Sleigh Bells Are Ringing and Bringing Treats to All the Good Girls and Boys

Sleigh Bells Are Ringing and Bringing Treats to All the Good Girls and Boys

Of all of the unique and different music that has emerged in the last 15 years, the indie rock/hipster music scene of Brooklyn, New York is amongst the most unique and has the broadest range of musical styles that yet somehow blend together in a way like nothing I have ever seen in the past.  My brother Scott in his previous job was a Nurse Manager and became good friends with his administrative assistant, a very young 20 something guy working on his degree at the University of Utah.  When Scott and his admin assistant would talk music he started to introduce Scott to the indie rock/hipster music scene.  Through my life Scott has been one of my best sources for new music and part of what makes Scott unique is that although he is an expert in every sense on what my musical tastes are and what I am predisposed to, he is not afraid to recommend music that does not resemble anything I am into and may not initially embrace.  Scott was introduced to MGMT through his admin assistant and loved their music.  To be honest when Scott gave me a copy of MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular he didn’t think initially I’d like the album at all, but from the first moment “Time to Pretend” started I was completely hooked and MGMT very quickly became one of my favorite bands.  A few months later Scott was introduced to Neon Indian through his admin assistant and shortly thereafter I became a huge fan as well.  Something pretty cool happening in Brooklyn and thanks to Scott’s admin assistant we were in the loop on the scene.

In May 2010 my brother Scott was on the iTunes store and was looking at who the huge sellers were on for iTunes for the week.  Scott notices that this band he had never heard of called Sleigh Bells had one of the fastest selling albums on iTunes.  Naturally Scott’s curiosity perked and he clicked on the song samples from the album Treats and from just hearing a few seconds of “Tell ‘Em” Scott immediately bought the album on iTunes.  After a few listens Scott immediately knew this would be the kind of album I just love.  I still remember Scott calling and saying “Dude! There’s this band called Sleigh Bells you have to check out” and I said something like “Are they Christmas music or something?”  Then Scott said “Go to YouTube right now and type in ‘Sleigh Bells Treats’, I think you’ll really dig them”.  As I went to youtube.com to check Sleigh Bells out I was very hesitant.  Scott had informed me that they had a hard techno kind of feel to them which was enough to get me to check them out.  The very first video that pulled up on youtube was “Crown on the Ground” and from the high pitched guitar lick that starts the song the song had my attention, then come in the techno drum beats and Alexis Krauss’s amazing voice and I was completely amazed!  I literally could not believe what I was hearing.  The song was the perfect mix of a metal guitar lick, electronica drum beats, techno synth and an amazing singer rolled into one sweet package.  I had literally never heard anything like it in my life and figuratively speaking it was like being hit by a wrecking ball.  At first I thought Sleigh Bells was a horrible name for a band, but after listing to “Crown on the Ground” a few more times it all made sense.  Sleigh Bells is more than a name it’s a band of music like no other.  Over the next hour I would listen to the album Treats on youtube twice and I very quickly bought a copy of it.  The next time Scott saw his admin assistant he brought up Sleigh Bells and his admin assistant like us was already a fan.  For that matter it was kind of cool that a young hipster thought Scott and I had good taste.

The formation of Sleigh Bells is one of the most and in some respects one of the most unlikely pairings in music history.  Guitarist Derek Miller was originally in a hard core metal band called Poison the Well and singer Alexis Krauss was originally in a pop girl band called Ruby Blue.  At the time of their meeting Derek had composed much of the music that would become Treats and was looking for a female singer.  Alexis and her mother one evening were dining at a restaurant and Derek was their waiter.  As Alexis and her mother were getting to know Derek he mentioned that he was looking for a female singer for an album he was working on and Alexis’ mother immediately volunteered her.  They exchanged email addresses, met in a park a few days later and the foundation of Sleigh Bells was complete.  I would never have thought in a million years that straight up pop, techno, and metal could be combined into listenable music, let alone great music, and yet Sleigh Bells has pulled it off which is a very impressive feat. 

And now…the album Treats!  As much as I truly love having instant access to lots of great music through the iTunes store, there is still something to be said about the record shop experience.  I was shopping for some music and I bought Treats by Sleigh Bells.  From the first time I cranked this up on my car stereo my heart just starts to pump and I’m driving around with my car stereo was thumping like I was a low rider gansta.  The song “Tell ‘Em” immediately captured me as it did my brother Scott and the album just gets better and better as it progresses.  Just in all honesty it’s been a long time since I have bought an album that I just fell in love with this quickly.  Part of what makes this album so great is that in my opinion it is the first pop album in an exceptionally long time that has broken some serious ground.  Musically it makes huge use of intense and unique electronic drum beats, yet it’s not a rap of hip hop album, has unique, quick, and imaginative guitar licks which are not sampled but very methodically composed to perfectly add a huge amount of musical atmosphere, and loud, deep, and heavy sounds of synthesizers used by bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, Kraftwerk, and for that matter techno and electronica as a whole.  Although Treats has a very electronica feel to it, I would not call this an electronica album.  Then mixed in with all of the other hot rocking songs are the ballads “Rachel” and “Rill Rill” which are more traditional pop songs are still just as unique as the rest of the album and really balance the album out.  Last but not least the amazing singing voice of Alexis Krauss.  In the current music scene of pop star divas (Brittney Spears, Christine Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, etc.) although I am the first to admit that I am not a fan of this kind of pop music at all, I will not deny the talent and popularity of this music.  What I like about Alexis Krauss the most is that although she is very beautiful and has a great singing voice to match is that she is a 180 for the typical pop diva and she truly has a style all her own.  Treats was by far one of the best albums released in 2010 and a huge breathe of fresh air musically speaking.  This album became a favorite at the gym very quickly and I don’t think there is an album in the world that sounds better in my car than Treats.

It’s very rare that a concert comes to Salt Lake City that I am not aware of.  However, October 22, 2010 was one of the few exceptions.  My brother Scott called me about 20 minutes before I got off of work letting me know that his admin assistant was going to see Sleigh Bells and the concert was tonight at the Urban Lounge.  I was completely floored and I had to be there, unfortunately Scott was not in a position to go with me and I had committed to watch my mother perform (she is a cellist) with the America West Symphony of Sandy, Utah, at the All Saints Episcopal Church.  However, the doors did not open until 9:00pm at the Urban Lounge and I felt like I could pull off going to the show after the orchestra.  Fortunately, I was able to land a ticket for the concert and I was way excited.

Before the show I met up with my parents and my aunt’s Sue and Alyssa at the Olive Garden in Sugarhouse and had a nice meal, enjoyed the works of Beethoven and Mozart and the sounds of Broadway at my Mom’s concert.  When the concert ended at 9:30pm after saying wishing my parents and aunt’s a great evening I started up my car, floored it down Foothill Dr., and got to the Urban Lounge in record time.  The downside of the Urban Lounge is that the stage only about 2 feet high (about the length from my knees to the floor) and if I’m not there early I can only see the bands from the shoulders up.  Fortunately, for me when I arrived the bulk of the audience has not arrived yet and those that were there went straight to the bar so I had no problem getting right next to the stage (in fact, my knees were touching the stage) and thanks to watching some live video of Sleigh Bells on youtube.com I positioned myself on what would be Alexis’ side of the stage.  I was wearing my Dream Theater shirt at the show and much to my surprise after the first opening band a young kid behind me that looked like your typical hipster tapped me on the shoulder and said “I can’t believe Mike Portnoy has quit Dream Theater!  Who could ever replace him?”  I did not think for a minute that there would be a quasi support group to cope with Mike Portnoy quitting Dream Theater at a Sleigh Bells concert, but people never cease to amaze me.  I come to find out the kid and his friends were just as huge of fans of Dream Theater as I am and it was really fun to hang out with them during the show (side note: Mike Mangini is completely amazing and the perfect fit for Dream Theater.  I’m glad Dream Theater has been able to survive after loosing one of the greatest drummers on earth and still be just as amazing with Mike Mangini.  That is quite the feat).  After sitting through two openers which were respectably good I really could not wait for Sleigh Bells to start.  During the break Derek Miller was on the side of stage working on his laptop and getting things configured and ready.  Then finally the lights went down and over the PA the song “South of Heaven” by Slayer was cranked up which made me cheer even louder.  Derek came on stage with his trusty black Jackson guitar and started play along with “South of Heaven” and then Alexis came on the stage wearing torn up Levi’s, a black leather jacket, and black tank top.  Sleigh Bells had already taken my breath away and then then they started their set with “Tell ‘Em” and I was completely floored.  Then to take it up a level Alexis looked right at me while singing and when the song got to the lyric of “Do you really want to be in L.A.” Alexis literally put the microphone in my face and we sang a couple of the lines of the song together.  I knew I was going to be close at this show, but I did not think for one second that I would share the microphone with her for even a small moment.  The up close encounter did not stop there.  Alexis liked to work the crowd my leaning into the audience with her microphone and she was literally putting her hand on my shoulder to balance as she worked the crowd the whole show.  All of the star struck awe aside this concert was awesome!  Not only were they great live, both Derek and Alexis were fun to watch and had quite a stage presence to them.  The crowd was just jumping, moshing, and having an all out wild time.   Because I am a bigger and muscular guy I was able to hold my own on the floor and keep my primo spot with my knees touching the stage with Alexis right in front of me.  About half way through the show Sleigh Bells performed “Rill Rill” which after a very wild and intense 25 minutes was a nice break from the moshing/slam dancing leading up to it.  However, once we caught our breath the intensity was immediately cranked back up with “Straight A’s” and the show ended with the one and only “Crown of the Ground”!  At the end of the show Alexis gave me a hug, I put my hands on the stage and Alexis leaded on me as she was high fiving and saying goodnight to the audience.  The crowd was still cheering, screaming, and demanding an encore (“Run the Heart” and “Rachel” were the only songs from Treats they did not perform, which as much I love those songs, I knew they were not encore material).  Alexis came back on stage and graciously thanked everyone, but let us know that they did not have any other songs planned.  It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest shows I have ever been to is one of the shortest, but quality is definitely better than quantity in this instance.  This is the most up close and personal experience I have ever had at a concert and one that I will never forget.

After this show I immediately went to the Maverik on 300 South and 500 East, bought a Gatorade, and started to physically recoup from the show.  However, when I got back in my car I was still in awe over this show and I had to call someone just to talk about it.  My buddy Brian in Eugene, Oregon is a little bit of a night own so I decided to call him.  It was about 1:00am in Utah and when Brian saw my name pull up on his cell phone he initially thought did something happened to Brent’s family?  Is he in the hospital?  Did a girl dump him?  He felt like something had to be up.  Thank when I told him about the concert and how freaking awesome it was Brian said something like “you are the only person I know that would call this late just to talk about a concert”.  We had a good conversation though and it helped me get back to reality because I was so taken back and impressed by this concert I was probably not going to sleep and Brian helped to get my head out of the clouds a little bit.  I have been to a lot of concerts since my first one when I was 11 years old back in 1988 so for a band to impress me like this is a rare and miraculous feat.  This was quite the concert.  A few months later Sleigh Bells released the music video for “Rill Rill” and Derek Miller is wearing a sweatshirt for Salt Lake City’s The Heavy Metal Shop!  I’m glad we showed the Sleigh Bells a good time while they were in town.

Since then Sleigh Bells has really made a name for themselves and I’ll never forget when I saw Alexis Krauss on the front cover of Spin shortly after Reign of Terror was released.  It filled me with a lot of pride.  Although Reign of Terror is a small change of direction from Treats it is still very enjoyable and fun album.  In fact, last night I was cruising around my neighborhood with Reign of Terror cranked up in my car and at the stoplight of 3800 South and Wasatch Blvd when “Comeback Kid” was blaring across my speakers and a couple of cute high school girls in a jeep pulled next to me and started to bang their heads and swaying around to “Comeback Kid” at the stoplight which was way freaking cool and the highlight of my day.  Then I just cruised through Salt Lake City enjoying the rest of the album.  I have never come across a band quite like Sleigh Bells and I have really enjoyed watching them evolve and grow as a band.  Treats is one of the best albums to come out in the last five years and I look forward to where the future will take Sleigh Bells.

A picture of Alexis Krauss I took with my cell phone at the Sleigh Bells

October 22, 2010 concert at the Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Trail to Heavy Metal Greatness via the Sad Wings of Destiny

The Trail to Heavy Metal Greatness via the Sad Wings of Destiny

My father before I was born and in my early childhood worked for the grocery chain Smith’s Food King in the Salt Lake County area.  Although this job had a lot of ups and downs my father made friends with a few of his coworkers that like him were very fanatically into music.  One of them was a really cool guy named Dave K.  My father at this time really had his hand on the pulse of the hard rock scene (and what would become metal later on) and discovered several bands before the general populous.  However, my Dad’s friend Dave had a gift for discovering several bands on the way up before my Dad.  For instance, Dave K. discovered the band Journey during the pre-Steve Perry era (Journey’s first three albums), REO Speedwagon 4 years before Hi Infidelity would make them a household name, the Scorpions 4 years before “The Zoo” and 8 years before “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, and he introduced my father to Judas Priest a full two years before British Steel would launch them into superstardom.  Through Dave K. my father bought an 8 track cassette of Hell Bent for Leather (or Killing Machine outside of North America) which would become a favorite album of my fathers during the late 70’s and my father would buy British Steel shortly after it was released.  From 1980 onwards Judas Priest got very extensive airplay on KBER and KRSP in Salt Lake City and they were a band I grew up listening to on the radio with  “Turbo Lover”, “Breaking the Law”, “Living After Midnight”, “Exciter”, “Delivering the Goods”, “Head onto the Highway”, and “A Touch of Evil” being regular staples.  I especially loved “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin” which was one of my childhood, tween, and teenage angst anthems that especially sounded great on a frustrating day.  Forgiving the fact that it was 1993 before I finally started buying Judas Priest’s albums I was a huge fan growing up just off of the radio play they got in Salt Lake City.

In 1985 two young men who spent many hours drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and listing to some of Judas Priest’s albums would go to a nearby park and commit suicide, one dying and the other surviving with very severe facial injuries (however, the survivor would die three years later).   The families both boys filed suit against Judas Priest because they alleged that “Better By You, Better Than Me” from the Stained Class album (a remake of a Spooky Tooth song) the words “Do It” are heard when the song is played backwards and that this subliminal message had such a strong effect on the boys that it directly led them to end their lives.  The families filed suit for financial compensation from Judas Priest and Columbia Records.  During the summer of 1990 Judas Priest became the first heavy metal band to go on trial for their music in the case of James Vance vs. Judas Priest at the Washoe County Courthouse in Reno, Nevada.   Through the course of the short trial it was determined that the boys grew up in abusive homes, were recreational and narcotic drug users, and that the words “Do It” were not subliminally placed in the song intentionally (and later determined that the sound was from an editing/mixing error done by Stained Class’s producer Roger Glover).  At the conclusion of the trial the case was dismissed and Judas Priest was acquitted (all appeal requests have been unsuccessful to this day).  Because this case received great national attention and media coverage everyone knew about it.  When I started my 8^th grade year in September 1990 there were many super self-righteous people that previously would never have talked to me, but they suddenly felt like they had to blatantly tease, mock, and ridicule me by telling me I was going to hell, that metal had brainwashed me, and that I must be suicidal just because I was not only a metal fan, but also Judas Priest fan.  NIKE’s slogan when I was growing up was “Just Do It” and they have never once been accused of advocating suicide.  In addition, the words “Do It” has a lot of interpretations and inferences many of which have nothing to do with suicide.   I very proudly defended Judas Priest in the face of being ridiculed for being one of their fans.  It is very unfortunate that due to the stigma and fanfare associated with heavy metal at its peak, very few people (at least that I knew) were willing to look at both sides of the story.  Thankfully, the sensationalism of the trial passed as time went on and the teasing stopped with it.  However, this trial had such a strong effect on me that when I was a student at LDS Business College in 2001 I wrote a 16 page research paper on subliminal messages in advertising, media, and in music for my first college writing class.  I researched the history of subliminal messages going back to the late 40’s and read numerous psychological research findings and articles about how effective subliminal messages were.  The common theme in everything I read was that the human brain does subconsciously notice and process subliminal messages, however, a subliminal message will not make a person do anything they would not consciously do and does not take away a person’s decision making judgment and rationalization.  The Judas Priest trial was one of the central thesis’s of my paper.  On the plus side my professor loved it, all of my peer reviews were unanimously positive, and I got an ‘A’ on the paper.

By 1993, Nirvana had made it big and the music scene as a whole and especially the metal scene would very drastically change and along with it my tastes started to change as well.  I still very much loved the heavy metal I grew up with, but I was starting to explore punk, grunge, and a lot of different forms of rock and pop music.  During this time the playlist/programming on many rock stations changed and almost anything associated with 80’s metal with very few exceptions no longer got airplay or video play.  Fortunately, in 1993 Judas Priest put out their first best of collection (Metal Works 73 – 93) and I broke down and bought my first Judas Priest cassette.  This was a double cassette and I only knew about half of the songs, but I was just way excited to hear all of the classics that I just didn’t hear on the radio anymore.  That evening I heard the live version “Victim of Changes” from Unleashed in the East for the first time and it completely floored me.  At a length of over 7 minutes this song was never touched by radio in Utah and it was freaking amazing!  Out of all of the Judas Priest classics “Victim of Changes” stood out the most.  I wanted to buy a copy of the album Sad Wings of Destiny really bad.  Unfortunately, the album at that time was out of print in the United States and I had no way of getting a copy of it (that was one long backstory).

Shortly before I turned 16 years old in 1993 through my older brother Alan I landed a job as a dishwasher at Chin Wah, a Chinese restaurant in Sandy, Utah.  At this point in time CD’s were really becoming the standard for music and I wanted a CD player really bad.  About a year before Alan had bought his first CD player, not only was the sound quality amazing, but this device completely eliminated the chore of rewind/fast forward associated with all of my cassettes, which in my mind was its most appealing feature.  Although by 1993 CD players were a lot cheaper than they were in 1986, they still cost between $600.00 and $800.00.  I came up with a savings plan and about a year later right before I turned 17 years old in 1994 I purchased my first CD player (plus a stereo with a turntable and cassette deck).   During this year of my life I could not get enough of Judas Priest’s Metal Works 73 – 93 and largely because I loved “Victim of Changes” so much Judas Priest’s 1979 live album Unleashed in the East was the 5^th CD I ever bought.  It did not disappoint!  From the second “Exciter” starts the album this live album just kicks serious butt.  Besides “Victim of Changes” I really loved “Diamonds and Rust”, “The Ripper”, “Genocide”, and “Tyrant”.  I very quickly discovered that the studio versions of “The Ripper”, “Genocide”, and “Tyrant” were featured on Sad Wings of Destiny was still out of print.  However, I did start buying Judas Priest’s CD’s and especially loved Sin After Sin, Hell Bent for Leather, and Defenders of the Faith.

I think because Sad Wings of Destiny was so elusive it made me want it even more.  In the winter of 1995 I was at Media Play in Taylorsville, Utah, going through Judas Priest CD’s and I stumbled on a CD called Judas Priest: The Collection imported from England.  On the surface it looked like a best of collection of stuff from Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny.  But then I looked at the back of the CD and it was the entire albums of Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny on one CD my jaw about dropped to the floor.  I already owned Rocka Rolla, but finally I was able to get my hands on Sad Wings of Destiny, albeit it was part of a collection.  I was so excited as I drove home from Taylorsville to Sandy that I could hardly contain it that evening.  I got ready for bed and put Sad Wings of Destiny on my CD player.  From the start of “Victim of Changes” I was completely blown away, the studio cut of “The Ripper” was pretty cool, where this album really took me back was on when “Dreamer Deceiver” started.  It started out very slow and almost bluesy, then progresses into a very low tempo metal jam, and just keeps progressing and building in intensity, eventually transitioning flawlessly into “Deceiver” where the volume is cranked up and the song becomes a spectacular and groundbreaking metal song.  I had heard the song “Deceiver” before (I had purchased the now out of print The Best of Judas Priest on RCA which had “Deceiver” on it), which I thought was a good song, but once I heard “Dreamer Deceiver” I finally got the whole picture of what Judas Priest envisioned and it made all of the difference.  “Dream Deceiver/Deceiver” is truly the masterpiece of Sad Wings of Destiny and although the album always lists them as two different tracks, both tracks are one complete song and to this day is still my favorite on the album.  The rest of the album is flawless.  However, of all of the surprises the first time I listened to Sad Wings of Destiny was the song “Epitaph”.  Part of what makes this song such a surprise is it is literally the only Judas Priest song with absolutely no guitars whatsoever.  Rather, guitarist Glen Tipton plays the piano accompanied only by Rob Halford’s powerful voice.   It’s a very melodic, simple, and somewhat gothic ballad and yet it fits in perfectly and complements the rest of the album.  My patience and diligence in finding Sad Wings of Destiny during a period of time when it was out of print was rewarded many times over!  It is honestly one of the most groundbreaking albums for heavy metal as a genre and was years ahead of its time.  Through the remainder of my senior year of high school this was an album that I just couldn’t stop listening to.  When I was on my LDS mission in western Pennsylvania I found a used cassette of Sad Wings of Destiny for $0.25 in this hole in the wall music shop in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, and it was a huge breath of fresh air, especially since my access to non-religious music was very limited as a missionary.

Judas Priest in 1974 signed their first record deal with Gull Records and shortly thereafter started to record their debut album Rocka Rolla.  However, during the recording session there was a lot of tension between the band and record producer Rodger Bain (whose previous production work includes the first three Black Sabbath albums).  At this point in time Judas Priest was already performing “Tyrant”, Genocide”, and “The Ripper” live and were writing the songs that would become Sad Wings of Destiny, however, Rodger Bain did not like any of these songs and Judas Priest instead had to record some of their older songs from when they were more of a blues band rather than their current hard rock direction.  I think Rocka Rolla is a good album and shows Judas Priest’s potential as a band, but only very briefly does it elude to what Judas Priest really had in mind.  Shortly after the release of Rocka Rolla Judas Priest made their first television appearance on BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test; they perform the song “Rocka Rolla” which is a good performance, however, the second song they perform is the than unrecorded “Dream Deceiver/Deceiver” that will eventually end up on Sad Wings of Destiny.  In this performance “Rocka Rolla” shows the more bluesy roots of Judas Priest while “Dreamer Deceiver/Deceiver” shows the future of Judas Priest and a more heavy and hard brand of music.  (The first time I saw this performance on Judas Priest’s Electric Eye DVD it’s kind of odd at first.  Judas Priest is not dressed in their trademark leather and look like a bunch of hippies.  Yet they are playing music that is a full 180 from hippy music.  It amazed me that in 1975 the foundation of all things Judas Priest, and for that matter heavy metal as a whole are all present years ahead of its time).  Judas Priest learned from their experience with Rodger Bain and decided to produce Sad Wings of Destiny themselves and enlist the established producers Jeffrey Calvert and Max West in recording the album.  During this short recording session from November to December of 1975 they finally got what they had in mind musically and Sad Wings of Destiny was released in March 1976.  It was not a huge success upon its release and was for the most part panned by critics, but the power of this album plus their live show was enough to get the ball rolling for their career.

In 1980, Judas Priest would release the album British Steel which would launch Judas Priest into the 80’s as one of the hugest heavy metal bands in the world and this album became the foundation for a streak of awesome albums they would record in the 80’s.  In the opinion of heavy metal fans and rock historians of what is the greatest Judas Priest album it’s usually a tie between British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance.  Although I love both of those albums in my humble opinion Sad Wings of Destiny is the greatest Judas Priest album and one of the most important albums to the development and evolution of the genre of heavy metal.  By 1976, what would influence and ultimately become heavy metal is well established in the UK by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, and in North America by Ted Nugent, Montrose, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Blue Oyster Cult.  Part of what makes Sad Wings of Destiny so unique is that musically it is the blueprint for so much of what heavy metal becomes.  Every time I listen to “Victim of Changes” I feel like it is literally the first speed metal song in history and showcases the duel guitar leads that would be the trademark sound of Judas Priest and would become one of the most defining features of the genre of heavy metal.  I can’t even count all of the bands that have been influenced by this song.  Next, the song “Dreamer Deceiver/Deceiver” I consider to be one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever recorded.  This song is the blueprint and standard for the groove and slow jam side of metal and I can especially hear the influence of this song in “Fade to Black” by Metallica, “Foreclosure of a Dream” by Megadeth, “Cemetery Gates” by Pantera, “The Lady Wore Black” by Queensryche, “Foolin” by Def Leppard and for that matter “Rooster” by Alice in Chains.  Although the Sad Wings of Destiny may not have done well on the charts, today it’s been certified Gold in the United States, critics retrospective reviews are always positive, and is today respected as one of the greatest heavy metal albums ever made.  What I love about this album the most is when Judas Priest recorded it they were very much a struggling band and they had practically no support from their label Gull records, but this album was the start of many great things for them and is truly the small seed that grew Judas Priest into Metal Gods.

The Japanese Surrender to Cheap Trick at Budokan

The Japanese Surrender to Cheap Trick at Budokan

Through the history of Rock and Roll there is a very rich history of specular rock concerts and performances.  The first performances of Elvis Presley and The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show are so legendary that they are defining moments in American pop culture.  In addition, Bob Dylan’s very bold electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival and Jimi Hendrix’s famous set at The Monterey Pop Festival are amongst the first of many concerts that come to my mind as some of the most phenomenal in Rock and Roll history.  However, if I was granted a wish that I could travel back in time to attend one and only one rock and roll concert of my choice it would be to travel back to April 28, 1978; the place: Nippon Budokan in Tokyo; the band: Cheap Trick.  Why would I pick this specific show out of an enormously long list?  Let us transition to the supporting documentation in the paragraphs to come.

When I grew up in Sandy, UT, during my childhood years I attended Midvalley Elementary School (from 1982 to 1989) in Midvale, UT, forgiving the fact that there were literally six elementary schools closer to my house (all part of my school district I might add) than the one I attended, however, in the bizarre world of Jordan School District school boundary politics where the facts are negotiable, Midvalley is the one I end up at.  Although I have some very fond and hilarious memories of when I was elementary school with the exception of my 6^th grade year, my memories of attending Midvalley are not fond ones.  My parents are two of hugest lovers of all things music I have ever known.  My Dad is rocker and my mother is classically disciplined and really loved soft rock and musicals.  As much as their musical tastes are diverse they do have a great deal in common musically speaking.  Like many kids I knew and sang some of the nursery rhymes, but I was listening to full blown rock my entire life.  When I started in kindergarten in 1982 during singing time in my class as my teacher would lead us in the all too familiar kids’ nursery rhymes.  At this point in my life I am already big time into Styx, Kansas, Van Halen, Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Supertramp and while my classmates are singing the nursery rhymes I am literally sitting there thinking “these songs suck!” and I dreaded music time.  I just couldn’t wait for the end of the day to come home and listen to records with my Dad.  At the time it just made no sense to me why my classmates were not listing to all of the rock I was.  To say the least my early love of rock and roll made me a little different at age 5.

My experience at Midvalley growing up was there were the kids that played sports and the non-sports cool kids.  Unfortunately, during this period of my life being odd or different was frowned upon in the school yard and the weird kids got picked on.  I was the music freak and most of my friends were kids like me in the respect that we were the odd ones out.  With the exception of my friend Gabe D. I was really the only rocker in my grade.  However, in 1986 when I was in 4^th grade Top Gun was the huge movie that everyone loved and the classic album Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi.  One of things I noticed for the first time is that the kids I grew up with were starting to listen to mainstream pop, and although my classmates were not into what I was into (beside the bands listed above I am into Ozzy, AC/DC, Rush, and the 80’s metal scene at this point), everyone loved Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” and Kenny Loggin’s “Danger Zone” and for what it’s worth I have some really fond memories of singing along with these songs on the radio with the kids in my neighborhood on the school bus.  Frankly, I was just glad that classmates had evolved past “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” musically speaking.  For my 9^th birthday my parents gave me the original motion picture soundtrack for Top Gun because I really liked Kenny Loggin’s “Danger Zone” and Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away”.  For what it’s worth I enjoyed the soundtrack to Top Gun although I didn’t really love all the songs on it.  However, the song “Mighty Wings” I really loved and this became my first exposure to Cheap Trick.  At this point in time I really had no idea who they were, what they were about, and no desire to buy any of their albums, but “Mighty Wings” always sounded way good when I would speed through my neighborhood on my bicycle.

About two years later in the spring of 1988 I was watching MTV and I saw the music video for “The Flame” by Cheap Trick for the first time.  The first thing that got my attention was that they kind of looked odd.  The guitarist (Rick Nielsen) and drummer (Bun E. Carlos) both had short hair and frankly looked kind of geeky.  The singer/guitarist (Robin Zander) and bassist (Tom Petersson) had long hair and very much fit the rocker mold.  I thought to myself how in the world are these four guys even in the same band, it just doesn’t make sense.  However, in the coming weeks when I saw the music video a few more times I just fell in love with “The Flame”.  My father bought me a 45 LP of “The Flame” and I played the hell out of it.  About a month later I wanted to buy the album Lap of Luxury but my father actually discouraged it.  He told me that I should listen to the B-side of “The Flame”, see if I liked it, and learn a little bit more of what Cheap Trick was about.  My father than told me that Cheap Trick was a much heavier and harder band that what I knew at that point.  He had seen Cheap Trick Open for Kansas in 1978 and said they were the loudest opener he had ever seen, but he did enjoy their show.  I took his advice and flipped the 45 over and listened to the song “Through the Night” which I thought was freaking awesome as well (I am so glad “Through the Night” made their box set).  However, at the time I did not have a job and my allowance from my parents was very small so I spent a couple of months saving up to buy a cassette of Lap of Luxury.  During the summer of 1988 my family took a vacation to San Jose, California, to see my Uncle Laurie and my cousins.  I was way looking forward to this trip.  My Uncle worked for Raging Waters in San Jose and could get us in for free and he made arrangements for admission to the Great America amusement park in Palo Alto.  Plus our family saw the Will Clark era of the San Francisco Giants play the Barry Bonds era of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  When our family took trips together we packed up a bunch of cassettes and all five us took turns on playing cassettes in the car.  I made up a few mix cassettes for the trip and one of my mix tapes I put “The Flame” on it three different spots.  I still think of this vacation every time I hear “The Flame”.  Later that summer Cheap Trick released the single of “Don’t Be Cruel” which I loved, I had finally saved up enough money to buy Lap of Luxury which did not disappoint.  The album is more on the pop side rather than the hard rock side, but I loved it nonetheless.  However, just as my Dad had told me earlier, I still really had no idea what this band was really about.

By the end of the summer of 1988 one day my Dad was at Randy’s Records in downtown Salt Lake City and decided to buy a used LP of Cheap Trick’s At Budokan.  I think my dad had decided that I was ready to find out what Cheap Trick was really about.  One day when I came home from bicycling through my neighborhood and hanging out with my best friend Jeremy W. my dad put on side 2 of At Budokan.  I heard a loud crowd screaming, a simple drum solo, but then came in the guitar, and thus started “Ain’t That a Shame” followed by my very first listens of “I Want You to Want Me” and “Surrender”.  It completely blew me away and I was in total shock.  To a degree I almost couldn’t believe it was Cheap Trick, but it most certainly was.  I was literally speechless.  Fortunately, for me shortly after my father played me At Budokan for the first time Salt Lake’s Rock 103 and Z93 started to play some of the songs from At Budokan as well.  I would save my allowance for the next weeks to buy my own cassette of it.  Once I started 6^th grade as much I still enjoyed listening to Lap of Luxury (even today I still have lots of fond memories of that album), however, At Budokan made me a massive fan of Cheap Trick.  It was hard and heavy and held its own with all of the metal I was way into at that point.  But once again as it was for the most part when I was in elementary school no one really liked Cheap Trick other than me (which surprises me because “The Flame “is a #1 hit for crying out loud).

In September 1989 I started 7^th grade at Union Middle School and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep the night before.  When I walked into Union for the first time I noticed rockers other than me.  There were a few rocker chicks which literally did not exist at Midvalley Elementary.  On my first day I was in Ms. Burton’s English/Reading class and across the room I noticed a really cute rock chick named Tori.  I was still very shy around girls at this point and I was too scared to approach her.  A couple of weeks later I wore an AC/DC shirt to school and when I sat down in my English/Reading class Tori actually walked up to me and said “that is an awesome shirt!” and it was enough to break the ice.  Because I had a fairly huge music collection even at age eleven I usually had two different tapes with me at school almost every day.  As Tori and I were getting to know each other she would always come over to my desk and check out what tapes I had with me.  I will never forget the day I had Cheap Trick At Budokan with me.  Tori yelled out with excitement “No Way! You like Cheap Trick!” and I was ecstatic, finally someone other than me who’s a Cheap Trick fan.  We became pretty good friends from that point on.  Tori was the first girl to ever hit on me (she told me I was cute!  A huge deal at age 11) and we were good friends.  She was one of the first girls I was actually just friends with (I thought she was way cute, but I did not have a crush on her).  But as fate would have it I was going through my first huge crush on a girl named Jennifer L. who really did not like me at all, but I learned a lot from my friendship with Tori and it was way cool to just talk music with her.  Tori moved during the summer of 1990 and I never saw her again after my 7^th grade year ended.  I still think of her a little bit when I listen to At Budokan. 

There are so many memories I have associated with At Budokan I hardly have the space to write them here, so let’s transition over to some of the things I think make this album truly special.  As much as I thought Cheap Trick kind of looked odd the first time I saw the video for “The Flame” I have since thought that they must have really looked odd in the late 70’s, especially compared to most of the hard rock/heavy metal bands prevalent at that point.  But musically what might look odd was phenomenal music.  Like many bands early on Cheap Trick struggled.  There albums were not selling well as the toured the US as an opening band.  However, their manager did some research and discovered that “I Want You to Want Me” and “Clock Strikes Ten” had been huge hits in Japan.  A tour of Japan was arranged for late April/early May of 1978.  The band was excited to tour Japan, but initially felt like it might not be much different than their experience touring the US.  They had no idea what lied in wait for them.  Upon arriving in Japan there were thousands of screaming fans at the airport and Rick Nielsen described it as it was literally like the second coming of the Beatles.  This frenzy continued as the band traveled to their hotel and there were so many fans that Cheap Trick pretty much had to just lock themselves in their hotel room.  Then they were interviewed by reporters and broadcast all over Japan, and then finally comes the big moment where they take the stage at Nippon Budokan to 12,000 screaming fans (to this day the only screaming I have heard of this intensity is literally every live clip I have ever seen of the Beatles back when they still performed live).  Not only is this their first show in Japan, it’s to a sold out arena and is being broadcast on Japanese television.  They put on one of the best rock concerts ever recorded.  Part of what makes this moment so special is Cheap Trick literally had no idea that this was going to happen to them previous to arriving in Japan and they literally caught lightning!  There will never be a moment quite like this one in the history of rock and roll.

About six months after this amazing concert Cheap Trick releases the live album At Budokan in Japan only and it was the intention that this album would only be released in Japan.  However, Epic Records sent a promotional EP of a few of the songs of this concert to many American radio stations and about 30,000 copies of At Budokan were being imported into the United States from Japan and then finally in February 1979 Epic releases At Budokan in the United States.  The album takes off like wildfire and eventually peaks at #4 during a time when disco was still very dominant on the Billboard charts.  The little band from Rockford, IL, finally hits the big time and makes rock and roll history in the process.

I have seen Cheap Trick in concert twice.  The first time was in 1998 at the Utah State Fairgrounds to an audience of about 200 people and the second time was in 2008 opening for Journey and Heart at the USANA Amphitheater to an audience of about 16,000 people.  Both times it did not matter to Cheap Trick how many people were in the audience.  They took the stage and just rock it out like pros.  They are so much fun live and in many respects I still feel like as much as I love many of Cheap Trick’s studio albums, this is truly a band that must be experienced live!  How I wish I could have been one of the lucky 12,000 fans in the audience when Cheap Trick took the stage on April 28, 1978, at Budokan.  Every time I listen to At Budokan even today I still get the chills a little bit.  The album successfully captures one of the greatest rock concerts to ever take place.

Today Cheap Trick has earned a very special place in rock and roll history.  It is because of them that bands aspire for the moment when they are able to play Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan.  In addition, band like Kiss, the Ramones, AC/DC, and Aerosmith are huge fans and bands ranging from metal bands such as Ratt, Motley Crue, Guns n’ Roses, and Anthrax as well as grunge and alternative bands such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Gin Blossoms, Green Day, and Pearl Jam, and finally even bands such as Fountain of Wayne, Weezer, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have all named Cheap Trick as one on the bands that influenced them.  There is just something magical about this band.  Although Lap of Luxury got me interested in Cheap Trick, At Budokan is what makes them so near and dear to me.

Power Ballads and Straight Up Metal taken to the Extreme!!!!

Power Ballads and Straight Up Metal taken to the Extreme!!!!

For most people the years of life that composed middle school (or Jr. High for some) are the hardest and most awkward years of life.  However, for me these were some of the most fun and memorable years of my life.  I loved it.  It was the very first time where being different and unique made me one of the cool kids.  At this period of time (1990 to 1991) were the last days of the commercial peak of the glam/hair metal scene and it was a way fun time to be 13 years old.  During this period of time AC/DC, Rush, Ozzy/Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Kiss, Queensryche, Guns n’ Roses, Def Leppard, and Aerosmith were my favorite bands and from the hair metal scene I really loved Motley Crue, Great White, Cinderella, Slaughter, and Ratt.  However, at this point in time the power ballad phase of heavy metal was in full swing which was both good and bad for the metal scene depending on your point of view.

I’ll be the first to admit that whether they choose to show it or not, all metal heads have a sensitive/romantic side.  Or at least at age 13 during the awkwardness of puberty I figured out that trying to woo a girl with “Looks That Kill” by Motley Crue was extremely ineffective while “Every Rose has its Thorn” by Poison on the other hand made their hearts melt.  On the surface because I had a reputation to maintain at age 13 with the exception of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Patience” by Guns n’ Roses and few other choice power ballads, I really did not like a lot of the power ballads of metal and the romantic side of me musically was being handled pretty well by the music of Elton John, Billy Joel, and the classic rock end of the realm (i.e. “Open Arms” by Journey, “Isn’t it Time” by the Babys, “Lady” and “Babe” by Styx, etc.).  However, a heavy metal power ballad would immerge in 1991 that I tried so hard not to like, but the song was so great that it could not be stopped, the one and only “More than Words” by Extreme.

The music video for Extreme’s “More than Words” is one of the most unique of its era, it is filmed in black and white with bassist Pat Badger and drummer Paul Geary chilling in the background with guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and singer Gary Cherone performing “More than Words”.  The video was simple and the song was way catchy.  At first I did not really like the song, but there was just something about it that I could not ignore and the song very quickly grew on me.  I think one of the things that really made “More than Words” stand out is its simplicity.  In my opinion it is one of the first power ballads in the realm of metal and classic rock that was not an elaborate production.  Later on in 1991 Extreme released the single of “Hole Hearted” which is a more traditional folk ballad, but just as awesome as “More than Words”.  My older brother bought a cassette of Extreme II: Pornograffitti and very quickly became a fan of Extreme.  As much as I very much loved both of these songs at age 14, however, because they were both power ballads, I just did not feel like there was much else to the band Extreme…however, my perception of Extreme would very radically change a few months later.

One of my very favorite bands of all time is ZZ Top and I especially loved Tres Hombres, Fandango, Eliminator, Afterburner, and Recycler when I was growing up.  On August 1, 1991, my Mom, my brothers, and I went to see ZZ Top with Extreme opening the show at the Salt Palace.  Prior to this show I was not expecting anything much out of Extreme; I was excited to hear them perform “More than Words” and “Hole Hearted”, but I felt like their show was going to be something I just had to get through to see ZZ Top.  The lights of the Salt Palace went down and Extreme immediately took the stage.  I have never forgotten how they looked, Gary Cherone was wearing a black tank top and warm up sweats, Nuno was wearing a black button up shirt and Levi’s, Pat Badger was wearing a leather jacket and leather pants, and Paul Geary was wearing a Boston Bruins t-shirt with shorts.  They looked a lot little different than many of the metal bands I had seen live up to that point.  They opened their show with “Decadence Dance” and then went into “L’il Jack Horny” and I was completely floored.  I was expecting Extreme to sound more like Firehouse, Poison, or Bon Jovi, I was so wrong about these guys.  I was almost double taking during their whole show because I was so surprised by how great they were live.  I will never forget when the roadies set up the bar stools on stage and the crowd was going berserk in anticipation.  The entire crowd sang along with “More than Words” and “Hole Hearted” at the top of their lungs and it was truly a very magical moment.  Extreme ended their show with “Get the Funk Out” and the crowd was completely rocking and rolling.  Extreme was one of the first openers I ever saw where I was still screaming for more when their show was over.  To be honest their show made “More than Words” and “Hole Hearted” ever more awesome because I witnessed firsthand the depth and substance behind Extreme.  ZZ Top had a hard act to follow that night.  However, ZZ Top still lived up to everything I loved about them and put on a top notch show.  This was one of the greatest concerts I have ever been to and holds a special place in my heart, especially because this was the last concert I saw in the old Salt Palace before it was torn down.  After this concert I frequently borrowed my Brother Alan’s cassette of Extreme II: Pornograffitti and it very quickly became one of my favorites through middle and high school.

Extreme II: Pornograffitti is in many ways a quasi-concept album.  To me the story is simple, the songs follow revolve around a male character living a decadent lifestyle entering the battlefield of love.  His experiences entail lust (“L’il Jack Horny”), power (“Decadence Dance” and “When I’m President”), greed (“It’s A Monster” and “In God We Trust”), attraction and falling in love (“More than Word” and “Song for Love”), the bitterness of breakups (“Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)” and “He-Man Woman Hater”), reminiscing and remembering the positive experiences in his love life (“When I First Kissed You”), and finally regret for love lost and finally putting his best foot forward again in his love life (“Hole Hearted”).  In my own love life I have experienced in one way or another all of the emotions in these songs.  All story concepts aside, musically this is a truly superb album.  Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar playing is completely amazing, Gary Cherone’s voice is amazing, and Paul Geary and Pat Badger are the perfect rhythm section.  Plus the ballads “More than Words”, “Hole Hearted”, “Song for Love”, and “When I First Kissed You” perfectly complement and balance the straight up metal of the rest of the album.  

I think it is very unfortunate that Extreme is not held in much higher regard than they are in the realm of heavy metal.  They will always be remembered for “More than Words” and “Hole Hearted”, but I think it’s a huge shame that they are not remembered for “Decadence Dance” and “Get the Funk Out” which are two of the best rock songs of the hair metal era.  Through my life Extreme II: Pornograffitti is an album that has very much passed the test of time and still sounds amazing even today.  In my opinion this album is just as great as Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood, Ratt’s Out of the Cellar, Poison’s Open Up and Say…Ahhh, Great White’s Once Bitten and for that matter I think it’s up there with Van Halen’s 5150, Whitesnake’s Whitesnake (self-titled album), Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Guns n’ Roses Appetite for Destruction and Slaughter’s Stick it to Ya as one of the greatest albums to come out of the 80’s and early 90’s (pre-grunge) metal era. 

Of course, that being said I am going to take a moment to talk a little more about “More than Words” and take a very rare and open glimpse into my love life; one of the reasons why this song resonates with me so much is that it very much taps into a side of my life that I tend to hide from the outside world which is my romantic side.  In my serious/romantic relationships with women this song really sums up how I express love.  Saying ‘I love you’ is an important step in the relationship, but there are so many other non-verbal expressions of love which to me speak much louder than words and those are the moments I cherish the most, especially the moments when I know that I am in love with a girl when we look into each other’s eyes and it just shows.  There are not very many songs that adequately describe at least my perception of how I feel when I am in love, but “More than Words” certainly does a good job.  It makes me happy today that this song is not only played on classic rock and metal radio stations, but it is also played on soft rock and pop variety stations.  In addition, I feel like “More than Words” is viewed more as a standard that everyone loves.  To be bold, I hold this song in the same regard as “Everything I Own” by Bread, “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, “She’s Got A Way” by Billy Joel, “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers, “Yesterday” by The Beatles, and “Words” by the Bee Gees as one of the greatest love songs in history.  As much as I feel like Extreme has a bad rap within metal because of “More than Words”, they have created one of the most loved love songs in history and I am glad that it’s associated with metal.