The Quiet Van Halen Speaks Of Family, Music, Life, Love And Loss
The band Van Halen share their name with its two founding members. So when speaking of Van Halen sometimes it’s important to distinguish if you are referring to the band or personnel. Frequently it was interchangeable. The band Van Halen or the guitarist Edward Van Halen. Infrequently was the reference to band co-founder Alex Van Halen.
Sitting behind a drum kit for over 50 years made it possible for Alex Van Halen to be in the background rather than the spotlight. Continue reading →
Isolated Vocals On 13 Songs From Classic Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Motley Crue & Other Bands
Ian Gillan, Deep Purple photo: Jan Persson
We will conclude our overview of isolated vocals with a selection of songs from some of the most iconic hard rock and heavy metal bands.
What you may notice in listening to these cuts is that more than other types of rock, heavy metal has people who can sing and others who greatly benefit with the helping hand of compression and echo.
There were many bands to possibly profile and limiting the number of songs to a bakers dozen was a challenge. While we would consider including Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Anthrax, Slayer, Testament and other thrash bands, we left them out this time. Maybe we’ll revisit this subject in the future.
Originators
Starting things off is the band that many fans consider the inventors of heavy metal, Black Sabbath with Paranoid (vocals – Ozzy Osbourne)
In music polls, Led Zeppelin is consistently ranked as the one of the greatest bands in rock history. They also influenced practically every hard rock and metal band even if Zeppelin themselves did not call themselves a “heavy metal” band. This is their iconic 1971 song Rock and Roll (vocals- Robert Plant)
Most rock fans can name the song in three notes. If Deep Purple did not Continue reading →
In The 1970s, National Lampoon Magazine Took Any & All Advertisers
Model demonstrating the proper facial use of a vibrator. From National Lampoon, January 1977
Matty Simmons the CEO of National Lampoon and author of If You Don’t Buy This Book We’ll Kill This Dog (Barricade Books), describes in his 1994 memoir the challenges of getting traditional advertisers during National Lampoon magazine’s first decade. Continue reading →
AC/DC Rejected Dirty Eyes, Instead Using The Same Riff For Whole Lotta Rosie
Plus The Only Known Photograph Of The Real Life “Rosie”
AC/DC’s singer / lyricist Bon Scott once described himself not as a poet, but more a bathroom graffiti writer.
Though Bon Scott was self effacing, he could look at his own work honestly to see if there was room for improvement. Scott would frequently write and rewrite lyrics in notebooks and record on portable tape recorder he carried with him.
In one case he took a good rock song and made it a great song by completely changing the lyrics. Continue reading →
Mae West In A Revival & Hitting On Rock Star Alice Cooper
Mae Today
One of Mae West’s most noted successes – a role with which she is now a bit bored – is as a high-living lady in “Diamond Lil”. The play is still being revived. In a New York dressing room in 1949, Miss West puts on some “prop” diamonds – valued at $2,000 – which she wears in the play. photo: Wide World Photos 8/4/1952
Mae West remained in the public eye for decades. First in vaudeville, then the legitimate stage, followed by movies and radio. Topping off her stardom, there were whispers and rumors throughout her career that Mae West was not actually a woman. Continue reading →
Pat Benatar Performs Promises In The Dark Live In Albany July 2022
Rocker Pat Benatar has been performing with her husband, guitarist and songwriter Neil Geraldo for over 43 years.
Musicians don’t fret that their skills will deteriorate the way singers do.
A powerful rock singer usually has no more than ten to fifteen years of prime vocal strength and then its a slow steady decline as their range and power diminish. The decline can be devastating to the singer and painfully sad for fans of a band. Ask Steve Perry of Journey or Lou Gramm of Foreigner.
Not so with Pat Benatar.
At age 69 Pat Benatar has been singing her heart out for over 40 years. This performance last month in Albany, NY shows that Pat can still hit her notes.
Husband Neil Geraldo is one of the most underrated guitarists in rock. His fluid style of playing does not get noticed by the casual rock fan. He is an amazing talent.
In this clip Pat tells the audience that the musical couple are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.
Sweet’s Producer Phil Wainman Tells The Story Of Ballroom Blitz
Upon Finishing The Song, Wainman Says “The Hair’s On The Back Of My Neck Stood Up.”
When you capture lightning in a bottle you know it.
The iconic song Ballroom Blitz was recorded in a single day after just two to three takes.
Phil Wainman the producer of Sweet in the early 1970s when the band was turning out hit after hit, describes how the song Ballroom Blitz came to be, in this excerpt below in an interview with Iain McNay.
After the recording session was complete Wainman simply said to the band, “Do you think that’s a number one in America?”
Five 1980s Rock Videos Where The Band Is Not The Star
Whitesnake definitely owes a large portion of their late 1980s popularity to Tawny Kitaen, the actress model who suddenly passed away on May 7, 2021 at the age of 59. Tawny Kitaen was the real star in the videos for Here I Go Again; Still of The Night and Is This Love. Kitaen later married lead singer David Coverdale. The constant playing of these videos on MTV no doubt greatly contributed to helping the band eventually sell 15 million copies (8 million plus in the United States) of the 1987 eponymously titled Whitesnake album. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the previous seven Whitesnake albums sold a total of less than two million units combined before Tawny Kitaen’s addition to Whitesnake’s arsenal of sales tactics.
Not that Tawny Kitaen started a trend, but bands have always known that a good song can be made into a VERY popular song by featuring sexy women in their videos.
Here are five cases where the band is not the primary focus of the video, but a very attractive woman is.
Ric Ocasek -Something To Grab For (1982)
Ric Ocasek of The Cars released seven solo albums over his career which had modest sales. His first solo LP 1982’s Beatitude was the most successful, hitting number 28 on the Billboard charts. Starring in Something To Grab For is future 1983 Playboy Playmate of the Year, Marianne Gravatte (b. 1959). Gravatte, a stunningly beautiful woman, was also featured in Ratt’s Lay It Down.
The band Van Halen share their name with its two founding members. So when speaking of Van Halen sometimes it’s important to distinguish if you are referring to the band or personnel. Frequently it was interchangeable. The band Van Halen or the guitarist Edward Van Halen. Infrequently was the reference to band co-founder Alex Van Halen.
