So the way I guess this is working right now is that when I have a song in my head, we get a post. For some reason, don’t know why because I had not heard it in a while, Smooth Up In Ya by the Bulletboys has been hanging out.
It was 1988 and at the time the Bulletboys were being compared to the original Van Halen lineup (mostly because of singer Marq Torien’s hair). It’s hard to believe that it had only been a few years since the break up of the original VH at the time.
The band’s first two albums (BulletBoys and Freakshow) were well received by critics and fans alike proven by the band selling over 1 million copies worldwide. Some critics compared the band to David Lee Roth-era Van Halen, as Torien’s vocal and performances were similar to Diamond Dave. That argument was furthered by the fact that Ted Templeman produced both the Roth-era Van Halen albums and the BulletBoys. In addition, both bands were signed to Warner Bros. Records.
Big Bass and Drums, man! Let’s watch a couple videos!
For some reason when I first heard Queesnryche I thought they were a band from Europe. I don’t know if it was the uniqueness of Geoff Tate’s vocals or what. Then finding out they were from Washington it was about the same thing. We had not heard a whole lot out of the Pacific Northwest (ohhhh we will in about 10 years….).
My first exposure to them I believe was on a cheap compilation tape I had picked up. It had the song Lady Wore Blackon it.
The break out deal…for the most part…was the concept album “Operation Mindcrime” in 1988. I was playing bass at the time and loved the bassline in I don’t Believe in Love. I remember they had an opening slot for Metallica (although they were no longer on the bill when I saw Metallica that year) which helped tremendously. A friend of mine got to catch that show in Peoria, Illinois and loved them.
Like with most bands, they didn’t get huge until the mandatory ballad. Silent Lucidity took them over the top for a while. Performing the song on the MTV Music Awards with a full string section was awesome.
The intention with “They Rocked” is not to stay up with the news on the Ol’ Fellas of 80’s rock but this is post worthy. The new Motley record, The Dirt, will be out in about a month and their new video has been released. Back to a bit of the old Crue sound. Tell me a song that starts out with “Tonight there’s gonna be a fight” doesn’t scream of 80’s rock…
There is a video promo for the Crue Fest tour found HERE.
Ahhh yes. “Screwed Blued and Tattooed” was the debut album. These guys could go down in the One Hit Wonder’s of the era in the late 80’s. That one hit…”Stranger than Paradise” rocked! The acoustic solo at the time was pretty different to have outside of a ballad but these guys made it work in a rocking song.
So, let’s watch the video for “Stranger than Paradise…”
Shotgun Messiah was one of those bands that you likely didn’t hear about unless you were watching “Head Bangers Ball” on Saturday night.
I was on board with the first album. It really didn’t separate itself too much from a lot out at the time. In fact the albums they put out seemed to reflect what ever was popular at the time. Harry K. Cody was looked at as what could be one of the up and coming guitarists for a while.
By the time I had seen them live on the “Violent New Breed” tour in a bar called Big Dogs (now 3rd Street Live) in Cedar rapids, IA they had went away from the guitar God type of music. They did play a few of their staples. The guitarist in the band that opened for them, Hostage (local in CR) told me later that he was disappointed because he was looking forward to the guitar playing but the guitarist looked bored playing the new type of music they were into at the time.
There is a decent little write up on the different era’s of Shotgun Messiah on THIS Wikipedia page.
