Saturday in the Park

Didn't think I'd be blogging today, hence the usual "Countdown" post on a Thursday instead of Friday, but I have been inspired--again--by posts from others and I enjoy a laying down a good spot of stream-of-consciousness drivel. Almost out of Chicago song titles, though.

BG's "secret shames" post has spawned some hilarious self-reflection/self-deprication, not the least of which is Al's admission of an '80s hair band fetish. He actually confessed this to me at Commerce a few months back, but I held his secret close to my breast, lest BadBlood "freak out."

Back in the '80s, I was...er...desperately wanted to be hardcore. Metallica's "Four Horsemen" changed my life. When Slayer's "Hell Awaits" and Trouble's "The Skull" came out on the same day, I thought I'd died and gone to Hell. THAT was heavy metal. Anytime someone associated MY music with Winger or Cinderella, I wanted to stab them. It was a personal affront. I was a snob. I was, quite clearly, an idiot.

With the benefit of nearly 20 years hindsight, I can look back at the hair bands and see some things I missed back then. By and large, they're still hilarious to watch, and the music still doesn't really appeal to me. But there are exceptions. I like "Bathroom Wall" by Faster Pussycat. I really dig the galloping riff of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Warrant. And one time, I saw Skid Row open for Guns 'n' Roses and Sebastian Bach and Co. blew the Big Boys off the fucking stage.

That is neither here nor there. The important thing is that I rarely miss "Metal Mania" on VH-1. Talk about a video music show that's got it all. You'll get to see Metallica doing "Whiplash" or Slayer's "Raining Blood" live. Or some lesser-known and under-rated outfits like Testament or Accept. But you'll also get White Lion or Slaughter doing some horrible song complete with choreographed kicking/guitar-slinging/knee sliding and bad clothes and psuedo-macho posturing. That shit kills me. Funniest stuff on TV.

Maybe the most unintentionally funny video of all time is Journey's "Separate Ways." If you've seen it, you know. If not, I can't possibly adequately convey the hilarity. No, they're not a hair band, but I needed a segue to

What I've Been Listening to Lately While Playing Poker

and Journey actually qualifies. I listened to their Greatest Hits CD the other night while playing an MTT. Call it a trip back to my adolescence. Perry can sing and Neal Schon is a solid guitarist, but yeah, there's not a great deal of innovation or depth there. Even so, some day, love will find you...

My main poker soundtrack lately has been Avenged Sevenfold. I don't know much about them, but caught a video a few months back that intrigued me. The opening riff was decidedly Slayer-esque, if a little less heavy. And the video showed that the band abbreviates their name as A7x, which looks like a flop, so cool. You can actually see the video on their web site, if you're interested. The song is called "Unholy Confessions" and is representative of the whole album. I can't link the site, but any google search will yield it (and I see upon navigating over there that they have a new album out in a few weeks).

So I bought the album and listened to it a couple times. Some good parts, but it didn't catch hold of me. I still like my metal a little on the hard side and it didn't appear to measure up, occassionally coming off more like Queensryche than Slayer.

(Quick Queensryche tangent. They were the first band I ever saw live--as opening act for Dio. This was when they had only released an EP featuring awesome songs like "Queen of the Ryche" and "The Lady Wore Black" and long before they became the melodic rock outfit responsible for "Silent Lucidity." Still Geoff Tate can fucking belt it out.)

Anyway, A couple weeks ago, I decided to give A7x another listen and now I can't get them out of my head. Some very creative songwriting and a ton of hooks. Right now, "Eternal Rest" is kicking my ass DAILY. I have to hear that song. A lot of pace changes, the guy can actually sing when warranted (one thing that bugs me about the current state of thrash is the gutteral growling. I'm one who thinks the voice can be effectively used as another instrument, but you can't be an instrument if you just shout or growl without regard to melody) and a unique hybrid sound.

Others that have gotten a lot of recent play:

Mars Volta
Kings of Leon
Broken Social Scene
Queens of the Stone Age

And just to bring it all back to the "secret shame," I have one more:

I have never seen "Return of the Jedi" or "The Empire Strikes Back."

Wait'll Chris finds out.