I’m pretty sure the first time I heard “The Stroke” was in an arena. I had no idea what it was and I couldn’t figure out why half the audience (at least) seemed to know the song. Too recent to be “classic rock” when I was growing up and too “rock” (I guess) for those …
Tag: Hard Rock
Jailbreak (1976) by Thin Lizzy
I was raised on the idea that Jailbreak was Thin Lizzy’s magnum opus. I don’t know where this came from exactly – my classic rock station? VH1 programs on Much More Music? – but it seeped into my consciousness. And then it took me two decades to listen to it. So, what can I say? …
Crack the Sky (1975)
The narrative about American prog in the ’70s that I grew up on is that American musicians heard British prog and got really excited about it but, without the classical education, they really didn’t know how to do it, save to include some jazz. And then some of them figured out that if they just …
Warpig (1970)
This record didn’t get released outside of Canada for like 2 and a half years or something. And, as a result it seems like there was some surprise when people realized it had been released in 1970. This was one of the early metal albums! Oh my god! I have not been able to confirm …
Kingdom Come (1970) by Sir Lord Baltimore
I spent some time in a weird corner of the internet where people argued that this record and Warpig’s self-titled debut were just as important as music by Zeppelin, Purple and Black Sabbath. Before I get to the actual music on this record I do want to point out the following:
Blizzard of Ozz (1980) by Ozzy Osbourne
Metal was evolving in 1980, maybe not as much as it would in, say, 1983-1984, but still it was evolving. But, like his former band, Ozzy doesn’t seem to want to evolve in the way the younger performers were. Rather, on his debut, he’s chosen a different kind of evolution, the kind that I would …
Dreamboat Annie (1975) by Heart
There was so much blues-based rock and hard rock in the 1970s, it’s hard to know what to care about in the 21st century. So much stuff that was raved about at the time now seems entirely inconsequential given the (relative) death of rock music in the 2010s.
Alive! (1975) by KISS
For a long time I refused to even considered this record, due to the admission of overdubbing significant parts of this record after the fact. But, the thing is, everybody did this back then, or nearly everybody. Over time, we’ve learned that many of the great “live” albums featured extensive overdubs. (And some of them …
Time’s Up (1990) by Living Colour
I’m a big fan of the debut, but it’s a been a couple years since I listened to it. From memory, this record feels a little more scattershot – perhaps due to ambition – than that one.
Facelift (1990) by Alice In Chains
Alice in Chains are, to me, the least immediately appealing of the big Seattle grunge bands. I think that’s because they have the least catchy songs – though Cantrell is a good songwriter he is not necessarily a writer of particularly catchy songs. Though I do wonder how much of my experience of this band …
Crimes of Passion (1980) by Pat Benatar
So, well all know “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”. In fact, off the top of my head, it’s the only Pat Benatar song I know. (I have some vague memory of some other video but I wasn’t even born when this album came out.) So the question for this album is, how does the …
Heart (1985)
All I know of Heart is their ’70s hits, which used to get played on classic rock radio a lot. (I don’t know if they still are.) I’ve heard most (all?) of these hits but I had no idea that they were Heart, in part because they sound so different, and in part because I …
Sabotage (1975) by Black Sabbath
For the most part, I must say I find the attempts at musical evolution on this record more successful than those on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Though I’m still wondering about what kind of band they want to be, it’s a little clearer to me here.
Theatre of Pain (1985) by Mötley Crüe
They often say familiarity breeds contempt. But with albums and me it’s the opposite: familiarity breeds acceptance. The first time I listened to this album I thought it was awful. Just awful. I’m on listen #3 now and I can no longer muster up my hatred. I don’t think it’s good but what the melodies …
The Game (1980) by Queen
One of the great things about Queen is also a major flaw of the band: they were a songwriting democracy and that led to both a greater diversity of sound and a lack of consistency.
Joan Jett aka Bad Reputation (1980)
Joan Jett was pretty young when she made this record – only 19 or 20 – but it sounds like it was made by someone 10 years her senior. That’s often a compliment but it’s not here: like so many punk-adjacent albums of the late ’70s and early ’80s, this one is obsessed with the …
Empty Glass (1980) by Pete Townshend
The story goes that Townshend was writing songs for both this album and the subsequent Who album and Daltrey at least feels like Townshend kept most of the good material for himself and gave the band the less good stuff. (I should point out I’ve never bothered with Face Dances because one thing I don’t …
Hair of the Dog (1975)
I wasn’t going to talk about this album until I realized the American version contained the band’s two biggest hits – well their biggest hit and the title track, which became a classic rock radio staple, though it wasn’t a hit initially – and so I figured I should deal with it. So where we …
Women and Children First (1980) by Van Halen
I listen to this record and I don’t remember it a few hours, maybe even minutes later. The first time I listened to I wasn’t even sure I listened to it a couple of hours later, I had to look at the track listing to confirm. What I’m saying is that this record doesn’t have …
Nuthin’ Fancy (1975) by Lynyrd Skynyrd
There was a time in my life that I should have listened to all Skynyrd albums. I wouldn’t have necessarily loved them but I would have liked most of them, and I would have had a lot more time for them.
Dressed to Kill (1975) by KISS
One of the things I will just never get over with Kiss is how their makeup and stage show just do not match their sound. Another thing I will never get over is that they are not very good songwriters. These things, plus the general stupidity of their fans, make me dislike them. (Truth be …
Welcome to My Nightmare (1975) by Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is one of those performers whose reputation and actual music don’t really mesh, at least in my mind. His music is always tamer than I imagine it, and that’s especially true with this album, in which he goes full Bob Ezrin. (Thanks not only due to Ezrin’s participation, but also due to the …
First Step (1970) by Faces
Full disclosure: I love this band. I have an irrational love of their next two albums, both of which I have listened to way too many times. So even though this record is acknowledged as a bit of a mess I knew I wanted to listen to it anyway and I knew I would like …
High Voltage (1975) by AC/DC
Sometimes debut albums show a fully formed band and listening to them its easy to imagine the band going on to be very successful. (That’s especially easy with the benefit of hindsight, of course.) But sometimes debut albums are more confusing, even or especially with hindsight. And such is the case with AC/DC’s true debut, …
Shazam (1970) by The Move
This is a bonkers record which, had I discovered it when I was in my late teens or early 20s, I might be telling you is one of the great unknown masterpieces of the early ’70s. However, time has dulled my tolerance for the “anything goes” approach of this band, especially given how scattershot the …
Sheer Heart Attack (1974) by Queen
This is, by all accounts, the record where Queen really becomes Queen, taking their bizarre (insane, really) hybrid style and finally pairing it with enough quality songs that it no longer seems gimmicky. I’m not sure I entirely agree, but I get why people feel this way.
Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister
My image of Twisted Sister was pretty much busted by their debut record. So much of what I thought was true about them seemed to not actually be true about them, at least on that first record. However, listening to this, I feel like the initial impression was maybe a little more correct than I …
Secret Treaties (1974) by Blue Öyster Cult
This is my third Blue Öyster Cult record and I feel like I feel about it as I did about the other two: meh.
Second Helping (1974) by Lynyrd Skynyrd
This record is notable for containing Skynyrd’s most famous song (apologies to “Freebird”), perhaps the definitive Southern Rock song, their biggest hit and such a cultural touchstone that Kid Rock managed to have a hit sampling it decades later. (The less said about that last one, the better.) But the presence of “Sweet Home Alabama” …
Love at First Sting (1984) by Scorpions
I have been avoiding listening to a Scorpions my requisite three times for a long time, every time an anniversary of theirs has come up, because every experience of them I’ve had has told me I do not like them. From their biggest hit (heard here) to any of their records I’ve begun to listen …