Let's Talk '80s Metal

"Say what you want about the 80's but there will never be another era quite like it. Rock & Metal ruled the charts, arenas, magazines, television - the world. We were a part of that moment in music history. Lord willing, maybe we'll be a part of the next big rock movement. Stryper is alive & well!" -- Michael Sweet, Stryper, FB post 24 March 2018

The colors, the light shows, the hair, the outfits, and of course THE MUSIC! While it is true that I love blues, jazz, country, gospel, hymns, classic rock, hard rock, folk, and the pop songs of the '50s through the '80s, it is '80s metal that will always hold a special place in my heart. It is the first music that was truly my own and that I enjoyed in some of the most formative years of my life.

So let's take a look and a listen with some of the bands whose logos are featured here, starting, in no particular order, with Poison.  These guys were just straight up fun.  They had some of the biggest hair in the business, and "Nothin' But A Good Time" could well have been the anthem for the whole decade.

Although there was some bad blood between Poison and Mötley Crüe back in the day, which undoubtedly bumped record sales for both bands, it seems fitting to put them back-to-back here.  There's a lot to choose from in the Mötley catalog, but 1989's "Dr. Feelgood" has it all...the boys at their best and a video full of flames and plot straight out of Miami Vice.

Another anthem for the era could well have been "Cum On  Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot.  It's a song about loud music.  It's a song about noise.  It's a song about cranking those speakers to 11.  What's not to like?

Readers of this blog know how big a Stryper fan I am, and with a new album coming out on April 20, 2018, these guys are not just keeping the great music of the '80s alive but taking to new heights in the 21st century.  Here's the title track to their 1985 album Soldiers Under Command, a favorite for lead singer Michael Sweet and the album that introduced me to the yellow & black army.

I love that in the graphic above Stryper and Whitesnake are next to each other, since Whitesnake was my other favorite band in the '80s.  Their entire body of work, from 1978 onward, is killer blues-rock and metal, but nothing, and I mean nothing, slays quite like "Still of the Night" from their quintuple platinum 1987 album.

Lots of bands have had color words in their names, and White Lion joined the palette in the '80s.  I was fortunate to seem the open for Stryper in Louisville, Kentucky, and remember being blown away the gymnastic performance of bassist James LoMenzo, who went on to play with Michael Sweet on both Sweet & Lynch albums.

'80s metal may have been something of a boys' club, but Vixen proved that the ladies could rock just as hard.  Following the path paved by Heart and Joan Jett, they also showed why relationships were easier in the '80s...guys and girls could share Aqua Net!

Now, I've had a taste for the blues ever since I first started listening to rock, and no one plays blues-rock/metal better than Cinderella.  Once again I was fortunate to see them live when they opened for Bon Jovi in the spring of '87.  "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" from their sophomore album Long Cold Winter showcases Tom Keifer's unique, gravel-filled vocals at their peak.

Is there any song from the metallic '80s that has been played, sampled, used, and even mocked more than Europe's "The Final Countdown?"  Who cares!  It's a classic, and for some reason I will always connect it with a college visit to Indiana University when I was a senior in high school and was planning what classes I would take.  I must have been listening to it a lot then, and it sure takes me back.

I've always been a big Twisted Sister fan, and "We're Not Gonna Take It" is a straight up metal anthem.  It also connects with a special memory for me.  When I was in high school, some guys from the grade ahead of me had a band called Storm Front and they played this during one of our Latin Club meetings!

There are, of course, countless more great metal and rock songs from the '80s.  Share favorites and leave a link to the videos in the comments below.  As for me, if I ever get around to writing a will, I am going to insist that those who attend my funeral listen to a playlist of my favorites!

Winds From The North

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of David Coverdale's second solo album, North Winds.  I discovered it in 1988, along with his debut album from 1977, White Snake, on a double album by Connoisseur Collection.  I soon purchased the Connoisseur double version on CD, and then later both albums individually when they had been remastered with extra tracks.

North Winds is a soulful album and a funky album.  You get the funky side of things on the opening track "Keep On Giving Me Love" and then move into the deeply soulful "Northwinds," a song that demonstrates how well Coverdale's vocals can shape a song.

I don't know what it is about the third track, "Give Me Kindness," that for some reason reminds me of New Orleans, but it does.  Perhaps it's the horn section.  It's a fun, swinging kind of song for those who've been around the block a time or two and as a result know a thing or two about life.

"Time & Again" is the stand out track for me.  I included it on a mix tape back in the day for the girl who would become my wife and to this day remains one of my all-time favorite romantic songs.  This is a soft, gentle number for lovers who are so deep into each other than completely understand what it means when Coverdale sings, "all I want to do is just talk about the woman I love."

"Queen Of Hearts" gives us the first taste of what the early Whitesnake would become, and for good reason.  It appeared on the first Whitesnake album, the Snake Bite EP.

"Only My Soul" is simply exquisite.  It touches that place in a man's soul where all he wants to do is weep, where he needs someone to lead him on "through restless waters" and to walk with him "along the way."  It is hauntingly beautiful number.

The next track, "Say You Love Me," opens with a piano riff that makes you think you are standing with good friends around the upright in someone's living room sharing memories in song.  Another horn selection gives this a good-time groove that leaves you saying, "Ah, yes!"

"Breakdown" concludes the original album and is a number about the breakdown of Deep Purple Mark IV in 1976.  A fast-paced rocker, it documents the end in the only way fitting, with solid rock 'n' roll.

The remastered album includes what to me were two fascinating surprises.  The first is an up-tempo, seriously funky number called "Shame The Devil" that has me reaching for polyester bell-bottoms and platform shoes.  It has the characteristic Coverdale flair in its lyrics with the line "shame the devil, tell the truth," and it makes you wonder with its horns and funk what it would have been like had he gone full tilt in this direction.

The other track is "Sweet Mistreater," that opens with a very surprising layer of synthesizer.  It sounds like nothing else Coverdale ever recorded and is squarely in the pop genre.  Again we see his affection for wink-wink, nudge-nudge lyrics in "you shame the devil when you tell me the truth, just like a dance hall queen."  The lyrics actually tell a rather said, typically blues tale, but that synthesizer takes it straight into pop.

All in all, it is well worth adding to any collection of great '70s music and great rock music, and it is a must for all fans of the unparalleled voice of David Coverdale.