Showing posts with label 1971. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1971. Show all posts

Steppenwolf: Ride With Me (1971) - Song Review

Steppenwolf... 
Steppenwolf... Well a lot of the modern day music fans probably have not really heard of them... It is a shame to! I mean in a lot of ways they helped shape some great music soundtracks! 

Also in a lot of respects you could say that Steppenwolf created the soundtrack for the Vietnam war, what with their song: 'Magic Carpet Ride' (1968) being one of those songs that seems to go side by side in almost every none overly dramatic moment about the Vietnam War... Also their song, 'born to be wild' (1968) is a song (that regained a large amount of popularity in the 1980s,) has been connected with a lot of biker movies as well! 

I know I have used a lot of movie references in this review about the songs I mentioned above, but take a listen to them and you will see what I mean! 


Steppenwolf Album Cover
Anyway, the song that I wanted to mention here though is the song: Ride With Me (1971)... 

Now I will give you that it is probably fairly hard to make the adaption from one decade to another, and this song I suspect maybe has that particular problem! What I mean by this is that where as the song is good... Tonally it is not much different then some of the music that they produced in the 60s... And was to me just not much really new or terribly exciting... 

I guess what I am basically saying is this... If you are looking for a song to listen to while you work, this is a good one for that, but if you are looking for a good Steppenwolf song to introduce yourself to, then this song probably is not it! 




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Black Sabbath. Iron Man (1971) - Song Review

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignright" width="307"]Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

It goes with out saying that as far as monsters of metal go, that Ozzy Osbourne is one of the godfathers of the genre! I mean rather he is biting the heads off of bats, or doing that reality show that he did with his family a few years back, this guy personifies everything that is truly exceptional of not just heavy metal music, but his style like the look that the types of horror movies that this music attracts as well!

But before Ozzy went on to do his epic solo career around the 1980s, he started off in the band, 'Black Sabbath' (a kick ass band that takes it's name from the classic 60s horror movie!)

Anyway, there is a ton of great music that came out of that band during the time that Ozzy was with them, but there is one song that I wanted to single out here because it is truly awesome, and that song is, 'Iron Man' (1971), a song that was later turned in to it's own single from their second studio album, 'Paranoid' (1971)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Ozzy Osbourne doing, 'Iron Man' in Paris with, 'Black Sabbath' in 1970![/caption]

Now this song is truly a spectacular song that... Well if you like truly, 'Heavy' metal, then you are going to love this song... And you know what you would think that this song would go on perfectly with Iron Man the movie right? Well the truth is, is there is a misconception about this song and its tie to the movie... You'll have to see the movie to find out what I am talking about!

This song has also been used in the movie, School Of Rock (2003), as well as having been redone by Frank Zappa at a concert that they actually attended!

In the end, this song rules, and if you have a chance to check it out, well then I highly recommend doing so, it is a fun one and well worth it!

http://youtu.be/nsa2F9F1BBk

The Sci-fi Switch

You know, when I first started on this fascinating adventure that I have been on in the blogging/reviewing world... I have to admit that I was a little bit at a loss... What I mean by this is that when I first started out, I was reviewing B Movies... And well I thought that I knew a lot about Movies in general... boy was I wrong!

You see, in B Movies (especially B Sci-fi movies) there is a certain over the top  style and method in witch the cast and crew utilize as part of their formula for making a truly awesome b movie!

A great example of this is, THX 1138 (1971).... Now I am going to go so far and say that this movie is a great example of a B Movie, and utilizing certain elements in an over the top fashion, and how it seems to expertly compliment the movie itself... The main thing that I am taking about in this movie is the use of the color, 'White'... You see, in this movie, (which is set in a rigid dystopic future), everyone wear's white (except for the Android law enforcement), just about all of the walls floors and ceiling are white (not all but pretty close to all...)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A great example of the over the top awesome example of a, 'B' Science Fiction movie![/caption]

Etc... etc...

Another great example is the first Star Trek TV series, and the low budget awesomeness in the feel of the first show!

Well that is just a few of the examples of this phenomena in Science Fiction on both the TV and Movie platform... Another version of this is also in the written form of this.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="285"] 'Astounding Science Fiction'... A great example of a great set of, 'B' Sci-fi stories![/caption]

What I mean is that at one point (at least in my opinion, and it was certainly exemplified in the works of the era.) But there was a lot of pulp science fiction out there, with a lot of extreme empires, with their extreme ambitions to take  over the world or galaxies, as well as their over the top heroes who would go to battle with these bad guys using weapons that will probably always be considered to be scientifically impossible.

But some time around the 1980s, Science Fiction (really in just about every facet) began to change... Even Star Trek, which had up til 1982 really enjoyed a certain degree of, 'B' in what it produced had gone from that over the top, 'B' status that we as fans of low budget entertainment have always enjoyed, to something that not only mankind could imagine as being possible... But that certain billionaires out there are to some extent trying to make real...

It was the turn from using, 'The Force' or, 'A lightsaber' or what ever (I am only using these as examples... Because the chance of these things ever being probable are pretty slim... And if they are possible, are probably not something that we would see in our life time. But either way it turned from that to things that Science has already began in the real world to either prove, or actually surpass.)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] This type of battle is definitely something you would have either scene on screen or read about in, 'B' Science Fiction![/caption]

Is that better in any of it's forms or worse? Well for me I will say this... As far as, 'Movie' or, 'TV' go, both are pretty spectacular in my opinion, but in written form, I am going to say that the Sci-fi switch was a good thing... Primarily because I have read some pretty low budget, and extremely bad, 'B' Sci-fi...  But mostly pretty spectacular A-list Science Fiction...

But rather you are a fan or not... If you are looking for some great, 'B' Sci-fi, check out the works made before the 1980s... I think you might like it, for some great A list Science Fiction, check out the stuff starting in the 1980s, I think you might really like it!

5 Classic Weird Al Parodies That Rock

I know this blog is is dedicated to, Heavy Metal, Rock 'N Roll and the various sub genres associated with this type of music, but I thought that I would take a change of pace this one time and talk about something a little bit off topic (not entirely... But a little...)

This topic being, '5 Classic Weird Al Parodies That Rock'.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="475"] Weird Al doin a parody of Michael Jackson's, 'Bad'[/caption]

Now I know this is a little bit of a switch from the norm, but with Christmas coming up, I thought that it would be fun to do a list with some great songs that Weird Al has done, that not only rock, but you will laugh your ass off!

At number 5 we have: Ride The Bus (1980), a parody of Queen's 1980 hit song, 'Another One Bites The Dust':

http://youtu.be/NeMrttj8Ucg

http://youtu.be/7Dmd1b-sfUw

At Number 4: Fat (1988), a parody of Michael Jackson's 1987 classic song, 'Bad':

http://youtu.be/dsUXAEzaC3Q

http://youtu.be/t2mU6USTBRE

At Number 3: Smells Like Nirvana (1992), a parody of Nirvana's 1991 hit song, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit':

http://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg

http://youtu.be/FklUAoZ6KxY

At Number 2: Gump (1996), a parody of The Presidents Of The United States Of America's 1995 hit song, 'Lump':

http://youtu.be/_sj_U6vObUA

http://youtu.be/hQwWaWFjd0Y

At Number 1: The Saga Begins (1999), a parody of Don McLean's classic 1971 song, 'American Pie':

http://youtu.be/ih7N9_VUU4U

http://youtu.be/hEcjgJSqSRU

In the end, I know this is a little turn in a different direction, but I found that Weird Al is not only absolutely hilarious, but he also rocks in the same time, please enjoy!