Like I said, I’ve been snowed under with everyone wanting me to do Continuing Professional Development courses, (CPD), that I’m not able to give albums my full attention. In some of my most recent posts, I have made reference to a compilation album which came out in 1989. The album is called, “Protect the Innocent” and you will see what a magnificent album this really is. Because there are 30 blockbuster metal tunes on it, I’m going break it down like it’s done on the record. Therefore, you get side 1 called, “The First Chapter.” Steppenwolf- Born to Be Wild Black Sabbath- Paranoid Deep Pu ..read more

Let’s start with the obvious, yes, Vow Wow’s album is named after a famous Beatles song and the one which can be said was the Fab Four’s contribution to heavy metal. Saying that, Vow Wow’s cover of the song is very good and it does appear on that compilation album I keep going on about. It also gives me another idea which I’ll talk more about at the end of the post. Another point about Vow Wow, which I’m sure I stated when I posted about their previous album, “V.” They were to England what Loudness was to America, a great Japanese metal band which everyone thought kicked ass. It’s a bit of a ..read more

Tipper Gore Part of me thinks I should be shot. After all, it was the second biggest musical event if 1985, Live Aid being the biggest. I mean, in my recent post of historical events mentioned in “Rock and Roll Children,” I missed this out. In fact, back during the tour of 1985, I wrote an entire post about it. I’m talking about the dreaded Parents Music Resource Center, (PMRC), who wanted to stick warning labels on all the records. It resulted in a Congressional hearing where Dee Snider, John Denver and Frank Zappa testified. It was big news back then. To read the post: The Rise of the  ..read more

In case you missed it over at Mike Ladano’s blog, I am putting on my latest story. Satan plans to take over Rock Heaven and sets his plan in motion. Will he succeed? Read on and find out. Takeover of Rock Heaven Part 1- The Plan Somewhere in Hell: Satan walked into the room waiting to address the assembled gathering, when he was distracted by a commotion. His security was holding back Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein, who were demanding to be let into the meeting. Calmly, he walked over to where the commotion was coming from. “Look,” he said sternly, “I said clearly that you two aren’t coming ..read more

Pretty Boy Floyd did not appear on the compilation album I will be posting about in the near future. My introduction to them came from a tape sent to me from my sister in 1990 and it featured the closer from the album, “I Wanna Be With You.” The song did come in at number 19 on my list of Top 30 Power Ballads, so it must be a good song. However, as good as it is, “I Wanna Be With You” is not typical of the rest of “Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz.” The rest of the tracks on the album scream Motley Crue and Poison as it seems that the band want to sound like both. Judging by their appearance ..read more

Three bands immediately spring to mind whenever the term ‘progressive metal’ is mentioned. One is Dio as they could be called one of prog metal’s founders, the second is Savatage, especially after the “Gutter Ballet” album and the third band is the one I’m posting about today, Dream Theater. They are another band I discovered on the compilation album I’ll be visiting in the near future and like Mammoth, they impressed me. Therefore, it’s only logical that I explored their debut album, “When Dreams and Day Unite.” Oh yes, to clarify, I can already hear some of you screaming at the top of your ..read more

Main objective behind writing “Rock and Roll Children” was to remind people, especially metalheads, of heavy metal history. At the time I began writing, there seemed to be a push by mainstream media to downplay the role heavy metal played in during its golden decade, the 1980s and that decade, contrary to what the media was pushing was not all Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Like it or not, heavy metal was a dominant force in the 1980s. True, it got little radio play and minimal play on MTV but the most successful bands sold millions of albums and played to packed out arenas. So, we can safely say ..read more

Critics and fans have called “Dr. Feelgood” Motley Crue’s best studio album. It was their most commercially successful album going six times platinum in the US and gold in many other countries. Furthermore, it produced five singles, two of which made it into the top 40. However, while impressive, this doesn’t make it their best album in my view. That honour belongs to “Shout at the Devil.” In comparison to my favourite MC album, what they did similar is play to their strengths. It also helped that the band were addressing their demons in regards to substance abuse and were sober when they rec ..read more

It’s a good thing I now go back and read posts from bands’ albums which came out previous to the band I’m writing about. In the case of Lizzy Borden’s “Master of Disguise,” if I hadn’t done so, then this post might have gone a different direction. When I first listened to the album, I thought that Lizzy was heading in a more progressive metal direction, which the album is. However, after re-reading my post on their previous album, “Visual Lies,” they were heading in that way on the last few tracks of that one. The only remaining members of the band on the album were Lizzy himself and drummer ..read more

Black Sabbath When this article popped up on my Google Alerts, I felt I had to share it with my faithful readers. The city of Birmingham in the UK has given the pub where Black Sabbath played their first ever gig and has been dubbed “the birthplace of heavy metal,” The Crown, listed historical status, Grade II. For the full story, click the link: https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/birmingham-pub-heavy-metal-born-crown-station-street-black-sabbath-ozzy-osbourne-4557445 I think this is great news, especially as heavy metal music and its followers are often snubbed by the so-called mainstream of ..read more