Australia’s Radio Birdman is possibly the first punk band to earn mythical status not on the strength of their music, but rather on their obscurity. The exposure of the average American rocker to Radio Birdman’s blistering late ’70s punk has come solely through a single compilation, The Essential Radio Birdman: 1974-1978. The band’s influence on a generation of Australian artists following in their footsteps cannot be understated, however, with every Oz band of note over the past 20 years – Celibate Rifles, the Screaming Tribesmen, Hoodoo Gurus, and many others – tapping into the Birdman spirit in one form or another.
While the prospects of a Radio Birdman reunion at this late date seemed a bit spotty, Zeno Beach, the album resulting from the reassembled band, is much better than it has any right to be. Recruiting original Birdman shouter Rob Younger – an ingredient essential to any successful reinvention of the band – and calling up mates Chris Masuak and Pip Hoyle, Deniz Tek managed to assemble two-thirds of the original Birdman lineup, adding a couple of new friends to the mix. The chemistry of the newfound band is incredible, adding a fresh layer of grime and grunge to the band’s classic high-flying punk roots.
Detroit-born Tek’s fascinations with the Stooges and the MC5 can still be heard in the songs, but they don’t dominate the proceedings as they once did. Younger’s amazing vocal range – he sounds like Robert Smith of the Cure one moment, like Iggy after a three-day binge the next – is supported by the dueling guitars of Tek and Masuak and a solid rhythm section. The result is a classic, timeless rock ’n’ roll album, bristling with energy and attitude and driven by screaming guitars that channel four decades of garage-bred roots into 45 minutes of near-perfect Marshall flash. (Yep Roc Records, released August 22, 2006)
Fronted by the dynamic, charismatic Steve Marriott, British blues-rockers Humble Pie enjoyed a brief early-1970s heyday that reached its peak with the band’s 1972 album Smokin’. Originally formed in 1968 by Marriott and guitarist Peter Frampton, the band would go through various line-ups and musical directions before latching onto Marriott’s favored rock ‘n’ soul hybrid, a boogie-and-blues brew that, combined with an unrelenting tour schedule, would take Smokin’ to number six on the Billboard albums chart.
While subsequent albums would experience diminishing commercial returns, Humble Pie remained a popular live band when Marriott decided to pull the plug after 1975’s disappointing Street Rats in favor of reforming his 1960s-era outfit the Small Faces. When that reunion went south in a tangle of egos and mediocre music, Marriott put together Steve Marriott’s All-Stars and toured briefly before finally forming a new version of Humble Pie in 1979 with original drummer Jerry Shirley, guitarist Bobby Tench (from the Jeff Beck Group), and bassist Anthony “Sooty” Jones. This Humble Pie line-up recorded a pair of albums – 1980’s On To Victory and the following year’s Go For the Throat before health issues prompted Marriott to bust up the band for a second time in 1981.
Humble Pie’s On To Victory
Reissued as part of a two-disc set, On To Victory and Go For the Throat were both unfairly maligned at the time of their original release, and both albums deserve another listen by long-time fans and newcomers alike. Rather than rest on past laurels or try to recreate the heavy blues-rock formula that struck gold with Smokin’, Marriott’s new Humble Pie would sojourn into unexpected musical territories, incorporating Marriott’s love of American soul music and R&B with the blues-rock sound with which he had built his reputation. As such, On To Victory cleverly mixes these related influences to create a fresh (and funky) sound.
On To Victory scored an unexpected minor hit with “Fool For A Pretty Face,” the song’s swaggering bravado mixing boogie-blues with raucous soul to good effect. The similar “Infatuation” is built with the same blueprint, Marriott adding backing harmonies behind his growling vocals, blasts of R&B styled horns accenting the mix. A cover of the Holland/Dozier/Holland classic “Baby Don’t You Do It” is offered a reckless performance with a lot of charm, Marriott’s signature high-flying vox imitating his previous “I Don’t Need No Doctor” while the band delivers a stone rhythmic groove in the background. Marriott plays a cover of Otis Redding’s “My Lover’s Prayer” fairly straight, gospel-styled keyboards chiming reverently behind his anguished vocals, while the high-flying “Further Down the Road” displays Marriott’s underrated six-string skills and a killer performance by drummer Shirley.
Humble Pie’s Go For the Throat
Experiencing a modicum of sales success with On To Victory, the re-formed Humble Pie was hustled into the studio to record a quick follow-up. Released in 1981, Go For the Throat could be viewed as a sequel to its predecessor and, in many aspects, its songs are almost interchangeable with On To Victory, with a few minor artistic lapses. An overwrought cover of Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” features some fine guitar and keyboards from Marriott, but an overall embarrassing vocal take. Much better is Marriott’s original “Teenage Anxiety,” a mid-tempo ballad with emotional vocals, a solid rhythmic construct, and tasteful piano leads.
Marriott revisits an old Small Faces tune he co-wrote with Ronnie Lane, “Tin Soldier” a relic of the psychedelic 1960s but still holding a bluesy, soulful edge with Marriott’s inspired vocals and nuanced fretwork, and Shirley’s big-beat timekeeping. Another Marriott original, “Driver,” sounds like a ZZ Top outtake albeit with more frantic percussion and a chaotic arrangement fueled by ripping guitar, flying harmonica riffs, and explosive drumbeats. The swinging, Rolling Stones-styled “Restless Blood” is pure raunch ‘n’ roll cheap thrills, and “Chip Away” (The Stone)” is an unbridled rocker from the early Humble Pie songbook, Marriott’s vocals almost lost beneath a storm of stammering guitar, bass, and drums.
Live In Los Angeles 1981
This reissue of On To Victory and Go For the Throat packages both albums on a single CD, accompanied by a second live disc that captures a live 1981 radio broadcast recorded in front of an enthusiastic audience at the Reseda Country Club in Los Angeles, California. The eight-track playlist, although stretching across a full 45-minutes, is curiously short on material from the reformed band’s then-current albums. No matter, because starting with a particularly high-octane ten-minute jam on the band’s “I Don’t Need No Doctor” (originally an R&B chart hit for Ray Charles), this live set strikes like lightning and sounds like thunder, showing why Marriott was always more popular as a live performer than a studio artist.
“Infatuation” takes on a new life on-stage, the band stomping and snorting like a mad bull tearing through a china shop. The band revisits another early Humble Pie gem in “30 Days In The Hole,” one of the more popular AOR tracks from Smokin’, Jerry Shirley’s flying drumbeats and Marriott’s out-of-control vocals paired with intertwined guitars and heavy bass lines. The hit “Fool For A Pretty Face” is well-received, Marriott’s vocals edgier and stronger than the studio version, the band’s crashing instrumentation building to a cacophonous crescendo. Marriott revisits his childhood with a livewire cover of Gene Vincent’s early rock classic “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” pulling off an audacious performance, while a cover of Don William’s country classic “Tulsa Time” swings as hard as the original with amped-up guitars and sonic drumbeats, although the gravel-throated Marriott’s attempt at twangy vocals fall far short of the mark.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Since both On To Victory and Go For the Throat have long been out-of-print in the U.S. and available only sporadically as a British import, it’s good to have both albums available again as part of a single set. While neither album is as engaging or entertaining as early Humble Pie efforts like Rock On or Smokin’, neither is as bad as critics avowed at the time. Both albums include a handful of truly transcendent musical moments – solid fusions of blues, rock, and soul – and although On To Victory is the better and more spontaneous of the two releases, the albums mesh together seamlessly on a single disc. Throw in the red-hot live set, and you have a deluxe edition tailor-made for Humble Pie fans to chew upon for a while. (Deadline Music, released March 13, 2012)
What July lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for with quality, the month offering new blues jams from Chicago's Billy Branch and the mighty Supersonic Blues Machine as well as a cool four-disc box Cadillac Baby's Bea & Baby Records set. There are new rockin' tunes from folks like Imperial Teen, Violent Femmes, and Purple Mountains; some rare Little Steven music; and a slew of archive releases, including some Crowded House on wax and some rare Paul McCartney vinyl stuff. Plus, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, a long overdue reissue of Brian Eno's Apollo album on CD and vinyl! No matter your taste in music, there's something here for you to listen to in July!
If you’re interesting in buying an album, just hit the ‘Buy!’ link to
get it from Amazon.com...it’s just that damn easy! Your purchase puts
valuable ‘store credit’ in the Reverend’s pocket that he’ll use to buy
more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock ‘n’ roll
ecstasy!
JULY 5
Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues - Roots and Branches: The Songs of Little Walter BUY!
JULY 12
Crowded House - The Very Very Best of Crowded House [vinyl] BUY!
Gomez - Liquid Skin [20th anniversary reissue] BUY!
Imperial Teen - Now We Are Timeless BUY!
Little Steven & the Interstellar Jazz Renegades - Lillyhammer The Score, Volume 1: Jazz BUY!
Little Steven & the Interstellar Jazz Renegades - Lillyhammer The Score, Volume 2: Folk, Rock, Rio, Bits & Pieces BUY!
Paul McCartney - Amoeba Gig [CD & vinyl reissue] BUY!
Paul McCartney - Choba B CCCP [CD & vinyl reissue] BUY!
Paul McCartney - Paul Is Live [CD & vinyl reissue] BUY!
Paul McCartney - Wings Over America [CD & vinyl reissue] BUY!
Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains BUY!
Supersonic Blues Machine - Road Chronicles [live] BUY!
JULY 19
Davina & the Vagabonds - Sugar Drops BUY!
Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks [Extended Edition] BUY!
Steve Goodman - Affordable Art [CD reissue] BUY!
Steve Goodman - Artistic Hair [CD reissue] BUY!
Live - Throwing Copper [25th anniversary reissue] BUY!
Various Artists - Cadillac Baby's Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection [4-CD history of Chicago blues label] BUY!
JULY 26
Soundgarden - Live From the Artists Den BUY!
Violent Femmes - Hotel Last Resort BUY!
Album of the Month: There are a number of great choices for the month, but the Rev has to go with the late Steve Goodman's Affordable Art, reissued on CD by the good folks at Omnivore Recordings. The last album released during singer/songwriter's lifetime, on his own indie Red Pajamas label, Affordable Art is a fine collection filled with humor, poetry, and humility – all of which were Goodman's stock-in-trade. If you're unfamiliar with this legendary, talented wordsmith and performer, Affordable Art is a great place to start. Omnivore is also reissuing Goodman's Artistic Hair album this month, and a couple more titles from the artist in August, and you honestly can't go wrong with any of 'em!
What the 1990s are lacking, if I were to inject my two cents worth here, is a truly HEAVY rock ‘n’ roll band. Sure, there’s grindcore, death metal, and metallic rap; punk rap and hardcore punk, and a dozen other variations on the old guttural vocals/loud ‘n’ fast guitars and monster rhythm combo, but there's no really, really HEAVY rock outfit...the kind of stuff that an early Bob Seger (before he hit middle age and senility) used to call “Heavy Music.”
After all, the ‘60s had Dust, Sir Lord Baltimore, and Vanilla Fudge and the ‘70s had Led Zeppelin, Hawkwind, and the mighty Black Sabbath. Even the ‘80s – the great cesspool that was the Reagan era – produced semi-heavy bands in Metallica, Slayer, and the rest of Tipper’s demon-inspired nightmares. Kids these day have nobody to call their own, no righteous headbangers that they can tell tales to their grandchildren about – “well, chilluns, I remember the night that we pried Ozzie up off of a hardwood floor in a West Nashville bar and propped him in front of a mike. Sabbath rocked so hard that they were wheeling them out of the auditorium in iron lungs!”
With the best interests of these young ones at heart, I’d like to nominate Monster Magnet for the open position of the “Heaviest Band of the 1990s.” Dopes To Infinity, their latest effort, comes mighty close to recreating the magic that all of those aforementioned bands brought to their ‘heavy’ creations. First of all, they’ve got a great name, one that would look good on a patch or a school notebook (and that’s important!). Secondly, they've got great song titles – stuff like “Negasonic Teenage Warhead” or “Look To Your Orb For The Warning” or, lest we forget, “Ego, The Living Planet.”
Most importantly, as we used to say once upon a time, Dopes To Infinity kicks out the jams with a dozen powerful, psychedelic-tinged rock tunes. Thunderous, spacey, hypnotizing, and capital-H Heavy, Monster Magnet are no mere pretenders to the throne, but rather real contenders for the crown. (A&M Records, released March 21, 1995)
Given the time between Dag Nasty albums, you’re more likely to witness a total eclipse of the moon, or maybe get hit by a wandering comet, than you are to hear a new album from the band during your lifetime. Maybe we live in charmed times, or perhaps the stars are in perfect alignment, ‘cause the legendary punk outfit has dropped its first disc in a decade with the extraordinary Minority of One.
Fronted by former All vocalist Dave Smalley and Minor Threat/Meatmen axeman Brian Baker, Dag Nasty has released only a handful of albums since the classic 1986 debut Can I Say. Since Dag Nasty’s last effort, 1992’s overlooked Four On the Floor, the band members have been busy – Smalley with his vocal chores for Down By Law and Baker as Bad Religion’s resident six-string maniac. With Minority of One, tho’, the founding fathers of “emocore” have whipped up a new batch of fab tunes certain to whip the punk rock kids into a veritable frenzy.
Dag Nasty’s Minority of One
Minority of One slaughters the so-called “competition,” leaving bands like Dashboard Confessional and the Promise Ring in its wake. The musical gorefest kicks off with “Ghosts,” a high-voltage rocker that reminds us that the past can come back to haunt us, while the anthemic title cut sounds more than a little like Bad Religion. With screaming guitar riffs, crashing rhythms, chanted vocals and non-conformist lyrical perspective, “Minority of One” delivers a little classic “rant ‘n’ roll” for the attentive listener. Smalley’s passionate vocals and the fresh lyrics of “Broken Days” breathe new life into a poetic cliché, a mournful tale of love and betrayal. “Incinerate” is an old-fashioned love song, defiant lyrics matched with a dynamic chorus and Baker’s jagged-edge axework.
The powerful “Wasting Away” is both a lyrical call-to-arms for fresh blood to pick up the “tattered flag” and a deep cut at the hardcore Cassandra’s who would rather bitch about society than try to improve it. Crackling with electricity, “Wasting Away” offers Dave Smalley’s best Greg Graffin vocal imitation while Baker’s dubbed six-string sounds like a guitar army marching to battle alongside bassist Roger Marbury and drummer Colin Sears’ rhythmic artillery division. It’s a smart song, drawing the line in the sand for the next generation of punk rockers to cross. A hidden track sneaks up at the close of Minority of One, a Dag Nasty customized cover of Generation X’s “One Hundred Punks” featuring Baker’s best frantic, class of ’77 styled guitar performance and Smalley’s snarling Billy Idol-inspired vocals.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Although Dag Nasty will remain an afterthought for its members in the face of their various day jobs, Minority of One is nevertheless a potent musical statement. With top notch songwriting and an undeniable musical chemistry bolstered by inspired performances, Dag Nasty has delivered a career album that pairs the maturity of the member’s present stations with the youthful energy and fierce enthusiasm of their youth. Sixteen years in the making, Minority of One is one of the year’s standout efforts. (Revelation Records, released August 20, 2002)
Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2002
Alice Cooper band photo courtesy of Enigma Records
Alice Cooper (band) Discography:
• Pretties for You (Straight Records, 1969) *
• Easy Action (Straight Records, 1970) *
• Love It to Death (Straight Records, 1971)
• Killer (Warner Brothers, 1971)
• School's Out (Warner Brothers, 1972)
• Billion Dollar Babies (Warner Brothers, 1973)
• Muscle of Love (Warner Brothers, 1973)
* Later reissued by Enigma Records' Retro imprint, and again by Warner's Rhino Records archival label.
Alice Cooper, the band, was orignally signed to Frank Zappa's Straight Records label, home to oddball rockers like Captain Beefheart and the GTOs and hipster comedian Lord Buckley. The band – comprised of lead singer Alice (née Vince Furnier), guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith – had been kicking around the late '60s L.A. rock scene for a few years before releasing their first two albums for Straight. When neither album achieved any sort of commercial traction, the band pulled up roots and relocated to Pontiac, Michigan near Furnier's hometown of Detroit.
Alice Cooper's outrageous hard rock sound went over aces with a Rust Belt audience with a taste for honest, raucous rock 'n' roll after experiencing bands like Iggy & the Stooges, the MC5, SRC, and Ted Nugent. Working with young producer Bob Ezrin, the band scored a hit single in 1970 with their classic "I'm Eighteen," which kicked off a string of Top 40, Platinum™-selling albums that culminated in 1973's chart-topping Billion Dollar Babies. After the release of Muscle of Love – the band's fifth album in three years, the hard-touring outfit broke up.
Furnier took the "Alice Cooper" name with him out the door, launching a successful and legendary solo career with 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare, which hit #5 on the charts, and following it up with albums like Alice Cooper Goes To Hell (1976) and Flush the Fashion (1980). Cooper's solo career hit the skids during the nerf-metal decade of the '80s, though, the singer finally scoring a Top 20 album with 1989's Trash. Cooper's solo career continues to this day. The other band members didn't fare nearly as well, Bruce, Dunaway, and Smith forming the band Billion Dollar Babies, which released a single album titled Battle Axe in 1977.
The original Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, the band reuniting to perform at their induction ceremony (sans Buxton, who sadly passed away in 1997 at 49 years old).
Young punk rockers that would like to find out more about the roots of their passion should seek out the wellspring from which punk first bubbled forth. In this case, I’m referring to Richard Hell, one of the most underrated and overlooked of the punk godfathers. An important member of not one, but three, seminal punk outfits, Hell’s influence on rock music, punk attitude, and street fashion should not be ignored. The odds-n-sods collection Time is a long overdue career retrospective for Hell, delivered, appropriately enough, in glorious lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll sound.
Born Richard Meyers in Lexington, Kentucky, Hell grew up in the sleepy Bluegrass State listening to British Invasion rock and Southern soul. He found a kindred spirit in Tom Miller (née Verlaine), and the pair would soon end up together in New York City. They would form the Neon Boys in 1971, a proto-punk outfit inspired by the Stooges and Velvet Underground, with Verlaine on guitar and Hell picking up the bass. The Neon Boys would evolve into Television and become an integral part of the mid-‘70s NYC music scene growing up around the CBGB club and including bands like the Ramones and Blondie.
Richard Hell’s Time
Chafed at his role in the band, Hell left Television before they recorded their classic debut, Marquee Moon, hooking up with former New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan to form the Heartbreakers. Hell would again leave the band before recording, this time striking out on his own. Fronting a band that included guitarists Robert Quine and Ivan Julian and future Ramones drummer Marc Bell, Richard Hell & the Voidoids recorded what is arguably the most important song in the punk rock canon, “Blank Generation,” for their 1977 debut album of the same name.
With his torn clothing, nihilistic lyrics and snotty attitude, Hell became the blueprint of punk rock to follow. The Voidoids would record only one more album – 1982’s Destiny Street – but the band’s influence on a generation of punk rockers was set in stone. Hell would later play in other bands, write poetry and, in 1996, issued his first novel, Go Now, but he would never again pursue music with any sort of ambition. The first disc of the two-CD set Time pairs a previous, cassette-only collection, R.I.P. The ROIR Sessions, with a number of unreleased tracks, including the original version of the Richard Hell/Dee Dee Ramone song “Chinese Rocks,” performed here by the Heartbreakers. Four Heartbreakers demos kick off Time, including “Love Comes In Spurts,” which would be revisited by Hell on the first Voidoids disc.
Blank Generation
Two early Voidoids’ demos follow, each song featuring the individual virtuosity of guitarists Quine and Julian. A different Voidoids line-up is featured on half-dozen tracks from 1979, drummer Bell having left to join the Ramones. The highlights of this middle passage include Hell’s philosophical take on life revealed by an obscure alternate take of “Time,” the Dylan cover “Going Going Gone” and the live at CBGB song “Funhunt,” taken from the ROIR Records release. Another live track, capturing a 1983 Atlanta performance of “I Can Only Give You Everything,” showcases a later-day Voidoids roster while the disc closes with what are possibly the final Voidoids demo recordings, made in 1984 in New Orleans.
The second disc of Time, collecting unreleased live performances by the Voidoids, is what has punk collectors salivating. The first half-hour plus set includes raw performances of Blank Generation era Voidoids from a 1977 performance at London’s Music Machine. All the band favorites are thrown out here, from “Love Comes In Spurts,” “Liars Beware” and “Blank Generation.” A cover of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” includes Hell’s barks and Quine’s scorched earth six-string riffs. An angry encore, a cover of the Stones’ “Ventilator Blues,” was chosen to piss off a confrontational audience, explains Hell in the extensive liner notes.
The sound quality equals that of a mediocre bootleg, but the passion and fire of the performance is priceless. The last four tracks on disc two of Time, taken from a 1978 benefit for St. Mark’s church held at CBGB, include an original take on “The Kid With the Replaceable Head” (later recorded for Destiny Street) and “You Gotta Lose,” featuring Elvis Costello on vocals and guitar. Time closes with another Stones’ cover, “Shattered,” performed by the Voidoids just this one time.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
The significance of Richard Hell’s influence on punk rock cannot be overstated. An innovator and pioneer who matched literature and poetry with angry, aggressive music in much the same way as his contemporary Patti Smith, Hell is often overshadowed by the bands that he helped create (Television) or influenced (the Sex Pistols, the Clash). While other punks have been incarcerated in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Time shows that Hell’s place is in the street, his music and defiant spirit ready to inspire a generation of rockers to come. (Matador Records, released March 19, 2002)
Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2002
Among contemporary rock bands, you’d have to look far-and-wide to find one that is as gloriously unconcerned about “hipness” or “commercial potential” as the Yayhoos. A loose-knit collaboration between former Georgia Satellite Dan Baird, Eric Ambel of the Del Lords, drummer Terry Anderson, and bassist Keith Christopher, the Yayhoos are the ultimate pick-up band. A throwback to a simpler, more pleasing rock era, the foursome genuflect towards a musical altar that rejects modern rock style in favor of classic Chuck Berry riffs and Rolling Stone rhythms. The band features four distinctive vocalists, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists and the whole motley bunch look a little too scruffy to be accepted by the MTV crowd or snobbish big city elitists.
The Yayhoo’s Fear Not the Obvious
The Yayhoos’ brief mid-‘90s existence resulted in a handful of tracks placed on alt-country compilations and their full-length Fear Not the Obvious LP, shopped around to major label indifference before emerging on the Bloodshot Records label. On this fine collection of songs, the Yayhoos deliver shameless roots-rock and electric twang, served straight up with no chaser for the unabashed blue collar headbanger who wants his musical tonic loud and uncluttered by fleeting fashion. Call Fear Not the Obvious “town and country” music, the songs here mixing Ambel’s Del Lords-inspired NYC guitar riffs with Baird’s country-styled redneck rock.
The four Yayhoos divvy up the songwriting duties, creating tunes that range from the dark-hued swamp rock of Baird’s “Wicked World” or Anderson’s British Invasion influenced “Hunt You Down” to the ‘60s-styled pop of Ambel’s hilarious “Baby I Love You.” “Monkey With A Gun” is a big beat rock ‘n’ roll tale of madness on the road complete with twin guitars and Ambel’s understated vocals while “Oh! Chicago” is a rollicking 90mph romp through Little Feat territory. The band closes Fear Not the Obvious with an inspired cover of Abba’s “Dancing Queen,” offering a different spin on the EuroPop origins of the classic radio hit.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
If your idea of rock ‘n’ roll cheap thrills includes the Faces, the Stones, CCR, the Georgia Satellites, and similar outfits, then the Yayhoos are right up your alley. Blazing guitars, foot-stomping rhythms and unpretentious songwriting make up Fear Not the Obvious in its entirety, the Yayhoos a welcome respite from manufactured pop and cookie-cutter modern rock. (Bloodshot Records, released August 7, 2001)
Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2001
The preeminent authority on all things hard rock and heavy metal, writer and music historian Martin Popoff is the author of 85+ books (and counting); the former founding editor of Canada’s Brave Words, Bloody Knuckles music zine; and a regular freelance contributor to music-related publications like Goldmine, Revolver, and Record Collector (U.K.), among many others. Martin is also a friend and colleague – a fact, in spite of which, he might still think that the Rev is a little crazy (not so…my mother had me tested!).
Among the dozens of titles to his credit, Popoff has written just about every type of book conceivable covering the aforementioned music genres – concise artist bios (Mötörhead, Max Webster, Riot, Dio, et al); sprawling, comprehensive multi-volume band histories (Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath); detailed historical timelines (Yes); record collectors’ guides (four large volumes, one each for the 1970s-2000s); genre histories (three books on the NWOBHM); album-by-album, song-by-song guides (Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Clash); and esoteric tomes covering the more abstract aspects of the art (Who Invented Heavy Metal?). Hell, it tires me out just listing Martin’s literary accomplishments.
Martin Popoff’s Aces High: The Top 250 Heavy Metal Songs of the ‘80s
With Aces High: The Top 250 Heavy Metal Songs of the ‘80s, Popoff asked his massive worldwide readership to help with some of the ‘heavy’ lifting (no pun intended). Returning to an idea that resulted in his 2018 book Riff Raff: The Top 250 Heavy Metal Songs of the ‘70s; Popoff polled his thousands of followers, Facebook friends, and assorted ne’er-do-wells as to their fave tunes from the heavy metal decade of the ‘80s. He subsequently pared this list of hundreds of songs down to a more manageable 250 selections. Although there is endless conversation as to “who invented heavy metal?” (as I mentioned above, Martin even wrote a book about it…) and when the genre actually took off as a critical and commercial force, there’s no arguing that the ‘80s was rich with all things metal. Thrash, speed, death, hair, prog…no matter your taste in all things metallic, there’s something in these pages for you!
So, Popoff counts down this particular Top 250 from the last entry (Dio’s “Sacred Heart”) to the first (you’ll have to buy the book to find out, bunkie!), each selection accompanied by Martin’s pithy commentary, which often adds a bit of history to the song, as well as quotes from those that made the music, artists and band members that Popoff has interviewed throughout his three decades in the trenches. This format is light and breezy, making for an entertaining read, and the text is supported by hundreds of unique band photos and picture sleeve graphics from those rare 7” slabs o’ wax on which the songs were originally released. The 1980s were a heady period and not without a few challenges, and Popoff touches on “satanic panic,” the PMRC and record censorship, and other cultural flotsam and jetsam of the decade.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Aces High: The Top 250 Heavy Metal Songs of the ‘80s is a helluva lot of fun, and for any music fan, it’ll dredge up memories of half-forgotten tunes and send the reader scurrying to their record collection to pull out dusty vinyl and revisit these songs. I was really surprised at the diversity of the artists represented in the book; sure, the expected heavyweights of the ’80s are here, with songs by Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Metallica, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Iron Maiden and a handful of others all deservedly highly-rated. But Martin’s readers are a discerning bunch, and there are more than a few molten metal obscurities among the Top 250, bands like Savatage, Venom, Mercyful Fate, Armored Saint, and King’s X the province of the dedicated, hardcore fan. Popoff has done an admirable job in stripping down the music to its creative core – the individual song – reminding the reader of why they love this stuff in the first place. Grade: A (Power Chord Press, published April 2019)
