hair metal and the 500 worst albums
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Fun Friday Playlist
At the end of a long Friday, there's nothing like unwinding with a little guilty-pleasure hair metal. I grew up open to the idea of hard rock and metal, but by the time I hit junior high (1988), that meant a few different things. One classic era (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest) was well over. MTV played a few costumed metal bands (complete with make-up, like Poison and Cinderella), but I found them to be a little silly. On the other side, legit metal bands like Megadeth and Metallica were way too serious for me: I couldn't find anything relatable in their work. But there was a sweet spot in the middle of all of that, where the attitude felt urgent, the dudes vaguely threatening, and the work somewhat innovative. I still find a satisfaction in the snarling of RATT's "Round and Round", the weirdly leaping melody of "Dr. Feelgood", and the goofball timing tricks of Winger's (problematic) "Seventeen". Dumb, but kind of genius?
Friday Bus Ride Hair Metal by Dan Nordquist on Spotify
(This one time I had 93X in my headphones on a Friday bus commute and was feeling it.)
The business of hair metal collapsed, of course, when everyone simultaneously realized how silly it all looked, and grunge swept in pretending not to have any pretenses. But about the music - who is maintaining the legacy of riff-heavy rock-for-its-own-sake? Local radio's not helping: my hard rock station seems devoted to 80's and 90's nostalgia exclusively (which, when you do the math, means they're more of an oldies station than the oldies stations I grew up with). But if you really want that hair metal feeling, you shouldn't have to listen to my crusty old playlist. Here's a couple of ideas that maybe make sense and maybe don't:
Coheed and Cambria owes a lot to early metal, and they're not particularly shy about it - they embrace the seriousness and the silliness in the right balance. They're built for arena-sized mass appeal and have never exactly found it, but they hit the spot for me.
Sheer Mag is a Philadephia rock band that really owns their 70's and 80's influences. Lead singer Christina Halladay's voice is unlike anything I've heard in rock, and they're clearly having a blast.
White Reaper doesn't go quite so deep into the head-banging, but I believe I observed some fist pumping when I saw them open for Electric Six once.
The Darkness had a hit with their ridiculously fun "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", but wow that was 18 years ago. The good news is that they have a new single so I can include them on this list.
Andrew W.K. was mentioned here last month (he went ahead and canceled that 2022 show that had been delayed 364 days) but he'd be mad if he weren't included in my list of riffy / cheesy rock music.
Guns N' Roses were about as good as it got for me 30 years ago, and the one album Axl managed to squeeze out in that time period (2010's tortured Chinese Democracy) went straight to the cutout bins. But they've quietly released two songs this year, and while one ("Absurd") is truly awful, the other ("Hard Skool") is kind of weird and fun:
Rolling Stone’s 500 Worst Albums
Sometimes I throw a couple tweets in here to mix it up, but this is a work of art:
https://twitter.com/blainecapatch/status/1446148140264923141The Calendar
Each of these shows is one that I gave some consideration to - either I've seen these acts before, or I've liked what I've heard. I don't have tickets for everything listed, but I've thought about it. If you're thinking about it, let me know!
It's November. After a couple months of waiting, it seems like everyone and everything is coming to town. Here's what I have on my list on November...
- 4: Elvis Costello, in what's a bit of a surprise - he pulled out of a casino show due to something "between the artist and venue".
- 6: Wolf Alice (Fine Line, probably pretty loud)
- 7: Soccer Mommy
- 8: Polica
- 10: Hamilton Leithauser is at Fine Line with Kevin Morby
- 14: Thundercat (Palace). Do you guys like Thundercat?
- 16: Tennis (Cedar, sold out - I have missed these guys on every tour for a decade.)
- 16: Alex G? Seriously? Too many shows!
- 17: CHVRCHES (Armory)
- 18: Nick Lowe
- 19: Mayer Hawthorne, Fine Line - I said I'd never miss a Mayer Hawthorne show, but I might miss this one. Highly recommended, though.
- 20: Lettuce. Do you guys like Lettuce?
- 21: Adrianne Lenker - I don't know how you can cope with all these shows. Have fun if you don't have an unvaccinated kid I guess
- 30: Preoccupations and METZ are at Turf Club - I actually have tickets to this! Hoping for the best!