A GNR Retrospective: Beginnings To Appetite For Destruction

Formation And Discovery

Guns N' Roses was formed in Los Angeles, California in March 1985 by Hollywood Rose vocalist Axl Rose and L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns. Rose recruited Hollywood Rose's rhythm guitarist, Izzy Stradlin, to join the band, and Guns recruited former L.A. Guns members Ole Beich and Rob Gardner for bass guitar and drums respectively. Soon after the formation, Beich was replaced by Duff McKagan, and guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler filled in for Guns and Gardner, after they failed to show up at a concert the band was to perform. In early 1986 Slash and Adler became full time members of the band after Guns and Gardner were fired for not appearing at several of the band's performances. The name Guns N' Roses was derived from a combination of the two bands that they were formed from.
After witnessing a Guns N' Roses show at the Troubadour, Tom Zutaut, a Geffen Records A&R executive, falsely warned other scouts "they suck" so he could have more time and leeway to sign them. Axl Rose demanded, and received, a $75,000 advance from Zutaut before revealing that he had promised an A&R executive from Chrysalis that the band would sign with her if she walked naked down Sunset Boulevard. For three days, Zutaut nervously watched from his office window for a naked A&R executive before he could close the deal. Alan Niven was subsequently hired as the band's manager, and the team set out to record the band's full-length debut album.

Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide

Before the first full album was ready Geffen decided to release an EP to keep the interest in the band that had to disappear from the club scene to work on the album. For this purpose an "independent label" Uzi Suicide Records was created by Geffen and on December 16 1986, a four song EP entitled Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide was released.
Designed to gauge public opinion of the band outside of Los Angeles, the record contained covers of Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys" and Aerosmith's "Mama Kin", along with two original compositions: the punk anthem "Reckless Life" and the classic rock inspired "Move to the City", both of which were co-written by Hollywood Rose's founding member Chris Weber. Despite having the look and sound of a live album, band members have admitted that the tracks were actually studio recordings with a live audience overdubbed.
Only 10,000 vinyl copies of the album were produced, and even though the tracks were re-issued verbatim two years later as part of the GN'R Lies EP, the original Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide has been a valuable and sought after collector's item among fans since the late 1980s.

Appetite For Destruction

The band's first album, Appetite For Destruction, was released on July 21, 1987. In the US, "Welcome to the Jungle" was issued as its first single with an accompanying music video. Initially, the album and single did not perform well, but when Geffen Records founder David Geffen was asked to lend support to the band, he obliged by personally convincing MTV executives to play "Welcome to the Jungle" during their after hours rotation. Even though the video was initially only played one time at 4 a.m. on a Sunday, rock and punk fans took notice and soon began requesting the video and song.
Overseas, countries were often treated to material that never saw release to the US market, and went unexposed to US fans. The original UK "Welcome to the Jungle" single was backed with a performance of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and a 12-inch single included live renditions of "It's So Easy" and the Bob Dylan classic "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (which would later be covered by the band in the studio on Use Your Illusion II). In Japan, an entire self-titled EP was issued, containing the album version of "Sweet Child o' Mine" and most of the Marquee Club recordings.
The album underwent an artwork change after the original Robert Williams cover design (a surrealist scene in which a dagger-toothed monster vengefully attacks a robot rapist) spawned complaints from religious groups and caused some record stores to brown bag, obscure, or refuse to sell the album. The revised cover was gleaned from a tattoo that Axl Rose had recently commissioned featuring skeleton faces of the five musicians arranged on a cross. Rose later insisted that the Gold and Platinum plaques issued by the RIAA be set using the original cover. The artwork from the original cover can be found in the booklet of the CD release.
"Sweet Child o' Mine" was the album's second US single co-written by Axl Rose as a poem for his girlfriend and future wife, Erin Everly. Due to the growing grassroots success of the band and the cross-gender appeal of the tune, the song and its accompanying music video received heavy airplay on both radio and MTV, and became a smash hit during the summer of 1988. "Welcome to the Jungle" was then re-issued as a single, with new pressings of records and tapes and new artwork. The UK re-release was backed with an acoustic version of "You're Crazy", recorded much earlier than the one featured on the G N' R Lies EP.
By the time "Paradise City" and its video reached the airwaves, the band's touring success and fame had catapulted the album to #1 on the Billboard charts. "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" were all top ten singles in the U.S. To date, Appetite for Destruction has sold over 26 million copies.

--------------------------------------

GN'R Lies

The album "GN'R Lies," is a re-issue of their debut EP "Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide" and an unreleased acoustic EP, released after the success of "Appetite For Destruction." It is a good first effort by the band. The "live" songs (they all turned out to be made live in the studio), "Reckless Life," "Nice Boys," "Move To The City," and "Mama Kin," all show the ferocity that GN'R was known for at the time. The second half of the disc houses some of my favorites, "Patience," the tongue-in-cheek "Used To Love Her," "You're Crazy," and "One In A Million." These latter tracks show off the bands musical ability, which would become more prevalent in their later albums, the "Use Your Illusion" double disc.

1. "Reckless Life" – 3:21
   

2. "Nice Boys" (Rose Tattoo Cover) – 3:04
   

3. "Move to the City" – 3:43
   

4. "Mama Kin" (Aerosmith Cover) – 3:57
   

5. "Patience" – 5:56
   

6. "Used to Love Her" – 3:13
   

7. "You're Crazy" – 4:10
   

8. "One in a Million" – 6:09

Appetite For Destruction

Appetite For Destruction is GN'R's claim to fame. It houses more of their hits than any other record, and was a seminal debut full-length album for the band. It catapulted them into stardom, which only ended when they did. With their mega hits, "Welcome To The Jungle," "Paradise City," and "Sweet Child o' Mine," this album was a best seller and is one of my favorites to this day. I love the songs (which weren't ever made into singles) "Mr. Brownstone," and "It's So Easy," as they highlight different aspects of the band, and pave the way to their greatness.

1. "Welcome To The Jungle" - 4:34
   

2. "It's So Easy" - 3:22
   

3. "Nightrain" - 4:28
   

4. "Out Ta Get Me" - 4:23
   

5. "Mr. Brownstone" - 3:48
   

6. "Paradise City" - 6:46
   

7. "My Michelle" - 3:39
   

8. "Think About You" - 3:51
   

9. "Sweet Child o' Mine" - 5:56
   

10. "You're Crazy" - 3:17
    

11. "Anything Goes" - 3:26
    

12. "Rocket Queen" - 6:13

Thanksgiving Homework

So I will be headed home on Wednesday for the Holiday and back to my life in Orlando on Sunday. This whole time I will be away from a decent computer and my extensive library. How will I cope? By giving myself homework. Because I will be away from my lair, I won't be able to update this site for about a week. But, when I get back I intend to have some new articles prepared:

With the release of the new Guns N' Roses album (which I have obtained), I will be listening to their entire discography (beginning back when there was a soul in the band) from the first album/ep, Gn'R Lies (which, although their second album, is actually a reprint of their two first ep's together), to their cover album, "The Spaghetti Incident". After this retrospective, I will review their newest album, flaws (or greatness, I don't pre-judge) and all.

I also am playing around with the ideas of paying homage to two of my rising stars in power metal; Kiuas and Dream Evil. I almost always listen to them back-to-back so it seems fitting to write them in the same fashion.

And because I will not be on campus at all this week, I cannot hit-up the CD shop, for my "New Album of The Week" bit, so I will have to find a substitute around my parent's place. I really don't want to go to a conglomerate such as Best Buy, but I don't know of any smaller places around. I'll have to have some of my old friends help me out.

So that is my self-applied homework for this upcoming week. Let's see if I actually get around to doing any of it. I really want to do the "GNR: Retrospective" stuff. So I will prob do that first.
I have some free time tomorrow between a job interview and work, and a little free time Wednesday morning before I leave, so I will try to get one more article up. I'd hate to leave for a week and just have this up...

New Band: Sound And Fury

I've decided that I don't actually buy albums that often any more. I either trade or "acquire" them from various contacts. So, in order to feel better about myself, and to give back to the community (I believe the first one more), I have decided to try and buy a new CD every week at the store on my College Campus.

This week my acquisition, was the debut, self-titled album, by Sound And Fury. Now, at the store where I go, they have a "Metal Pick of The Month" section, where you can listen to the albums, which I always give a quick run-by. Normally it is fulled with genres like death/black metal, or something with -core in the name, but occasionally it can be good for a find. I saw the Sound And Fury albums, and the artwork really stood out to me, it is bitchin'. It's a mob of people with skulls for heads. That's it, but it is really neat to look at. At the station I listened to part of the first track, and should have listened a little harder, but I was with someone and didn't want to be a dick (plus she is cute). So I took the CD with the cool cover art and bought it.

GnR Streams The Full "Chinese Democracy" On MySpace

So it might actually happen; Axl may bite the bullet and actually release his over-a-decade-in-the-making album "Chinese Democracy." Although it is supposed to hit the shelves in two days, Axl Rose hasn't officially confirmed that the album will be released then, so I've got 10 bucks that says that he will decide tomorrow to scrap the whole idea and begin again. That's just me and my freakish talking money.
Anyway, as I said in the title, you can stream the complete "Chinese Democracy" off of Guns N' Roses' MySpace. I am listening to it now, and I have to say, that although streaming is no way to review an album, it is nothing special. I mean don't get me wrong, it's not bad, and it probably would have sold well 15 years ago, but after all this wait this album would have to be spectacular to live up to all the hype and disappointment over the years. It just does not do this. It is an alright album (from what I've heard) but not worth the whole wait.
But you go ahead and give it a listen, I will probably have a real review up here eventually, but as I said, you can't review off MySpace. At least I can't.

New Band: The Answer

Yet again I am re-using information from another blog. But most sites get their info from other sites, and hey, I always give credit. This time it's from a video (see below) that I got from this article from The Rock Dose, a great blog for the more mainstream rock.

But this video, from Letterman, shows the Irish band, The Answer, playing a single from their upcoming EP, "Never Too Late" (which is also on their debut album, "Rise"). Looking now at the information in front of me, I think that the site I got the video from is a little outdated. Reading from AllMusic, the EP "Never Too Late" was released in 2005, before their premier album, in 2006. So although I am a little behind with my discovery, I am also putting out the correct information, checking my sources. This makes me question other articles from The Rock Dose, gotta keep us all correctly informed man! (Unless of course they are re-releasing it within the States, in that case I take it all back, and I am an ass-hat)

Anyway, so after hearing the song on Letterman, I "acquired" the album and gave it a listen. The album, "Rise," seems to be straight from the 80's, from the AC/DC-esq straight-forward rock ("Under The Sky"), to the Deep Purple-infused Blues ("Memphis Water"), even including a power ballad as their last track ("Always"). When I picked up the album I was originally blown away, the first two tracks, "Under The Sky" and "Never Too Late," were amazing, upbeat rock-jams. Then it began to slow down as they added some blues into the mix. Not that the variation is a bad thing, but I was used to the fast paced beginning and was surprised when the songs got slower and slower as I continued. I was still bobbing my head along, however, until I got to the end of the disc. The final two songs, "Preachin'" and "Always," were just a boring way to end the, up to this point, strong album. Without changing the songs themselves, I would not have put these two together, and especially not at the end of the CD.

My favorite songs off of the album are (as already stated) "Under The Sky" and "Never Too Late." Their catchy riffs and quick lyrics are a nice mix.

Here is the video from The Answer on Letterman

Led Zeppelin on Tour - Sort Of...

So, if only to keep up with the myriad of other articles on the net, Led Zeppelin is going on tour... sort of. It seems that Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham (original drummer John Bonham's son) are going to go on tour (with a yet-unnamed lead singer) - but not as Led Zeppelin.
Instead a representitive for Page told Rolling Stone "Whatever this is, it is not Led Zeppelin. Not without the involvement of Robert Plant."
Plant, who has just finished a tour with Alison Krauss, has repeatedly said that he is not interested in a Led Zeppelin reunion, stating "The whole idea of being on a cavalcade of merciless repetition is not what it's all about." Jones later said; "We really want to do something, and Robert doesn't want to do this, at least for the moment. He really doesn't want to make loud music anymore. We do."
As stated they are currently holding auditions for a new singer, for this yet-to-be-named group. Some names that have applied include Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), and Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge). While both of these seemed to have gone awry, the fact is that eventually they will find someone which will lead to something. Whether it be just a tour, or competely new album/music.

Although it would be sweet to see the classic Zepp in full (if somewhat old) fury, I know that the ticket prices for this tour (with or witout Robert Plant) will be way out of my afordable range. So as far as the new band is concerned, I hope they release some new albums. Something that I could actually hear. I don't want to be some message board in a year and hear that I missed some of the best new songs ever, and never actually get a chance to hear them. Best of luck to the guys, but I want some new material, not the same old Led Zeppelin stuff we have all been listening to (some of us for our entire life).

Check out The Rock Dose, where I originally heard this news. And also my review of a Jimmy Page side project I found, Cloverdale/Page.

One Month!

It has been now one month sense the founding of The Klepto's Guide To Awesome Music!
4 weeks and 18 posts... not a bad start.
I hope to keep it up all year.

Keep on rocking!

Current Trend: Continuation of Prog

So it's a little odd, normally when I fall into a trend I fall out of it just as quickly. But here we are, a solid 2 months in and my time is still being absorbed by Prog Metal/Rock. Not only am I still working through the music from last post, but I am hunting out new artists, and side bands of well known Prog bands. Here are a few:

• 3 - 3 is a band I accidentally discovered (as so many of the best bands are) one day. After listening to their album, "Wake Pig" (also it was the only album I could find by them for a long time), I described them as a Coheed & Cambria that I can stand. And by that I mean, that alot of their sound is reminiscent of C&C (even though they pre-date them) but with a little bit of balls still within the music. I am currently (at the time of this post) listening to their newest album, 2007's "The End Is Begun," and I am enjoying it just as much as "Wake Pig." They have that mix of heavy prog and the poppy music, normally not something I am a fan of, but they pull it off fairly well.
  
• Transatlantic - Transatlantic was a side project of to several people, all big names within prog; Neal Morse of Spock's Beard, Mike Portney of Dream Theater, and Pete Trewavas of Marillion. They only released 2 albums, and both are full of sprawling epics. Their first album "SMPT:e" (Which I have listened to), is a mix of hellish long songs and more accessible, faster paced shorter songs. There are 5 songs on the albums, 3 of which are over 15 minutes in length, with their opener being over 30 minutes. This albums was full of great music, but the long songs have large points of dull music within them. If they were split into several smaller songs I could easily get into them. But as it stands they are just too massive to listen to in the car or on the go. It will remain as a home album only. Their second (and last) album, "Bridge Across Forever," features only 4 songs, and 3 of them are over 15 minutes, with two songs almost thirty minutes in length. While I plan on listening to this album, I am hesitant, for it will be a feat.
  
• OSI - Another side band of several; Jim Matheos (Fates Warning), Kevin Moore (Chroma Key), Mike Portney (Dream Theater), and Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree). This supergroup released 2 albums ("Office of Strategic Influence" and "Free") and 1 EP ("Re:Free") in their short collaboration. The only one I can get my hands on is "Office of Strategic Influence" and I gave that a listen this past week. This albums I was less impressed than with Transatlantic (I know they are different bands, but they are in the same vein, and I got the albums at the same time). They have decent length tracks, with only two over ten minutes, but it was almost all instrumental, and although I like Instrumental tracks, not an entire album worth, my mind starts to wander. Now, not all the songs were lacking vocals, some of them had a full set and they were really good, but several of the songs had words but not vocals. Several had spoken tracks over the music, with a good portion of them recordings of speeches by famous people (one song had President Bush talking throughout the entire song). I really dislike music that takes sound bytes from other stuff, especially some speeches by people they are trying to satire.
  
• Spock's Beard - Just got three of their albums, I am now listening to their latest one, "Spock's Beard," and am so far fairly impressed. So far has longer songs that are mostly instrumental, and then they throw in lyrics at the end, but these don't get boring. They keep changing the rhythms and instrument parts so it stays fresh. Now I am listening to "Is This Love?" and it strikes me as an old jam-room rock song, with slight prog influences. Very different to the tracks before it, and from almost everything I have been listening to in the recent weeks. I intend to listen to more of these guys in the near future.
  
• Yes - See my previous post to get the info on Yes
  

Random Music Facts 1

• Bruce Springsteen was once busted for attempting to climb over the gates of Graceland in 1976
• Both Little Richard and M.C. Hammer are ordained ministers
• In Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," off of his "Bat Out of Hell" album, features a play-by-play by sportscaster Phil Pizzuto
• The Police originally bleached their hair for a Wrigley's Gum commercial - the look stuck
• A standard CD is 4.7 inches wide
• Julie Andrews, Diana Ross, Paul Simon and Alice Cooper all have appeared as guests on The Muppet Show
• Most aired music video in MTV's history is Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"
• Ross Perot can play the accordion
• Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young stole a truck in order to get to Woodstock in time to perform
• Elvis volunteered to be a drug informant for the FBI. His services were refused
• "Ice, Ice, Baby," by Vanilla Ice, was the first rap song to go to #1 on the Billboard chart
• Ozzy Osbourne plays a televangelist in the movie "Trick or Treat," who denounces heavy metal
• The song "This Land Is Your Land" was written in protest for the song "God Bless America"
• Stevie Wonder released an album in 1968 under the name Eivets Rednow (his name backwards)
  
• MTV's first guest VJ was Adam Ant
• Manfred Mann's Earth Band's song "Blinded By The Light" includes the melody "Chopsticks"
• "Blinded By The Light" was originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen on his debut album, "Greetings From Ashbury Park, N.J."
• "I am the best Keith Moon type drummer in the world" - Keith Moon
• Roy Orbison refused to play without his sunglasses
• Eddie Money is a graduate of the NYC Police Academy
  
• Bumper sticker on Alan Jackson's truck says "I Love George Jones"
• Bumper sticker on George Jones' truck says "I Love Alan Jackson"
• Both Alice Cooper and Aretha Franklin's fathers were ministers
• Estimated earnings of The Rolling Stones' 2006-07 tour - $500 million

Currently listening to alot of Prog-Metal/Rock, like Transatlantic, OSI and Dream Theater

Favorite Albums: Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory

"Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory" (full title), is the fifth studio album by the Progressive Metal band, Dream Theater. It is their first concept album and is a sequel of sorts (hence the title) to "Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper" (henceforth known as Metropolis), released on Dream Theater's previous album, 1992's "Images And Words." It is an album that dives into the psyche and rebirth, whose story, although amazing, will be lost on the casual listener. As with many progressive albums, you will not get the full story by only listening to the songs, you will need to read the liner notes within the album itself.

"Scenes From A Memory" tells the tale of Nicholas, a man who has been plagues by a reoccurring nightmare, where he is visited by a woman whom he recognizes but he knows not from where. He goes to a hypnotherapist who, while under regression hypnosis, helps Nicholas learn that the woman's name is Victoria and she seems very familiar. We learn that the reoccurring dream that Nicholas is having is him entering a house and walking upstairs, at the top of the stairs is a mirror, where he sees Victoria in the reflection. It is here where Nicholas learns that Victoria was victim of a murder, and gives him the task of discovering her killer. He is given this task, as he learns, because he is the re-incarnation of Victoria, some 70 years later.
Nicholas searches for information (within the dream or without I am not sure), and he meets an old man, through interviewing him and a newspaper he found (from 1928) that Victoria was within a conflict with her ex-lover, Julian. Within the newspaper article is says that Julian was the killer, and then killed himself because of a note found on scene from Julian, "I'd rather take my life, than live with losing you." But Nicholas doesn't think this is right, because the note says nothing about actually killing Victoria.
Using this information Nicholas begins to think that Victoria had a love affair with Julian's brother, Edward, and searches to see if it is true. At this point Victoria speaks to Nicholas, telling him that she has given him everything he needs to know the truth. Nicholas then sees another flashback of Victoria breaking it off with Edward, to go back to (a now clean) Julian. Unbeknown to either of them, Edward follows Victoria and confronts his brother. During a scuffle, Edward shoots Julian, to the horror of Victoria, and then proceeds to shoot Victoria as well, after telling her to "Open your eyes, Victoria."
This knowledge comforts Nicholas, now he knows what happened, and feels that he can finally go home and get some sleep. He heads home, turns on the TV and starts to doze in front of it. While this is happening, we hear background noise of someone opening the door and walking across the room. Then Nicholas is woken to his therapist saying "Open your eyes, Nicholas," who then proceeds to kill Nicholas. He does this because (this is not explained at all in the songs) he is the re-incarnation of Edward, Victoria's jilted lover.

As stated above, you could not possibly understand the entire story. Hell I have listened through the entire disc at least a dozen times and I have never once put it together that the Therapist is the re-incarnation of Edward (still not sure about that bit. That is the downfall of alot of Progressive albums, athough they are epic in their scope and subjects, it is almost impossible to understand the entire story. (See this, or this)

That being said, I love this album. It is my favorite Dream Theater album (with "Train of Thought" bringing up a close second). The way they mix light melodies, with some songs, with regular metal songs, really gives a little of everything for everyone. This is a metal album that your girl-friend would enjoy, with songs like "Through My Words" and "Through Her Eyes." My favorite songs (on the heavy side) are "Strange Deja Vu," "Fatal Tragedy," and "The Spirit Carries On." Mostly I like "The Spirit Carries On" because it retouches on most of the previous songs, even going so far as to re-sing part of the verse from "Regression" (although alot heavier) while adding some extra lyrics. This album really deserves a listen, the themes are deep and semi-scifi, with the amazing drumming of Mike Portnoy (who rivals the abilities of Neil Peart, my favorite drummer) and the superb guitar work of John Petrucci. If you like this stile, expecially the mosty (or fully) instrumental tracks, check out their side band, Liquid Tension Experement.

Track Listing

1. Regression - 2:06
2. Overture 1928 - 3:37
   
3. Strange Deja Vu - 5:12
   
4. Through My Words - 1:02
   
5. Fatal Tragedy - 6:49
   
6. Beyond This Life - 11:22
   
7. Through Her Eyes - 5:29
   
8. Home - 12:53
   
9. The Dance of Eternity - 6:13
   
10. One Last Time - 3:46
    
11. The Spirit Carries On - 6:38
    
12. Finally Free - 11:59
    

Completely Unrelated: It's My Birthday!!

Yep it is true. I am 22 as of 4:44 this morning.
I may be young but I have a blog.
That makes me powerful... I guess

I got a cool book all about music for my birthday so I will start taking some information from that and adding to it on here. So expect more varied updates in the future.

That is all

Currently listening to: The complete works of Billy Joel.

Epic Playlist: A

So here we are, the beginning of my playlist of epic proportions. I am breaking it up, because well that's alot of time devoted to one post (285 songs and still fine-tuning). So I will be breaking it up by letters, don't worry there isn't going to be 27 posts (A-Z and numbers), but there are alot of bands that fall under "A." After the first few letters I can begin combining sections (apparently there are more good bands at the beginning of the alphabet - remember that people! If you want to be big, name your band with a letter from the first half of the alphabet).

It is of note that this list is compiled from all genres. While it is exceedingly Rock/Metal, there is a nice mix including Folk, Pop, Soul, and even Rap. I have very eclectic tastes...

[EDIT] - So I've decided that just listing the songs was too easy, so I am going to start putting some details about each of the songs, for those who have never heard of the song/band.

-A-

1. AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - All about a man advertising his services for whatever you need. The tag line for the ad "Dirty deeds done dirt cheap."
   
2. Accept - Balls To The Wall - The world is not as it should be, and when they come for you, you'll have your "balls to the wall." Classic Accept song, their biggest hit
   
3. Acid Bath - Scream of The Butterfly - A beautiful girl who kills someone, possibly without her realizing it. This song is different than alot of Acid Bath songs, it is much more reserved and although the lyrics are about death and drugs, the musical tune sounds quite beautiful.
   
4. Adema - The Way You Like It - A man telling his (ex?)girlfriend that she had kept him down, but now he is famous and he doesn't need her anymore. I just like the chanting in the background and the chorus.
   
5. Airbourne - Diamond In The Rough - A very crass euphemism for the vagina. It's about a poor guy hooking up with a "rich man's daughter." I laugh every time at the chorus.
   
6. Alan Parsons Project - Games People Play - Just a simple song about people needing to figure out what they are doing with their life. A classic Prog-rock song from The Alan Parsons Project.
   
7. Alcatrazz - Jet To Jet - About traveling to Africa during the slave trade. A few of the lyrics seem kind of questionable, but once you get the theme they are acceptable. This is prog-metal great Yngwie Malmsteen's first band, a short lived project.
   
8. Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge - Awesome pirate metal about a crew who mutinied against their Captain and were stuck with a curse where they could feel no pleasure. While it seems like a direct copy of "Pirates of the Caribbean," it still is a great pirate metal song, with awesome lyrics and music.
   
9. Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen - Simple song about a man just turning 18 and he is not sure if he is an adult or still a child.
   
10. The Allman Brothers - Jessica - Instrumental, not about anything but still a great play-out with the several guitars switching the main melody.
    
11. Amorphis - The Way - I really don't know what the song is about... A death metal band with a doom metal song. For their album "Tuonela" Amorphis went in a new direction, to the dismay of many fans. But it is my favorite album by them.
    
12. Andrew W.K. - Ready To Die - Pretty much self-explanatory
    
13. The Animals - House of The Rising Sun - A song of woe and warning about staying away from "the house of the rising sun." A classic
    
14. Annihilator - Warbird - Heavy thrash song about war. Awesome drum beginning and I love the 30 second scream at the very end of the song
    
15. Aretha Franklin - Think - Classic R&B song (I know it from The Blues Brothers) about a woman singing to her man that he has to think about what he is doing.
    
16. Audioslave -Doesn't Remind Me - I think its about a guy who is trying not to remember an ex, everything he sees "doesn't remind me of anything." Its a nice slow-ditty with a casual guitar and drum beat. Nice and chill
    
17. Austrian Death Machine - I Am A Cybernetic Organism, Living Tissue Over Metal Endoskeleton - Thrash metal song about the Terminator movie. The title is from a line in the movie and comes up alot. Its a funny real fast song, and although Austrian Death Machine is a spoof band, it still is a great metal song
    
18. Autograph - Turn Up The Radio - Radio classic. There is a great song on the radio so turn it up.
    
19. Ayreon - The Decision Tree (We're Alive) - A group of travelers and warriors that must choose on amongst them to die. The focus is between The Barbarian and The Highlander and their boasts of their life. Another prog-metal song, this is also quite light, and taken out of context from the whole album (concept album) you would be very confused. So listen to the entire album.
    

Albums Listened To In October

1. AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
2. AC/DC - Flick of The Switch
3. AC/DC - Fly On The Wall
4. AC/DC - Who Made Who
5. AC/DC - Black Ice- Newly Listened! (See Review)
6. Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge
7. Awestruck - Telemision
8. Ayreon - The Final Experiment (2 Disc) - Newly Listened!
9. Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle (2 Disc) - Newly Listened!
10. Ayreon - 01011001 (2 Disc) - Newly Listened!
11. Black Tide - Light From Above
12. Cake - Motorcade of Generosity - Newly Listened!
13. Cake - Fashion Nugget - Newly Listened!
14. Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium
15. Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror - Newly Listened!
16. Cathedral - Statik Majik (EP) - Newly Listened!
17. Clutch - Full Fathom Five (Live) - Newly Listened! (See Review)
18. Coverdale • Page - Coverdale • Page - Newly Listened! (See Review)
19. DragonForce - Ultra Beatdown - Newly Listened! (See Review)
20. Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
21. Dream Theater - Octivarium
22. Firewind - Burning Earth - Newly Listened!
23. Helloween - Gambling With The Devil
24. Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes
25. Iced Earth - The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part II) - Newly Listened! (See Review)
26. Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny - Newly Listened!
27. Kiuas - The New Dark Age
28. The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Twilight of The Idols - Newly Listened!
29. The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Down Among The Deadmen - Newly Listened!
30. Metallica - Death Magnetic - Newly Listened! (See Review)
31. Nevermore - Nevermore
32. The Ocean Collective - Precambrian (2 Disc) - Newly Listened!
33. Pink Floyd - Meddle
34. Primus - Sailing The Seas Of Cheese - Newly Listened!
35. Queen + Paul Rodgers - The Cosmos Rocks - Newly Listened!
36. Rage - Speak of The Dead - Newly Listened!
37. Rainbow - Bent Out of Shape - Newly Listened!
38. Rise Against - Transistor Revolt (Demo) - Newly Listened!
39. Rise Against - The Sufferer & The Witness - Newly Listened!
40. Rush - Signals - Newly Listened!
41. Rush - Grace Under Pressure - Newly Listened!
42. Sabaton - The Art of War - Newly Listened!
43. Snot - Get Some
44. Stephen Lynch - Superhero
45. Stephen Lynch - The Craig Machine
46. StormWarrior - Spikes And Leather (Demo) - Newly Listened!
47. Testament - The Legacy - Newly Listened!
48. Warrel Dane - Praises To The War Machine - Newly Listened!
49. Yes - Time And A Word - Newly Listened!
50. Yes - Fragile - Newly Listened!
    

I was going to try to write a semi-review for every new album I listen to, but after compiling this list and seeing that I have listened to 50 albums with 32 of them being brand new (at least to me) I decided against it. So I will only review those albums of merit, or maybe just the ones that are brand new for everyone (released recently), I haven't quite decided, but I will keep making these monthly lists to keep tabs of my music motions.

Epic Playlist: Beginnings

So I have this playlist, called my "Epic Playlist." It is a list of my favorite bands and the best song (in my opinion) they ever made, whether it be studio, live, or a cover. I was toying with the idea for a while before I actually made it. It ended up being about 160 songs. After having it for a few weeks, I realized that it wasn't complete. Apparently 160 songs is not enough awesome for a playlist to be called "Epic." So beginning today (and spanning to whenever I feel it is finished) I am expanding my list. I am going through every artist on my iTunes (there are 1105 of them) and choosing the best songs. So far I am on "G" and I currently have 212 songs, totalling a time of 16 hours 19 minutes and 44 seconds, and I am not done. I still have the rest of the alphabet to get through. Eventually I will finish this list (as best as I can) and will begin to list them all here. And of course there will periodical updates as I find new bands (or listen though all the bands I have now). So keep checking back