The One I Missed....

Somehow in my years of concert going which began in 1975, I never saw Queen. This is a huge regret. I don't know why I never saw them, what happened? Even if I someday get to see Led Zeppelin (with Jason Bonham) I will never say I got to see all the great classic rock bands because I missed Queen.

Off the top of my head, here are th concerts I can remember seeing. Is there anyone obvious missing from this list? I didn't include everyone I've seen, tried to keep it to classic rock. (obviously I was too young to see some of the greats like Janis, Jimi, The Doors and The Beatles)

AC/DC
Aerosmith
Boston
Bad Co.
The Band
The Beach Boys
Black Sabbath
BTO
Blue Oyster Cult
Bob Dylan
Bob Seger
(Bon Jovi! never saw them!)
Bruce Springsteen
CCR
Cheap Trick
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
The Cars
David Bowie
Def Lepard
Deep Purple
The Doobie Bros.
The Eagles
Eddie Money
Elton John
Elvis Costello
Emmerson, Lake & Palmer
Eric Clapton
Fleetwood Mac
Foghat
Foriegner
Genesis
George Thorogood
Heart
INXS
Iron Maiden
J Geils
Jethro Tull
(Never saw John Lennon!)
Journey
Jefferson Starship
Judas Priest
The Kinks
(Never saw KISS)
Lou Reed
Lynrd Skynrd
Motley Crue
Neil Young
(Never saw Ozzy solo)
Pat Benatar
Peter Frampton
Peter Gabriel
Phil Collins
Pink Floyd
The Police
The Pretenders
Prince
(Never saw Queen)
Quiet Riot
Rainbow
REO
Rolling Stones
Ronnie James Dio
Rush
Sammy Hagar
Santana
Supertramp
Ted Nugent
Train
Triumph
Tom Petty
Toto
U2
UFO
Van Morrison
Van Halen
The Who
Yes
ZZ Top

Chicken Foot

Should be interesting .... Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Chad Smith and Michael Anthony.

I have to admit, I loved Sammy back in his solo days. I'll never forget the show he put on when "Street Machine" came out. On stage he had a RED TransAm, a huge red grand piano, of course red instruments and outfits, and he swung around on a red rope. He was pretty wild. Kept jumping on the car and the piano doing all this really crazy stuff. When I was a 19 year old - he was very entertaining, today....not so much.

Tributes to Michael

I've been thinking a lot about suicide lately - don't worry, not considering it, just thinking about how it affects those left behind more than any other type of death.
When Michael Hutchence was found dead...I was devastated. He had a lot of friends and fans. I love this video that someone put together of him, its one of my favorites:

Some of his friends that made tributes:

• Nick Cave sang his ballad "Into My Arms" at the funeral of Michael Hutchence. The funeral was broadcast live on Australian TV, but out of respect for Hutchence, Cave refused to allow his song to be televised.

• U2 and Bono have made several tributes to Hutchence ever since his death:
  • The 2000 U2 album All That You Can't Leave Behind includes a song titled "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", which Hutchence's friend Bono wrote about his apparent suicide. The song is written in the form of an argument about suicide in which Bono tries to convince Hutch of the act's foolishness. Bono characterized the song as a good old row between friends, which he felt guilty for never having with Hutchence while he was alive.

• Singer Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, a friend of both Hutchence and Yates (and Geldof's best man at his wedding to Yates), also wrote an eerily prophetic song for him. It was recorded in 1996 and released on the album Medazzaland only a month before Hutchence's death. "Michael, You've Got a Lot to Answer For" included these lyrics:

"Trust you to get caught up in somebody's war; you'll come out of it all intact, I'm sure.

Just remember what friends were put here for;

Michael, you've got a lot to answer for, and I know that you're gonna call... if you need me."

Duran Duran was touring to support the album when Hutchence died, and Le Bon found the song too difficult to perform anymore so it was cut from the set for the remainder of the tour. However during subsequent Duran Duran tours, it was included as a tribute.

• At a 2007 show in Adelaide supporting INXS, Simple Minds dedicated "Gloria" to Michael, saying "it's about a woman, but it'd have to be with Michael." At a New Zealand show 2 months later, he also dedicated "Gloria" to the memory of Michael Hutchence.

• On many aftershows in London Indigo during his Earth Tour (21 nights in London), Prince played the song "What You Need" with Maceo Parker on saxophone to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Michael's loss.

(info taken from Wikipedia)

Death Metal Fans - Your Input Needed!

Not being a fan of death metal, or even anything much heavier than Black Sabbath or AC/DC - I didn't have much to say in response to this question posed over at Rock Revival:

"Are people that like Death Metal Emotionally Disturbed? - or - Why do the loonies have all the best riffs?"

If you have an answer to that head over there and let them know.

Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan

Bob turns 67 today. I have always been a fan of older Dylan music but really enjoyed his release "Modern Times".

He's a genius with words if you ask me. My favorite Dylan song will always be "Just Like a Woman".

Do you have a favorite Dylan song? Do you listen to him now? Ever?

Thanks, Bob, for 50 great years of music with more to come....I hope!

Coming out of the Closet: Top Ten Non-Rock Albums

Paul over at Rock Revival has a question going around...he asked us to list our top ten favorite albums that would not be considered rock. If you'd like to share - please do! I would be curious to see what some of you have in that closet that I may want to borrow :)

Mine were:
1. Motown:
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get it On.

2. Jazz:
Jamiroqua, High Times Singles

3. Oldies:
Tommy James & The Shondelles, Crimson & Clover

4. R&B Soul:
India Arie, Accoustc Soul

5. India Arie, Testimony

6. CCM
Nichole Nordeman, Brave

7. Soul:
Joss Stone, The Soul Sessions

8. Genre?
John Butler Trio, Sunrise Over See

9. Genre?
Johnny Lang, all of his!

10. Pop
Train, Drops of Jupiter

The Who Video You Must See!

Yet Another Music Blog has a great video of The Who today. Its a performance they did on the Smother's Brother's show (for you youngsters, that was a variety show that aired in the 60's when there was actually real comedy and good music on TV every week!)

Anyhow, this performance is legendary because of what happened at the end. I'll let you go read and see it for yourself.

Please try not to laugh at the hairstyles of the guys, Roger looks like a girl, a very pretty girl; Pete's bangs are so short its embarrassing, Keith looks normal (ironically) and surprisingly I found John quite hot back in the day.....

I'm in Love!

...with this new radio station:

The Sound LA

Finally, the perfect radio station. Up until now I have been forced to listen to KLOS or JackFM.

I can't knock KLOS, that would be like slapping an old high school buddy in the face - BUT, I've grown up, okay? Yeah, I love CLASSIC ROCK, but my tastes are broader and I can't handle your immature disc jockeys and endless commercial breaks. (Of course I love Jim Ladd and I like Cynthia Fox and I admire Rita Wilde...but Mark and Brian and the rest of them get on my nerves).

Jack - you are much better as far as variety and less commercials....but it seems that you have a limited number of songs you play over and over and I don't like your attempts at sarcasm or sexual innuendo...too obvious to be funny.

Here is how The Sound describes themselves:

The Sound is about simply one thing, it's about the best "rock" music made to date. Notice the quotes around the word rock, because our definition of rock is a lot broader than most and it knows virtually no time frame. On The Sound you'll hear everything from the geniuses that gave birth to the seminal rock of the '60s and '70s to the ever evolving offspring of that music, including great stuff that came out last year...or even last week.

REO Speedwagon

You know how it is when you hear a certain song that triggers your memory? The next thing you know you are transported back to a time or place and can almost FEEL what you felt at that moment. I have lots of those, and quite a few are not spectacular events from the past, but just ordinary moments.

When I see this album cover I am sitting on my brother's bed with my boyfriend, Jon. My brother is sitting at his desk talking on his CB radio and Jon and I are stoned and we are debating whether or not the cover of the album is clever (his thought) or gross (mine). :)

Later when REO hit their peak and went on tour my boyfriend got a job as one of their roadies. We broke up before they hit the road because there was NO WAY I was going to sit at home alone every night while he was living the rock and roll life of a roadie. (Bob Chandler** if you see this - call me! I want to see if you still have long hair...or any hair???)

This post was triggered by a blog friend, Nik, who is disappointed that Billy Idol is replacing REO as an opening act for Def Lepard this summer. I would be too...no offense to Bill.

**Not to be confused with Bob Chandler the NFL player

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Now playing: George Thorogood - Move It On Over
via FoxyTunes
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Now playing: U2 - A Sort of Homecoming
via FoxyTunes

Van Halen Question

Rock Revival has a fun question today - you'll have to go over there and check it out.


OMG! I am too embarrassed to put this on my blog, but my sister had THIS POSTER in her room for years. Too funny.
(this thought inspired a post on my other blog, I tag you all with it)

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Now playing: Van Halen - Love Walks In
via FoxyTunes