A tribute to heavy metal and hard rock fans
During the Monsters of Rock Festival on 17th August 1991, Motley Crue was the 3rd band to play, before Metallica and later AC/DC. These were two of the songs they played, a song off their 1989 album (Dr Feelgood) and of course the 1970s Sex Pistols classic.
During the Monsters of Rock Festival on 17th August 1991, Metallica was the 4th band to play, just before headliner AC/DC.
This was one of the songs they played, the third track from their second album Ride the Lightning (1984). The chromatic introduction, which is usually mistaken for an electric guitar, is in fact the bass guitar through distortion and wah-wah. The intro was written by the late Cliff Burton before joining Metallica.
Les Paul, 94, “The Father of the Electric Guitar”, who developed probably the most well-known of all electric guitars whose pioneering electric guitars were used by a legion of rock stars, has died from complications of pneumonia in New York.
He created his first solid-body electric guitar, dubbed “the log”, in 1941. When he played it in a nightclub, people thought he was crazy. The first Les Paul electric guitars went on sale in 1952 and was in a way responsible for the birth of rock music.
That’s not all, he also:
(i) developed multi-track recording
(ii) developed overdubbing.
(iii) invented the 8-track tape recorder.
Countless world famous rock musicians are associated with Les Paul guitars, including:
(i) U2’s The Edge
(ii) Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page
(iii) Guns N’ Roses’ Slash
(iv) The Who’s Pete Townshend
Among the world’s greatest rock guitarists who paid tribute to him include Slash:
Les Paul was a shining example of how full one’s life can be. He was so vibrant and full of positive energy. I’m honoured and humbled to have known and played with him over the years.
Slash played the quissential “Les Paul sound guitar solo” in Sweet Child O’Mine.
Joe Satriani said:
Paul was the original guitar hero. Les Paul set a standard for musicianship and innovation that remains unsurpassed.
A successful performer in his own right, he notched up 11 number one singles and 36 gold discs with his wife Mary Ford, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Thunderstruck is the first song on the 1990 AC/DC album The Razors Edge, released 21st September 1990. Among AC/DC’s most well-known tracks, this is the only song released after 1981 that the band still performs live in concert. Written by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, Angus said writing the song “started off from a little trick I had on guitar. I played it to Mal [Malcolm] and he said ‘Oh, I’ve got a good rhythm idea that will sit well in the back.’ We built the song up from that… It was really just a case of finding a good title. We came up with this thunder thing and it seemed to have a good ring to it. AC/DC=Power. That’s the basic idea.”
The first song in their 18-song setlist during their 2-hour show at Donington Park, England on 17th August 1991. It was their third “Monsters Of Rock” festival. It was filmed in 35 mm Panavision and used 26 cameras, including one mounted on a helicopter.
“Say Anything” is a single released by X Japan on 1 December 1991, originally featured on the Jealousy album.
IMHO, this is one of the world’s greatest ever rock ballads, and the greatest song to have ever come out of Asia.
I am not sure if the video below is the original music video though:
“Tears” is a single released by X Japan on 10 November 1993. It was written and composed by Yoshiki Hayashi and would later appear on the band’s last album, Dahlia.
IMHO it is one of the greatest rock ballads ever written, and the second greatest rock ballad to ever come out of Asia after “Say Anything”.
X Japan seem to have a penchant for writing lengthy songs, the single for Tears clocks in at more than 10 minutes.
This was first released as the second track from the English band’s fourth album in 1971. “Rock and Roll” stands as one of the band’s best-known songs.
Guitarist Jimmy Page mentioned that it came to be from a spontaneous jam session.
It is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs where all four members share the composer credit.
The lyrics were written by vocalist Robert Plant, referencing a number of 1950s and 1960s early rock hits, including “The Stroll,” “The Book of Love,” and “Walking In the Moonlight.”
The following is a live performance of the song from Madison Square Garden in July 1973. It was recorded for the band’s concert film The Song Remains the Same and accompanying soundtrack album.
Down Fall The Good Guys is the second full length album by the band Wolfsbane in 1991. Two singles were released from the album, Ezy which got to number 68 and After Midnight which did not chart.
After Midnight has stuck in my head all these years – it’s dismissed as a “throwaway power ballad” by allmusic.com, but still I think it’s an excellent song. I am still looking for the acoustic version I saw on TV once.
After Midnight is very rare, very difficult to find even on Amazon.com.
The following is probably the only copy of After Midnight on streaming audio available on the internet:
Subscribe in a reader
Or, subscribe via email: