Ac/dc

[Platinum Maze]

Mostly anyone's guitar playing looks pathetic next to Malmsteen, MacAlpine, Moore, and Chastain. Agreed. Chastain however lacked as a songwriter, and never really had a good vocalist. I have the same feelings about Impellitteri.

Other than Maiden and maybe Def Leppard, I wasn't really into the NWOBHM. I wasn't saying there weren't ANY albums better than RtL and MoP, I just wanted to hear them. Seems to me you just didn't get their vibe from day 1. Which is also surprising to me since you mentioned other thrash bands that you hold in high regard. I also don't think I've ever heard anyone bash the first 3 albums to the extent that you have.

These are the albums during that time period that you mentioned that I feel either are better than or come close to RtL and MoP (and I've either heard and/or own most of the albums you mentioned):

Slayer - RiB, SoH
QR - Warning, Rage, O: M
Maiden - Piece of Mind, Powerslave (maybe my favorite album ever), SiT, 7th son
Accept - Restless and Wild
MF - Don't Break the Oath, Melissa
Megadeth - Peace Sells
FW - No Exit
Testament - The Legacy
Yngwie - Odyssey

Here's a few more I could make a case for:
Dio - Holy Diver, The Last in Line
JP - Defenders of the Faith
Yngwie - Marching Out, Rising Force, Trilogy
Loudness - Thunder..., Lightning...
VH - 1984
Flotsam & Jetsam - Doomsday...
King Diamond - Abigail, Them
Scorps - Love at First Sting

As for the ones I disagree with:
I've never cared for Blind Guardian.

Among the Living is better than AJFA, but that's it.

I prefer Keeper Part 1, but it's not better than the Metallica albums.

Rage - Perfect Man is great, but the vocals (not the lyrics) annoy me. I have this same feeeling about Soundchaser. The vocals just take some getting used to.

The first Metal Church album is classic, but IMO, it's just not as good as the two albums in question.

Never really listened to Bathory or Anvil. Isn't Bathory a Death Metal band?

I admit, I need to listen to more Pretty Maids.

I only like post-Arch Fates Warning. I do like his new EP though.

Cacophony - I only recently picked this up. The guitar playing is obviously phenomenal. I think the singer is lame. Sounds like the same singer that's on every Shrapnel album.

OU812 - uke:...sorry. Next to VH3, it's my least fav VH album.

and Motorhead and Saxon, IMO, should be the poster children for:
1. Monotonous, uninteresting riffs
2. Unimpressive solos
3. Boring melodies
4. Stupid lyrics

and for the record, I started seriously listening to Metallica about a month after RtL was released. I was 16.

oh yeah, back to the thread...I agree with theodyssey regarding ac/dc. However, I lost interest after Fly on the Wall, which I liked. Their more recent stuff just sounds more thinned out to me. The good songs are few and far between. The one song I can't stand is Thunderstruck. I don't know why. Their old stuff is great.

 

[Lonnie Tate's Forearms]

I don't know man. For one thing it seems like you're trying A LITTLE too hard with your intense Metallica hatred. Second of all, you just have different tastes. You seem to be more into the power metal stuff. You think Metallica has stupid lyrics, well that's how I feel about most power metal bands. I guess anything that's not about medieval times is stupid to you. As far as the guitar playing skill goes, Hetfield and Hammet are good guitarists, I never said they were the most skilled on Earth. There's more to music than that. I have more respect for the guy who comes up with GOOD SONGS than say some random guitar teacher who has the skill to play anything he's heard, but can't come up with any good original material. I'd say that's a skill of it's own, and in fact I'd say it's the most important skill of all. Malmsteen has great skills but he puts out cheesy ass music and most of the people that listen to it are people who are trying too hard to be "guitar snobs." I wonder if they even like it deep down. It's similar to death metal goofs who like super heavy stuff for no other reason than they think it's cool and somehow makes them tougher. Holy fuck this is a long paragraph.

Anyway I made some broad generalizations in that post and I just want to say they are not meant to be all-inclusive. I'm sure a lot of you must be able to relate to that, or maybe not. Anyway, I'm about to go crank up some Manowar and dress up in my indian war cheif outfit! DEATH TO FALSE METAL!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hyoukinmono]

I'm not saying that the first three Metallica releases were crap, or even that AJFA was crap. (After that they quickly lost any reason to exist, and with St. Anger obviously became a major joke, but that's a different discussion.) I'm just saying that they are nowhere near being the great breakthrough classics that they get romanticized as. Metallica's music wasn't unique or original, but their marketing and popularity definitely were. They brought a heavier brand of metal to a mainstream audience. That's their real contribution, not the actual music. Metallica was nothing new or unique to those of us who were already heavily into non-mainstream metal, and most of us actually laughed at them because they always seemed to be such wannabees. Metallica used to be a DECENT band, and even had a few pretty cool songs, but that was it.

About OU812, it's my third least favorite, after VH3 (was that actually Van Halen?!?!) and Balance. But I still think that it was more interesting than the redundant and repetitive AJFA.

And in Motorhead's case, hey, at least they were amusing. And Lemmy actually IS tough, unlike the boys in Metallica.

 

[Hyoukinmono]

>For one thing it seems like you're trying A LITTLE too hard with your intense Metallica hatred.

Actually, I don't have to try at all to hate them intensely.
Really, though, it's not that I hate Metallica as much as I hate the romanticized version of them that floats around, like they were the greatest metal band that ever rose from the fiery furnace. Before the Metallica myth started, I had no feelings toward them other than that they were one of many popular bands.

>Second of all, you just have different tastes. You seem to be more into the power metal stuff.

But also thrash and other subgenres as well, including bands like Testament, Megadeth, and Anthrax, that especially in the early years were classified in a category with Metallica.

>You think Metallica has stupid lyrics, well that's how I feel about most power metal bands.

Hey, we can agree on that. I've never said that power metal bands tend to have goofy lyrics. But that doesn't make Metallica's whiny and semi-illiterate lyrics any better.

> I guess anything that's not about medieval times is stupid to you.

No, anything that's not literarily or lyrically sound is stupid to me.

> As far as the guitar playing skill goes, Hetfield and Hammet are good guitarists

I would only go as far as saying that they were competent, but okay. They don't suck, but they aren't anything special either (and that they would be on a top 100 list is laughable).

>I never said they were the most skilled on Earth.

Wise decision.

> There's more to music than that.

I agree.

> I have more respect for the guy who comes up with GOOD SONGS than say some random guitar teacher who has the skill to play anything he's heard, but can't come up with any good original material.

Yes, but I haven't found Metallica to have EITHER of those skills consistantly. A few good songs here and there, but I find most of it to be filler and throw-away songs.

>Malmsteen has great skills but he puts out cheesy ass music and most of the people that listen to it are people who are trying too hard to be "guitar snobs." I wonder if they even like it deep down.

I do like it deep down, and I have never even considered the concept of being a "guitar snob." Guitar snobs miss the point of Yngwie's music just as much as the Yngwie-bashing lemming hordes with goatees on their pimpled chins and socks on their unwashed heads. For the most part, both groups never actually listen to Yngwie's music, even when it's being played, so they miss what's really going on. (Again, I'm not saying that the lyrics are always of the highest quality, but then, most songwriters don't have the education and experience to write lyrics that are of lasting value.) I became a fan of Yngwie's music because of the melodies. The guitar work has always been something extra. I had always been searching for that perfect combination of metal and classical (specifically baroque), and Yngwie has it.

> It's similar to death metal goofs who like super heavy stuff for no other reason than they think it's cool and somehow makes them tougher.

Agreed. Or the ones that think that the evil/satanic lyrics make them evil/satanic, and that that makes them cool. I think that it pretty much comes down to the fact that too many bands and fans take themselves and the music way too seriously. When any band or musician (not just Metallica) is getting worshipped by the fans, that's a sign to me that something's not right. As much as we all love it, it's just music! James Hetfield puts his pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. (Well, he's got so much money that he probably has somebody to do it for him, but you get my point.)

Anyway, I just want to make it clear that I haven't intended to offend anybody here, and I apologize if I have.

> dress up in my indian war cheif outfit!

Hey, isn't that rather politically incorrect? KEEP IT UP!!!

 

[Lonnie Tate's Forearms]

Maybe you just have a conservative bias against their lyrics, I just noticed your link.

 

[Hyoukinmono]

Maybe you just have a conservative bias against their lyrics, I just noticed your link.

Ah, I think that you've solved the mystery. I DO hate whiners, so that must be it!

Oh, maybe I'm just being an old guy, but who is Lonnie Tate?

And how about that nice weather here in Tucson today!

 

[Lonnie Tate's Forearms]

Ha, I couldn't even tell you the weather today, I have strep throat and I haven't left the house since monday. As for Lonnie Tate, I'll let HeavyMetalLiker decide if he wants Mr. Tate's identity revealed. I'm going to just ignore the liberal whiner comment for now because I just don't have the strength.

 

[Hyoukinmono]

>Ha, I couldn't even tell you the weather today, I have strep throat and I haven't left the house since monday.

Well, it was really, really, really, really nice out.
Unfortunately, the temperature is supposed to drop about 20 degrees again tomorrow.

> As for Lonnie Tate, I'll let HeavyMetalLiker decide if he wants Mr. Tate's identity revealed.

Well, I decided to look up Lonnie Tate on the internet. His identity is now revealed!

"Lonnie Tate
Chair, Canadian Foundation for Investor Education
Lonnie Tate, a chartered accountant, retired from Ernst & Young in December of 1999, after a 34-year career with the firm. As a partner, he worked in the firm’s insolvency practice, assurance services and, latterly, in sales and marketing. His experience in the non-profit sector is extensive. In the past, Mr. Tate has served as Chair of the Board, Calgary Philharmonic Society and chaired the volunteer committee of the first AT&T Canada Senior Open. Currently, he serves as: Chair of the Board, Canadian Foundation for Investor Education; Chair of the Board, Foothills Brass Society; Founding Board Member, Alberta Performing Arts Stabilization Fund; Chair of the Tournament Committee, Alberta Mentor Foundation for Youth and is a member of the marketing committee of The Calgary Foundation. When not volunteering, Mr. Tate divides his time among grandchildren, golf and piano study." So this guy has something unique going on with his forearms?

> I just don't have the strength.

Hey, you just left yourself open for another shot at liberals, but I'll let it go since you're sick. Who said conservatives weren't compassionate?

I hope you get feeling better.

 

[HeavyMetalLiker]

Oh, maybe I'm just being an old guy, but who is Lonnie Tate?

Since you live in tucson and all, I tell you.
Lonnie Tate happens to be my manager at Watson Chevrolet.
And he also has massive forearms, me and LonnieTate'sForearm's look for that kinda shit because we are workout partners and we notice large muscles such as this man's huge forearms.
But unforunutly Lonnie Tate annouced his retirement

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, He is being replaced by none other then Bob Valencia the most intimidating man in the whole world. Now I am 6'5 and this man is barely 6'0 but there is just something about him that scares the shit out of me.

 

[Lonnie Tate's Forearms]

Bob Valencia is less than 6 ft. because I'm about that height maybe 6'1'' and he seemed a couple inches shorter. But hell yeah, he would kick both our asses at the same time. The man is built like a fricking wrecking ball. Him and Lonnie Tate are like the GM version of the Mega Powers.

 

[Lonnie Tate's Forearms]

And by the way, the "here, gimme your dick..." below my user name is a direct quote from Lonnie Tate himself!

 

[theodyssey]

...

so back to what was mentioned about the "death metal goofs"... i likes me some death metal and black metal, especially dimmu borgir. I agree mostly with what you said about the evil thing being dumb, but i think for myself, a big thing about metal that is so cool is the intense cheesyness of the whole thing. I mean, i likes me some power metal like rhapsody and HammerFall as well, but with death and black metal, there IS something incredibly badass (in a horribly cheesy way) about ripping someone appart and then summoning satan to desicrate their soul hehehe... see, as long as you don't take it seriously and realize how goofy it is, it becomes more badass. Just like hammerfall.