craigb
Rock n Roll Over was the first rock album I ever had.  From there I was always on the search for HEAVIER rock but, being a slave to the few rock stations there were in San Diego, it wasn't until Van Halen I and Accept's Balls to the Wall came out that I really started finding it.
 
NOW I'm finding there was some other good stuff back then, but the radio stations simply weren't playing it - damn them!

I think it's also the first one I heard. A younger cousin had it - me, all I had was my parents records, out of which I'd settled for Elvis pretty much exclusively. I remember how I loved the contrast between the delicate intro and the hard banging chorus in the first song, I Want You. We just went nuts over that. I didn't really know who KISS were, I'd never been exposed to them, but that album sparked something...
 
Still it wasn't until a couple of years later when a friend lent me Creatures of the Nights that my interest really focused on that kind of music. I'd made a copy w/ a little tape recorder in front of the speakers - so much for sound quality - and I listened to that tape until it was worn out. 
 
It opened the door for the rest of the stuff - Van Halen, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and all of them. And yeah, Accept. They're one of the few bands who came to perform in that little city closer to home - Metal Heart tour. That's another album I listened to until the tape fell apart. Too bad my mom didn't allow me to go see them. But she gave me money so that a friend could grab a shirt for me. I wore the heck out of that thing. Looking back, it was probably the ugliest shirt I've owned. Mine had the classic 3/4 black sleeves and "1985" written in the back.
 

 
 

Rain

mike_mccue
 
Kiss Alive (I) was one of the greatest bubble gum pop records to come out of the 70's.
 
The target audience was 14 year old boys that had an actual interest in girls.

I don't know, Mike. Same could be said of pretty much all things pop - except that it's usually marketed for girls. The Beatles would be long since forgotten if not for 12 years old girls who made them famous in the first place.
 
Me, I like KISS. If I want to be philosophically enlightened I'll grab a philosophy book, not a record. If I want poetry, I'll read Baudelaire or Victor Hugo or Rimbaud. If I want my soul to be elevated, I'll listen to Mozart of Bach. But when I listen to popular music, that's not what I'm after. And when popular musicians attempt to hit us w/ knowledge, most of the time, the results are embarrassing at best.
 
So, as one of the few wise men said - shut up and play yer guitar.
 
I'd much rather hear Ace singing Shock Me than some self-conscious turd in a leather suit w/ a messiah complex singing about stuff that's oh so serious. 
 
 

Funny, but I thought Mike was praising it. 
 
But I suppose it depends on how you view "bubble gum pop for 14 year old boys with an interest in girls".

Well if he was, then I guess we agree. :)

I was. we do.
 
:-)
 
 
Good times.

Hi,
 
I always thought that "metal" was just like the old days of the punk scene ... it was an anti-image thing, and I'm ok with that, except that some of the musical ability of some of those bands, is so weak, as to be boring and pathetic.
 
There are a couple of good ones here and there, and I happen to appreciate Dream Theater a bit, and have seen them in concert twice, but calling them metal is kinda strange ... they are way too composed to be just "metal", and if that guitarist played a flute, or a violin, everyone would think he was a master player of some sort ... but no ... because it is electric he is just another thrasher out there. He does know his notes and chords though!
 
Rain went lefty? ... nahhh the photographer was drunk and turned the film backwards! Plus in Las Vegas, long hair is not exactly the best selling act!
 
 
 

Moshkiae
Hi,
 
I always thought that "metal" was just like the old days of the punk scene ... it was an anti-image thing, and I'm ok with that, except that some of the musical ability of some of those bands, is so weak, as to be boring and pathetic.
 
There are a couple of good ones here and there, and I happen to appreciate Dream Theater a bit, and have seen them in concert twice, but calling them metal is kinda strange ... they are way too composed to be just "metal", and if that guitarist played a flute, or a violin, everyone would think he was a master player of some sort ... but no ... because it is electric he is just another thrasher out there. He does know his notes and chords though!
 
Rain went lefty? ... nahhh the photographer was drunk and turned the film backwards! Plus in Las Vegas, long hair is not exactly the best selling act!
 
 
 

Yeah, for the last year I've been trying to re-learn the instrument, correct things, change the way I position my hands and all - but I didn't go as far as switching to lefty. :)
 
I was/am working on a little something which required some rehearsal footage and a couple of recent pics - and the webcam on my laptop shots everything in reverse.
 
You're right about Vegas - I've had to adapt or I wouldn't have survived. Shorts aren't all that bad, after all. lol

They all had diaheria and they were desperately trying to hold it back ... Just five more seconds until the picture was taken.

All metal bands have diaheria when they get the syphilus from groupies and eat bad food on them long road trips.


After they make millions they eat good food and can afford penicillin.

Simples.

Never thought of Dream Theater as metal (or heard them described that way before).  Always as Prog.  New Prog, but still it's GOOD Prog!
 
I've got one of Petrucci's training DVD's.  I can somewhat handle the hand and finger exercises he shows before picking up a guitar.  After that I kind of want to toss the guitar out the window.  Hehe...

We mentioned Accept earlier in this thread... I'm streaming previews of their most recent album, Stalingrad. It's actually pretty intense. Andy Sneap behind the mixing desk probably is in it for something.
 
Last I'd heard was, IIRC, Russian Roulette, which was a bit of a let down.
 
EDIT - Man, make that their last 2 records. Surprisingly good heavy metal.

Hmm...  I think I'll have to listen to Blood of the Nations tonight (their one before Stalingrad - I don't have a couple, All Areas Worldwide & Metal Blast From The Past or their newest - might have to check that out!).