More Albums

The others really need to get caught up.

Aerosmith Pump
Aerosmith Permanent Vacation
Aerosmith Aerosmith
Aerosmith Get Your Wings
Aerosmith Toys in the Attic
Aerosmith Rocks
Boston Boston
The Cars The Cars
Deep Purple Machine Head
The Cars Candy-O
George Carlin Class Clown
Richard Pryor That N*****s Crazy
David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie Space Oddity
Queen Queen 2
Queen Sheer Heart Attack
Queen A Night At The Opera
Queen A Day at The Races
Queen Innuendo
Queen News of the World
Queen The Game
Beach Boys Pet Sounds
Black Sabbath Master of Reality
Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell
Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
Chuck Berry The Great Twenty Eight
John Lennon Plastic Ono Band
Fleetwood Mac Rumors
The Doors The Doors
Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back
Little Richard Here's Little Richard
Frank Sinatra In the wee Small Hours
Cream Fresh Cream
Derek and the Dominoes Layla and other Assorted Love Songs
Run DMC Raising Hell
Santana Santana
Santana Shaman
Santana Supernatural
Ozzy Osbourne No More Tears
The B-52's The B-52's
Metallica Master of Puppets
Metallica Ride the Lightning
Jeff Buckley Grace
The Strokes Is this It
Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire
Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles
Rage Against the Machine Renegades
Soundgarden Badmotorfinger
Motley Crue Theater of Pain
Motley Crue Dr Feelgood
Alice in Chains Facelift
Alice in Chains Dirt
Stone Temple Pilots Core
Stone Temple Pilots Purple
Poison Look What The Cat Dragged In
Poison Open Up and Say ... Ahh!
KISS KISS
KISS Destroyer
Marvin Gaye What's Going On
John Lennon Imagine
The Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads
The Rolling Stones Aftermath
The Rolling Stones Let it Bleed
The Rolling Stones Tattoo You

More to come.

Soundtracks Galore

Grease
The Sound of Music
Oklahoma
Saturday Night Fever
West Side Story
The Graduate
The Wizard of Oz
The Godfather
2001 A Space Odyssey
Psycho
Mary Poppins
Star Wars
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Jaws
Schindler's List
South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut
This is Spinal Tap
The Virgin Suicides
Rent
The Sting
Woodstock

Some Canadian Albums

Neil Young After The Gold Rush
Joni Mitchel Blue
The Band The Band
The Band From the Big Pink
Tragically Hip Fully Completely
Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill
The Arcade Fire Funeral
Gordon Lightfoot The Way I Feel
Gordon Lightfoot Gord's Good
Frantic City Teenage Head
Steppenwolf Steppenwolf
Rush A Farewell to Kings
Rush Fly by Night
Rush Power Windows
Bare Naked Ladies The Yellow Tape
Bob and Doug McKenzie The Great White North
Max Webster Mutiny Up My Sleeve

MY FIRST ALBUM LIST.

KAY, SO...IMA DO ONE OF THOSE LISTS.

JON IS MAKING ME FEEL COMPETITIVE.

So, here we go! :D
(Albums first, bands second, I guess.)

-New Wave, Against Me!
-On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax, Alesana
-Crisis, Alexisonfire
-Inquisition Symphony, Apocalyptica
-Uhh, everything by the Beatles...so, 13 automatically XD
-Wake Up the Devil, Carousel
-Bring Me Your Love, City and Colour
-Sometimes, City and Colour
-From Mars to Sirius, Gojira
-Insomniac, Greenday
-You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter (Okay, I know Serena commented with this one, but I'm making it official)
-Everything In Transit, Jack's Mannequin
-We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, Jason Mraz
-Joe Satriani, Surfing With the Alien
-Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, k-os
-Even If it Kills Me, Motion City Soundtrack
-Origin of Symmetry- Muse
-Pretty. Odd., Panic at the Disco
-Kezia, Protest the Hero
-The Best of Radiohead, Radiohead
-Let's Go, Rancid
-Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers
-Siren Song of the Counter Culture, Rise Against
-The Sufferer and the Witness, Rise Against
-World Container, The Tragically Hip
-Ascendancy, Trivium
-A Great Stage, Will Currie and the Country French

^^Those are all of the albums I have that I know I couldn't live without, and that have helped to define me as a person.

This has been edited by wwefreakjon to make sure we have no doubles

A couple more albums 2

Skid Row - Skid Row
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls
Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion 1
Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion 2
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Smashing Pumpkins - Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness
Traveling Wilbury's Volume One
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Bon Jovi - New Jersey
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Landlady
Breaking Benjamin - We Are Not Alone
Bryan Adams - Reckless
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Coldplay - X&Y
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
Eagles - Hotel California
Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
Eric Clapton - Unplugged
Finger Eleven - Them Vs You Vs Me
Foo Fighters - The Color and Shape
Good Charlotte - The Young and The Hopeless
Green Day - American Idiot
Green Day - Dookie
The Guess Who - American Woman
INXS - Kick
KISS - Alive
The Kinks - One for the Road
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Lenny Kravitz - 5
Living Colour - Vivid
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Styx - The Grand Illusion
Styx - Crystal Ball
Styx - Edge of the Century
Sum 41 - Chuck
Sum 41 - Does this look Infected
Van Halen - Van Halen
Van Halen - Van Halen 2
Van Halen - 5150
Van Morrison - Moondance
Van Morrison - Blowin' Your Mind!
Whitesnake - Whitesnake

That's another 52 which makes 124 if I counted right.

A couple more albums

Soundgarden - Superunknown
Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
Eminem - The Marshal Mathers LP
Eminem - The Slim Shady LP
Eminem - The Eminem Show
Disturbed - The Sickness
Disturbed - Believe
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
Disturbed - Indestructable
Neil Young - Harvest Moon
U2 - The Joshua Tree
U2 - War
U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Triumph - Rock and Roll Machine
April Wine - On Record
April Wine - Harder ... Faster
AC/DC - Back in Black
AC/DC - T.N.T
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
The Beatles - Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles - Revolver
The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Beatles - The White Album
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin 2
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin 3
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin 4
The Who - Tommy
The Who - Who's Next
The Who - Who Are You
Max Webster - High Class in Borrowed Shoes
Prince - Purple Rain
Radiohead - Pablo Honey
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers - BloodSugarSexMagic
Phil Collins - Face Value
Billy Joel - The Stranger

More to Come. Remember to request. (that makes 72)

A Noble Task, A Noble Task Indeed

I was over at the public library earlier this week and I came across a book (I know, big surprise) while I was there. It was called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I started reading it and from the perspective of the authors, it was a good and fair list. Unfortunately I was not one of the authors so i saw many albums missing. I was going to just criticize and criticize but then I thought about what my dad would say. It's not like you could do any better. Well I might not be able to but I think that Cole, TheGrunginator and myself should be able to. So in conclusion I am going to be starting a list of the greatest albums ever made. 1001 of them to be exact. I hope all readers will comment and help us out if we miss anything.

Here are the first bunch I will be adding

• Cream Disraeli Gears
• Genesis Duke
• Genesis Invisible Touch
• Metallica ...And Justice For All
• Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
• Nirvana Bleach
• Nirvana Incesticide
• Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York
• Nirvana Nevermind
• Nivana In Utero
• NWA Straight Outta Compton
• Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard Of Ozz
• Pearl Jam No Code
• Pearl Jam Ten
• Pearl Jam Vitalogy
• Pearl Jam Vs
• Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon
• Pink Floyd The Final Cut
• Pink Floyd The Wall
• Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
• Rush 2112
• Rush Counterparts
• Rush Moving Pictures
• Rush Signals
• Slayer Reign In Blood
• Teenage Head Teenage Head
• The Clash Combat Rock
• The Clash London Calling
• The Killers Hot Fuss
• The Ramones The Ramones
• Van Halen 1984

Those are the first 31. Remember to comment. I'll add some more later.

THIS JUST IN...YOUR MOTHER =)
Thank you, that will be all
~Ryan

19 Songs

As I did last week I will be doing my Russian roulette of songs to find something to talk about. I'm starting at Polly by Nirvana and I will turn on random and hit next 19 times. And we spin... ...

... ... and the winner is Shadow of the Night by Pat Benatar. Ah a classic song from a classic artist. Benatar is one of the most talented rock chicks in history and is much more than a pretty face. Before becoming the 80's mega star that she was she was trained to sing opera. This song is one of her most critically popular songs if not commercially popular.

Wow um I really need to get better about talking about these songs but until that time comes I will just spin the roulette again... ...

... ...and the winner is Better by Gun's N Roses. Ahh one of the great new GNR songs. It was released on Chinese Democracy which would have been better recieved if not released under the GNR name. Either way this is one of the great new song because of that sleazy riff and Axl's crisp vocals. Buckethead's solo dosen't hurt either.

I've got to admit that this is fun. Until next time this is misclanous (AKA wwefreakjon) signing off.

#17) Iron Maiden

These Heavy Metal rockers are widely considered to be one of the three god-fathers of heavy metal (beside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath). They have achieved considerable success in their home and here in the U.S. They got their start a bit after Judas Priest but did not get much recognition until they kicked out their origional lead singer. Paul Di'Anno was a good lead singer but his voice was much more reminiscent of the Sex Pistols than of Priest. Once they kicked out Di'Anno they found Bruce Dickinson who is the most famous of Maiden's singers. With Dickinson they released Number of the Beast in 1982. This album shot Maiden straight to stardom with the title track and Run to the Hills. They became known for their experimental and fantasial lyrics.

They will forever be rmembered has one of the god fathers of heavy metal.

Ok so for those of you who alredy read, you know that I'm a drummer. For those who haven't...well...I'm a drummer...=)...so I'm learning Stockholme Syndrome by Muse, and its pretty tough, but its soo gunna be worth it in the end...im gunna play at another concert May 24th, wish me luck
~Ryan

Mmk, so, nobody's following the colour code >_>

In other news, a local boy just fell in a well, its about 300 meters deep so, he's probably going to die, considering thats where the devil and the boogieman get together with chuck norris and play poker, so theyve probably eaten him...back to you Ryan

Thank you Ted, Oh! This just in, the Devil went down to Georgia and he's looking to steal a soul, we recommend every citizen of Georgia gets to the nearest church, and pray, pray for your lives.

On a much happier note, I got a boner and I'm going to F^*$ Jon's mom =)

This has been a random blog by The Grunginator
~Ryan

Decade Dance

So, last night I went to the Decade Dance at my high school. Basically, they start with 60's music and work up to the current day and age...... I have one sentence to sum up everything: You'd think out of nearly 50 years of music, the song choice would have been a lot better. There were, essentially, 4 good songs. Bohemian Rhapsody, You Shook Me All Night Long, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, and Ice Ice Baby...the rest was just filler one-hit pop wonders from the 60's to now...and not even any good ones! I requested 4 songs that I wanted to hear: God Save the Queen for the 70's Punk Scene, I Wanna Rock for the 70's/80's Glam Rock scene, Can't Touch This for the 90's hip-hop/ rap scene, and I Am the Walrus for the 60's British Invasion scene! Guess what? THEY DIDN'T PLAY ANY OF THEM!

Other than that...it was okay, I guess. I mean, at least there were some good songs, and I was there with one of my best friends...but still. Then again, what do you expect from a school dance? I guess I should just stick to concerts...

#18) The Who

In the early 1960's two men of little or no recognition came together to form a jazz band playing the french horn and the banjo. Who would have known that these two men would have gone on to form one of the greatest bands of all time. The two men I'm referring to are of course John Entwistle (bass guitar) and Roger Daltery (lead guitar). Soon after they recruited Pete Townshend to play rhythm guitar, Doug Sandom on drums, and Colin Dawson on vocal. Soon after that Dawson and Sandom left the group and the line up changed quite a bit. Daltery took lead vocals, Entwhistle stayed on bass, Townshend took lead guitar and Keith Moon was brought in as drummer. This line up would become famous as the Who's most popular line up.

The Who's first single was a Kinks inspired song called I Cant Explain. That was followed by Anyway Anyhow Anywhere which was also a hit on the UK charts. Following that was their first complete studio album, My Generation. The album was a hit and the lead single, My Generation, hit 74 on the US billiboard charts. During the following years the Who released albums consistently until 1978 when tradgedy struck. The drummer Keith Moon died of an overdose on September 7th 1978. After Moon's death he was replaced by Kenney Jones and the band released two more albums until their split in 1983. The band had many sporadic reunions throughout recent years but they have never reclaimed their previous success. After John Entwhistle died in 2002 the two remaining members did not replace him permanently. The Who is still touring today with Townshend and Daltery and other touring members.

The Who is a true staple of Rock and Roll and are on this list because of the influence they've had on music today. Townshend was the creator of the windmill guitar move, and is still considered to be one of the greates guitarists alive. Entwhistle is still repeatedly referred to as one of the greates bass guitar platyer to have ever lived. They are an essential on any list of greates artists and will always be remebered.

I'll do the same

I'm currently listening to MGMT Time to Pretend but I just read Cole's post and I'm gonna do the same thing that he did. I will press the next button19 times and talk about that song.

And the selection is No Feelings from the Sex Pistols

God what a great song. I got to admit I love the Sex Pistols. They are the best punk group ever to roam the earth. They never won anything, they played music for the f*** of it and they did a damn good job.

Um, wow that was so short I'm going to do another one. Let the wheel spin...
... and the selection is Sweet Home Alabama from Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Again great song. This is a classic rock song that everyone knows. Hell Eminem even did a parody of it in his movie 8Mile. The songs lyrics talk about a care free way of life, Watergate, Neil Young's Southern Man and just what rock and Roll is really about.

I got to admit, this was fun. I think I'll make it a weekly event from now on.

I've been listening to Gojira recently...I actually really like them...their blend of soft, slow guitar parts and heavy thrash outbursts makes them pretty unique. Their songs are slow and peaceful, yet the lead singer simply screams...I really have NO IDEA how they do such a thing. Wikipedia classifies them as heavy metal, but I'm not sure I agree with that...I actually can't make up my mind...if you have any opinions, post them please.

I feel like this blog post needs more substance, so I'm going to put my iTunes on shuffle and press the next button 19 times, and talk about that song/band.

Sensible Heart-City and Colour-Written and Performed by Dallas Green.

Okay, so I LOVE this song. I was listening to it recently, actually. It's really mellow, and soft. Dallas Green's vocals really fit this kind of song too...I know that's only because he wrote it, but still...what I mean is that nobody could sing it the same way he does. Its really emotionally deep too...it brings in an interesting concept that I've spent a long time thinking about...logical emotions...I think that's why I like it, because I can relate. Actually, I believe that's the only reason anybody likes music...because they can relate. Either that or the fact that it's "popular".

I think that about wraps up this blog post. I might write another one in half an hour...not sure.

In case you didnt notice...

... that was not me. That was my good friend the GRUNGINATOR (aka Ryan). We've been wanting to blog together for a while now so I gave him an authors spot on the blog since hes as fanatical about music as I am.

"Dude we have to make a blog together one day, just about music"
"Alright alright alright, as long as i get to have my one random day of the week where I blog about random shit"

Hahaha, yea, it happened.
Alright, so a little bit about me...let's see...
I'm real lazy, huge procrastinator, sick drummer, love Halo 3, i like biking, playing sports like baseball or football or basketball, i listen to my music as LOUD as possible, cuz that's how you need it, y'know? i would list some of my favorite bands but I'd prbly go on forever, so I'll just name a few...
System Of A Down
Blink 182
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
Protest The Hero
Rise Against
Slipknot
These are in no particular order, nor are they my top 10 or whatever, I just gave you a taste of what I'm all about. So yea, I've been taking drum lessons for about a year now, my teacher's crazy fun, maybe you guys've heard his band play, Exclamation Kid? they're pretty sick. So yea, any questions, anything you'd like to know, just ask em man, don't be shy, i don't bite too hard.

~Ryan

19) Billy Joel

Born in the Bronx, Joel was a piano player from as soon as he came out of the womb. His father, being a classical pianist, insisted on it. All of this piano brought bullying onto a child hood Joel but that mattered not. He continued playing the piano even while doing a short boxing stint in high school. In high school Joel did well and was expected to graduate in 1967. However do to his late night bar piano playing he overslept the morning of an exam. Instead of going into summer school he decided to go into full time musicianship. After playing in multiple bands through the mid 60's, Joel went solo and in 1971, he released his first solo record, Cold Spring Harbor. Although the album failed to chart well Joel didn't stop and in 1973 he released Piano Man. The album was a hit and brought quite a bit of success unto Joel. He toured for a while and then released his third album Streetlife Serenade.

After 13 albums you can still here the passion in his voice when he's on tour. You can still hear some of his classic songs like the Stranger, and Piano Man on the radio. And there's almost no one better to sit back and listen to some great piano from.

#20- Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses was formed by Rose and origional lead guitarist Tracii Guns in 1985 and the two recruited Stradlin, former bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner. After a short amount of time Guns left the group to reform his old band L.A Guns and Beich quit for unknown reasons. The two were replaced by Slash and Duff McKagen respectively. Before the end of 1985 Gardner also quit for un-confirmed reasons and was replaced by Slash's friend Steve Adler. This line up would become the band's most recognizable and most popular.

In 1987 after their first EP as a group, the band recorded Appetite For Destruction. The album was at first, a flop. The records weren't selling and the videos weren't playing. But soon after the release, David Geffen of Geffen records helped sponsor GNR and after one play of Welcome to the Jungle on MTV, the requests wouldn't stop. They became a smash hit with other singles like Mr Brownstone, Nightrain, Paradise City, and Sweet Child 'O Mine and started a 1988 north American tour. Although they were critically praised for their musical talent, they're on and off stage antics brought some criticism. They were intoxicated almost 24/7 but as Brendan Behan said, "There's no such thing as bad publicity." Later in 1988 GNR released they're second album hit number 2 on the billboard charts and sparked even more controversy for the up and coming band. The song One in a Million was the source of reports of lead singer Axl Rose being homophobic and racist, but just as before they shook off the controversy and kept rocking on.

After 3 years GNR released the two Use Your Illusion albums, which gathered the same critical acclaim as Appetite did. By that point in time tensions were already flaring within the group and after 1993's The Spaghetti Incident, things would never be the same again. The Spaghetti Incident was an album composed completely of punk rock covers. During the recording sessions the group had recorded a cover of the Charles Manson song Look at your Game Girl at Axl's request. Although the other members tried to halt the release of the song, Axl had it pushed on as a secret track at the end of the record. This was the final straw in the origional line up of GNR. Slash and McKagen left the group, quickly followed by Adler and Stradlin. This left GNR hanging on with only Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed.

After over a decade of line up changes and recording sessions, GNR released Chinese Democracy in 2008. The album was met with critical acclaim but poor sales. The main problem most critics had with the new work was that Rose kept the origional band name. Chinese Democracy was a good album but it just didn't match up to its predecessors. Although they have a had a fall from grace over the passed decade, GNR music is still requested on modern radio stations. It is for that reason that these tragically crazy people are #20 on the list of Greatest artists of all time.

Top 20 Greatest Artists of all Time

Over the next couple of months I will be slowly unraveling my list of the greatest artists of all time. Each new artist that I introduce will come with an artist biography. This list will be made up of rock figures because that is my style. I know with that being said I should change the name of the list but I don't really care. Artists will be chosen from these qualifications.

Staying Power: Do you still here their music on radio stations today?
Musical Talent: Can they actually play?
Record Sales
Personal Preference

Just a few honorable mentions before I start the list. Micheal Jackson, you almost made it but you're freakishness has just knocked you back. Elvis Presley yes he's the king, he's just too over hyped. Madonna, no matter how popular she is I just cant stand her plus she's not rock (despite the hall's induction)

The History of Heavy Metal Part 6- Today

In today's world there are more denominations of metal than ever thought possible. Some of the Hair Metal bands of the 80's have reunited. Most of the older groups (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest) are still touring and some are still releasing records periodically. Then there are the new brands such as Death Metal, Black Metal, Nu Metal, and Power Metal that are getting more recognition by the year. Bands like Disturbed, Korn, and Slipknot are achieving monstrous success with their albums. I'm personally only a fan of the nu metal genre but all of these genre's have some very impressive talent.

The History of Heavy Metal part 5- The Decline

After the pinnacle of the hair metal genre of the 80's things started to change. Groups started to break up and it just got old. People were getting tired of men that looked like women playing seemingly repetitive music. So instead of turning away from the genre, most people split into two parties that followed either one group or four.

One was Guns N' Roses who's 1987 album Appetite for Destruction showed a new style of metal that was stylistically similar to the hair metal but had a more complicated and origional sound. Songs like Sweet Child O Mine, Paradise City, and Welcome to the Jungle brought this group to a place where only a few bands have ever been. They were a household name (for one reason or another). After a four year break of touring and basking in the glory of their masterpiece, they released the two Use Your Illusion albums in 1991. These two albums furthered their popularity and are largely responsible for keeping the progressive metal scene alive during the 90's. They gave old metal fans something to listen to during the Grunge breakthrough.

The other chose the rapidly growing underground metal scene that was dubbed thrash metal. The thrash scene was brought into the mainstream by four main bands; Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica. These big four of thrash brought a much heavier sound that made them incredibly popular. Anthrax is largely responsible for the creation of the Rap-Core scene because of their cover of Public Enemy's fight the power. Megadeth was probably the least popular of the big four but thats not to say that they didn't have their share of hits. Metallica is arguably the most popular of the four because of albums like Ride the Lighting, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice For All. Slayer was probably the most influential of them because of how much heavier their sound was than the others. With the album Reign in Blood they basically brought the world into the age of Death Metal.

U2 No Line On the Horizon

Although U2 is probably better recognized for Bono wearing his signature sunglasses now-a-days, U2 has been doing more than campaigning for the end of world poverty. Over the past 5 years U2 has been working on their latest album “No Line on the Horizon”. It was released on February 27th and as expected it burned up the charts and got incredibly good reviews from critics. After listening to it a few times I’ve got to agree.

No Line on the Horizon is a much more experimental album from U2. They have clearly been easing back from they’re progressive rock holy days to try some different styles. They introduced some heavy synthesisers which took some heat off of the guitar and bass, but when it was time, The Edge would rip out a brain melting solo. Bono had some very complicated vocal lines to deal with but he handled them like a master. This album’s weak point has to be the lyrics. Normally U2 comes with lyrics that rival Rush on deepness but most of this album sounds like it was written by a love sick man going through his mid life crisis.

Songs like “No Line on the Horizon” and “Magnificent” should give U2 fans some of their classic sound while “Get on Your Boots” and “Stand up Comedy” show a new side that most have never heard before. This album, despite its flaws, is an instant classic and will endure as one of their best.

The History of Heavy Metal Part 4 - The Mainstream

With Van Halen's success bringing attention to the Los Angeles Metal Scene, everything was in place for musics next fad. The last piece of the puzzle was what happened at the beginning of the 80's world wide. A recession, much like the one we are having, got people angry. So when these aggravated people heard this new, hard rocking style of music, they hopped on board and made bands like; Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt, Skid Row, W.A.S.P and many others the biggest thing to hit the music industry since the Beatles. These femininely dressed men would strut around stage on high heels letting their giant hairdos fly in the air while playing some of the greatest music ever writen. The way to distinguish which bands were the best of that era is simple. Is their music still regularly played on radio stations? There are a couple of bands from the Glam Metal era that have stood the test of time. the big three are Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard.

Motley Crue was one of the grimiest bands in history. If you've read The Dirt then you'll understand why. They did more drugs, drank more booze, screwed more girls and rocked harder than any other band from the 80's. There is one big event that many people would consider to be the biggest of their careers. In 1987 the bassist Nikki Sixx was declared dead for two minutes from a heroin overdose before being brought back. That event made headlines and the idea for one of the Crue's best songs, Kick Start My Heart.

Bon Jovi is probably the most well known Glam group.Their breakthrough album was 1986's Slippery When Wet. Not only did that album make them a near overnight success but it solidified their future with songs like Living on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, and Wanted Dead or Alive.

Def Leppard is arguably the greatest of the 80's glam groups for two reasons. The albums Pyromania and Hysteria, and the tragedies that occurred between the two. After the major success of Pyromania the group toured and then made plans for Hysteria. Unfortunately before that could happen drummer, Rick Allen lost his arm in a car crash. Most fans thought that it was the end of his career but instead his band mates helped him recover. He made his own drum set using electronic pads to help with the sound. After 4 years of hard work they released Hysteria which has gone on to be one of the biggest selling albums in history.

The History of Heavy Metal Part 3 - Transition to the mainstream

With the success of the mid Seventies metal exports (Judas Priest in particular) a couple of other bands got their starts. Motorhead had a large influence because of who influenced them. They were one of the first mixes of Punk music and Metal. They would eventually lead the way into the grunge era but that was the 90's. Also flowing off of the success of Judas Priest was Iron Maiden. They took the musical style of metal and mixed it wiith deep lyrics that got listeners to think.

Another large contributor to the transition of metal to the mainstream was Ozzy Osbourne. Having already achieved major success with Black Sabbath, Ozzy started a solo career after his split from Sabbath in 1978. He and guitarist Randy Rhoads (formerly of Quiet Riot) teamed up to make the album Blizzard of Ozz. But before that there was one band that made a bigger impact on the metal scene. Van Halen.

They are one of the biggest contributions to the genre for to reasons. One, they were one of the main causes of the break up of Black Sabbath which created Ozzy's solo career. They continuosly upstaged Sabbath when touring with them as their opening act. That plus tensions beetween band members caused Sabbath to break up. The second thing that Van Halen did was they turned the spotlight onto Los Angeles, the spot where Metal would truly be mainstream.

The History of Heavy Metal part 2 - The Genre

We ended last time with the first true heavy metal group, Led Zeppelin. And although they were the first true heavy metal band, their followers are consistently considered the best heavy metal group of all time. The often imitated, never duplicated Black Sabbath. After Zeppelin brought in the sound Sabbath perfected it. The opening track on their self titled first album had a sound unheard of. Deep, sad guitars, satanic lyrics and a depressing tune that would never be forgotten. Sabbath led the way for other metal bands of the time like KISS, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, AC-DC, The Scorpions, Blue Oyster Cult, Rainbow, and most notably was England's next installment to the genre, Judas Priest.

They took the deep guitars of Sabbath, the fast tempo's of KISS and Cooper, and the showy voices of Zeppelin and Queen to create what is possibly the main sound people recognize with Heavy Metal music. Breaking the Law, You've Got Another Thing Coming, Sinner, among others brought Heavy Metal into the spotlight commercially and critically.

The History of Heavy Metal Part One - The Styles Origins

In the words of ACDC "In the beginning. Back in 1955." For that was where you can find the earliest roots of the the rock genre known has metal. There was a rock artist by the name of Link Ray who has been credited with the creation of the power chord. The power chord is a very common form of chord used in music today. With the creation of the power chord, people could play many simple riffs without changing finger positions. Instead they would jsut have to move the same position up and down the guitar neck and voila, they could play the guitar. With that, young independant bands started springing up all over. But there are some main groups that are key in the history of metal.

The Kinks had a hit in 1964 called You Really Got Me. Now that song was very influential for two reasons. One it was later covered by the band Van Halen who was largely influential in the rise of the LA metal scene in the 80's. The other reason was that it was one of the first songs to use feedback (now referred to as distortion) on the guitar. Because of the new distorted and incredibly loud sound of blues rock guitars, the drummers had to start getting louder which can be seen from bands like Cream and The Who. Those two techniques were incredibly influential but they were missing one key element before heavy metal was truly seen. The vocals.

For that we have to jump ahead a few years to the first true Heavy Metal band. Led Zeppelin. Jimmy page had a guitar sound that had never been heard before, and John Bonham had a drumming style that rivaled Keith Moon of the who. But the true star of that show was Robert Plant. He had a vocal range never before seen on a man and he used it with incredible skill. With songs like Good Times Bad Times, Dazed and Confused and The Immigrant Song, it is easy to see how they were the first true Heavy Metal band.