You can’t be a guitar aficionado and not at least have an appreciation for Chuck Berry. The man is the first true rock n roll guitar hero! The duck-walk, the hairstyle and of course the, “Johnny B. Good,” guitar riff, one of the most popular and influential in rock n roll history!
Chuck Berry the energized rocker is 86!! That is crazy but so glad he is still around. He is definitely on my list of must see live performers…hopefully I will still get a chance. He is said to still play a club in St. Louis regularly.
Happy Birthday Chuck Berry, here’s to many more joyful guitar playing years before you!
Watch both the classic version and see the influence he had years later making his way into this classic clip from, “Back to the Future,” where Michael J. Fox introduces the 50’s to Chuck Berry before… Chuck Berry.
Most fans of the German rockers are familiar with hits like “Rock You Like A Hurricane,” “Big City Nights,” “Still Loving You” and “No One Like You.” The late 70’s to the 80’s, 90’s, 00’s…was when the band developed their signature heavy metal sound. There were however two other incarnations of the Scorpions. First with 16 year old guitar legend to be Michael Schenker. The second, featured guitarist Uli Jon Roth. Under Schenker for just one album, “Lonesome Crow,” the band had almost a psychedelic sound. The Roth era was somewhere in between this and their ultra-stylistic almost hair metal sound of the 80’s.
I don’t consider the Scorpions hair/glam metal for two reasons. They were heavy metal pioneers that all the crappy 80’s bands tried to emulate and moreover they wrote good music. Anyway, somewhere between being very young acid rockers and trend setting perfectors of the ‘Power Ballad’ mega-stars was the Uli Jon Roth years.
Heavy? Yes!…..Rockers? Totally! But what was their style?
The Scorps were very unique during this period. They were gaining in popularity, they were still under produced and very original. Roth is a great guitarist very spiritual and Hendrix-ish both terms that don’t always apply to heavy metal guitarists. But they were definitely heavy during these years.
The only way to really understand is to listen. Posted below is one of my favorite Roth era Scorpions songs, “Your Light.”
To me this song sums up the band in the early to mid 70’s. Some heavy-ness, some party feel, some hippie-ish feel and of course incredible guitar work. The song starts out heavy then immediately leads into to a funky dance vibe. But the song truly peaks on the two guitar solos. The first comes at 2:15 in the video. A slow Roth solo mostly reserved, with feeling and anthem-ish. The song then returns to the funky playful riff before the second solo. This is where Roth shows off a little more of his guitar acrobatics. It ends on a playful note as Roth solos into a fade out.
The Roth era Scorpions may be some of the truly under rated music in metal history. They were a little more free form in their songwriting than other bands and certainly then when they became a global commodity in the 80’s. Not always a good thing for massive consumption as most listeners seem to prefer produced cookie cutter bites. Most Scorpions fans have found their way back through the bands back catalog and found these gems. I strongly recommend you check these albums out as well especially if you are looking to uncover some truly quality and cool music.
I remember being a little rocker in training and one of my first teachers were the Mighty Zep, Led Zeppelin. Before I could really join the party and know what the band was all about, besides a handful of songs, their drummer John Bonham passed away on this day September 25, 1980. So sad and a bummer that as soon as I got into the band there would never be any ‘real’ new Led Zeppelin music. No more tours. No more Zeppelin.
Sure there has been a few attempts to revive the brand, but, none of them ever lived up to the original. I have seen Jimmy Page solo, great show, Page & Plant in the 90’s, great show, but just not Led Zeppelin. If there was any show I could go back in time to hear and see, a real Led Zeppelin show in their prime would definitely be atop of the list.
The whole Bonham passing still seems surreal to me to this day. I remember hearing about it as a kid but not truly understanding the finality of it all and the lasting impact and hole the Rock n Roll world was left with.
RIP John Bonham a great musician and unfortunately a true rock star.
Also check out Bonham’s legendary drum solo, “Moby Dick”
If you’ve read my blog in the past you may have seen some of my posts regarding Jose Feliciano. I was never a fan until recently. Actually, didn’t even know much about him and certainly didn’t know he could play guitar like he does! The man known for being a Latin crooner has some serious guitar chops.
This clip is one I just came across tonight for the first time. It is pretty cool to hear Jose rip some electric guitar riffs although he is much better in his regular genres Latin/flamenco. Thought I would share this video for you all to see another side of Jose’s playing or if you are like me until recently your first listen to his playing.
TNT was a Norwegian ‘Metal’ band from the 80’s. One of the few glam bands I actually liked Ronni Le Tekro was a great guitarist. I believe they are still going strong in 2012!
Alright, most of you are going to think I am insane!
Fight was a 90s heavy metal band formed by Judas Priest singer Rob Halford. They were not a thrash metal band like Metallica but very heavy nonetheless. In addition to Halford’s powerhouse vocals Fight always had great, very crunchy very musical guitar riffs.
I know heavy metal isn’t for everyone. It is an acquired taste that grows over time, but, in my opinion well worth the time. Many amazing virtuoso musicians over the last 40-50 years have chosen this hard edged rock as their genre as it allows for musicality and creativity not afforded in other popular styles.
So how can this song be considered relaxing music? It is kind of like how you feel after a workout. Your endorphins release and you get what they call a “runners high.” There have been times I was driving home from a rough day and cranked a band like Fight..probably a little bit towards full volume and it really helped me get all the aggressions out. It calms me right back down like a nice shoulder massage would.
This is definitely different than the typical pastoral music I usually share on my “Music to Relax” articles. Although I know it is not for everyone maybe you can obtain more of a grasp on why people truly do love heavy metal music. There are other forms of ‘ugly’ music that people enjoy as well. Think of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring or some free Jazz that does not follow the ‘normal’ ideals of nice sounding music.
This is the classic guitar duel scene at the end of the 80’s movie, “Crossroads.”
The movie is about an old blues musician who sold his soul and Ralph Macchio is trying to win it back….you know like the Charlie Daniels song “Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
It used to bother me that one of my high school guitar heroes, Steve Vai, had to lose the duel to the Karate Kid playing air guitar. The actual guitarist playing Macchio’s parts was Ry Cooder. Anyway, a great movie…put it on your Netflix queue and check it out!!
If you need a break from the Olympics check out this classic guitar competition!!
Mike Slayen ~ Guitarist 