Five Great Classic Rock Songs From The 70s!

As far as music goes... Well there is a lot of great music out there that has spanned really the last 100 years! But as far as Rock 'N Roll is concerned, well... The 50s had some great Rock 'N Roll with people like, 'Elvis Presley' and the 60s had greats like, 'The Beatles', and so I thought it was about time that I started highlighting some of the great music from some of these eras, and so I thought I would start with Classic Rock, and more directly with the 1970s!

So I hope you enjoy: Five Great Classic Rock Songs From The 70's!

At number 5: AC/DC with, 'T.N.T.' from their 1976 album of the same name:

At number 4: Aerosmith with, 'Sweet Emotion' from their 1975 album, 'Toys In The Attic':

And next up at number 3: The Who with, 'The Punk And The Godfather', from their 1973 album, 'Quadrophenia':

And at number 2: Alice Cooper with, 'School's Out' from his 1972 album of the same name:

And last but certainly not least, at number 1: Led Zeppelin with, 'Kashmir' from their 1975 album, 'Physical Graffiti':

There are a lot more great songs from this era, but I thought that I would highlight these because these songs really are some truly classic rock songs!

The First Five Video Game Console Series.

Hey guys, so you have seen me do a lot of the history of video games, and well I got to thinking here recently... I personally love history, I love the history of video games, I have played some video games that have gone back to the mid 70s, and so I was thinking, well since these video games systems are so far removed, that you guys might like to see what came first... With the first five video game consoles series!

At number 1: The Magnavox Odyssey.

The first the world has ever seen!

Now this controversial video game system is universally considered to be the first video game console to have ever come out, having been released by Magnavox in 1972!

As for the second one to come out we have: Tele-Games

The Sears, 'Tele-Games' console was a console dedicated to, 'Pong'!

This system was a dedicated system that was developed by Atari in 1975 and released through Sears... And was the first real direct competition for Magnavox's, 'Odyssey' system... So much so, that I believe this system may have been partly responsible for Magnavox taking Atari to court over Atari's Pong game.

At number 3: Binatone TV Master

This is one of the models of Binatone's, 'TV Master' TV Game system. 

This system was Britain's move to the world of, 'Video Games', you see around the mid 70s, Binatone would release it's Binatone TV Master... This would grow the market by about 5 times in the first 2 years... As another side note, there was more then one model of this particular gaming system, which would be licensed by, 'Magnavox' for the United States!

Now the next one, and the fourth on our list, we have the, 'Coleco Telstar' (Model 6040).

The first of the Coleco series.

This one was the first of the video game systems that would be created by Coleco as part of their move over from processing shoe leather in to the video game market... This first video game system, which would be released in 1976 is a dedicated video game console with 3 pong variant games on it (Hockey, Handball & Tennis,) and this game it appears had 2 paddles as controllers...

This may have  been the first model, but it certainly would not be the last, with Coleco releasing 13 more video game consoles under the, 'Telstar' name!

And last, but certainly not least, we have a name you might recognize, with the Color TV-Game 6, that was released by Nintendo back in 1977!

Color TV-Game 6... Dull name, but before Nintendo's game systems we all know and love like, 'The Wii', or 'The DS', one of the earliest was, 'Color TV-Game 6'!

Before Nintendo released it's now legendary systems, such as: 'The Nintendo', 'The Super Nintendo', 'The Wii' or, 'The DS', or any of it's other classic video game systems from it's long list of amazing video game systems, Nintendo released the, 'Color TV-Game 6'... Well a dull name, but along with the other model in this line... Including: Color TV-Game 15, Color TV-Game Racing 112, Color TV-Game Block Breaker & Color TV-Game, would help to create the video game revolution we all know and love!

For more information:

The Evolution Of The Video Game Soundtrack: From Analog Music ThroughMovie Styled Video Game Soundtracks

A program used by Mac computers to create computer generated music.

Most people recognize that video game soundtracks in the modern day are becoming more and more like Movie or TV soundtracks... But before this really began to take shape, at the beginning of the world of video games... well as it turns out, most video games had computer generated music, and before that, Cassette or LP generated music.

Some of the music that has been computer generated... Well in the early days was pretty horrible, and well, if you really dig in to it, there are some truly fun scores (such as: Super Mario Bros. (Believe it or not, it is a fun soundtrack) and even Final Fantasy 7!)

To really understand this progression, lets really start with the progression of computer generated music (I mean after all, computer generated music is where video game music got it's start.)

In this case, the first computer to generate music was a computer called the, 'CSIRAC', (which stands for: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Automatic Computer.) Now I can give you all the technical jargon if you want (but that is probably not much use for what we are working toward in this blog.)

The earliest known computer to play music.

To say the least, this computer (which is one of the oldest first generation electronic computers ever built,) was built in Australia in the late 40s by Trevor Pearcy & Maston Beard and which in the early 50s would be programmed by a mathematician by the name of Geoff Hill to generate music.

Since then, there has been many advancements in the programming for computer generated music, leading up to, and for our purposes, the first video game to ever play computer generated music...

Now before I continue on I should also mention the direct predecessor to computer generated music for video games...

Like movies, in the case of video games, early video game music was played on independent systems separate from the video game itself.

You see, in the 1970s, when arcades were really having their Golden Age, video game music would be played in analogue form (on cassette tapes, or on LPs.) Well to say the least this proved to be unworkable, and the age of computer generated music was born!

You see, it turns out that a more workable solution for this was to insert a computer chip that would create music from electric impulses created from the games code in to analog music.

Well to say the least, starting with Gun Fight (1975)... A game which proved to be one of the earliest examples of computer generated music for games, we find video games getting better and better computer generated music... Leading to (what I would say), would be some great early computer generated music from such awesome NES games as (well besides what I mentioned above,) such stuff as: Contra (1987), Mega Man (1987) & even Castlevania (1987), to name a few!

Castlevania... A fun game, with a fun computer generated soundtrack! 

And you know what? This music just kept getting better and better, with the passage from, '8 Bit' games to, '16 Bit' games, as well as the advent of the first Playstation, etc... I am going to go so far as to say that the height of singularly computer created music format for video games was with the advent of the first, 'Playstation.'

Don't get me wrong, there has been a ton of fun video game soundtracks to come out before this, but some of the video game soundtracks that came out with the first playstation were truly... Amazing! A great example again is, Final Fantasy 7! I mean the music for this video game was truly prolific , to the point where one could have been said to be a, 'Computer Generated Opera!'

Now I don't exactly know when the change first started occurring (I unfortunately had a bit of an absence from the world of video games,) but I did notice that as time has gone on, and leading (at the very least up until the XBox 360,) that video game soundtracks have become less computer generated, and more like movie soundtracks!

Crackdown for the: XBox 360 is a great example of a video game that has an almost, 'movie' like sound track to it!

I reckon that as long as video games keep getting better and better and the lines between movies and video games get more and more blurred, that in the end, the soundtracks will as well!

For more information, please check out these examples:

AC/DC: T.N.T. (1976) - Song Review

Official Score = 3 Devils

When I was a kid, one of the things I used to hear about and kind of watch on TV is the concept that the older people get, the more they complain about young people and the music that they listen to... Well I have to be honest, I don't know if this is true or not, because I grew up with people who mostly listened to the type of music that most older people complained about anyway!

As a matter of fact, my best friend got me in to listening to, 'Metallica', his parents helped get me in to Megadeth, and my mom got me interested in listening to, AC/DC... And one of the first songs that I listened to that I found that I really enjoyed is: T.N.T. from their 1976 album of the same name!

AC/DC doing, 'T.N.T.' live!

Written by Angus & Malcom Young, with Bon Scott, and produced in 1975, this classic song has been enjoyed by audiences all over the world for generations now... It can be heard in all sorts of media, and has been for many years, including on TV in such shows as, 'That 70's Show', on the soundtrack for the video game, 'Tony Hawk's: Pro Skater 4', and that is just a couple of examples!

In the end, AC/DC are true masters, and it definitely shows in this song, and if you haven't heard it yet, then I do recommend doing so, it is more then well worth it... I thought so, and if you like this type of music, then I think you might as well!

Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

You know in the world of movies, one of the things that Hollywood seems to have done really well is in the creation of icons that last the test of time.

A great example is the icons of horror such as, 'Norman Bates' (Psycho), Michael Myers (Halloween) or heck, even Freddy Kruger (A Nightmare On Elm Street)... And is just to name a few of the more modern icons of horror, and the legacy they have left for future generations to enjoy (despite the attempts that to some extent Hollywood has been trying to destroy these series, with their bad remakes...)

But you know what, there is one Hollywood icon from the world of science fiction that I am just starting to dive below the surface of... And you know what? I have found so far, that the movies this monster has been in to be a total B-Movie adventures that are well worth taking, and that is, 'Godzilla'!

Now I hate to say it... But I don't really know much about this movie series (up til recently the only Godzilla movie I had ever scene was the movie with Matthew Broderick (Inspector Gadget) in it that came out in the 1990s!

But with this one being the first that I have ever seen that was made originally in Japan (Japan is where the series originated,) I have to say that I am totally impressed! That movie being: Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="194"] It turns out that this movie is a sequel to: 'Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla' (1974)... But man is it a good one![/caption]

Written by: Yukiko Takayama (Gassan) & Directed by: Ishirô Honda (King Kong Vs. Godzilla). Starring: Katsuhiko Sasaki (Ekiro), Katsumasa Uchida (Sex And Fury), Gorô Mitsumi (The Shinjuku Love Story), Tomoko Ai (Shunga) & Akihiko Hirata (Sanjuro).

This movie (whose series I believe is partly what has inspired a similar type of movie series... But with Sharks,) tells the story of how after the epic battle that was fought between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla the first time, that everything appears to be quiet...

During this time, a private corporation has begun the search for the remains of the mechanical monstrosity... What they find there though will be a lot more then what they expected!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="653"] Isn't he cute...[/caption]

You see, what they find is another living monster that is about to stir things up for the Japanese one more time! But wait, that's not all...

Besides the fact that there is a new monster called a: 'Titanosaurus'' that is about to join the mean streets of Tokyo... But this little guy is also going to be joined by an old friend of Godzilla's (need I say it?)

And in the end, between the Japanese government, and Godzilla himself, they are not only going to have to take care of these super threats... But they are also going to have stop their masters from destroying Tokyo!

[caption id="attachment_3486" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Godzilla Vs. Titanosaurus & Mechagodzilla in a winner takes all grudge match![/caption]

Ultimately, in the end, the only thing that I didn't understand was, 'Why just Tokyo?" I mean don't get me wrong, it isn't a big thing... But the way the filmmakers made this movie out to be... Is that the Aliens that are controlling Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus, have come to Earth to destroy Tokyo...

In the end, if you are a fan of great B Movie science fiction, I think you might find that you really like it... If not... Well this one may not be the one for you... But try it for yourself... I found it, worth it to do so, and you might as well!

[embed]http://youtu.be/PxAMtxomGe0[/embed]

Jaws (1975) - Movie Review

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

When I was a kid one of the movies that I found that truly terrified me (so much so because my Dad used to take me to the Beach when I was a kid a fair amount), was the movie Jaws (1975)!

I mean this Oscar winning movie terrified the hell out of me because, well lets be honest... When you are 9 or 10, and you just saw your first shark attack on TV, the first thing you want to do afterward is not go to the Beach anymore... Right?

Well the truth is, is as the years went by, I came to really appreciate the awesomeness that truly is this movie!

Besides the fact that this movie had a terrific cast of now legendary actors that included, Roy Scheider (SeaQuest DSV), Robert Shaw (The Sting), Richard Dreyfuss (What About Bob), Lorraine Gray (1941), Murray Hamilton (The Twilight Zone: 'One For The Angels') & Jeffrey Kramer (Halloween 2). This movie also had a truly amazing team that brought this world to life that included: Stephen Speieberg (Saving Private Ryan), Peter Benchley (The Deep) & Carl Gottlieb (The Jerk)... And that is just a few of the people that were attached to it!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Captain Quint (Robert Shaw), Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) & Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) as they search for the elusive shark that has been terrorizing there small sea side town![/caption]

Another facet of this movie that was a lot of fun, is the story line... What I mean by that is the fact that, this story, beside having an element of terror attached to it, also had some strong character development, and I liked how this horrible situation involving a Great White Shark that is terrorizing a small seaside town, ends up creating a friendship between 3 of the most unlikely candidates to become friends!

And lastly I wanted to say that if you haven't seen it yet, then you should, it is well worth it... And with a couple sequels, and Universal Studios having helped keep this movie alive... It is well worth seeing it at least once for any movie fan!

http://youtu.be/JMl6t3UYvu8

Top 5 Reasons Why 'B' Sci-Fi Movies Rock!

First off let me say that the definition of a B Movie is... A B Movie is a movie that has been categorized as being a, 'bad' movie for some reason... Well I would say that, that has changed over the past few decades, what with the revolution of great classic cult films coming out of what the mainstream would consider to be a, 'Bad' Movie! And since I am a huge fan of the B Movie craze in any genre, I have taken it upon myself to do what I can to help bring these classic, 'B' Science Fiction or Horror movies to light, and give them the chance that they never got when they were initially released

With that in mind I thought I would give you guys, what i believe is the top 5 reasons why, 'B' Sci-Fi movies rock!

Number 5: Campy Special Effects!

Not always (as I feel was the case with the movie, Battle Beyond The Stars (1980),) A lot of the times B Science Fiction movies are fairly low budget and so generally tend to have some pretty campy special effects!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] One of the ships from, 'Planet Of The Vampires' (1965)[/caption]

Number 4: Ridiculous scripts!

That's right folks... Now again this isn't all the time, but a lot of the times the script for these B Movies are pretty ridiculous, with lines for the cast that are pretty hilariously bad, and with names for people, places, and planets that are pretty Elementary school!

Number 3: Oddly bad talent!

Again, this isn't always the truth, but more often then not Science Fiction B Movies will have a couple of eventually, or at the time, big name talent that kind of make up the movie, and then their are people that you have to wonder if they are really just not good at acting or if it was intentional considering the subject matter!

Now at this point I want you to ask yourself this question... Why is a guy who obviously likes B Science Fiction Films attacking them... And these next two reasons will give you your answer!

Number 2: True talent discovered from these movies!

That's right folks, a lot of the big name talent of the last 30 years or so go their start in Campy B Movies, and look at where they are now!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Sylvester Stallone (The Expendables) in a scene from, 'Death Race 2000' (1975), before Sly became a superstar![/caption]

Number 1: All of what I said above is just part of the charm!

What I mean by this, is that all of the bad elements and good elements that I mentioned above are, as well as so much more, are what makes up these truly awesome, 'B' Science Fiction Movies, and if you didn't have the majority or all of what makes a B Science Fiction movie so great in the B Movie you were watching, then the chances are that you are going to find that you have crap!

In the end, you might give them a try, I did, and I am happy to have done so!

http://youtu.be/XBoT0LJ0mgM

Death Race 2000 (1975) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Whether they be, B Scifi or B Horror movies... (to name a few), Roger Corman (Queen Of Blood) is an amazing filmmaker whose name can literally be attached to over 400 hundred amazing and truly classic B Movies!

Besides the fact that this legendary filmmaker has made a surprising amount of movies in his career, but he also helped in a major way to further along some of Hollywood's A list of the 1980s and 1990s, including such names as, Sylvester Stallone (The Expendables) and Ron Howard (Apollo 13)

I have been following his work in depth for the last few years (since I discovered who he was a few years ago when watching, Queen Of Blood).

It turns out that the first movie that I saw that he had ever done was a movie that Mr. Corman produced in 1975, that my father had recommended to me many years ago... That movie is the true classic, Death Race 2000 (1975)!

Written by: Robert Thom (Wild In The Streets) & Charles B. Griffith (A Bucket Of Blood), Directed by: Paul Bartel (Escape From L.A.). Starring: David Carradine (Kung Fu), Simone Griffeth (Swamp Girl), Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov (Warlock), Roberta Collins (Eaten Alive), Martin Kove (The Karate Kid) and Don Steele (Gremlins)

This movie which was remade in 2008 with Jason Statham (Safe), this movie tells the story of a future world where after the world's governments have collapsed, the United States Of America, is now known as the United Provinces Of America.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] The start of the Race![/caption]

This government is a totalitarian government that is controlled by Mr. President, (Played by: Sandy McCallum).

One of the way that this new American government is able to maintain control over the populace is that they, hold a coast to coast free for all race called, 'The Trans-Continental Road Race'

In this race, all sort of unsavory elements are allowed to become racers, (including Nazis!) And if a racer kills some one on the road with their vehicle, then they get points for every man, woman or child that they kill!

During this latest race though, the prime resistance group in the United Provinces Of America, that wishes to restore the United States government, has installed a mole as the navigator for the biggest racer in the world by the name of, Frankenstein (Carradine), whose mission it is to help sabotage the race and put it out of business!

The only thing is, is that this navigator will end up getting more then she ever bargained for!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="305"] And the racers are starting their engines![/caption]

In the end I couldn't say one truly classic element of this movie, because when it comes down to it, the truth is, is that this movie had some great acting from everyone, and it was great to see some classic eighties actors in early roles (including, David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone and Martin Kove!)

There was some fun special effects that were very reminiscent of the special effects from back then! As for this story, (which was based on the story by Ib Melchoir (Reptilicus). The story was fun, with a great concept, some shockingly amazing character development (considering the low budget nature of the movie).

Definitely in my opinion, a movie worth watching, and for you collectors out there, this movie is definitely worth owning as well!

http://youtu.be/0ZLYEbkykCI