80's Hard Rock

I have had a couple of songs stuck in my head the past couple of days so I thought I’d admit my kinship with hard rock and heavy metal music. In my latest book, The Ultimate 80’s, I have an entire section dedicated to this genre of music during that decade. I still keep those CD’s handy for road trips and try to never miss an episode of That Metal Show on VH1 Classic.

Growing up I used to go to concerts with my big sister as often as a rock band would tour in our tiny neck of the woods. Most concerts I saw in Johnson City, TN…a two hour drive from where I grew up. Despite the long drive I would seldom miss a hard rock show.

One of my first concerts was David Lee Roth. He had just released the video for Stand Up from the Skyscraper album. Poison opened up for him and it was a heck of a fun show. Speaking of Poison, I saw them headline four or five times. They were a good live act and the shows were always fun. I remember seeing a lot of different bands opening for Poison in their heyday. Bands like Bulletboys, Danger Danger, Warrant, Slaughter, and Winger were among them.

One of my favorite bands from that era was Cinderella. They had a mixture of some bluesy rock and roll tossed in with their hair metal and sounded great live. Their debut album Night Songs is still one of the best albums of that era.

Another great live act was the Scorpions, absolutely loved their music. I saw them in Knoxville right about the time they released their classic hit Wind of Change. I have never heard a Scorpions song that I didn’t like. Great White and Trixter opened up on that tour. All great bands and all were great live. I was fortunate enough to see Great White a couple more times before MTV killed rock and roll.

Even though I saw a lot of bands, two still stick out after all these years…KISS and Van Hagar. Not only does KISS sound great live, but when you see them you get one hit after another and the show rivals the 4^th of July. Their show is worth every penny. I’ve been to a lot of concerts where the band didn’t sound very good live and the overall show was dull, but with KISS I always get my money’s worth.

I remember seeing Van Halen supporting their album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Van Halen is another one of those rare bands where every song is good, not one clunker on any of their albums. I still wish I could have seen a lot of other bands live, but when you are a kid you can’t afford them all. Unfortunately I missed AC/DC, Ratt, L.A. Guns, Guns N’ Roses, Kix, Metallica…and the list goes on.
A lot of these bands still put out great music today and I think we hard rock fans should still support them by bying their newest material…but only after you buy one of my books!!! Heh!