Happy Halloween! Let's Listen to Alice Cooper

Every Halloween, I post some metal videos that relate to the holiday. I usually post at least one Alice Cooper clip. This year, it's all Alice Cooper. Let's hack some pumpkins, eat some candy and listen to the Coop!

Joe Perry, Steven Tyler Get To Meet President Obama

So this is pretty cool. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were delayed in Florida when President Obama's plane came to the same airport last week. If you've ever been at an airport when Air Force One comes in, you know all the other planes wait until the Commander in Chief touches down. So while waiting, Steven and Joe wandered around, took picture of the presidential plane and - because they are famous and Obama is cool - they were invited on Air Force One for a tour. Steven Tyler had met the president once before, but this was the first time for Joe Perry. I'm very jealous. 1) I want to meet Aerosmith 2) I want to meet Barack Obama, 3) I want to tour Air Force One.

I wonder if Steven made a joke about Aero Force One?

NO BETTER WAY TO FINISH A BEAUTIFUL SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR…FROM AERO FORCE ONE TO AIR FORCE ONE…THE BEST WELCOME HOME EVER @POTUS pic.twitter.com/7TyPVmSplZ

— Steven Tyler (@IamStevenT) October 29, 2016

The Crock n' Roll (Your Eyes) Hall Of Shame: Yes... and No

Today's post is from our friend HIM.

I have tired of the annual cycle of discussion relating to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (henceforth, RaRHoF). It happens here (but not yet). It happens elsewhere. It is almost stately in its boring “what if” character.

 

Which befits a shameless edifice like the RaRHoF. It serves only its masters. It feigns popular significance while pandering to the upper crust. It aims for diversity, while blurring boundaries that no one ever thought were that hard to maintain. At its best, it serves to remind us of its irrelevance every time a champion of music—the Rottens and the Millers of that world—decide to cast a sneering eye upon its inner workings. If it was as good as its namesake museum (which I recommend), it would still be less than one would expect with a moniker like the RaRHoF.

 

So let me serve up a bit of something different. Reflecting on the nomination (again!) of Yes, former (several times over) member Rick Wakeman strikes a pessimistic tone on Boston’s WROR. Not only about the fact that Yes deserves entry. As if that mattered. No. Wakeman opines on the majesty that is the (sub?) genre to which Yes belongs:

 

It seems that anything to do with prog rock was considered a dirty word by them, and it’s almost like an era of music, despite the fact it’s proven to be the most inventive and the most influential music to musicians that there’s ever been in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, and yet it’s ignored,” he added. “I’m not sure whether I’d turn up. I’m so disgusted with the way that prog rock and Yes have been treated I might be busy. I might be washing my hair that night.

Does that sound like Prog to you? To me, yes (no pun) and no. On the one hand, Wakeman is right. The RaRHoF picks and chooses as Wenner and his cronies see fit. Which would be a travesty if it was worth caring about. On the other, he sounds like a preening diva. Secure in the knowledge that he has created great music, Wakeman has to prattle on about Prog’s lasting impact. Not by merely asserting it as fact, which it is. But by coating it in a lacquer of pretension relating to inventiveness and influence . . . directed at, you guessed it, musicians. So he slams the RaRHoF while also reinforcing the very trappings of fey grandeur that tarred Prog in the first place.

 

I don’t often listen to seven hundred minute celestial jams of intricacy, ones which herald the evolution of mankind while paying tribute to the majesty of both roundabouts and the galaxy. But, when I do, I listen to Yes. But Wakeman needs to walk it back a bit. He is acting like the very thing he decries. Now set that to music and see who buys it. I, for one won’t.

Cheap Purple? Or Can You Sorta' Catch The Rainbow?

Today's post is from our friend HIM.

 

Let’s get it out of the way: Blackmore wears a wig. Has since the early days (well, at some point extensions become a thing unto themselves!). To his mind, not having hair is unbecoming of a rock god. This isn’t something like his former (and nagging) singer, Joe Lynn Turner, who has had alopecia since he was a wee one and had no hair since then as a result.

 

Why care about hair? I don’t really, given that I have less and less. But it speaks to the calculated brilliance that was (or is) Blackmore. The man reeks of condescension. He mocks his former band. He dismisses his former band members. He has launched numerous acts merely by being the act from which they departed. He is exacting. Meticulous. He is also a magician. He gets a pass for passing off a Brazilian toss-off song as the biggest riff in rock (Astrud Gilberto, we hardly knew ye’ . . . well, we did as you popularized “The Girl From Ipanema” and didn’t play the guitar on that song), while Page is stuck explaining all those youngins’ who followed him from hotel to hotel, a Blues songbook tucked precariously in his arse pocket. Biggest sign he is a rock god. He gave rock up to chase his wife and a lute around while dressed like Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride.

 

So the fact that he was ‘getting a band back together (again)’ rightfully raised more noise than the latest Dokken reunion. Would he bring it? Who would he bring it with if he could? Turner? Nope. Bonnet? Wrong again. Doogie, not Howser? Not even close. And Gillan was about as likely as Dio, and the latter would likely not have answered the call if he could have done so.

 

So we got Blackmore’s Night-ish Purple Rainbow Traveling Show. A few of his now usual minstrels. And a new young buck by the name of Arnel Pineda. I kid, his name is Ronnie Romero, of the Spanish metal band Lords of the Black. Never heard of him/them? Yeah, me too. But he has got some pipes. And he did spend time singing Dio songs while doing them accented-justice. So what came of this mere handful of shows?  Well, this did:

 

 

It made me miss Lord. It might have made Blackmore miss Paice. It certainly isn’t Gillan. Then again, Gillan isn’t Gillan anymore.  But was it Blackmore? It was certainly more Blackmore. And, at 71, who’s to throw stones at a man who has spent his recent years in quiet repose while gently noodling alongside his buxom lass? Not me.

 

Thing is, this song has a special place in my heart. It was the improbable return of a band, not a guitarist. And though you get a whiff of that man at around the 4:15 mark, you don’t really get a sense of the guitar god who was lucky enough to find himself in the company of people who weren’t, but eventually became, Perfect Strangers.  It is as if Blackmore is hesitating at the Gates of Babylon, unsure of his reasons for being there. I am mixing metaphors and singers, but you get my point. And here is a counter-point . . . in all of its brief, glorious, originality:

 

 

Bottom-line: what do you think? Was the wait worth it? Is the payoff satisfying? Can you go back, not again, but close enough? For, rest assured, at some point, we aren’t even going to be able to get close enough to those bands who once inspired us. So claim your positions and mark my words: we are lucky to quibble about this topic right now.

Get The New Bon Jovi Album For Free

If you buy tickets to the upcoming Bon Jovi tour, you can get a free copy of the band's new album This House Is Not For Sale. Just follow the directions on the tweet below.

I actually think this is genius and the way famous bands should market albums. For big, established acts, encouraging ticket sales and giving away new music makes sense. As bands (and their fans) age, people are less apt to buy new music. If the band just gives away their music, people are more likely to at least listen to the new tracks and talk about the bands and maybe gin up some word of mouth sales. What do you think?

Everyone who buys tour tix gets a free #THINFS album! Redeem your copy, post a screenshot of the receipt, tag us & we’ll follow you back! pic.twitter.com/bImUmVMzmV

— Bon Jovi (@BonJovi) October 26, 2016

So Vince Neil Had LASIK Surgery...

Vince Neil recently had LASIK surgery. I know this because he made a testimonial for LASIK of Nevada and Blabbermouth shared it. Of course, "Looks That Kill" is playing during the testimonial. Now, this only interested me because I also had LASIK surgery. I had my eyes done six years ago and it was the best money I ever spent. Truly life changing. The dry eyes for months after sucks but that's the worst part of the entire ordeal.

Like Vince says, there's no pain but yes, your eyes are open the entire time. Through the power of science, you can actually watch your sight being restored. Truly amazing! So, I chuckled when I saw this on Blabbermouth but thought, heck, might as well share it too. So there you go. Vince Neil and I have something in common: we both had LASIK.

'She Makes It Harder' - New Enuff Z'Nuff Track

Enuff Z'Nuff just released another new song. This one is called "She Makes It Harder" and it is from the upcoming album Clowns Lounge, due out December 2.

The rarities album is basically a bunch of old demos reworked in to new songs. This song isn't the best Enuff Z'Nuff track ever released, but it's still good to have new music from the band.