Song of the Day

I'm going to see Judas Priest, with Queensryche tonight. These were two hugely influential bands for me in high school and college.

Priest is reformed, with Rob Halford returning to the band. I liked Halford's solo projects a lot, but there's something about old Judas Priest that just rips. I saw Halford a couple years ago and had 2nd row center seats.. Oddly it wasn't a huge mash of people, so I was right smack in front of him.

There is no other rock singer with the presence or power of Rob Halford. His range and intensity is incredible. I stood there awestruck right in front of him, and I could have sworn he picked up on that as he was looking me right in the eyes and blasting out that power.. maybe it was just my imagination.. in any case, he rocked.

The reason he's the metal god is because when he's on stage, he's not performing. That's him. He rides out on the Harley, dressed in full leather, and that is what Rob Halford is all about. Other singers are putting on the show, and you can tell.

Halford also changed the face of metal by coming out. Millions of the most rabid metal heads you can imagine simply adored him, and really didn't care about anything else.

He's one of my heroes..

Queensryche recorded one of the greatest rock albums of all time, Operation Mindcrime. My buddy Perry and I were blown away. The Warning was a little on the "LA metal" side, if you know what I mean, but their third recording, Rage for Order, was far more edgy. They did the vampire thing before vampires were cool. Walk in the Shadows is a standout track off that album.

Then Operation Mindcrime was released, and we couldn't stop listening to it. Finally, a concept album with teeth. It had it all, love, drugs, intrigue, politics, murder. From the first song, to the last, it told a story that would make an awesome big budget Hollywood movie. In fact, I've often thought of writing a novel based on it. Collin Farrel would be the perfect protagonist in the film version.

All the tracks are terrific, but the top song has to be Suite Sister Mary. It's nearly 11 minutes long. So, for your listening pleasure click -->, Suite Sister Mary.

After Mindcrime, Queensryche released Empire, and while it was a commercial success, it was a piece of shit. I think a lot of it's commercial success had to do with Mindcrime. Empire had a few interesting things on it, but it was made for radio 4 minute metal-pop songs. It had the hit ballad Silent Lucidity on it, and that song makes me want to puke. It was NOT vampires, and it was NOT the Lady in Black, and it was NOT heroin induced amnesia with priests getting whacked... it was just crap.

And ever since, Queensryche never recovered. If it wasn't for the resurgence of the big metal bands, like Priest and Maiden, Queensryche would be playing at the Ramada Inn, ala Spinal Tap.

I told them to put Queensryche first, and puppet show last!

After Pink Floyd's The Wall, Rush's 2112, and Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime, there haven't been any concept albums of any consequence. I think that might change with the advent of satellite radio.

I have Sirius in my car, and you can stream it over the internet as well. I was listening yesterday over the net and they played Iron Maiden's Where Eagles Dare, from the Piece of Mind album. I was blown away. I'm a huge Maiden freak, and you simply do NOT hear that kind of track from the early 80's on regular radio. They followed it up with Hendrix's version of All Along the Watch Tower.

That's just fuckin' cool...

Satellite radio is going to change music in a big way. First, it will crush broadcast radio. In 10 years broadcast radio will be gone. Since it's commercial free, they really don't care how long the tracks are. On the "Hard Attack" stream, they often play songs of upwards of 15 minutes. That's how I got turned onto Opeth. They played a track that was 13 minutes long, complex, and skillful. I was amazed.

That's really the kind of music that I'm most turned on by. I've always loved Rush the most because of the complexity of the music, intensity of the lyrics, and shear musical skill. Perry and I got turned on huge to Dream Theatre for that reason. They were virtuosos, and the song writing was very complex and non-linear.

That kind of music died in the middle of the 90's. I do like some of the music today, but it's more like a twinkie - tastes great, but doesn't really do much else for you. With satellite radio, artists won't have to worry about 3 and a half minute hits.

Right now, you only hear that sort of non-linear complexity, and movement oriented songs, in metal, and hard progressive rock. Opeth is the perfect example - I'll post a song soon. Their music does not fold back on itself. It has a theme, and a style, but it's more like a piece of classical music with movements. It does not have verse, chorus, verse, solo, verse chorus, end. It is a stream of sound and music.

The destruction of complexity also caused the death of the guitar solo. They just don't happen anymore. I'm not a big fan of trite solos, but I do like to hear skill from the guitar player and not just ripping power chords with perfect meter.

Anyway.. hope the show is good.. and I'll work on getting back into posting more music - and I'll focus on things most people have never heard before.

Oh.. and Geoff Tate, the singer of Queensryche is gay also. Isn't it odd that both metal bands on a national standium tour have gay singers? I guess Kurt Cobain said it best.. Everyone is gay..