Tag Archives: music milestones

Features, Milestones

Happy Heavy 25th Anniversary To Earache Records (1987-2012)

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This is a great year of anniversaries for some truly awesome Rock and Metal bands as we find the big 25th for artists like Whitesnake, Anthrax, Testament and really far too many others to mention celebrating that milestone on a bit of some seminal recorded work. Stuff like Whitesnake’s self titled, and “Fighting The World” by Manowar and “Among The Living” by Anthrax. You get the point right? Well, in this narrative I wanted to raise a glass and a high pair of horns for the Earache Records label who are also celebrating their own 25th Year in the business.

logo-earache-records

If you love all things Extreme Metal then Earache Records is the place to be for your listening pleasure because they were the label to find bands like Napalm Death, Deicide, Decapitated and the mighty Carcass for many of their releases. Now I should admit that I wasn’t really following any of these bands before I decided to focus my creative time on being a music journalist but once I started I began studying from their books even though I am a huge latecomer to their offerings. I aim at supporting what I can when I can and there are honestly a lot of bands that I like on the label. It’s a true lesson in that which is heavy and not easily handled by those who refuse to step outside of their own Metal box. I know that I still have quite the investigative journey ahead based on their artist roster both past and present. You can learn what that roster is and a whole lot more about the company by clicking the Official Wiki entry below. I tend to just offer up my own thoughts in these Milestones as opposed to reprinting other peoples words. I am looking forward to hearing and witnessing in concert the next groups that the label will be dishing out and you should to. Happy 25th Earache Records, and here is to the next 25 🙂 Fans that enjoy the labels output already are encouraged to leave us some comments in the space below. It will be great to hear what you think about this one. To see our reviews of some releases that came to us under the Earache Records brand click HERE. The screen will showcase the whole batch. See you next time.

Official Wikipedia Entry for Earache Records: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earache_Records

Features, Milestones

Happy 35th Anniversary To KISS “Destroyer”

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Isn’t it amazing? I know that it makes my jaw drop when I realize that KISS’ legendary album “Destroyer” is officially 35 years old today. Released on March 15, 1976, “Destroyer” was the fourth KISS studio album and directly followed their seminal “Alive” double album live presentation. I’ve been a KISS fan for a very, very long time and while “Destroyer” is one of my very favorites of their catalog, it was not the first album that I ever purchased. I think that I bought “Alive II” when it first came out at The Record Factory and then ordered a whole bunch of the older studio albums via one of those music clubs where you bought one album at their club price but got five or six albums for a dollar apiece. I don’t remember exactly but I think it was something like that. I digress.
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Features, Milestones

Congratulations to The Ramones On Receiving of The Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award

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As a Heavy Metal music fan for more years than I care to disclose I can quickly tell you of how unimportant the Grammy Awards have been to me when it comes to my favorite genre.  They are for the most part clueless in terms of what they are voting on and who ends up winning (the historic Metallica loss to Jethro Tull coming to mind) but since that ill-fated event, the category of “Best Heavy Metal Performance” has been given out and usually hits the mark properly.   They also have a Lifetime Achievement award which was this year given to the legendary New York Punkers – The Ramones.  I had to admit that I was surprised about this based on their original misunderstanding about Metal.  I mean, if they didn’t know that stuff how could they ever recognize Punk Rock.  Still, they did recognize it and gave the award to the band so kudos on that honor.  The photos below come from the front window display of the Guitar Center on 14th Street in Manhattan.  I couldn’t resist trying to share them with the worldwide readership as I passed them by.   I admit that I was glad to find the center offering up their own honor by showcasing some of their historic stuff. Continue reading Congratulations to The Ramones On Receiving of The Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award →

Features, Milestones

Celebrating 30 Years Of Judas Priest’s “British Steel”

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judas priest logo

I think it’s time to use this blog to celebrate some momentous Metal occasions and particularly so when we find an iconic release reaching a big anniversary. With that being said let me start out by wishing Judas Priest a very Happy Anniversary on their album “British Steel” hitting its 30th year of release. Wow. When “British Steel” first came out in April of 1980 I had only been a Judas Priest fan for a few short years. I was already a heavy music fan but I got my Metal education in the bands work thanks to one of my guitar players who had three of their albums and we were listening to them after practice. I was hooked and immediately asked my folks to buy me this new album for my birthday which would be at the end of the month after it hit the record shops. Yes, this writer owned the album on classic vinyl LP at one time.

From the moment that I first played this album I would blast it nice and loud much to the families and neighbors chagrin and as I was just beginning to start out with my interest in drumming I found tunes like “Breaking The Law”, “Living After Midnight”, “Metal Gods” and “Rapid Fire” to be fun ones to work ones chops out to and aim for harder and harder material. Not long after its release many of these tunes became staples of Rock focused radio stations. I realize that the term might elude many of you younger readers but yes at one time Radio ruled the roost and there were Heavy Rock stations that afforded material like this some attention. To me as a Metal fan this is still a completely relevant album that I love listening to from beginning to end. What does it mean to you as a person who claims that this type of sound is of utmost importance to them? Feel free to let us know in the comments but do stick to topic of course.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, a special edition version of the album will be released sometime next month. I’ve read that it will feature a live DVD performance of the album from the recent tour that they did as well. That is pretty cool for them to do. Back in 2006 I started reviewing some of the Judas Priest remasters that had come out in 2001. You can check out that article by clicking HERE.

Official Website: www.judaspriest.com
Official Album Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Steel_%28album%29

Features, Milestones

Twisted Sister’s “Stay Hungry” @ 25 Years (1984-2009)

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Let me hear you say “I’m a sick Mutha F**ka”!!!! You readers can respond whenever you feel like it but wow, how about that news – Twisted Sister’s seminal release “Stay Hungry” is now officially a quarter of a century old. I think I best leave it as “twenty five years old” because saying it the other way really starts to make me feel older than I am comfortable with realizing but that being said “Happy Anniversary” to this incredible release.
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