Post by blackjack on Nov 27, 2013 19:05:39 GMT -6
I think the word "great" gets thrown around a lot, often to people are good but not really in the great category. This is easier to notice in sports because you have statistics that show an athlete's record. In music it's so subjective. These are a few more debut albums I thought of that are great or damn close.
Savatage - Sirens
Unorthodox - Asylum
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - self titled
Fates Warning - Night On Brocken
Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Rising Force
It seems funny to have some really important and great metal bands missing from this but frankly, some of them just weren't all that good on their debut even though they went on to become great. Pantera is one. Phil Anselmo really made the band go from being just an average metal band with a great guitarist, to a great band. Their first three albums had another vocalist. Their fourth album was their first with Anselmo and it showed promise. It was heavier, a step forward i quality as well but still they had not become great.Then their 5th album Cowboys From Hell really was a great album. Too bad Phil ruined his voice with heroin (much like Steven Tyler - if you've heard him sing Dream On anytime in the 2000's you know he is not what he once was) but on Cowboys From Hell his voice was still intact, as is evident in the song Cemetary Gates. "This Love" is an example from Vulgar Display Of Power that he could still sing well then too. I think it was on Pantera's last couple albums that the heroin had taken its toll on his vocal cords.
"Rocka Rolla" is an album I really love but even Judas Priest don't like that album - their debut. Priest went on to become perhaps THE quintessential heavy metal band starting with their second album - "Sad Wings Of Destiny." There's no dispute that that is an absolutely great album. It's amazing how Halford has maintained his voice as long as he did. His screams can be scratchy, or they can be crystal clear like on "Dreamer Deceiver" and they are musical - always on pitch. Some consider British Steel to be their greatest album. For me I like the more progressive nature of the albums that they did before. British Steel was much more commercial and made them a mainstream radio staple at the same time as they still remained a favorite of serious metalheads. The title track of Screaming For Vengeance is Judas Priest showing they could do thrash metal and do it extremely well if they wanted it to be. As rapid fire as the vocals on that song are, they're probably too melodic to call it thrash metal. "You've Got Another Thing Coming" is their classic mainstream hit and a concert favorite with it's chorus that the audience can sing along to as Halford holds the microphone put towards the audience.
Judas Priest was my first rock concert and they, probably more than anyone else influenced me musically and made me become a total headbanging metalhead. I got my first guitar, an acoustic, the next year. Asking my guitar to teach me to play "Freewheel Burning" including the solo on my acoustic with very high action was really something, heh heh. It also made me realize I needed to save up for an electric guitar. I mowed a lot of lawns that summer and got my first electric at the end of the summer. Do kids still mow lawns and do other jobs like delivering newspapers and shoveling people's driveways when they're still too young to work in a store or amy of the more corporate type jobs that you usually need to be at least 16 to legally work for them? I don't see kids taking the initiative these days and going door to door, asking their neighbors if they can mow their lawns or shovel their driveways. I don't see kids delivering newspapers. I'l tell you, I made more than double the minimum wage working for myself mowing lawns and shoveling driveways anyway!
There's a point here. I'm not rambling, ha ha. I haven't notice so many "great debut albums" since the advent of the 21st century. I wonder if the lack of initiative that I see in kids not working for themselves so they can buy musical equipment has something to do with this. It takes initiative to go door to door and get customers and then be reliable every week and do a good job mowing their lawns. I see grown men now doing these jobs that were kids' jobs for many decades. So how are the kids making the money for their gear? Is it just given to them by their parents? You damn well know that something you didn't have to work for isn't going to be as valuable to you as something that was just given to you. I've seen kids given guitars because they thought it looked like fun to play guitar. Within a few weeks or months they quit. I bet they wouldn't have if they'd had to earn that guitar! When they find out how much practice is involved before you can start sounding good, I saw their lack of dedication. These kids have the enthusiasm to start anything but don't have the dedication to finish even one thing. Hell, Guitar For The Practicing Musician changed its name by taking out "For The Practicing Musician" before they went broke. They thought the word "practicing" would scare some potential readers away!
Hopefully things will change back to how they used to be and parents will raise their kids to have initiative, motivation, and dedication. If the parents that are raising the next generation can do this as well as teach their kids the value of a dollar and show them that anything worth being great at takes a lot of hard work, then maybe things will change back to how they were when I was growing up and there were very good and even great albums coming out constantly. For that to happen we need a generation of kids that will have the work ethic to do what it takes to become great musicians and form great bands. It takes the kind of kid with drive and initiative to practice hard, look around the area where he lives for like minded kids and form a band, have several band practices a week, show up for all of them, and then when they're ready to gig, go out and get gigs any way they can so they will start to gain experience playing in front of a crowd and learning how to put on a show that makes people want to come back and see them the next time they play a show!
Alright, enough writing. Time to get my guitar out and write a song! I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!
Savatage - Sirens
Unorthodox - Asylum
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - self titled
Fates Warning - Night On Brocken
Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Rising Force
It seems funny to have some really important and great metal bands missing from this but frankly, some of them just weren't all that good on their debut even though they went on to become great. Pantera is one. Phil Anselmo really made the band go from being just an average metal band with a great guitarist, to a great band. Their first three albums had another vocalist. Their fourth album was their first with Anselmo and it showed promise. It was heavier, a step forward i quality as well but still they had not become great.Then their 5th album Cowboys From Hell really was a great album. Too bad Phil ruined his voice with heroin (much like Steven Tyler - if you've heard him sing Dream On anytime in the 2000's you know he is not what he once was) but on Cowboys From Hell his voice was still intact, as is evident in the song Cemetary Gates. "This Love" is an example from Vulgar Display Of Power that he could still sing well then too. I think it was on Pantera's last couple albums that the heroin had taken its toll on his vocal cords.
"Rocka Rolla" is an album I really love but even Judas Priest don't like that album - their debut. Priest went on to become perhaps THE quintessential heavy metal band starting with their second album - "Sad Wings Of Destiny." There's no dispute that that is an absolutely great album. It's amazing how Halford has maintained his voice as long as he did. His screams can be scratchy, or they can be crystal clear like on "Dreamer Deceiver" and they are musical - always on pitch. Some consider British Steel to be their greatest album. For me I like the more progressive nature of the albums that they did before. British Steel was much more commercial and made them a mainstream radio staple at the same time as they still remained a favorite of serious metalheads. The title track of Screaming For Vengeance is Judas Priest showing they could do thrash metal and do it extremely well if they wanted it to be. As rapid fire as the vocals on that song are, they're probably too melodic to call it thrash metal. "You've Got Another Thing Coming" is their classic mainstream hit and a concert favorite with it's chorus that the audience can sing along to as Halford holds the microphone put towards the audience.
Judas Priest was my first rock concert and they, probably more than anyone else influenced me musically and made me become a total headbanging metalhead. I got my first guitar, an acoustic, the next year. Asking my guitar to teach me to play "Freewheel Burning" including the solo on my acoustic with very high action was really something, heh heh. It also made me realize I needed to save up for an electric guitar. I mowed a lot of lawns that summer and got my first electric at the end of the summer. Do kids still mow lawns and do other jobs like delivering newspapers and shoveling people's driveways when they're still too young to work in a store or amy of the more corporate type jobs that you usually need to be at least 16 to legally work for them? I don't see kids taking the initiative these days and going door to door, asking their neighbors if they can mow their lawns or shovel their driveways. I don't see kids delivering newspapers. I'l tell you, I made more than double the minimum wage working for myself mowing lawns and shoveling driveways anyway!
There's a point here. I'm not rambling, ha ha. I haven't notice so many "great debut albums" since the advent of the 21st century. I wonder if the lack of initiative that I see in kids not working for themselves so they can buy musical equipment has something to do with this. It takes initiative to go door to door and get customers and then be reliable every week and do a good job mowing their lawns. I see grown men now doing these jobs that were kids' jobs for many decades. So how are the kids making the money for their gear? Is it just given to them by their parents? You damn well know that something you didn't have to work for isn't going to be as valuable to you as something that was just given to you. I've seen kids given guitars because they thought it looked like fun to play guitar. Within a few weeks or months they quit. I bet they wouldn't have if they'd had to earn that guitar! When they find out how much practice is involved before you can start sounding good, I saw their lack of dedication. These kids have the enthusiasm to start anything but don't have the dedication to finish even one thing. Hell, Guitar For The Practicing Musician changed its name by taking out "For The Practicing Musician" before they went broke. They thought the word "practicing" would scare some potential readers away!
Hopefully things will change back to how they used to be and parents will raise their kids to have initiative, motivation, and dedication. If the parents that are raising the next generation can do this as well as teach their kids the value of a dollar and show them that anything worth being great at takes a lot of hard work, then maybe things will change back to how they were when I was growing up and there were very good and even great albums coming out constantly. For that to happen we need a generation of kids that will have the work ethic to do what it takes to become great musicians and form great bands. It takes the kind of kid with drive and initiative to practice hard, look around the area where he lives for like minded kids and form a band, have several band practices a week, show up for all of them, and then when they're ready to gig, go out and get gigs any way they can so they will start to gain experience playing in front of a crowd and learning how to put on a show that makes people want to come back and see them the next time they play a show!
Alright, enough writing. Time to get my guitar out and write a song! I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!