Sadly, we've reached the end of another Rocktober. I hope you've had as much fun as I have during our aural journey through the rock of the '80s over these last 30 days . Stay tuned, as Monday we will start Gizmovember, a daily look at the trials and tribulations of the mogwai.
But before then, we have a final '80s Rocktober selection to end Halloween week on a Hair Band Friday, no less. With the pagan equivalent of Christmas coming tomorrow, it's only fitting that the last song of Rocktober -- Mötley Crüe's "Shout at the Devil" -- have demonic undertones.1983's Shout at the Devil was Mötley Crüe's second studio album, and it was their breakthrough album, reaching #17 on the Billboard album chart and eventually going 4x platinum in the U.S., despite not having a Top 40 song on the album ("Looks That Kill" was the highest-charting song, reaching #54 on the Billboard Hot 100). The album is a solid piece of hard rock –- made in an era before the power ballad (which, of course, Mötley Crüe would popularize on their next album with "Home Sweet Home"). As a result, all of the songs are heavy rockers, and there aren't any damned pianos.
The original album cover was black, with a darker black pentagram and red writing the the band and album name. Very pagan sheik. There was also an alternate cover for CDs and cassettes, featuring a 2x2 shot of the band members looking like cross-dressing barbarians, but you have to remember that's what any respectable man was wearing in the early '80s.
The title track to the album is a metal/hair band classic. On the album, it's the second track, preceded by "In The Beginning," a fire-and-brimstone, creepy, ethereal, spoken-word intro to the album, by some Vincent Price-esque dude describing basically how the world has gone to hell in a hand basket, although you can be assured that the term "hand basket" appears nowhere in any Mötley Crüe album. Anyway, the old man encourages you all to "be strong and shout at the devil!"
Then Mick Mars's heavy riff kicks in, and the band implores you to "Shout! Shout! Shout! / Shout! Shout! Shout! / Shout at the devil!" A lot of people are confused by the title of the album and song, believing it to be some sort of invitation to summon the devil. I always took it to mean the opposite -- that you should holler at the devil, like, "Hey, devil, you're a jerk! Cut it out!" See, that's not so bad after all, is it?
My birthday Rocktober selection for Halloween week is the third in a row from 1980. Apparently that was a good year for spooky hard rock and metal. It's another New Wave of British Heavy Metal classic, Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?"
Hailing from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, Diamond Head was another massively influential NWOBHM band, particularly on the thrash metal scene. Metallica has covered and released several Diamond Head songs over the years, including "Am I Evil?" as the B-side of "Creeping Death" in 1984 (and later re-released on 1998's Garage, Inc.).
Diamond Head's 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations is rightly considered a metal classic, full of energetic songs and heavy riffs. Rolling Stone ranked the album #42 on its 2017 list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.
"Am I Evil?" is my favorite song off the album. It's 7:43 of NWOBHM goodness. The song starts off with kind of a military march feel, before lead guitarist Brian Tatler comes in with an Eddie Van Halen-esque ripping little guitar piece that leads into the fantastic, Sabbath-worthy riff. The first line captures you: "My mother was a witch / She was burned alive / Thankless little bitch / For the tears I cried." You kind of feel bad for this little witch's kid, as he then spends the rest of the song recounting his murderous revenge.
The chorus -- "Am I evil? / Yes, I am / Am I evil? / I am man" -- harkens the whole Meng Tzu vs. Hsun Tzu debate as to whether humans are born innately good and learn evil or vice versa. Diamond Head seems to come out on the latter in this song. Then again, maybe if this guy's mom wasn't murdered in front of him, he wouldn't have done the things he did and would've have answered the question "No, I don't think so." That doesn't rhyme as well, though.
Due to some poor career choices -- inexperienced managers, not touring in the U.S., staying on an independent record label for too long -- Diamond Head didn't experience the commercial success that they deserved and that some of their NWOBHM brethren like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Saxon had achieved. The band split in 1983 after their third album bombed, reformed briefly in the early '90s and released another album, then split again before reforming in the mid 2000s and releasing another two albums, and then split again before reforming in the mid 2010s and releasing two more albums. That was an exhausting sentence to write. Anyway, enjoy the song and ponder the question.
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was fertile ground for many things, one of which was the use of dark and macabre themes. Setting aside the many songs from NWOBHM bands that discussed demons, witches, the devil, murder, and the like, many NWOBHM band names evoked a sense of the sinister, like Iron Maiden (taken from a medieval torture device), Cloven Hoof, Demon, Pagan Altar, Grim Reaper, Satan, Venom, and Witchfinder General.
London's Angel Witch, like so many other bands of the time, is one of those bands whose influence far surpassed its commercial success. Their 1980 self-titled debut is considered one of the most important of the early NWOBHM albums, not only because the songs are great musically, but also because of the apocalyptic painting on the album cover and the dark and eerie subject matter of many of the songs. They were one of the first NWOBHM bands to jump headfirst into "black" themes. I'm also impressed that the band was only a trio, with Kevin Heybourne on lead vocals and guitar, Kevin Riddles on bass, keyboards, and backing vocals, and Dave Hogg on drums. I definitely would have called the drummer "Boss."
In 2010, the band's label released a 30th anniversary edition of the Angel Witch album, which is what I have. In addition to the ten tracks originally on the album, it includes twenty additional tracks of demos, live BBC recordings, alternate versions, and B-sides.
I could have chosen any of several songs from the album, including "White Witch," "Devil's Tower," "Sorcerers," "Angel of Death," or "Gorgon," as well as "Baphoment," which is one of the bonus tracks on the aforementioned anniversary edition and was originally released as part of the 1980 NWOBMH compilation Metal for Muthas.
However, I am going with the title track. Yes, this is one of those rare instances of a self-titled song on a self-titled album -- though it seems to happen in the metal world more than elsewhere, as bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Motörhead have all released self-titled songs on self-titled albums. On a related note, one day, I'd like to form a band called Triple Eponymous and release and album called Triple Eponymous, on which there is a song called "Triple Eponymous." I'll put an ad in The Recycler to get my backing band. "Must have own equipment. Must take direction well. Must be awesome. Must be down with eponymity."
The song "Angel Witch" is a fantastic example of what the NWOBHM was all about -- the energy of punk and the technical proficiency of metal. It's a fast-paced song with screaming guitars, impassioned vocals, and thundering drums. As I was listening to this song a little while ago, in the last minute of the song, when Heybourne goes off, Son (age 6) said, "Whoa!" I assumed something totally insane happened in his neverending Roblox game, but nonetheless, I said "What are you 'whoaing' about?" He said, "That guitarist is really good." If the guitar solo made Son shift focus from his iPad, you know it must be good. I should also note that I sing this song to my wife every night after she goes to sleep.
Sadly, after releasing their debut album, the band broke up before reforming in 1984 with a slightly different lineup and releasing albums in 1985 and 1986, before breaking up again and then sporadically reforming with different lineups over the next few decades and releasing studio albums in 2012 and 2019.
Normally by this point in October, I would have provided you with my Ultimate Halloween Party Playlist, but no one -- I repeat, no one -- should be having any Halloween parties this year, and I certainly don't want to encourage anyone to spread COVID by giving them a list of songs that will only encourage them and their friends to party their balls and tits off. Hopefully we're back to normal next year.
But in its stead, I shall give you at least a Tuesday Top Ten of '80s Halloween songs. The '80s were a fertile time for Halloween-appropriate songs, from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal to horror punk to pop to rap to mainstream rock to hair bands to thrash metal. As always, I'm only going with one song per artist, or else it would be mostly Misfits songs. This was a tough list to narrow down, and I'm giving you a massive honorable mention list, which includes songs by artists I've already featured this Rocktober, but doesn't include songs that I will be featuring as standalone Rocktober songs this week, even though there's no possible way I'm going to be able to fit everything I wanted to include with only a few days left, causing unimaginable stress about what to pick, both for this and for the rest of the week. The struggle is real. I'm putting them in alphabetical order by artist.
1. "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow (1982) British new wavers Bow Wow Wow's cover of The Strangelove's 1965 hit "I Want Candy" wasn't a huge hit when it was released (reaching only #62 on the Billboard Hot 100), but it has become one of the most beloved Halloween songs of the past forty years, with its Bo Diddley beat and then-teenaged lead singer's Annabella Lwin's spunky vocals.
2. "A Nightmare on My Street" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1988) This is a classic late '80s rap song, playing off of the popularity of Freddy Krueger, who, for many of us growing up in the '80s, was the most terrifying of all the horror movie villains. I should also note that I did, in fact, perform this with a friend for our elementary school talent show in fifth grade. I was Freddy. It was pretty awesome.
3. "Trick or Treat" by Fastway (1986) '80s metal band Fastway -- whose lead singer was Dave King, who would later do a 180 on genres and found Celtic punk band Flogging Molly -- played the soundtrack to the 1986 the metal-themed horror film Trick or Treat. This is the title song. Incidentally, the video below is a clip from the movie, so it's not King (or the rest of the band) on the stage.
4. "Hallow's Eve" by Hallows Eve (1985) American metal band Hallows Eve didn't burn up the charts, but their name fits the mold for this list, and their 1985 eponymous song does too.
5. "Halloween" by Helloween (1987) German power metal band Helloween obviously has the right name for a Halloween list, and their song "Halloween" is included for obvious reasons.
6. "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (1982) This is a no-brainer and should be played at every Halloween party for eternity. The extended version of the video is a masterpiece as well, from the choreographed dancing to Vincent Price's voiceovers.
7. "Halloween" by The Misfits (1981) The Misfits basically invented the horror punk genre, and their song "Halloween" -- released on Halloween in 1981 -- is all about the best things associated with Halloween: bonfires, jack-o-lanterns, dead cats hanging from poles, and razor blades in apples.
8. "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr. (1984) The theme song to the classic 1984 film of the same name may have gotten Ray Parker, Jr. in legal trouble (because it lifted its melody from Huey Lewis & The News's "I Want a New Drug"), but there's no denying that it's a Halloween classic.
9. "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)" by Pentagram (1985) Doom metal pioneers Pentagram have a good number of hard-rocking creepy songs, but "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)" is probably the most relevant to Halloween. It's a badass and sneakily catchy metal song, with a great riff and spooky lyrics that appear to be about a man who sold his soul and became werewolf.
10. "Raining Blood" by Slayer (1986) The darkest and most demonic of the Big Four of Thrash Metal, Slayer built a huge following despite nary a radio-friendly song. "Raining Blood" is a song that your mother would not approve of, unless you had one of those cool moms who likes songs describing the violent overthrow of heaven, culminating in the blood of angels raining down on heaven's overthrower.
Honorable mention:"Hells Bells" by AC/DC (1980); "Heaven and Hell" by Black Sabbath (1980); "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" by David Bowie (1980); "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" by The Cramps (1980); "Am I Demon" by Danzig (1988); "Dream Warriors" by Dokken (1987); Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran (1982); "Zombie Eaters" by Faith No More (1989); "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford (1988); "Close My Eyes Forever" by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne (1988); "Maneater" by Hall & Oates (1982); "Devil Inside" by INXS (1987); "Killers" by Iron Maiden (1981); "Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Iron Maiden (1981); "Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden (1982); "Devil's Child" by Judas Priest (1982); "Fade to Black" by Metallica (1984); "Creeping Death" by Metallica (1984); "(Every Day Is) Halloween" by Ministry (1986); "Death Comes Ripping" by The Misfits (1983); "Mommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight" by The Misfits (1982); "Bloodfeast" by The Misfits (1983); "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne (1983); "Zombie Zoo" by Tom Petty (1989); "Fallen Angel" by Poison (1988); "To Hell With the Devil" by Stryper (1986); Killer On the Loose" by Thin Lizzy (1980); "Burn in Hell" by Twisted Sister (1984); "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" by W.A.S.P. (1984); "Burning the Witches" by Warlock (1984); "If My Mind is Evil" by White Lion (1989); "Friends of Hell" by Witchfinder General (1983)
Our next macabre-themed Rocktober song comes from the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, and his fantastic solo debut album, 1980's Blizzard of Ozz, which I featured back in July as a CoronaVinyl selection to highlight the guitar playing of Randy Rhoads. I'm not going to rehash my thoughts on the album as a whole -- you can click on the link above and read about it if you so desire -- but I'm here today to showcase "Mr. Crowley."
The song is about Aleister Crowley, an infamous British occultist and magician whose life and beliefs have been met with much fascination since his death, especially in the music world. He has found his way into various songs and even onto the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, among other things. In 1971, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page bought Crowley's former residence, Boleskine House, located on Loch Ness in Scotland, which he owned until 1992 (and is featured in the band's film The Song Remains the Same).
"Mr. Crowley" starts out with eerie, Castlevania-esque organs, letting you know that something weird is amiss. Then the organs drop off as Ozzy's voice comes in with "Mr. Crowley, what went down in your head? / Oh, Mr. Crowley, did you talk to the dead?" The rest of the song seems to be calling Crowley a charlatan. Rhoads's guitar solos are awesome, as expected, and his first solo was ranked as the 28th best guitar solo by Guitar World's readers. The song itself came in at #23 in a 2016 Gibson readers' poll of the greatest heavy metal songs of all-time.
Well folks, we've reached the ultimate week of Rocktober, which means we are almost to All Hallows Eve. Of course, that also means that the five Rocktober songs this week will not be for the faint of heart. They will be ghoulish, ghastly, devilishly demonic, macabre songs about things like, oh, I don't know, Satan.
We're starting it out with Canadian metal band Anvil who rose to popularity in the early '80s and were extremely influential on the speed metal and power metal that followed (as well as on less "heavy" genres) -- a formidable bridge between the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon, etc.) and the next generation of speed and thrash (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, etc.). For one reason or another, Anvil didn't achieve the success that so many of the groups they influenced did, and they kind of fell into obscurity until the fantastic 2009 documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, whether you're into metal or not. It's achingly hilarious, and shows a band of relatively normal dudes who never gave up on their dream.
Metal on Metal, the band's second album, is generally considered a pioneer in the speed and thrash metal genres. Some of it may sound slightly dated now, but you have to realize that, in 1982, this was some pretty heavy shit. The drumming of Robb Reiner and the guitar work of Lips Kudlow are particularly good throughout the album. You can see how they influenced younger bands, particularly Reiner, who was one of the first drummers to use a double bass drum. No one was really drumming like him until that point.
"666" is the closing track on the album, and it finishes the album with a bang. The songs starts with a flash of cymbals, before breaking into a crushing flurry of metal goodness, all about the number of the beast. Lips has an awesome guitar solo in the middle of the song. All in all, it's a great early '80s metal song. And for you horror movie fans out there, the song was also featured in the 2017 remake of Stephen King's It.
Today is arguably the most important day in the lunar calendar -- the first day of Scorpio and the weekly calendar -- Hair Band Friday. To celebrate the confluence of these two monumental occasions, a Scorpions song seemed like the only logical choice. The Scorps are, without question, Germany's greatest rock export. Though they reached the height of their fame in the '80s, the band actually formed in the late '60s and released some fantastic hard rock albums throughout the '70s.
In the early '80s, they transitioned to a more mainstream sound, but while retaining their hard rock edge. 1982's Blackout album was the band's eighth studio album, and it was the first album they had that reached the Top 10 on the Billboard album chart. The song "No One Like You" was their first charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, though it only got up to #65 (it also hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart).
Top to bottom, the album is excellent, and my choice is the title track, which also happens to be the first song on the album. It starts off with a simple but effective guitar riff, and then it's just a great, energetic song from there. I've always like the interplay between the two guitarists, Matthias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker. It's also a good pre-party song, or a morning after song, too, I suppose.
With little more than a week to go in this Rocktober, there's not enough room for every band I'd like to feature, and tough decisions need to be made. Such is the life of longtime, music-obsessed blogger who reaches nearly triple digit views each day. But anyway, today is the day I must feature Iron Maiden.
Of course, Iron Maiden was one of the most influential metal bands of the '80s, and they have continued to make music and tour for the last 40 years. If we ever have concerts again and Iron Maiden comes to a venue near you, do yourself a favor and check them out. They're one of the best live bands I've seen (and I've seen a lot). Musically, they're as tight and technically proficient as anyone out there, Bruce Dickinson's opera-quality voice still booms, and their stage show is still second to none. In my opinion, they deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The song I'm going with is "2 Minutes to Midnight," from the band's 1984 Powerslave album -- the band's third album in three years since Dickinson replaced Paul Di'Anno as the lead singer (and the band's fifth album in five years). The song is a reference to the Doomsday Clock that was inching closer to midnight thanks to the Cold War, and it's an anti-war song that lambastes nuclear war and the politicians who benefit from war at the expense of everyone else.
It reached #11 on the UK pop chart, the band's 9th Top 40 song in the UK. In the U.S., it reached #25 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks chart.
If I wanted to be coy, I would have posted this at 11:58 p.m., but I hope to be swishing around some enamel-restoring mouthwash by that time. Rock and roll!
I've been a little light on new wave this Rocktober, and that's somewhat on purpose, as many new wave songs trend more towards pop than rock -- and, after all, this is ROCKtober, not POPtober. But today, I decided to give you one of my favorite more rocking new wave songs, Scandal's catchy-as-hell 1982 song "Goodbye To You."
Though the band is better known for their 1984 hit "The Warrior," which hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and is a great song, mind you), I like "Goodbye To You" a little better. It was the band's first single, and it had some very minor chart success, reaching #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart (then called Top Tracks). The song is just a fantastic little piece of early '80s rock, and an interesting tidbit is that the keyboard solo in the song is actually played by longtime Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer, who based the solo on Del Shannon's "Runaway." If you know the latter -- and you should -- you can hear the inspiration. Shaffer did not make an appearance in the video for the song, however.
Another interesting tidbit is that Jon Bon Jovi briefly played guitar for Scandal in 1983, before forming Bon Jovi. The band slowly turned over members over the next couple years before breaking up in 1985.
Our penultimate Tuesday Top Ten for this '80s-centric Rocktober is going to be another fun one. I have always loved a good drum fill, and a few years back, some friends of mine started calling particularly good drum fills "delicious fills," a term I have happily adopted.
A drum fill is one of those things that you know and recognize instantly, but it's not so easy to define if you're trying to explain it to someone else. I think this article from Online Drummer does a good job of explaining it. Basically, a drum fill is a break from the the main drum beat in a song, where the drummer adds some extra flourishing beats that either provide a segue between parts of the song or just add some flavor to make the song better. These are the parts when you're most likely to find yourself air drumming. Sometimes a drum fill is the signature moment in a song.
There are some drummers who were particularly adept at fills. Ginger Baker, Bill Ward, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ian Paice, and Alex Van Halen immediately come to mind. If you want to hear a master class in drum fills, start with Ginger Baker. Listen to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love," where Baker's fills are constant and delicious. He could have just played the song straight and it would have been fine, but he didn't, and the song was that much better -- yet another example of why Baker is arguably the best rock drummer of all-time.
Now, what makes a fill "delicious" is, of course, in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Here are a couple of my thoughts:
The length of a fill can add to its deliciousness, but just because a fill is short doesn't mean it's not delicious. Also, if a drum fill becomes too long, it ventures into the "drum solo" world, which isn't what we're talking about here.
For me, for a drum fill to be considered a "delicious fill," it should be in the middle of the song, rather than at the beginning or the end. That's not to say a fill near the beginning of a song can't be delicious. Alex Van Halen's fill eight seconds into "Dance the Night Away" (which was released in 1979, so isn't included on the list below) is one of my favorites.
Also, for me, a drum fill is more effective -- and, therefore, more likely to be "delicious" -- when there isn't singing over it or a lot of other instruments muffling it.
The '80s had some great and memorable fills, and they aren't limited to hard rock and metal. Below are my ten favorite delicious fills from the '80s, in alphabetical order by artist. I'm also listing the drummer's name and the time of the delicious fills. Some of the songs have multiple fills, and I've noted the approximate time in the song of each of the fills. For the YouTube embeds, I made it so they start a few seconds before the drum fill (or the first drum fill if there are several), although please note that the time of the fills in the videos doesn't always match up with the time in the actual recorded songs, as there may have been some important dialogue in a video prior to the music starting. As expected, it was tough to narrow this down to only ten, so I'm also giving you an honorable mention category again. Check everything out, and air drum like a motherfucker.
1. "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981) Drummer: Phil Collins Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:16 As the drum fill that has inspired a thousand viral copycats, this is one of the most famous -- and delicious -- drum fills of all-time. It would be criminal to have a top ten list of delicious drum fills, regardless of decade limitations, without including "In The Air Tonight."
2. "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits (1985) Drummer: Terry Williams Time(s) of Fill(s):0:11-0:35, 0:47 "Money for Nothing" was a huge hit for Dire Straits, and before we hear Mark Knopfler's signature guitar riff, there is a flurry of delicious fills as the song builds at the beginning. Feel free to disregard the homophobic lyrics later on in the song.
3. "Rocket Queen" by Guns N' Roses (1987) Drummer: Steven Adler Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:44 As I've told you many times, "Rocket Queen" is, was, and always will be my favorite Guns N' Roses song. One of the main reasons I love this song so much is Steven Adler's drumming. From the first blast of his drums that starts the song out, he drives the song. And frankly, he deserves some extra love for this song because all that moaning during the middle of the song is actual audio of Axl Rose banging Steven Adler's then-girlfriend in the studio. In addition to generally great drum work throughout the song, Adler has a very delicious fill after the song starts its heartfelt second half.
4. "Alone" by Heart (1987) Drummer: Denny Carmassi Time(s) of Fill(s): 1:55 "Alone" makes its second Tuesday Top Ten appearance in a row. Not only is it one of my favorite power ballads from the '80s, but it also has one of my favorite drum fills, courtesy of Denny Carmassi at the 1:55 mark, when the delicious fill after the second verse kicks off the most dramatic part of the song, with Ann Wilson displaying her vocal prowess with a massive yowl before the chorus. In the video, the delicious fill happens to coincide with a shot of a cleavage-forward Nancy Wilson riding a horse.
5. "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp (1982) Drummer: Kenny Aronoff Time(s) of Fill(s): 2:32 Aronoff was Mellencamp's longtime drummer, and he has been a studio and touring drummer with dozens of other artists. I believe his nickname is the "World's Greatest Drummer," or something like that, and his ability to play well in pretty much any genre has earned him that nickname. "Jack and Diane" is one of Mellencamp's most popular and enduring songs, and Aronoff's drum fill just before the bridge is, in fact, delicious.
6. "Fallen Angel" by Poison (1988) Drummer: Ricki Rockett Time(s) of Fill(s): 0:11, 3:02 This is possibly my favorite Poison song, and part of the reason is Ricki Rockett's delicious fill that comes both near the beginning and end of the song.
7. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds (1985) Drummer: Mel Gaynor Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:43, 4:01 "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is the song that most reminds us of The Breakfast Club, as it played both during the opening credits (though that was a demo) and famously during the closing credits, as the "Breakfast Club's" letter to Principal Vernon is narrated. But don't you dare overlook drummer Mel Gaynor's delicious fill near the end of the song, as it sounded like the song was winding down, before Gaynor's machine gun fill smacks the song back into reality and lead singer Jim Kerr takes us home.
8. "Africa" by Toto (1982) Drummer: Jeff Porcaro Time(s) of Fill(s): 1:06 Toto's beloved 1982 song "Africa" features a delicious fill from drummer Jeff Porcaro just before the first chorus.
9. "I'll Wait" by Van Halen (1984) Drummer: Alex Van Halen Time(s) of Fill(s): 0:41, 0:58, 1:30, 1:48, 2:38-2:48, 3:30, 4:03, 4:19 AVH had a lot of delicious fills in the '80s (see the honorable mention below for some other examples), but I went with "I'll Wait" off of 1984. While it's probably my least favorite song on the album, Alex's drum fills are constant and delicious. I didn't even list all of the fills from the song.
10. "Radar Love" by White Lion (1989) Drummer: Greg D'Angelo Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:18-3:50 On their 1989 Big Game album, Danish-American hard rockers White Lion covered Dutch hard rockers Golden Earring's classic driving song "Radar Love," and I think they paid good homage to the original. While there are several smaller delicious fills in the song (for instance at 1:19, 1:28, and 1:57), drummer Greg D'Angelo lets loose for about 20 seconds in the middle of the song, first with a fill that borders on a solo, and then will a couple follow-up fills.
Honorable mention:"Caught in a Mosh" by Anthrax (1987; Charlie Benante; 0:41, 3:47); "Burnin' For You" by Blue Öyster Cult (1981; Albert Bouchard; 1:33-1:44, 2:34, 3:20); "Love" by The Cult (1985; Mark Brzezicki; 4:00); "Holy Diver" by Dio (1983; Vinnie Appice; 1:38, 1:51, 2:15, 2:24, 2:35, 3:12, 4:19, 4:50, 5:00, 5:11); "Wasted Years" by Iron Maiden (1986; Nicko McBrain; 3:38); "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" by Billy Joel (1980; Liberty DeVitto; 1:22, 2:24); "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest (1982; Dave Holland; 1:16); "Your Love" by The Outfield (1985; Alan Jackman; 0:28, 1:29, 2:26, 2:40); "Over the Mountain" by Ozzy Osbourne (1981; Lee Kerslake; 0:00); "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by The Police (1981; Stewart Copeland; 2:57); "Drop Dead Legs" by Van Halen (1984; Alex Van Halen; 1:32); "Jump" by Van Halen (1984; Alex Van Halen; 0:12, 1:13, 1:58, 3:16); "Mean Street" by Van Halen (1981; Alex Van Halen; 0:42)
Rock music in the '80s was fantastic for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that a blues throwback like Stevie Ray Vaughan could have mainstream success. Vaughan was one of those guitar wunderkinds who couldn't read music and was essentially self-taught.
With his excellent backing band Double Trouble -- Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, with the later addition of Reese Wynans on keyboards -- and his beat-up Strat with "SRV" emblazoned on the body, just below the strings, Vaughan took the guitar world by storm essentially playing the blues and blues-based rock at a time when that wasn't exactly in fashion. Of course, it didn't hurt that this young guy from Texas had a voice that sounded like a grizzled old bluesman.
Vaughan and Double Trouble released four studio albums between their 1983 debut and Vaughan's unfortunate death in a helicopter crash in 1990 after a show at Alpine Valley in southern Wisconsin. All of the albums are great, and I highly recommend them all if you enjoy rock and roll, electric blues, or the combination of the two.
I had a lot of great songs to choose from, and initially, I was leaning towards a couple of their songs that trended more towards rock than the blues -- like "The House is Rockin'," "Couldn't Stand the Weather," "Rude Mood," or "Crossfire" -- but then I said to myself, Look, you rat dick son of a bitch, if you don't go with "Texas Flood," you will regret it every single day for the rest of your life, to which I replied, Every single day for the rest of my life? That seems a little extreme. Hell, I don't even remember what I did yesterday, to which I replied, You ate a Sloppy Joe for lunch, forced the kids to watch a Disney made-for-TV movie from the '80s called Mr. Boogedy before dinner, which you found delightfully charming, if not completely unrealistic -- I mean, come on, ghosts?! -- and then did 1,000 pushups because you were angry about how Josh Allen and Ezekiel Elliott shit the bed in their respective American football games, to which I replied, You know me better than I do, and you're right. About the Sloppy Joe. About Mr. Boogedy. About "Texas Flood." About everything. Well, not the pushups.
Originally recorded by bluesman Larry Davis in 1958, Vaughan and Double Trouble stretch "Texas Flood" from a two-and-a half-minute song to over five minutes, allowing the band to jam a little more and Vaughan to show off his licks. It's one of my favorite songs by the band.
As we enter our third full week of Rocktober, I'm going with some post-punk. Boston-based Mission of Burma was a short-lived, but critically acclaimed and influential post-punk band in the early '80s. I don't remember when I first heard their 1981 song "That's When I Reach for My Revolver," but rest assured, it was nearly two decades after the band's 1983 breakup (due to guitarist Roger Miller's unfortunate battle with tinnitus).
The song is a great little rock song, making good use of anticipation, going between relatively subdued verses and a more aggressive chorus, with some subtly delicious fills before the choruses. The song title is taken from an oft-mistranslated quote from a play written by German playwright Hanns Johst. The actual line (translated from German) is "whenever I hear [the word] 'culture,' I remove the safety from my Browning." It was essentially a line that summed up one of the many reasons the Nazis were dickheads.
The choruses of the song hit like a revolver (or a Browning), and it's too bad the band wasn't able to make more than a one studio album and one EP in the early '80s. They did gain a following later in the '80s and in the early '90s, and then they were one of the bands featured in Michael Azerrad's 2001 book about '80s punk and indie rock, Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991.
The song has been covered by multiple artists, including Moby and Blur's Graham Coxon.
Today's Rocktober Hair Band Friday selection comes from one of my favorite bands of all-time, Def Leppard. It's "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)," the title track to the band's sophomore album, 1981's High 'n' Dry.
High 'n' Dry might be my favorite Def Leppard album, or at least it's in a dead heat with Hysteria. It is the first of three Def Leppard albums produced by the now-legendary producer Mutt Lange. If you think about that, it's pretty crazy. Def Leppard's first album wasn't a huge hit by any means, but Lange –- who had already produced AC/DC's Highway to Hell, Back in Black, and For Those About to Rock We Solute You –- must have seen something special in Def Leppard. Of course, under Lange's tutelage, Def Leppard would go on to become the first artist -- and the only band -- to have two certified diamond (10x platinum) studio albums released in the 1980s (1983's Pyromania, which was certified diamond in 2004, and 1987's Hysteria, which was certified diamond in 1998). You read that correctly. In fact, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen are the only other two artists with two albums released in the '80s that have been certified diamond (and one of Springsteen's was a live album).
But let's get back to High 'n' Dry. Lange was transitioning Def Leppard from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal to what would become '80s hard rock and hair metal. Some bands have a sophomore slump. Some bands do not. Def Leppard most certainly did not. This album has ten gritty hard rock songs. From beginning to end, it has energy and power. Joe Elliott's vocals really begin to shine on this album, and the guitar work of Steve Clark and Pete Willis (who would be kicked out of the band a year later for alcohol abuse, of all things, and replaced by Phil Collen) is phenomenal, and Rick Allen's drumming is right where it should be. (Incidentally, for those of you who are under the belief that Rick Allen always had only one arm, he did not lose his left arm until a car accident on New Years Eve 1984, so he was fully armed until Hysteria.) And, of course, Rick Savage's bass is always in the groove. All in all, High 'n' Dry is a really good hard rock album.
"High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)" is a perfect exemplar song for the album. It's a gritty rock song that has one foot in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the other foot in the band's future sound. Clark's fantastic opening riff gets the song going, and then from there, Elliott snarls about getting hammered on a Saturday night. This is basically the ultimate Saturday pre-party/warm-up song. VH1 named it the #33 metal song of all-time, but perhaps the most ridiculous accolade it ever received was being named one of the notorious "Filthy Fifteen" back in 1985 by the censorship-driven PMRC. It made the list because it has lyrics about drinking. They could have also gone with "Me and My Wine," the B-side to Def Leppard's "Bringin' On the Heartbreak," also off of High 'n' Dry -- or pretty much thousands of other rock songs, but for whatever reason, the PRMC went with this one. And I'm sure records sales shot up as a result. Thanks, Tipper!
We can't be overlooking AOR duing this '80s-themed Rocktober, and Foreigner was one of the kings of AOR in the early to mid '80s. Foreigner hit the ground running with its 1977 self-titled debut, and their first five studio albums all went to the Top 5 of the Billboard album charts and all went at least triple platinum in the U.S., with four of them going 5x platinum or better.
One of those was their fourth studio album, 1981's aptly titled 4, and it was a worldwide hit. 4 was the band's first #1 on the Billboard album chart, holding the top spot for 10 weeks, and it has gone 7x platinum in the U.S. The album was also a Top 5 album in the UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany. Several of the band's biggest hits came from this album, including four Top 30 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Waiting For a Girl Like You" (#2), "Urgent" (#4), "Juke Box Hero" (#26), and "Break It Up" (#26).
"Juke Box Hero" is probably my favorite Foreigner song. It starts with a thumping bass line, and Lou Gramm's voice comes in low at first, then it just builds and builds until that "one guitar just blew him away." The song uses anticipation well, especially during the verses. It's a song about loving rock and roll, and wanting to be a rock star. We can all relate.
The Replacements recently released a deluxe edition of their 1987 Pleased to Meet Me album. I preordered it, and it should be arriving any day now. In honor of my impending LP/CD/merch bundle, today's Rocktober selection will be my favorite song from Pleased to Meet Me, "Alex Chilton."
I discovered The Replacements way too late, like well over a decade after they broke up. Comprised of singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg, the Stinson brothers (Bob on guitar and Tommy on bass), and drummer Chris Mars, The Replacements were one of the main players in Minneapolis's punk scene in the early '80s. Westerberg was the main songwriter, and his lyrics were often self-deprecating and relatable. Tommy Stinson wasn't even 14 when the group released its first album, and basically had to drop out of high school to become a rock star. Older brother Bob was kind of a wildcard, and his musical interests trended towards the harder stuff. His issues with drugs eventually go him kicked out of the group, which is saying a lot, given the very low sobriety bar that was set by the others in the band. Mars was the artist of the group, but just as crazy as the others.
They started off as punk, often bordering on hardcore. But even with their second full-length album, Hootenanny, the band was experimenting with various genres, and experimenting well. By their third album, Let It Be, they were hitting on all cylinders, making great alternative rock, with some punk mixed in. Their latter four albums were what would probably be considered "college rock" back in the '80s -- songs that were really good, but didn't fit the mold of what Top 40 stations were looking to play in the late '80s. Billboard eventually caught the drift, and the growing emergence of alternative rock spurred Billboard to create the Modern Rock Tracks chart (now known as the Alternative Airplay chart) in late 1988, and bands like The Replacements, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Depeche Mode, and Pixies now had a chart that recognized them.
The Replacements were essentially on the same career trajectory as R.E.M., but where R.E.M. was savvy and made wise career decisions, The Replacements were reckless and self-sabotaged to a ridiculous degree before breaking up in 1991. Had the band not broken up, I think they would have flourished in the '90s.
The band was a major influence on alternative bands and indie rock bands from the late '80s until today, including Goo Goo Dolls, fellow Minnesotans Soul Asylum, Nirvana, The Hold Steady, and The Gaslight Anthem, among many others.
Pleased to Meet Me was their fifth studio album, and the band made this album as a trio, after kicking Bob Stinson out of the band. It has my second-favorite Replacements album. "Alex Chilton" is a catchy rock song that's an ode to former Box Tops and Big Star lead singer Alex Chilton (who played guitar on another track from the album, "Can't Hardly Wait," which served as the inspiration for the '90s movie of the same name). Like The Replacements, Big Star was one of those bands who influenced a ton of other bands, but never quite made it as big as they should have.
Today's Rocktober '80s Tuesday Top Ten will be another fun one. Because who doesn't love a power ballad? Nobody, that's who. Nobody doesn't love a power ballad.
While the power ballad had certain existed prior to the 1980s, I'd say it's undebatable that it was perfected in the '80s. Back in 2012, I gave you my Top Ten Hair Band Power Ballads, which I revamped during Rocktober in 2017. Rather than largely recreate that list yet again, for this Rocktober Tuesday Top Ten, my gift to you is a list of my ten favorite '80s power ballads that were not released by hair bands. And rest assured, though power ballads in the '80s seemed to be dominated by hair bands, there were plenty of fantastic power ballads put out by bands that didn't wear leather pants, silk shirts, and eyeliner.
Before we get to the list, there are a few things we need to hash out.
First, what's a hair band? This is kind of a "you know it when you hear it" thing. The hair band genre (also known as hair metal, glam metal, or pop metal) encompasses a lot of hard rock bands from the '80s and early '90s, but not all rock bands from that era are hair bands, and some bands that weren't necessarily hair bands before the '80s fall into the genre during that time period (like KISS and AC/DC). As a connoisseur of hair band music, I ask that you just trust me on whether a band is or is not a hair band.
Second, what's a power ballad? This isn't that hard of a question, but I do think some songs are incorrectly considered power ballads. Here's how I define it. A power ballad is a slower tempo song that usually (but not necessarily) starts with acoustic guitars and/or piano and little, if any, percussion. The song builds, usually into a chorus, which often has electric guitars, loud and impassioned singing, and more percussion, but then the song often takes it back down a few notches for the verses. While all power ballads are ballads, not all ballads are power ballads, and I think that's where some confusion comes in. For example, White Lion's 1987 hit "When the Children Cry" is a ballad, but not a power ballad, because it doesn't have that mighty chorus or burst of oomph that defines power ballads. Rather, it's all slow and generally acoustic. Likewise, there are some songs that are not ballad-y enough to be considered power ballads. They might feature an impassioned chorus, but the verses aren't as slow or mellow as they should be for it to be considered a true power ballad, or there isn't as much up and down in power as there should be. I'd put Alannah Myles's "Black Velvet" in this category. Same for INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart," which is a wonderful song, but I ultimately decided to exclude it. It can be a fine line, and it's not an exact science.
So with that, here are my ten favorite '80s non-hair band power ballads, arranged alphabetically by artist. As always, I'm limiting it to one song per artist (sorry, Chicago fans), but I am giving you an honorable mention category that includes some duplicate artists.
1. "Heaven" by Bryan Adams (1983) Canadian rocker Bryan Adams originally recorded "Heaven" in 1983, and it was featured on the soundtrack to A Night in Heaven -- a critically panned film about a college jock who fails his speech class, but it turns out he is also a stripper. His female speech professor's marriage is failing, and when her wild big city sister visits and takes her to a strip club, sure enough, her student gives her a lap dance. Predictably, they end up banging, but he has a girlfriend, and then the professor's husband figures things out and makes the jock get on a boat and strip naked, before shooting a hole in the boat. Sounds pretty classic to me. Thankfully for Adams, he also put the song on his huge 1984 album Reckless, and it eventually hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985. I've always wondered how things would have turned out if he kept the original chorus, "Baby, you're not all that hot / But you're lyin' here and I'm hard / I'm findin' it hard to believe / You're a seven."
2. "Angel" by Aerosmith (1987) In 1987, fresh on the heels of their collaboration with Run-D.M.C. on the reboot of "Walk This Way," Aerosmith released their comeback album, Permanent Vacation. It rejuvenated their career and introduced them to a whole new generation of fans. Their biggest hit from the album -- and their biggest hit up to that time -- was the power ballad "Angel," which hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. I've always wondered if it would have been even bigger had it featured the original chorus, "You're my a-a-a-a-angel / Come and shave me tonight."
3. "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" by Air Supply Soft rockers Air Supply had the fortune of Meat Loaf's record company's frugality to thank for this hit. Jim Steinman wrote all the songs on Meat Loaf's 1977 blockbuster album Bat Out of Hell and his 1981 follow-up Dead Ringer. Legend has it that Steinman had written "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for Meat Loaf's third album, 1983's Midnight at the Lost and Found, and offered them to Meat Loaf, but the record company didn't want to pay Steinman for his work. Thus, Steinman took the songs elsewhere. "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" was offered to Air Supply, who prudently took it, turning it into the group's eighth Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached #2 hit -- kept out of the #1 spot only by, you guessed it, Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (which is featured below). What I hadn't realized today was that the backing band for the song was Rick Derringer on guitar and E Street Band members Roy Bittan on keyboards and Max Weinberg on drums. No wonder it rocks a little harder than your average Air Supply song. I've always wondered if it would have been been able to get to that #1 spot had they kept the following stanza in final chorus, "Though you won't be tight forever / And we both know I won't always be long / I can make you every promise that you'll always get laid / Til' you can make all my semen be gone."
4. "The Flame" by Cheap Trick (1988) After a couple years of middling record sales and chart success, Cheap Trick came back with a bang with 1988's Lap of Luxury album. That featured the band's only #1 hit, the power ballad "The Flame." I've always wondered if it would have been as big had it featured the original chorus, "I will feel your taaaaaiiiiint."
5. "Look Away" by Chicago (1988) As alluded to above, Chicago had a lot of power ballads in the '80s, so it was tough to choose one. The best of the rest are below in the honorable mention. Penned by superstar songwriter Diane Warren and sung by , "Look Away" was the band's 3rd and final #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and it ended up being the #1 song on the Billboard Year-End chart for 1989, even though it topped the Hot 100 in 1988. I've always wondered how things would have played out had they changed Warren's chorus to, "But if you see me with a guy / And my hands between his thighs / Look away, baby, look away / And if we meet on the streets someday / And I'm singing all Broadway / I'm not gay, I swear, I'm not gay."
6. "Alone" by Heart (1987) This might be my favorite Heart song, and certainly the only one I have sung at karaoke. Co-written by the stellar songwriting duo of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelley -- who wrote Madonna's "Like a Virgin," The Bangles' "Eternal Flame," and Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," among other big hits -- "Alone" was the perfect song for Ann Wilson's powerful voice, and it became the band's biggest hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. I've always wondered if perhaps it would have stayed at #1 for even longer had they gone with the original chorus, "How do I get you to bone?"
7. "Faithfully" by Journey (1983) I couldn't in good faith (pun intended, motherfuckers!) have a list of my ten favorite '80s non-hair band power ballads without either "Faithfully" or "Open Arms" by Journey. I decided on "Faithfully" because it has a video featuring Steve Perry with a ridiculous mustache. "Faithfully" was written by the band's keyboardist, Jonathan Cain, about life on the road and trying to remain faithful to one's significant other while touring. I've always wondered if it would have been as beloved if Cain had stuck with the original lyric, "I'm forever yours, anally."
8. "When I'm With You" by Sheriff (1982/1988) This song has one of the most interesting success stories in rock history, in my opinion. Originally released in 1982 by Canadian rock band Sheriff, the song was a hit in Canada and a very minor hit in the U.S. (#61 on the Billboard Hot 100). The band broke up in 1985, and then in late 1988 -- in the heyday of hard rock power ballads -- several American DJs rediscovered the song and began playing it. Sure as shit, it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1989, becoming one of the only songs in the MTV era to hit #1 without a music video. The last note of the song, which singer Freddy Curci sustains for 19.4 seconds, is the longest known note sustained by a male singer in pop history. Personally, I rediscovered this song in December 2018, and it helped me through a bout of either food poisoning or a 24-hour stomach bug. Regardless, it's a fantastic power ballad. I've always wondered if it would have been as big had they kept the original chorus, "Oh-oh babayayayay / Ooh, I get ill when I fist you / Oh-oh babayayayay / My world stands still when see poo."
9. "I Can't Hold Back" by Survivor (1984) While you may not initially think of "I Can't Hold Back," either when you think of Survivor or power ballads, it's got all the hallmarks of a classic power ballad. Quiet verses with acoustic guitars and pianos, before kicking into high gear for the choruses. I've always wondered if it would have been even bigger had it featured the original not-so-PG line, "I can feel you tremble when we fuck / And I feel your cans are fake."
10. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler (1983) Jim Steinman strikes again with this majestic hit, written for Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler (Steinman also produced it). Tyler turns out a vocal performance for the ages. I've always wondered if it would have been even bigger had it featured the original title, "Total Eclipse of the Shart."
Honorable Mention: "What It Takes" by Aerosmith; "When I See You Smile" by Bad English; "Amanda" by Boston; "The Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera; "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago; "You're The Inspiration" by Chicago; "Hard Habit to Break" by Chicago; "Will You Still Love Me?" by Chicago; "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner; "What About Love" by Heart; "Open Arms" by Journey "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister; "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon; "Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon; "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship
Back in 1980, Joan Jett was less than a year removed from the breakup of The Runaways, and she rightly decided to record a solo album. Jett had befriended record producer Kenny Laguna, who financed the recording sessions using borrowed studio credits. The album, which was originally titled Joan Jett, was released in Europe in May 1980. However, in the U.S., Jett and Laguna could not find a record label willing to back the album. They were rejected by 23 record labels before they decided to use their personal savings (including Laguna's daughter's college savings!) to form their own label, Blackheart Records, to press and distribute the record themselves -- making Jett one of the first female artists to found her own label.
Originally, Laguna would sell copies of the album out of his trunk at concerts, but it started to sell well enough that, a year later, Boardwalk Records picked it up and re-released it as Bad Reputation with a rearranged track listing.
The title track is two minutes and forty-eight seconds of snarling punk rock energy. Jett has said the album title and song title are a nod to her supposed bad reputation that she got as a member of The Runaways. And, as the song says, she doesn't give a damn about her bad reputation. It was ranked the #29 hard rock song of all-time by VH-1 in 2009, and it served as the title of a 2018 documentary about Jett that is on my list of music docs to see.
In November 1981, Jett and her then-solidified backing band The Blackhearts released the I Love Rock & Roll album, and the title track to that album became a #1 hit (and Jett's signature song). Thanks to the success of "I Love Rock & Roll" (and her Top 10 cover of Tommy James and The Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" from the same album), Jett made a music video for "Bad Reputation" in 1982. It's a tongue-in-cheek re-enactment of various record labels rejecting her first solo album, the founding of Blackheart Records, the subsequent success with "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," and the record labels' change of tune. Laguna makes a cameo as the Warner Brothers executive.
The video is a nice FU to the music establishment, but Jett's ultimate FU to all the labels that rejected her came in 2015 when she was deservedly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and I hope The Runaways will be inducted as a group in the future).
Today is Columbus Day in the U.S., a federal holiday, and there has been a push in recent years to change the name of the holiday to Indigenous Peoples' Day -- and many state and local governments throughout the country have changed it to Indigenous Peoples' Day or Native American Day. As a second-generation Italian, you may assume that I am somehow partial to Christopher Columbus, but really, I don't see any issues with changing the holiday. The fact of the matter is that Columbus represents European colonization of the New World, which was inarguably at the expense of North and South America's indigenous peoples' live and land. Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrates Native Americans and serves as a reminder of the atrocities that European settlers inflicted on the native populations of our country. Considering Columbus didn't actually discover America or even land on any portion of what would become the United States of America during any of his four voyages to the New World, it always seemed a little strange to me that there is a federal holiday in the U.S. (let alone various cities) named after him.
There are multiple '80s rock songs that deal with the plight of Native Americans, like Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills," Europe's "Cherokee," and Anthrax's "Indians." I have other plans for Iron Maiden this Rocktober, the video to "Cherokee" is rife with historical inaccuracies (which you may expect from a Swedish band singing about Native Americans), and I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to feature another Anthrax song this month, so I'm going halfway across the world for another song that honors indigenous peoples: "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil.
While Midnight Oil had been huge in their native Australia, it wasn't until 1987 that they broke through in the U.S., thanks in large part to "Beds Are Burning" -- a song that criticizes how Australia had marginalized Aborigines and taken their land. The song compels the return of land to Aborigines, and it ended up being a huge hit internationally. It was the band's biggest hit in the U.S., reaching #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it also cracked the Top 10 on the pop charts in eight other countries, hitting #1 in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.
More importantly, the message of the song applies to the Columbus Day vs. Indigenous Peoples' Day argument -- which really shouldn't be an argument at all. "The time has come / To say fair's fair / To pay the rent / To pay our share / The time has come / A fact's a fact / It belongs to them / Let's give it back."
For this week's Hair Band Friday Rocktober selection, I'm going with Cinderella's very first single, "Shake Me," off of their 1986 debut album, Night Songs. The album hit #3 on the Billboard album charts and eventually went triple platinum in the U.S. After "Take Me Back" (from 1988's Long Cold Winter album), "Shake Me" is probably my favorite Cinderella song. I know for sure it's Son's favorite Cinderella song. I don't have a whole lot to say about it, other than it's a great, catchy hard rock song.
The video plays on the Cinderella theme, with two wicked stepsisters taunting the more attractive "Cinderella" that they get to go to the Cinderella concert, but she doesn't. What they clearly don't realize is that the Cinderella poster on her wall is actually a portal directly to the Cinderella concert, so not only does she get to go to the concert without the hassle of tracking down a fairy godmother who can convert a pumpkin into a stagecoach, but she lands right on the stage and hangs out in the front row. You can imagine the wicked stepsisters' shock and disappointment when they are waiting after the show to hang out with the band, and who do they see getting into Cinderella's limo? Cinderella herself. Maybe be nicer to your stepsister, bitches.
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