Who's who at Rocklahoma?

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

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.