Tag Archives: Mark Rants
42 years of Metal: 42 albums that defined the genre
Despite being a relatively new genre, metal has not only become one of the fastest growing genres of music, it has also become the damn greatest form of music to ever be created. Everyone from the grandparents, to the middle-aged, to the spotty faced teenagers can relate to the music on some level. Why? Possibly because of the vast evolution of Metal over the years, spawning a wide and diverse array of subgenres. Whether you enjoy an evening of drinking goat’s blood, dressing up in your finest spandex and playing dungeons and dragons, skateboarding with the local hipsters, or engaging in a casual spot of church burning, you can be sure there’s something in metal for you.
With over 40 years of existence, Metal can be credited for creating some of the greatest albums in history. Let’s take a look at the albums that have defined the genre. Before you make the jump though, remember that there are hundreds and thousands of phenomenal albums, but only 42 were chosen. Some of your favorites will go without a mention, I’m sure, but no doubt all of us can agree on the importance of the following albums. So without further ado, make the jump my friends.
Christmas meets Metal
Christmas Eve; too drunk to care for Metal news, too sozzled to write, so instead I felt like posting the above video. Youtuber 331Erock posts a lot of ‘Metalized’ interpretations of popular songs, and the above medley of well known Christmas songs is amongst my favorites. Check it out.
Merry Christmas fuckers, make sure you have a Metal one.
Losing your child to Metal
Losing your child to Metal is perhaps one of the worst things parents have to go through. If your parents are conservative assholes that believe the X Factor is a good role model for their kids, that is.
Writing for British tabloid, Daily Mail (we call it the Daily Fail over here, because we’re funny bastards), Diana Appleyard expresses a genuine concern for her 18-year-old daughter’s love for Metal, and in particular, her dress sense. Poor Diana, her daughter Charlotte would rather go to Metal gigs than pony clubs, and rather wear band tees and piercings than “normal” clothes.
“Charlie idolises various ‘metal’ rock bands, and dresses uniformly in black, with lots of leather and graffiti-strewn T-shirts. I try to buy her ‘normal’ clothing, but it stays firmly in the wardrobe. She loves the ‘biker-chick’ look, and seems to be deliberately cultivating a tough and streetwise image which, I believe, is completely at odds with her sweet, dreamy personality”
I agree Diana, it’s disgraceful. You should remove that Bring Me The Horizon shirt from her at once and give her a Slayer shirt to wear instead. That would be much better. Actually, on second thoughts, just remove the shirt and leave it at that…
Tori Amos challenges metal bands
Singer, Tori Amos is one crazy, crazy lady.
In a recent interview with Spinner.com, Tori randomly laid down a challenge to “the hardest fucking heavy metal band”, but I’m unsure of exactly what the challenge is. She goes on to say she will “them down, alone”. But how Tori? How? Her response?
“Because emotion has power that the metal guys know is just you can’t touch it. Insanity can’t touch the soul. It’s going to win every fucking time.”
Source: Blabbermouth
Say whaaat? I honestly haven’t got a clue what she is going on about. Besides, why is she talking about souls? I thought gingers’ didn’t have souls? If you do understand her, however, please dial 0845-I-don’t-give-a-crap and leave a message to someone who cares.
This week’s playlist
Have you ever wondered what we’ve been busy blasting here at the Dose of Metal office? Of course you haven’t, we don’t even have an office, but that doesn’t mean we can’t review some new metal tracks for you, and let you readers know what’s been hogging our stereo.
This week I decided to do something I rarely do – actually check out some new music. I sometimes get so caught up in my own ways, listening to the same bands over again, that I forget their is a wealth of other music out there.
Since this week’s feature is the first, I’m going to review some new tracks from the last month or so, but from next week I’m going to keep it to mainly just new tracks released in that given week. But enough about that, let’s just get on with it shall we? Make the motherflipping jump before I pop a cap in your ass.
A metalhead’s first album
What is a metalhead? What makes a metalhead, a metalhead? What is metal? These are all questions we, from time to time, have to ask, and the answers are never quite clear. These are things that Alex has slightly touched upon in his latest DoM entrée, but one thing I’ve been thinking about lately, is why do metalhead’s always name insanely cool albums as their “first album”?
Now don’t get me wrong, I cannot pretend this rant is deep, philosophical, or even interesting for that matter, but it is something that has been bugging me for a while now.
Have you ever seen on internet forums topics about what users first album they bought was? Or maybe you’ve had this conversation with friends in real life? A lot of people name classic, even legendary albums. Led Zeppelin IV, Black Sabbath, Master of Puppets, Peace Sells…, and you get the idea. I have even seen this discussion in magazines with members of popular bands, in which their answers are nearly always the same.
Do these people have selective memory, perhaps? Are they telling the truth? Maybe they loved metal since the moment they were born and never got into any of that power rangers, teletubby or dance crap that kids naturally find appealing at an early age. To me, it just seems like people claiming their first fuck was with a Pamela Anderson look-alike, when deep down we all know it was that drunk chick that looked like she had consumed 12 too many cheese burgers.
So this brings the topic to myself. “What was my first album?” you are probably not wondering. Well, it was something so insanely brutal, extreme and heavy that it brought great concern to my parents in regards to my mental health. I’m talking about an album that inspired violence and redefined what exactly metal is. If you want to know what the first album I ever bought was, then just make the jump.
Bill Bailey teaches the Devil Chord
English comedian Bill Bailey is hiding in a secret bunker somewhere (I do that too, apart from my secret bunker is my parent’s basement), preparing for his upcoming set at the UK’s Sonisphere festival.
You can watch a video of him above teaching us the wonders of ‘the Devil Chord’ as well as performing a a slightly different version of Slayer‘s ‘Angel of Death’.
Metal is epic
This morning, I was going through my usual routine of blasting some Metal music (a little Machine Head, a little Obituary) , and the thought came to me; Metal is epic. Ok, so that’s something we all know, but it’s true, it really is the best damn genre of music out there.
I do get sick of the constant prejudice I face on a day to day basis regarding the music I listen to. People seem to think Metal is some sort of monotonal, one dimensional, aggressive music that is marketed for predominantly white sub-urban, lower middle class teenagers. We all know that this is just not the case though. Metal is for everyone, and not just that, it is one of the most diverse, experimental, and progressive, inclusive genres of music that unites people of all walks of life. Just compare bands like Opeth to Machine Head, Between the Buried and Me to Amon Amarth, and Black Sabbath to Dream Theater, and you will see just a small part of what Metal has to offer.
Compare music to food, and Metal is like a fine meal. The mainstream music that is currently taking up the radio and music channels is like the McDonald’s or Burger King of music. It seems appetising, and “everyone” loves it, but in reality, the food is made up of mass-made, processed, manufactured cheap crap. Metal, on the other hand, is a fine meal. It’s made up of layers and layers of different flavors, each organically grown, and crafted with the finest care.
It seems ridiculous, when you think about it, that the mainstream constantly refuses to acknowledge real Metal and Rock music, when the three of the strongest selling artists right now have got to be AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Metallica. No, not Lady Gaga, not Katy Perry, but AC-fucking-DC are still taking the world by storm all these years after they begun.
Why all the food analogies? Because I’m a fat bastard, obviously. I know, I know, pointless rant is pointless, but I am tres bored.
Overrated? Hell no!
Ever get sick of that one friend who claims he’s the biggest fan of a band, yet his favorite song is the band’s biggest and most well known hit? That song is soooo overrated right? Actually no, it’s not in some cases. Today’s random rant from myself, is about three of the greatest songs of all time (in my opinion), that make all the clichéd lists and fans of the band’s sometimes look down upon. Look the songs are well renowned for a reason…
Check the rant after the jump.
Friday Top 10: Best hair styles
Yup, you read that right, we’re changing shit up a bit this week, we’re going fashion conscious on your asses. Forget Vogue, it’s time for Dose of Fashion! Don’t worry though, you know this is Dose of Metal really and we’re not about to sell out (well, not unless it’s going to get us millions like Metallica).
Ok, so it’s a little vain, but here we are. We’ve done best tattoos and best looking guitars, so why not best looking Metal hair? Get your Friday Top 10 after the jump!
