Ripped off!

So it has happened again. Some band has had a huge hit only to be sued by another artist for ripping off their music. U was completely pissed off when all the Led Zepplin stuff hit the web a few years ago.
Now you have Cold Play with their huge hit LaVida... which apparentlyy has its entire chord progression stolen from guitar wizard Joe Satriani. Watch the video by a studio engineer/muscian as he breaks down the music theory.
I will also throw in a linktto the Zepplin hi jinks.

The Satriani vs Cold Play case is awaiting a court date. Zepplin over the years has either settled out of court for undisclosed amounts and/or added writting credits to the catalog thus giving the original artist residule writing monies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEGGFJLpbu4
Satriani vs Cold Play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPAEPFaxoM
Compare the original song to the Zep hit.

Holy Shit!
Has the moon collided with the Earth? Has the space-time continuum ruptured? Is there a DeLorean sitting in my driveway?
I just listened to “Chinese Democracy” from Guns and Roses. Actually, I listened to it all weekend. All I can say is….holy shit.
Ok, so it took 14 years and reported 13.5 million oaf Axels’s money. Was it worth the wait? Is this the lifetime masterpiece notoriously anal Axel took 15 years to write and record… and re-write and re-record? No, but it surely is a GNR album. Somewhere between Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I & II. Gone is the very discernable six string wizardry of Slash, but the revolving door of guitarist Axel hired and fired do a fine job. In fact, it is rumored that some of the final recordings have up to five guitarists that have recorded different parts. The only constant in the entire recording is Axel and the former bassest from the Replacements.
The songs have all the GNR elements, soaring falsetto vocals, Axel apparently still has the chops despite all the rumors, haunting orchestral interludes and scorching guitar solos…thank the gods. There are even clips from Rev. MLK and a short sound clip from the movie “Cool Hand Luke”.

Bottom line, if you are a Guns and Roses fan, and you can get along without Slash, then you must get this CD> You will not be disappointed.

….if it is too loud, you are too old… Gene Simmons

The Great Pie Quest….
Part2
So here we go, Shar finds all the “bakeries” in the entire Myrtle area. One she even found from a My Space page. We get up the next morning, sunny, about 65 degrees. Off we go Shar, her mom, Wyatt and yours truly. Shar plugs the first address into “Vallah” (our GPS) and off the Great Pie Quest begins. We drive all the way north through the touristy areas of Myrtle, about 15 miles and make the turn left into Conway S.C. the address we are looking for no longer exists. The street addresses jump from the 500’s to 100900…. The entire area where the bakery was supposed to be is now a by-pass. Sane goes for the next 5, luckily Shar programmed “Vallah” in reverse order. Now we are heading back towards South Myrtle. Finally we find a bakery… it is ALL sugar free. It has Danish, pie and sugar free candies. We get a dozen Danish and are on our way. The pies did not look great. The next 4 are busts as well. At this point Sharon asks one of the bakery workers about pie…”sure, we nake pies… during the holidays”, “you should try Costco…. They always have pie”. Sheesh!
The Danish are pretty good, but still no pie.
The next day we decide to drive 2 hours south and west to the Florence Pecan Festival. Now being “foodies” we have watched many specials on FootTV about local food festivals and were pretty siked for attending a Pecan Festival in South Carolina.
Once we get to Florence Wally decides he is hungry, so we stop at a KFC… the first thing we hear is “yalls can’t be bringing yalls dawg up in heres”…. We told them of course we can he is a “seeing eye” dog. They were skeptical but let us stay none the less. Wally got he food, the rest of us were waiting for the Pecan Festival….maybe there would be pie….
The Pecan Festival was “interesting”. Very little Pecan stuff, one big stand from a local Pecan Farm. And yes, they had pie and everything else Pecan. Of course they wanted $15 for a pie. The festival itself was held in the center of Florence…. Picture Mayberry but in 2008. Food was abundant, corndogs, roasted corn, deep fried everything, Oreos, Twinkies, candy bars, you name it they were frying it.
There were bands at the end of each block and the festival covered about six blocks in the center of town. The bans ran the gamut, gospel to classic rock and Doo Wop.
No pie eating contests, no Pecan bake offs or best Pecan dishes. There was definitely not a dude walking around dressed up in pecan suit or a Pecan Queen. What there were, were way too many people and way too many guys running around with names like Tarik Johnson and Mohamad Smith. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the two blocks of Bubbas with all their “Classic Cars”…. Like theres not enough air pollution that we need 100 rednecks revving up uncatalytic converted engines.
I guess we won’t be attending the Florence Pecan Festival again.
The highlight of this trip was stopping at another of Alton Brown’s “Feasting on Asphalt” stops. The Route 61 Pharmacy.
In case you’re keeping score:
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives- 2
If nothing else we are eating well.
Feasting on Asphalt- 2

As we enter Myrtle, Wally states “ let’s stop by Costco. I wanna pick up some more ….” So, off to Costco for the second time in 3 days….be sure to keep score.
To be continued…..

The great Pie Quest and Adventures to Costco…. Avocation Tale
Part 1

So this is the year that Sharon and I pack up the Shuttle Pod )Prius) and head south to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for two weeks with her parents.
This is the vacation we both look forward too all year. We go every year but every other I go for two weeks instead for one week. We also have an annual “Huie” family vacation during August in Ocean City, Maryland. That vacation is OK but it consists of all of Sharon’s sibs and ALL the children. Don’t get me wrong, we usually have a good time but for us, with no kids, after a week of keeping the kids occupied and dealing with all the “alternative” parenting styles we are in need of another vacation. Hence, Myrtle Beach.

The place we stay is called Adele a Tower and is located in South Myrtle Beach, in an area called Muriel Inlet. A few miles from North Myrtle where all the touristy areas are. This is a very quiet, laid back area with high rises and single family homes on stilts. The condo is right on the beach. When the tide is in the Atlantic is right up to the back deck of the ground level, infact during hurricanes the ocean overflows into the indoor pool and covers the parking lot and road out front.
We usually stay in a condo unit on the 15th of the 17 floor building. Every unit has balconies facing the ocean, so you always get to see the sun rise. Wyatt loves it because we leave the sliding door open and he can come and go as he pleases.

Day 1- leave Elkridge at 0930, gas $3.40. Overcast, uneventful 500 miles unless you count all the weird “outlets” stores along Us. 95. Lets discuss a few shall we…?
“The wide Shoe Outlet” an emporium for platypus footed humans, sizes to 20 6W.
“Robby’s Cigarette and Fire works Outlet”, not many “Well formed thoughts” here.
“The Ham Outlet”…. Not enough porcine products available at Piggly Wiggly?
“Russell Stover’s Candy Outlet” advertised as 3 football fields of sweet treats. I picture random southern “Bubbas” with “a touch of the sugar” all passing into diabetic comas as they are driving to Darlington to watch theNASCAR...
And the last two are my favorites…
“JR’s House of Bargains”, we were told by a lot of people we “had” to stop here. We did on our first trip to Myrtle a few years ago. OK, picture a building the size of a medium Best Buy, with the little style of shopping carts. Filthy floor tiles, shelf’s and displays all sticky with nicotine. That’s right, welcome to North Carolina, smoking is still legal everywhere. So in the “House of Bargains” you littler ally can buy anything… as long as you don’t mind stuff imported from Mexico, China, and Taiwan and from the planets of the outer solar system. All those products that get recalled for lead paint, small pieces and complete knock offs of licensed materials. And oh yeah, lets not forget the products from insurance damage sales and seconds and thirds. Not kidding, there were bibles where God was spelled Dog….. Oh and all the clothes smell of smoke.
So, if your are going south on 95 make sure you stop off at exit 97 and stop by”JR’s”.
And last but surely not last….
“Pedro’s South of the Border”, the penultimate tourist stop. Here you can purchase all the useless tourist swag every child demands. Hell, you can get Mickey Mouse ears because you can purchase Disney tickets at SOB. You can get a Native American head dress and “tomahawk”, a hermit crab, Mexican Sombrero. Back scratchers are available in a rainbow of colors, shot glasses and little spoons from all 50 states. And let’s not forget the FIRE WORKS! Of course Pedro’s had food as well…. Try the Coney Island Dog, not bad.
I guess that is one of the great things about America, you can see tons of “great” sights along its highways, which needs Castles, Big Ben and Parliament.

Day 2- Sleep in, get food stuffs for 2 weeks. Hence the first trip to Costco. My father-in-law loves the Costco. SO here it is Sunday, sample day at the Costco….in Myrtle Beach.
We get the eggs, bacon, bread, some chicken, some steaks and a few snacky things. And from the samples…. Lobster dip, spinach artichoke dip and pita chips for dipping, and the biggest bag of “kettle chips” I have ever seen. This on top of a huge container of Ukrops “Buffalo Chicken Cheese dip” that the FIL brought along from home.
Nice, kept I am on a moderately low carb diet….. The snacks I eat are block cheeses, carrots and other proteins like almonds and walnuts.

After returning back to the condo we all just were doing our own things, I was listening to an audio book ( Ann McCaffery’s “the White Dragon”), Shar and her Mom were cross stitching and Wally was surfing the net. All of a sudden Jane, Sharon’s mom said she wanted a Lemon Danish or Lemon Pie. There then ensued a long discussion on where to buy such treats. Out came the local yellow pages. A coffee shop just up the road was discovered. Off went Shar and her mom. A few hours later they returned…. Sans Danish or pie. By this time it was time for dinner. All through the meal they continued to talk about pie.
Day 3- we took a day trip south to Charleston. This would be Halloween. We went first to a place we had seen on Food TV, “Jacks Cosmics Dogs”, very unusual hot dogs but gogs none the less. No Danish or pie at Jacks either. We continued onto the Charleston Market Place. A 5 block by 1 block flea market. Afterwards, we walked around the harbor and looked at the “Antibellum Homes”.
By the time we finished here it was time for dinner. We stopped at another Food TV find. It was “something” Roadhouse (the first name escapes me) very good food. No Danish, pie was sold out, good cake though.

Dancing in the Streets.....

Dancing in the Streets…

Well it is finally over. America has a President Elect, Bark Obama!
I have to admit that I was moved to tears when I saw the people taking to the streets. No riots, no fighting or looting, just Americans of ALL persuasion rejoicing. It looked like Berlin when the wall came down, albeit on a smaller scale. BBC America showed people all over the world dancing in the streets. I truly felt and still do that we are going to see America take back its place in the world that it has lost over the last 8 years. Hell, maybe we will even see the policies of “Corporate Socialism” that has become the norm since the inception of “trickle down economics” and deregulation. It seems to me that the Republican Party has lost its identity. The last 8 years surely did not get smaller government or fiscal conservatism. When Clinton left office, we had a federal surplice now another digit was recentley added to the debt clock.

I truly felt sorry for McCain, even I with my limited vision could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice, and He knew it was over on Friday before the election. In my opinion, there were three things that lost the election for the GOP, Sarah Pallin; when the nominee for veer is kept away from the mainstream media for 90% of the time up to the election, second, the fact the Republicans kept McCain as far away from their own sitting Presidents endorecement. Finally, McCain’s own words came back to haunt him. I do not remember exactly what he said but it was something like “the American economy is as strong as ever”.

I really feel for the “dyed in the wool”, so-called “Joe six packs” that were shocked that Obama was elected, with such a huge majority in both electoral and popular votes.
Not to mention how fast it happened, I was shocked to see all the new blue states like Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

But what even the Dems need to remember is that he is only 1 man, true change is means that all Americans need to make a Para dyne shift, we need to think more like early Americans; that All men were created equal, the government has no rights to what you do in your bed room, marriage is determined by the church not the congress and finally religion has no place in government otherwise, we are no better than the Tall ban or AL Qquieda. A religious fanatnic is still a fanatic, whether he be Christian, Muslim or Jew.
That is all I have to say about that…

Cards any one?

So in my job as a Community Liaison I WORK AS A GO BETWEEN THE Police Department and the community, representing the police at civic meetings, giving crime prevention seminars , setting up Neighborhood Watch programs and a plethora of other Community Policing agendas.
Last week I was attending training for a new Neighborhood Watch module, “Pandemic and Terrorism Preparedness”. It was a very cool training, no sleeping during the lectures here. Let us just say for a child of the second half of the cold war and one who also lived on Andrews A.F.B. for the majority of my teen years. So nuclear war was something I was fairly well versed in. A fellow Guy from the Car, Steve, once had a book from a class he took in college that listed all the potential targets in the Washington D.C. area…. There was no safe place to go within 100 miles. Therefore, I was really into the portion of the training that dealt with Domestic Nuclear Terrorism.
The trainer gave out a cool set of playing cars. These cards are just like the armed forces have been using for ages. During WW II sailors had playing cards with the siluettes of Axis ships on them; during the cold war NATO troops were issued playing cards with silhouettes of Soviet aircraft or armor depending on their deployment. These cards are printed with all the facts a first responder needs to know during a domestic nuclear incident. The thought behind all of these cars is the more you see the information the easier to remember it. Even though you might be playing Texas Hold’em with the cards but your subconscious mind is still reading and processing the information on the cars.
I thought the cards were very cool and thought I would share a few with you. Enjoy the images. I can post more upon request. You can find information on these cards and other Domestic Nuclear Incident facts at:
http://interdict.pnl.gov/

Watch the COnservatives jump ship!

A Stake thru the Heart of McCain….
WOW! General Powell jumped ship and endorsed Obama. I can say that I was truly surprised by this. He had to change parties to do so, this after having contributed the max allowable for an individual to McCain earlier this year.
In his statement he said “ McCain’s take on the financial crisis was naïve” and that “running mate Sarah Pallin was not ready to serve as President” and “the republican party has demonized Muslims.”, even though hundreds of Muslim Americans are serving in Americas armed forces”. Powell states that he is not looking for a cabinet position or any position within the Obama administration. Personally, I believe he would make one hell of a Secretary of Defense. However, after being lied to by the Bush administration and being used as an unwitting accomplice to one of the biggest lies ever told to the American people he might want to sit this one out. If it was me, I would want to clear my reputation and get back in the good eyes of Americans by being a vacillator of change.


Oh yeah, does anyone remember what McCain’s campaign slogan was before he also embraced “change”?

…….”country First…….

The American Dream

So it’s been awhile…..

“So what, big deal”

Let’s just say that I am fed up with the Mississippi mud slinging going on in the Presidential; Elections.

Also dome with the “Global financial crisis” as the evening news keeps calling the mess that greedy CEO’s in the world have wrought. I guess a capitalist is a capitalist whether he is in America, Singapore, Moscow or China….

… It is all about the mighty dollar….

Sometimes I wonder what life would be if the Colonies had not won the revolutionary war. Would America be war torn like Ireland, or would America be like Singapore, full of diversity of peoples all with a British accent?

What if the Axis (the real one (had won WWII? What if Germany had developed the A-Bomb before Hitler over extended his war machine? Of course he (Hitler) would have eventually turned his A-Bombs onto his Axis allies.

Would we all be driving Volkswagens’ and BMW’s and drinking Becks October Fest beers…? Oh yeah, we already do so.

I guess I am a little disillusioned with the “American Dream”. We are bogged down in an occupational war, our economy is in the tanks (don’t worry it’s only a paper loss), the 2 men running for President have no clue how to facilitate change. The American auto makers are all going bankrupt while Toyota is the #1 car maker. Even New Balance shoes are no longer made in America.

I sometimes wish I lived in the 1950’s, probably the decade in which America was the most powerful nation in the world. America was respected, revered and envied. The American Dream meant something. Everyone, from the youngest 1^st grader learning the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the oldest Veteran bled Red, White and Blue.

People still claim its so, I personally don’t believe so.

If so, the memorial for the attacks of 9-11 would still not be a hole at ground zero, not be tied up in bureaucratic bullshit on whose design was best …. Just pick one and build it. It is a memorial for the god’s sake. I wager that the memorial at ground zero will not build for at least 10 years. That’s showing them.

How long did the Stars and Stripes fly everywhere…? Let’s see. The one you bought for $5 at 7-11 for your cars antenna is long gone, local governments passed laws making it a crime from displaying the flags from hiway overpasses… it was an eye sore when the flags faded and started to rot. Where were the vaunted Boy Scouts at this time? (Lobbying congress for money, when they clearly a religious organanization*but that is for another time*). Where was Joe six –pa?

Ck that strung up in the first place…. Watching TV (guess the baseball game was more important than giving the flag the respect it deserves.

What about Osama Bib Ladin, I guess Saddam was an easier target.

…..I am done……this is making me angry.

See all you “Mavericks” later.

….Not!

May the Gods Bless the Allen Wrench……?

So I relented and went to IKEA on Sunday with Sharon. Not that I don’t like IKEA but since I lost née sight it is at the bottom of the list of places to shop, for many reasons. First, the people who shop at the College Park IKEA are idiots. They bring all their welfare kids and let them run free. They completely ignore the nice traffic control arrows so nicely projected on the floor. The designers of the IKEA concept have laid out IKEA stores in a logical, easy to understand. Unless you failed the following directions part of kindergarten, in which case you should not be buying anything from IKEA.
Second, the designers obviously were not thinking about their handicapped customers. Sure, they have the obligatory parking space and elevators. Hell, they even have parking spaces for pregnant women. The show room is dark and lay out in a zig zaging spiral that ends up at the cafeteria and the stairs/elevators that lead down to the “market place”. The area where IKEA sells all the house wares.
But the most annoying thing about IKEA is the way they ruin any attempt to diet….yes, IKEA will get you every time….
As you wend your way thru all the colorful geometric shaped carpets and the oddly shaped pillows it hits you….cinnamon. At first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out…… f
At first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out…… At first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out…… fat first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out…… fat first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out…… fate first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out…… fate first it is a little tickle to the olfactory nerves, just a little whiff….then it continues to grow in intensity the closer you get to the check out. Lanes. Which of course are 15-20 people deep? Here again the idiots can’t follow directions and try to load all of the millions of pieces of the future IVAR shelving unit for their garage onto the conveyer belt. But I digress, the smell of cinnamon has now reached sensory overload. You must have them. Piping hot, gooey frosting sticking to your fingers, the cloyingly spicey cinnamon tickeling your nose.
5000 calories, a sugar high sure to put even non-diabetics into a coma like stupor. All for just $1.99 for 12 of these most delicious confections. Oh yeah don’t forget the Grogg and Boisinberry juice to wash it all down.

After forcing yourself up from the carb loading you now must load all that DIY lumber into your SUV . Get it home, pull out the handy 3” allen wrench provided and build your Swedish master piece. Afterwards, you toss that little 13mm Allen wrench into the junk drawer with all of the others you have been collecting since College, wander into the kitchen and nuke yourself a nice cinnamon roll.

May theBest Person Win.... Not!


I have concluded that the election process in the U.S> is simply F (*&^percentage. Can we make it anymore convoluted? First, we have the nomination process where members of the same party sling mud at each other, calling each other idiots. In this “contest” each of the “alleged” next leaders of the “free world go around the country wooing sp called “delegates” and “super delegates”. Each of these people is supposed to support whomever the popular vote has picked. If this works as planned, the nominee will get a point (). Of course those special people that are “super delegates” can throw a wrench into the whole works by ignoring Joe America’s vote and vote for anyone they want….all nice and legal.
Therefore, in other words the “alleged” new leaders of the “free” world go to each state, hundreds of small towns and villages and spend millions of dollars. Pumping up the local economy and make tons of promises that they are better and different from their opponents and definitely different and better than the person sitting in Captain Kirks chair now is.
Therefore, who ever spend the most cash will most likely “win” the nomination. As just happened with Obama and Hillerah.
I have a better way to “win” the nomination….
…..Cage matches Mixed Martial Arts. Make it a pay per view on cable, hell, it would be the highest grossing PPV ever. Hulk Hogan could host, John Stewart could do color commentary and Mr. No Spin Zone could do ringside interviews with the candidates.
Three, 5-minute rounds, caches the attention of the TV generation. If there is a draw then the fall back is the American Idol way of choosing. Hell, AI gets more votes in a single episode then people have voted in the last four presidential elections. I can hear it now…. All the tapping iPhones and clicking blackberries. Ryan Seaccrest could announce the winner… after a commercial vreak of course, and a long montage of all the news and talk shows leading up to the match.

B1….out!

Long weekend...

Had a great weekemd. Steve and Alex came up for the block party. Steve was in his element, he took over the "shot Chair" for a few hours. He poured the shots right into the waiting mouths of all the willing young ladies.....ok, there were was some dudes too. But it was not a saausage fest by any stretch of the word. One young lady was determined to claim of all the mardi gras beads given away for a successful swallow that she ended up doing at least 15+ shots at one sitting!

Jeff started a blog this weekend check it out.

The Day the Guitar Heroes Died part 2

Can you name one guitar player from the likes of Blink 182, Yellow Card, Train or even the rebel voice of the 21st century, Green Day? Hell no! Why you might ask? Because rock music of today truly deserves the label “corporate” rock. Bands of the past such as Styx, Journey and Reo Speed wagon were accused of this because their releases followed a formulaic pattern. Today’s bands are virtually interchangeable musically. Sure some have their gimmicks…..Yellow card using electric fiddles in place of guitars* or Bliks very distinctive vocal style. However, other than those two examples the bands of today are all clones of each other. Record company execs are grasping at the remnants of once great recording empires. If you truly want to hear original music one must turn to the internet. Websites like “MySpace” and “cd baby” are the places to visit.
I used to loose my mind every time I heard a classic guitar oriented song in a TB commercial. Not anymore. Those commercials are keeping the rock of my youth alive. So the next time your 14 year old kid is humming that Zepplin, ELO, Boston or Beatles song they heard on the commercial for a Cadillac be sure to school them in rock history and pass along that coveted Bon Jovi cd.
Don’t get ne wrong, there are some bans of today that are worth taking a listen too. Linkin Park, Salvia, Papa Roach, Sun 41, Green Day and a few others. Then there are bands like Velvet Revolver, made up of members of Guns and Roses and Stone Temple Pilots.
I was shocked to hear that British metal gods, Judas Priest have a new album dropping in late June or early July that is dropping #1 on the charts. The first time for them in the 40+ years they have been rocking.
With the huge popularity of “retro” rock tours of the past few years maybe we will see the second coming of the Guitar Gods.
Long live Van Halen, Lynch,Newstead,Vai,Satriami,Nuegemt,Rhodes,VanZant and all the rest.
We are Legion!

A Sad Day for free Speech

Wow, George Carlin passed away yesterday from apparent Heart Disease. What a huge loss to the comedy community not to mention an advocate for Free Speech.
I recall seeing him in concert at the theater at George Washington University in Washington D.C... This was in the late 80’s many years after the infamous 7 dirty words fiasco. Yes, he was charged with “indecency t” by the Commie Reds known as the FCC (Federal Communication Commission). A commission of politically appointed individuals that think they can tell the free citizens of the United States of America what is indecent and what is not. This “responsibility” of a few appointed people who take all expense paid trips from the right leaning PAC’s is way above what its (the FCC) original preview was. The FCC was established to assign radio and television frequencies and make sure that these stations did not broadcast at a power higher than was assigned to them.
Carlin came up with a comedy bit where as he made fun of the FCC and radio/TV standards officials (censors). In his routine he repeated the 7 deadly words over and over punhuating each with how saying that particular word would affect the person saying it.
Of course he had much more material than that; he was no one trick pony. My personal fave was his rant on everyone’s “stuff”. How we all spend our lives in the pursuit of more and more stuff. So much so that even when we go on vacation or to visit a friend we end up taking little portions of “our stuff. Classic.
If you have never seen or heard any of Carlines stuff *grin* I have included a few You-Tube links.
What is ironic about Carlin is he may very well be remembered as a foot note in American Supreme Court judgments than his comedy.
B1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Nrp7cj_tM
The Seven Words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoge6QzcGY

Stuff

The Day the Guitar Heroes Died….

Oh the horror of that fateful day. I turned on the radio, waiting for Van Halen, Ac/DC, Scorpions or even some Warrant. Alas, it was not to be. There was a new sound, a mood and worst of all it all came wrapped in flannel. And it smelled, smelled like teen spirit.
For those of us from Generation X 1989 was a horrible year for music, and it continues today in 2008. Of course it took “Smells like Teen Spirit” till the fall of 1992 to reach #1 on the charts. However, the damage was done. Following Nirvanas release of their debut cod “Never mind” there followed quickly bands like Pearl Jam, XXXXX and XXXX. All referred to as “Grunge”.
Bans that were just on top of the charts: Ratt, Quiet Riot and Kix who were selling out Arenas and breaking records in sales suddenly found their albums in the barging bins.
The axe heroes that gave all the “guitar oriented rock” bands their signature sounds were suddenly thrust aside as fast as a David Lee Roth kung-fu kick. All of a sudden it did not matter how fast you could play a chord or if you were a wizard of the chromatic scale. All that mattered was how much angst and personal tragedy you poured into a song.
Classic guitar rock suffered as well. Classic Rock radio stations were dropping like flies.--
Bands like Led Zeppelin, ELO, Styx and Thin Lizzy saw the sale of their classic rock albums all but stop.
. Concerts suffered mightily. Gone were the million watt speaker systems, the elaborate light shows and pyrotechnics. Iron Maidens “Eddie” was shoved into a closet, becoming a thing of ridicule, ala Spinal Taps “Stone Hinge”.
What were red blooded American hard rockers to do?
We kept on rocking, When our vinyle bit the dust we played that cassette copy we made for the car and walk-man, no DRM (digital rights management) here. Of course that is a topic for another day. And eventually when all of the magnetic coating had worn off those cassettes we bought the CDs and marveled at how clear those guitar solos were and we swore we heard different licks than before.
And all along the guitar heros were being replaced by yet another new comer to the mucic scene…..Pop Punk, Boy Bands and……the bain to all, Gangsta Rap.