My Happy Place In A 3 Minute Video Clip From 1989

Ah, the MTV Video Music Awards 1989. The zenith of that awards show and the music we love. Motley Crue presented the award for "Best Metal Music Video."

Note 1989 was the first year for the category. Vince Neil looked so good back then!

The nominees for the first ever Best Metal Music Video: Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Guns n' Roses, Metallica.

Guns n' Roses won for their "Sweet Child O' Mine" video. Duff McKagan and Steven Adler showed up to accept the award. Happiness ensues!

The awards show also featured the final live performance of guitarist Steve Clark with Def Leppard. He died in early 1991. My beloved George Michael won the Video Vanguard Award.

Madonna presents George Michael his big award. The footage is so old, Madonna and her backup dancers are smoking on stage as part of a planned "bit" - I'm sure that wouldn't be allowed these days!

The thing about this particular awards show was that it was so fun... and memorable. Like, everyone was talking about the show at school the next day. We all taped it (for real, on VHS!) and watched it back again and again. I am not exaggerating when I say I still think back to this particular awards show pretty regularly. It was just that good. The next year was hard to beat, too. The 1990 VMAs featured Madonna doing the best live performance of "Vogue" ever - and Motley Crue did "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" and Aerosmith did "Love In An Elevator." Just freaking great stuff.

Here's Madonna at the 1989 VMAs with an equally awesome performance:

Sunday's Best: Week 7, 2022

Since nutbag Vladimir Putin seems hell bent on causing a war in Europe by invading Ukraine, I thought Sunday's Best this week should focus on conflict songs. You know, the best songs about war.

JUST IN: Lower-level Russian tactical commanders have been given orders consistent with orders to invade Ukraine, U.S. officials tell @ABC News.

LIVE UPDATES: https://t.co/E4U08DZHy2

— ABC News (@ABC) February 20, 2022

Some of my choices:

War Pigs - Black Sabbath

Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Rooster - Alice In Chains

Us and Them - Pink Floyd

Civil War - Guns n' Roses

One - Metallica

Did I forget one of your favorite war-related songs? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Valentine's Day, Hair Metal Fans

Are you going out tonight for Valentine's Day? Perhaps you are staying in. Eric and I don't really celebrate these sorts of holidays, so there is nothing special planned in our household.

Perhaps you'd like to have a throwback Valentine's Day, complete with a homemade mixtape (ok, Amazon playlist) of great power ballads for the one you love. Here's some choices for a great power ballads list.

• Metallica, Nothing Else Matters
• Aerosmith, Dream On
• Whitesnake, Is This Love?
• Extreme, More Than Words
• Bon Jovi, Always
• Van Halen, Can't Stop Lovin' You

"Three things shall last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

From our family to yours: Happy Valentine’s Day! 💕 🐾 🐈 pic.twitter.com/h6jBuDy9ro

— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) February 14, 2022

Sunday's Best: Week 5, 2022

Yesterday's post about Eddie Vedder vs. Nikki Sixx got me thinking about all the awesome albums that came out in 1991. Yes, Pearl Jam's Ten came out in 1991 and as I said, I did enjoy it. Still, there were way more albums released in 1991 that I loved more - and still do! - to this day.

Sunday's Best this week looks at some of the awesome albums released in 1991. Did I leave off one of your favorites? There were gobs more great albums that came out in 1991. A truly great year for music.

Skid Row - Slave To The Grind.

Metallica - Metallica

Tesla - Psychotic Supper

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Kix - Hotwire

Guns n' Roses - Use Your Illusion

Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Sunday's Best: Week 3, 2022

Welcome back to Sunday's Best! I swear, January is like the month of Mondays or something. It just feels never-ending. Cold, dark, boring... at least we've got some good playoff football as a distraction. Did you hear? A little team called the Cincinnati Bengals are going to the AFC championship game next week. That's right - the team won their first road playoff game in franchise history last night. Obviously, I'm pumped!

WE'RE GOING TO THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! pic.twitter.com/gXde7z27DP

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 23, 2022

But back to the music. Way back in the dark ages of 2009, both Jeff Beck and Metallica were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Toward the end of the induction ceremony, there was a big jam session featuring Beck, Metallica, plus Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin). This group of wealth and talent got together to do "Train Kept A Rollin.'" Most people know the song because of Aerosmith, but the track was originally recorded in the early 50s and covered by The Yardbirds in the sixties. The performance below is magic: simply one of the best gatherings of music legends on a single stage at the same time. Enjoy.

We're All Getting Old...

It's been 30 years since the Recording Academy screwed up and gave the best hard rock/metal Grammy to Jethro Tull instead of Metallica. Jethro Tull won for their album Crest of a Knave.

I've never been a Jethro Tull fan. I just don't get them. I went to high school with a guy who was an absolutely rabid Tull fan. His dad was a fan and he passed that love on down I suppose. I remember going to school after the bizarre Grammy win and Aaron being so pumped. We were so incredibly young back then, but I was already obsessed with music and so were a lot of my friends. I'm talking like 4th grade here. We would watch MTV after school and loved all the Glam bands we still talk about here today.

On this day in 1989, the very unheavy Jethro Tull win the first Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, beating out Metallica. pic.twitter.com/M4HODTRBnV

— Monsters Of Rock® (@MonstersOfRock) January 22, 2022

This Show Excites Me - But I Won't Be Going

It's been awhile since a special package tour or one-off show has really excited me. Metallica, Ice Nine Kills and Greta Van Fleet playing together in Las Vegas definitely caught my attention. The show will be at Allegiant Stadium on Friday, February 25. Unfortunately the tickets are bonkers expensive. I'm talking the bottom level tickets are like $325 each, plus fees. There are no regular Ticketmaster seats left, just "verified resale" which means crazy high prices. Add in the cost of travel plus trying to avoid the current COVID surge (who knows how long it's going to last at this point), I won't be seeing this dream show live. If you are going, know I am so jealous and I demand a full rundown of the event.

Beyond honored to be opening for @Metallica on February 25th at @AllegiantStadm with @GretaVanFleet. We’ll see you Psychos in Vegas.. Tickets available at https://t.co/mvIRSRzIoy pic.twitter.com/swr4wYcv3w

— ICE NINE KILLS (@ICENINEKILLS) January 19, 2022