Favorite Artists

[Avaitor]

The show is so limited in its scope of metal, but I won't lie, it's an entertaining hour, enough for me to watch it every week.

[Rynnec]

I'm just waiting for TMS to cover Iced Earth. It's been almost 25 years since their debut album, that's more than enough to qualify as a "classic" band. Testament and Exodus are also bands I'm surprised that've never been on the show yet.

[Nel_Annette]

Well, if Rush has to stop after this next tour (and I will mourn that day), then I hope Geddy makes another solo record. I actually really like My Favorite Headache.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, it seems like Geddy's still up for touring and making music. And I'm sure that we'll get another Rush album, even if they won't match their last few tours for it.

Oh, but I will take Eddie Trunk's advice and listen to the album from Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham's new (apparently already broken up) band. I liked their last group a good deal, their second album being a major improvement over the first.

[Avaitor]

I've been on a bit of an Aerosmith kick recently, so here's an albums rank for them.

1- Rocks
2- Toys in the Attic
3- Draw the Line
4- s/t
5- Get a Wing
6- Pump
7- Night in the Ruts
8- Permanent Vacation
9- Nine Lives
10- Get a Grip
11- Done With Mirrors
12- Rock in a Hard Place

... is there anything else?

But yeah, the first 5 albums are legends for a reason. Rocks is one of the best things from the 70's period, and it rocks from start to finish, with "Home Tonight" easily being their best ballad. Toys is equally as good, but I think I side with Rocks because I've heard "Walk This Way" one too many times. Draw the Line was considered a disappointment early on, but it's slowly been assessed that it's actually quite good itself. I know that when the band was doing full albums live before Steven's fall a few years ago, Joe Perry was vouching to try it. That would've been awesome.

The first is definitely rough around the edges, like most first albums, but "Mama Kin" might be the best thing they've ever done, period, and there are enough awesome songs on top of that to make it stand out. A little more than Get Your Wings, which isn't as special, but rocks well enough.

The band really was never the same after they got clean, but I have to admit that Pump is by all rights a good and important album. The rockers genuinely rock, while "Janie's Got a Gun" and "What It Takes" have more weight to them than most of their other ballads. The production is also stronger on it than Permanent Vacation, which just never sounded as right.

I'd say the top 6 are essential, but everything after that, not so much. I mentioned Permanent Vacation above, but the stuff in between it and Draw the Line are messy. Night in the Ruts definitely showed the fatigue some people accused Draw of. There were some good moments on it, though, certainly better than Rock in a Hard Place. The lack of Perry sure hurt the band, although they didn't really recover when he returned for Done With Mirrors, which I'd only call marginally better just for his and Brad Whitford's involvement. It's also worth noting that the only good song on RiaHP is the one with Whitford still on it, though.

And while Get a Grip was more successful, I do think that Nine Lives was their better 90's album. Both are overproduced and reek of studio writing too often, but "Pink" and the title track are awesome, while "Falling in Love" is better than any of Grip's ballads. But "Eat the Rich" has got to be their best post-reunion song, if you can handle the rest of the album's blandness.

But no, I can't really rank what comes after Nine Lives. Nothing I've heard from Just Push Plays entices me to give it a try, while the new one didn't impress me in the slightest when I first tried it out. I'm vaguely interested in Honkin' on Bobo, however. I'll probably end up listening to all of them if I keep this fascination going on, though.

[Nel_Annette]

Just Push Play has "Beyond Beautiful", and that song is excellent. And Bobo has "The Grind", which I also love.

[Avaitor]

So we almost got the iconic Megadeth lineup back, but...

I've heard rumblings about Nick and Marty coming back for a while, but those went away fast. This isn't remotely surprising.

[Rynnec]

Goddammit Dave.

[talonmalon333]

Hey Avaitor, I know you are a fan of Kelly Clarkson (or, at least, I think you said you're a fan of some of her earlier songs). What do you think is her best song?

[Avaitor]

I dunno, anything on Breakaway, really. "Since U Been Gone" is the obvious choice, but it is as definitive of a statement as you can make.

[talonmalon333]

Continuing the Kelly topic, who do you think is better between Kelly and Pink? The reason I ask is because... well, they have similar voices.

[Avaitor]

So I got to see Extreme last night, as a part of their Pornograffiti 25th anniversary tour. They did the whole album from start to finish, but it wasn't like seeing something like Classic Albums Live, where they do it note by note. The band messed around a little, and definitely had fun in between certain songs. One bit that holds true is how different it is for the band to do "More Than Words" so early in the set, since that's the kind of song you usually save for the end.

The band still has it, too! Gary's vocals were a little shaky at first, since apparently he was sick, to the point that he and Nuno let the audience sing about half of "More Than Words" with them. But before long, he was able to back into the game, and hit almost all the right notes near the end. And thankfully throughout, he was complimented by the greatest of Nuno Bettencourt and Pat Badger, who are just fantastic together. Their current drummer is also pretty good, and held his own. I'd prefer if the original or Mike Mangini was back, but they're all good, and the important members are still around.

I've heard that previously on the tour, the band just stopped after finishing the album, but they had a pretty lengthy encore where they knocked off a few songs. Mostly from III Sides to Every Story and the most recent, but with enough room for "Play With Me" and a great acoustic solo from Nuno. They also ended the core set with a brief take on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", while Nuno and the drummer started the encore up with the opening of "Good Times, Bad Times". Edit: Apparently this is a separate tour from their last one, which was just Pornograffiti all the way through. This explains why the encore happened, then.

Gary did mention that they're doing a couple of other shows in FL, this time more akin to their traditional setlists, but I'm happy with just this concert. I'll keep an eye on if they come back around here in a year or so though, especially if they finally make their next album. Pornograffiti

[talonmalon333]

Are there any Aquabats fans here? I can't be the only one.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I quite enjoyed their tv show. Haven't listened to much of their music, though.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Fury of the Aquabats! will always be their best album. Every track on that one is great. Rock, ska, surf, and general weirdness rules the roost.

Also features the drummer from Blink 182.