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.