bought this on cassette. From 1986 until 1988 Metallica was my favorite band. Then a mighty metal band changed all of that for me.)

OVERKILL - UNDER THE INFLUENCE (Thanks to an ex friend of mine I'm a huge Overkill fan. From the moment SHRED blared from the speakers I was in awe. I was fucking blown away. This album will always have a special play in my heart. It's THE album that made Overkill my favorite band. They still are obviously. I've seen Overkill 14 times live and have met and talked with the band several times and have various things autographed.)

OVERKILL - THE YEARS OF DECAY (This remains my favorite album of all time. This was also the album they were touring for when I first saw them live in December of 1989 with Wolfsbane and Dark Angel opening in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Exodus - Fabulous Disaster (I've seen people in metal circles rag on this one, but those people suck because this is a solid Bay Area Thrash album from start to finish.)

Sacred Reich - The American Way (It actually started with the Surf Nicaragua ep, but that's not a full album. I love the guitar solo on the title track. This is a fine album.)

Part two coming soon....

Games, District 9 & Total Randomness

Now that I'm not renting from Gamefly I'm renting games from Hollywood Video just down the road from where I live. At least this way I can go in and actually choose a game that I want that they have in stock instead of getting a crappy game down at the bottom of my list from Gamefly. Last week I ordered The Godfather 2 the video game on half.com for 22 bucks. I decided to buy it after renting it for five days. It's 40 bucks in stores right now, so half price was a good deal. In the meantime I needed a game that I could play and beat in a short amount of time. Wanted: Weapons Of Fate is definitely that game. It's not an incredible game or anything, but it's fun. It's just a mindless fps with stupid ai enemies. I've put in a couple hours a night for the past couple nights and I'm almost done with it already. I feel sorry for anyone who paid 60 bucks for this game. Definitely worth a rent though.

I'm taking my third week of vacation out of five next week, so I'll be gaming as much as possible during my vacation. I'm sure The Godfather 2 will arrive by then. At least it better!

If anyone reading this hasn't seen District 9 yet you really need to. It's the best sci-fi film I've seen in a very long time. Definitely a different spin on alien movies. I pretty much loved it. 9/10

As much as I think Sebastian Bach is a doucher his solo cd entitled "Angel Down" really rocks. Axl Rose even appears on some tunes with some vocals. Definitely a good old school mixed with modern sounding rock album.

I Guess Those Albums Aren't That Bad

Lately I've been really bored with listening to the same albums all of the time. I think we all have a bunch of stand by albums that we listen to. I decided it was time to go back to those albums that I've ragged on and give them another chance. I started with Nevermore's "Dreaming Neon Black" and "Dead Heart In A Dead World". I must say that I enjoyed "Dreaming Neon Black" quite a bit. It's not like I'm new to this album. I picked it up on cd when it was released. I remember thinking at the time that it was alright. It's been well documented by yours truly that I can't stand Warrell Dane's vocals. They are actually pretty good on DNB. I even hear a bit of his old school Sanctuary vocals at times. Not often enough though. "Dead Heart In A Dead World" is decent. I did get bored after about song 7. I must say that their cover of "The Sound Of Silence" is terrible. I don't mind when bands cover songs and make them their own, but man this is just bad. Eventually I'll listen to the rest of the Nevermore catalog. I'd also like to mention that I do enjoy Jeff Loomis's guitar playing.

As I type this I'm listening to Savatage's "Streets: A Rock opera". For years I've been saying that anything after "Hall Of The Mountain King" is weak. I still believe that after once again listening to "Gutter Ballet" and "Streets". It's not terrible. It's just not the Savatage that I want to listen to on a regular basis.

44 Of The 45 Songs Slated For The Beatles: Rock Band

Singles
=======
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Feel Fine
Day Tripper
Paperback Writer
Revolution
Don't Let Me Down

Please Please Me (1963)
=======================
I Saw Her Standing There
Boys
Do You Want To Know A Secret
Twist and Shout

With the Beatles (1963)
=======================
I Wanna Be Your Man

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
=========================
A Hard Day's Night
Can't Buy Me Love

Beatles For Sale (1964)
=======================
Eight Days a Week

Help! (1965)
============
Ticket To Ride

Rubber Soul (1965)
==================
Drive My Car
I'm Looking Through You
If I Needed Someone

Revolver (1966)
===============
Taxman
Yellow Submarine
And Your Bird Can Sing

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
============================================
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help From My Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
Good Morning Good Morning

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
===========================
I Am The Walrus
Hello Goodbye

The Beatles (White Album) (1968)
================================
Dear Prudence
Back In the U.S.S.R.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Birthday
Helter Skelter

Yellow Submarine (1969)
=======================
Hey Bulldog

Abbey Road (1969)
=================
Come Together
Something
Octopus's Garden
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Here Comes the Sun

Let It Be (1970)
================
Dig a Pony
I Me Mine
I Got a Feeling
Get Back

Love (2006)
===========
Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows



For the most part I like this set list. Of course there are some I like more than others. There are also some I think are missing. I mean seriously...where the hell is "Hey Jude", "A Day In The Life", "Strawberry Fields Forever"...you see where I'm coming from? Actually I know where they WILL BE, dlc. I'll shell out the cash for these songs and others too.

All Things Rock Band

Not a lot going on in the video game world...well nothing that exciting to me anyway. I'll have more to talk about as soon as September hits. I'm so picking up Beatles Rock Band on day one. Yes, I've been sucked into Rock Band 2 lately. For a while I was playing drums, but now I've decided I'd rather sing. I can so nail "Don't Stop Believing: by Journey on expert on vocals as well as "Take It On The Run" by REO Speedwagon. I'm ranked 200 and something on one of those songs on the leader boards. I also purchased Screaming For Vengeance. It's fun screaming like Halford. I also purchased Cannibal Corpse's "Hammer Smashed Face". I figured that would be a bitch on vocals, but it's easy. Other than that I haven't been playing much. I've gone back to Left 4 Dead even though I said I never would. For some reason it drags me back. I'm also playing my second season in be a pro mode in NHL 09. Can't wait for new games to start hitting the shelves.

Playlist.com Owns Me, But Mothership Zeta Really Doesn't

This could actually be a first. My daughter got me hooked on a site. That site is playlist.com. It's probably a site most people know about already, but it's new to me. You search for songs you like and put them on a playlist where they are saved for you whenever you want to hear them. If you ask me this is the future of music. All the music you want online stored on another server that you don't own. I like this idea. I'm addicted to it actually. Check it out if you haven't already.

I've been playing the latest dlc for Fallout 3 entitled Mothership Zeta. I'm not all that impressed with it. It's not terrible or anything. It's just not wowing me. It's good. It's just not great. I enjoyed Point Lookout much more. BTW anyone looking for a cool FPS set in space with aliens should check out PREY. You can get that game for a song now.

Lately I've been watching seasons 5 and 6 of Penn & Teller's Bullshit. I've loved this show since day one. I don't get Showtime anymore, so I haven't seen them all. The episodes I have seen I downloaded online. Anyway, great show with lots of boobies!

It's official. I cancelled my GameFly account. I will now rent games down the street at Hollywood Video and buy games dirt cheap on half.com. Of course I'll also buy a few games at full price.

MMA At The Speedway & Bye Bye GameFly

As some of you know I enjoy watching my nephew race at the local hillbilly race track in Galesburg Michigan. There usually isn't a night where a fight doesn't happen in the pits there. Saturday night was no exception. Only this time I was sorta involved. Generally what happens is someone gets pissed off because they didn't win a race or got bumped by another car on the track or even get in an accident. Well my nephew was in the lead for quite a few laps after the lead car got black flagged for going under his time. Anyway my nephew was leading and this guy that we all thought was our friend was also racing and getting severely pissed off because my nephew was just a bit faster and not letting this guy get past him. At one point this guy actually hit my nephews car on purpose. After that this driver actually got hit pretty hard by another driver which really damaged his car. The race ends and my nephew takes third place. I then hurry back to the pits because I just had this feeling things would get out of control...

This pissed off driver who we know well and talk to every day gets out of his car and starts yelling at my 18 year old nephew. Mind you this guy is at least 50 and starting shit with a kid. I thought to open my mouth when he was going off, but just then my brother-in-law starts raising his voice a little telling the guy to chill out. Before you know it this guy is freaking out and grabs my brother-in-law by the throat and slams him on the hood of my nephews stock car. I'm trying to get to this guy to get him off of my brother-in-law, but the guy's friend who happens to be a big fat woman is inbetween me and him tell me to back off. I'm like I don't think so. When this is going on I see my nephew looking on the ground. (later he tells me he's looking for a rock)I then see him with his driver's helmet over his head looking pissed. He then slams the helmet down on the guy's head at least three times while the guy is choking his dad and punching at him. I finally get a hold of the guy's arm before he can punch at my brother-in-law again and yell his name really loud in his face and tell him to get the fuck off of him. He does. Why I have no idea, but he finally did.

Later on things got heated again and this time I was actually involved and so was my wife and my brother-in-law's wife. This time it was with a friend of the driver who hit my brother-in-law. Both my wife and his wife were going off because of what happened earlier. The friend said some shit to my wife that I didn't life so I told him "Don't talk to my wife like that you fucking asshole". (This guy is yet another guy we've all known for years. He's in his and has a couple heart attacks, but still thinks he's king shit)The guy then tells me he'll beat my fucking ass and then pulls off his flannel and starts to walk towards me. At this point I've had it and I'm ready to beat this guy's ass. My wife then jumps in front of me and tells me "Don't". Then about five security guards come and break it up before anything happens. Later I ask my wife why she said don't. She then tells me she said don't because she knew if he walked over I was going to punch him first, which I would have for sure because I was livid. I would have went to jail for sure if he had made it over to me. Believe me I was ready to hit that guy with everything I had. Next Saturday at the races should be interesting. LOL

With that out of the way I've decided to drop Gamefly. They suck hard lately. It's not worth it to me anymore. The last straw was having 30 games in my q and having them still not send me a game even after they received my last game three days ago. I've had it. I'm sending my final game back to them. When they receive it I'm cancelling my membership. I'll be buying games on half.com or renting down the street where I can get the games I want when I want them for basically the same price with no late fees.