The Most Amazing Left Turns In Metal

Today's post is from our friend HIM.

Happy 2017 everybody. Let me begin by saying that I want to begin the year with a post that is open to endless speculation. That seems fitting. So please add to this post with your thoughts.

Thoughts about what? Simple. When has a band or an artist made such an amazingly puzzling decision to change their sound or image? For me, there are two that stand out:

First is the evolution of Celtic Frost. Yes, I know. Celtic Frost are not glam. But they were a band I couldn’t figure out and still liked to listen to, even as I was awash in the Crue and Dokken. Not sure why, even to this day. Something about the odd sounds on To Mega Therion caught me:

Yeah, the album had a blissfully obscene cover. But Thomas Gabriel Fischer, the mastermind behind all this, was onto something in 1985. This was vicious and operatic. It was fast and then slow, Wagner meets Venom meets Metallica. I was hooked for all the right reasons. But what the holy hell was Cold Lake?

That’s a poor attempt at being something you are not, Tom Warrior! Faster Pussycat is not your thing. Nor is it your place (or your space, it seems) to aim for a crossover sound. It is a good thing that he has reclaimed his footing in recent years, releasing albums with his band Triptykon that harken back to the time when Celtic Frost were something ominous and soul-crushing, while also being interesting and engaging.

Second is the history of Fastway. Well, actually, the history of the original singer in Fastway. Fastway began as a perfectly boozy dream combo: Fast Eddie Clark (formerly of the glory years Motorhead) and Pete Way (the slurry bassist most known for his stints in UFO, and not an actual player on their eponymous debut in 1983). My thinking here is more focused on the singer on that—and three subsequent—albums, Dave King. Here he is belting out a classic slab of hard rock sleaze-cheese:

Here he is now:

Again, what the holy hell? Sure, this Pogue-ish stab at his Irish roots sounds great. And, yes, it isn't the sell-out that Celtic Frost engaged in.

But he hides from his past (lest we forget the classic metal movie Trick or Treat). And I wonder why? He got a start in Fastway. He kicked ass. He must consider this an indiscretion of youth. If so, why dodge one that is so good?

I trust there are enough examples that you can think of to discuss. You know, Ron Keel? Or others that I haven’t considered. So share them and let’s get a two-page posting session going. Rock is littered with “Yeah!” and then “Huh?” moments.

Comments

[fletch]

Back to The Howard Stern Show...one of the clips that I pulled was this infamous clip of an intern's attempt at interviewing Jamie Lee Curtis. When I showed the "young men" (boys) this clip, their collective jaws dropped to the floor when Jamie Lee was asked whether she had a penis, until they noticed the publicist's horrific look (watch in between Melissa and Jamie) and there was belly laughing all around (hopefully realizing) how pathetically silly the Kardashians (I mean celebrity) status in life truly is.

It's what's on the inside that counts...what's in your heart and what's in your head; mold them together. Now onto the segment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Mqt7AwXZQ

I know, I know...I should be ashamed of myself.

[Gary]

I too think Vinnies solo album kicked complete ass. Sister Of Pain is one of my all time favorite songs from the entire era. The song is pounding and catchy as hell,all at the same time. (I could be wrong, but didn't Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades have a lot to do with writing some of these tunes?) Add in Steve Stevens, who is a criminally underrated riff writer and shredder, and you've got a helluva lot of groove going on.

[Bkallday]

Yeah, Blas Elias chose the almighty dollar over actually making and playing good music. He would rather be an embarrassing joke in the blue man group. It's all about $ these days!

[fletch]

oh, mb, you're just around the corner to the of day. can you take the above posters with you.

[Metalboy!]

Indeed, Darktown, there is the "Every other word" factor to contend with. Maybe Neil might be a little more motivated to turn in more enthusiastic performances when it comes to delivering his "Exposed" stuff.

Tell you what would be really cool -- Neil ought to get Steve Stevens for a few gigs. He would totally shred off the "Exposed" material. Look, Neil is supposedly worth 80 million. If I had his money, I would hire Stevens to add a dual guitar attack into the equation, whether it made economic sense or not. Now THAT would be KICKA*S!!!

[Him]

Some fabulous comments. Thanks everyone. You reminded me of some I forgot. I appreciate it.

Metalboy!, funny how Steve Stevens is a point of contact btw. Neil and Idol (and seems quite happy playing with Idol these days). Question: what do you think of Tony James going on to form Sigue Sigue Sputnik? Branching or selling out? I liked it. Quite clearly, there were a lot of interesting "passions" floating about in Generation X!

Funny thing with Idol, if you take his biography as truth (and it is a well written, interesting, read) he was always/already on the softer side of the punk spectrum, even when he was hanging out with gang back in the day. So I wonder if it was just a continuation for him (selling out for others, fans, critics). Personally (and I am rehashing an observation from years ago), I think _Cyberpunk_ was his best album, even if he slagged it as disjointed and suffering from a lack of . . . Stevens! His version of "Heroin" is a techno-dance slam-dunk!

But, again, thanks everyone. So glad to stir up some spirited conversation.

PS: I will give you "Mexican Radio," Metalboy! That is too funny not to like. But it is off _Into the Pandemonium_ from 1987; _Cold Lake_ was the following year.

[Darktown]

Shaw / Blades have done a lot behind the scenes, if Uncle Ted would get his arrogant head out of his ass, I'd pay for a Damn Yankees tour.That would be wild AF if Vince talked Stevens into maybe a summer tour and sang MOST of the words instead of me doing it in the crowd, I'd probably go see that. As far as Blas, not sure but the last time I saw Slaughter (Probably a few years ago) I've just got to say it, Mark's voice was pretty bad. It said Blas was also drummer for the Sin City Sinners, so he's basically staying in Vegas and working. I moved to PA in the late 80's when ole Howard was huge there, he'd have maybe a monthly big event on local TV and everybody ate it up. He was huge back then with Baba Booey, stuttering John and his stupid but funny interview questions to the big stars of the day. Then he got all main stream and toned it down a lot from his early days. You have to remember at that time he had competition with Morton Downy jr, Jerry Springer , Jenny Jones and the like, it was a different time back then, haha.

[Metalboy!]

Darktown... In defense of Mark Slaughter, who, unfortunately can come off like an arrogant prick sometimes (I witnessed him diss Steve Whiteman at 80's in the Park a couple of years back), is singing much better.