AC/DC
Welcome to a Wednesday 80’s Metal Dogs! Sometimes I do miss my mullet. I started growing it around 1985 and now I can’t grow anything, but bald is beautiful too đ
The term “supergroup” gets thrown around on a regular basis these days, however, a new tour featuring some of the greatest guitarists of all time is about to truly give the term a whole new meaning. It’s called “Generation Axe” and features Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi. There will be 26 performances in North America, beginning April 5th in Seattle.
Next week, the new documentary, We Are Twisted F***ing Sister!, which focuses on the 10 years the group spent playing as a full-time bar band before finally making it big, will be released on DVD, VOD and digital download (Feb. 23). Dee Snider recently discussed the movie saying, “If youâre from the Northeast, thereâs a reference and understanding of the importance of Twisted Sister. Thatâs why youâll see bands like Cinderella and Bon Jovi, Kix and Poison, Anthrax and Overkill. When they talk about Twisted, itâs like theyâre talking about somebody thatâs in their band. People from the West Coast, and overseas and South America, they get confused â âthis is the band with two songs?â The bands I mentioned, growing up in the Northeast, they were aware of the Twisted presence and the Twisted influence over these bands. So many of them would get in line with thousands of others to see Twisted Sister in a bar or a club, packed to the rafters to see this band. Itâs great for that story to finally be made available.”
AC/DC released their debut album (only in Australia) ‘High Voltage’ today in 1975. The album featured ‘She’s Got Balls’ which was written about singer Bon Scott’s ex-wife Irene. At some point, she had complained he had never written a song about her; lead guitarist Angus Young said: “So he wrote She’s Got Balls and she left him!”
KING DIAMOND also released their debut album “Fatal Portrait” in 1986 and today in 1984, MEGADETH played their first-ever show at Ruthie’s Inn in Berkeley, California. The line-up consisted of Dave Mustaine on guitar, David Ellefson on bass, Kerry King on guitar and Lee Rausch on drums. Check out the original flyer below.
At the peak of the hair band run, David Coverdale married actress Tawny Kitaen (known for her provocative appearances in Whitesnake’s music videos ‘Here I Go Again, ‘Is This Love’ and ‘Still of the Night’) today in 1989. The couple divorced in 1991.
Finally, here’s a fun time suck – 100 Metal Facts You Might Not Know, including Rob Halford worked at a porno movie theatre before he joined JUDAS PRIEST and early era IRON MAIDEN singer Dennis Wilcock quitting the band because the other members wouldn’t follow his lead and don KISS-inspired makeup, and this one… Between his stints in METALLICA and MEGADETH, Dave Mustaine worked as a telemarketer… “Hello me, meet the real me and will Tuesday at 4pm work for me to come by and demonstrate our new vacuum cleaner?” Click Here for more.
If you are on twitter, be sure to follow METAL SHOP there for songs now playing and ALL the latest 80’s Metal/Hair Band News – Click Here.
Now go rock the day and thanks for listening!
Welcome to a Monday. Maybe you’re recovering from the Super Bowl fun yesterday. Broncos fans can celebrate and Panthers fans can take out their aggression with a replay of the pre-Super Bowl Metallica concert. Click Here to watch. METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel attended the show in San Francisco Saturday night. He noted “Metallica was on point tonight!!!
Many of us would have loved to see Metallica play the halftime show yesterday or AC/DC or Black Sabbath, both touring the West Coast U.S.A. right now, but realistically, we know that will most likely never happen. Instead we got Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars.
One person who was not a fan of the halftime show was Motley Crue’s Vince Neil, who tweeted, “WOW!! #coldplay worst LIP SINK performance I’ve EVER seen!!!” Perhaps to Neilâs chagrin, many of his followers were only too willing to offer their own unvarnished opinions regarding his own prowess as a live performer. His tweet received no shortage of responses, many of which pointed out Neilâs tendency to rely on the audience for vocals during shows â as well as his unfortunate misspelling of âlip sync,â which he quickly and colorfully blamed on his phoneâs spell check function.
Maybe Vince Neil will be in a better mood today as he celebrates his 55th birthday. Happy birthday to the (now retired) voice of the Crue.
On this day in 1980, IRON MAIDEN released their debut single “Running Free.” It was written by Steve Harris and Paul Di’Anno. In 1985, a live version of the song was released as the first single from ‘Live After Death.’ According to Di’Anno, who wrote the song’s lyrics, it is “a very autobiographical song, though of course I’ve never spent the night in an LA jail. It’s about being 16 and, like it says, just running wild and running free. It comes from my days as a skinhead.”
METAL SHOP experienced some technical issues over the weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience. But we are back full strength today with Kick Ass 80’s Metal for your listening pleasure.
Have a super week.
T.G.I.F. and Happy Birthday to Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, who turns 52 today. Until this year, Duff was noted as former GnR bassist, but he’s back with Axl and Slash for a three-fifths reunion. Hopefully, Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler are part of this before the first show April 8th in Las Vegas. Axlâs 54th birthday is tomorrow (Feb. 6th).
Former Tesla guitarist Tommy Skeoch is also celebrating a birthday today (He is 53). Skeoch joined Tesla in 1984 when they were known as City Kidd and left in 2006 due to substance abuse.
On this date in 1974, KISS kicked off their first North American tour in Edmonton, Alberta Canada; In 1998 Judas Priest singer Rob Halford announced on MTV that he was gay; and on this date in 1971, Black Sabbath started recording what would be their third album, ‘Master Of Reality.’ Forced to postpone four Canadian gigs after Ozzy came down with a serious case of sinusitis, the Sabbath tour will resume tomorrow night (Feb. 6th) in Tacoma, WA.
I was in Tacoma with my teenage son this past Tuesday for AC/DC. I hope to have as much energy when I hit my 60’s as Angus and the boys… what a great show. Click Here for a recap with photos. AC/DC is in Las Vegas tonight (Feb. 5th) and Denver on Monday. How convenient it would be to make the short trip to San Francisco and play the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday… would much rather see that.
Enjoy the game and have a great weekend. Thanks for listening to METAL SHOP.
The 80’s metal classic rock tour continued for me and my 16 year old son with AC/DC in Tacoma, Washington on February 2, 2016.
This was the opening U.S. date on the “Rock or Bust Tour” and with their last show December 15th in New Zealand, you would think the band would be well-rested and loaded with energy for their first performance in the new world. And indeed they were, with the now 60-year-old Angus Young, playing guitar and running around the stage like it was still 1980 and 68-year-old lead singer Brian Johnson giving it his all and sounding as strong as ever.
This show was LOUD and of course, I forgot my ear plugs. By comparison, Motley Crue was fairly low volume last December in Portland. I explained to my son that this was how it was in the 80’s… most of us would go home with our ears ringing. That’s tougher to do when you’re pushing 50, but for one night, it was worth it and we loved every minute of it. After opening with ‘Rock or Bust,’ ‘Shoot to Thrill’ and ‘Hell Ain’t A Band Place To Be,’ AC/DC launched into ‘Back In Black,’ ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,’ an absolutely killer version of ‘Thunderstruck’ and ‘High Voltage.’
An onslaught of classics followed, including ‘Hells Bells,’ and ‘Given The Dog A Bone,’ which was the first time AC/DC has played that song live since the “Back In Black” tour in 1980… pretty cool.
‘Sin City’ was on the setlist and the smash ‘You Shook Me All Night Long.’ Then the lads from down under played my favorites back-to-back, ‘Shot Down In Flames’ and ‘Have A Drink On Me.’ I have mixed feelings about hearing the new singer perform the old singer’s songs (ie, I wasn’t that interested in hearing DIO singing Ozzy’s early Black Sabbath stuff) and I have always felt that way about Brian Johnson singing Bon Scott’s songs, but on this go around, he was really great, especially on ‘Shot Down In Flames,’ ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ and crowd favorite ‘T-N-T.’
AC/DC isn’t AC/DC without guitar god Angus Young and he delivered a blistering solo that was longer than most the band’s songs, but totally engrossing watching the master at work. His energy was unbelievable and seeing him spin around while laying on his back on the stage like he has always done, I couldn’t imagine this tour being his last (if that should turn out to be the case)… Angus still has so much to give.
After an 18 song set, AC/DC returned for encores ‘Highway To Hell’ and ‘For Those About To Rock,’ an epic end to a memorable night for my son and me.
Who Are The Top 20 Metal Bands Of All Time?
Depends who you ask and how they define who is metal or just hard rock. For example, many agree that Metalica, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are metal, but KISS, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses are not metal.
That is how the authors of the new book ‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists‘ see it in one of several indexes they compiled for this release set for April 9, 2013 by Abrams Image.
Howie Abrams and Sacha Jenkins’ book features numerous compilations of bests (songs, guitarists, album covers featuring goats) and worsts (embarrassing metal videos, metal fashion faux pas’).
80’s metal fans will also surely appreciate unconventional lists such as: ’10 Reasons Why EVERYONE Loves Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood” and ’10 Accomplishments Iron Maiden Would Never Have Achieved had Paul DiâAnno Remained Their Singer’.
One of the lists sure to spark some debate is ’20 of the Greatest Metal Voices.’ They nailed the top three (my opinion) and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate certainly deserves a top five appearance:
1. Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio)
2. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
3. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
4. Eric Adams (Manowar)
5. Geoff Tate (QueensrĂżche)
6. King Diamond (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond)
7. Tom Araya (Slayer)
8. John Bush (Armored Saint/Anthrax)
9. James Hetfield (Metallica)
10. Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly)
In an interview with the New York Times, Abrams said Dio was the unanimous choice for the top spot because he had a virtuosity that set him far apart from other top metal vocalists.
âIf he needed to apply darkness, he could do it,â said Abrams. âIf he needed to belt and go to a higher range, he could. He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, and Iâm not sure there was a taller task for a vocalist. He did it with ease and grace, and he may have improved on what Oz did in the first place.â
‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists’ is a fun read. I especially enjoyed viewing the artwork from ‘200 Embarrassingly Bad Album Covers’… Anthrax took the top two spots with ‘State of Euphoria’ and number one ‘Fistful of Metal.’
AC/DC Releases Their First Live Record In 20 years
Recorded in Buenos Aires in December 2009 after a 13-year absence from Argentina, nearly 200,000 fans (over three sold-out nights) witnessed the return of AC/DC.
‘Live At River Plate’ is a two CD set that captures the excitement and energy of those massive concerts and features their classics: “Back In Black,” “TNT,” “Thunderstruck,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Shoot to Thrill,” and more.
Entire AC/DC Catalog Finally Available On iTunes
Over 100,000 people turned out for the Moscow Peace Festival in 1989. You think any of them had never heard of these bands before then? More proof that saying ‘no’ to kids, just makes them want it more.
List of Forbidden Rock Bands in the USSR in 1985