YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Dramatist wrote: Tue Jan 10, 2023 10:27 pm Then you get to Frankie Teardrop. A song about a man at a breaking point that kills his family and himself and the song literally ends up in Hell. It’s one of the creepiest and most menacing songs I’ve ever heard with yelps and blood curdling screams. I can definitely see why it got some attention when it came out. I can only imagine listening to this on headphones in a dark room.
Favorite track - Frankie Teardrop, it’s like nothing else.
Well, that was…different.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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America, America is killing its youth

i actually really like their third album from 1988 (and it came out on WaxTrax! in the US)



all the Martin Rev and Alan Vega side projects are also worth checking out
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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I listened to Frankie Teardrop as part of my Rolling Stones Top 500 Albums challenge....in the dark...with headphones. I had no clue about the song going in and it scared the living bejesus out of me. :lol:
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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stimpy wrote: Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:40 pm
Jeff V wrote: Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:28 pm Reminds of Rainbow's most accessible (and perhaps most successful?) album, Down to Earth. Graham Bonnet was the singer, did a superb job - but the album did not go platinum, Ritchie Blackmore held him accountable and fired him.
Just watched the Dio documentary and the reason he quit and Bonnet was hired was Dio's refusal to sing "Since You've Been Gone", which became Rainbow's biggest hit, but didnt help Bonnet in the end. Dio made the right choice.
The funny thing is music geeks tend to revere artists who stay underground or otherwise don't become massive success and all of the negatives that go with it. Blackmore was clearly someone in search of mass-market success, another was Joey Ramone. The reason they hooked up with Phil Spector is that they wanted be a stadium band that sold millions of records. While their music had a certain charm and helped define punk rock, you can see the pop aspirations when compared to peers at the time (such as the Sex Pistols, Black Flag or Naked Raygun). Fans do like their niche artists who cater to a small group, but most of them probably would rather be the next incarnation of the Beatles.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:51 am America, America is killing its youth

i actually really like their third album from 1988 (and it came out on WaxTrax! in the US)



all the Martin Rev and Alan Vega side projects are also worth checking out
Any relation to the old indy record store Wax Trax in Chicago? First time I saw The Ramones, it was at a record release party there.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Jeff V wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:12 pm
Any relation to the old indy record store Wax Trax in Chicago? First time I saw The Ramones, it was at a record release party there.
one and the same. the record label was an imprint run by Jim and Danny (the store owners)

recent documentary on it: https://waxtraxfilms.com/
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:14 pm
Jeff V wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:12 pm
Any relation to the old indy record store Wax Trax in Chicago? First time I saw The Ramones, it was at a record release party there.
one and the same. the record label was an imprint run by Jim and Danny (the store owners)
I suspected as much. That store was a destination trip from where I lived in the suburbs. We'd go there, and to Uncle Dan's Army Surplus across the street. The infamous Biograph Theater was there too.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Oh, and back then, I had a cute as hell girlfriend who used to say she loved me because I looked like Joey Ramone (one of the least attractive front men in the history of music AFAIC).
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Jeff V wrote: Tue Jan 10, 2023 8:01 pm On a related note, how many septuagenarian acts are still bringing the passion like they used to? (bonus points if you remember Gabriel's mostly instrumental album, "Passion"). Mick Jagger perhaps, he's a freak of nature though. Others are technically on point, but do lack that gusto they had earlier.
We saw King Diamond play with Mercyful Fate last August and he knocked it out of the park. His voice has held up remarkably well.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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21. Cheap Trick - Special One (2003) - Another album mysteriously absent from Spotify, but that's probably for the best. This is another comeback album of sorts, featuring what is quite honestly a terrible single. Hopefully it's because I've been hitting more recent albums, but Cheap Trick is 0 for 2 for me this project. Not a fan of this one.

Top track: N/A (Not on Spotify) Favorite track: "Words"

22. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack (1974) - Finally we hit upon a true classic, but one I had never listened to in its entirety. This album showcases just how truly out there Queen was compared to most everyone else. Sure there was glam rock, but I'm not sure anyone brought the theatricality of Queen. While Killer Queen was the obvious pick for my favorite off this album, it's a nostalgic favorite just for the countless hours I played the track in Guitar Hero. In fact, the song was what got me interested in Queen's repertoire outside of Bohemian Rhapsody.

As an aside, I know it may seem crazy to some people that I didn't really listen to any Queen until I was in my 30s, but the fact is - music is too vast for everyone to listen to everything. While I wasn't listening to Queen, I was probably listening to something I'm surprised you've never heard. And so it goes.

Top track: "Killer Queen" Favorite track: "Killer Queen"

23. Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood (1989) - Another stone-cold classic, and an album I was somewhat familiar with (as familiar as my distant Motley Crue experience would allow, I guess). So many great tracks on here - the title track, "Kickstart My Heart," "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)", "Without You" etc. The album produced 5 big singles. And even the non-hit tracks have awesome moments, like the Beatles riff of "She's So Heavy" that closes out "Slice of Your Pie." There's nary a clunker on this album. This one's absolutely going on the to-buy list.

Top track: "Kickstart My Heart" Favorite track: "Dr. Feelgood" (Because it's the first Motley Crue track I remember ever hearing)

24. Pink Floyd - The Final Cut (1983) - Our first Pink Floyd record. I've got a long history with Pink Floyd, getting into them heavily in my latter years of high school and then into early college. In fact, I almost resisted putting them on the list because I knew more of their albums than not. However, this album is the reason they still made it. It's a gap in my Pink Floyd knowledge, and I couldn't let that slide.

This album marks the beginning of the end of Pink Floyd, being Roger Waters' last studio album with the band. It's considered essentially a solo project, given that Waters wrote all the songs and the band was going through a tumultuous break-up during the recording.

Apparently some of this was recorded for The Wall, and you can definitely tell. It has a very similar feel. Heck "The Final Cut" even re-uses the riff from "Comfortably Numb." Definite headphone album, with a lot of great detail going on in the background and nice use of stereo. It's a really beautiful record but goddamn is it bleak. The anti-war sentiment is as relevant today as it ever was.

Top track: "The Final Cut" Favorite track: "The Gunner's Dream"

25. Bad Company - Straight Shooter (1975) - OK, Bad Company has given me two solid albums that I enjoyed a great deal, so can they make it three in a row? Oh yes! This one had two singles that made the charts, "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" and "Feel Like Makin' Love." However "Shooting Star" makes a strong argument for "should have been a single", and is easily the second best song on the album.

While the rest of the album's songs fail to hit as hard as those three tracks, they're still perfectly fine.

Top track: "Feel like Makin' Love" Favorite track: "Feel like Makin' Love"
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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YellowKing wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:30 pm As an aside, I know it may seem crazy to some people that I didn't really listen to any Queen until I was in my 30s, but the fact is - music is too vast for everyone to listen to everything. While I wasn't listening to Queen, I was probably listening to something I'm surprised you've never heard. And so it goes.
I didn't either. I'd heard all their songs and could probably sing along to the radio hits, but never owned a Queen album until I bought a "Greatest Hits" one to listen to when my daughter was 5 or 6. I still don't think I've heard any Queen song that isn't on that album.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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I remember being in the photography darkroom in high school in the mid 70s listening to Sheer Heart Attack.
Man.....were times different back then.

Freshman year, I walked into the Graphic Arts room and the teacher was blasting Led Zeppelin.
I was in awe. Every day he'd bring in new music. I was exposed to so many different bands because of him. Add in the fact that we got to create things like t-shirts and posters...I was hooked.
I knew that was it for me.

25 years later, after working at various print shops throughout my life, I opened my own printing business.
Turns out the Graphic Arts teacher at my daughters high school all those years later was none other than the same teacher I had.
I gave her one of my business cards and told her to put it on his desk and thank him, because had he not been blasting Zeppelin all those years ago, I'd never be were I am today, some 45 years later.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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YellowKing wrote:21. Cheap Trick - Special One (2003) - Another album mysteriously absent from Spotify, but that's probably for the best. This is another comeback album of sorts, featuring what is quite honestly a terrible single. Hopefully it's because I've been hitting more recent albums, but Cheap Trick is 0 for 2 for me this project. Not a fan of this one.

Top track: N/A (Not on Spotify) Favorite track: "Words"
I don’t know why because I have never really listened to full Cheap Trick albums, but I’ve always considered them as a singles band. A band with maybe a couple of bangers on an album, but mostly filler after that. I’m curious what your impressions will be when you listen to something from their heyday.


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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Talking Heads- Talking Heads ’77 (1977)
This one surprised me. I found mostly forgettable but ok. I am, of course, familiar with Talking Heads through the years but the only album I’ve ever listened to was 1985s Little Creatures back when I was in high school. The only song here I knew was Psycho Killer and it’s a good song. I was just underwhelmed, this was ok, but just ok.
Favorite track - Psycho Killer

Can - Monster Movie (1969)
I was preparing for a difficult listen with Can’s first album (being completely unfamiliar with them) but I quite enjoyed this. Only four tracks with the last song “You Doo Right” being 20 minutes long. I can see the beginnings of the motorik sound here. “You Doo Right” had a really driving, hypnotic beat that went through the whole song even though the song was varied enough that 20 minutes didn’t seem like too many minutes. I’m interested in seeing how their next albums progress.
Favorite track - You Doo Right


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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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YellowKing wrote:
8. Rush - Grace Under Pressure (1984) - I've never been a prog rock guy, but lately I've started becoming much more appreciative of it thanks to friends in the vinyl community. There's no real reason I never got into Rush. I never had any dislike for them, I just didn't know any of their songs. Hell, I looked at their top 5 songs and only recognized 1 of them (on top of that, they only had 1 Top 40 hit). I think the only reason I knew "Tom Sawyer" was from one of those Time Life music collection comme

This album highlights the only weakness in this challenge - not listening chronologically means I don't get to hear the progression of the bands. In this case, this album marked Rush's drift towards heavy-synth, but to a person not familiar with their work I have no context for that. I also had no clue they had all these sci-fi geek lyrics, or else I'd have probably checked them out a long time ago. At any rate, enjoyed this one quite a bit even though it's not the type of music I'd generally choose to listen to.

Top track: "Distant Early Warning" Favorite track: "The Enemy Within"
The DnD type stuff in their early albums might be up your alley too!

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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I've never been much of a Rush fan, but a bunch of my friends who are swear by the new Elder album. May be worth a listen.

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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YellowKing wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:30 pm 25. Bad Company - Straight Shooter (1975) - OK, Bad Company has given me two solid albums that I enjoyed a great deal, so can they make it three in a row? Oh yes! This one had two singles that made the charts, "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" and "Feel Like Makin' Love." However "Shooting Star" makes a strong argument for "should have been a single", and is easily the second best song on the album.

While the rest of the album's songs fail to hit as hard as those three tracks, they're still perfectly fine.

Top track: "Feel like Makin' Love" Favorite track: "Feel like Makin' Love"
Shooting Star was a single, and is played almost daily on the dinosaur rock stations around here. It remains my favorite Bad Company hit.
stimpy wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 9:58 am I remember being in the photography darkroom in high school in the mid 70s listening to Sheer Heart Attack.
Man.....were times different back then.
In high school, we had a project (team up with a classmate) to create a scroll of magazine images that would illustrate a song -- unfurling it as the song played. News of the World just came out, and it contained the would-have-been title track from Sheer Heart Attack. We nearly chose that song, but the magazine material we had was more conducive to the song we eventually chose, Saturday in the Park by Chicago.
Dramatist wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 11:30 am Favorite track - Psycho Killer
The version of Psycho Killer on Stop Make Sense is better. The new British sensation, Wet Leg, has a terrific cover of it.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Carpet_pissr »

FWIW, the concert video of Stop Making Sense has PHENOMENAL audio quality and production. It's one of a few concert DVD"s I own specifically for how well it's recorded (I also love Talking Heads, so there's that, but I bought it first bc it was touted in the A/V world at the time as one of the better/best recorded concerts out there, and a great reference DVD to test out your A/V system.)

I've heard a few people say Talking Heads is a band that is much better in concert than in the studio, and while that's typically a hard sell for me, I have to agree. You really need to SEE David Byrne and his coked up comrades bopping around on stage, tongues lolling out AND still able to rock the shit out of the show, at 250mph, non stop, no breaks, etc.

If you have a decent system, find the DVD at a local library (or buy it) - it's worth it.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Nice! 4K too! But what is the audio quality on that I wonder?

LOL I cannot believe someone on that stage didn't have a coke-attack during the part where they are all up there running in place for like 15m straight. :P
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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I totally discounted Talking Heads back in the day but only in the last 20 years have appreciated the music that they put out. Good call.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Of all the music I played in my car when driving my oldest son around to soccer, Talking Heads were the one band that would always elicit a groan from him.

Maybe that's genetic. Back when I was in HS I sometimes got tired of seeing them on MTV all the time. I didn't really start to listen to a broader range of their music college and later.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Jeff V wrote:Shooting Star was a single, and is played almost daily on the dinosaur rock stations around here.
I thought the same since it's played all the time, but I couldn't find anything saying it was an official single. Everything I've read only lists the two I mentioned.

New batch:

26. AC/DC - Back in Black (1980) - Well this album needs no introduction. The first with singer Brian Johnson, and one of the best-selling albums of all time. I mentioned my wife is a huge AC/DC fan, and this is the first album she owned by them and the one that introduced me to AC/DC. Four big singles from this album: "You Shook Me All Night Long," "Hells Bells," "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution," and "Back in Black," but every track's good.

Top track: "Back in Black" (this track has over 1 BILLION plays on Spotify, insane) Favorite track: "Back in Black"

27. The Rolling Stones - Blue & Lonesome (2016) - Wasn't sure what a new-ish Rolling Stones album would sound like, but then I discovered it's just a covers album so I couldn't imagine it being too bad. Last album before Charlie Watts passed. The album was critically well received, but failed to maintain its early strong sales.

I'm not a big blues guy, but when I do listen to it I'd rather listen to the original artists, not a bunch of white guys. And it's got to be OLD stuff. Record popping, sounds like it was recorded on somebody's front porch in 1920 blues. So this album didn't really do anything for me. That said, Mick Jagger can still sing his ass off at his age, so kudos for that.

Top track: "Hate to See You Go" Favorite track: "I Can't Quit You Baby" (because it meant the album was almost over and I'd never have to listen to it again)

28. The Who - The Who by Numbers (1975) - I think I read that Pete Townshend said this was his favorite Who album. However, this album also illustrates one reason I think I don't like The Who - Roger Daltrey can't carry a tune in a damn bucket. Jesus, some of the vocals here are absolutely painful. Maybe that's why I liked "Blue Red and Grey" - it's Pete Townshend with a ukulele demonstrating how to actually sing.

I know there are a lot of classic The Who tracks to come, and maybe that will make me feel better about those albums. This one didn't have any recognizable tracks for me, and was a bit of a chore to get through.

Top track: "Squeeze Box" Favorite track: "Blue Red and Grey"

29. Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) - Another classic Crue album, and one I was somewhat familiar with though not quite as much as I was Dr. Feelgood. The album produced three singles, the title track, "Wild Side," and "You're All I Need." This album has the weird distinction of a song on the album plagiarizing another song on the album. "Five Years Dead" is just a (very) slight variation on "Girls, Girls, Girls."

Classic album but IMO vastly inferior to Dr. Feelgood.

Top track: "Girls, Girls, Girls" Favorite track: "Girls, Girls, Girls"

30. Foreigner - Double Vision (1978) - Foreigner's second album produced three singles, the classic "Hot Blooded," "Double Vision," and "Blue Morning, Blue Day." The album was a huge hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard charts and ranks as their highest selling non-compilation album.

I'm still not totally sold on Foreigner, but I did enjoy this album quite a bit, even outside of the tracks I already knew. It definitely leans more traditional hard rock than their later power ballad stuff.

Top track: "Hot Blooded" Favorite track: "Hot Blooded"
Last edited by YellowKing on Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Dramatist »

I listened to both Back In Black and Double Vision back in the day.

Back In Black is such a classic. I’ve heard it said about Back In Black that it’s the ultimate baller move: your former lead singer dies from alcohol poisoning, hire someone who sounds just like him and write a song titled Have A Drink On Me.



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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Dramatist wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:45 pm I listened to both Back In Black and Double Vision back in the day.

Back In Black is such a classic. I’ve heard it said about Back In Black that it’s the ultimate baller move: your former lead singer dies from alcohol poisoning, hire someone who sounds just like him and write a song titled Have A Drink On Me.



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I dont think Brian Johnson sounds like Bon Scott.
There were plenty of other singers they could have hired if they were looking for a Bon Scott copycat......Krokus, Accept...hell...even Axl Rose.
Johnson was just different enough to not come off as a cheap gimmick.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Jeff V »

Johnson was very good, as well.

I was never big into heavy metal, but Back in Black was such an awesome record and I've always found a place in my heart for AC/DC.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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AC/DC are not 'heavy metal'. (single-entendre-laden) hard rock, sure.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:14 am AC/DC are not 'heavy metal'. (single-entendre-laden) hard rock, sure.
Was gonna say that.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Can - Soundtracks (1970)
Apparently this album is a compilation of some tracks Can did for different soundtracks. Can now has a different lead singer from their debut album. They replaced Malcolm Mooney with Damo Suzuki. These songs are mostly more abstract than the ones from their debut a year earlier and once again the highlight for me is the longest track, “Mother Sky”. I’m not usually a long song guy so this is unusual for me. Once again Can can make a long song (this one 14+ minutes) not seem padded at all.

Favorite track - Mother Sky

Can - Tago Mago (1971)
I was looking forward to this one, here we go. Pitchfork gives this a 10, some people talk about this being one of the best rock albums of all time. It’s a double album, 73 minutes long but only 7 tracks. I’m going to split this album into two main parts. The first four tracks are songs, the last three tracks are more experimental soundscapes. The first four songs are all pretty great. They finally have a 4 minute song that’s really a highlight, Mushroom. Mushroom has a great beat. In fact the drums of Can are a highlight to me. Once again they have a really long track, Halleluwah (19+ minutes) that is excellent and doesn’t overstay its welcome. So far a genius album.

So I’ve heard somewhere where there is a fine line between genius and madness. The last three tracks tip into madness for me. The first of these is Aumgn, it sounds to me like the soundtrack to 17 minutes of a horror movie. The next two tracks are just as strange. I can say that all three of these tracks are completely different from one another but they aren’t something I want to revisit. This knocks the album down a notch for me but the first four songs are really awesome.
Favorite track - Mushroom.


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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:14 am AC/DC are not 'heavy metal'. (single-entendre-laden) hard rock, sure.
I've never really known what makes something heavy metal. As a synthpop, New Wave kind of guy I never figured out the distinctions between rock, metal, and heavy metal. For that matter I'm not sure I even heard the term heavy metal applied to music until I was well in college.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by JCC »

Yeah, bands like AC/DC blur the lines. They are somewhat of a crossover band as they have widespread appeal that isn't just limited to metal fans. Worrying about the blurry genre dividing lines in 2023 seems silly, as I think the younger generations that grew up/will grow up with all music easily available to them really doesn't give a shit and they just like what they like.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Heavy metal is like porn. I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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When AC/DC first hit the scene, they were definitely considered heavy metal. My brother was big into heavy metal, and I got to hear a lot of AC/DC. But somewhere along the line the definition seemed to change, and they got dropped from the category. (And my brother mostly stopped listening to them. :D )

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Pyperkub »

Jeff V wrote:Johnson was very good, as well.

I was never big into heavy metal, but Back in Black was such an awesome record and I've always found a place in my heart for AC/DC.
IMHO, Back in Black is the perfect hard rock album. Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, every track a winner.

It would be *the* album to explain Rock and Roll to aliens.

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by LordMortis »

TheMix wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:04 pm When AC/DC first hit the scene, they were definitely considered heavy metal. My brother was big into heavy metal, and I got to hear a lot of AC/DC. But somewhere along the line the definition seemed to change, and they got dropped from the category. (And my brother mostly stopped listening to them. :D )
Weird. The first two songs I remember by AC/DC were "Dirty Deeds" and "Big Balls" and they didn't seem heavy metal at all, much less compared Black Sabbath, which seemed to define heavy metal on the radio for a young child. Back in Black was one of the first few albums I ever owned behind Aerosmith's Greatest Hits, Billy Squire's Don't Say No, Supertramp's Breakfast in America, Kiss' Love Gun, and Bob Segar's Against the Wind. Strange to remember such things. AC/DC to me were just Rock and Roll. Perhaps "high Voltage Rock and Roll". Though, I must admit hearing Led Zeppelin was heavy metal as well and I never could make that leap either.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Jeff V »

Jaymann wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:03 pm Heavy metal is like porn. I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.
You're talking about the time when, after their TV show was canceled, Toni Tennille pierced everything and The Captain shaved his head into a mohawk, aren't you?
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Jeff V »

LordMortis wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:24 pm The first two songs I remember by AC/DC were "Dirty Deeds" and "Big Balls"
These were among the songs in heavy rotation that we had blaring on the boombox in the chemical company I worked for (along with a friend). The boss was fine with AC/DC, as well as Ozzy who was blowing it up at the same time. The song that earned his scorn and derision though was Love Stinks by J. Geils.

For some 30 years now, that boss has been the brother-in-law of the aforementioned friend, who married his sister-in-law, who also worked with us at the time. Her position on things was, and probably still is, "they are just being silly boys."
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Rumpy »

I've always felt that AC/DC sat right on the threshold between heavy metal and hard rock. Maybe they might seem tame by today's standards, but they were absolutely a driving force into the genre.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

31. Queensryche - Dedicated to Chaos (2011) - I knew going in this was going to be a TOUGH album to review, as I know zero about Queensryche outside of "Silent Lucidity." And this album, from what I've read, sounds really different from their other stuff. So how the heck do I judge it in comparison to all the albums of theirs I don't know?

The last album to feature Geoff Tate on lead vocals, all I can say is...it's OK I guess? It was certainly not the sound I was expecting from Queensryche going in, but I didn't necessarily hate it. I got the feeling, however, that I probably *would* hate it if I knew old Queensryche more. Like I don't even know the band, and I still felt like this is not representative of the band. There's kind of an upbeat quality to this album that tonally did not jibe with what I thought Queensryche was. And I'm assuming I'm probably right. I guess we'll see. The play numbers on Spotify for this album are pathetic, by the way.

Top track: "Get Started" Favorite track: "Get Started"

32. The Who - Who (2019)- A modern The Who album, but one that was surprisingly well-received both commercially and by critics. It was not surprisingly not well-received by me. I swear Daltrey's voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me. I just don't get him vocally, and hearing him scream into a microphone for an hour on this album like an old man shaking his fist at the sky made me want to claw my eardrums out.

Top track: "Ball and Chain" Favorite track: "Break the News"

33. Van Halen - 5150 (1986) - Van Halen's first album with Sammy Hagar. This album proved once again, just as AC/DC demonstrated, that it is possible to replace a popular lead singer and still hit the top of the charts. The album hit #1. Despite mixed critical reviews at the time, over the years it's come to be known as a rock classic. The album spawned four singles, "Why Can't This Be Love," "Dreams," "Love Walks In," and "Best of Both Worlds."

Now I'll tell you, I've always been a David Lee Roth guy. He's who I grew up watching on MTV, and I pretty much disregarded everything Van Halen did after he left the band. Not because I hated Hagar in any way, I just kind of drifted away. However, Sammy brings some bit Roth energy to this record, and I loved every minute of it.

Top track: "Why Can't This Be Love" Favorite track: "Why Can't This Be Love"

34. The Who - Quadrophenia (1973) - Oh joy, two The Who albums in one batch. This is the band's third rock opera (second if you're only counting album-length), and a double album. I know it's a classic, it doesn't do anything for me. I'm not a big fan of rock operas. And now I'm going to have to spend some time hiding all The Who tracks from Spotify since I'm listening to them so much.

Top track: "Love Reign O'er Me" Favorite track: "Bell Boy"

35. KISS - Dynasty (1979) - This album was a result of many of the band members recording separately, as many were working on solo projects at the time. However, it still managed to produce a huge single in "I Was Made for Lovin' You" and the lesser well-received "Sure Know Something."

Outside of that first huge hit single, however, the album was considered pretty mediocre. Even KISS could not escape the pull of disco which alienated many fans.

I personally didn't find it all that bad, but I've always kind of bought into their gimmick and don't take them too seriously. The two singles are great and the rest of the tracks are solid, if not super memorable.

Top track: "I Was Made For Lovin' You" Favorite track: "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Kraken »

"Quadrophenia" was, in part, a tech demo. Quadrophonic sound wanted to edge out mere stereo and this Who album was one of the first (and ultimately few) recorded with "double stereo" tracks. It petered out in the 1970s, but eventually came back as 4.0 surround stereo.

Anyway, to appreciate Quadrophenia you need a proper quadrophonic sound system and, ideally, four ears.
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