The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[Trollheart]

Hard to believe we're three weeks into January already! Time to start dusting off those verses for the Valentine cards, and getting ready for more LoveDumping!

Meanwhile, what's been happening back on Planet Journal?

The big news this week is the return of the Ki(ng) to our shores, as he comes back from his break and is full of ideas for his journal. Read more below.

The only other real news is about the launch of “Star Trek Month” in the Couch Potato, of which there is a small teaser below. Wow. Slow week huh?

Oh yeah: Machine tells us he has big news on the way too...

And so on to the update.

Kicking off with http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html as the insectivore brings us music from Greeen Linez and Adeian Gurvitz (classic!)

while http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ackdragon.html blackdragon123 pens his thoughts on what Deep Purple's “Fireball” album cover means.

Chula is diggin' it with Santana in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...rly-years.html

and http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...63-2013-a.html hits the twenty-first century, where some of his album picks for 2000 are from Outkast, KMD, Ghostface Killah and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ancefloor.html continues as Justin reviews Maiden's last Bayley-helmed album, “Virtual XI”. There, there! It's all over now!

As you'll have read from the “Breaking News”, Ki is back after his sojourn away, and ready to tell us all what he plans to do in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-music.html. Welcome back man!

In http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...otistical.html there's news about his demo releases, with supposedly big news to follow...

as Oriphiel continues to tell the story of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...rgy-story.html with chapters two and three

and Overcast manages to --- presumably unintentionally --- have his two last posts reverse, in other words, second-to-last post was 1/12 and this week's is 12/1! Cool! Musically, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ff-thangs.html you'll find a review of the Antlers album “Burst apart”.

If you ask http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html he'll tell you hair metal, and in particular this week, Vandal.

Seems this is to be the year of the discography review, so check out http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html for reviews of the first two albums as I go through the whole catalogue of material from Tom Waits, while “The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy” returns in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html, and I announce the launch of "Star Trek Month", to kick off in March. Meanwhile, as http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-you-die.html we have efforts from Liars, TV On The Radio, Cee-Lo Green and Kanye West, while there's a look at the grandparents of progressive rock in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ive-metal.html, as well as a review of The Byrds' “Fifth dimension.” http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-reviews.html is doing well too, with albums from Platform One, Bob Seger, Opeth and Kerrs Pink among others.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html begins to explore the subgenres of thrash and glam metal --- with a fine write-up on the former --- with a look at Black and Blue's self-titled debut from 1984

and there's music from High on Fire and Dark Angel in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html.

Which brings us to my

And I have no hesitation whatever in awarding this to The Batlord, for this comment, posted in Pet_Sounds' journal:

(This is in response to Pet_Sounds' contention that he doesn't get why we wet ourselves over the riff in “Smoke on the water”)

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Cause it's heavy and catchy as ****, duh. This coming from a guy who thinks the Beatles can actually do old R&B songs justice. You ain't rock 'n' roll, dude.

What I love about this is that, while it's as classic a Batlord line as you could get, and he stands up for metal as he always does and distills the whole essence of the song into a few well-chosen words, it's also someone telling someone nearly half their age that they don't get this metal classic. It's like Batty has finally become one of us, those guys who shake their heads and say “Kids these days!” One of us! One of us! One of us!

And so on to


With the usual introduction that perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the time (bloody zeitgiests! Always escaping and having to be tracked down! Wears me out!) Unknown Soldier launched into 1981 with his next top twenty. Here's what he had to say about the year first:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

1981

1981 as a year could hardly eclipse the brilliance of 1980, but what it did do was consolidate all the in-roads that had already been established by the NWOBHM bands the previous year. Big NWOBHM guns such as Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard all released great albums in 1981, while the likes of Diamond Head and Angel Witch didn’t release follow-up albums to their classic debuts, a factor which almost immediately doomed both bands as future commercial metal giants in a fast moving metal world. It was also an odd year in many ways for metal as well, quite simply because it was the most ordered year of an ever changing decade. A revolution had taken place the previous year with the NWOBHM and now the storm of that movement had died down and the seas were settling on a new hierarchy. But like any gentle sea there was no guaranteee on which way the wind would blow when it actually came. Indicators of course suggested that the future lay with the NWOBHM and any related acts both new and established, as these bands had created the biggest ‘metal identity’ to date. The UK market proved vital for their development and growth, but the US market was where the true future lay and where these bands would ultimately flourish as commercial giants in the metal world, and from the new bands it was Iron Maiden and Def Leppard who would be the two to lead the way. Despite the establishment of the NWOBHM, other NWOBHM artists were still struggling though to get an album deal and would still have to wait a number of years before achieveing that deal, while other bargain basement dwellers like Venom actually did get that all important deal. As for the established artists they turned out to be a very mixed bag in 1981 and the likes of the new look Black Sabbath and Motorhead (albeit with a live release) were both on top form that year and also UFO briefly got their act back together as well. But it was disappointment for both AC/DC and Judas Priest, two bands that fired duds that year. AC/DC on For Those About to Rock, We Salute You quite simply failed to press the ignition switch on that album and on Judas Priest’s Point of Entry the songs just weren’t there. Elder statesmen like Thin Lizzy had lost their edge if not their popularity, but both Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham were in the depths of heroin addiction and their creativity had nosedived, but their 1981 album featuring Snowy White Renegade, was still nowhere near as poor as it’s made out to be and I actually think it’s a decent album (but still not good enough for the top 20 though) Stateside Van Halen were very much the order the day with their grittiest release to date and there was a return to form for New York metal act Riot, who released one of the best metal albums of the year. But the most interesting US release would come in the shape of the hedonistic Motley Crue and much like the Venom debut which would be at the other end of the metal spectrum, it would shape much of the metal scene for the rest of the decade!

Number twenty then came from Cirith Ungol with “Frost and fire”, followed by UFO with “The wild, the willing and the innocent” at 19 and Praying Mantis at 18 with “Time tells no lies.” Then it was “Heroes, saints and fools” by Saracen at 17 with Gillan back at 16 with “Future shock” while the number 15 slot went to Van Halen's “Fair warning”, just pipped by, er, Venom with “Welcome to Hell” at 14. Should have been 13, no? That spot was taken by Raven with “Rock until you drop” and then number 12 saw Samson's “Shock tactics” with Y&T at 11 with “Earthshaker", taking us into the top ten.

Def Leppard kicked the top half off with “High and dry” at number 10, with Riot at number 9 as “Fire down under” just missed taking the number eight spot from The Tygers of Pan-Tang with “Spellbound”, then Triumph were at 7 with “Allied forces” and Michael Schenker Group took the number 6 slot with “MSG”, opening the way for Motorhead to blast into the top five with “No sleep till Hammersmith”. They were followed by Motley Crue at four with “Too fast for love”, and then the top three consisted of three classics in Iron Maiden's “Killers”, Saxon with “Denim and leather”, and, perhaps questionably, at the top of the pile, Black Sabbath with “Mob rules”.

Ozyy returned for another session “Down on the slab”, this time with “Diary of a madman”, taking us into 1982 with Manowar exploding onto the scene at 20 with their debut “Battle hymns”, Twisted Sister's “Under the blade” at 19, Samson were back at 18 with “Before the storm” and Vandenberg's self-titled took the 17th place. Motorhead were back at 16 with “Iron fist” and so were Y&T with the phenomenal “Black tiger” taking 15th slot. MSG's “Assault attack” led the way into the top half of the bottom half, if you get me, at number 14 while number 13 was not unlucky for Kiss, who took their “Creatures of the night” to the edge of the top ten, this completed by Witchfinder General at 12 and then Venom's “Black metal” at 11.

Top ten began with Diamond Head's underrated classic “Borrowed time”, then Saxon returned to announce that “The eagle has landed”, and it had, at number 9 while Hanoi Rocks made their first showing with “Self destruction blues” at 8. Some of my own personal favourites made up the rest of the lower half of the top ten, with Uriah Heep's “Abominog” at 7 and Tank at 6 with “Filth hounds of Hades”, while number 5 went to “Blackout” by The Scorpions, with “Wild dogs” at 4 as the Rods kicked in. The top three then were Anvil with “Metal on metal”, Maiden's timeless “The number of the Beast” and the top slot went to Judas Priest with “Screaming for vengeance.”

And with no further ado, not even a trip to the “slab”, we blasted on into 1983.

And so we come to the end of another update. Thanks to everyone who wrote, posted and read, and remember if you want to try your hand at this, it's as easy to get started as posting a thread and getting it approved. Join us, won't ya?

Till next week,
Toodles!