Live In Concert

I love live music. Since I was 7, I have literally seen hundreds of concerts in both large and small venues. The first concert I ever saw was 1973 at the Kansas State Fair when I saw The Osmonds; all of them! Either that same year, or the next, I saw Tony Orlando and Dawn in the same place. I've been hooked ever since. I prefer small venues such as bars to see live acts. It doesn't matter if I've heard of them or not, I'll still go see them. Locally there are 3 bands that I think are fantastic. The Soul Preachers, The Benders and Russell Sawyer and the Lost Cause. You can catch these guys all the time, you just have to look for them. Russell Sawyer recently opened for Cross Canadian Ragweed in Hays! I wish I would have seen that! I saw Journey in 83 on the Frontiers tour; Bryan Adams opened that one. I've seen Van Halen with Dave and with Sammy and I've seen Sammy and Dave by themselves. I saw Kid Rock last February in KC, for the third time, this time with Dickey Betts and Rev. Run. I saw Bon Jovi with Cinderella on the Slippery When Wet Tour; Ozzy Osbourne with Queensryche and I saw Social Distortion at the Beaumont in KC. I've seen Shooting Star 6 or 7 times, Quiet Riot with Whitesnake as the opener and ZZ Top with the late, great Jeff Healey. I've seen Elton John twice; once with just him and once with Billy Joel; two of the best shows I've ever seen. I've seen Dio, Twisted Sister, the Jacksons, Hall and Oates, Donnie Iris, Kansas about 6 times, J. Geils Band, the Eagles, Loverboy 3 times, Santana, Boston, Aerosmith, Dokken twice, Def Leppard and Blue Oyster Cult. And it's not just live rock that I love. I've also seen Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks twice, Little Texas, Travis Tritt and Trisha Yearwood and I would go see them all again. I was also fortunate enough to hear Doc Severinsen perform and got to spend some time with him while he rehearsed. My old music teacher set that up for me and it was priceless! I was able to see BB King at TPAC just a few weeks after he turned 80. What an experience that was! 80 years old and he can still make Lucille squeal!! I also saw Jonny Lang at TPAC. He's a blues guitar prodigy and I saw him while he was still playing blues/rock but was also starting to slide into some gospel work. Another incredible show. I still want to see Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton before I, or they, die. Neil Diamond is in KC next month, but I'm going to have to hit my boss up for a raise! Maybe he'll read this!!

Video killed the radio star; and some rock careers

Remember the song, Video Killed the Radio Star, by the Buggles?? Of course you do. It was the first video played on MTV and a pretty catchy tune, even today. But, I don't think it rang true. Video didn't kill radio, but it did kill some careers and catapulted some others. Think about it; would Duran Duran have been as hot as they were if it hadn't been for MTV? Don't get me wrong; they were good, but their videos were incredible. I think it's fairly obvious that had it not been for MTV, Duran Duran may have had just an average career, at best. Look at them.....they were a very "video friendly" band. They looked good on TV, every guy wanted to be them and every girl wanted to be with them; at least the girls I hung out with! Even Simon LeBon says he couldn't believe how quickly they became stars after MTV played Hungry Like the Wolf! Ok song, but great video! Now, take a guy like Christopher Cross. He was and is a huge talent but other than his self-titled debut, he had very little commercial success. Why? He wasn't MTV friendly so his videos didn't get into heavy rotation. The guy won the Big 4 grammys for his first album and you didn't hear a word from him after that!!

Now, let's talk hair bands/glam metal. Poison. Here's a band, that in my humble opinion, was fair, at best. I'm not now and have never been a huge fan of this band and apparently I just didn't get it. They looked like they were having fun, but they couldn't play very well. I've seen them twice, both times as an opener and I still don't think they're very good. I mean, come on; Talk Dirty to Me?????? Are you serious??? Anyway, this is a band that was very successful and I think it was ALL because of MTV. You couldn't turn on MTV in the mid 80's without seeing 7 Poison videos an hour! Which brings me to Cinderella. Another MTV casualty. Cinderella had the MTV look and were immediately labeled glam metal. And their first album could be labeled that as well. Too bad. Cinderella is some of the best blues based rock around, but as soon as they tried to go back that direction, i.e., Long Cold Winter and Heartbreak Station, they were shunned by the Gods that are MTV. They no longer fit the mold. And Cinderella went by the wayside. I could go on and on, but I'm open to hearing other opinions. They're wrong, but I'm still open to listening!! In the meantime, I think I'll moonwalk across the living room while humming the tune to Billie Jean!!

New Releases

Rocky and I spend alot of time on the show talking about albums and 45's; hence the name of the show........anyway, I have told him before that I can recall counting down the days to new album releases. Two in particular stand out; 1984 by Van Halen and Third Stage by Boston. I was a senior in High School the day 1984 was released and drove to Manhattan to buy it that day. I was in the Air Force when Third Stage came out so I bought that one in Gulfport, MS the day it came out. I was telling this story the other night to Jeremy Huff and he asked me if I still get excited about new releases today. Great question and one I really had to think about! I think, for me personally, the answer is yes; but only if it's what I consider a classic group; i.e., one from the Vinyl Years. The exception to that rule, recently anyway, is Kid Rock. I'm a huge fan of his and I've seen him live 3 times. But, he is heavily influenced by "classic" rock artists, particularly southern rock and outlaw country, so maybe that's part of the attraction; but that's another blog!! I was excited when I heard the Eagles were releasing Long Road Out of Eden, but I didn't rush out to buy it, but I do own it now. I was excited about the new Metallica album, but I still haven't bought it and I just heard from a friend that it wasn't that great. But, I'll buy it anyway and make up my own mind. And yes, I do download, legally, but I also still buy albums and CD's and I still get the same thrill when I tear the shrink wrap off and read the liner notes!! ROCK ON!!

Steelheart-10 years too late.

Just wanted to say thanks to Jeremy Huff for sitting in for Rocky for a couple of days on the show. Jeremy "blogs" the show via e-mail and offers alot of insight, so when Rocky knew he was going to be gone, we thought, let's get him on the show! Tonight, we were talking about the band Steelheart. You might remember their song, I'll Never Let You Go. What I remember about them are the screaming lead vocals of Michael Matijevic. If you saw the movie Rockstar with Mark Wahlberg, then you heard Matijevic's vocals. My question on tonight's show was, why didn't Steelheart do better than they did? Steelheart hit the rock scene in 1989, when hair bands were on their way out and grunge was coming on with a vengeance. Did they hit the scene too late? What if they would have been 10 years earlier; say 1979? I think they would have been absolutely huge! Of course, the lighting truss that fell on Matijevic's head didn't help their career! But, they are back. They performed last month at the Rocklahoma fest and they have a new album that comes out next month. Check them out; they're worth your time.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to the Vinyl Years blog. This is a place where I'll sound off and give my opinion of all things music. Most of my thoughts will be on the happenings in rock and roll of the 60's, 70's and 80's. I welcome your opinions but be warned; I will respond and it may annoy you!! I'll also post "bloggings" that I receive via e-mail; you know who you are! In the immortal words of Joan Jett; I love rock and roll! And, I love talking rock and roll. So get in, hang on and let's rock!