Rocklahoma - the annual 80's metal festival held in Pryor, Oklahoma - is coming up. There are some killer glam metal bands playing, if you can make it to the South this July then this should definitely be on your list of things to do.
Check out this guide to who is who on the main stage.
- Thursday July 9th
Anthrax
The New York thrash metal band who made Madhouse and Caught in a Mosh
Saxon
New Wave of British Heavy Metal giants hailing from Yorkshire - Biff Byford and Paul Quinn are the only members remaining from their best known albums
Overkill
New Jersey punk-based thrashers, now touring their fourteenth studio album
Metal Church
Speed metal legends hailing from the American Northwest, still going strong after reforming ten years ago
Leatherwolf
LA hard rockers with a triple guitar attack
- Friday July 10th
Ratt
Most probably the defining Los Angeles hair metal band, second only perhaps to Mötley Crüe
Night Ranger
Californian hard rock group fronted by Jack Blades, Chief Counsellor at the Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp
Warrant
LA Glam Metal 5-piece, famous for their albums with lead singer Jani Lane, now fronted by Robert Mason, formerly of Lynch Mob
Danger Danger
A glam band form New York who made a whole career out of repeating the same word twice, with their hits "Naughty Naughty" and "Bang Bang"
Helix
Canadian hard rockers now in their 25th year running
Hericane Alice
A hair metal band from the '80s who broke up not long after they were signed, now reformed
- Saturday July 11th
Stryper
Probably the world's most famously christian metal band, named for a verse in the bible.
Thin Lizzy
Irish hard rock pioneers, formed and led by the late Phil Lynott for most of their career, now fronted by ex-Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes
KIX
The tongue-in-cheek hair metal band who recorded "Blow my Fuse"
- Sunday July 12th
Twisted Sister
An iconic glam band, although singer Dee Snider once cheekily took issue with this, saying: "I don't think Twisted Sister is "Glam" because that implies glamour, and we're not glamorous. We should be called "Hid" because we're hideous."
Skid Row
Legends of the late '80s who made hair metal about as heavy as it could be, most fans however will be missing original lead singer Sebastian Bach.
This is just some of the bands playing Rocklahoma, for a complete and up-to-date list check the Rocklahoma Web Site
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Ratt - 5 classic hair metal albums
RATT were a great band. I should rather say that they ARE a great band, because I saw them reunited with original singer Stephen Pearcy in 2007, and they kicked some serious butt. I've been trying to work out which of their classic albums is my favourite, and what order I like them in, and this is the best I can come up with. I've only listed the studio albums recorded with the classic lineup of Stephen Pearcy, Warren Demartini, Robbin Crosby, Bobby Blotzer and Juan Croucier. I haven't included the self titled album, even though it's great, because it doesn't have Robbin Crosby or Juan Croucier on it, so to my mind it is a different band. I also haven't included the original Time Coast EP, because.. well.. it's an EP, and this is about albums. I like this band so much that and listen to all these albums so often that I'll probably change my mind about the right order to put them in by this time next week. Nevertheless, here it is.
1. Invasion of your Privacy
What can you say about an album this great? "You're in love" opens the album with one of the best guitar tones in recorded music. Warren Demartini is on fire on this album with blistering yet melodic lead guitar, and all the riffs and vocal lines are extremely catchy. You can't pick a weak point on this album, every song rocks hard.
Highlights: Dangerous But Worth the Risk, Lay it Down
2. Out of the Cellar
This is the first major label release from Ratt, and the one that really kicked things off. Back for more is a really great hair metal video and again, and once again there isn't a bad song on the album.
Highlights: Wanted Man, Round and Round
3. Detonator
This was the last album with the Crosby and Croucier still on board. This was also the first Ratt album not to be produced by Beau Hill, and you can hear the difference in the production. It's also the first Ratt album not to go platinum, more a reflection of the timing of the release rather than the quality of the songs.
Highlights: All or nothing, Heads I win tales you lose
4. Dancing Undercover
This album features Body Talk, which was later featured on the Eddie Murphy film The Golden Child. The straight-ahead nature of the songs on this album led many fans to believe that Ratt was moving away from a hair metal style of music to a heavier thrash sound (this wasn't borne out by the later Ratt albums however), it was also the first release from Ratt not to feature a woman on the cover, which was a motif they had all the way back to the Time Coast EP
Highlights: Slip of the Lip, Seventh Avenue
5. Reach for the Sky
I feel bad putting this one last, because it's still amazing! Just a little bit less amazing than the others. It's perhaps the least "heavy" of all the Ratt albums, much of Stephen Pearcy's lyrics seem to deal with heartbreak or relationship troubles.
Highlights: Don't Bite the hand that feeds, Way cool Jr.
1. Invasion of your Privacy
What can you say about an album this great? "You're in love" opens the album with one of the best guitar tones in recorded music. Warren Demartini is on fire on this album with blistering yet melodic lead guitar, and all the riffs and vocal lines are extremely catchy. You can't pick a weak point on this album, every song rocks hard.
Highlights: Dangerous But Worth the Risk, Lay it Down
2. Out of the Cellar
This is the first major label release from Ratt, and the one that really kicked things off. Back for more is a really great hair metal video and again, and once again there isn't a bad song on the album.
Highlights: Wanted Man, Round and Round
3. Detonator
This was the last album with the Crosby and Croucier still on board. This was also the first Ratt album not to be produced by Beau Hill, and you can hear the difference in the production. It's also the first Ratt album not to go platinum, more a reflection of the timing of the release rather than the quality of the songs.
Highlights: All or nothing, Heads I win tales you lose
4. Dancing Undercover
This album features Body Talk, which was later featured on the Eddie Murphy film The Golden Child. The straight-ahead nature of the songs on this album led many fans to believe that Ratt was moving away from a hair metal style of music to a heavier thrash sound (this wasn't borne out by the later Ratt albums however), it was also the first release from Ratt not to feature a woman on the cover, which was a motif they had all the way back to the Time Coast EP
Highlights: Slip of the Lip, Seventh Avenue
5. Reach for the Sky
I feel bad putting this one last, because it's still amazing! Just a little bit less amazing than the others. It's perhaps the least "heavy" of all the Ratt albums, much of Stephen Pearcy's lyrics seem to deal with heartbreak or relationship troubles.
Highlights: Don't Bite the hand that feeds, Way cool Jr.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Top 10 hair metal videos
10. Boyz Are Gonna Rock
Vinnie Vincent Invasion
This video is pink. It's very pink. The clothes are outrageous and the hair is big, even for 80s hair metal. At the end, after a killer guitar solo, vinnie grabs his double pointy guitar and smashes up the tower of speaker cabinets. Finally, the drum kit explodes - this is particularly impressive, because unlike amplifiers, a drum kit isn't actually plugged into high voltage power, and neither does it contain any sort of volatile compound. The only remaining scientific explanation for seeing it combust into fire, glitter and sparks is that the preceding 4 minutes of 80s metal extravagance was just too much for it. Awesome.
9. Freewheel Burnin
Judas Priest
Leather.. spikes.. spandex.. and video games? Some young kid is playing an arcade racing game, and drives well enough to summon an incredible display of 80s metal and laser beams, which proves that there is nothing so awesome as a misspent youth. Before we are left to ponder whether the processing power of those machines was really adequate for such audiovisual shenanigans, Glenn Tipton launches into a furious guitar solo, causing every leather jacketed teenage male in the arcade to bang their heads as they shoot down aliens or eat some dots. The only thing that could make this better is if KK Downing had the perm he sported on the Electric Eye tour.
8. Yankee Rose
David Lee Roth
The introduction to this video takes almost as long as the song itself! A convenience store clerk deals with a number of bizarre customers, culminating in a facepainted, spear carrying DLR asking a donut ("to go"). Then the song starts. Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan spin their axes around about six times each. Roth does a high kick about every six seconds. I lost count of how many different pairs of pants they each wear. There's a reason they don't make these videos were made only in the 80s.. using that much hairspray at one time would now be considered a Climate Change Event. The video ends on a surprisingly understated note, with helium balloons released to the sky.
7. Back for More
Ratt
This starts when a chick with a great rack puts some coins into a juke box to hear some Ratt (now why can't i meet a girl like that?) Then Juan Croucier and Robbin Crosby show up and drive off with her and her friend, presumably to engage in some manner of intercourse. Unfortunately for our intrepid bass and guitar shredding heroes, they are dragged from their vehicle and beaten by two cheerfully violent members of the Los Angeles constabulary (played by Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee from Motley Crue). Meanwhile, Stephen Pearcy and Warren Demartini seem to be having better luck with the ladies they've rescued from the dude in the suit at the diner, though eventually all ends in tragedy when some toothless weirdo rides a motorcycle into the rock club and destroys everything.
6. I Wanna Rock
Twisted Sister
This one makes the start to Yankee Rose seem abridged. After excoriating a young dude in denim for shitting himself, Dee Snider vacates the screen for a whole minute. We cut to a classroom, where the teacher from hell shows his anger that the same young dude would draw a Twisted Sister logo onto a defenceless text book. The teacher asks, famously, what the young man would like to do with his life: he, of course, wants to rock. Cue the music - the band return and in a series of mishaps cause pain and embarassment to the bowtied teacher, in poetic retribution for the harshness of his rule. In the final indignity, the teacher crawls to the principal's office, only to find that his boss also wants to rock.
5. Youth Gone Wild
Skid Row
This clip is mostly in back and white, and there's concrete everywhere. This is to let us know that these guys really are from skid row, where the clothes have holes in them and it's a struggle to afford enough conditioner. A crowd bursts through a remarkably loose concrete panel, and although it's never explained what they're angry about, it does seem a great pity they never get around to actually breaking shit.
4. November Rain
Guns N Roses
How do you even start to explain this clip? Axl is in an opera house, and then he's marrying some chick. A strung out lookin slash forgets the wedding rings, but then one of his buddies hooks him up, and he ambles up to hand em over. But the wedding is clearly a drag, so he goes outside to play some licks - fair enough i think, the reception is where it's at anyway. Except this one is rained out, and the glasses get broken, and Axl's chick dies. It's such a heavy trip that they end up playing in the opera house again, which is just as well because Slash's flannelette jacket would probably seem a bit out of place at a burial.
3. Nothin' but a Good Time
Poison
This one's sorta got a story to it, with the disgruntled dishpig dealing with a fat boss in a suit who just doesn't understand rock and roll. But once the music starts, that's all forgotten about, and it's just the boys rocking out. And they do it well.. for all the costume and instrument changes, and the impossibly choreographed moves, what really comes across from all 4 stage members is just a natural and exuberant stage presence.
2. Cherry Pie
Warrant
This video is really white.. everybody is dressed in black and red.. but not a lot of black and red.. and there's a firetruck.. and girls getting sprayed with firehoses.. and a convertible with a 'WARRANT' number plate.. and Jani Lane's crazy teeth. There's a bit where he's in bed with a chick, and it does have a real connection to the lyrics of the song, but mostly I think he just wants us to know that he's getting some. That's it really.
1. Girls Girls Girls
Motley Crue
Nikki, Vince and Tommy take a break from dressing up like girls so that they can spend the night riding Harleys, flashing knives, hitting up titty bars and forgetting to shave. It's just about the most awesome video in all of Hair Metal, and therefore in the history of all recorded music. Mick Mars is in there somewhere, but even back then he still looked like he'd been dead since January, no matter what the month. In Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries, it's revealed that Nikki forced the director to drink copious quantities of Jack Daniels as he shot the clip, which makes this Glam Metal masterpiece all the more remarkable.
Vinnie Vincent Invasion
This video is pink. It's very pink. The clothes are outrageous and the hair is big, even for 80s hair metal. At the end, after a killer guitar solo, vinnie grabs his double pointy guitar and smashes up the tower of speaker cabinets. Finally, the drum kit explodes - this is particularly impressive, because unlike amplifiers, a drum kit isn't actually plugged into high voltage power, and neither does it contain any sort of volatile compound. The only remaining scientific explanation for seeing it combust into fire, glitter and sparks is that the preceding 4 minutes of 80s metal extravagance was just too much for it. Awesome.
9. Freewheel Burnin
Judas Priest
Leather.. spikes.. spandex.. and video games? Some young kid is playing an arcade racing game, and drives well enough to summon an incredible display of 80s metal and laser beams, which proves that there is nothing so awesome as a misspent youth. Before we are left to ponder whether the processing power of those machines was really adequate for such audiovisual shenanigans, Glenn Tipton launches into a furious guitar solo, causing every leather jacketed teenage male in the arcade to bang their heads as they shoot down aliens or eat some dots. The only thing that could make this better is if KK Downing had the perm he sported on the Electric Eye tour.
8. Yankee Rose
David Lee Roth
The introduction to this video takes almost as long as the song itself! A convenience store clerk deals with a number of bizarre customers, culminating in a facepainted, spear carrying DLR asking a donut ("to go"). Then the song starts. Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan spin their axes around about six times each. Roth does a high kick about every six seconds. I lost count of how many different pairs of pants they each wear. There's a reason they don't make these videos were made only in the 80s.. using that much hairspray at one time would now be considered a Climate Change Event. The video ends on a surprisingly understated note, with helium balloons released to the sky.
7. Back for More
Ratt
This starts when a chick with a great rack puts some coins into a juke box to hear some Ratt (now why can't i meet a girl like that?) Then Juan Croucier and Robbin Crosby show up and drive off with her and her friend, presumably to engage in some manner of intercourse. Unfortunately for our intrepid bass and guitar shredding heroes, they are dragged from their vehicle and beaten by two cheerfully violent members of the Los Angeles constabulary (played by Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee from Motley Crue). Meanwhile, Stephen Pearcy and Warren Demartini seem to be having better luck with the ladies they've rescued from the dude in the suit at the diner, though eventually all ends in tragedy when some toothless weirdo rides a motorcycle into the rock club and destroys everything.
6. I Wanna Rock
Twisted Sister
This one makes the start to Yankee Rose seem abridged. After excoriating a young dude in denim for shitting himself, Dee Snider vacates the screen for a whole minute. We cut to a classroom, where the teacher from hell shows his anger that the same young dude would draw a Twisted Sister logo onto a defenceless text book. The teacher asks, famously, what the young man would like to do with his life: he, of course, wants to rock. Cue the music - the band return and in a series of mishaps cause pain and embarassment to the bowtied teacher, in poetic retribution for the harshness of his rule. In the final indignity, the teacher crawls to the principal's office, only to find that his boss also wants to rock.
5. Youth Gone Wild
Skid Row
This clip is mostly in back and white, and there's concrete everywhere. This is to let us know that these guys really are from skid row, where the clothes have holes in them and it's a struggle to afford enough conditioner. A crowd bursts through a remarkably loose concrete panel, and although it's never explained what they're angry about, it does seem a great pity they never get around to actually breaking shit.
4. November Rain
Guns N Roses
How do you even start to explain this clip? Axl is in an opera house, and then he's marrying some chick. A strung out lookin slash forgets the wedding rings, but then one of his buddies hooks him up, and he ambles up to hand em over. But the wedding is clearly a drag, so he goes outside to play some licks - fair enough i think, the reception is where it's at anyway. Except this one is rained out, and the glasses get broken, and Axl's chick dies. It's such a heavy trip that they end up playing in the opera house again, which is just as well because Slash's flannelette jacket would probably seem a bit out of place at a burial.
3. Nothin' but a Good Time
Poison
This one's sorta got a story to it, with the disgruntled dishpig dealing with a fat boss in a suit who just doesn't understand rock and roll. But once the music starts, that's all forgotten about, and it's just the boys rocking out. And they do it well.. for all the costume and instrument changes, and the impossibly choreographed moves, what really comes across from all 4 stage members is just a natural and exuberant stage presence.
2. Cherry Pie
Warrant
This video is really white.. everybody is dressed in black and red.. but not a lot of black and red.. and there's a firetruck.. and girls getting sprayed with firehoses.. and a convertible with a 'WARRANT' number plate.. and Jani Lane's crazy teeth. There's a bit where he's in bed with a chick, and it does have a real connection to the lyrics of the song, but mostly I think he just wants us to know that he's getting some. That's it really.
1. Girls Girls Girls
Motley Crue
Nikki, Vince and Tommy take a break from dressing up like girls so that they can spend the night riding Harleys, flashing knives, hitting up titty bars and forgetting to shave. It's just about the most awesome video in all of Hair Metal, and therefore in the history of all recorded music. Mick Mars is in there somewhere, but even back then he still looked like he'd been dead since January, no matter what the month. In Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries, it's revealed that Nikki forced the director to drink copious quantities of Jack Daniels as he shot the clip, which makes this Glam Metal masterpiece all the more remarkable.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Welcome to Hair Metal Heaven
Welcome to my new blog.. dedicated to hair metal, glam metal, and all forms of sleazy rock and roll. This is a place for people who like their riffs big, their haircuts bigger, their choruses catchy, their guitar solos screaming and the groupies waiting for them at the end of the show. Stay tuned for newz, spewz and reviewz of classic 80s hair metal and the bands of today that are influenced by it.
I've got the medicine you need.
- Dr. Rock
I've got the medicine you need.
- Dr. Rock
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