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Hello again 80’s Metal lovin’ friends. Today is a big-time landmark day because today in 1986, METALLICA released what many consider the greatest metal record of the 80’s and maybe of all-time, ‘Master of Puppets.’
Rolling Stone notes the album still sounds as powerful today as it does fearless. It was also written in only eight weeks. The first song Metallica wrote for the LP was “Battery,” followed by “Disposable Heroes.” The only songs that weren’t complete by the time they got to the studio were “The Thing That Should Not Be” and “Orion.” Originally, they’d hoped Rush singer Geddy Lee would produce the LP, but he was unavailable due to time constraints.
The title track is so popular it surprises Lars Ulrich, saying “when I listen to ‘Master of Puppets’ now, I just sit there and go, ‘What the fuck? How do you do that?’ It’s very gutsy music.” Former bassist Cliff Burton said in 1986 that it was Metallica’s “best song yet.”
Did you know Lars used another band’s drum on ‘Master of Puppets’? Def Leppard’s Rick Allen had been in an accident that resulted in him losing his left arm and wasn’t using his snare at the time, so Lars asked, “Can you send it over? They just overnighted it.”
Ex-JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing says he would be open to reuniting with his former bandmates on the occasion of a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. Even better he said “is to schedule a massive tour featuring of BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN and PRIEST. I think we would all love to see that. “It would be something I would have to be part of,” Downing said. “Only because I’d like to see the greatest heavy-metal tour happen because it’s never happened. And it’s never gonna happen. Unfortunately, that chapter of history won’t be there forever, which is kind of sad.”
SLAYER guitarist Kerry King may have temporarily lost his mind or may be a little delusional when he said in a recent interview that Iron Maiden and Metallica are ‘living on past success’. Although he did admit that Slayer is, to some degree, resting on its laurels. Not sure what to make of this.
SAVATAGE Guitarist CHRIS CAFFERY is joining METAL CHURCH for their upcoming tour.
That’s it for now. Find out the latest by visiting the METAL SHOP website or follow on Facebook or Twitter.
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Oh, it’s good to be back from the dead. Less than 24 hours ago, a major Internet outage knocked thousands of radio stations off the air, including METAL SHOP and HAIR BAND RADIO. All are back now, so your days and nights can again be filled with 80’s metal and hard rock.
It appears the outage may have effected everything else as well because it’s been a slow news day. However, I did come across this interesting interview from last month with SLAYER and EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt, who was asked about how he previously admitted he was a fan of RATT with thrash and glam metal being enemies in the ’80s. When asked why Ratt in particular stood out as opposed to other bands from the genre, Holt said: “The talent! Warren DeMartini is one of the best guitar players on Earth, with some of the best riffs. His solos are incredible. So I mean, I think that’s where it starts. A guy like me, who was raised since the birth of thrash metal and hair bands were like our common mutual enemies, we all secretly coveted all of George Lynch and Warren’s licks! They’re both phenomenal guitar players. And the bands are great because they had those guys writing such awesome stuff and they had the chops to play it. And you know, the guitar tone…everything like that was just killer. it was some super good stuff that I didn’t appreciate till later in life. I always appreciated the soloing aspect. But you know, now, you listen to the opening riff of ‘Lay It Down’, and it’s just brilliant.”
Regarding his current gig with Slayer, Holt says, “I Still Come Out On Stage Trying To Make Jeff Hanneman Proud; It’s Still His Band Now”.
Happy Birthday to Anvil singer and guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow. He turns 60 today. The band’s documentary film ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ revealed “Lips” often had other jobs during Anvil’s career due to the band’s continual lack of success since the late eighties and the lack of income it had produced. He has worked as a truck driver for a catering business and despite it being often physically demanding and ‘backbreaking’ work, he has spoken positively of his job and lifestyle, saying “I’ve raised a family, I own a home, I’ve lead a great, “normal” life, which is something that you just can’t do if you’re a monster star your entire life. Working the other jobs allowed me to go out and play across the world and do whatever I like, but when I come home, I get to be normal again.”
Former AC/DC Bassist Mark Evans is also turning 60 today. He quit the band in 1977 after becoming tired of touring.
On this date in 1981, IRON MAIDEN released the single “Twilight Zone” from the album “Killers” and today in 1984, the classic mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” was released. Probably no surprise that much of the dialouge in that film was ad libbed.
That’s all for now. The metal is flowing on a Wednesday, so it’s off to a good start. Rock on brothers and sisters.
Hi there! Back for another merry round of what’s up in 80’s Metal.
Photos, video and stories are coming from the big weekend of live metal in Las Vegas.
METAL SHOP listener Bianca Trujillo attended the MEGADETH concert last Friday (Feb. 26th). Check out her recap and photos at this location – Click Here
METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel attended the IRON MAIDEN concert on Sunday (Feb. 28th). Check out his recap and photos – Click Here
A new Twitter account purportedly belonging to former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Izzy Stradlin has appeared on the social media site, according to The Pulse Of Radio. Two sources have apparently confirmed to The Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Shah that the account is real, with Stradlin himself — or the person behind the account claiming to be Stradlin — tweeting a video of himself playing guitar. But more importantly, the first tweet from the @IzzyStradlin999 account on Feb. 22nd read, “At this point in time, I’ve no involvement in the upcoming April 2016 GNR shows.”
Former DIO and current DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2013 and is continues to battle the disease, saying recently, “It keeps coming back. I’ve done three rounds of chemo, stem cell transplant and I really thought would be it with the stem cell transplant, but no, it came back, so I’m kind of resigned to the fact that I’ll probably deal with the rest of my life. But I’m really not at all concerned with it; it’s just maintenance. I put it on par with going to the dentist. It’s a little bit more involved than that, but it’s just something that I got to keep doing.”
Today in 1997, a MÖTLEY CRÜE fan who claimed his hearing had been irreparably damaged after a show in New Jersey had his lawsuit thrown out of court. The judge told Clifford Goldberg who had sat near the front of the stage, knew the risk he was taking.
Happy Birthday to original SKID ROW drummer Rob Affuso. He turns 53 today.
On this date in 1982, KROKUS released their sixth album “One Vice at a Time”, featuring the single “Long Stick Goes Boom” and today in 2005, JUDAS PRIEST released the album “Angel of Retribution”, their first album since 1990’s ‘Painkiller’ to feature Rob Halford.
That’s all I’ve got so far. Check in, chime in….and thank you!
Metal Monday is on and it’s Leap Day, which means we get an extra day of February this year. It also means most of us are essentially working an extra day for free. If you look at it that way, we also get a free day of cable, internet and electricity, so there’s that.
IRON MAIDEN played Las Vegas last Night (Feb. 28th). METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel was there and was able to get only a few photos before his phone died, but he had killer seats – see photo below. Stay tuned for his recap coming later today or tomorrow.
It was a great weekend for live 80’s metal and hard rock from many of our favorites… MEGADETH performed in L.A. last night, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was in San Antonio on Saturday (Feb. 27), and BLACK SABBATH played its last-ever concert in New York City at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Checkout fan-filmed video footage at this location – Click Here
In a recent interview, MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine was asked what it would take for another ‘Big Four’ concert to happen? He responded, “if it happens again, that would be great. If it doesn’t, the people who got to see it got to see something really remarkable. Am I supposed to doing it? You know, it would have to be the right thing. I think that, you know, Megadeth is at a place right now where we’re successful to a degree where we would be happy continuing to do what we do on our own. So if we’re gonna do another ‘Big Four’ thing, I would want it to be something where we walk away as content as METALLICA does from something like that. It’s not Metallica and three other dudes.”
You may have heard there are competing touring versions of RATT out there. Former bassist Juan Croucier fronts RATT’S JUAN CROUCIER and former drummer Bobby Blotzer is touring as RATT, but he is the only original member in that group. This has obviously created a lot of tension for everyone, including former Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini, who in September filed a lawsuit against Blotzer, claiming that the drummer was falsely advertising his “tribute band” as the real thing… you think? Stephen Pearcy has checked out of all of this and is performing some solo shows. Croucier was quoted last week saying “There is no single person in the band Ratt who’s by themselves Ratt.’
I didn’t watch the Academy Awards last night but PANTERA was mentioned in the short clip introducing each of the nominated films in the category before the winner was announced. Actor Christian Bale learned to play double-bass drums for a short scene in “The Big Short” where his character, the hedge fund manager Michael Burry, bangs on his kit in his basement to Pantera’s ‘By Demons Be Driven.’ https://t.co/pbMJu6N6r3
Any Leaplings out there? Happy birthday! If you turned 50 today, you would actually still not be a teenager, so act your age and headbang all day while you work. You’re not getting paid anyway 🙂
Oh yeah! It’s Friday. Now read that again in James Hetfield’s voice – “Oh yeah!”
Here we go…
Like any good celebrity memoir, Lita Ford’s new book ‘Living Like a Runaway’ has its share of surprising all-star revelations — like her memories of the night Robert Plant asked her if she wanted to join Led Zeppelin. Their encounter, as recalled in an excerpt published by the New York Post, took place in 1975 after the Runaways’ first headlining gig in Los Angeles. After posing for photos with the band, Plant took Ford aside and asked if she could play bass. When she wondered who she’d be playing bass for, Plant retorted, “Led Zep.” “He might have been drinking or pulling my leg,” wrote Ford, “but he seemed to be dead serious in the moment.”
The IRON MAIDEN ‘The Book of Souls Tour’ resumes tonight (Feb. 26) in Tulsa, Oklahoma after opening in Florida this week. Maiden will be in Vegas on Sunday and then off to Mexico. Kind of a strange tour route in North America, but maybe pilot Bruce Dickinson is not interested in short flights 🙂 Checkout the IRON MAIDEN facebook page to view photos from Wednesday’s tour kickoff show in Florida.
Whitesnake has announced a Greatest Hits tour for this summer. The group’s release last year, ‘The Purple Album’ was meant to be singer David Coverdale’s last work, but he admitted it gave him a new lease of life. “I have no desire to hang up my rock’n’roll sneakers just yet,” he said.
Today in 1981, JUDAS PRIEST released their 7th album “Point of Entry.” Following the instant classic “British Steel,” Priest wasn’t content to simply fast-track a quick carbon copy for their next effort. The problem was, they couldn’t agree on their next step, according to frontman Rob Halford. “The band wanted to do something different, but the record company had seen we could deliver hit singles and wanted more of the same. We were not so sure, so I think Point of Entry suffers from too many people pulling in too many directions.” Can you believe their record label rejected the vaguely futuristic album cover design chosen overseas and replaced it with an arguably more abstract interpretation of the title?
ANTHRAX’s long-awaited new album, “For All Kings”, is out today (Feb. 26). A review in The Guardian calls the new record “crowd-pleasing destruction from the thrash masters.” Listen for the single “Breathing Lightning” now playing on METAL SHOP.
Happy Friday and let’s raise a toast to 80’s metal this weekend. Cheers!
Welcome to a Thursday. Metal music is good for the soul and the colon and there is plenty to keep you in tiptop shape here.
IRON MAIDEN is back! ‘The Book of Souls Tour’ opened last night in Sunrise, Florida and the first two songs were from the new album. There were also plenty of the great oldies we know and love, but with a new album, Maiden has always devoted a fair amount of time to their latest offering.
The 15 song setlist included “Children Of The Damned” (performed for the first time in seven years), “The Trooper”, “Powerslave”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “The Number Of The Beast”, “Wasted Years”, and six tracks from the new album.
The biggest question mark going into this tour were concerns about the strength of Bruce Dickinson’s voice after rounds of chemoterapy to combat his throat cancer last year. The word is the Air Raid Siren sounded in fine form. Click Here for the first review.
MÖTLEY CRÜE’s final interviews as a band during their last shows at the end of December, reveal the “drama and pain” of being in an outfit that had run out of creativity, says Nikki Sixx. “I want to write music because it’s real. There’s not a relationship there (with Motley Crue). Let it die gracefully. We couldn’t be creative as a band, so how the hell can we continue?” Read more.
SLAYER frontman Tom Araya has admitted he was worried about guitarist Kerry King writing Slayer’s 11th album on his own and feared the album might fail without co-founder Jeff Hanneman, who’d always co-written the band’s material. His replacement, Exodus axeman Gary Holt, did not write for the new record. You can read the entire interview at this location – Click Here.
Happy Birthday to Trent Riley listening to METAL SHOP in Kentucky and Aaron Santana listening in California.
Have a kick ass day!
Hello, you! Time to crank up METAL SHOP on a Wednesday.
IRON MAIDEN kicks off ‘The Book of Souls World Tour’ tonight in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They are the rulers of my 80’s metal world and seem to be for many others as well… check out this great comment on the Maiden Facebook page, “Iron Maiden is everything that is right about metal. Iron Maiden was my childhood. Iron Maiden is my present. And now I can give this astounding gift to my son as we are going to the show together. \m/”
AC/DC currently tops ‘Billboard’s Hot Tours’ chart. For their last three shows in the midwestern U.S., they were seen by nearly 50,000 fans. The lads from down under will next be in Houston, Texas on Friday (2/26).
Have you heard of the ‘Hair Metal Awards’? I hadn’t either, but this is a thing and the first annual will take place May 15th in Las Vegas. SCORPIONS will make an appearance to receive the “Classic Rock Outstanding Lifetime Achievement” award and German metal queen Doro Pesch will be presented with the “Metal Goddess” award. The first part of the show will be artists from the Sunset Strip era and the second half will feature more of the metal genre of national artists. QUIET RIOT and TWISTED SISTER will perform and there will be a tribute to MOTÖRHEAD’s Lemmy Kilmister, which will include a performance by major metal stars.
LITA FORD has a new tell-all book out, where she describes an abusive relationship with BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi. In a recent interview though, she says “Tony Iommi was my idol, him and Ritchie Blackmore. When I was growing up, the first concert I ever saw was BLACK SABBATH, when I was 13, and Tony Iommi was just like a God in my eyes; he was a hero to me, and still is. Even though… You have to read the book, but he was abusive, and that almost killed me — literally. And I didn’t expect that from my superhero.”
Today in 2003, bassist Robert Trujillo joined METALLICA, replacing Jason Newsted. Trujillo first gained prominence as the bassist for California thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. He was also a member of OZZY OSBOURNE’s band for a number of years starting in the late 1990s.
Lee Aaron released the album “Metal Queen” today in 1984. Two years earlier, she posed topless for the men’s magazine OUI, but later concluded in an interview that it damaged her musical credibility; she regretted the decision and assigned blame for it to pressure from her manager.
RONNIE JAMES DIO released the album “Inferno:Last In Live” today in 1998.
That’s your morning 80’s metal menu. Off to the radio factory now; see you there, and here. Thanks for being part of this!
Hello 80’s metalheads, lurkers, and surfers! There is word again of a possible DOKKEN reunion, this time from former bassist, Jeff Pilson, who says “we’re actually working really hard to try and pull something together right now. It has to fall in spaces where there is time off [from my gig with Foreigner], so I don’t know for sure whether it’s gonna happen. So let’s just say we’re all friendly now, we’re all past all the decades-old crap, and we all talk and everything’s great. Now it really is just down to scheduling and trying to figure it out. Because, you know, you’ve gotta do it right, if you’re gonna do it. We all feel that way. Pilson continued; “We shared something very special together. I think we’re all at the point in life where we kind of appreciate it now. And if we ever get a chance to do some more with it, I think… It would be very interesting, because we’ve never been in a situation where there wasn’t animosity, so I don’t know. [Laughs] Maybe it won’t work. I don’t know. [Laughs]”
In case you missed it, Sammy Hagar (The Red Rocker) made some interesting claims in this Dan Rather interview clip released over the weekend, saying “I was really as big as VAN HALEN.” Click Here to watch the video.
Man, I love the rockumentaries coming out now on some of the 80’s metal and hard rocks bands and how they really capture the hunger of the early days. The QUIET RIOT one was really good and now TWISTED SISTER is out today. Check out a clip of ‘We Are Twisted F***ing Sister’ at this location – Click Here.
Happy Birthday to QUEENSRŸCHE Guitarist Michael Wilton. He turns 54 today. Did you know he is also known as ‘The Whip,’ for how fast his fingers “whip” around the guitar fretboard? After original Queensrÿche guitarist Chris DeGarmo left the band in 1998, Wilton gradually began performing most of the songs that previously featured DeGarmo doing the main solo live, including “Silent Lucidity”, “The Mission”, “En Force”, “I Am I”, “Take Hold of the Flame”, “Best I Can”, “The Killing Words”, “Bridge”, “The Lady Wore Black” and “Anybody Listening?”, amongst others.
Happy Birthday to Andres Moreno listening to METAL SHOP in Bogotá, Colombia and Jacob Kulhanek listening in Houston, Texas.
Have a terrific Tuesday and never stop rockin’!
Hope it was a good weekend for you. Maybe you live near Dallas, Texas and got to see MEGADETH kick off off their North American ‘Dystopia’ Tour on Saturday. They opened with “Hangar 18” and the encore was “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” Dave Mustaine recently said about the setlist that people say, “You gotta do this, you gotta do that. I ain’t gotta do nothing. And listening to the fans, what they like, and listening to what I like. Between the two of us, one of us is going to be right. And I know that when it comes down to playing stuff that makes me feel good, I like playing the heavy stuff.”
Maybe you live near Aberdeen, Washington and got to see METAL CHURCH play their first show with singer Mike Howe in more than 20 years on Friday. Howe fronted the band from 1988 until 1994, and is featured on the new album, “XI”, which will be released on March 25. Check out fan footage – Click Here
Great read on DOKKEN this weekend and how their MTV success and the approval of Freddy Krueger couldn’t stop the most fractious band of the 80s from tearing itself apart. Despite the success the band had, singer Don Dokken and guitarist George Lynch had never much liked each other. In 1988, Dokken played on the ‘Monsters of Rock’ tour with Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica and Kingdom Come. Don Dokken says they had to follow Metallica and “didn’t stand a chance. After Metallica went out and played ‘Master Of Puppets,’ we sounded like the fucking Partridge Family.” (Free registration required for full article).
OZZY OSBOURNE released his fourth solo album, “The Ultimate Sin” 30 years ago today after finishing a stint in rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic the year before. Ozzy considers it his worst album, calling it “The Ultimate Din” and guitarist Jake E. Lee would be unceremoniously terminated the following year after the Ultimate Sin tour ended. Of course, the fans didn’t experience this record the way Ozzy and his band did. While not his best, it stands up on it’s own and sounds better with time.
In 1989, a category for Heavy Metal was included at the Grammy Awards for the first time. Metallica performed on stage, but the award went to Jethro Tull. Fans (and even some audience members) were rightly outraged, though Tull’s record label tried to make light of the faux pas by placing a Billboard ad that read, “The flute is a heavy, metal instrument.” When Metallica later won a Grammy for 1991’s Metallica, they thanked Jethro Tull for not release a competing album.
Have a fantastic Monday and thanks for listening to METAL SHOP.
We lost some hair along the way, gained a couple of pounds, got no retirement plans because we didn’t plan on living this long, but we can still rock hard and if you look at it sideways we can still kick your ass like it ain’t no thing, so let’s toast the weekend about to start.
Happy Birthday to BLACK SABBATH Guitarist Tony Iommi. He turns 68 today. Did you know Iommi briefly played in Jethro Tull? Yes, for one performance, before returning to his bandmates (Ozzy, Geezer and Ward), who were known as ‘Earth’ back then before changing their name to Black Sabbath. Sabbath’s “The End” tour stops in Detroit, Michigan tonight.
I just don’t think TWISTED SISTER’s Dee Snider can help himself. Right or wrong, he doesn’t beat around the bush, this time saying he doesn’t ‘get’ how ‘murderer’ Vince Neil ‘didn’t do any serious jail time’ when his drunk-driving car crash killed HANOI ROCKS drummer Razzle in 1984. Snider continued: “And people are cool with that. They’re like, ‘Yeah, all right! Rock ‘n’ roll!!’ And the guy didn’t do any serious jail time. I’m, like, ‘Really? Really? He’s a murderer.’ I don’t get that at all.”
Vivian Campbell was asked if he and Ronnie James DIO ever got to mend fences prior to the singer’s 2010 death. He responded: “No. I never got to talk to Ronnie again afterwards, unfortunately. Actually, we only talked to each other through the press, which is never, ever, ever a good idea. We were both guilty of saying really stupid and hurtful things. I’d like to think that we would have made up. I think if Ronnie and I had bumped into each other on the street, I think after a couple of minutes, we might have agreed to go to the pub for a pint and we could have probably worked things out.”
From one split-up to another, Sammy Hagar explained yesterday that he reached out to Eddie Van Halen on Twitter last month on Eddie’s birthday because of the recent deaths of David Bowie and Glenn Frey, saying “It just makes you stop and think that, you know, with my relationship with Eddie Van Halen and stuff that’s always been in the toilet, it makes you say, ‘I don’t want to be buried with any regrets or bad vibes like that.’ It makes you want to be just friends with everybody and say, ‘Hey, look, forget it.’ Even if you don’t want to be in a band together, just let’s be friends. No more enemies for me. You don’t want to go to your grave with enemies. So that’s what it’s done for me. It woke me up and said, ‘no more enemies.’ And before I die, I won’t have any, if I have my way.”
Speaking of Sammy Hagar, it was yesterday in 1977 when he was booed off the stage while opening for KISS. Hagar responded to the crowd with “F— you,” and then proceeded to drop his pants and pull out his wang before smashing his ’61 Stratocaster guitar to pieces and walking offstage. Check out the whole story – Click Here
On this date in 1980, AC/DC singer Bon Scott died after a night of heavy drinking. Left to sleep it off in a friend’s car, he was found dead in the car the next morning. The official coroner’s report labeled his demise as “death by misadventure” and “acute alcohol poisoning. He was 33 years old. R.I.P.
Today in 1982, Ozzy Osbourne was arrested in San Antonio, Texas for urinating on the Alamo. He was wearing a dress at the time of his arrest (his wife Sharon had hid all his clothes so he couldn’t go outside). Ozzy apparently thought he was relieving himself on a pile of rubble and was subsequently banned from ever playing in San Antonio, Texas again, (the ban was lifted in 1992).
On this date in 1992, GUNS N’ ROSES played the first of three nights at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan as part of the ‘Use Your Illusion’ Tour and today in 1995, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee married Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson, who was wearing a white bikini, on a beach in Cancun, Mexico. They married only four days after meeting and had videotaped their sexual activities while on vacation, which was later stolen and released on the Internet. The couple divorced in 1998.
Tomorrow (Feb. 20, 2003), marks 13 years since the Station Nightclub Fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island. GREAT WHITE was performing that night, where 99 people died in the fire sparked by pyrotechnics.
Former WHITESNAKE and DIO guitarist Doug Aldrich is celebrating a birthday today. He turns 52.
Happy Birthday to Jessica McNear listening to METAL SHOP in Tennessee and Siva Prasad listening in India.
Don’t forget METAL SHOP is on 24/7…. that means weekends too, so listen on the website, find us on TuneIn, or download the app to listen on your phone. Great thing to have. If you like more Hair in your metal, you can also check out our sister station HAIR BAND RADIO.
