Category: Pop Culture

Gregg Allman Passes Away – A Southern Rock Legend

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We have lost another music icon today.  The great Gregg Allman has passed away at the age 69. The co-founder of one of the great Southern Rock Bands, The Allman Brothers Band which he started with his brother Duane way back in 1969.

Gregg and his band brought such classic songs as “Midnight Rider”, “Melissa”, “Whipping Post” and “Ramblin’ Man”.  Gregg suffered from Hepatitis C back in 2007 and had a liver transplant in 2010.  He had been ill lately and has lost his battle.  He will be missed, but his music will live on forever.

Thanks Gregg for the great songs!!

Picture By Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz (Gregg Allman) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Poison – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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I have seen a lot of news on Poison lately.  Most notably, they are touring with Def Leppard and they were actually in town back on April 29th with Extreme & Jackyl.  I hate I missed it as I really would have loved to see Extreme…and Poison too!!

I then saw in the news where Rikki Rocket would love to record a new album, but he doesn’t feel fans want to hear anything new from them.  I then saw somewhere where Bret Michaels would love to do a new version of “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn”…but of course he would…he is a REPEAT OFFENDER!!

All this talk about Poison got me to thinking about their albums.  So, over the last week I revisited their entire collection and decided I would rank their albums from their absolute worst to their very best…or at least my opinion of that ranking.  They had 7 studio albums, but since one Live album had 5 new tracks I decided to include that one in the list as well. I will shut up now and get on with the ranking.

8. – THE WORST!!! – Hollyweird (2002)

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Friday New Releases – May 12th

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Happy Friday!!  Quite a few I am interested to listen to this week.  Not sure how much merit they have, but I still want to give a listen.  There is a little something for everyone as there is rock, country, pop, hip hop and even a TV show soundtrack.  I hope there is something for you.  I have quite a few I want to at least give one listen to just to try it out and those will be highlighted in Blue, as usual.

  • 51atuZsoUGL._AC_US218_  Harem Scarem – United – (Frontiers Records Srl):  This Toronto, Canada band is out with yet another release just three years after their last one.  I believe this is number 14 or 15, I have lost count they have so many.  Down here in the U.S., they are not a household name mainly because they came out as this type of music was killed off by Grunge.  If you haven’t heard of them, check them out as I am sure they have something you will like.  I only discovered them about 10+ years ago and I am so glad I did.  I now have every album and even some rarer ones.  I can’t wait for this one and haven’t heard any song yet as I want to hear it all at once.  They video below is posted without me even viewing it first.

  • 170x170bb-99  Zac Brown Band – Welcome Home – (Elektra Records):  I am not a huge country fan and find myself criticizing a lot of the current country cowboys that are there as they are are too polished and songs are pure and utter crap.  Zac Brown is so not that for me.  He is what I do like about country.  I am eager to hear this one.

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The Police – “Roxanne” – The 45 Single (1978)

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In the continuing sage of the vinyl filled box I found another 45 single and this one was by The Police.  It was for the song “Roxanne” which is one of their signature songs.  Sadly, I don’t have a cover jacket for it.  The sleeve it was in was for Columbia Records; however, the single was released by A&M so I know it is not the right sleeve.  No matter, the single still plays regardless.  Below are the Original UK cover (left) and the alternate cover in the UK (right – is Stewart picking his nose???).

And here is mine…

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Steel Panther – Artist Spotlight

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With a new album out, I thought I would update Steel Panther’s Artist Spotlight which was originally posted early last year:

Do the following names ring a bell?

  • Ralph Saenz
  • Russ Parrish
  • Travis Haley
  • Darren Leader

No, what about these?

  • Michael Starr
  • Satchel
  • Lexxi Foxx
  • Stix Zadinia

Yes, I thought those would.  They are Steel Panther.  The greatest Metal, Comedy band of all time!  That is right…Metal and Comedy.  These guys are a tongue-in-cheek version of the 80’s Glam Metal scene.  They are vulgar, repulsive, hilarious and man they can play some serious metal music.  Well, not really serious music as it is comedy, but they can actually play and play well.

Five years ago, I was in Los Angeles and got a chance to go see these guys live at the House of Blues (at least I think it was the House of Blues).  I am not sure how I would describe what I saw, but I know I enjoyed it immensely.  The show was part metal concert, part comedy show and part soft porn.  They never take themselves seriously and are always having a good time.  The audience loved them and women were jumping up on stage and doing pretty much whatever they wanted. It was a little insane.

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“My First Time” with Hall & Oates’ ‘H2O’

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The first cassette I remember having was a gift from a girl up the street named Rosemary.  It was the album ‘H20’ by Hall & Oates.  I no longer have the cassette, but when I was out this past year shopping for vinyl, I found the album and had to snatch it up.

Even today, this is one of my favorite albums.  I was in the car with my girls the other day and my oldest daughter was flipping radio stations (which is constantly happening).  This song was starting up on one station and I asked her to stop.  I told her this was the very first cassette I ever had and she actually let the song “Maneater” play through.  I think the girls actually enjoyed the song.

After that happened, I thought this would be a great album for the “My First Time” series. H2O was the band’s eleventh studio album and ended up being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, of their career.  The album was released on October 4th, 1982 and went to #3 on the Billboard Album charts for 15 weeks.  The album has sold around 4 million copies and has been certified double platinum.  I know I have been the owner of at least 2 or 3 of those copies.

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Turntables & Vinyl #7 – Record Store Day – April 22, 2017

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Today is the 10th Anniversary of Record Store Day.  My daughter and I didn’t get up too early to head down to our local record stores, but it was early for us on a Saturday.  We left the house around 8am to get to Lunchbox Records which was to open at 9am.  We knew it would be crowded, but we had NO IDEA!!!!

We arrived around 8:40am and the place was absolutely PACKED!!  The  line stretched around another building and turned and started going down the street.  There had to be over 200 people in line.  I am not a patient man, so this didn’t sit well with me.  I decided to head over to Repo Records as they would normally open at 10am and I would see what their line looked like.  Luckily it was just down the street about 5-8 minutes.

We arrived around 8:45-50 (I don’t remember exactly and it is really not key to the story).  The line was really good.  It had only about 40 people, so we figured we would wait it out.  It turns out they had just opened and were only letting a few people in at a time so we timed it perfectly.

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For Those About to Blog…We Salute You

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My fellow blogger Jason Ritchie over at The Rockin’ Chair Blog is doing a series saluting fellow bloggers and the current victim is none other than Me!!  Go check out the interview and then stay around and check out the blog.  You won’t be disappointed.

For Those About To Blog…We Salute You: John Snow
therockinchairblog.wordpress.com
John Snow has been writing about music he loves for a over a year now over at the impressive blog he runs 2Loud2Old. What inspired you to start writing/blogging about music? It was a who inspired m…

For some insight on The Rockin’ Chair I have stolen ( I mean borrowed) his bio from his site so you can have an idea of what to expect from his blog.

Bio: I have been blogging about mainly Stoke City FC over on the Rock ‘N’ Oatcake and am currently News & Reviews Editor at Get Ready To Rock! – my main love in the musical world 🙂

The Rockin’ Chair is a place for me to highlight new and old music. It won’t be just press releases or feature music that would score an average rating, it is more hand picked music. The blog will feature guest writers and contributions from fellow music fans and musicians.

Enjoy!!

My One Year Blogiversary!!

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Wow!!  I can not believe it has been one year already.  The time has definitely flown by and has been an absolute blast.  I never thought I would last very long and so it is hard to believe I am still writing weekly and still enjoying even more now then when I started.

I have met so many interesting people through the blog world and have found some amazing sites.  I do wish there was more time in the day to visit every site that is following me and that I am following, but have found that task to be impossible.  Please know I do try my best to at visit as often as I am able.

The year has been a roller coaster of a ride.  Where the blog has been a blessing and some of the high points, life has dealt me a few blows this year with the passing of my Mom back in August and my Dad just two weeks ago.  The loss of them has been difficult, but the blog has been my way of escaping the harsh realities of life.

One person I need to thank for the blog is my lovely wife, Angie!!  She talked me into doing a blog and without her support, I wouldn’t be doing this still.  She has put up with the time it takes away from her and the girls, the loud music and my constant blabbering about the site and other sites I have visited.  She is definitely my Rock!!

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Rod Stewart – “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” – The 45 Single (1978)

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Off Rod Stewart’s 1978 album ‘Blondes Have More Fun’ comes one of his most memorable songs “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”.  The song reached #1 in the US, Canada and the UK as well as 3 other countries.  It sold over 2,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone and according to Rolling Stones magazine is #308 of the Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song was a little more disco than what Rod was used to releasing.  He had previously been more of a blues rock singer.  As a result, the rock critics were not quite happy with the song.

According to wikipedia (the most reliable source on earth), the song had some legal issues due to copyright infringement cases brought against it.  The song…

incorporates elements of the melody from the song “Taj Mahal” by Jorge Ben Jor and the string arrangement from the song “Put Something Down On It” by Bobby Womack.

Regardless, it is still one of Rod’s most popular songs.  What I love about the cover, is the girl is not Blonde even though the album was ‘Blondes Have More Fun’.  I had also heard that the lady on the cover was Cher, but I couldn’t find anything that backed that up.  I will still think it though.

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