Sunday
Nov152009
Top 5 Queensryche Videos
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 12:01AM
I'm boarding Shiprocked today...As you may know, Queensryche is headlining the floating festival. This means it's a perfect time to countdown the top 5 Queensryche videos...selected by me, of course!
Number 5 - "Anybody Listening?"
Number 4 - "I Don't Believe in Love"
Queensryche - I Don't Believe In Love
Paul | MySpace Video
Number 3 - "Empire"
queensryche
NUCCIO +sdmf+ | MySpace Video
Number 2 - "Silent Lucidity"
Queensryche - Silent Lucidity
mikehell74 | MySpace Video
Number 1 - "Jet City Woman"
Queensryche - Jet City Woman
mikehell74 | MySpace Video
Agree with my list? Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments section. I'll review the Queensryche concert aboard the cruise as soon as time permits. Ahoy mateys!
Reader Comments (25)
Those are great pictures you posted of all the shows you attended with all my new fave singers and their bands! At first, I thought all those guys at the end of each photo set were your bodyguards until I realized they were the same guys with all the guitars, basses, drums and keys, hahaha!!!
Anyway, from all those pictures it sure is obvious these bands put on a heckuva show! And I love the stage outfits they've got. It's almost like they are dressed for some kinda futuristic True Blood semi-formal ball or somethin'.
Looking at all those pics makes me think they should package up a tour of all those bands to play all the major cities in the U.S. I say that cuz I want to see 'em! It really is a shame, as you say, that they aren't more popular in the States. Our country is really hurtin' for great Metal of any kind right now, but there are signs.
And it's just a shame that the Glam Metal band with the most attention is essentially a Las Vegas Comedy Act, and that would be Steel Panther. They are good, don't get me wrong, but I like stuff that isn't so obvious in their parody.
The most successful bands over here are all either a kind of artless generic pop hard rock where the singers all sound like Daltry or that dude from Counting Crows, or they are totally hardcore Heavy Metal where the singers bark like dogs and the guitarists play so fast they sound like metal power saws or somethin'.
But there are signs of bands that will Bring Back Glam over here, such as Dirty Penny, who hail from Santa Cruz, California or Mad Margritt from Atlanta, Georgia.
Alas, as you well know, none have that Euro elegance of your fave singer's bands. Metallica kinda duz it but without the Melodic thing that makes your bands so great. It's either all Glam/Sleaze Metal, which I love, that Generic Hard Rock I described earlier, Hardcore Heavy Metal or Veteran and Reunion acts, the latter two which I also like, as you well know).
I remember travelling around Europe a little bit in 1996 (I had a girlfriend who was a bookings agent for British Airways in Zurich at the time) and realized you really could bop around country to country as you do to check out all of the bands. So cool. Unfortunately, she was not cool and her taste in music ran the gammet from "The Macarana" to "Who Let The Dogs Out", hahaha!!!
I also hung out in London for two months in a flat of another gal pal, which was cool, but she wasn't into Metal either, tho I did score a ton of vintage Metal picture sleeve singles like Saxon's "Princess of the Night" and Tyger's of Pan Tang's killer cover of the classic Lieber/Stoller penned "Love Potion #9). I also got like $2000 worth of CD's and posters of Punk
Oops! Sorry about that Xandra... Before I finished my original comments to you, I accidently pressed "Create Post" with my left devil's horn, when I leaned down to adjust my tail... just kiddin', hahaha!!!
Where was I? Oh yeah, so I got lots of old Sex Pistols and 999 posters and stuff but mostly a lot of British Metal CD's and British Live Rock Concert Videos like Deep Purple, etc., that you can't get here is the U.S. And I got tons of Saxon, for example, that you still can't find over here. That was in 2001. This time, I wanna go back and not only catch some of these bands but also some of the Veteran Metal Acts that make the rounds over there and also go to Sweden and check out all the great Glam like Crash Diet, etc.
Back on your fave bands overall style of dress... Funny story... In 1987, I was in New York on biz before I moved there and staying at the Essex House on Central Park West. I remember I was waiting for a biz associate in the lobby before going on a shoot and I noticed a bunch of guys in head to toe all black designer leather hangin' out all around the lobby.
From what I could tell they were all waiting for a guy to check out. Anyway, there were like 5 or 6 of 'em and a few of what seemed like girlfriends hangin' around.
Anyway, these people were all dressed in the most beautiful leather suits and clothes. All the stuff had what looked like sterling silver accents, like buttons and zippers and the like, much like a lot of your guys, kinda like an 80's style version of the Kamelot look, if you will, and they all had really long hair. If I were to guess, their clothes were all designed by Jean Paul Gaultier (met him once at the 26th Street Flea Market).
They all even had matching leather luggage (replete with sterling silver zippers and locks, etc.). They were just all black leathered out, except I think one of the gals had a plaid miniskirt but was wearin' a black leather blazer and boots, too.
It was winter, so of course, they all had black leather boots with sterling silver tips, etc., tho one guy had chrome tipped patent leather army boot like boots. And they all were wearin' black gloves. Like I said it was all probably Gaultier and just borderline over the top. They all were kinda menacing and kinda looked like handsomer versions of the villian in the De Palma movie, "Dressed To Kill", even the chicks, hahaha!!!
So I figured, what the h*ll, I'm gonna ask one of 'em if they are a band. I didn't recognize 'em but I'm thinkin' they all are essentially wearing the same kinda clothes, same designer, and they're all looking semi-annoyed and pouting (a key sign, hahaha!!!) and it seemed like the guy checking out was maybe their manager who might have actually been checking them all out.
So, I approached one of them who was seated over by the window overlooking Central Park West and asked a simple question...
Me: "Are you guys a rock and roll band?"
Here comes the good part. This guy is wearin' chrome reflective Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses even tho it was dark and rainy outside...
And this guy very slowly and methodically raises his head and almost like a robot turns his face ever so slowly and fixes his chrome eyed stare on mine,and just kinda looked at me like I interrupted a joint meeting of Parliament or something, like it was just the end of the world that I asked him such a stupid question. So, he looked up, sizing me up. And with an expression of disdain...
He sez: (with his eyes unseen behind chrome)...
"No ba-a-a-and."
Well, excuse me!, I thought to myself and walked away but I just thought the whole thing was so funny because I knew they were. As I grabbed a cab out front with my colleague (by the way, I had Robert Plant hair during this era, wearin' a black leather Schott motor cycle jacket and black Dirty Harry Ray Ban Balorama shades), I saw them all pile into 3 black Cadillac limos!
"No b-a-a-a-a-nd.", my *ss!
Cut to 1991, a full 5 years later and I'm now living in NYC and my girlfriend's (now a long ago ex gf cuz she wasn't into our stuff either!) brother who worked at Electra calls me and asks me if I want to go to a concert at Radio City Music Hall. His seats were always fourth row or closer and I liked the band's music so I said "Yeah!"
Well, out comes the band and just rock out the place! Iller guitars and keys, super high tech laser light show, etc. And I'm sittin' really close and I'm looking at these guys and just a huge wash of Deja Vu came over me. Here's the lead singer standing right before me clad in black leather head to toe with the sterling silver zippers and buttons, etc.
It was the same guy, not kidding, that I spied in the lobby of the Essex House 5 years before and asked if they were a band. Now here he is singin' right in front of me, point blank, playin' Radio City Music Hall, right before my eyes!
The "b-a-a-a-and" was Sisters Of Mercy.
And the guy who told me in the lobby, "No b-a-a-a-and" was the lead singer.
Haahaha!!!
The lead singer was Andrew Eldritch, who you might be familiar with.
And you know, what? They were great. All the other members had since split and were replaced but he was doin' his thing and the new band were kick *ss! Y'know, they aren't considered Metal, but I thought their sound kinda had a pop Metal sensibility with touches of Industrial and a lot of Goth/Electro/Dance stuff goin' on... really they are sorta just two steps to the left and more than just a little bit harder than Dead or Alive.
It's a danceable sort of New Wave/Dance/Glam (dare I say) brand of synth pop Goth Rock, but they have this kinda Metal-ish guitar runnin' through it all. It's all kinda dark and mean and cool, which is awesome. I guess they are classified as Goth Rock. Eldritch is very Bowie, the way his voice sounds adn you can definitely sense that as a musical reference, as well. The guitars are kinda Duran Duran (hahaha) but a lot louder, crunchier and more Metallic.
They played a lot of stuff off "Vision Thing" and their big U.S. Alternative Radio hits, they totally rocked out Radio City. It was pretty wild. It was also cool, surprising and different to realize like 3 songs into the set they don't have a drummer, but the most elaborate set of drum machines on earth, who Eldritch introduced to the audience as Doktor Avalanche and when I saw 'em, Tony James, bassist and songwriter extraordinaire (Ex-Generation X and Sigue Sique Sputnik) was up there with then unknown whiz, Andreas Bruhn and Tim Bricheno of All About Eve on guitars.
Anyway, the Sisters of Mercy album, "Floodland", went to #9 on the U.K. charts in 1987, and even tho you were very young, you still might be familiar with their music... and their outfits, hahaha!!!
Hey, funny trivia about Sisters of Mercy... Doktor Avalanche, their the Big Drum Machine, currently "runs" the on-line advice column on the Sisters of Mercy web site... hahaha!!!
Okay, so a little off the subject but still fascinating. I went to Wikipedia to put the names with the faces but I have all of their CD's (albeit in storage 1,000 miles away on the tip of Long Island, NY). And I found out more about Dr. Avalanche. He puts on quite a show. You should look up the article and so should anyone else reading who are curious about this band and I, also, of course, recommend you go see 'em, if you haven't already.
Hey, did you check out Graham Bonnet in all those vids I told you about on YouTube, yet? Lemme know what you think. I"m tellin' ya Xandra, I think you will love him, if you haven't already checked him out, because you like the big voiced singers and all.
Anyway, back on the subject at hand. So, yeah, your bands should really play together over here, especially since it seems like they know each other. I wonder if it could happen. Maybe they could share some of the equipment (not guitars, of course) and a sound guy.
Seems like they might know each other, but you could probably answer that. And the fact that Roy's band are all from the States would help, too, just in being familiar with the different cities and all, dunno.
Yeah, so anyway, I got "Mentalize" right after I started checking out all your reco's and it is very good. It's on iTunes!
Xandra, I want to thank you so much for sharing with us all of your rec's and pictures. You have opened up a whole new world of Metal for me, which is awesome, as we must always keep expanding our horizons of musical taste.
And that goes for my new appreciation of Geoff Tate, thanks to you (and NirVana!).
p.s. I'm gonna listen to all the stuff NirVana listed and get back to you guys my impressions. Also, let me know about that stuff and if you ever saw Sisters of Mercy or have any of their albums! And, oh, I noticed one consistent theme running throughout your photosets, and that is your beautiful smile! Thanks for sharing!
Xandra!
Here I am again! Argh! I'm such a spacehead, forgot to include something I mentioned 3 posts ago.
Still haven't gotten to all of NirVana's reco's but as soon as I do, I'll comment...
In the meantime, I forgot to post a segment of a list I told you about from my "Metal Power Ballads/Love Songs" A-List titled, "Luv Roxx", which is 278 songs of over 20.9 hours of nonstop Glam Metal and AOR/Melodic Metal, hahaha!!!
As I said, previously, I thought you'd like it, cuz it's all bands with great singers from back in the day... like mostly '86-'93...
I said I was gonna do it, almost forgot, and now, at last, here it is. Others may be intrigued also...
64) What Love Can Be, Kingdom Come
65) Edie (Ciao Baby), The Cult
66) Being There, Tora Tora
67) There Was A Time, Baton Rouge
68) Save Your Love, Great White
69) In The Ghetto, Fair Warning
70) Beggars And Thieves, Beggars & Thieves
71) Wanna Be Loved, House Of Lords
72) Love Walked In (extended version), Thunder
73) Burning Heart, Vandenberg
74) When I'm Gone, Michael Schenker
75) Call To The Heart, Giuffria
76) I'll See You In My Dreams, Giant
77) Too Many Hearts, John Norum (Thanks, Nirv!)
78) Old Flames, Bad Moon Rising
79) I've Been A Fool Before, Cobra
80) Out Of Love, Blue Murder
81) Cold Heart, Trouble Tribe
82) See You Someday, Lillian Axe
83) Forever Young, Tyketto
84) Lost In The Night, Victory
85) Tell Me What You Want, Zebra
86) I'll Be There, Hardline
87) Stranded, Tangier
Hey, wait, no Queensryche!
I thought I had 'em in there...
Oh, I have "Silent Lucidity" happening later at #177 and it's a great spot right after "If I Close My Eyes Forever" by Ozzy and Lita Ford, hahaha!!! It works so I'll leave it there.
Hope you like the list and if you can, you should listen to what you haven't already heard on it, or all of 'em, if you are into it...
Rock On, Kid!
I didn't have time for Graham Bonnet, but it's still on my list. I have been to two concerts in the last two days and therefore not at home at all. On Monday I went to see Sonata Arctica & Delain and on Tuesday I went to see Gotthard & Europe.
All four absolute fantastic bands. :D On Friday I will see House of Lords and Human Zoo. Do you know Human Zoo? Fantastic band too. You might like them. :)
I love your list! Thunder, Giant, Victory, Tora Tora, Kingdom Come, Tyketto (!!!) and and and - alle great bands!
I have to say I don't own anything of Sisters of Mercy. The New Wave stuff isn't so much my thing. Gothic yes, to some extend, but there has to be a really good doze of Metal in it.
Okay, how do you know the bands know each other that well?! Because you are right!
Oliver Palotai founded Sons Of Seasons and he's the keyboarder of Kamelot (he's from Germany, so to be correct, just three of the Kamelot guys are from the US). Edguy have been on tour with Kamelot in the US last year and Roy sings in one song of Avantasia (Twisted Mind). Andre Matos was on tour with Edguy last year in Europe and he's friends with the Kamelot guys (I don't know from where, the music circles are quit small actually).
BTW - Edguy just finished their US tour for their current album and Kamelot will be back in fall 2010.
So awesome you saw Europe and Gotthard! I only have just recently discovered Gotthard as they never got any exposure in the States. It was only recently that someone commenting on this site, like we are doing, brought Gotthard to my attention. I just got their first two records and they are killer.
I especially like their version of Deep Purple's "Hush", which I put on a playlist right after "Still of the Night" by Whitesnake and "Turbo Lover" by Judas Priest, hahaha!!!
I am going to check out Sonata Artica, Delain and Human Zoo tomorrow. Also I am going to go see Kamelot when they come in 2010! That will be unbelievable! Thank you for turning me onto them and all of these bands! You've opened up a whole new world of Metal to me I otherwise probably would never have experienced. Too bad I didn't know more about Edguy even before this last tour. I would have definitely tried to go see them.
I'll try and catch any of these bands when they come over.
It really would be cool if they all came over together, if they all get along. What a great show that would be!
Right now I'm duking it out with the usual suspects who comment on here and some new ones on what the "Top !0 Best Albums of 2009" are, and I gotta say, these characters are runnin' circles around me... They really know their Rock'n'Roll.
I've gotten so many tips of great bands from them just today. My new fave album is from a new band, Gunfire 76, called "Casualties & Thieves" and hands down it's the best thing I've heard all year. Incredible! You've got to check it out! Also 77 from Spain... just awesome. Total AC/DC freaks but do it so well. Amazing.
Anyway, you should email Allyson your faves of '09 and post what you send her, if you want to share it with us. I know you've got some good ones, Xandra, based on what you've turned me onto. Or just post a few, if you feel like it. I'm actually going to post another list and see what happens then.
I wish these guys would post whole lists, too! Especially the dude who turned us onto Gunfire 76. Also I put a list up for "Best of 1989" just for laffs, because 20 years ago, this kind of music still ruled the planet, and some people made some great suggestions on that, too! It would be cool to see what you like from back then.
Hey, I can't believe you are going to see House of Lords! Huge! I so want to see them. I really wish I knew more about 'em when they toured this country back in the day. Still, I'll bet they'll play here at some point fairly soon, I would imagine.
And I'll be sure to catch 'em this time. Please tell me how the show is and let me know if they played some of my faves like "Hold Back The Night", "Hearts Of The World", "Laydown Staydown", "Love Don't Lie" and my fave fave, "Wanna Be Loved", which charted over here back in the day.
Thanks for the comments and keeping this going. And don't forget to check out Graham Bonnet! If you have time to check out just a couple of vids, go to YouTube and look up Impellitteri, "Stand In Line", Rainbow, "Since You Been Gone" and Alcatrazz, "God Bless Video". You will be blessing these vids, too, I assure you. His singing in these bands is just phenomonal! In fact, to see and hear just how good he really is, check out the live versions, too!
How he does it so loud and strong, really screaming at the top of his lungs totally on key is astounding! Please check him out! You will not be disappointed, I can tell you that for sure! He's absolutely flawless!
Ciao! and have fun at House of Lords! And, again, please let me know how it was after Parliament has adjourned, hahaha!!!