The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

better not do it with mine, I want people reading it there, not here

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

What's with the posting huge amounts of US's journal every week?

If you mean actual excerpts, I don't usually. You'll note last week I didn't post any. This week, as he was doing 1979 into 1980 (in my recap anyway) I thought it was important that both his introductions were reposted and that stuff about how he was changing formats was necessary too. I know it extends the update thread but hey, it's a great journal and I'd like to point the way towards it more.

If you mean at all, then you must not have read my intro to the "Classic Journals I have read" section...

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

better not do it with mine, I want people reading it there, not here

Noted.

[Isbjørn]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Noted.

Feel free to do it with mine, though.

[The Batlord]

So does this mean that this thread is Napster, and Urban is Lars Ulrich?

[Trollheart]

Hard to believe we're three weeks into January already! Time to start dusting off those verses for the Valentine cards, and getting ready for more LoveDumping!

Meanwhile, what's been happening back on Planet Journal?

The big news this week is the return of the Ki(ng) to our shores, as he comes back from his break and is full of ideas for his journal. Read more below.

The only other real news is about the launch of “Star Trek Month” in the Couch Potato, of which there is a small teaser below. Wow. Slow week huh?

Oh yeah: Machine tells us he has big news on the way too...

And so on to the update.

Kicking off with http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html as the insectivore brings us music from Greeen Linez and Adeian Gurvitz (classic!)

while http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ackdragon.html blackdragon123 pens his thoughts on what Deep Purple's “Fireball” album cover means.

Chula is diggin' it with Santana in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...rly-years.html

and http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...63-2013-a.html hits the twenty-first century, where some of his album picks for 2000 are from Outkast, KMD, Ghostface Killah and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ancefloor.html continues as Justin reviews Maiden's last Bayley-helmed album, “Virtual XI”. There, there! It's all over now!

As you'll have read from the “Breaking News”, Ki is back after his sojourn away, and ready to tell us all what he plans to do in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-music.html. Welcome back man!

In http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...otistical.html there's news about his demo releases, with supposedly big news to follow...

as Oriphiel continues to tell the story of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...rgy-story.html with chapters two and three

and Overcast manages to --- presumably unintentionally --- have his two last posts reverse, in other words, second-to-last post was 1/12 and this week's is 12/1! Cool! Musically, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ff-thangs.html you'll find a review of the Antlers album “Burst apart”.

If you ask http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html he'll tell you hair metal, and in particular this week, Vandal.

Seems this is to be the year of the discography review, so check out http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html for reviews of the first two albums as I go through the whole catalogue of material from Tom Waits, while “The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy” returns in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html, and I announce the launch of "Star Trek Month", to kick off in March. Meanwhile, as http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-you-die.html we have efforts from Liars, TV On The Radio, Cee-Lo Green and Kanye West, while there's a look at the grandparents of progressive rock in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ive-metal.html, as well as a review of The Byrds' “Fifth dimension.” http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-reviews.html is doing well too, with albums from Platform One, Bob Seger, Opeth and Kerrs Pink among others.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html begins to explore the subgenres of thrash and glam metal --- with a fine write-up on the former --- with a look at Black and Blue's self-titled debut from 1984

and there's music from High on Fire and Dark Angel in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html.

Which brings us to my

And I have no hesitation whatever in awarding this to The Batlord, for this comment, posted in Pet_Sounds' journal:

(This is in response to Pet_Sounds' contention that he doesn't get why we wet ourselves over the riff in “Smoke on the water”)

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Cause it's heavy and catchy as ****, duh. This coming from a guy who thinks the Beatles can actually do old R&B songs justice. You ain't rock 'n' roll, dude.

What I love about this is that, while it's as classic a Batlord line as you could get, and he stands up for metal as he always does and distills the whole essence of the song into a few well-chosen words, it's also someone telling someone nearly half their age that they don't get this metal classic. It's like Batty has finally become one of us, those guys who shake their heads and say “Kids these days!” One of us! One of us! One of us!

And so on to


With the usual introduction that perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the time (bloody zeitgiests! Always escaping and having to be tracked down! Wears me out!) Unknown Soldier launched into 1981 with his next top twenty. Here's what he had to say about the year first:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

1981

1981 as a year could hardly eclipse the brilliance of 1980, but what it did do was consolidate all the in-roads that had already been established by the NWOBHM bands the previous year. Big NWOBHM guns such as Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard all released great albums in 1981, while the likes of Diamond Head and Angel Witch didn’t release follow-up albums to their classic debuts, a factor which almost immediately doomed both bands as future commercial metal giants in a fast moving metal world. It was also an odd year in many ways for metal as well, quite simply because it was the most ordered year of an ever changing decade. A revolution had taken place the previous year with the NWOBHM and now the storm of that movement had died down and the seas were settling on a new hierarchy. But like any gentle sea there was no guaranteee on which way the wind would blow when it actually came. Indicators of course suggested that the future lay with the NWOBHM and any related acts both new and established, as these bands had created the biggest ‘metal identity’ to date. The UK market proved vital for their development and growth, but the US market was where the true future lay and where these bands would ultimately flourish as commercial giants in the metal world, and from the new bands it was Iron Maiden and Def Leppard who would be the two to lead the way. Despite the establishment of the NWOBHM, other NWOBHM artists were still struggling though to get an album deal and would still have to wait a number of years before achieveing that deal, while other bargain basement dwellers like Venom actually did get that all important deal. As for the established artists they turned out to be a very mixed bag in 1981 and the likes of the new look Black Sabbath and Motorhead (albeit with a live release) were both on top form that year and also UFO briefly got their act back together as well. But it was disappointment for both AC/DC and Judas Priest, two bands that fired duds that year. AC/DC on For Those About to Rock, We Salute You quite simply failed to press the ignition switch on that album and on Judas Priest’s Point of Entry the songs just weren’t there. Elder statesmen like Thin Lizzy had lost their edge if not their popularity, but both Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham were in the depths of heroin addiction and their creativity had nosedived, but their 1981 album featuring Snowy White Renegade, was still nowhere near as poor as it’s made out to be and I actually think it’s a decent album (but still not good enough for the top 20 though) Stateside Van Halen were very much the order the day with their grittiest release to date and there was a return to form for New York metal act Riot, who released one of the best metal albums of the year. But the most interesting US release would come in the shape of the hedonistic Motley Crue and much like the Venom debut which would be at the other end of the metal spectrum, it would shape much of the metal scene for the rest of the decade!

Number twenty then came from Cirith Ungol with “Frost and fire”, followed by UFO with “The wild, the willing and the innocent” at 19 and Praying Mantis at 18 with “Time tells no lies.” Then it was “Heroes, saints and fools” by Saracen at 17 with Gillan back at 16 with “Future shock” while the number 15 slot went to Van Halen's “Fair warning”, just pipped by, er, Venom with “Welcome to Hell” at 14. Should have been 13, no? That spot was taken by Raven with “Rock until you drop” and then number 12 saw Samson's “Shock tactics” with Y&T at 11 with “Earthshaker", taking us into the top ten.

Def Leppard kicked the top half off with “High and dry” at number 10, with Riot at number 9 as “Fire down under” just missed taking the number eight spot from The Tygers of Pan-Tang with “Spellbound”, then Triumph were at 7 with “Allied forces” and Michael Schenker Group took the number 6 slot with “MSG”, opening the way for Motorhead to blast into the top five with “No sleep till Hammersmith”. They were followed by Motley Crue at four with “Too fast for love”, and then the top three consisted of three classics in Iron Maiden's “Killers”, Saxon with “Denim and leather”, and, perhaps questionably, at the top of the pile, Black Sabbath with “Mob rules”.

Ozyy returned for another session “Down on the slab”, this time with “Diary of a madman”, taking us into 1982 with Manowar exploding onto the scene at 20 with their debut “Battle hymns”, Twisted Sister's “Under the blade” at 19, Samson were back at 18 with “Before the storm” and Vandenberg's self-titled took the 17th place. Motorhead were back at 16 with “Iron fist” and so were Y&T with the phenomenal “Black tiger” taking 15th slot. MSG's “Assault attack” led the way into the top half of the bottom half, if you get me, at number 14 while number 13 was not unlucky for Kiss, who took their “Creatures of the night” to the edge of the top ten, this completed by Witchfinder General at 12 and then Venom's “Black metal” at 11.

Top ten began with Diamond Head's underrated classic “Borrowed time”, then Saxon returned to announce that “The eagle has landed”, and it had, at number 9 while Hanoi Rocks made their first showing with “Self destruction blues” at 8. Some of my own personal favourites made up the rest of the lower half of the top ten, with Uriah Heep's “Abominog” at 7 and Tank at 6 with “Filth hounds of Hades”, while number 5 went to “Blackout” by The Scorpions, with “Wild dogs” at 4 as the Rods kicked in. The top three then were Anvil with “Metal on metal”, Maiden's timeless “The number of the Beast” and the top slot went to Judas Priest with “Screaming for vengeance.”

And with no further ado, not even a trip to the “slab”, we blasted on into 1983.

And so we come to the end of another update. Thanks to everyone who wrote, posted and read, and remember if you want to try your hand at this, it's as easy to get started as posting a thread and getting it approved. Join us, won't ya?

Till next week,
Toodles!

[Unknown Soldier]

Now you're upto 1981, my time in the sun looks like being over soon

[Trollheart]

As we crash headlong out of January and towards waiting February, it seems odd that a month has already passed since we all sat down to Christmas turkey and ham, and grumbled about the crap presents we had been bought. Now it's a nightmare on credit card street and we're all trying to forget it and move into the new year, already a month old almost, with gruff attempts at good humour and hope. Down in Journaltown things are certainly moving, so let's head on down there for the final time this month.

We're back with blackdragon123's favourite band http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ackdragon.html, as he looks at the sleeve for Headless cross

but I have to be honest, I don't know what Deadchannel is up to. In http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ear-music.html he says he listened to the Velvet Underground debut (as did I, more further on), but there's no review. Then there's something about “Feeding the five thousand”??

Frownland is looking for, and getting, suggestions for albums as he remains http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...wnapilago.html

And if it's recs you want, Goofle is your man! It's 2001 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...63-2013-a.html and that means albums from Nas, Unwound and Aesop Rock among others.

Ki, however, is really getting back into it with a will and in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-music.html you'll find music from Iron and Wine, Approaching Nirvana, Jacobs Dream and Judas Priest.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-song-day.html has Death Grips and Ought

and is anyone in the mood for an Egg? You'll find one in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-journal.html, says Neapolitan

on http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...crap-heap.html Pet_Sounds is talking about another of his favourite Beatles tracks, “Let it be”

and it's acoustic guitar day, apparently, over at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html

I've been doing a lot of writing for, and not so much posting to, my journals this week, but I've still managed to throw in a few updates. The Tom Waits discography continues in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html with Foreign affairs and Blue Valentine, while completely out of season but needing to be finished, the Scrooge Showdown picks its last finalist in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html, with the knockout stages beginning next week. But that's not all: we also have more from The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well as the penultimate episode of To play the King. Dredd and Johnny Alpha both feature in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-2000-ad.html, with the former continuing his battle against Call-Me-Kenneth and his rogue droids and the latter wrapping up his second adventure as he and Wulf take on the space pirates.

After a short break we're back with the list as http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-you-die.html and I listen to The Libertines and Ozomatli, while in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ive-metal.html, as mentioned I'm starting off the albums from 1967 that I've chosen to represent the fringes of progressive rock's birthpangs and looking first at the debut from The Velvet Underground. And Nico.

“Red, hot and heavy” from Pretty Maids is at number 25 in Unknown Soldier's countdown for 1984 and there's a double helping of Queensryche in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html (which will surely make Anteater happy) with two of their albums sharing the number 24 spot. Then if you're afraid of RATTs, watch out! No. 23 is “Out of the cellar”. Quick! Jump up on this table!

For this week's

I'm gonna have to give it to Deadchannel, because this is so weird and I do not understand it, but it certainly drew my attention...

Originally Posted by DeadChannel

Heh, about that...

And so to


Rather surprised to realise I've caught up with his current entries so quickly, so this will therefore be the final look at “Pounding Decibels”, as we run through 1983 and into 1984. The former began with the usual intro:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

1983

1983 was a natural continuation of 1982 as far as half the scene were concerned, which is fairly logical considering metal’s prominent position as a music genre by this time. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Van Halen ruled the metal roost, but they would now be joined by Def Leppard largely thanks to the release of their Pyromania album, which went off in the USA like a nuclear bomb! For those who don’t know it, it not only became one of the biggest selling metal albums of its time, but one of the biggest of the year for any genre! Metal’s success at this time could be attained to several factors 1) Its now lengthy history had a huge amount of quality bands behind it of which many were innovators. 2) Metal usually had quality musicans and vocalists, unlike the dubious minions that roamed punk. 3) Along with AOR bands they were fully capable of functioning as arena rock bands and this would fill out arenas. 4) Bands like Iron Maiden brought quality album artwork to the highest level, as this was an age where artwork sold albums. 5) The NWOBHM demonstrated that the genre could give birth to explosive revolutions from within the genre and still strengthen it even further. 6) They were able to embrace MTV when the opportunity came along. 7) Despite the huge commercialism of the genre in certain areas, it always kept its hardcore fanbase. Now all this largely explains the first half of the metal spectrum as mentioned above. The other half for many would actually be more interesting, because metal had finally branched out from its grass roots which had been laid down by bands such as Venom and Manilla Road to name just two, to start embracing what would become known as the extreme metal genres which would splinter into multiple sub-sections with their own identities. Most grass roots bands would certainly owe a debt to the Metallica debut which came out in 1983 and besides being a classic debut, is probably more important for what it would signify as a statement, to a lesser degree the Slayer debut holds a certain amount of importance as well. Also the slowly growing glam metal movement fronted by band’s like Motley Crue and Twisted Sister would finally hit the big time thanks to another band and that was Quiet Riot, who would turn glam metal into an overnight sensation in 1983 largely due to a Slade cover song. Both Motley Crue and Twisted Sister were better bands than Quiet Riot, but it was very much ‘right place at the right time’ for them. Kiss finally demasked on their Lick it Up album, even though they should’ve done it a year earlier on their Creatures of the Night album, which was a stronger album. Finally Dio relased Holy Diver…………… what more can I say, does it get any better than that?

And the countdown kicked off with a double-header from Savatage, with both “Sirens” and “The dungeons are calling” at number 20, then Steeler hit the 19 spot with their s/t debut and Kiss removed the makeup and came clean to “Lick it up” at number 18. There was a “Power infusion” from Trance at 17 while Exciter were “Heavy metal maniac” at 16, Raven roared “All for one” at 15 to which Tank responded “This means war!” at 14. The final three in the lower half of the top twenty were then completed by Saxon with “Power and the glory”, Hanoi Rocks with “Back to Mystery City” and at the very top, Dee Snider and Twisted Sister growled “You can't stop rock and roll!” And you can't.

The top ten opened with “Metal health” from Quiet Riot followed by Manila Road's “Crystal logic”, then the number 8 spot went to Manowar with “Into glory ride” and Slayer's “Show no mercy” was at number 7. Sixth place went to Accept with “Restless and wild” and the top five then kicked off with Motley Crue's “Shout at the devil”, followed by Def Leppard with “Pyromania.” The top three then featured three stone-cold classics, with “Kill 'em all” from Metallica at three, Dio's “Holy diver” at two and Maiden's “Piece of mind” taking the top slot.

“Down on the slab” then featured Sabbath's cringeworthy “Born again”, and to fill in the time between now and his 1984 coverage Unknown Soldier started looking at NWOBHM compilations such as “'79 revisited” and all four “Metal massacre” compilations. Also “Court in the act” by Satan and “Deliver us” from Warlord. That took us into 1984, but as he's currently working on that as I write, I'm going to finish my coverage here and just add that this journal deservedly won the award for best journal two years running, and is probably likely to make that a triple in 2015. If you have not yet read it, and have even a passing interest in hard rock, heavy metal and the history of same, then start your journey now. You'll be glad you did.

Next week I'll be starting on a totally new classic journal, and it comes from this guy

It's been superceded by his current journals, but I want to take a look back to 2009 when, two years before I exploded onto the journals scene (!) this man was beginning a journal he called
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-obscure.html
It looks like it only lasted about seven months, but he covered some pretty interesting stuff in it, and then began another, and another, and another .... now where have we heard that before?

So stay tuned! Anteater's first journal comes under the microscope from next week.

And that's it for this week. Don't forget to keep voting for your favourite Star Trek episodes and stay tuned for lots of more exciting news coming up.

Till next week
Toodles!

[Unknown Soldier]

Trollheart thanks fro the coverage of my journal here.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

Trollheart thanks fro the coverage of my journal here.

You're welcome. It was a pleasure.