Coronation.

Many years ago, I became a converted Queen fan. Today, I still believe that Freddy Mercury is one of the best Rock singers to have ever graced this planet. Maybe the best, period.

I'll also admit that I am not overly impressed with the vocal weirdness of Bohemian Rhapsody, which is so often sited when the rock elite talk about Freddy's brilliance. I understand that the song was an achievement both in concept and execution, and that multi tracking took a huge step forward because of Freddy's work, but the truth is that the song itself is a bit too Broadway for my tastes.

I think Freddy shined brightest when he was straight up killing it vocally. I could watch Queen at Wembley on repeat and not get tired. It's that damn good.

Queen were at their prime at that stage in their career, and even though America mostly had moved on, the rest of the world saw the band turn into the monster they were really meant to be. 

Recorded on July 12th, 1986 during the Magic Tour, this second show of a 2 night stint was viewed live by approximately 72,000 blessed fans lucky enough to be there. 

It should be said that this was a small crowd for the band during this era, playing to 350,000 in Rio the prior year, and several shows with over 100,000 in attendance during a two year tour cycle.

If you've never seen the video for this concert, watch it immediately. It's all over YouTube. The crowd participation in Radio GaGa alone is chilling, but Freddy is on fire.

Sadly this would be Queens last tour with Freddy, but with that in mind, they absolutely went out at their peak.

I got to see Queen when they toured with Paul Rodgers as their vocalist. It was an amazing night, but just not the Magic it would have been 20 years earlier.

Freddy was two months shy of 40 years old at the time of taping, but he was ageless and his performance showed the world that a talent of that caliper was timeless. It's still amazing today. The world has not seen his equal.

Brian May is a legend guitar player and Queen always was a very solid Rock band. Brian's signature sound, also never duplicated, was the perfect backdrop for the voice, personality and presence of Freddy Mercury, but Queen was the sum of its parts. Brian, John, Roger and Freddy were the perfect muses for one another.

Very few people do exactly what they were meant to do in life. Freddy and Queen were one of the exceptions. 

Happy Birthday Freddy. RIP.

Nago

His wings turn to ashes, to ashes his wings.

I was sitting in a sales meeting in 2007 (or so) listening to a pitch on a new software program the company was considering. It was a radical change from what we were using, but supposed to make reporting easier for the bean counters.

During this presentation, I noticed pretty early on that all of the example customers listed on the slides were named after members of Iron Maiden. Best part was that was that the presenter was not in on the joke. Someone else had made this presentation for him. Loser.

I immediately started doing the same thing to my presentations when it was feasible to do so. I try to keep my presentations on point, so I don't have a ton of opportunity to add a Mr. Harris to a slide very often, but it has happened, and will happen again. 

That's the best part of loving the underground, we heads tend to notice stuff like that.

Today Iron Maiden released its 16th studio Lp "The Book of Souls." Worldwide, it's a big deal. In America, it's basically under the radar that Maiden is still around unless you are like me and still care about Metal and the band that every metal head respects and loves. 

Maiden is cool like that. No matter what genre you follow, you probably love Iron Maiden in at least one of its incarmations. I can honestly say that I've never heard anyone say "Maiden Sucks."

If you are not a metal fan or if you live in the USA, you may not realize that Iron Maiden is one of the biggest names in music worldwide. They play Stadiums to millions of people each time they tour. Not Sheds (average outdoor American venue), not Hockey or Basketball Arenas, Stadiums, across the world. 

In the last 7 years, they have played to over 6 Million fans in 3 Tours. The last of which grossed over $69 Million at the box office. In comparison, U2 made $72 Million on their last tour. Both tours started in 2012. That's pretty good company.

Since their inception, the band has played in 59 countries and over 2000 shows.

Beloved is an understatement.

But why?

In order to have that kind of impact, you need to carve a new path. Maiden has proceeded to do so with consistency and dignity for 40 years. Sure, there's a few missteps here and there, but a few bad offerings over a 40 year span is completely acceptable.

In the beginning, they definitely had the "it" factor musically. It was completely different then, just as it is now. There are people today that still worship the early years. It's amazing that a fan base will argue over the era of band gone for 35 years, but Maiden fans are like that. Of course I'm talking about the Paul Di'Anno era. If you don't know the difference, I'm not the one to explain it. Just know that it was different than the Maiden that put out "Run to the Hills."

Fans get mad at them for other reasons, mainly for not playing the '80's material at every show. Bruce Springsteen gets the same heat from his fans too. The thing is, they don't have to play old stuff, the fans will show up no matter what.

I'm all about nostalgia, but I love seeing a band play other material besides the normal 30 year old song you'd expect. One step further, in the case of Iron Maiden, my favorite LP is 2006's "A Matter of Life and Death." It's amazing from start to finish, and if not for my son Kameron, I might have wrote it off. Old schoolers will call me crazy for saying that, but I bet they've never given it the chance they gave "Number of the Beast."

That's the other thing about Iron Maiden, they are generational. They will always draw fans of all ages.

The visual is a legend all its own. A mascot, never really explained beyond its evil presence. Is Eddie a zombie, mummy, alien, time traveler, or monster? He has existed in several points in time according to the artwork, but besides all of that, he is the best visual compliment mascot a band has ever had. 

It's very American to not be in the loop on things like Iron Maiden. As a society on whole, we can really be pretty simple with our entertainment choices. To each his or her own. I know I couldn't even begin to understand the appeal to booty rap club music, and the kids that are into that are none of my business.

So there it is. I buy Iron Maiden LP's, and I'll buy this buy this one too. I'll buy it unheard and hope for the best.

In conclusion.... up the irons and stop wasting time.

Nago

7th Subgenre of a 7th Subgenre

What is a Subgenre? Websters defines it as follows:

1.

a lesser or subordinate genre : 

a subgenre of popular fiction.

It's literally exactly what it should be, a genre within or under an already existing genre, hence the "sub" portion of the compound word.

However, headbangers worldwide have taken the term to new and ridiculous heights. In the musical Genre "Metal," or the less used old school phrase "Heavy Metal," the ludicrous amount of subgenres, along with the titles of said subgenres, have become a game that really is pretty difficult to try to master.

Movies and print have been dedicated to the topic, but the genres are ever evolving, and quickly the info changes.

The need for the subgenre in the Metal world, and the titles that separate the classifications, were somewhat understandable at first, but in order to understand it today, you sort of have to live it.

I feel like some others that have written about subgenres, really reached to created subgenres that didn't exist until they made it so. Looking backward and plugging in genre names in hindsight is something that isn't necessary. It's easy to say Black Sabbath is Doom Metal, but in 1969, it was heavy blues, and once the term caught on, it was Heavy Metal. 

It could be argued that originally the term Heavy Metal was specifically describing a subgenre of Hard Rock, which was actually a subgenre of Rock and Roll. Heavy Metal described the bands that were a bit heavier than the radio rock of the day. The idea of "heavy" was much more than just guitar distortion, it encompassed an attitude as well.

Led Zeppelin sounded nothing like Black Sabbath, Kiss sounded nothing like Deep Purple, and Judas Priest sounded nothing like Queen. The lines were blurred back then. The 70's were a simpler time because a music fan could like Floyd, Skynyrd and Zep and still be considered cool by his peers, and absolutely be considered a Heavy Metal fan.

At the same time, Punk Rock (yet another subgenre) was on the rise. Both Punk and Metal had distortion and roots in rock and roll, but generally speaking Punks and Heads didn't really get along.

Punk subgenres and Metal subgenres started around the same time, but Punk really divided quickly. Hard Core Punk, was very raw, much heavier and was in response to the New Wave movement some of the Punk bands of the day capitalized on (Blondie, Talking Heads etc) and the commercialization of the genre's big bands (The Clash). 

At the same time, Metal really was finding a voice and a direction. NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), which was heavily influenced by Judas Priest and UFO, was really the first defined subgenre of Metal. Iron Maiden stood on top of that movement.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Los Angeles bands, led by Van Halen, somehow adopted the Heavy Metal name and really set the course for the next 10 years of the genre.

Iron Maiden had very little in common with Motley Crüe, yet they were lumped into the same category at the record store. 

The first subgenre I was aware of was "Thrash Metal."

Thrash was a direct descendant of Punk and NWOBHM. It included, and was championed by, the "Big Four" bands of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, yet was also heavily influenced by the likes of Venom and Motörhead.

It was important for this era to separate itself from what eventually became known as "Hair Metal." At the time, it was all considered Heavy Metal, yet couldn't have been more polar opposites in content and aggression.

Hard Core Punk started to cross a line into the Metal world, and dropped the Punk suffix, same as Metal dropped the Heavy prefix eventually.

Doom, Progressive Metal and Black Metal existed in content early on, but they weren't given solidified genre names until some point in the late 80's/early 90's. Death Metal came along in the 80's, and was quickly defined as such (a rarity in the early metal world).

The subgenres of today are directly related to other subgenres crossing each other, or at very least incorporating an element of a metal subgenre into an exiting music style. Confused? Yeah, me too.

DJENT is a category named after the actual guitar sound prevailing in the song structure, so that is an easy one, but before DJENT was DJENT, it was dangerously considered Math Metal, but it also needed to seperate from other bands that were more Prog and called Math Metal.

Nu-Metal, which started its life as Rap Metal actually charted for a few years, and Metal Core rose up the chain to a lesser degree as well.

Technical Thrash, Technical Death Metal, Grind Core, MetalCore, Industrial Metal, Stoner Metal, Folk Metal, Symphonic Metal, and so on.... It's hard for me to get my head around it all. I'm positive that I'm not the only person who can't imagine a young Metal Head who only listens to Cello Metal.

At the end of the day, diversity in the Metal world is a good thing, but the question remains: can a house this divided actually stand? After all, it's all Metal, isn't it? 

The answer is yes, as Metal lives and breathes through all of its bastard children. Unfortunatly, along with the subgenre and the rise of the Internet, the infighting became a mainstay as well, which is pretty trivial, but just as people need food, water and air, they need something to bitch about. Gone forever are the simple days of Kiss vs Led Zeppelin, which Zepplin wins every time, except for when Kiss wins, and Sabbath Rules.

Sleep well my friends.

Nago.

Planes, Trains and Dokkenmobiles.

I fly a lot more than most. It's a great time for me to write and sometimes even get some work done. Airports are old hat to me, and save the occasional hick-up, it's not even a thing to be waiting 3 hours for a flight or catching a sky tram to the next terminal. I've gotten so good at packing, I never stress about it, and I can usually get my ass in gear with plenty of time to spare. I've only missed a few flights in my life, and I refuse to ever miss one of I can avoid it.

I often wonder why I never seem to run into any famous people that I actually recognize at airports. You hear the stories all the time, but not from me. I know I've seen athletes, football players inpaticular, but out of uniform, unless they are sporting a Kiesel like beard, I have no idea who they are.

Last week I saw this cut dude with long straight hair walking through Dallas/Ft Worth, and for a minute I thought it might have been John Petrucci from Dream Theater, but I was mistaken.

I always seem to be seated next to other salesmen off to the next assignment. It makes for good conversation sometimes, but just once I'd love to find myself next to Phil Anselmo, Nancy Wilson, or George Clinton. Someone famous for being a musician. That would be fascinating. Maybe Bob Seger? Idk. That's assuming that any of those people actually fly coach and fly during normal business hours.

A safer bet would be someone on the "C" list grinding out a living playing music. Like a Don Dokken or Dickey Betts.

I heard once that you could hire Don Dokken to play an Acoustic Event for $2500.00 + expenses. For >$5K, you and your poser co-workers can sing along to intimate acoustic versions of "Into the Fire," "Alone Again," and "In My Dreams." 

At the time, I actually wanted to do it just to say I did. Mortgage be damned, Dokken is playing my quarterly sales meeting! Alas, it never came to pass. I had a little more $ to throw around back then, but never would have actually pulled the trigger, or would I? I never confirmed that you actually could hire Don at this discounted rate... So don't send me e-mails calling me an asswad.

Am I really blogging about Dokken? Wow.

Maybe the price tag has gone up, as Dokken has been in the news lately. George Lynch was recently featured on Counting Cars, Jeff Pilson is killing it with his Foreigner cover band called "Foreigner," and Mick Brown was touring with Nugent.

The current Dokken buzz is the possibility of a "Classic" Dokken lineup reunion. I'm sure the Rocklahoma crowd is losing sleep with anticipation.

Dokken is an interesting story. At their peak, they were on par with the hair bands of the day, opening for the same acts that Bon Jovi and Ratt were opening for, yet here in the states, they just couldn't get to headline status. The material wasn't the problem. "Tooth & Nail" and "Under Lock and Key" are both very good albums, and who can forget "Dream Warriors?" That riff was probably on par with "Smoke on the Water" to beginner guitar players for a few years.

They had a frontman, a guitar god, music videos and decent sales, but they just couldn't get to headline status.

And then, they broke up. It was well documented and in general a very amicable split (at least in the Press).

Lynch started Lynch Mob, and got right back to making music. Don put out some rubbish solo LP and his star started the rapid decline into fade away status.

Pilson stayed busy. He's a worker. His path took him in interesting directions, including a role in the Mark Wahlburg move "Rockstar," and eventually becoming a fixture in today's version of Foreigner. He's been sober for over two decades and is doing well.

At some point, Don took back the band name Dokken, and started on the cycle of nostalgic touring to grind out a living. When I think about that circuit, I have to assume that LA Guns, Great White and other bands from the era must really love what they do. It's got to be a pain in the ass, but maybe there are hints of life being an endless summer? A Tribe of Lost Boys that never have to completely grow up.

Society in general puts musician stars on strange pedestals. The well grounded ones can deal with it with dignity, some don't. Coming down from the height of popularity has to be strange. In today's market, bands have to actually work to make money. Million dollar deals just don't happen anymore for 99% of working musicians.

And that's what the heroes of past generations are today, working musicians. The market for hair metal ebs and flows, but in general it's very much a shrinking market, which makes it that much harder to earn a living worth a damn. The smart ones saved money, but they still have to work.

According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, Don Dokken has an estimated worth of 10 Million dollars. Yeah right! I'd have to see that bank statement to actually believe that. They haven't had a hit anything in 30 years. That one really made me spit out my coffee. Haha.

Lets assume that Don Dokken at one time was a millionaire. If he invested his money, he probably wouldn't be available for a dude like me to hire off the street to play a birthday party.

I'm pretty sure pissing away a million dollars is pretty easy if you are famous. I've known normal people that pissed away fortunes, and the two new trucks eventually broke down, as did the 4-Wheeler, and the big new house needs a big new roof.

So back to work they all must go because the roof won't fix itself.

I'm a road dog, and like it that way, but it's not for everybody. There is something about being away from home for long periods of time that grows tiresome. Some assume that it's all dinners and socializing, but it's not, and even if it was, that gets old. You have to be solid in your home life, you have to be disciplined enough to not drink away your evenings, and you have to be comfortable in just about any setting. You sometimes have to really dig to find something good about the hotel off of I-64 in the middle of nowhere, where the menu consists of hotdogs from the Circle-K and a bag of Doritos.

You miss events, ball games, supper and TV with the family. You're not around for emergencies and every relationship in your life is somewhat long distance. Sometimes the rewards don't come for long stretches, and you burn out. 

Working musicians know this grind better than anyone, and worse yet, they get to sleep in a bunk (at best) or sitting up in a van (at worst). Makes my life seem simple and comfortable.

Back to Dokken, if Don Dokken were sitting next to me on a plane. I bet he would tell me that getting paid a few thousand dollars for 2 hours work with all expenses covered ain't working, that's the way you do it. Pull that off once a week and you're generating six figures. You can't support a mansion in Beverly Hills, but you can afford a ranch house in Vegas.

Money for nothin' he may say. He also may tell me that he invested well and is worth 10 million dollars. I'd call him a liar.

Nago 

Star Warsy after all these years.

Oh Star Wars... What is your appeal? How did you capture my young mind so well that after 40 years I still get excited?

It is simple I guess. It was an epic space adventure with all the trappings of a Greek tragedy. Good vs Evil, redemption, friendship and family. It's appealing to the young boy still inside me longing to battle evil with a personalized light saber.

For those of us to have grown up on (and with) the Star Wars saga, we've seen its ups and downs. We sat through rereleases, novels and prequels. We debated the relevance of the extra rubbish thrown at us, and we've criticized its creator like a family just before an intervention.

I like to claim the title "nerd," but in truth I am a fan. A true nerd can tell you weird obscure things about a certain topic. In some cases, I can, but with SW I am truly a nerd's padewan. Yes, I can tell you about the series from a fans perspective, but I don't always remember supporting characters and I can't tell you weird details about some Planetary system mentioned breifly in Revenge of the Sith. 

With that in mind, maybe just being a fan is better? I can actually enjoy the movies and television series without getting overly worked up or bogged down if I don't agree with the direction.

I was disappointed by the prequels, and some things do bug me about them still, but I understand that the author took necessary steps to get his story told. It's George Lucas' baby afterall. I couldn't have done any better.

Recently, I read somewhere that a true fan should also watch the animated series to understand the back stories in better detail, so I found myself finally sitting down and watching "Rebels" and "Clone Wars."

The former I really enjoy. New characters causing a minor headache for the Empire set between chapters III and IV. It's crafty, and looks to be even cooler with season 2 right around the corner. Darth Vader is finally getting some love and I'm excited for that alone. "Rebels" is so well done that I felt forced (pun intended) to look back and discover the Clone Wars series, which is about as bad as I assumed. 

I never did like how they developed the Aniken character in the prequels, and the Clone Wars series is focused around his "adventures" during the war just before his demise (between episodes II and III). Count Doku is reduced to a Scooby Doo villain, constantly foiled by the meddling Jedi in installments that go no where.

I just watched an episode where Aniken had to rescue Jabba the Hut's son, foiling Doku's plot to win the loyalty of the Hut Clan to the Federation. 

It's really not great. The story line hasn't advanced much (I'm starting season 2), and a whole new set of questions have me scratching my head like "huh?"

Aniken has a padewan? That's kind of weird.

As far as I'm concerned, the prequels will never matter as much as the originals,  and the Clone Wars are very much a continuation of that shit show... but it did introduce an entire new generation to the franchise, so it's not all bad. I will continue watching so I'm in the loop and hope to find a peice of something palatable to keep my interest before I deem it too stupid to watch.

Of course the big news is Chapter VII coming to Theaters in December 2015. The blogs are a bustle with info about the plot, the character interaction and advancement of the story.

Here's what we think we know. It has something to do with a light saber falling into the hands of some people that would like to return it to its owner, one Luke Skywalker. Luke has aged and grown powerful like his predecessor, Obi Wan, but standing in the way is a new band of dark siders. Drama ensues.

Supposedly Han Solo bites it at some point, but we will see. I'd rather watch and find all that out in December.

The best any of us can hope for is a back to basics storyline filled with adventure and intrigue. The franchise lends itself well to the Luke era because it's not overly political. It's simpler than the prequels, and I for one am looking forward to turning into a wide eyed child for a few hours when it comes out. I may even see it twice.

The force runs strong in my family. I have it, my father has it, and my sister has it. My kids definitely have it, and my cat has it too. Our turtle has it, my Lisa has it, and the kid who made my coffee at Starbucks has it as well.

Nago

Old Guy Drama - VH Style

Van Halen has been all over the news lately. I'm actually surprised on how behind I was on all if it.

Let's start from where it started:

Sammy Hagar told Edde Trunk (on the Trunk Report) a few weeks ago that the VH camp blocked him from playing any Sammy era songs on a recent episode of Live at Darryl's House.

As a Sammy era VH fan, this makes me scratch my big head (takes a while) and ask "Why?" My era of VH should be heard. I would love to see Darryl Hall bust out a drill and shred the intro to Poundcake.

It dosent stop there. Eddie told Rolling Stone Magazine last month that he and David Lee Roth aren't friends and don't communicate outside business. He also said that Dave is picking set lists, essentially insinuating that DRL is pulling the strings these days.

Huh? Really? Seriously?

To know that Rolling Stone still exists is shocking enough, but EVH saying all of that is mind numbing.

For Eddie to give up the reigns to anyone is just plain weird. His legendary ego has lead him to soaring heights and gutteral lows, but he was always convinced he was right, therefor keeping his dignity somewhat intact (save the jesters hat during the VH3 era).

The logic dosent make sense to me. If he is doing what he thinks "the Fans" want, which is really only half of the fans respectively, why not bring back Michael Anthony? Both camps of Fans can agree on that.

Speaking of Michael, Eddie dissed his musicianship in the same interview, saying he taught him everything he knows.

Last but not least: Billy Sheenan stated (again, on a recent episode of Trunk Report) that he was being heavily considered to replace Michael in VH back in 1980. He made it sound as though he actually jammed with Eddie, Alex and Dave behind Michael's back. My favorite part of that interview was the "but Michael is great" bullshit backpedal. 

Headlines aplenty. Does anyone besides me and 45 other nerdy people really give a rats ass? Probably not. 

I want to write a message to all of them as a fan even though it will never be read:

Eddie: go on a G3 tour or something. Be humble in a good way.

David: retire and open a DoJo. Call it the Face Plant.

Alex: quit VH, join The Circle.

Sammy: keep on keeping on.

Michael: same as above.

Wolfie: start a Death Core band.

And Billy: let sleeping dogs lie. 

Nago.

Kiss the Beatles

While listening to Chris Jericho's podcast interview with Gene Simmons, something came up that I never realized before.

Gene was discussing songwriting, and the Beatles easily became the topic (the way they always do).

Gene shined a light on how the Beatles, in a very classy way, often used the first line of the song as a title, and sometimes didn't even repeat the title in the same way throughout the song.

Examples:

Hey Jude

Eleanor Rigby

Blackbird 

The Long and Winding Road

Something

Dear Prudence

Help

I've just seen a Face

Lady Madonna

And the list goes on!

Why, as big as a fan as I am, did I never realize this? It's crazy that I didn't notice the pattern.

Let me explain why I love the Beatles. They wrote amazing songs first, they had image second, and they were innovators. They set the trends, transcended their roots, and were amazingly prolific over such a short period of time. Starting with the Rubber Soul era, the best band of the day became the greatest R&R band of all time. How they could reinvent themselves every 6 months or so and put out epics like Revolver, Sgt Pepper, The Beatles, Abby Road and Let it Be in such a short period still blows my old mind.

John appeals to me spiritually, Paul as the best songwriter of all time, George as the underdog who achieved perfect moments despite his peers, and Ringo, well, cause he's Ringo.

I've been writing and playing music for 25 years, and I have always tried to do my own thing. I've ripped off artists inadvertently, but never even remotely tried to sound or write like the Beatles. Iadmire  them as a fan.

But, with this new revelation (#9), I'm looking at my own songwriting differently.

I grew up in an era of: Intro, Verse, Chorus, 2nd Verse, Chorus, Solo, Bridge, Chorus, end. The chorus typically contained the repetitive title.

I'm guilty of writing that way. I've always been guilty of it and I will probably always lean that way. It will be hard to erase 25 years of that thought process. 

The Beatles wrote this way also, but to start off a song with the the climax as the first line is a different thought process for me.

And now, I have to start to challenge myself and look at songwriting in another light. That's pretty flipping awesome if you ask me. I'm never going to have a #1 single, so why should I write like I will? Besides that, as far as #1 singles go, the Beatles set that bar pretty high, so maybe I've just had it wrong all these years.

I should have been eating lunch, but instead I'm writing about the stupid Beatles.

Nago.