The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 10-09-2015, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wpnfire

The atmosphere/emotions/moods that music evokes is pretty much the sole reason I listen to music, and all of my favorite Sabbath songs are my favorites because of Iommi's playing. Iommi's guitar tone, especially on Paranoid, is one of the most nihilistic yet somehow also badass things ever. "Iron Man" is simultaneously moody with those bizzare opening notes, and turns completely around to an incredibly badass song when that riff comes in. Maybe I was exaggerating a little bit with the "only" comment because to be fair, the entire band mechanic changed when Dio came in and everybody started playing a little differently. Also, I don't know if you've listened to Dopesmoker from my top 10 yet but that's another album where if the guitar tone wasn't as massive the album would be much less good.

I don't know if this post answers your questions but those are my thoughts.

Sorry man, somehow I missed your post. Don't want you to think I was ignoring it. I see what you mean, though for me there's a lot more I like Sabbath for. I understand as a guitarist though there are certain things you like, which is all good.

Dopesmoker? Yes I've listened to it. You'll have to wait to see what I thought of it though...

Trollheart · 10-09-2015, 02:45 PM

Rihanna, Limahl and Fame? The only place you could possibly expect to hear these this month is when
METAL GOES

Interesting fact: when Alien Ant Farm were considering releasing their first single from their second album, they intended to release a track called “Movies”, but a radio station played on air, without their permission, their cover of Michael Jackson's “Smooth criminal”. Seeing it was such a hit, if accidentally, the band decided to ditch their plans for “Movies” and rushed “Smooth criminal” out as their single instead. It brought instant recognition to a still-struggling band, and a top ten chart hit all over the world.

“Smooth criminal” by Alien Ant Farm, from the album ANThology, 2001.
Originally by Michael Jackson from the album Bad, 1988.
Written by Michael Jackson.

The story goes that the band would warm up onstage at gigs by playing the first few bars of the song, and audience members encouraged them to play the whole thing, which led to them including it first as a badly-disguised copy in a hidden track called “Slick thief” on their first album, and then was properly recorded as an actual cover version for their second. As related above, it then gained radio airplay accidentally and became a hit for them. Whether or not Jackson gave his permission to record it, whether they paid royalties to him is unknown, but given its success you would imagine the Prince of Pop would have wanted his cut. Anyway here it is in all its glory.

It's a clever video, lampooning much of the antics of Jackson, including the “walking on lighted panels” thing from “Billy Jean”, a monkey sitting with the singer and of course the signature yelp from Jackson, which is I think possibly sampled. It's a good energetic version, and I do know the song of course but I wouldn't be as familiar with it as I would be with say “Bad” or “Billy Jean” or “Thriller”. I'd say they do a decent, almost punkish version.

One of my favourite French progressive metal bands up next. Adagio's Underworld just blew my mind, although its follow up Sanctus Ignis was a bit of a disappointment. This though is from their third album, and probably the most unlikely pop song you could imagine a band like them ever covering.

“Fame” by Adagio, from the album Dominate, 2005.
Originally by Irene Cara from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Fame, 1980.
Written by Micheal Gore and Dean Pitchford.
Everyone of a certain age knows of Fame, be it the TV show or the movie that spawned it, and this is one of the most famous songs from it, a song that led Irene Cara into a short spell of stardom as she went on to act and sing in films like Flashdance and, um, a bunch of other movies. She also acted on stage, most notably in adaptations of The Wiz and Jesus Christ Superstar. So would she recognise this version of one of her most famous songs?

Well it kicks off with a really fast and busy bass line, then a symphonic guitar and keyboard passage, with a relatively clean vocal, good guitar solo. They don't take the piss out of it too much, and you can certainly recognise the song. On a sidenote, interesting to hear the new at the time singer, Gus Monsanto, though I preferred David Readman.

Italian power metal band Elvenking paid tribute to eighties pop sensation Belinda Carlisle on their fifth album, covering her biggest hit single. Although she had other chart successes, and indeed found fame with the sixties pop group The Go-Gos, Carlisle is certainly best remembered by the general public for this song.

“Heaven is a place on Earth”, by Elvenking, from the album Two Tragedy Poets (... and a Caravan of Weird Figures), 2008.
Originally by Belinda Carlisle from the album Heaven on Earth, 1987.
Written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley.

No information points to why the Italian metalheads wanted to record this; there was no single release and the album they put it on turned out to be mostly acoustic material, as well as some re-recorded songs from other albums, so on the face of it not the sort of place you'd expect to see them covering a well-known pop song. But there it is. Did they acoustic it up?

No, they most certainly did not. It opens on a churning, grinding guitar, then keyboards before it explodes into the main melody. They don't, to be fair, pull away too far from the original but manage to give it something of a metal kick up the backside. Unfortunately, whether he has trouble pronouncing the word “living”, or misunderstands the lyric, the vocalist sings “In this world we're just beginning to understand the miracle of leaving”, which kind of distorts the message in the song!

At least they give it a bona fide metal crescendo ending. Throw those horns!

Keeping with power metal (not sure if they just tend to be the ones who cover pop songs more, or if these lists I'm using are intentionally skewed that way, or even if the compilers of the lists are lazy and just grabbing the best-known covers or the ones easiest to hand) we have a rendition of one of the sugariest and least likely at the time songs, which came from a movie that should in my opinion not have done as well as it had. With the breakup of the ludicriously-named Kajagoogoo (Sorry but I'll always have some hate for them when I remember a smartmouth DJ on radio, having played Twisted Sister, sneer “Twisted Sister! What a stupid name! Now here's Kajagoogoo!” Stupid cunt. Anyway...) their lead singer Christopher Hammill, who decided to make himself more interesting by reversing his surname and became the “enigmatic” Limahl

went solo, and this was his big hit, from the movie, as I say, of the same name.

“The Neverending Story”, by Dragonland, from the album Holy War, 2002.
Originally by Limahl, from the OST to “The Neverending Story”, 1984. Also from the debut album by Limahl, Don't Suppose, released in 1984 as well.
Written by Giorgio Morodoer and Keith Forsey.

Interested to see what these guys did with the soppy fantasy song. Well it looks like they kicked it up several notches, with machinegun drumming and powerful guitar, though to be fair other than that it's pretty much the same, even retaining the keyboard flourishes that characterised the original. I'd like ot have heard it sung in a death growl, but you can't have everything. Meh, not bad. Well, if nothing else it made me hate the song all over again, so that's something surely.

Another song I really hate is Rihanna's “Umbrella” (yeah, e-ella, I know!) and I'm glad to see someone attempted to metal this up in 2007. Oddly enough, they being Swedish an' all, and singing in their native language, this cover is the only one to appear on Lillasyster's debut album Hjärndöd Musik För En Hjärndöd Generation (Braindead Music for a Braindead Generation) that's actually sung in English!

“Umbrella” by Lillasyster, from the album Hjärndöd Musik För En Hjärndöd Generation, 2007.
Originally by Rihanna from the album Good Girl Gone Bad, 2007.
Written by Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Shawn Carter, Thaddis Harrell and Terius “Dream” Nash.

It's one of those songs that really gets into your head (and I believe the video is a thing to see as well. Well, I've been told anyway...) and scored a number one hit for her across the world. One of those you couldn't get away from unless you unplugged the radio, sealed it in carbonite, buried it on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean ... and then dropped a ten-megaton bomb on it. And even then, that was by no means certain. So what was Lillasyster's version like, I hear you ask? See below:

Well it's got a nice rock vibe to it, while yet kind of retaining the r&b elements that made the song such a hit, including of course the annoying “Ella, ella, ella” chorus. Could have used a guitar solo.

TechnicLePanther · 10-09-2015, 02:48 PM

I only have one suggestion:

Trollheart · 10-09-2015, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnicLePanther

I only have one suggestion:

And I would.

The Batlord · 10-09-2015, 02:56 PM

Alien Ant Farm are not a metal band. Please remove them.

Trollheart · 10-09-2015, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Alien Ant Farm are not a metal band. Please remove them.

No.

The Batlord · 10-09-2015, 06:54 PM

So you'll refuse to listen to half an album you'd already agreed to listen to, just cause you didn't think certain parts were metal enough, and yet you jam some band into a feature who are in no way, shape, or form metal? Like... at all?

TechnicLePanther · 10-09-2015, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

So you'll refuse to listen to half an album you'd already agreed to listen to, just cause you didn't think certain parts were metal enough, and yet you jam some band into a feature who are in no way, shape, or form metal? Like... at all?

Even if the band isn't, the song itself is definitely metallic. Maybe you should readjust your definition of what is metal and what isn't.

The Batlord · 10-09-2015, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnicLePanther

Even if the band isn't, the song itself is definitely metallic. Maybe you should readjust your definition of what is metal and what isn't.

I see the Bon Jovi sisters are in agreement.

Trollheart · 10-10-2015, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

So you'll refuse to listen to half an album you'd already agreed to listen to, just cause you didn't think certain parts were metal enough, and yet you jam some band into a feature who are in no way, shape, or form metal? Like... at all?

Yes.

Come on man: "Metal Goes Pop" is a light-hearted look at metal bands covering pop songs. Sure, AAF may not be metal but they're hardly avant-garde jazz or hip-hop now are they? Plus it's a cool video. Relax and have another beer.

Also, I did listen to the rest of that Bungle album and quite liked it; I just don't see it as even coming close to metal, except on the opening and closing tracks. I've had a long heated PM back-and-forth with Frown so it's sorted.

10-09-2015, 02:45 PM	#2862 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Rihanna, Limahl and Fame? The only place you could possibly expect to hear these this month is when METAL GOES Interesting fact: when Alien Ant Farm were considering releasing their first single from their second album, they intended to release a track called “Movies”, but a radio station played on air, without their permission, their cover of Michael Jackson's “Smooth criminal”. Seeing it was such a hit, if accidentally, the band decided to ditch their plans for “Movies” and rushed “Smooth criminal” out as their single instead. It brought instant recognition to a still-struggling band, and a top ten chart hit all over the world. “Smooth criminal” by Alien Ant Farm, from the album ANThology, 2001. Originally by Michael Jackson from the album Bad, 1988. Written by Michael Jackson. The story goes that the band would warm up onstage at gigs by playing the first few bars of the song, and audience members encouraged them to play the whole thing, which led to them including it first as a badly-disguised copy in a hidden track called “Slick thief” on their first album, and then was properly recorded as an actual cover version for their second. As related above, it then gained radio airplay accidentally and became a hit for them. Whether or not Jackson gave his permission to record it, whether they paid royalties to him is unknown, but given its success you would imagine the Prince of Pop would have wanted his cut. Anyway here it is in all its glory. It's a clever video, lampooning much of the antics of Jackson, including the “walking on lighted panels” thing from “Billy Jean”, a monkey sitting with the singer and of course the signature yelp from Jackson, which is I think possibly sampled. It's a good energetic version, and I do know the song of course but I wouldn't be as familiar with it as I would be with say “Bad” or “Billy Jean” or “Thriller”. I'd say they do a decent, almost punkish version. One of my favourite French progressive metal bands up next. Adagio's Underworld just blew my mind, although its follow up Sanctus Ignis was a bit of a disappointment. This though is from their third album, and probably the most unlikely pop song you could imagine a band like them ever covering. “Fame” by Adagio, from the album Dominate, 2005. Originally by Irene Cara from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Fame, 1980. Written by Micheal Gore and Dean Pitchford. Everyone of a certain age knows of Fame, be it the TV show or the movie that spawned it, and this is one of the most famous songs from it, a song that led Irene Cara into a short spell of stardom as she went on to act and sing in films like Flashdance and, um, a bunch of other movies. She also acted on stage, most notably in adaptations of The Wiz and Jesus Christ Superstar. So would she recognise this version of one of her most famous songs? Well it kicks off with a really fast and busy bass line, then a symphonic guitar and keyboard passage, with a relatively clean vocal, good guitar solo. They don't take the piss out of it too much, and you can certainly recognise the song. On a sidenote, interesting to hear the new at the time singer, Gus Monsanto, though I preferred David Readman. Italian power metal band Elvenking paid tribute to eighties pop sensation Belinda Carlisle on their fifth album, covering her biggest hit single. Although she had other chart successes, and indeed found fame with the sixties pop group The Go-Gos, Carlisle is certainly best remembered by the general public for this song. “Heaven is a place on Earth”, by Elvenking, from the album Two Tragedy Poets (... and a Caravan of Weird Figures), 2008. Originally by Belinda Carlisle from the album Heaven on Earth, 1987. Written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley. No information points to why the Italian metalheads wanted to record this; there was no single release and the album they put it on turned out to be mostly acoustic material, as well as some re-recorded songs from other albums, so on the face of it not the sort of place you'd expect to see them covering a well-known pop song. But there it is. Did they acoustic it up? No, they most certainly did not. It opens on a churning, grinding guitar, then keyboards before it explodes into the main melody. They don't, to be fair, pull away too far from the original but manage to give it something of a metal kick up the backside. Unfortunately, whether he has trouble pronouncing the word “living”, or misunderstands the lyric, the vocalist sings “In this world we're just beginning to understand the miracle of leaving”, which kind of distorts the message in the song! At least they give it a bona fide metal crescendo ending. Throw those horns! Keeping with power metal (not sure if they just tend to be the ones who cover pop songs more, or if these lists I'm using are intentionally skewed that way, or even if the compilers of the lists are lazy and just grabbing the best-known covers or the ones easiest to hand) we have a rendition of one of the sugariest and least likely at the time songs, which came from a movie that should in my opinion not have done as well as it had. With the breakup of the ludicriously-named Kajagoogoo (Sorry but I'll always have some hate for them when I remember a smartmouth DJ on radio, having played Twisted Sister, sneer “Twisted Sister! What a stupid name! Now here's Kajagoogoo!” Stupid cunt. Anyway...) their lead singer Christopher Hammill, who decided to make himself more interesting by reversing his surname and became the “enigmatic” Limahl went solo, and this was his big hit, from the movie, as I say, of the same name. “The Neverending Story”, by Dragonland, from the album Holy War, 2002. Originally by Limahl, from the OST to “The Neverending Story”, 1984. Also from the debut album by Limahl, Don't Suppose, released in 1984 as well. Written by Giorgio Morodoer and Keith Forsey. Interested to see what these guys did with the soppy fantasy song. Well it looks like they kicked it up several notches, with machinegun drumming and powerful guitar, though to be fair other than that it's pretty much the same, even retaining the keyboard flourishes that characterised the original. I'd like ot have heard it sung in a death growl, but you can't have everything. Meh, not bad. Well, if nothing else it made me hate the song all over again, so that's something surely. Another song I really hate is Rihanna's “Umbrella” (yeah, e-ella, I know!) and I'm glad to see someone attempted to metal this up in 2007. Oddly enough, they being Swedish an' all, and singing in their native language, this cover is the only one to appear on Lillasyster's debut album Hjärndöd Musik För En Hjärndöd Generation (Braindead Music for a Braindead Generation) that's actually sung in English! “Umbrella” by Lillasyster, from the album Hjärndöd Musik För En Hjärndöd Generation, 2007. Originally by Rihanna from the album Good Girl Gone Bad, 2007. Written by Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Shawn Carter, Thaddis Harrell and Terius “Dream” Nash. It's one of those songs that really gets into your head (and I believe the video is a thing to see as well. Well, I've been told anyway...) and scored a number one hit for her across the world. One of those you couldn't get away from unless you unplugged the radio, sealed it in carbonite, buried it on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean ... and then dropped a ten-megaton bomb on it. And even then, that was by no means certain. So what was Lillasyster's version like, I hear you ask? See below: Well it's got a nice rock vibe to it, while yet kind of retaining the r&b elements that made the song such a hit, including of course the annoying “Ella, ella, ella” chorus. Could have used a guitar solo. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-09-2015, 02:48 PM	#2863 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	I only have one suggestion: __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.