*sigh*
Another Boomer who never listened to anything after 1985.
*sigh*
Another Boomer who never listened to anything after 1985.
I saw them the week after I saw Ozzy with Randy Rhoads, literally a week or two before the plane crash. After seeing Ozzy, Foreigner seemed like bubblegum pop music. But I can understand why you think they were so great, they're essentially the same type of music as Van Hagar and Mean Machine.
Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden are the two bands from that scene that I STILL listen to with great regularity. I put on both of those bands as often as I put on VH.
Stone Temple Pilots were the kings of marrying amazing riffs with catchy vocal melodies. I saw them three times, but the last time was the best. I was in front row with my fiancée (now wife) two weeks before we got married. FRONT ROW at the Riviera in Chicago. The night before, Weiland had fucked up the Milwaukee show by getting drunk out of his mind before hitting the stage...so there was talk that the band was furious with him and the gig might be cancelled. We showed up, got to the front row and then realized that all the Vh1 trucks were there because the show was being filmed in HD and recorded on multi-track.
Our STP show ended up first showing as a one-hour special on Vh1 and then ended up being released as the WHOLE SHOW on Blu-Ray a year or so later...Stone Temple Pilots - ALIVE IN THE WINDY CITY. It was an absolutely killer show. Scott was sober, they played some not-so-often-played greats like HOLLYWOOD BITCH...and previewed four songs from their upcoming sixth album (simply titled STONE TEMPLE PILOTS).
Three years later, they kicked Scott out for good...and more than two years after that, Scott died.
I don't think STP have even been nominated...but they were easily one of the best bands to come out of the 90s. They turned their sort of grunge-copy sound from the first album into a truly unique, almost power-pop sound by their excellent third album SONGS FROM THE VATICAN GIFT SHOP.
Roth Army Militia
Originally posted by WARF
Rikk - The new school of the Roth Army... this dude leads the pack... three words... The Sheep Pen... this dude opened alot of doors for people during this new era... he's the best of the new school.
Soundgarden should be in too. Chris Cornell is literally my favorite singer of all-time. He's not a Dave-level performer, but when people try and talk about how Sammy Hagar has a "great voice," I love to correct them by saying that Chris Cornell not only had cool lyrics (Sammy NEVER did) but also could sing circles around Hagar. Cornell had (I believe) an over four-octave range.
Soundgarden should have been in the Rock Hall YEARS ago...Nirvana is already in (and they DO deserve it, no matter what Kristy says)...but the fact that fucking Foo Fighters got in and Soundgarden haven't is just another reason why the Rock Hall is a fucking joke.
Audioslave (Cornell's band with the members of Rage Against the Machine) was also very good...but they were not as excellent as Soundgarden.
Cornell's solo albums were also really creative and really good. His solo debut, EUPHORIA MOURNING (also sometimes called EUPHORIA MORNING) is maybe the best album he ever recorded.
And Temple of the Dog (the album he made in 1990 with Matt Cameron and members of Pearl Jam) was also a great, great album...and not just for HUNGER STRIKE.
Both Chris Cornell & Scott Weiland should have been inducted into the so-called Rock Hall many, many years ago.
(Velvet Revolver, Scott's band with the members of G N' R, is also really good...though not as good as STP. Their 2nd album, LIBERTAD, didn't do as well as their debut, CONTRABAND...but I actually think LIBERTAD is better.)
I'll admit...I like Foreigner...but more in a guilty pleasure kind of way.
I fucking hate Journey...and no one is going to change my mind by going on about how many hit singles they had or how "great" Steve Perry's voice is. I just find songs like DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' pure shit. (It's basically the same kind of music Van Hagar is.)
I also am not a Styx fan.
I don't like REO Speedwagon.
But I guess I'll admit...I like Foreigner. But am I going to call them a great band the way Zeppelin or The Stones or VH were? No.
By the way, Ozzy's solo career has never had the consistency or mind-blowing excellence that Black Sabbath had. But that line-up with Rhoads...those first two albums...they are INSANELY AWESOME.
Ozzy's first two albums are the only albums I personally think he's made that are as good as Black Sabbath. Both BLIZZARD OF OZZ and DIARY OF A MADMAN are just perfect albums in every way.
Von, I hope you realize how fucking lucky you are that you got to see Ozzy with Rhoads.
Was literally thinking this (and not for the first time, as in thinking it wasn't some recent revelation or anything) not too long ago, in that really the only studio albums Ozzy was involved with post-Sabbath that were on the same level of excellence and consistency as the, say, first 5 or so Sabbath albums were the first two Ozzy solo albums with Rhoads and Daisley basically writing the entirety of the music and the vast bulk of the lyrics and melodies.
The first time I can recall making that realization was when The Ultimate Sin album came out. I had liked the Bark At The Moon album, mostly on the strength of the title track, but even though I first saw Ozzy on the BATM tour I remember thinking even back then that BATM on the whole wasn't as good as Blizzard or Diary. It wasn't even a case back then of me thinking "Randy Rhoads is the best guitarist Ozzy will ever work with" and not giving Jake E. Lee a chance from the get-go. BATM had the great title track, a couple of decent tracks and a lot of tracks that were second-rate compared to Blizzard and Diary. With The Ultimate Sin, I can't even point out to a single track on the record that stands out to me as being particularly excellent. I actually thought No Rest For The Wicked was a step up from The Ultimate Sin in terms of both the songs and the guitar playing. Then with No More Tears I liked the title track and thought the rest was varying degrees of piffle. None of Ozzy's stuff I've heard since No More Tears has been worth the bother of listening to it.
The test of time for me would be if I opted to see Ozzy live, in that if all Ozzy played from his solo career were tracks off of Blizzard and Diary I wouldn't feel cheated in the least.
Scramby eggs and bacon.
I'm not sure how one can like Foreigner, and not Journey, Styx or REO. I like Foreigner. I spent many evenings street drag racing with "Rev On The Redline" blasting through my Mindblower speakers. As I said, I went and saw them when they were in their prime and the original band. I am pretty sure I'd have loved the live show much better had it not been a week after Ozzy and Rhoads. (By the way Rikk, I totally know how lucky I was. Only regret, not taking pics like I did at the VH shows,) Anyway, I'm of course talking about the early outputs of these bands, before they succcumbed to Top 40 radio. The Journey Infinity and Evolution albums are great. Styx "The Grand Illusion" through "Pieces Of Eight" were stellar albums, and they were a great live band too. That fucking Mr Roboto shit ruined them. REO...fuck...talk about a live band in the 70's. Wow. Fucking Gary Richrath was a monster with absolute killer tone. The "Live You Get What You Play For" album is phenomenal.
I've always liked Foreigner, precisely because they were mindless bubblegum pop rock music. Also, because I listened to their stuff from 1978-1981 when I was a pre-teen and at that age I hadn't been 'told' that I wasn't supposed to like Foreigner.
This, I've never been disappointed with Foreigner until the Agent Provocateur album because Foreigner never pretended to be something they weren't. Even in the late 1970's when their tunes were more guitar-based than keyboard-driven, Foreigner was mindless bubblegum pop rock. Like, Foreigner were never trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes and attempt to pass themselves off as Led Zeppelin.
I didn't dislike what Journey did. Or Styx. Or REO Speedwagon. Wasn't over the moon about any of those bands in anything resembling or coming close to the same way as I was with Led Zeppelin. However, each of those bands had their moments...or at least the totality of their careers would equal a half-dozen or so tunes I kinda liked.
With Foreigner, Journey, Styx and REO, much along the lines of what you were alluding to with each of those acts I liked them up until a certain album and there was a definite demarcation point.
With Foreigner, it was up to and including 1981's Foreigner 4. After that, no use for 'em.
With Journey, it was up to and including 1981's Escape. After that, a track or two from Frontiers.
With Styx, it was up to and including 1981's Paradise Theater. Fuck Mr. Roboto.
With REO, it was up to and including 1980's Hi Infidelity. Sadly, after that the band dissolved into a bunch of schmaltzy piffle.
None of 'succumbing to Top 40 radio' bothered you during the Van Hagar years, when you proudly traded your rock stripes for mom rock! You shit on these bands' later albums while celebrating horseshit like For Lawful Carnal Knowledge and Ballast! WTF are you talking about Von Halen!
Did you also take pics at all your Van Hagar shows like you did at all the Journey, Styx and REO shows you went to? All those bands are for fags. WTF is the difference between Van Hagar and those 3 bands? All gay almost-rock-songs. It makes sense that you worship them. Foreigner was more straight-forward rock, with the obvious exception of a couple of homo ballads. But those probably make your nipples like pencil erasers, too!
In all seriousness, Foreigner peaked with their 2nd album (that one is their best). They were good at writing Beatle-y sort of rock/pop music. Songs like BLUE MORNING, BLUE DAY are admittedly as cheesy as Hagar's breath...but they're catchy as hell. The third Foreigner album also had some really good material. There's a non-single cut with acoustic guitars (but not a ballad) that I really like called DO WHAT YOU LIKE. Their 4th album was their last solid album. Good material. After that...eccchh! I have no use for I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS. That song makes me feel the same way something like WHEN IT'S LOVE makes me feel...a once good band reaching the barf-bag point.
I have to admit, I don't really know much Styx stuff. The only song I REALLY know is MR. ROBOTO. I would maybe recognize a couple of other songs.
It's like the Scorpions...a buddy of mine told me that I should stop associating them with ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE and check out their earlier stuff. I've always said I hate them...but one of these days, I will check out their EARLIER stuff and give them a fairer judgment.
I used to make fun of UFO...then I heard their 70s stuff with Michael Schenker and realized that there is some great material there.
I guess I just have never heard stuff by REO SPEEDWAGON or JOURNEY that was before 1980 (except maybe WHEEL IN THE SKY, which is ok, I guess).
I've been wrong about other bands. I used to hate Boston...then I finally listened to the first two albums (from the 1970s) and realized that there is some immaculately-written and produced material on them. So, yeah...I like Boston (at least their first two albums).
Looking past cheesy songs can make a music-listener find good stuff. I have ALWAYS loved Deep Purple...but it took me a while to realize that Rainbow is also REALLY worth checking out.
Ritchie Blackmore is my all-time favorite guitarist on Earth. (Yes, even more than Eddie.)
TWO things will never change for me:
1) Steve McQueen will ALWAYS be my favorite actor on Earth (I have every film and even got an authenticated double-autograph of McQueen, which is very rare and cost me a lot through a close friend who deals in rare autographs)...Larry Hagman, by the way, is my second-favorite actor.
2) Ritchie Blackmore will ALWAYS be my favorite guitar-player on Earth. I just love his tone and style.
Blackmore is another one who I had to eventually get used to and appreciate his cheesy era. His guitar-sound, the approach of his guitar solos...the riffs he writes...the musicians he plays with. Even the lesser stuff is still something I will willingly listen to. With Eddie, his lesser albums are mostly crap to me. Yes, I might put on one of the non-Roth albums once in a while...but I roll my eyes a lot. If I'm listening to one of the weaker Rainbow albums (later albums) or even his medieval music, I still admire what he's doing.
I used to be a Deep Purple purist...and then I heard the first three Rainbow albums (with Ronnie James Dio). I love all three of those albums...AS MUCH as I love Deep Purple. THEN...I even managed to work through the cheesier later Rainbow stuff (with Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White). Blackmore may be a cantankerous asshole, but he's a genius. Anyone who claims that he isn't a brilliant guitar player is just a fucking idiot, I'm sorry to say.
AND...we talk about all these cheesy arena rock bands with cheesier material...and the big question is:
Where does Van Hagar fit into all this?
I won't even claim I hate every single Van Hagar song. I have ALWAYS maintained that there's sort of unspoken rule on this (still amazing) forum that nobody is allowed to ever say anything good about anything Van Hagar ever did. But I've always suspected that there are songs that some of our members here secretly like.
I may have started the Sheep Pen, but I have no need to lie. I learned (maybe around the age of 30) that there is no need to be ashamed of or hide music I like, even if it's cheesy.
While I will always state without question that ANYTHING Van Hagar did never came even close to ANYTHING the original band did, there are songs here and there I like. I like the song "5150," I like BLACK 'N' BLUE, I like a song from BALANCE called FEELIN', I like HUMANS BEING... There's probably not one fucking song from that monstrosity FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE that I remotely like...well...actually, there is ONE song I like called PLEASURE DOME. That one is actually good. But for the most part, Van Hagar is Eddie being mostly uninspired and even the really good music is ruined by a bleach-haired, fat moron (with ZERO style) who thinks writing songs about "dreams," "feelings" and "love" put him in the same league as Robert Frost or Walt Whitman.
So...I think (overall) Foreigner is a better band than Van Hagar. Just my opinion. Their guitar player (while talented) may not be as strong a player as Edward Van Halen...but there are far less embarrassing songs on those first four Foreigner albums than most anything off the entire Van Hagar catalog.
Just my opinion.
Thanks. I'll take you up on that. I'll check that out, for sure.
Lots of bands have good periods and bad periods:
Fleetwood Mac...I MUCH prefer their Peter Green-era (the earlier, blues-influenced stuff) to anything that came after. But there's good stuff during the Bob Welch era. And the first three albums with Buckingham are solid. But once Fleetwood Mac got into the 80s, they are so fucking cheesy. It would be hard to name ONE song Fleetwood Mac did after TUSK that I can say I really, really like.
I also hate Stevie Nicks. Hearing about her throwing Buckingham out of the band...what a joke. Stevie Nicks is like FABULOUS SHADOW. Tons of weight and just never shuts up.
Stevie Nicks is bullshit. The most overrated performer ever. Shitty, nasally singing, ugly, only had a job because everyone in the band fucked her. One needs no further evidence of the RRHOF being horseshit than Stevie Nicks being in as a solo artist. What impact did she make without Buckingham standing next to her? How many hits did she have besides the Stand Back song?
I never really bought a ticket on the Stevie Nicks train in terms of her being one of the all-time greats or whatever.
What she did worked well enough for me within the context of Fleetwood Mac, when she had the rest of the band and other voices to balance her out. Some of her earlier solo stuff was good, like off her first two solo albums. She was mildly alluring before she started bloating up in the latter 1980's ... alluring in that California, coked-out, witchy ballerina wanna-be persona. Definitely had a distinctive, throaty voice coupled with that mystical fairy princess lyrical babble. Her whole schtick was played out for me by the time Tango In The Night came out.
No, fuck you F A T Boy. Steve Nicks penned Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits next to the other woman in the band. Dreams, Landslide, Sara, Rhiannon, The Chain, Gold Dust Woman, Gypsy. Her solo work is just as impressive. So go eat a fresh squeezed turd out of my F A T ass. She made a definite impact on all your shitty Boomer Vomit "classic rock" even with that other MAGA muckraker cocksucker Don Henley. Buckingfuck is hack. A repetitive guitar player is there ever was one and his singing is atrocious, his songwriting outright stupid and his ego-sucking attitude ruined the band. All that dude can sing about is his cock and how much his cock misses Stevie's love canal. So Stevie did a lot of cocaine, you eat a lot of pizza and watch the NFL and complain how Democrats piss off your obvious lack of education.
She also has more money than God, your F A T orange messiah and the bank of Switzerland combined. She has also done a lot to help wounded and homeless vets, fought for women's rights, and she stomped all over your sexist male dominated music industry.
Get the fuck out of here.
*Sigh*
Another sexist band who writes mindless crap about date rape when not being used as a propaganda tool for Republican disinformation. Every fucking song they did was the exact same as every other fucking song they did. Even your Boomer Vomit Loverboy knew how to change a power chord every now and then. Euro-trash pseudo-metal rock for dumbass stoners who toke ditchweed at shitty white trash music festivals. All that band was ever good for.
You know those days that happen when you're in a rush and you go against your best principles and you stop at a fast food dive and order the "Whatthefuckever" of their plasticized corporate placard? Then you eat that slop in traffic and it sits there stirring in your gut until there or four days later when it times to come out of the shitshooter and then blam! You clogged up the shitter and have to plunge that little fucker with a MAGA bigot toothbrush such as this:
Then that turd makes other little turds and those turds clog up the shitter further so you stand there swearing reading a god damn Simone de Beauvoir novel making those wet/dry slurping sounds that border on suck and more suck? Well, that's exactly what Richie Blackmore did with a Fender Strat. The most toneless, gawd-awful, contrived guitar playing on the ENTIRE planet. Think of his time in Creep Durple as a Roman solider who fell lifeless in battle with other Roman soldiers except Richie was only wounded and cried out in pain and then put that pain to a fretboard so everyone in earshot was also in pain.
No diffy between this:
and this:
Oh, and before any of you cretins say, "Fuck off to a Taylor Swift forum." Well I did just that only to be permanently banned because I may have mentioned something about China delivering another giant-sized condom to match Uncle Sam's world-raping ego and how Taylor Swift's pubis has more power than the Pentagon. It has terrorized the world brought so many to their knees. Every time you look around, its in your face.
Wow...what a convincing argument.
I have now burned all my Ritchie Blackmore albums, DVDs, Blu-Rays, box sets and everything in my fire pit in the backyard. I USED to enjoy listening to them...but Kristy has shown me the light.
(In all seriousness, I have nothing against Taylor Swift...I just don't give a fuck...and certainly not enough to actually find myself in the sad position of being banned from one of her forums...though Wolfgang Van Halen banned me from his Twitter channel for making fun of the fat fuck.)
Kristy, are you on Thorazine (Chlorpromazine)?
No. Every "therapist' I ever had ghosted me for some reason. True! And Thorazine is no longer made. Trust me, I know.
Richie Blackamore in on DVD? I really have a lot of sympathy for all the tortured retinas that had to endure watching that.
What does that even mean?
By the way, I'm well aware that Thorazine was discontinued. A student of mine died at the age of 13 from a heart attack after years of being prescribed that poison. Nobody knew for sure if it was the Thorazine...but I've always suspected it. (Actually makes me wonder why I'm making a Thorazine joke in the first place.)
Steven Hyden shares
My (Non-Anonymous) Ballot For The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
https://uproxx.com/indie/my-non-anon...-hall-of-fame/
Any Foreigner haters can suck dick..the first lp is gold front to back..not a bad song on it..went downhill after Head games
I will say Blackmore made a bold decision in putting the Strat away in the mid to late 1990's and playing the Renaissance music that he both loved and considered more of a challenge to play. Much the same as he made a bold decision in leaving Deep Purple in 1993 because he no longer found being in Purple satisfying or challenging. It would have been all too easy to keep churning out the old Purple hits live and getting a paycheck. He left Purple, made another attempt at a Rainbow reformation, then when that didn't work he finally did what he had wanted to do musically. One can say "blah blah blah Ritchie's wife made him do it" or whatever but the fact of the matter was certainly by the time The Battle Rages On album was being recorded that Blackmore was disenchanted with regurgitating the same type of hard rock he had been for decades.
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