80’s Metal/Hair Bands
Examiner.com: Queensrÿche now has joined the ranks of fellow ’80s-era bands L.A. Guns and Great White as groups with two versions. While his ex-mates hired Crimson Glory vocalist Todd La Torre to be a younger, simulated version of Tate, the original countered Sept. 1 with the announcement of his new version of Queensrÿche featuring Ratt drummer Bobby Blotzer, bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Dio, Ozzy Osbourne), guitarist Glen Drover (Megadeth, Testament) and former Queensrÿche guitarist Kelly Gray and keyboardist Randy Gane.
Geoff Tate: “I haven’t heard him (Todd La Torre) sing. I don’t really know anything about him. Honestly, I look at the whole situation — their situation — as kind of insignificant to me. I have my own life and my own scene that I’m completely engulfed in. I really don’t pay attention to what they’re doing or how they’re doing it or what they think or what they say.”
“Queensrÿche had a glorious legacy, in my opinion. We had a very respectful name. We had a body of work that was very well-respected and very diverse and unique all over the world. We had a stellar reputation. Those three guys, they took that reputation, and they tore it apart and rubbed it in the dirt. That’s how much they cared about it. And if they care so little about it, they’re not the kind of people I want to associate with. Ever. Again. Honestly, I feel complete freedom being away from them, and they can live their small, little lives and do what they’re going to do, and that’s great. Happy for ’em. But I won’t have anything else to do with them.”
Powerline: “Randy was very different than other legends who have left us too soon, such as Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. They were amazing guitar players. Randy was an exceptionally gifted musician as well. But the strong interest in Randy 30 years after his passing is attributed to several factors. For starters, he left us just after he made it big. It was a time when we couldn’t wait to hear what would be coming next. Sadly, he passed away and left us hanging and wanting so much more. There is virtually no video of him. This adds to his mystique. We, as fans, want so much more than we were given — more music, more video, more photos. We want more of all things Randy! We just can’t let him go. He was so charismatic. We just can’t get enough of him. All the information that has been released about Randy prior to our book was very on the surface. There hadn’t been anything released that explored and documented who he was. Our book is filled with stories as told by his closest friends who knew him best. They introduce us to the part of Randy that we’ve always wanted to know.”
“It was his dedication to learning and furthering himself that we find the most inspiring and remarkable. Even Ozzy was struck by this. When Randy informed Ozzy he was quitting the rock and roll lifestyle in favor of pursuing a master’s degree in classical music, Ozzy asked him to wait a little longer. Ozzy said, “One more year and you can buy your own university. You have to strike while you are hot.” Randy didn’t care about any of that. He made up his mind and nothing was going to persuade him otherwise. There again, it’s that dedication to his beliefs that we find so inspiring. Furthering himself musically was at the top of his priority list. Anyone else would have relished in what he was experiencing. Selling out the world’s biggest arenas and stadiums got old for him rather quick. He got a taste of it and desperately wanted to move on to something else. That was Randy. He had a long list of things he wanted to accomplish.”
“Randy was one in a billion. He didn’t try to be different. He was born different. I don’t think he dressed that way because his goal was to be different. He wore what he wanted to wear. He used to take his first girlfriend, Jan, with him when he shopped for shoes. He preferred the girl’s shoes, and he would have her try them on for him. Clearly, he was embarrassed to buy them for himself, and he knew he would get grief for wearing them. It didn’t matter to him. He was very committed to doing what he wanted to do. Sometimes it did get him into a lot of trouble, especially at school. He constantly had jocks wanting to beat him up. They called him names. It didn’t affect him. Randy may have been frail, but he was emotionally strong. It took more than names to rattle him. He just laughed at them.”
USA Today: “Def Leppard will play its multiplatinum 1987 album ‘Hysteria’ in its entirety for Viva Hysteria!, which will begin March 22 at The Joint at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The band’s stay follows Hard Rock residencies from Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses.
“We’re very happy to be part of what I call the first wave of rockers to take Vegas back from the lounge singers — Wayne Newton and his type,” says Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott.
“Things like Run Riot, Don’t Shoot Shotgun and Love and Affection got left by the wayside because of the popularity of other songs that, to be frank, if you don’t play them live, you don’t get out of the building alive,” Elliott says. “The oddest thing is going to be doing Sugar fifth. In many respects, it’s like the Troggs opening with Wild Thing.”
Über Röck: “I never wanted to be a singer – honestly. I mean I was a guitar player and a singer, but guitar was my thing in my earlier bands. When I played my first big show, which was opening up for Journey, and our singer didn’t show up! I was like, “holy crap” so I sang and played guitar. After that I sang and played guitar and then after ‘Breaking the Chains’ with George in the band we were both playing guitar, but these were the days of David Lee Roth and such so there was a downside to trying to play guitar and be the lead singer. You can’t get off the mic, unless you’re like Sammy Hagar and wear a head set. Our management said “we think you should just front the band and let George play guitar”, he’s an excellent guitarist, but it was hard. It had been my crutch; it was kind of weird at first. I ended up as the lead singer because it was the days of Van Halen and other bands coming out with front men running around, going stage left and stage right and working the crowds.”
“I think a pivotal moment was when we started getting a following and opening up for bands like Van Halen, etc. and then obviously I got the offer to go to Germany and sing background vocals on the Scorpion’s album (‘Blackout’), and that was pivotal for me. I had done a demo and the manager for Accept was there, and they took my demos and handed me a plane ticket and told me I had a record deal. I got paid like 7,500.00 dollars – for the whole deal…so I had a record deal and no band. What some people don’t realise is that I had a solo album out in Germany, called ‘Don Dokken’. Then when we got the American record deal, they dropped the first name, and it became Dokken.”
IrishTimes.com: They were lost for a while, but 1980s metal megastars Anthrax are back, with old frontman Joey Belladonna, a new album and a new energy. “We sell more tickets now than in 1986,” says guitarist Scott Ian.
THERE ARE NO second acts in American life, according to F Scott Fitzgerald, but somebody forgot to tell Anthrax. In the 1980s, they were in the vanguard of thrash heavy metal riffs played at punk-rock pace, which changed heavy metal forever, and for the better.
In 2009, after more than a decade of diminishing returns, they had recorded an album of new material, but had no singer – ironic given that they have had eight since the band’s formation. They had parted ways with Dan Nelson and then his replacement John Bush, who had been in the band previously and was the longest-serving vocalist Anthrax had ever had.
The death rattle of a band in its final throes was audible. What to do? Ian now admits that he should never have fired Belladona in the first place. “People say ‘why it is so hard to keep a line-up together?’. People don’t get it. It’s worse than family,” he says.
The induction of Metallica, the undisputed kings of thrash, into the Roll and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 provided another fillip. Ever scheming and dreaming of ways to keep Metallica in the public eye, drummer Lars Ulrich came up with his most audacious plan to date, a tour involving the “Big Four” of thrash metal, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.
“I can’t really say enough about those shows. Metallica have many reasons for their success over the years, and timing certainly is one of them. Success in the entertainment business is luck and timing. It really gave us the kick in the arse to keep moving forward.
Consequence of Sound: “Before he became a botoxed spewer of conspiracy theories and Rick Santorum endorsements, Dave Mustaine was the archetypal underdog — the former Metallica guitarist who was exiled, disenfranchised, and cast out to fend for himself. He reacted by forging his own metal enterprise, Megadeth. Although never as relevant as Metallica, Megadeth achieved chart success and mainstream prominence with the release of 1992’s Countdown to Extinction, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary and getting the obligatory reissue treatment. It’s the album that got the band on the radio.”
“Recorded in L.A. amid the Rodney King riots and the lingering tensions of the Gulf War, Countdown to Extinction was Mustaine’s political record (and also his most accessible). After the technical theatrics of 1990’s Rust in Peace, Mustaine and lead guitarist Marty Friedman opted for groove metal, best illustrated by the chunky chords and verse-chorus-verse simplicity of the lead single, “Symphony of Destruction”. No wonder it remains Megadeth’s most popular song. The album also houses “Sweating Bullets”, in which Mustaine sings like a constipated cartoon character (“Nice story, tell it to Reader’s Digest!”). It’s charmingly goofy, but just ridiculous enough to be Mustaine’s finest vocal performance ever.”
A new studio album from Dokken titled “Broken Bones”, will be released in North America on September 25, 2012 (Frontiers Records).
The first single and video is called “Empire” and features a post-apocalyptic take on the band’s signature sound of catchy melodies, hot riffs and monster production.
Rolling Stone: Metal fans are a very passionate bunch. They’re also very opinionated, so when we asked them to vote for their favorite metal albums we expected a huge response. We also expected a big debate about the very definition of “heavy metal.” Some metal fans say that groups like Led Zeppelin and Guns N’ Roses are metal. Others think that’s completely insane. We aren’t here to settle these debates. We’re merely here to count the votes.
- Metallica – ‘Master of Puppets’
- Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’
- Black Sabbath – ‘Black Sabbath’
- Iron Maiden – ‘The Number of the Beast’
- Metallica – ‘. . . And Justice for All’
- Slayer – ‘Reign In Blood’
- Guns N’ Roses – ‘Appetite for Destruction’
- Metallica – ‘Metallica’ (The Black Album)
- Led Zeppelin – ‘Led Zeppelin II’
- Metallica – ‘Ride the Lightning’
Released at a time when the 80’s thrash-metal genre was exploding, Anthrax’s “Among The Living” joined Metallica’s “Master Of Puppets”, Slayer’s “Reign In Blood” and Megadeth’s “Peace Sells”, in birthing what came to be known as the Big Four.
Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna and guitarist Scott Ian, discuss at length stories behind the making of their gold-certified 1987 album that includes some of the band’s most popular tracks — “I Am The Law”, “Indians” and “Caught In A Mosh”.
“Oh, I did it. I don’t make any bones about it.” said former Queensrÿche singer Geoff Tate, who taped a guest appearance on VH1 Classic’s “That Metal Show” in early August for an episode that aired on Saturday, August 25, 2012.
“Right before the show, we held a quick meeting in the dressing room and they told me that they just fired my wife, who has been our manager for ten years, and my daughter, who has been our fan-club president, and basically our office assistance all these years, and my son-in-law, who is our guitar tech, and I was next. . . And I lost my temper. I came unglued. I’m glad someone stopped me, ’cause I look back on it with regret that I could have hurt one of them pretty badly. But, man, it’s not something I’m proud of.”
Get More: That Metal Show