A Priest is what Judas really needed

Classes got the best of me this week, but they gave me some time to think about the metal I do know. Although I'm not well versed in entire discographies of bands like Slayer (nor do I really want to be), there is an album or two of which I'm fond of.

I'd like to start with Judas Priest, a band whom I believe has several associated misconceptions. Judas Priest formed in the late-60's in Birmingham, England. Initially having a blues-rock and psychedelic influence (Cream, The Yardbirds), even their name came from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest." They moved towards hard rock and eventually became precursors of heavy metal. They debuted Rocka Rolla in 1974, which included their first single (also "Rocka Rolla").

Metal For Dummies

I'll be the first to admit I'm a dummy. My introduction to music was pop-punk (Fall Out Boy and the like), and although I've expanded my repetoire, I haven't gotten into the meat of a lot of other genres.

Back during the awesome adventure I dictated in my first post, I found "Metal" by Gary Numan on YouTube. On the "Suggestions" panel on the right, there was a preview for a video titled "10 Genres of Metal in 3 Minutes." I checked it out, and my mind was instantly asploded.

"10 Genres of Metal in 3 Minutes" by Razbenari

I think the word "Lady" was left out for a reason

Some bands are great and some bands are awesome, but sometimes it can be hard for a band to be simply... cool. The Killers is a cool band. Coming up from the deserts of Vegas, The Killers hit the ground running with their debut Hot Fuss in 2004. They skyrocketted the charts with the singles "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me," making them overnight superstars. These radio jingles were how I was first introduced to them, and I didn't really give them the time of day until I saw them premiere "When You Were Young" on the 2006 VMAs. It was literally a jaw-dropping sight, and if I remember correctly, they premiered the music video for the song right afterwards. At that point, they pretty much... killed me.

Good Clean Fun, rated T for teen

Last Friday, I went with a group of friends to my first club in Gainesville. I won't go into detail about the experience (because it has nothing to do with music), but I would like to mention an interesting little tidbit. Before entering the club, they checked my ID and saw I was under 21 (not that I was hiding the fact, or anything). Because of that, they Sharpied a big "X" on the back of both my hands. At that moment, I thought to myself, "This is so straight edge!"

Band Name #1

Today in my Finite Element Analysis lecture, the professor was using the "what's in a name" approach to teach us the meaning of "isotropic." He used his own name as an example: Nam-Ho. He said that in Chinese "Nam" stood for "south" (like Vietnam), and that "Ho" stood for "tiger." So when you put it together, you get Southern Tiger.

"Yes, my name is Southern Tiger." - Nam-Ho.

Pepsi should have hired these guys

As I stated in my last post, I first heard The Replacements through Rock Band 2, which featured one of their songs. It was catchy and I probably played it 3 or 4 times before Christmas Break 2008 was over. A few months went by and I got into the habit of watching King of the Hill. After the upteenth episode, I was curious to find out who played that rockin' intro (curiously called "Yahoos and Triangles"). The credits at the end were flashing pretty fast, but I was able to make out the artist: The Refreshments.

I thought that The Refreshments was "that one band from Rock Band," so I decided to check them out because "now they had two cool songs." My search led me to the album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy and I started listening to it from the beginning. A few seconds into "Blue Collar Suicide" I thought, "This sounds... different." Halfway into the song, I thought, "I don't think this is the same band." By the time "European Swallow" started, I had already determined the distinction online. Nonetheless, I continued listening, because I liked what I heard.

Out with the old, in with...

... The Replacements! The Replacements formed in late-70's Minneapolis, Minnesota. Switching from hard rock to punk rock, they released a demo in mid-1980. Twin/Tone liked their sound and agreed to sign them; they released Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash in 1981. This and the Stink EP were hardcore punk-influenced, but their second album Hootenanny (1983) showed a progression towards more mature songwriting.

Of ministries and music

Happy 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time! Before I get into the music, I'd like to share a little bit about my life.

In the late-90's, I remember coming home and flipping on the tube to watch Nickelodeon after school. You know, stuff like Rugrats and The Angry Beavers. In my teenage years, my favorite channel became Cartoon Network, specifically because of the Toonami programming block. G Gundam, Dragon Ball Z, YuYu Hakusho... that was my thang.

I would always stick around for the commercials (I had nothing better to do), and the advertisements that would always catch my attention were the infomercials for music compliations. I don't know why that was... I mean, just the other day I watched Nickelodeon (now Nick) and Cartoon Network (now CN) and that made me remember that there were commercials for Chef Boyardee and Nerf back in my day, too. Anyways, these multi-CD collections (which could be yours for just $19.99, or two payments thereof) would be presented at least once a day and were mostly ballads (the one by Time Life always comes to mind). But every once in a while (usually on a Sunday), there'd be a commerical about a soft Christian music collection.

Let's get happy!

Norah: This is amazing. You are literally like my musical soul mate! It's unbelievable. Except for all The Cure.
Nick: What's wrong with The Cure?
Norah: There's nothing wrong with The Cure, actually, but just the name. You know, The Cure? What are they The Curing? Get it? They should be called The Cause, right?!?

Sadness from a high place

Here comes more negativity! The artist on the spotlight today is Hawthorne Heights. Maybe spotlight is a bit too much. Let's try limelight. No, that's still to bright (actually, I think it might be the same thing). How about blacklight? Woah, we'll probably see things we'd wish we hadn't! OK, no light. Actually, that might be a little dangerous considering who we're discussing. Alright, how about in a cleared outdoor area that's not too close and not too far from civilization? Yeah, that sounds good.

A joy divided against itself cannot band

Depending on who you talk to, Joy Division is either a band that nobody has heard about or that everybody has heard about. A major force in the underground music scene, Joy Division first formed under the name Warsaw in 1976 and were gig-hoppers in Manchester before getting the attention of bigger names. To avoid legal issues with the band Warsaw, they renamed themselves Joy Division in 1978 after the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp.

A typical night on the Interweb

Yesterday, whilst procrastinating, I had the spontaneous urge to learn "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. With the help of tabs, I learned all but half the solo and thought that be enough for one day. Then I decided to look up some info on The Cars from my #1 music-discovery resource, Wikipedia. As I suspected, the band didn't make it past the 80's and what followed their 1987 album Door to Door were a slew of compilation records.

The last record that Wikipedia lists is The Essentials from 2005. Then I thought I might as well check out what Wiki has to say about "Just What I Needed." To no surprise, it's a heavily covered song; I was already aware of the version by Poison, but was intrigued by one by a band called Replicants. What caught my eye was just their name: it had an edgy punk feel like Rancid while having a sci-fi vibe like aliens pretending to be humans or mercenary clones. Moreover, the album was self-titled, so I just had to check it out.