OT: Rock/Metal Fans

Great thread. Mid-40's and grew up a metalhead. Still dig it all of it for nostalgia purposes and it makes up over half of what I still listen to.

Intro came around fourth grade when Motley Crue was on MTV's"Friday Night Video Flights" for the "Looks That Kill" video. From there, had some friends a year older that turned me on to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Def Leppard's "Pyromania" was also huge at the time and Van Halen's "1984" broke big soon after. RATT "Out Of The Cellar", Dokken "Tooth And Nail", etc. was all the rage.

Started playing guitar around 1989 and got into all the shredder and guitar god stuff, as well as the hair metal de jour—learning to play a lot of TESLA, Skid Row, etc.

Metallica changed the game for me before that with "Master Of Puppets" when I was in eighth grade and I just devoured their entire catalog from that point on.

Got a little proggy with old Queensryche and Rush, obviously—but didn't go much further than that. Was more into melody and hooks.

Went through a huge Pantera phase after seeing them open for Skid Row in Jaunary 1992, before "Vulgar Display Of Power" hit. By year's end, they were massive.

Freshman year at University of Alabama (I lasted six months and came home the semester after Andrew wiped out the house), I trekked over to see them in Atlanta, found the backstage post-show and guitar tech Grady Champion (who I recognized from all their home videos.) He invited my bud and I backstage. Got to meet all the guys, try my first shot of Crown with Dime, check out his rig and the night ended eating cold Taco Bell with him on the bus solo, as I'd asked for some guitar picks and we had to hit the bus to get some.

Over the next five years, anytime they came to a town I was in—Palm Beach, San Diego, etc.—I'd find Grady and he'd hook whoever I was with up. It was the "Miami Cowboys" era and Jimmy was running the show with Michael Irvin, so I brought Grady something signed by The Playmaker and he always took care of us.

27 years later, still surreal.

View attachment 113539

View attachment 113540

View attachment 113541
Awesome. Dime is a legend and as much as I like down and Phil I will always blame him for what happened to perhaps the most under rated guitarist of our generation.
 
Advertisement
Saw my first metal show there in 1988 — Iron Maiden on the "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" tour.

Rest In Peace, SNORTATORIOUM.
Lol I was there. My probation officer told me I couldn't go because there would be drugs there. Well duh, that's the plan. Did you happen to notice the guy who climbed way out on the rafter and hung there head banging for the show? Dude tripped me out, I kept expecting him to fall and kill himself. One of the craziest things I've seen at a show.
 
Sounds like this didn’t happen in the 90’s. After that, the band’s music wasn’t as hard. I saw them play with Staind in Miami in 1999 and there were no pussies in the mosh pit, it was as wild a show I’ve ever seen.
It was 1997.

That dude wouldn't have survived a mosh pit.
 
Yes, The Song Remains the Same Tour.

Zeppelin was THE band for me back in the day. I had ALL of the their 8-tracks through Presence in this obnoxious suitcase looking thing in my car (it held 24 8-tracks).
That being said, the "mighty Led Zeppelin" was not a good in-concert band , IMO.
No need for 6 1/2 minute masterpieces like Dazed and Confused to be bastardized by Jimmy for a half-hour.
The same with Moby ****. I loved John Bonham. He was an animal. And I understand that during the show they wanted to feature each member of the band (JP Jones- No Quarter), but during that solo was the time to grab a beer, like the rest of the band did.

So it sounds like the '85 Philly show was a smaller sample of more of the same.

To me, it wasn't about the show itself. It was about being in the same building as those guys....
and to always be able to say "I saw Zeppelin 6/7/77".
Envious of you guys that got to see them live even though I heard they were not great live. I saw a tribute band do them about a month ago - Black Jacket Symphony. I told my wife they had their hands full trying to emulate those guys but I was pleasantly surprised.
 
Advertisement
I’m the mid eighties my girlfriends father was in charge of security for Nassau Coliseum. The shows were endless back then. I saw Van Halen def leopard AC/DC Judas Priest Iron Maiden Motley Crue at least a dozen times each and countless others. He just let us in a side door with no tickets. Didn’t matter, no one sat in their seats anyway and as soon as the lights turned off all police and security would bail.when the lights came back on the amount of smoke was ridiculous. Not sure how f I missed it but The Grateful Dead hasn’t been mentioned yet? I followed them on tour summer of 87. That was a great time, a whole culture in itself.
 
Awesome. Dime is a legend and as much as I like down and Phil I will always blame him for what happened to perhaps the most under rated guitarist of our generation.
Dimebag was an absolute powerhouse, Alex Lifeson of Rush is criminally underrated too, all u need to do is listen to La Villa Strangiato to know how godly he is. Guys like Kirk Hammett looked to him for inspiration just to give y’all an idea.
 
Dimebag was an absolute powerhouse, Alex Lifeson of Rush is criminally underrated too, all u need to do is listen to La Villa Strangiato to know how godly he is. Guys like Kirk Hammett looked to him for inspiration just to give y’all an idea.
Lifeson is a tasteful player. He doesn't over-play and try to blow you away with technical BS for the sake of being technical. He plays what works best for the song.
 
Here’s a song from the greatest Canadian band of all time, and imo the greatest rock trio ever, that doesn’t get appreciated more. Love the entirety of Fly By Night, great album by a group of guys who were only just starting to tap into their musical potential at the time. Went to go see them for their Clockwork Angels tour at BB&T and they were absolutely seamless in their playing even in their late 50s.

Also if anyone hasn’t already, highly recommend watching Beyond the Lighted Stage. Fantastic doc about them. Rest easy Neil ❤️
 
Advertisement
Here’s a song from the greatest Canadian band of all time, and imo the greatest rock trio ever, that doesn’t get appreciated more. Love the entirety of Fly By Night, great album by a group of guys who were only just starting to tap into their musical potential at the time. Went to go see them for their Clockwork Angels tour at BB&T and they were absolutely seamless in their playing even in their late 50s.

Also if anyone hasn’t already, highly recommend watching Beyond the Lighted Stage. Fantastic doc about them. Rest easy Neil ❤

Anthem an By-tor are my favorites from fly by night
 
Envious of you guys that got to see them live even though I heard they were not great live. I saw a tribute band do them about a month ago - Black Jacket Symphony. I told my wife they had their hands full trying to emulate those guys but I was pleasantly surprised.
I've heard this 1,000 times.
That's what it's all about.

I should say that the show, as a whole, was "not bad".
Page/Plant acoustic session was excellent, especially Going to California. They were at their best on stage when they kept it relatively short and sweet.
My favorite part of the show was when they did tunes like the obscure Out on the Tiles (Zep III), where they hit it with just a little improv and kept it under 4 minutes.
 
All this conversation bout rock music and no one (i only read first 2 pages so I apologize if I missed it) has mentioned the greatest rock guitarist of all time, and maybe the greatest guitarist of any genre; Jimi Hendrix. Also a great song writer.

Hendrix created sounds that had never before been contemplated with a guitar. Before him it was all Beatles style strumming, even with the electric guitar.
There have been lots of great rock musicians bet Hendrix stands alone with the guitar.
 
Advertisement
I’m the mid eighties my girlfriends father was in charge of security for Nassau Coliseum. The shows were endless back then. I saw Van Halen def leopard AC/DC Judas Priest Iron Maiden Motley Crue at least a dozen times each and countless others. He just let us in a side door with no tickets. Didn’t matter, no one sat in their seats anyway and as soon as the lights turned off all police and security would bail.when the lights came back on the amount of smoke was ridiculous. Not sure how f I missed it but The Grateful Dead hasn’t been mentioned yet? I followed them on tour summer of 87. That was a great time, a whole culture in itself.
We must be the same age range. In Detroit I saw Maiden (powerslave) and Priest (turbo lover). I saw Motley Crue after the car accident and again in Miami.
maiden was the craziest because I was 16, 145 lbs, and on the floor in general admission.
 
All this conversation bout rock music and no one (i only read first 2 pages so I apologize if I missed it) has mentioned the greatest rock guitarist of all time, and maybe the greatest guitarist of any genre; Jimi Hendrix. Also a great song writer.

Hendrix created sounds that had never before been contemplated with a guitar. Before him it was all Beatles style strumming, even with the electric guitar.
There have been lots of great rock musicians bet Hendrix stands alone with the guitar.
Kath was better...even Jimi said so...told him to his face backstage in 1969....I love Hendrix...But go listen to 25 or 6 to 4 if you want to hear the Best of the Best....
 
Advertisement
All this conversation bout rock music and no one (i only read first 2 pages so I apologize if I missed it) has mentioned the greatest rock guitarist of all time, and maybe the greatest guitarist of any genre; Jimi Hendrix. Also a great song writer.

Hendrix created sounds that had never before been contemplated with a guitar. Before him it was all Beatles style strumming, even with the electric guitar.
There have been lots of great rock musicians bet Hendrix stands alone with the guitar.
Hendrix was, indeed, tops in his genre however my favorites have always been Jorma Kaukonen and Leo Kottke. Both specialize in finger picking. Jorma was with Jefferson Airplane (listen to Embryonic Journey off their album Surrealistic Pillow) also Jorma's song Genesis is a beautiful tune. Kottke is just flat out amazing in his style.
 
We must be the same age range. In Detroit I saw Maiden (powerslave) and Priest (turbo lover). I saw Motley Crue after the car accident and again in Miami.
maiden was the craziest because I was 16, 145 lbs, and on the floor in general admission.
Remember the WHO concert in Ciny, 1979. It was general admission and 11 people died from this stampeed. Unreal, remember that like it was yesterday
 
Let’s not forget about the great Steve Vai, absolute masterclass guitarist who plays with passion and doesn’t just play crazy fast but always serves the music. Also Ibanez guitars are pretty badass!

 
No mention of Judas Priest until the third page? Love Black Sabbath and Motörhead. Favorite “new” band- Against the Grain out of Detroit.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top