Category Archives: Music

AC/DC Riff Raff – Live in Glasgow 1978

Bon Scott and Angus Young With A Blistering Version of Riff Raff

Rock n’ roll was meant to be dangerous and a live performance should reflect that.

In the late 70’s as AC/DC were on the way to conquering the world with a relentless tour schedule and knockout performances, they filmed a few shows for posterity. This one at The Apollo Centre Theatre in Glasgow Scotland on April 30, 1978 does not have great footage, nor is the sound quality all that good. What is exceptional is the dynamic tension that is displayed in this show. AC/DC is ready to blow any other band off the stage. And you can feel it. Continue reading

You Can’t Go Out Unrecognized, Can You?

Babe Ruth Signing Autographs

The Yankees won’t be in the World Series this year. The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees three games to two in the American League Divisional Series last night. So we won’t be hearing God Bless America at Yankee Stadium during the 7th inning stretch for the rest of 2011 at the ballpark in the Bronx.

In 1936, after Babe Ruth retired, he did not show up to many ball games as a spectator.   He grew disillusioned with not being given the chance to get a management job in the game he loved and tended to avoid baseball parks. Of course it was always hard for Babe to go out in public without being besieged by autograph seekers. But he signed for everyone. That was the Babe. Continue reading

Cliff Burton’s Death and Metallica’s Commercial Popularity

Metallica’s Cliff Burton Died 25 Years Ago, September 27, 1986

In 1984, I already owned a 51 minute, soon to be thrash classic called Kill ‘Em All. So when I played a new cassette tape for my father and told him “this is the best heavy metal album I ever heard and one day this band will be acknowledged as great, although they will probably never be popular,” I was sure he would agree with me.

He agreed with one part- that they would never be popular and years later we would both be proven wrong. They did become very popular.  The band was Metallica and the cassette tape was Ride The Lightning.  My father couldn’t understand how I could listen to it.  Too fast, too loud, too much screaming. His hard rock tastes stopped somewhere between Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper.  Getting no radio airplay, Continue reading

The Death of New York Rock Radio

WRXP-FM (101.9) Becomes All News WEMP-FM

Commercial FM album rock radio is dead. Period.

That slow death began when WPLJ-FM flipped to CHR in 1983. It has been in a steady decline since then. The WRXP-FM flip to all news in August confirms that no station programmer can succeed in New York in the capturing of a dedicated rock listening audience large enough to satisfy the bosses.  These behemoth, chain radio station owners care about three things and they are: ad dollars, ratings and demographics.

The remaining rock commercial stations in the tri-state area: WAXQ-FM (NYC Classic Rock) , WBAB-FM (Long Island Rock) and WDHA-FM (Dover, NJ Rock) play the same rotation of old songs, with few new artists mixed in, so how is that going to attract new listeners? Satellite radio (narrowcasting), ipods and streams have hastened that death.

But the real underlying reason is, is that kids are not being introduced to rock n’ roll for the most part, except through the few parents who know how important it is to explore music with their children. Otherwise they will listen to the junk that all their friends listen to. Rock n’ roll has lost a generation of listeners that I fear cannot be recovered. The few young people who do listen to rock, are the exception.

Hush – Deep Purple with Playboy’s Hugh Hefner

Playboy After Dark –  Featuring the Original Deep Purple

Hugh Hefner’s swinging, late 1960’s TV show, Playboy After Dark had a wide variety of musicians, comedians and interesting people appear as  guests. This clip recorded in late 1968,  is one of the earliest television performances and one of the last to show the original Deep Purple performing their breakthrough song Hush.

This line-up is known as Deep Purple Mark I.  By the time this segment aired November 14, 1969, original vocalist Rod Evans and bass player Nick Simper, both founding members of the band, had been out of the band since July 1969 and were replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover.  The new incarnation of Deep Purple would go on to have worldwide commercial success and set a standard for other hard rock and heavy metal bands to follow. Continue reading

The “New” Led Zeppelin

The Name Game Continues

While New Zealand may have outlawed some names, the USA, with the exception of what a judge may find to be a frivolous name, (Your Majesty; Copyright; Superman) still allows people to name themselves or their offspring pretty much whatever they want.

So when George Blackburn, 64, of Bethalto, IL recently got divorced, he wanted a fresh start and legally renamed himself Led Zeppelin II. According to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch the newly named Zeppelin said: Continue reading

The Vocal Twin of Geddy Lee of Rush

Not Geddy Lee – But It Sure Sounds Like Him

They say everyone has a person somewhere in the world who looks just like them, a doppelgänger. But what do you call someone who sounds just like another person?

Tribute bands have proliferated in recent years and they can make a good living performing the works of successful bands present and past.

I’m not into tribute bands, as good as some of them might be. But I ran across this video of the Rush tribute band 2112 performing live. Continue reading

Baseball Theme Songs

When Baseball Teams Had Their Own Unique Songs

Dodge Dart radioWhen my Dad and I would drive places at night in the 1970’s, my father would put on the Baltimore radio station, WBAL-AM to hear the Orioles games. At night the radio signals were stronger and you could pick up most of the bigger radio station’s broadcasts within a 400 mile range, so he would listen. I vividly remember the upbeat song that used to be played to start the O’s broadcast. I searched the internet and have had no luck finding “Orioles Baseball” which is what I believe the title was. But I have collected a number of baseball theme songs and thought I would share them.

For every baseball fan who can remember…

(click on link to hear the mp3 of the song)

Yankees Theme Song

In the 1970’s when I was listening to the radio, before the start of every ball game, the New York Yankees would have their theme played. The Yankees announcers, Phil Rizutto, Frank Messer and Bill White would eventually talk over the song and it would fade out. At the end of the game they would play the theme again. The Yankees still play a truncated version of the song at the beginning and conclusion of games on the radio, but they rarely play this version with the lyrics.

Mets Theme Song

Musically well constructed and simply the best song ever written for a team with its catchy lyrics. The “Meet The Mets” song still holds up nearly 50 years after the Mets introduction to New York. This version is the original version. (ed note: strangely enough I wrote this article on June 30 and originally scheduled it to be posted on July 5. I moved it up to July 3 after seeing that the writer of the Mets theme song Ruth Roberts passed away Friday, July 1 at age 84.)

Cubs Theme Song

If you grew up in Chicago you may remember “Hey, Hey Holy Mackarel” which was the Chicago Cubs song.

White Sox Theme Song

Now, if you were a Chicago White Sox fan, the song dear to your heart would be “Let’s Go, Go, Go White Sox.”

Tigers Theme Song

In the late 1960’s this is what the Detroit Tigers were playing – “Go Get ‘Um Tigers.” Continue reading

Judas Priest Founder K.K. Downing Retires

The Band Will Make Its Final World Tour Without K.K. – What Really Happened?

In late April 2011 when Judas Priest announced that Ken “K.K.” Downing was “retiring” from the band just before kicking off their final world tour, it came as a huge shock to most heavy metal fans. The reasons given for the retirement in the official Judas Priest announcement are somewhat vague.  Downing clarified his position in two statements through his own web site.  Downing said in his first statement on April 21 2011:

“Dear friends,

It is with much regret that I will not be with you this summer. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your concerns about my health. Please rest assured that I am O.K.

There has been an ongoing breakdown in working relationship between myself, elements of the band, and the band’s management for some time.

Therefore I have decided to step down rather than to tour with negative sentiments as I feel that this would be a deception to you, our cherished fans.

However I would urge you to please support the Priest as I have no doubt that it will be a show not to be missed.”

Downing the lead guitarist, who developed the band with the lone remaining founder, bassist Ian Hill, must have Continue reading

The Best Heavy Metal Band That You Never Heard Of

Wargasm –Thrash Legends To A Handful of Fans

Incredible riffs, great songwriting and a blistering live show. Those are the ingredients that usually add up to music immortality and lots of money and success.

They should be up there with the all-time greats of heavy metal. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth.  But they are not.

They started out being called Overkill and then Maniac. A name change to Wargasm was probably not for the best.  When I told people Continue reading