Give Me Your Handrew

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

America 250 Song #4: "Duality" by Slipknot

I've never featured a Slipknot song on Rocktober before, and now's as good a time as any, since I'm trying not to repeat bands/artists from the same state, and there aren't a ton of hard rock bands from Iowa.

Formed in 1995 in Des Moines -- which a lot of people don't realize is French for "the moines" -- Slipknot has like six dozen members, all of whom wear a unique creepy mask and jumpsuit. They also play heavy metal music, and quite successfully at that. Of the band's six studio albums, only their debut album didn't reach the Top 3 on the Billboard album chart, and three of their albums went to #1.

Released off of the band's third studio album, 2004's platinum-selling Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), "Duality" was one of the band's biggest hits, reaching #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #6 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, #15 on the UK pop chart, and the Top 40 on the pop charts in Germany and Sweden.

The song is mostly a pretty hard metal song, with Corey Taylor kind of speed-talking the verses before the choruses explode with "I push my fingers into my EEEYYYYYEEEESSSS." But what I've always liked about the song is that behind the brutal riffs and general hardcore nature of the song, the chorus is pretty damn melodic and hooky. A duality, if you will.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the song is the video. It was filmed at a fan's house in West Des Moines. Apparently, the house was soon going to be renovated. The band plays inside the house, while dozens of fans descend upon the house in what looks like a scene from Cornheart. (I assume Cornheart would be the name of a Braveheart-style movie set in Iowa.) They basically destroy the house in the process, breaking windows, plowing through walls, bustin pipes, and the like. Hopefully, the renovations went swimmingly.

Monday, October 05, 2026

America 250 Rocktober Song #3: "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" by Dramarama

Thus far, we've had some blues rock and hair metal, so for song #3 on this celebration of American music, we'll go with some '80s alternative rock -- or as the kids used to call it, college rock.

Hailing from Wayne, New Jersey, Dramarama was formed in the early '80s in the basement of a record store owned by founding member and bassist Chris Carter. For those fellow SiriusXM subscribers, you'll recognize him as the calm-voiced DJ on The Underground Garage's "Chris Carter's British Invasion." But before he got into the disc jockeying game, his band Dramarama was making power pop and alternative rock in the mid '80s to early '90s. In the early 2000s, they were featured on VH1's Bands Reunited show, and they got back together and put out another album in 2005 (and then another one in 2020).

If you've heard only one song by Dramarama, it's probably "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)." Originally released on the band's 1985 debut album Cinema Verite, the song was then re-released a few years later, when it was featured on the soundtrack to A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

I don't recall ever hearing this song until sometime in the last ten years, when I was watching VH1 Classic late at night and the video for this song came on (though it's a different video than the one embedded below, as there were apparently two videos made). I thought the song was awesome, even if the video I saw looked like it was recorded on a camcorder. Maybe that added to the song's mysterious charm. I remember thinking "what is this homemade video I'm seeing of this unknown band singing this fantastic song from a bygone era that I've somehow never heard before?" It's a frenetically paced song, written by lead singer John Easdale, inspired by his marriage that was falling apart. His desperation comes through in his impassioned vocals, over the top of a catchy repeating guitar riff. When I hear the term "college rock," this is exactly the kind of song I think of. It doesn't fit squarely into any genre that was popular in the late '80s, but it's catchy and it rocks.

Listening to the song, it was certainly ahead of its time. The song didn't chart in the U.S. (on any chart) either time it was released, and it was a very minor hit in Australia (#85) in 1989 after it was re-released. I feel like if this song had been released between 1992 and 1994, it would have been a massive hit.

Friday, October 02, 2026

America 250 Rocktober Song #2: "Look But You Can't Touch" by Poison

Our first Hair Band Friday of this America 250 Rocktober comes from a band that I have only featured once previously during Rocktober -- way back in 2017, when the whole Rocktober was dedicated to hair bands. Man, that was a blurry month.

Poison was formed in Mechanicburg, Pennsylvania, before moving to Los Angeles in 1985. Despite their hair and makeup, I've always considered them a working-class band, which I very much mean as a compliment. If you've ever seen them live, they put on a great show, and they always come across as very down to earth and accessible -- well, maybe not CC DeVille, but every band needs a wild card.

Their 1986 debut album Look What the Cat Dragged In was a smash, reaching #3 on the Billboard album chart and eventually going triple platinum. There was no sophomore slump, as their follow-up, 1988's Open Up and Say . . . Ahh! hit #2 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went quintuple platinum. The original album cover featured a demonic cat woman with a super long pointy tongue sticking out of her mouth -- which you see on the YouTube video below. In the era of the PMRC and the "Satanic Panic," such an album cover drew the ire of parents' groups, so they had to change it to a redacted cover that only showed the woman's eyes. It doesn't get more American than censoring album covers for the sake of the children.

The album featured four songs that charted in the Top 12 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the band's only #1, the iconic power ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." The others were "Nothin' But a Good Time" (#6), "Fallen Angel" (#12)," and their cover of Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" (#10).

I'm going with a deep cut, but a good one: "Look But You Can't Touch." It's a balls-forward rocker that starts with a crunchy guitar riff, and the chorus is catchy as hell. But the song is not your usual Decade of Decadence fare about getting laid. It's quite the opposite. The girl is chaste, and she staves off the narrator's advances, saying "you can look, but you can't touch, 'cause the best things in life ain't cheap" implying she's not going to do a damn thing with him absent some sort of long-term meaningful relationship, even after she chugs a beer in Bret's hotel room.

Hair Band Friday - 10/2/26

1. "Smokin' In the Boys Room" by Mötley Crüe

2. "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" by Tesla

3. "The Torture Never Stops" by W.A.S.P.

4. "Give Me More Time" by Whitesnake

5. "Living in the Grey" by Lillian Axe

6. "Love Hungry Man" by AC/DC

7. "Fighting Against the World" by Vandenberg

8. "You Are the One" by Slaughter

9. "Secret Dreams" by Bon Jovi

10. "Good Girl Gone Bad" by KISS

Thursday, October 01, 2026

America 250 Rocktober Song #1: "Just Got Paid" by ZZ Top

The first song in this year's America 250 Rocktober is from a band that I have somehow never featured during Rocktober: the legendary Texas trio ZZ Top. It's somewhat bittersweet, as earlier this year, we lost drummer Frank Beard -- who was the only member of the band who didn't sport a beard -- leaving guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons as the only surviving member (bassist/singer Dusty Hill died in 2021).

"Just Got Paid" is the second song off of the band's sophomore album, 1972's Rio Grande Mud, and it is probably my favorite ZZ Top song. This is just a badass blues rock song that should be played at maximum volume with all the windows rolled down while cruising around town in your 1977 Trans Am. Or in your late-model minivan, for that matter. Gibbons's opening riff is infectious, Hill holds down the bottom with aplomb, and Beard gives us a few delicious fills.

I always imagine this song being played during a scene in a movie when our protagonist is triumphantly walking away from a situation where he or she crushed it when not expected to succeed, maybe throwing on a pair of sunglasses and cracking a wry "I can't believe I did it" smirk. And yes, Hollywood, I am very open to talking about positions for whatever you might call someone who picks music for movies and/or TV shows.

It's Rocktober!

Dear readers, while I have admittedly shat the bed on posting for most of this year, there is one month that will bring me back into your lives: Rocktober!

A few months ago, America celebrated is 250th birthday. I was still dead and there were no blogs when the bicentennial came and went, and I probably won't still be blogging when the tricentennial comes along, so to celebrate the semiquincentennial, this year's Rocktober theme will be America 250.

All of the songs will be from American bands or artists. For band to qualify, more than 50% of the band must be American. For example, the Jimi Hendrix Experience doesn't count because of the three members, only Jimi Hendrix himself was American. And while Crosby, Stills & Nash would count (as Graham Nash was the only non-American), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young would not count (because Neil Young is Canadian).

And just to make it significantly more difficult on myself, each band or artist I feature will be from a different state. That way, we can truly experience music from across our nation, rather than just a bunch of songs by bands or artists from California or New York. I'm not going to limit myself for any Tuesday Top Tens, as even I have limits.

As I do every October, I'm gonna give you a daily dose of rock, at least on the weekdays when I'm not out of town. There will be no repeated artists during the course of the month. I'm going to try my best not to repeat songs that I have featured in prior Rocktobers, but I make no promises. As always, the week leading up to Halloween will feature songs with dark, evil, or macabre themes. And my Friday choices will, of course, be from hair bands. Retro Video of the Week will be suspended during Rocktober (not that I've been posting those recently anyway), but Hair Band Friday will continue because Hair Band Friday cannot be killed.

As always, remember that this is Rocktober, so these will all be bands, artists, and songs that rock, even though they may not always be from genres or artists that you would consider "rocking" or "rockers." There will be popular songs, songs that you may never had heard before, and maybe even some bands and artists you've never heard of. But for the sake of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, everything will rock.