Sing For The Day - AC/DC "Big Jack"

At times I hear a song or think about a song...anyway, a song comes to mind and stays in my head for whatever reason. So when this happens I'm gonna start just writing about that song and in honor of the almighty Styx I'll call this Sing For The Day.

The other day I ran into this guy who is a huge Ac/DC fan. While talking we found we both agreed that one of the best songs off the last album (Black Ice) was "Big Jack". The guy plays guitar and told me a bunch of musical stuff about 5 chords and pletcorums and pull offs that I barely understood, but I still enjoyed the conversation. Later the same day I met another guy wearing an AC/DC shirt, it was just an AC/DC kinda day.

So what does "Big Jack" mean? Is it related to their earlier song "The Jack" which was about some sexual disease? Not a lot of interpretations on the internet, KGB Agent website says it's about a tough guy who plays pool. Okay, I've read the lyrics now. The great thing about AC/DC is it seems to me 99.99999% of their lyrics are cheap sex metaphors and it's no different here. I think the song is about the big O if you know what I mean. I can see why the KGB guy thought it is about pool since there's a brief part about racking balls and stuff. But the chorus talks about how "it's only natural" and that "he's the only one with a full sack". Ac/Dc, always so raunchy it's funny. If these guys didn't make it as musicians they'd probably be the only fifty somethings in Australia still writing dirty limericks on Men's room walls.

But hey, with Ac/DC it's always really about the monster groove. So enough words, here comes "Big Jack".

Jimmy Carter's Revenge Part One: The Phantom Menace

I thought 70s retro was done after the 90s? Now it seems back with a vengeance and you know what, I can't complain. If more and more people want to worship at the temple of Angus Young, I'm totally cool with that. 70s retro hard rock without Lenny Kravitz may seem like a dirty phrase and yet I'm digging it down to my bell bottoms. (I just realized I keep acting like 70s retro is a new thing yet do a post about it every couple of months, what's up with that?)

So first up on the Carter Administration revival is a band called The Binges. Decked out in those generic football T shirts that everyone (including me) wore like Tommy on Eight Is Enough, this band made up of two sisters from Japan and two sleazy dudes play with a fire that's rarely seen these days. What's more impressive is the monster grooves they come up with has an authentic feel like it came from the 70s instead of aping it. This band has gotten some buzz thanks to That Metal Show, I found out about them because of the Rock It Out blog I've been following. I'm impressed by this band, definitely gonna check more of them out.

And while this next group, now on their second album, is as straight a rip as you can get off AC/DC without resurrecting the body of Bon Scott it's hard not to enjoy the simple pleasures of Airbourne.

And what the hell, may as well throw in the original...

Of all the concerts I've seen, AC/DC was by far the best show I'd witnessed ever!

One last note, an online well wish to Bret Michaels of Poison who is currently hospitalized and in critical condition. I'm not a huge fan of Poison itself but really enjoy his reality tv appearances.

The Design Of A Decade Pt 1: Devil Horns To The Sky!

The future is the past. The past is the future. Chickenfoot keeps arena rock alive in 2009!

The first decade of the 21st Century is almost over, makes me feel like I'm Buck Rogers living in this space age of microwave ovens and high definition sunglasses. And with any landmark of time there must be Best Of lists because hell, if you can't list things you like in an arbitrary order then why have an internet? So this is my list, in order of genre, of my favorite CDs of the past ten years. I wish I could say every album on my list is a flawless gem but I'm old, most new music (even by old artists) don't hit me like that. This is part 1 of a series that I'm naming after a Janet Jackson album because as she would say, what have you done for me lately?

We're at the stage of life for 70's / 80's rock bands to discover that sadly rock and roll does not come with a pension plan. As a result these groups keep chugging along on the road to make dough for their IRA. Or maybe they just plain love what they're doing and meant it all those years ago when they gave interviews saying "I'll play live til I die whether it's to 20,000 people or just one guy in the room." In any case, these road warriors hit the stage to rock out annually and occasionally release new material to keep things fresh. Here's my favorite Arena rock releases of recent past.

Rock The Half Sold Out Arena!

My favorite of all music genres headed up by my favorite band, Journey. The 21st Century era of this group will forever be in dispute because for some Journey begins and ends with Steve Perry. Though Perry is my all time favorite singer, I was a fan of the band as a whole which included Jon Cain, Neal Schon and Ross Valory and was happy to see them continue. Arrival (2001) is the best of the bunch with Steve Augeri on the mic, Journey rocked hard on cuts like "Higher Place", "To Be Alive Again" or the strutting "I Got A Reason". Naturally this had to be offset by soft soaring ballads such as "Lifetime Of Dreams" or "Signs Of Life". Only the "When You Love A Woman" rewrite "All The Way" feels like a misstep although it isn't bad. Augeri allowed the group to rock its hardest since the Escape / Frontiers era. After drafting Arnel Pineda a year ago, the bay area band recorded Revelations (2008) which brought back some needed soulfulness to the vocals (Augeri was a better rock belter, Pineda a better crooner). The strong mix of rockers and ballads continued with the high flying "Change For The Better" offset by the soft "Turn Down The World Tonight".

Recent Journey tour mates Heart and Cheap Trick both had good albums to back up their noise. Heart delivered Jupiter's Darling (2004) that found middle ground between their Zepified 70's persona and slick 80's model. Meanwhile, the Tricksters have spent decades trying to recapture their early magic with hit and miss results. On 2006's Rockford they hit the right balance of catchy power pop brilliance and power chord thunder.

Other early 80's survivor Loverboy strapped on the head bandanna one more time for Just Getting Started (2007). One of the few successful attempts to meld modern sensibility into an established 80's rock sound. The fired up title track has plenty of Loverboy's famous freewheeling fun, the bluesy "One Of Them Days" swings and the power ballad "The One That Got Away" is first class.

Shagadelic

The Hair Metal bands of the 80's have some renewed interest thanks to the Guitar Hero / Rock Band phenomenon. Still, no one is willing to reproduce their classic spandex pants with wall of hair look. Instead they opt for leather pants and a shaggy shoulder length hair cut that says "Hey, I'm old and won't look out of place shopping at Wal Mart but still know how to rawk!"

It took a band not from that era to hand down the truest (and at same time mocking) expression of this maligned art form: The Darkness. They came out of nowhere to throw down "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" establishing a heady mix of Queen and hair band euphoria. Their album Permission To Land (2003) backs up their hit tune with other material that is silly and playful in its excess. Too bad drugs and a delayed follow up caused them to crash and burn.

Whitesnake proved David Coverdale could still howl in the still of the night with the excellent Good To Be Bad (2008). Copying your own hits over again usually seems lame, in the hands of a master like Coverdale remakes of "Slow and Easy" or "Is This Love" (titled "Good To Be Bad" and "All I Want All I Need" respectively) are downright inspired. I got to see them live just before Coverdale's voice gave out, he rawked!

Marketing king Jon Bon Jovi spent much of this decade serving up streamlined pop rock to the masses with success. Although I liked the hit songs he's had lately, as a full album statement the disc I liked the most was the hitless Bounce (2002). I wish I could say this was a great album, it's just pretty good, yet as an album it blends the faster and slower material evenly and cleanly. Plus I love that title song.

It's A Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock And Roll

Two bands that were virtual outlaws in their hey day compared to where they landed now are AC/DC and Metallica. AC/DC were shunned as being "Satanic" and represented all that was "evil" in rock music during the late 70's and early 80's. Raunchy sexism hammered down with a heavy guitar riff and a jolt of humor made them easy targets for God fearing parents wrath. How weird is it now, nearly 30 years later, you can buy AC/DC memorabilia at department stores and see little kids decked out in the Aussie band's branded merchandise? Times have changed making AC/DC classics like "Let Me Put My Love Into You" or "Let's Get It Up" tame by comparison.

AC/DC didn't do a whole lot the last ten years to necessarily earn this boon, though they did turn in the enjoyable Black Ice (2008). Black Ice had some catchy stuff such as the slick "Wheels" or the menacing title tune. I'd like to say 2000's Stiff Upper Lip was great as that was the disc that got me into the band beyond a casual interest. Just can't say that because too much of the CD has songs stuck in the same groove making it repetitive.

Metallica is another band that rocked so hard they couldn't get any recognition from mainstream media for the first third of their career. They managed to hit it big on their own terms initially, since the mid 90's they have continuously watered down their image to ensure lasting popularity. Even if it reeked of career move-itis, last year's Death Magnetic was the bay area thrashers throwback to basics CD. Lengthy songs, pummeling rhythms, spiraling solos and dog bark vocals came back with a vengeance. Admittedly some of Death Magnetic rings hollow, still I'll take this over most of what the band has done the last fifteen years any day. I have no favorite individual songs from this disc, I like it as a whole.

Oh Yeah!

The last CD I have under this style is 2009's Chickenfoot. The supergroup made up of half of Van Hagar (Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar), guitar god Joe Satriani and funky drummer Chad Smith cranked out shameless hard rock. Playing to their strengths, straightforward AOR performed with inspiration produces an adrenaline fueled feeling of power. Would have been nice if the songs were a touch better, what is here is good enough anyway.

That's a wrap on part one of this series, think I'll tackle the 90's stars next. Until next time, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

Mr Mike's AOR Project 1988

It was a concert I had wished I had gone to.

It's fitting after covering a whole lotta Zep that 1988 is the next year in my AOR Project because that was the year everyone wanted to be Zep. In the wake of Whitesnake's success a slew of bands took to the Zeppelin sound and interest renewed in the original members. On top of that Hair Metal went into overdrive. The Monsters of Rock tour was somewhere around this time led by the Hagar driven Van Halen. Everything was great in '88!

Disc 1:

Fate - Love On The Rox

When bands split up, it usually doesn't seem clean. So when Mercyful Fate divided and one half became Fate, well that was just pure genius.

Robert Plant - Heaven Knows

I debated with myself to include this or "Tall Cool One". Tough call to make, I went with the slower tempo number.

Cheap Trick - The Flame

Not just a great power ballad, one that seems to get a pass from people critical of this genre. Great acoustic guitar sound on this track.
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Kingdom Come - Get It On

In one of the best marketing moves of the day, the band sent this record to radio stations without a mention of who it was. Rumors spread that this was Led Zeppelin's new song (because it sounded very "Kashmir") and it got all over the airwaves.

Bonham - Wait For You

If anyone who was not a former member of Led Zep had a right to tackle that sound, it was Jason Bonham. The prodigal son gets his Physical Graffiti on with this ripping cut.

Toto - Pamela

Not to be outdone, Toto also sounded like Led Zep...no, not really, Toto came off as very Toto with a jazzy retread of "Rosanna".

3 - Talkin' 'Bout

To this day I'm shocked they didn't force Robert Berry to legally change his name to something like Like so they could remain ELP. Emerson, Like and Palmer has a nice ring to it.

Mr. Big - Addicted To That Rush

A few years before they invented the campfire clap power ballad, the mini supergroup made up from former members of Eric Martin Band, David Lee Roth and Racer X fired up the fret work to a crazy fast beat.

Hurricane - I'm On To You

Current Foreigner frontman Kelly Hansen spent the 80's rocking like a, um Hurricane.

Shy - Break Down The Walls

I'm not even gonna front yo, I've got to admit I learned about this group through Melodicrock and had not heard of this group at the time. Not bad stuff.

Aerosmith - Angels

Power ballads are all about the cheese baby, and it's hard to top the fondue fountain that is "Angel".

Saraya - Love Has Taken It's Toll

One of my favorite lost bands, this song has so many memories of drunken games at the pool halls for me. It sucks this album is out of print, Sandi Saraya rocks!

Alice Cooper - Poison

In 1988 none could resist the power of Desmond Child and he revived the 70's Icon with this comeback jam.

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me

The Lep seemed all washed up when the 5th single dropped a year after the album release. One of the first mainstream meldings of rap and metal after "Walk This Way", it became a legend of 80's rock.

Pat Benatar - All Fired Up

A few years before her unfortunate foray into Blues, Benatar came up with one more Arena Rock winner before heading off to the oldies circuit.

Guns N Roses - Sweet Child O Mine

The reason everyone knows this band was because of this uncharacteristically sweet midtempo rocker. A great song, though if I have to hear the story of how Slash came up with the opening riff again I'll go into convulsions.

Disc 2:

Glass Tiger - I'm Still Searching

The Tiger made a play for a lasting career but was caught looking on a fastball. How's that for mixed metaphors!

Poison - Every Rose Has It's Thorn

I'd put down Bret Michaels but the man has a dream life: He slaps on his weave and plays generic music to screaming fans and has VH1 act as his personal pimp every few months. Lame or not, Michaels did come up with one of the best known poems in the late 20th century. Every rose has its thorn, just like every day has its dawn, just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.

Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine

An awesome, awesome hair band arena rock jam with a big ass chorus and rapidfire verses.

Van Halen - When It's Love

Things looked a little wussy in Van Halen land for a second with this lenghty ballad. "Unchained" this is not.

Queensryche - I Don't Believe In Love

Part of the classic Operation: Mindcrime album, the Seattle based unit brought the heat on this dramatic rocker.

Britny Fox - Girlschool

C'mon, it's Britny Fox! What else can I say?

Eddie Money - Walk On Water

Eddie was on the money with this amazing slice of AOR written by Sammy Hagar's ex-keyboardist Jesse Harms. I remember getting out of the hospital and buying the tape. And finding out this was the only good song on the whole freakin' tape.

Jimmy Page - Wasting My Time

Unable to get Robert Plant to stick around (sounds familiar), Page cut a fine solo album called Outrider that featured this hard rockin' cut.

Scorpions - Rhythm Of Love

I find it weird how sometimes a certain song title will become popular. Case in point, "Rhythm of Love" was released by Yes in '87 and the Scorps in '88 and the two songs have nothing to do with each other at all.

Europe - Superstitious

Hey, it turned out guitarist John Norum was the most important member of this group after all. When Norum left this was the last hit the group could generate.

Def Leppard - Love Bites

One of the most interesting power ballads in terms of lyrics ("Love Bites / Love Bleeds / It's what I need"). Probably goes over well with that Twilight crowd. Say it. Vampire. Ooh...

Kix - Don't Close Your Eyes

You know it's 1988 when it's another song, another power ballad.

White Lion - Wait

Maybe the best name in Hair Metal, Mike Tramp, led his group through the jungle with this winning melody.

Paul Dean - Sword and Stone

Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean cut a Paul Stanley song for his solo album with strong results.

AC / DC - Heatseeker

It's Ac/Dc. You either get it or you don't.

Bad Company - No Smoke Without A Fire

The radio station in Sacramento loved this song, I heard it a couple times a day for months. This chorus is forever jammed in my brain.

Sheriff - When I'm With You

In a strange turn of events, a failed band from 1983 got their song played on the radio by a DJ who liked this song in 1988 - years after the band had split up. Later the singer and guitarist would team up with former members of Heart to make Alias.
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And that was 1988. Just one more year to go!

Numbers 19 to 14

Bono saving the world one football stadium at a time

A lot of time has gone by since I’ve updated my 100 Favorite CD list, I missed all of January. To make up for lost time, I’m going to hit Numbers 19 thru 14 this round.

Number 19: U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2001)


My favorite U2 album, one that seemed destined to be. When U2 released this CD fans were buzzing about the reduced presence of techno that have pervaded their 90’s work. Beautiful Day was all over the place, a soaring upbeat piece of old school U2. Then 9/11 happened and though this was released before the tragedy, the times changed how I perceived the album. The slow healing in songs like Walk On and Stuck In A Moment and You Can’t Get Out Of It became the soundtrack to the weeks that followed. At the same time, the Lara Croft worthy Elevation brought a rush of disco rock to keep the album from becoming a ballad fest.

Number 18: AC / DC – Highway To Hell (1979)


The last album with the late Bon Scott, Highway To Hell was amped, driven sleaze streamlined and sharpened by super Producer Mutt Lange. The take no prisoners approach included the classic title track anthem (a song that meant a lot to us in Catholic school), the ultimate middle finger to the establishment at the time. Girls Got Rhythm, Beating Around The Bush and Touch Too Much brought hooks, humor and slamming power chords to the party. AC / DC would go on to further greatness, but they were never more dangerous than here.

Number 17: Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream (1993)


Billy Corgan went all Tom Scholz and took over the studio recordings, freezing bassist D’Arcy and second guitarist James Iha out of the creative process. Handling almost everything but the drums, Siamese Dream became the Alt rock answer to Boston: Tight, layered sonics with songs buried under mountains of guitar tracks. The Guitar Hero classic Cherub Rock took aim at Corgan’s detractors while the 120 minutes ready Today and the dramatic ballad Disarm tore up the MTV rotation. I bought the disc during a camping trip with my wife a few years later, who knew grungy riffola on cuts like Geek USA or Rocket would go so well with hot dogs and beer?

Number 16: Def Leppard – Pyromania (1983)


Mutt Lange (there’s that name again) followed up on his work with the prior record by taking an even more meticulous approach to recording. By the time recording finished, the band had switched lead guitarists and had a near perfect pop metal album when that idea was still new. Photograph made the Lep darlings of MTV as the follow up video singles Rock of Ages and Foolin’ became part of a generational vocabulary (Unta Gleebin Glossen Globen). Flamethrower rockers like Rock Rock Til You Drop and Comin Under Fire blazed through my little walkman as the ballad Too Late For Love got heavy radio play. Union Jack and snotty attitude ensured the Lep lots of coverage in Circus magazine as they dominated the Hard Rock field with their polished sound.

Number 15: Peter Gabriel – So (1986)


He seemed so unlikely to become a Pop star, yet that’s what happened when Gabriel made a stop motion video about his Sledgehammer. His combo of Progressive rock melodies with world beat rhythms, personal subject matter and atmospheric synths became irresistible. Big Time was the other big hit as slight a song as it is. What pushed he album over the top was In Your Eyes, a minor hit made into a pop culture phenomenon once John Cusack held a boombox over his head in the film Say Anything. This album was part of the backdrop to my college years that sounds as deep and fascinating now as it did then.

Number 14: Journey – Greatest Hits (1988)
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One of the best selling albums of all time and with good reason, Steve Perry and crew collated their best soaring rock anthems and power ballads into a single set. Focused squarely on the bands peak period of 1978 to 1987, Greatest Hits serves up classics like Don’t Stop Believin and Faithfully alongside medium sized hits like Girl Can’t Help It and Send Her My Love. While fans like myself can quibble about what’s not there (No Stone in Love, no Anytime, no Line of Fire, etc) if you want a solid shot of what made this Bay Area band great you can’t do better.

And that’s it for this round, we’re getting close to the Top 10 of the list. I may actually finish this list this year. Yay!

Mr Mike Project 1981

OK, we're up to 1981. A year that saw the people who practically invented the genre make their final significant contribution to their legacy (The Stones, The Who). Arena rock was in full swing with Styx, REO, Foreigner and Journey dominating the charts. A year to remember indeed.

One of the big debates I had with myself was where to draw the line between mainstream rock and Arena Rock. It was a tough call sometimes. I immediately removed anything that seemed hardcore Metal, so no Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, etc. New Wave artists who were considered Arena Rock later on, i.e. The Police and U2, didn't make the cut. Also, I had to rule out most Midwestern rock, so no John Mellencamp (though "Hurts So Good" came close to making my list), one Bob Seger song and no Tom Petty. The only major Midwest rocker I included was Bruce Springsteen, just because I've seen him twice and its hard to sit through a stadium of people sing along to "Hungry Heart" and not consider him a little Arena Rock. That and other people on my discs were heavily influenced by the Boss so it seems strange to not have him there.

What made it close even for Springsteen is what I consider to be the overriding element of Arena Rock: Cheese. There must be cheese. Not smooth, tasty cheese either. It must be government cheese, cheap and strong like a pimp's cologne. You can smell it a mile away. It must be overblown and a little pretentious to become real AOR. Like standing downwind from a sewage treatment plant, you must sense the overpowering nature of Arena Rock!

Disc 1:

Loverboy - Working For The Weekend

The Canadian rockers pumped up the wavy synths and came up with the all time anthem for weekend warriors everywhere. Get ready 'cause it's flag football time.

AC/DC - For Those About To Rock

No subtlety allowed in the land of Album Oriented Rock, you gotta give it up to a band that literally pulls out the canons to blow you away.

Rush - Tom Sawyer

It's probably my old age, but geekdom was tougher in the old days. You didn't have as many computers to do the thinking for you, games required dice and calculating imaginary statistics. Watching movies required going to a movie theater. And the bands you listened to had musical prowess and science fiction lyrics. Yet all the wisdom points in the medieval world couldn't match the awesome power of Rush. If you spent hours playing Star Raiders on Atari with a wore out joy stick then this is your jam.

Pat Benatar - Fire and Ice

Remember those old all weather tire advertisements that would put the tire through heat and cold? That has nothing to do with this song, Pat wails about those head playin' dudes.

Jefferson Starship - Find Your Way Back

Guitarist Craig Chaquico tears it up with this catchy rocker that plays well off of Mickey Thomas' soaring voice. Did Paul Kantner have a clue that he was losing control of his band? Hmmm...

38 Special - Hold on Loosely

What can I say about this song I haven't said already? How about calling this "Important dating tips from heavily bearded men."

Foreigner - Urgent

"You're not shy / You get around" Lou Gramm sets up the story early about his hard rock bootie call punctuated by Junior Walker's magnificent sax solo.

Rod Stewart - Young Turks

I couldn't fit "Infatuation" in on 1984, hated "Baby Jane" and didn't think "Lost in You" had enough impact so I settled for "Young Turks". My wife said I didn't like this song. Maybe I didn't, but it fits the bill in representin' Rod in the AOR 80's.

Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl

Two words: Pure. Genius.

Def Leppard - Bringin' On The Heartbreak

The Lep make the jump to the big time with this pounding ballad, can't you see...can't you see......No! No-oauh! Noooaahhhh! And then a decade later Mariah Carey would transform this song into an epic disaster.

Point Blank - Nicole

Two fisted drinking bar band sound with a slight California polish. Makes me want to grab Janet and Chrissy for a drink at the Regal Beagle.

Triumph - Fight The Good Fight

The poor man's Rush set their flash pots for kill on this, er, triumphant salute to power rock. Oh, and I totally mean that as a compliment, I love Triumph!

Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands

Tommy Shaw's sardonic tale of unemployment blues strikes a chord as much now as it did then.

Rainbow - I Surrender

Restraint has never been Richie Blackmore's strong suit, but here he stays out of wailin' Joe Lynn Turner's way.

Spider - New Romance

Would you believe this early 80's band wrote and performed John Waite's "Change" and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me" first? I couldn't either but it's true. Classic upbeat 80's power pop dressed up as AOR.

Santana - Winning

One of the great sports montage tracks of the time, I remember a local commercial featuring a lot of jogging in slo mo to the tune of this track.

Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart

Really this came from '80 but I decided to place the Boss on my discs at the last second. Would you believe this was originally written with The Ramones in mind?

Kansas - Hold On

Another 1980 track, I just had to have some classic lineup Kansas thrown in if I could.

Disc 2:

The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up

Is that the sound of Window's '95 loading? The last great Stones rip gets their swagger on in a big way. I'm still curious about how this sounded when they tried to make it reggae.

Chilliwack - My Girl

Always loved this bands name. Alternating between sunny and dark as the girl in question stone cold leaves Chilliwack in the dust.

REO Speedwagon - Take It On The Run

Arguably the Illinois band's best known track, we all took the "Heard it from a friend who" section hook line and sinker.

April Wine - Just Between You and Me

Myles Goodwin gets all sentimental and French thinkin' misty eyed thoughts.

Journey - Who's Cryin' Now

The addition of keyboardist Jon Cain gave vocalist Steve Perry the writing partner he needed to sell heartfelt ballads to the muscle T masses.

Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin For You

You know you want to throw on some shades and drive your El Dorado to the park to chug a lug some brew when you hear this song. Admit it!

Peter Frampton - Breaking All The Rules

Because I wasn't covering the 70's I was really worried I would have nothing to represent the guy who ushered in the Arena Rock era in earnest. Then I found this cut on ITUNES. I was so freakin' happy.

Night - Hot Summer Nights

I found out about this group on ITUNES too. Never heard of them before that, but you can't beat this laid back good time rock with a quintessential 80's band name.

Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe

This is one of those songs that hung around all decade long but never seemed to become a big hit.

Van Halen - Unchained

My all time favorite Van Halen track, monster guitars and David Lee Roth throwin' attitude all over. Hey hey, one break comin' up!

Prism - Don't Let Him Know

Another of Canada's finest serves up electro hand claps and razzle dazzle keyboards to a marching beat.

Sammy Hagar - There's Only One Way To Rock

...and it's Sammy's way.

Genesis - Abacab

I don't know much about playing musical instruments, but I was blown away when it was revealed the title is a chord progression.

ELO - Hold On Tight

A great song. So why have all my memories of this cut been obliterated by a commercial for pain relievers?

Stevie Nicks - Edge of Seventeen

My favorite witchy woman let's her white winged dove loose to a jittering guitar riff.

The Cars - Shake It Up

Is it mainstream rock or is it New Wave? We'll never know, The Cars were the only band to straddle that line perfectly.

The Who - You Better You Bet

How many CSI shows do you think they'll have to make before this gets made a theme song? You Better (shine a flashlight on a dead body) You Better (look constipated viewing through a microscope lens) You Bet (act like a big shot at a crime scene). CSI Tacoma anyone?

The Little River Band - The Night Owls

When the bass player sang lead on this track, little did they know that it would eventually result in his taking over the band. He wasn't even an original member! But Little River Band still tours to this day, the bass player is the only guy that was there for the hitmaking years.

That's 1981, my next set of CDs go to the year that got me hooked on music - 1982.

The Mr. Mike Project

I haven't been posting much lately, mainly because my free time has been spent burning CDs for my car. Burning CDs for car stereo playing should be an easy task - unless you're a music obsessed person who likes to hear things a certain specific anal retentive way. In my case, for a long time I've wanted a set of CDs to play that focus on my favorite genre of Rock music: Arena Rock.

Arena Rock aka AOR for Album Oriented Rock is the ultimate expression of Rock music for me. Rock music stripped of deep meaning, endlessly hooky with flashy instrumentation and choruses meant to be shouted in basketball stadiums and hockey rinks. This is the least respected of all Rock music genres. It's referred to as Corporate Rock, Commercial, Lowest Common Denominator Appeal, the list goes on. Heavy Metal, Punk, Alternative rock all have nice shiny well researched box sets to sum up their styles nicely. But Arena Rock? Arena Rock gets clumsily slapped together comps from Time Life or what not, endlessly repackaging Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with Warrant's "Cherry Pie" in every way conceivable. Plugged, unplugged, original recording, re-recording - so many different ways to do the same thing over. So I've set out to make my own box set of sorts, a bunch of CDs that follow the evolution of Arena Rock from it's early 80's zeitgeist to it's evolution into Hair Metal with bits of Soft Rock, Hard Rock and Prog Rock thrown in. And yes, "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" is included.

I debated on if it was worthwhile to blog about this, but dammit if you can't be excessively self indulgent on your own blog then where can you do it? I burned two CDs for each year in the 80's and to kick this thing off is the magical year 1980. The Seventies had just ended, Disco was dead, Punk and the New Wave were threatening to become the main voice of Rock as 70's Arena Rockers steamlined their sonics to include comfy synthesizers. To represent this wonderful time of tube socks and George Brett chasing a .400 batting average, here's my two CDs of 1980.

Disc 1:

The Tubes - Talk To Ya Later

Fee Waybill and his Bay Area gang of theatrical misfits tried to have it both ways by selling out and being ironic simultaneously. With the help of Producer David Foster and axe man Steve Lukather, they made it work for two albums.

Santana - All I Ever Wanted

I didn't hear this blazing track until I bought the Greatest Hits CD, my wife was sooo happy she knew a song that I didn't.

Jefferson Starship - Girl With The Hungry Eyes

A Bay Area trifecta, Paul Kantner lays down his last decent song about the girl with the perfect lips.

The Sherbs - I Have The Skill

Cheap guitars and cheaper synths make the magic on this ditty with the brain dead lyric "If there's a chance, I'll take my chances". And yet this song's hook sticks in my head for days.

Greg Kihn - The Break Up Song

Bay Area rock continues with this Kihntageous track. they don't write 'em like this anymore. They also don't write "Jeapordy" or allow it for download either. WTF!

Ted Nugent - Wango Tango

Well, had to include something from the Motor City Madman even if the 80's weren't kind to him. Wango Tango has a good dose of the wild crazy Nuge that he's famous for.

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

The first single from Phil Collins as a solo artist suggested he would be keeping a Genesis based prog pop approach, but a few years later he was bopping to Su-Su-Suddio and lamenting every social cause under the Sun.

Alan Parsons Project - Games People Play

Before Dr Evil had them create the "LASER", Alan Parsons had this driving ode to empty nest syndrome.

Meat Loaf - Dead Ringer For Love

The follow up to Bat Out Of Hell didn't disappoint, other than in terms of popularity, song quality and record sales. But still, this manic riff on "Summertime Blues" is outrageous fun with a game Cher throwin' 'tude to boot.

AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long

It's now a rock & roll standard, AC/DC's biggest hit delivers a monster hook with all their sleazy urgency intact.

Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell

C'mon, it's Sabbath with Dio. How can anyone say no?

Joe Walsh - All Night Long

Another oddball (same disc as Ted Nugent), Joe Walsh's struttin' rocker is a classic good time jam.

Journey - Any Way You Want It

The definitive Arena Rock band kicks out the definitive Arena Rock anthem or at least a killer ring tone.

Queen - Another One Bites The Dust

Freddie Mercury and co. find a way to make a slightly menacing dance song with a disco beat. Probably one of the best remembered songs of my generation.

J. Geils Band - Love Stinks

The Boston rockers serve up Stonesy swagger with a biting sense of humor to create an anti-love song.

Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Pat in her original sexed up body suit wearin' tough chick persona, taunting the object of her affection backed by future husband Neil Geraldo's slashing guitar.

Kenny Loggins - I'm Alright

The beginning of his Soundtrack God reign started with this feel good classic that broke him out of his Yacht Rock shell and powered the film Caddyshack.

Rossington Collins Band - Don't Misunderstand Me

Surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd initally formed this unit, showing that while Ronnie Van Zant's charismatic story telling was gone they could still stir up a commotion.

Disc 2:

Yes - Tempus Fugit

The only Yes album to not feature spacey singer Jon Anderson showed the aging proggers in a more punky, new wavey form.

Donnie Iris - Ah Leah!

He looked like Buddy Holly while bringing a unique personal touch to anthem rock.

AC/DC - Back in Black

The Aussie rockers bring down a burgeoning riff that makes every man, woman and child believe they're a badass.

Loverboy - Turn Me Loose

Like a Reeses Peanut Butter cup, this Canadian quintet mashed together Arena Rock with New Wave in an innovative way. And they even brought tha funk too.

Genesis - Turn It On Again

Nobody writes concert opening tracks like Arena Rock bands and Genesis fired up rock geek nation with proggy classiness.

REO Speedwagon - Keep On Loving You

One of the original power ballads, REO drove to the top of the charts with this love song for guys who like to hear their voice echo and the girls who like to hear them.

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train

Randy Rhoads plays on this. You do the math.

Touch - Don't You Know What Love Is

I didn't find out about this band until a few years ago, they're fondly remembered among the melodic rock crowd. I've got to admit after hearing this song for a week, I'm hooked.

Angel - I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out

Still not sure if this is from 1980 or 1978 but I figured what the hell, gotta have some Angel. Mainly known as the dorky band that wore all white and tried to rip off Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me" a few months before VH's debut, Angel keyboardist Gregg Giuffria would go on to form a group I really liked, Giuffria.

Michael Stanley Band - He Don't Love You

Remember when hard working bar bands could write clean cut good time rock & roll and sell it to people?

Judas Priest - Living After Midnight

A headbanging party anthem for the ages all done up in spikes and leather.

April Wine - I Like To Rock

Canada strikes again, no other country (not even the States) had an appreciation for meat and potatoes Arena Rock quite like our neighbors to the North. Watch in awe as the Myles Goodwin simply states his case and then interpolates the Beatles "Daytripper" towards the end.

Heart - Even It Up

The last gasp of classic era boogie rock Heart, when the public would see them again they would have gaudy clothes and hair teased up to the stratosphere.

The Babys - Back On My Feet Again

Just before joining Journey, keyboardist Jon Cain teamed up with AOR mainstay John Waite for two albums of strong Arena Rock. This clean, anthemic ballad hinted at what was to come.

Jackson Browne - Boulevard

Browne was still trying to keep up with the times in the 80s as he applied his literate lyrics to straight ahead pop rock like this tune.

707 - I Could Be Good For You

I just wrote about this song recently, a sleek piece of pop rock straight from the Bay.

Billy Squier - The Stroke

'Ol Billy dominated Arena Rock for a few short years, kicking it off with this inventive ode to, uh, rowing his boat?

Rush - The Spirit of Radio

"But glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity, yeah." Is there a better lyric in 1980? I think not!

That's it, my first two CDs of my Car CDs are done. Of course I couldn't fit in nearly all the songs I wanted to, but if I did include all those songs I would end up burning probably 100 CDs instead of just 20. Next time this story continues, we'll be in 1981!

Ice Ice Baby

About a month ago I picked up the new AC/DC album Black Ice from Wal Mart and have spent some time listening to it. There has been a lot of hype leading up to Ice, there's been rumors for a few years that a new album was coming. Then there was a lot of talk about this being their swan song, one last blast with an album and tour followed by retirement. Of course, the exclusive distribution courtesy of Wal Mart was the next subject. Meanwhile, band's came out of the woodwork to emulate the Aussie rocker's trademark sound-particularly Airbourne. Sometimes I hear Airbourne and I think it's AC/DC until the chorus hits and I realize I don't remember the tune that well. That's not necessarily a knock on Airbourne, they do the AC/DC well and acted as a herald for hard rocker's true comeback.

I debated on covering this disc just because I wasn't sure if there was a point. Every AC/DC album sounds the same as the last, more or less. At this point in their career, you either like what they do or you don't. It's not about originality here, it's about execution. Do the songs fire you up and stick in your head like dark beer or leave you flat? Well, I'll get to that in a moment.

Most of my life I was a casual fan of AC/DC. The first time I saw their emblem was when the loser across the street graffitied the water meter on my house with their logo, Van Halen's logo and the phrase "I'm a rootin tootin cowboy". The next exposure was when the Emilio Estevez movie Maximum Overdrive came out and had a soundtrack by AC/DC. I copied that tape off a friend and played it every once in a while, diggin' on jams like Who Made Who and Shake Your Foundations. Fast forward to 2000, my wife came home with the CD Stiff Upper Lip. We went to see them in concert and it was the best show I've ever seen from any band ever. I've seen a lot of bands, but I've never seen anyone rock that hard. After that, I was a fan.

That was nine years ago, almost a decade ago. After my birthday, I went out and picked up Black Ice for a long awaited listen. My impressions? It's still AC/DC. Screechy raspy vocals, throbbing bass, rock steady snare drum and vicious guitar assault. The execution of their classic formula is fairly strong, the performance doesn't lag or show any age. About half of the songs are memorable, particularly the thunderous Big Jack, the slick Wheels or the WWE hyped Spoilin' For A Fight. There's more variety in the grooves than the prior disc Stiff Upper Lip, songs move at different speeds and are aided by focusing on stronger choruses. My only criticism is that to me AC/DC is at their best with just the ten best songs on each album, the quality of their songwriting seems to suffer past that point.

Black Ice is a good dose of brutal, sleazy Hard Rock served up as only AC/DC truly can. It overstays its welcome a little, but by the end of the disc I was ready to start over at track 1 again. It's not the best AC/DC album, I'd rank it in the top half or so in their storied career. AC/DC preaches to the converted here and when they're on they make a good case for rock and roll salvation.

Midnight Madness - Tina Fey Edition

Tina Fey has always been funny, but this year her intelligent lacerating wit served with a smile seemed to strike a chord with people. Her career has been on fire this year and while I can't claim to be a die hard fan or anything like that, I've often enjoyed her humor. I played her SNL clips often as they were easily the funniest thing I saw this year. And this year some humor was definitely needed.

Entertainer of the Year - Tina Fey won the AP prize by having success on both the small and big screen during '08 and capped it with the most buzzworthy comic performance of the year as a certain Alaskan Governor.

Rorshach Test - A judge ruled in favor of Fox Studios that the Watchmen movie should not have been made without first being offered to them. The decision leaves the film up in the air about how or when or if it could be released. Bummer.

Radio Friendly Unit Shifter - A smashed guitar once owned by Kurt Cobain sold for $100,000.

Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson's new single "My Life Would Suck Without You" is said to be coming out in January. Will she be able to comeback from the commercial disaster she pinned her Artiste' name on My December? It all depends on if Clarkson is willing to play the Pop star game this time out.

For Those About To Write - AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is going to write a memoir. You mean AC/DC lyrics aren't autobiographical? Johnson doesn't spend all day drinking and ludely coming on to women? The illusion is shattered, my friends.

Purrr Batman - Eartha Kitt, a performer I mainly knew as Catwoman from the 60's Batman tv show, passed away on Christmas Day at age 81. I had no idea she sang "Santa Baby" until the news reported her passing.

Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers! - Bruce Springsteen looks to get in on the Wal-Mart cash cow by releasing a Greatest Hits exclusively to the department store chain. Isn't Wal-Mart the same place that had a problem with "Reno" from the Devils and Dust album?

Blue Morning, Blue Day - Bud Prager, the manager of Foreigner who played an important role in the forming of that band, passed away at age 79.

This Could Be The Right One - Canadian rockers April Wine are lined up for a 2009 Canadian Hall of Fame award just like contemporaries Loverboy. Yes!

Uprising! - Jennifer Aniston's hot streak continues, besting Brad Pitt at the box office with her movie Marley & Me.

Holy Bat Hype! - For a few weeks there's been a lot of buzz on whether or not The Dark Knight will dominate the upcoming Oscars in nominations. Can an Action film take home Oscar gold in a year with little competition? I hope it does, if only to drive a bunch of press about the "unwashed masses" over running the Academy. Should be fun.

Delaney Bramlett - A musician and songwriter who was a fixture in the classic rock scene passed away at age 69. Bramlett co-wrote Eric Clapton's "Let it Rain" and the classic ballad "Superstar".

Second Time Around - All my favorite shows are going into reruns until February. Time to catch up on DVD watching.

No Tube - Warner Bros. pulls their music vids from You Tube over contract negotiations.

Is that The Spirit? - Commercials for the new movie The Spirit features that Frank Miller graphic novel on film look (a lot of black, white and grey tones and what's that called...chiarosquiro (sp?)...lighting enhanced by CGI) that Sin City popularized a few years back. While I thought Sin City was great, I have to admit I'm finding this stylized look annoying in other movies. Probably just me though.

Last Christmas - Every year a certain Christmas tune seems to get played, or maybe I just notice it, more than the others. Last year Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" was omnipresent on the radio and shopping malls. This year was filled with various versions of Wham's "Last Christmas". None of the remakes can top the original though, so here's Wham!

Wham! "Last Christmas"

20 Favorite Songs of 2008

2008 - brought to you exclusively by Wal Mart

It's almost the end of the year so it's time to join the pack and bust out the "Best of the Year" lists. It could have been Guitar Hero, could have been Rock Band or just plain nostalgia but 2008 was a watershed year for Classic Rock. A slew of artists who I spent my high school years jamming to decided to reunite or reconfigure in some way to create new music. I normally pick just Ten favorite songs but this year I have enough for Twenty (I even had more than Twenty)! Most years I struggle just to find four songs to list so this just goes to show what a banner year it was for aging rock stars. Even Chinese Democracy came out (not that I care about the actual disc). So on with the countdown!

20. Lenny Kravitz - It Is Time For A Love Revolution

A brief marching blast of hippie Peace and Love with the reach to call for a cultural shift in values and sell department store clothing at the same time.

19. Chicago - Let's Take A Lifetime

The famed balladeers dial down the bombast and let the gooey syrup flow like Mrs. Butterworth colliding into Aunt Jemima in slow motion.

18. Def Leppard - Hallucinate

Sometimes self reverence pays as the Lep go full on "Photograph" mode with the hooky excess of multitracked vocals and revved up guitars that made them great.

17. The Bridges - Pieces

Matthew Sweet's protege's revive wholesome family oriented 70's AM Gold under a pillow of harmony vocals.

16. Flight of the Conchords - The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room

Pure love poetry: "You're so beautiful...you could be a part time model. Or a high class prostitute."

15. Alicia Keys - Like You'll Never See Me Again

Like a great lost Prince song, Alicia Keys pumps up the melodrama amid circling keyboards and a slow stepping groove.

14. Metallica - The Day That Never Comes

Time to stop guessing which other Metallica song this sounds like and just enjoy the ride. This I Swear!

13. The Lonely Island - Jizz In My Pants

Saturday Night Live wraps up their funniest year since I-can't-remember-when with the novelty tune of '08.

12. Rick Springfield - What's Victoria's Secret

Catchy ad campaign baiting pop rock awesomeness from The Genius.

11. Sheryl Crow - Gasoline

The theme song for a year that at its peak saw fuel prices skyrocket to the point people couldn't afford to drive to the next town while oil companies recorded record profits.

10. Death Cab For Cutie - Your New Twin Sized Bed

For anyone who at some point in their life wondered if there was another person out there for them, this song captures that feeling perfectly (fortunately I no longer have moments like these :)

9. Van Morrison - Soul

There's no way for me to describe Van the Man's butter smooth soulfulness in a way that hasn't been done before. But I'll try anyway. Van Morrison's voice is as smooth as C3P0's bronze ass. How's that? Oh, and this is a great song about how soul comes from within you, not what's outside of you.

8. The Ting Tings - Shut Up And Let Me Go

The New Wave revival has died off a bit though that hasn't stopped this duo from pushing this bit of IPOD worthy froth. The beat sticks in my head for days on end after I hear it.

7. Asia - Never Again

The Fab Four of my generation (not really, I just like saying that) regrouped and recaptured some Pomp Rock glory. Steve Howe shines with his most aggressive playing in ages. Never Again did I think I would hear these four guys play together, but here they are kicking ass like it's 1985.

6. Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction

I'm not big on rap music and not really a fan of Snoop Dogg so it was a shock to me that I like a song of his now. This jam is reminiscent of those old Zapp songs with the mechanized voices. Is it too late for me to learn the Running Man? Yes, yes it is. But not too late for me to like this song.

5. AC / DC - Big Jack

Barrelling down the freeway at 100 mph, AC/DC cranks up their trademark rumble and screech into a frenzy of Hard Rock ecstasy. I don't know who Big Jack is, but like most AC/DC songs it makes me want to drink till I fall down and yell loudly in the face of the nearest person available. Yeah!

4. Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes

Technically a 2007 song though it was released as a single this year so I'm including it. A touch of Brian Wilson enhances the reverie of this melodic masterpiece. The feeling of being too young to settle down yet too old to run with the kids paints a sharp picture of middle age. And it has Springsteen doing one of his best Orbison style dark crooning.

3. Journey - Never Walk Away

The 80's Arena Rockers put their new frontman Arnel Pineda straight in the line of fire by opening up with this soaring anthem. Energized by the new blood, Journey takes flight again with the power and grace that made them Platinum selling rock stars.

2. Coldplay - Viva La Vida

A song so good that everyone and their mother are convinced they wrote it, Coldplay brings in a sweeping orchestral sound I haven't heard since the hey day of the Moody Blues. Cold hearted orb that rules the night, steals the Sun from our sight...oops, wrong song. It may have just as well been the lyrics to "Viva la Vida" because I don't know what Chris Martin is going on about, something regarding bells ringing and St Peter or ruling the world. None of the words really matter, it's all about the symphonic groove struck here.

1. Dragonforce - Heroes Of Our Time

Well, let's get the disclaimers out of the way first. Yes, their recordings are said to be faked and sped up. Yes, every song they write sounds exactly the same as the song before it. Yes, their claim to fame is being a difficult level on a video game. So why can't I get enough of this cheese fest? Because I love me some cheese, especially with a little ham. And Dragonforce has got all that, Viking vocals, shred on top of shred guitar and ridiculous drum beats. I played this song more than any other song this year, so it deserves being named my favorite song of 2008. On the few occasions where I exercise, I love working out to this.

That's my Top 20 songs of the year, feel free to share your favorite songs of this year if you like because I enjoy reading about other people's faves. Oh yeah, I later realized Flight of the Conchords came from 2007 but I'm too lazy to redo this. I probably would have ranked Matthew Sweet's "Feel Fear" if I knew that. Next up, my Top 10 Favorite Albums of '08.

Midnight Madness - Quantum of Solace edition

Bond on the Beach? Usually doesn't turn out well for Bond if For Your Eyes Only or On Her Majesty's Secret Service serve as reference points.

James Bond returns again with Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. It's just a few weeks away! I can't wait to see what 'ol Jimmy Bond does next. To get ready, I'll probably post about Bond a bit this week.

Disco Fever - Some experts have proven that the beats per minute to the songs "Stayin' Alive" and "Another One Bites The Dust" are the perfect rhythm for CPR. It would be interesting to see either song used for this purpose. IPOD saves lives.

Did They or Didn't They? - Kevin Smith's new film Zack and Miri has been advertised heavily the past two weeks. Depending on the time of day, the title adds the words "Make a Porno". Originally the movie was to be called just Porno. Just pick one title and be done with it!

The Search for Sulu - William Shatner went on a rant about how George Takei didn't invite Shatner to his recent wedding. Takei insists he did invite but Shatner didn't RSVP. In any case, a real opportunity was missed as Shatner would have made a great wedding singer.

Best Week Ever? - One of my favorite shows has had an overhaul and is now hosted by Paul F. Tompkins on VH1. Sometimes he's funny and sometimes not, but just having a host makes it less interesting than the roundtable approach from before. Bummer.

Powerage - AC/DC's exclusive Wal Mart album Black Ice is #1 on the album chart for a second week.

Shared Workbook - In other AC/DC news, they now have a version of their video "Rock and Roll Train" that plays through Microsoft Excel. To download a copy you can click here.

Over the Hill - Fox has decided to cancel the long running animated series King of the Hill. While I'm not a die hard fan, I enjoyed the show as it was an unusual piece that acted like a live action program in every way except execution.

Beat It - The Jackson's are reuniting except for Michael, which translates into "Who cares?". Meanwhile, LL Cool J quit Janet Jackson's troubled tour rumored due to low ticket sales. Careerwise, this is not a good time to be a Jackson. I wonder what happened to Rebbie? Centipede anybody?

Packed like Lemmings - Josiah Leming, the homeless youngster whose talent and ego got him in and out of Hollywood week in a hurry earlier this year on American Idol, has recorded an album. American Idol is reportedly trying to block the release claiming the contestant contract requires Idol producers get the first shot at managing and signing. They really have it in for this guy!

Jennifer Hudson's family - Just want to say what happened to her family is very sad and tragic, truly a horrible thing.

Mini DVD Reviews:

• Rocky Balboa (2006) - It looks like Sly Stallone is going to keep making Rocky movies until he gets one good enough to end on. Thankfully, he gets it here. Rocky Balboa isn't the best Rocky by a long shot, but it's way better than original series ender Rocky V. Stallone 70's ups his direction for a grainier, soft focus look with a lot of shots that emphasize dilapilated surroundings. Naturally, Rock winds up in a match against the current reigning champ so he can get his face pounded into hamburger again. While Rocky Balboa hits some false notes overplaying Stallone's loveable lunkhead act, there's enough heart left in the flick to create a satisfactory ending. Let's build some hurtin' bombs!


• Hitman (2007) - The video game comes to life and...looks a lot like a video game. I've never played the video game so I can only relate to this as a movie. Being that the babyfaced Hitman #47 is indestructable there isn't much tension here, just a lot of action sequences. Co-star Olga Kurylenko does well in the hooker with a heart of gold role by bringing sensuality and believability to the table. She should be a good fit for her role in the upcoming Bond film.


• Solaris (1971) - The Russian Sci Fi classic goes after the big themes - Faith versus Science, mortality vs immortality, is Love an illusion of perception or real. A three hour ride through intellectual darkness. An impressive film.

Halloween addition - While looking at Rolling Stone's website I saw they had a list of horror music videos as well. Their list had one I had forgotten, Tool's "Sober". So here it is!

Tool "Sober"

Midnight Madness - Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles Edition

Kind of reminds me of that Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact.

The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has returned for a second season. I'm two episodes in and finding it just as big a kick as last year. It's well written and acted Sci Fi fun, a nice escape from reality. When combined with Terminator 3 and Terminator 4 it looks like the rampaging machine future gets more crowded by the second.

The Edge of the Blade - In an interview with Rolling Stone, new singer Arnel Pineda reveals he's homesick and a little worn out from Journey's punishing touring schedule. Maybe he'll be able to overcome these issues but ultimately it's up to him what makes the guy happy. If he leaves it will be a bummer, the band's recent disc Revelation is creeping up on Gold. The interview is here, Pineda says he has no intention of leaving yet. On the plus side, I've treated Rolling Stone reporting with a little skepticism ever since the hatchet job they did on Eddie Vedder in the mid-90's. There's always a chance the reporter got the whole thing wrong.

Blink 182 drummer - Travis Barker and DJ AM are in critical condition following a plane crash that killed four people. A sad, tragic event for all of the victims involved. Update: Barker and DJ AM are expected to recover, which is very good news.

Damage, Inc. - Metallica has scored their fifth #1 album with Death Magnetic proving there's still life in the career of the long running Metal band. The huge buzz has paid off for this excellent disc.

The End of the Line- Some fans are up in arms when a better sound mix for Death Magnetic showed up as part of the Guitar Hero game. What's funny for me is that I thought the monolithic mix was intentional because it reminded me of ...And Justice For All which had a dry, boxey recording itself. Oh well, if a new mix doesn't come out I'm not worried, I like it as is so if I hear a better version then bonus!

Motown Producer - Norman Whitfield who had co-written "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" and produced the Temptations passed away. Another sad loss for music.

Idol Talk - Last season's Idol winner David Cook is set to politely rock out on November 18th when his disc drops. Meanwhile, David Archuleta and Kristie Lee Cook both have put fresh material in the marketplace. "And I am telling you" that Oscar winning singer Jennifer Hudson is engaged to an ex reality show contestant.

Super Sonic - I finally got to eat at a Sonic fast food restaurant this weekend, it was pretty good! The chocolate shake and tater tots were awesome. The burger was good, but it did fall short of In N Out burger standards. Overall, I do recommend it though. Mmmm...Sonic.

Hello There Ladies and Gentlemen: Next Sunday I'll get to see Journey with Heart and Cheap Trick. It will be my first chance to see the Tricksters and Journey with sad Arnie. Heart I saw once in 1985 and it was great so I'm looking forward to this show. I'll post a bit about these bands this week to get psyched up. As Joe on Family Guy would say, "Let's do this!!!"

Free Stuff - Two web sites have provided a bit of entertainment for me this week. The first is Fancast which allows free streaming Tv programs and movies. I've managed to catch up on my Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through this site. Also, free streaming music that will create a playlist based on your favorite artists is at Pandora Radio . The website is definitely worthwhile for any music lover.

Mini DVD Reviews:

• Stranger Than Fiction - This movie came out in 2006, an ingenious fantasy about a blocked writer who happens to control the life of an IRS auditor with her writings. He hears her voice in his head as she narrates / dictates the events of his life. Will Farrell surprises as he dials down his childlike mania to give a mature performance. Good stuff.


• 10 Items of Less - Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega go faux indie on this flick where Freeman plays a movie star much like himself observing and meddling with the life of a grocery store clerk. The cute theme wears a bit thin yet the stars keep it watchable. Wouldn't go out of my way for this one


• The Condemned - My favorite wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin gets sent to an island with a bunch of killers to fight for his life as its broadcast on the internet. Austin has good presence and is as convincing on film as in the ring. Too bad the rest of the film is crap. And that's the bottom line, 'cause I said so!

New Song that Rules - The recent issue of Paste magazine included a song from the group The Bridges which is produced by Matthew Sweet and has been compared to Fleetwood Mac. That's right up my alley, the song Pieces is definitely worth an easy listening listen. But that's not all! AC freakin' DC. That says it all.

AC / DC "Rock and Roll Train"

Midnight Madness - Flight of the Conchords Edition

They act a little naive but very talented, The Flight of the Conchords make with the funny in their "Kiwi" act.

One of my favorite TV shows right now is Flight of the Conchords, while I was off work I watched the first season on DVD and got a kick out of their "Kiwi" humor. Gave me a lot of laughs. And now..

Perfect Crime - Blogger Kevin Cogill was arrested this week for leaking Guns N Roses songs from the long awaited Chinese Democracy album. Is he the new Shaun Fanning? My guess is no.

Promise of a New Day - A fourth judge, Kara Dioguardi, is being added to American Idol this season. If she's coherent and able to form complete sentences, Paula Abdul might be in trouble.

Whole Lotta Bleeding Love - Jimmy Page teamed up with "Bleeding Love" songbird Leona Lewis for an OK version of the Led Zep classic "Whole Lotta Love" at the Olympics finale. What I couldn't figure out is why they stuck Lewis on this hydraulic perch with a long dress. She looked like a bird hanging above Page's head.

Houses of the Holy? - In other possible Led Zep news, Jason Bonham is leaving Foreigner to work with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones on some new music. No news on Robert Plant being involved yet. If Plant opts out, is it too late for Coverdale / Page part 2?

The Truth is out there - in someone's pants apparently, David Duchovney is being treated for sex addiction. You know, playing a sex fiend on tv (he stars in the cable series Californication) probably doesn't help with that.

Rock & Roll Train finally pulls in - The new AC/DC song is brings back the thunder.

Return to Starbase - The Star Trek Experience in Vegas is closing down on September 1st. I never got around to going, bummer.

Who's Bad? - Michael Jackson turns 50 years old. Another milestone to reflect on how far the Gloved one has fallen.

My Apocalypse- Metallica's second new song is old school thrash, really good stuff.

The Cosmos Rocks? - Queen with Paul Rodgers has set 10/28 as their release date for the new album The Cosmos Rocks. Really? Is that really the album title? Because...it kinda sucks. I mean, the album could have been called Whopper Jr. and it still would have been better. Oh well, I guess everyone's a critic.

Out of Touch - Just for fun, I thought I would look at Billboard's Top 5 singles to see what they look and sound like.

5. Jesse McCartney - Leavin': This experiment may be rougher than I thought. Okay, first song down and it looks like this McCartney kid is about 13 years old and spends the whole video having sex on a bare mattress or back seat of a car. When he's not having sex, we get shot after shot of him over emoting his vocal runs. I have no idea what he's singing most of the time and no one leaves for anywhere in the video. So the point of this is a pretty boy that likes to have sex almost as much as he likes to look at himself. But I'm sure there's lots of tween girls enjoying this to put it in the Top 5.

4. Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl: I commented on this song a little while ago so I have nothing new to add here.

3. Kardinall Offishal feat. Akon - Dangerous: Sounds like a club jam, the beat is catchy and I think it's Akon singing the chorus (I have a hard time recognizing him when he's not dropping people on their head). Akon's voice has some of that electronic distortion on it to modernize the track. The rapper, I assume Offishal, has a bit of a Jamaician sound to his speech which makes it catchy. The video sells an upbeat urban image of hot girls and flashy images. As far as rap goes, I find this song tolerable (I'm not a big rap fan).

2. Chris Brown - Forever: Has elements of the McCartney song and the "Dangerous" song. The main point here is to show off Brown's dancing skills and position him as a guy ladies can count on. The song itself is inoffensive and has more of that electronic distortion on the vocal. For the most part, the song itself is forgettable.

1. Rihanna - Disturbia: Straight up Pop from someone on a major career roll, Rihanna's song is actually pretty good. She's found strong material and has a distinct tone to her voice. The video cleverly employs that stop and start insect speed motion that is usually reserved for horror movies. I don't like it as much as "Umbrella", but this is as pleasant as Pop music gets for old folks.

Thank you Bunny! - The Bunny has taken good care of me while I recuperate.

To close this bad boy out here's a Flight of the Conchords bustin a funny rap "The Hiphopopotamus vs the Rhymenoceros".

Flight of the Conchords "The Hiphopopotamus vs The Rhymenoceros"

Midnight Madness - Watchmen Edition

Someone is going after the Watchmen while engineering a secret plot involving huge corporations...is it Rupert Murdoch?

Who Watches the Watchmen? - Maybe no one, if Fox has their way. Fox has a lawsuit against Warner Bros claiming only Fox had the right to distribute the movie legally. Being sick, I finally took the time to read the comic (it was released in the 80's) and thought it was a fine piece of work. Too much money has been spent for it not to come out in some way eventually, but it will still be a bummer if Warner Bros theatrical release gets blocked. It's enough to make a guy head out to Mars or something. The movie trailer looks awesome.

Saxophonist Leroi Moore of Dave Matthews Band - Passed away this week at age 46. I'm a casual fan of DMB and think they're excellent musicians, very sad news.

Harvester of Sorrow - James Hetfield of Metallica erected a barbed wire fence on his land, blocking access to a popular public trail in Marin county. It's just not Metallica if they don't make somebody mad.

"The Day I Tried To Live"...no," The Day The Earth Stood Still"...um...what? - Metallica's new song (hold on, I'm going to look up the title now) "The Day That Never Comes" is on the Internet and now that I've heard it, I'm really optimistic about the upcoming record. Many classic pre-Black album traits ran throughout the track meaning we might really get an album along the lines of Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets. That's probably a little too optimistic, I thought the song was strong but not the greatest thing ever made by mankind. But definitely a step in the right direction.

Turn up the Power WalMart Shoppers! - Release dates are set for the new AC/DC album Black Ice (release 10/20) and the lead single "Rock & Roll Train" (release 8/28). I was surprised to see some reporters listening to the album in advance to report the new album sounds like classic AC/DC. Isn't that what every AC/DC album sounds like? That's why I buy it!

Watchmen Trailer

Midnight Madness-No Scrubs Edition

All these years I never saw this show, now I'm somewhat hooked in a lazy sort of way. Like if it's on, I'll watch it now. I wouldn't record it or go out of my way for it though, it's not like it's the best show ever made. It did let me know what happened to the second girl to play Becky on Roseanne. Roseanne was a good show until the last two seasons, they really went off the deep end at that point with winning the lottery and being millionaires and what not. You ever see that movie Garden State with the Scrubs guy? That was pretty good, I thought it was Natalie Portman's best performance, much better than V for Vendetta. The soundtrack wasn't bad, you know, it was famous for getting people like me to listen to The Shins. Newwww Slaanngg...ba ba da ba da. Is this going on too long? Yeah, it's going on too long. Time to end this. Finito. Fin. El endo. cerrado. sayonara. arrivedechi.

Thank you Bunny! - I somehow managed to delete my ITunes library from the hard drive this week. My wonderful wife got a program so I could move songs from my IPod back to the hard drive. Yay!

All Because of You - U2 is rumored to have a new album ready for a possible November release with the potential title No Line on the Horizon. One of the greatest active bands in Rock returns! And the album title is shorter than How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by one word. Yes!

Hold on Buck-O! - Is what Richie Cunningham would say if he found out Lindsey Buckingham planned to release a new CD just two years after Under the Skin. Buckingham hasn't been this prolific since 1982. I watched a lot of Happy Days growing up. Does it show?

The Word of Genius - Recent interviews with Rick Springfield to promote his new disc Venus in Overdrive have popped up at some of my favorite sites, Melodicrock and Popdose . Awesome!

Up in Smoke - The legendary comedy duo Cheech and Chong are reuniting to do a comedy tour. I like Cheech and Chong, but will their stoner humor still strike a chord with fans twenty years later? I just remembered Tommy Chong was doing the stoner schtick on That 70's Show - OK, it should still be funny. In other news, rapper Snoop Dogg's tour bus was checked by Police resulting in two arrests for possession of Marajuana. Harsh buzz!

I Saw it on TV - Tv commercials is the new radio and a recent ad has gotten me hooked again on the recent Lenny Kravitz album by including the stomping title track in a commercial. Peace and buy stuff!

Like You'll Never See Me Again - R&B songstress Alicia Keys has teamed up with White Stripes leader Jack White to record the theme song to the upcoming Bond film Quantum of Solace. It's hard to imagine these two voices together, but Keys is pretty adaptable. Awkward!

But will you respect me in the morning? - Katy Perry has been on top of the charts with her vampy hit I Kissed A Girl for about six weeks now. It's shaping up to be the hit of the Summer, like this year's "Umbrella". I wonder if sales of Cherry Chapstick have gone up as well?

Thunderstruck - AC/DC have announced an 18 month tour in support of their upcoming album. Angus!

Mini TV Reviews - Just a few capsule reviews about TV shows I've seen in the past week.

• Gene Simmon's Family Jewels - Sort of the Hogan Knows Best of Rock music before the Hogan's imploded. Gene does his sleazy thing while ex Playmate Shannon Tweed looks on amused and their kids do normal teenage rich kid stuff. It's OK.


• Swingtown - The swingin' 70's are brought out with multiple couples looking to do key parties with each other. This was done before and much better by Ang Lee in The Ice Storm (1997). Swingtown always stays Uptown when it should be going Downtown if you know what I'm saying and I think you do.
  
• Scrubs - This show was on for years and I never watched it. The other night we saw it on TV and it had this great part where Colin Hay (Men at Work) sings "Overkill". I've seen a second episode now, it's not too bad. I guess it is better than Wings, which is the show I used to equate it to because I never felt the need to watch it.


• South Park - used to be really funny, I watched two episodes and Imaginationland this weekend and was mostly bored. My brother loves this show and I'm sure will disagree with me, but I say it's time to kill Kenny once and for all. You bastard! (bastard being me, not you)

To close, here's Colin Hay's appearance on Scrubs. Great stuff.

Colin Hay "Overkill"