Metalheads! Confess & Brag

[papastebu]

He's not the fastest. He's not the flashiest. He's not the heaviest. He just simply plays great guitar 100% of the time.

"Slowhand".

And yes, he is a major undercurrent in music, as far as guitarists are concerned. I've had guys tell me they hated Eric Clapton, but they damn sure know who he is, then, don't they? My dad even knows about him, and his entire 32~ year career was spent in country/western music and the old crooner-type songs.
Really, for me, if the guitarist is good, then any kind of music the band plays is alright. Sometimes, though, it's all about what part of a song catches my ear on that listen. If I'm into lyrics right then, and they're not talkin' to me, then I move on. Same thing for bass, vocals, or tempo. Very rarely a drum solo or keyboard/piano riff will get me.
I think that's one of the main reasons I don't play professionally. I'm too ecclectic, and I listen more than I play. I get so into what I'm hearing, sometimes, that actually keeping with the song I'm playing is too hard. :\

 

[BOZ]

Now, please don't kill me...but I fear I'm too young to know about this Clapton.

that's no excuse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OK, youngsters...

Other bands/artists you should know because of the direct impact they had on hard rock:

Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Rush
Led Zeppelin
ZZ Top
Budgie
Queen
Iron Maiden
Ynqwie J. Malmsteen

Less obvious ones would include:

Django Reinhardt: even with 2 damaged fingers on his fretting hand, he managed to play some awesome jazz guitar licks. Without him, we wouldn't have Heavy Metal as we know it. Why? Because it is his life story that kept Tony Iommi from giving up guitar after slicing off the tips off of 2 fingers on his fretting hand, and as we all know, TI is the guitarist for Black Sabbath, the band that started true heavy metal.

Metal Church: contemporaries of Anthrax, Metallica and Megadeth, they are often forgotten masters of early speed metal- they would be the 4th of the "Four Horsemen" as some called those bands. They're still around. The original lead singer left, and formed a band called Reverend (which was pretty cool too).

Testament: one of the later bands in the speed metal movement, and a major launching pad for guitar wizard Alex Skolnick (Satriani protege and jazz fusion experimenter). Their music is/was as intense as anyone else's.

Shawn Lane: a guitar phenom at 16, he mastered country, rock & jazz before his untimely death just a couple of years ago.

Al DiMeola: legendarily fast jazz/rock fusion guitarist, could trade licks with YJM without blinking. Some of his stuff is pure shred- "Race With the Devil along a Spanish Highway"

Dick Dale: The king of surf guitar, one of the first true shredders in rock history. Faster and more aggressive than any other guitarist of his era, if it weren't for him, speed metal guitarists wouldn't have had anything to shoot for. If you've watched Pulp Fiction, you've heard his work.

 

[Ferret]

How much am I supposed to know about these guys/bands?

Black Sabbath - Liked some of the songs, like war pigs, paranoid and the one about the jet fighters
Deep Purple - Who? (I have heard of them)
Rush - Who?
Led Zeppelin - They are great, but I'm not that big of a fan
ZZ Top - Have 'Tush' but not heard anything else...
Budgie - Who?
Queen - Who? Kidding! They are AWESOME.
Iron Maiden - Also awesome, but not keen on the new album.
Ynqwie J. Malmsteen - Have one track but I seriously want to get more.

Hows that?

 

[Kurashu]

You've seriously don't know about Rush?

They're probably the three most talented people with their instruments. I just have Chronicles and I know I'm missing out on so much.

Canada has given the world some great stuff, maple syrup...and uhh...maple syrup, but Rush. Rush is just so good.

Deep Purple, if I'm remember right (probably not because I'm still in musical mode), is the band that wrote Smoke on the Water, and now every guitarist plays that one riff in the song. It's probably the one riff more wide spread than Stairway to Heaven.

Led's pretty good.

AC/DC is too.

 

[papastebu]

Anybody ever listen to Bela Fleck and the Flecktones?
This stuff is like the best blues/jazz/rock/metal fusion on a BANJO that I've ever heard. The only, really.
Then there's Futureman, with his drummitar. Amazing.
Django Reinhardt was extremely inspiring. What about Charlie Christian? IIRC, he was one of the first people to do lead guitar, playing the guitar like a solo instrument, instead of the rhythm instrument it usually was. He was around hornsmen and woodwinders all the time, and was occasionally asked to fill in during their breaks for live radio shows, and so lead guitar was born.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Black Sabbath - Liked some of the songs, like war pigs, paranoid and the one about the jet fighters
Deep Purple - Who? (I have heard of them)
Rush - Who?
Led Zeppelin - They are great, but I'm not that big of a fan
ZZ Top - Have 'Tush' but not heard anything else...
Budgie - Who?
Queen - Who? Kidding! They are AWESOME.
Iron Maiden - Also awesome, but not keen on the new album.
Ynqwie J. Malmsteen - Have one track but I seriously want to get more.

OK...breathe...breathe...[grumpyoldman]WHIPPERSNAPPER![/grumpyoldman]


Black Sabbath is the band that invented true heavy metal. I'm not saying buy everything they ever did (though I did), or like everything they ever did (I don't), but their influence is heard today even in the new bands, some more than others. Earth, Corrosion of Conformity, Kyuss...almost any of the black/death metal bands out of northern Europe...all owe them a great debt. Then there's all that interrelation thing: BS has had 4 full time vocalists- Ozzy Osbourne (you know his solo career & TV show, right?), Ronnie James Dio (Elf, Rainbow, Dio), Ian Gillen (Deep Purple) & Tony Martin, and the album "Seventh Star was recorded and toured with by Glen Hughes & Geoff Nicholls. Ray Gillen was briefly in the band, but his vox were replaced on Eternal Idol by those of Tony Martin, which would have been RG's first with the band. It sounds like you've heard the Ozzy stuff, the Ian Gillen album, Born Again, has some of the wickedest stuff they ever recorded, and Dio's era is no less classic than Ozzy's. In fact, there's a collection of the best from the Dio era out right now, including 3 new songs. Geezer Butler, the bass player, had a stint with his more modern metal band called GZR, and Tony Iommi has recorded some solo stuff as well. Like Carlos Santana, Iommi did his first true solo album (ignoring Black Sabbath's Seventh Star) with a varied band that included a new vocalist on each track, including the likes of Henry Rollins, Serj Tankian, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Peter Steele, Ian Astbury, Brian May, Skin, and even Ozzy. (The second solo album is mediocre, though.)

Deep Purple, along with Led Zep & Black Sab were the bands that really shaped early hard rock into what we hear today, and their classic lineup featured the acid-rock keyboards of John Lord, the skyrocketing vocals of Ian Gillen, and the classically informed guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore. David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Coverdale/Page) also recorded with this band.

Rush is the hypertalented power trio from Canada. Each player- Geddy Lee (Bass, Keyboards & Vox), Neil Peart (Drums, Percussion), and Alex Lifeson (Guitar)- is a legend on their chosen instrument. Originally just another hard rock band, they lifted a page from prog rock legends Yes and started writing intelligent lyrics with pyrotechnic music to go along with it.

Budgie is a Welsh (I believe) power trio that never broke big, but their music influenced countless bands. Unlike contemporaries like Rush, they never bought into the prog-rock vibe, but stayed more psychedelic...a rock style that was pretty much dying when they came along. You've probably heard their work covered by someone else, like Metallica's version of Breadfan.

BTW, I forgot to mention them, but they're no less important...you have heard of Judas Priest?

 

[Ferret]

OK...breathe...breathe...[grumpyoldman]WHIPPERSNAPPER![/grumpyoldman]

Hahaha, yeah

Black Sabbath is the band that invented true heavy metal. I'm not saying buy everything they ever did (though I did), or like everything they ever did (I don't), but their influence is heard today even in the new bands, some more than others. Earth, Corrosion of Conformity, Kyuss...almost any of the black/death metal bands out of northern Europe...all owe them a great debt. Then there's all that interrelation thing: BS has had 4 full time vocalists- Ozzy Osbourne (you know his solo career & TV show, right?), Ronnie James Dio (Elf, Rainbow, Dio), Ian Gillen (Deep Purple) & Tony Martin, and the album "Seventh Star was recorded and toured with by Glen Hughes & Geoff Nicholls. Ray Gillen was briefly in the band, but his vox were replaced on Eternal Idol by those of Tony Martin, which would have been RG's first with the band. It sounds like you've heard the Ozzy stuff, the Ian Gillen album, Born Again, has some of the wickedest stuff they ever recorded, and Dio's era is no less classic than Ozzy's. In fact, there's a collection of the best from the Dio era out right now, including 3 new songs. Geezer Butler, the bass player, had a stint with his more modern metal band called GZR, and Tony Iommi has recorded some solo stuff as well. Like Carlos Santana, Iommi did his first true solo album (ignoring Black Sabbath's Seventh Star) with a varied band that included a new vocalist on each track, including the likes of Henry Rollins, Serj Tankian, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Peter Steele, Ian Astbury, Brian May, Skin, and even Ozzy. (The second solo album is mediocre, though.)

I once downloaded every one of there songs, but they all got lost due to a hard ware crash. Too much at one though I think. I wasn't a big fan of stuff like Fairies Wear Boots (?) but I liked Sweetleaf. The problem was I might like the music, but that doesn't mean I want to listen to it. I like lots of stuff on the radio, but I'd never buy Mika's album, or the black eyed pea's... I just found a discography: Hand of doom, Iron man, Never Say Die, Johnny Blade, I won't cry for you. Problem is that I heard these tracks so long ago I either don't remember what they sound like of I do but I don't know which ones those are.... I read up on the group when I was trying them out....Lots of crazy stuff happened and it was quite sad, didn't one of ozzys friends die just as he came back off of drugs, and he wrote an album for him but it didn't do well? I do realise how influential Black Sabbath were, but I'm not a black/death metal fan so I don't hear 'their sound' too often

Deep Purple, along with Led Zep & Black Sab were the bands that really shaped early hard rock into what we hear today, and their classic lineup featured the acid-rock keyboards of John Lord, the skyrocketing vocals of Ian Gillen, and the classically informed guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore. David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Coverdale/Page) also recorded with this band.

I've never gotten in to them. Never occured to me that I might like them...The only part of Smoke On The Water I like is the bass line. =/

Rush is the hypertalented power trio from Canada. Each player- Geddy Lee (Bass, Keyboards & Vox), Neil Peart (Drums, Percussion), and Alex Lifeson (Guitar)- is a legend on their chosen instrument. Originally just another hard rock band, they lifted a page from prog rock legends Yes and started writing intelligent lyrics with pyrotechnic music to go along with it.

Budgie is a Welsh (I believe) power trio that never broke big, but their music influenced countless bands. Unlike contemporaries like Rush, they never bought into the prog-rock vibe, but stayed more psychedelic...a rock style that was pretty much dying when they came along. You've probably heard their work covered by someone else, like Metallica's version of Breadfan.

Not heard of either...wait I might have had a song by them on a comp' album called "The best heavy metal album II". But I didn't liek them, I'll just go see what they were...I can't find them.

BTW, I forgot to mention them, but they're no less important...you have heard of Judas Priest?

Uh, yeah! Not enough though. I think I like them. I've only heard Breaking the law properly though.

Now are there any songs from these I should hear? Not jsut their best but sides I haven't heard that youthink I should, like from Black sabbaths era where Ozy wasn't with them....?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Songs by those bands you should hear (not exhaustive):

Black Sabbath sans Ozzy: Disturbing the Priest, Trashed, & Zero the Hero (with Ian Gillen); Neon Knights, Mob Rules, Voodoo, Falling off the edge of the World, Heaven & Hell, TV Crimes (with Dio); Eternal Idol, Nightmare, Ancient Warrior, Black Moon, Headless Cross (with Tony Martin).

Deep Purple: Speed King, Child in Time, Highway Star, My Woman from Tokyo, Space Truckin', Stormbringer, Burn, Perfect Strangers, Knocking at your Back Door.

Rush: 2112 (entire album), Trees, La Villa Strangiato, YYZ, Red Barchetta, Distant Early Warning, The Body Electric, Bastille Day, Xanadu, Cygnus X-1, By-Tor and the Snow Dog, The Spirit of Radio, Jacob's Ladder, Free Will, Natural Science, New World Man, Countdown, The Stars Look Down

Budgie: Breadfan, Hot as a Dockers Armpit, Nude Descending Parachutist Woman, Guts, Homicidal Suicidal, Stranded, In for the Kill, Crash Course in Brain Surgery, Melt the Ice Away.

PS: I just found out that Budgie was still releasing studio albums as of 2005! I seemed to have missed a few!

Judas Priest: Breaking the Law, Bloodstone, You've Got Another Thing Comin', Electric Eye, Pain and Pleasure, Fever, Freewheel Burning, The Sentinel, Livin after Midnight, Hell Bent For Leather, Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown), Painkiller, Rocka Rolla, Caviar & Meths, Never Satisfied, Victim of Changes, The Ripper

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just FYI:

VH-1 Classic is airing Metal Mania right now- a collection of hard rock/metal songs from the 1980s-90s- and this episode is starting with The Scorpions' "Still Loving You"