God Bless Stryper

Now, maybe, just maybe, you read my post about religion and politics in rock music, and maybe you recall that I used Stryper as an example about religion being used in music just a little too blatantly. Now that I've spent more time.listening to them and their music, I'm gonna just retract any previous statements I made about them and start anew.
It took guts to get on stage, play rock music, and sing about Jesus Christ and Christianity. In a time when everybody was singing about getting drunk, getting high, getting shot and getting laid, Stryper stuck to their morals and what they believed in to make more inspiring and motivating (albeit sometimes cheesier) music. There was more money the other way, but they stuck to it. And there were people who hated them because they sang about the Lord. That, to me, is horrible. If you choose not to be  Christian, that is your right and decision. But Christianity, no matter how you look at it, is a thing of love and kindness. Hating Christianity is hating love and kindness. To me, hating Stryper because of what they stand for is hating Christianity. I'm saying this all as a doubtful agnostic. I've never been able to make Christianity a part of my own life, but I have so much respect and admiration for those who have.
Whether you liked Stryper's music or not is irrelevant really. They were amazingly good people, who had strong morale, a lot of courage, and who tried very, very hard to provide an alternative to their day's mainstream rock. Next time you plan on calling them lame or gay, please pause midway through your sentence and say, "Oops. I meant to say Lizzy Borden, not Stryper."
Stryper really were alright...

A Little Bit of Rock And Roll Irony

Randy Rhoads, Pete Ham, Chris Woods, Keith Relf, Jim Capaldi, Marc Bolan, Mickey Finn, Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker are all, tragically, dead.

However, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, most of the Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses, and Megadeth are still alive and well. Nikki Sixx, who has died multiple times, looks like a 30-year old still.

Don't get me wrong, I am very, very happy that these guys are all still with us, and I don't think some people "deserve" to be alive more than some other people. But I find this to be a rather strange and ironic trend...

The 10 Best Songs by Tesla

I'm a shameless hair metal maniac, and am very familiar with all the bands of that late-80s era, and when I say Tesla really were different from the other bands of their day, I mean that very seriously and earnestly. Tesla weren't just good fun and flashy videos like some of their competition, they were a very good band, made up of very good musicians who wrote lots of great, versatile songs.
10) Signs
This cover of the old hippie anthem by the Five Man Electric Band is pretty much the only Tesla song you'll hear up in Canada, which I find to be a bit of a radio disgrace. Or should I say a Great Radio Controversy?
9) Lady Luck
A decent, straightforward rock numbe. Tesla prove to us that rock n' roll was not dead by the glam metal era.
8) Paradise
While not as substantial as some of Tesla's rockers, Paradise is still a rather pretty tune, and one of their most successful numbers to date.
7) Edison's Medicine
Definitely a good high energy rocker, and definitely one of the more unusual song titles I've ever heard.
6) Hang Tough
Jeff Keith dominates this one for me, with his awesome screaming and sweet dance moves in the video. Tesla doing what they do best.
5) Little Suzi
Excellent up tempo acoustic rocker by our Sacramento boys. A humorous tale of wasted prostitutes a la Mott The Hoople's Alice, if not quite as witty.
4) What You Give
This other acoustic number by Tesla is a clear influence on the Black Crowes' sound. The acoustic guitar intro has swagger and attitide for miles, and the chorus is just brilliant.
3) Song And Emotion
My personal favorite Tesla song, from their 1991 album Psychotic Supper, is a touching, beautiful anf soulful tribute to Def Leppard's Steve Clark, who died that year from a drug-and-alcohol overdose. Tesla opened for Def Leppard during their monster 1987 Hysteria tour, which gave them their big break, and I couldn't imagine a nicer hommage to a real guitar god and legend.
2) Love Song
Tesla's most famous song and ballad manages to escape the hair metal ballad mold to create something fresh, original and unique, and still stands as possibly the best of all the power ballads. Guitarists Tommy Skeotch and Frank Hannon show off their classical skills in the song's intro, and Jeff Keith's vocals were never before so controlled and melodic.
1) Modern Day Cowboy
But as good as Love Song is, I'll have to give Modern Day Cowboy the nod as their very best song. It was their first hit, and still stands out to me as the best rock song they ever did. I believe it's about the Cold War... Not sure, but I believe so...

The Origins of the Name Ariel Bender

For a while now I've been searching for the original source.of the name Ariel Bender... I mean, I think it's just one of the coolest rock star names I've ever heard. However, my research has brought me to two different but similar stories as to who came up with the name.
The first one comes from The Man Himself, Ian Hunter. Ian says that the name is linked to an incident following a gig in Germany, when Mick Ralphs was pissed off and decided to bend the aerial on every car on the street. He told this story in the excellent Mott the Hoople documentary, The Ballad Of Mott The Hoople.
Lynsey de Paul, a friend of Mott the Hoople, and the female voice in the bridge in Roll Away the Stone, claims the incident was related to a time when the band was staying in Frankfurt while doing television appearances. The whole band and Lynsey were in a hotel which forced them to all use the same washroom. Luther Grosvenor, as he was known as back in those days, was pissed off, so he went and bent the aerial on their manager's car. Lynsey says that she began calling Luther Ariel Bender, and the name stuck. The story comes from a recent copy of Classic Rock Magazine.
Well, personally I'm more inclined to believe Ian's side of things... But there are two sides to every story, so there you have both of them, and you can believe whichever one you prefer.

Steven Tyler's Autobiography, "Is The Noise In My Head Bothering You?" Reviewed

     Aerosmith is one of the best rock bands who have ever lived, and considering who's in the band, it's no surprise- Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, and, of course, Joe Perry and Steve Tyler. They put out some highly original high energy rock music and unlike most band, even their new albums are still being enjoyed by the fans.

     Recently I picked up a copy of Steve Tyler's autobiography, Does The Noise In My Head Bother You. I was sure it would be an interesting read, and fairly enjoyable- I've always enjoyed the way Tyler spoke and write lyrics. He certainly is a most fascinating character, and so, excited, I picked up the book and began to read. I had a bit of a headache after trying to read the first page.

     It's not that what Steven was saying was wrong. I liked the points he was making and the things he was saying. The photos were good too. But the way he was saying them, his writing style, was absolutely unreadable. After five pages, I really couldn't take anymore and for my own sanity's sake, I was forced to put the book down. On several other occasions, I tried reading it, but I could never make it more than half a dozen pages. I was quite disappointed really, cause I love Steven Tyler so much and his book should have been the best thing in the world. I'm really not sure why it wasn't... I am going to.continue trying to read it, of course. For Steven's sake, I have to. And maybe, hopefully, I'll get used to it and enjoy it. If not, I'll just be content to read his Wikipedia page, again and again and again...

Underrated Musician #9: Michael Anthony

     One had to be a pretty darn good musician to hold their own alongside Eddie Van Halen. Nobody will doubt that he was a brilliant, innovative, and exciting musician, and his place in rock and roll history is right at the top, with the likes of Clapton, Page and Beck. A real musician like Eddie also knew that if he wanted to make it far in music, you needed a good band of highly skilled musicians, to take you as far as you could make it. Eddie knew his rhythm section was an important decision, and he chose well: brother Alex Van Halen on drums (and what a drummer he was!) and bassist Michael Anthony, who, so far, is being remembered (if he is remembered) as the forgotten member of Van Halen.

     First of all, from what I hear of the band members' personalities, Michael wasn't one of those shy guys who everybody ignored. Van Halen fans know that Eddie was the quiet one. I guess Michael got left behind because he wasn't as colorful and dynamic as David Lee Roth, and he wasn't as flashy a musician as Eddie or Alex Van Halen. Alex also had the name Van Halen on his side, I hate to say it, but I know it helped. Maybe also because Michael is currently the only original member of Van Halen who isn't touring right now which pushes him even furher into the background.

     But all this aside, let's talk about what Michael Anthony meant to the band. Mike was an excellent bassist, and a lot of Van Halen's catchy, infectuous sound was owed to his melodic and memorable bass lines. He was never necessarily extremely technical skilled, but what was much more important was that he always had goos ideas and made good music. He helped write a fair amount of Van Halen's music too. But what Mike contributed to Van Halen's overrall sound most importantly was the backing vocals. All those catchy vocal hooks, which were probably the most important part of the classic Van Halen sound, were more of Mike's doing than anybody else's. Songs like Dance the Night Away and Running With the Devil especially could never have been the same thing if it wasn't for his high-pitched vocal harmonies.

     Mike's not being in the band nowadays still seems to be for reasons not quite clear, but I know it was something related to a personality conflict with the other band members. Oh well. Maybe he was right. Maybe they were. Ultimately it doesn't really matter, because what's done is done and sometimes people just can't get along anymore, like Don Dokken and George Lynch. It is too bad for the fans that he isn't there anymore, but Eddie's son Wolfgang is doing an excellent job filling his shoes, and the sound isn't suffering.

     So you can say what you want about Mike, and his involvement with Van Halen, but you really can never deny that he made the band what they were, and they might still be touring the LA club circuit if it wasn't for him.

Nice bass, Mike

Native American Mainstream Musicians

     Just out of sheer curiosity, I did a little research the other day to find out whether or not metal music had any noted Native American musicians. I was actually surprised to find out just how many musicians that we're all familiar with are fully or part Native- here's a quick list:

     I had never guessed that George Lynch was Native until I heard about his Shadowtrain project-  a documentary he's making about Native Americans. Learn more about this at http://shadowtrainmovie.com/

     Mark Slaughter is either full or half Native. Vince Neil's mom was half Native, and his dad was half Mexican. Just in case you never noticed, his blond hair came from a bottle.

    Besides being French, English and Irish as well, Alice Cooper is part Sioux. Blackie Lawless's mom was either half or full native.. For those of you who thought that W.A.S.P. stood for White Anglo Saxon Protestants, well, most likely, you were wrong. I'm still pretty sure it stood for We Are Sexual Perverts. Testament lead singer Chuck Billy was Cherokee, I believe. 
      Tommy Bolin, the one musician almost everybody is positive is Native, is actually half Swedish and half Syrian. 

    And besides that, the following artists are all part First Nations- Carrie Underwood, Cher, Crystal Gayle, Link Wray, Mandy Moore, Billy Ray Cyrus. Will add more names to this list if I come across them.