These are a Few of my Favourite Sings
Sorry for the long hiatus...AND for the dippy attempt at humor in the title of this post. Suffice it to say that the semester is progressing nicely, Roslyn is beautiful & absolutely perfect (when she's not being a little shit, that is), and all's well with the world. Well...okay, no, there's PLENTY wrong with the world. But, my little slice of it could hardly be believably better, so I ain't gonna bitch.
What I AM gonna do is share some songs & videos with you. Fall is a good time for me to restock my car CD case; a little bit o'out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new makes me feel like there has actually been a change of seasons. I try to keep my car loaded with what I hear as "summer music" during my off-school months, and so I spend lots of time driving around and loudly singing along (off-key, natch) to the Beach Boys, Van Halen, the B-52s, assorted summery Kiss (Love Gun, Alive II, Dynasty), and a host of other good-ear stuff. When autumn rolls around, though, I try to keep pace with the shortening days by putting away the summer music and listening to things I haven't heard in awhile.
Which brings me 'round to this here post. I've been hearing lots of my favourite singers these past few weeks, and I thought I'd share 'em with you. I'm sure these are mostly well-known folks, but there may be a few gems here you've not experienced before. And maybe you needed to be reminded of the awesomeness of even the familiar people? Read on, and click on the links to see relevant tasty video goodness.
Dee Snider The lead singer of Twisted Sister has a great throaty huskiness that exemplifies what I hear as the perfect rock & roll voice. Plus, he has that great giant mane of hair; in all the early albums, when the guitarists were giving shout-outs to the makers of the equipment they used, Dee always had some loony comment for Vidal Sassoon. In fact, I've read that Dee is credited with the invention of the term "hair metal" to describe this very look. This video gives you a taste of his voice from the 2nd TS album, and also displays his bad-ass rock & roll stance.
Lou Gramm He kinda looks like a dweeby little shit, but man! That voice! Whether he's fronting Foreigner, on his own, or with the likes of Shadow King, he soars like an eagle. And, I love the red Ludwig Vistalite drums in this video! Classic 70s, all the way.
Paul Stanley If I have to tell you who he sings for, you don't know me AT ALL. Seriously. Just watch and learn.
Pat Benatar She sometimes gets billed as a has-been Queen of the 80s, but together with guitarist/husband Neal Geraldo, she's put out a new album every few years. This is an older clip, but it captures her at the peak of her cultural popularity. Her range is unbelievable; to think that she came (this close) to following an operatic path instead of the rock-y goodness she gave us.
Doro Pesch There's a name you don't see every day! She's kind of the female equivalent of Dee Snider: all blonde & throaty and full of leathery bad-assedness. She sang with a so-so metal outfit called Warlock in the 80s, but lately she has been doing all kinds of good stuff on her own.
David Readman In the 1990s, I was despairing for good metal to listen to. I tried various watered-down versions, and I even gave the so-called "Seattle sound" a fair shake. Ultimately, though, the music lacked one important ingredient: MELODY! Well, a student in 1999 introduced me to Pink Cream 69, which is the best band you're not listening to. Readman is the 2nd lead singer (Andy Deris having departed for Helloween), and this song comes from his first release with the group. Every one since has been a melodic metal masterpiece! (*makes the two-fingered metal salute with both hands!*)
Sammy Hagar Okay, again, if you don't know who Sammy is, yer living in a box. WITHOUT a stereo. From his early, cruisin'- in-your-Trans-Am days with Montrose, to a stellar slew of solo releases, and even through his Van Halen days...Sammy makes a convincing case that there really IS only one way to rock!
Dio I was so happy to see Dio make an actual appearance in the Tenacious D movie! He so totally rocks. I'm not sure Elf was the greatest band ever, but Dio has sung more good rock & roll on his own, or in bands like Rainbow and Black Sabbath, that the guy seriously deserves to be crowned King of Heavy Metal. And, like, he gave us the devil-horn salute! Dude! Rejoice.
Joe Lynn Turner And speaking of Rainbow...it may have been Ritchie Blackmore's group, but for me the band has always been more about the voice. Joe here replaced Dio in the early 1980s after fronting a forgettable band called Fandango, and this song is a testament to the power of MTV. I saw the video, I loved the voice, I bought the album. Hmmm...I wonder why CD sales are in such a nosedive? Is it because...oh, I don't know, MTV HARDLY PLAYS ANY FRICKIN' VIDEOS ANYMORE?!? MTV! MUSIC television! Gah. (*gets his Oscar voice from Corner Gas*) Idiots!
What I AM gonna do is share some songs & videos with you. Fall is a good time for me to restock my car CD case; a little bit o'out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new makes me feel like there has actually been a change of seasons. I try to keep my car loaded with what I hear as "summer music" during my off-school months, and so I spend lots of time driving around and loudly singing along (off-key, natch) to the Beach Boys, Van Halen, the B-52s, assorted summery Kiss (Love Gun, Alive II, Dynasty), and a host of other good-ear stuff. When autumn rolls around, though, I try to keep pace with the shortening days by putting away the summer music and listening to things I haven't heard in awhile.
Which brings me 'round to this here post. I've been hearing lots of my favourite singers these past few weeks, and I thought I'd share 'em with you. I'm sure these are mostly well-known folks, but there may be a few gems here you've not experienced before. And maybe you needed to be reminded of the awesomeness of even the familiar people? Read on, and click on the links to see relevant tasty video goodness.
Dee Snider The lead singer of Twisted Sister has a great throaty huskiness that exemplifies what I hear as the perfect rock & roll voice. Plus, he has that great giant mane of hair; in all the early albums, when the guitarists were giving shout-outs to the makers of the equipment they used, Dee always had some loony comment for Vidal Sassoon. In fact, I've read that Dee is credited with the invention of the term "hair metal" to describe this very look. This video gives you a taste of his voice from the 2nd TS album, and also displays his bad-ass rock & roll stance.
Lou Gramm He kinda looks like a dweeby little shit, but man! That voice! Whether he's fronting Foreigner, on his own, or with the likes of Shadow King, he soars like an eagle. And, I love the red Ludwig Vistalite drums in this video! Classic 70s, all the way.
Paul Stanley If I have to tell you who he sings for, you don't know me AT ALL. Seriously. Just watch and learn.
Pat Benatar She sometimes gets billed as a has-been Queen of the 80s, but together with guitarist/husband Neal Geraldo, she's put out a new album every few years. This is an older clip, but it captures her at the peak of her cultural popularity. Her range is unbelievable; to think that she came (this close) to following an operatic path instead of the rock-y goodness she gave us.
Doro Pesch There's a name you don't see every day! She's kind of the female equivalent of Dee Snider: all blonde & throaty and full of leathery bad-assedness. She sang with a so-so metal outfit called Warlock in the 80s, but lately she has been doing all kinds of good stuff on her own.
David Readman In the 1990s, I was despairing for good metal to listen to. I tried various watered-down versions, and I even gave the so-called "Seattle sound" a fair shake. Ultimately, though, the music lacked one important ingredient: MELODY! Well, a student in 1999 introduced me to Pink Cream 69, which is the best band you're not listening to. Readman is the 2nd lead singer (Andy Deris having departed for Helloween), and this song comes from his first release with the group. Every one since has been a melodic metal masterpiece! (*makes the two-fingered metal salute with both hands!*)
Sammy Hagar Okay, again, if you don't know who Sammy is, yer living in a box. WITHOUT a stereo. From his early, cruisin'- in-your-Trans-Am days with Montrose, to a stellar slew of solo releases, and even through his Van Halen days...Sammy makes a convincing case that there really IS only one way to rock!
Dio I was so happy to see Dio make an actual appearance in the Tenacious D movie! He so totally rocks. I'm not sure Elf was the greatest band ever, but Dio has sung more good rock & roll on his own, or in bands like Rainbow and Black Sabbath, that the guy seriously deserves to be crowned King of Heavy Metal. And, like, he gave us the devil-horn salute! Dude! Rejoice.
Joe Lynn Turner And speaking of Rainbow...it may have been Ritchie Blackmore's group, but for me the band has always been more about the voice. Joe here replaced Dio in the early 1980s after fronting a forgettable band called Fandango, and this song is a testament to the power of MTV. I saw the video, I loved the voice, I bought the album. Hmmm...I wonder why CD sales are in such a nosedive? Is it because...oh, I don't know, MTV HARDLY PLAYS ANY FRICKIN' VIDEOS ANYMORE?!? MTV! MUSIC television! Gah. (*gets his Oscar voice from Corner Gas*) Idiots!
posted by Animal at 11:49 AM
3 Comments:
I miss my MT-blah: Blah-blah Tele-blah
Can we just go back to hair metal and stay there?
Love it.
"Go back"??? Honey...I never LEFT!
(*winks...with guyliner...*)
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