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Anteater · 03-16-2014, 07:42 PM

Part 3: Hard Rock & Heavy Metal

So now that I've gotten the artsy prog and pop stuff out of the way, how about we get into some songs and artists that set me on the path of br00tality?

Scorpions
Alien Nation (1993)

A killer riff anchors this top-notch opening cut from one of this classic band's most underrated albums. My dad's "Best Of" Scorpions collection was my introduction to the fist-pumping world of melodic heavy metal & hard rock awesomeness, and I owe this particular tune quite a lot in that regard. It all started here!

Ra
Do You Call My Name (2002)

A song and band I think were pretty top notch for what they were in the whole post-grunge/alternative rock spectrum even today, this early single by Ra came out right around the time I was getting my first taste of progressive rock as well as more contemporary music, and it did a pretty thorough job at whetting my palette for more material like it. It's aggressive yet smarter and more melodic than some of the nu-metal that was getting big in the early 00's, so I could have done worse than start with this baby.

Deep Purple
Black Night (1970)

I don't even remember the exact circumstances that I ended up getting my first exposure to Deep Purple and their hard rock ilk, but 'Black Night' was the first song from that era outside of the prog I had just started dabbling in that left such a strong impression on me. Jon Lord's Hammonding and Blackmore's guitar work are strong with this one, yes.

Joe Satriani
Echo (1987)

The idea of guitar virtuosos going out and recording purely instrumental albums seemed pretty strange to me as a kid: why would I care about rock stuff if there wasn't a singer involved? Then I got to see a certain Satriani live with a freshman band friend and began to understand that a great song is a great song: a guitar can sing just fine on its own. 'Echo' stands out some from the rest of the songs on Surfing With The Alien due to its heavy and distinctive bassline, and its still my favorite song of his as well as an influence on me today.

Edge Of Sanity
Crimson (1996)

Probably the biggest game changer of these five songs for me as I was transitioning from middle to high school all those years ago. At that point, I was vaguely aware of what death and black metal and such were, but it was the sort of stuff my peers liked to make fun of or laugh at rather than listen to. During some random search online I ran across this album on accident while looking for King Crimson and found myself hooked within just a few minutes into this one-song record despite being such an initially alienating "out of my comfort zone" experience. What I figured out as a result was that I not only really liked the melodic aspects that sometimes emerge in more "extreme" music, but that those same abrasive elements that turned everybody else off were actually really interesting. I don't know if I could even appreciate any of the black, death, grind or thrash stuff I enjoy today if I hadn't heard Crimson as a 13 year old fuckscrub with no prior experience. I guess there's a "right place right time" album for everyone in any style, but I'm glad it happened to be this one for me.