Sunday
Dec272009
Craving Blue Murder
Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 12:01AM
John Sykes is a great guitarist. I dig his work with Whitesnake and love many of the Blue Murder tunes. I don't know if it's just me, but I find that when I have some downtime to rest and relax, I end up going through music I don't normally spin. I don't know why I play some bands more than others. Of course, I have my favorites that get played the most - but it's more complicated than that. Some days I get on a kick and I'll just play the same things over and over. After long periods of listening to the same songs constantly, I get twitchy and start to go through my music library. I then rediscover music I already own and then another kick begins.
On this Sunday, I'm on a Blue Murder kick. I hadn't listened to the band for awhile and now I'm all over them again. So, between my cleaning, organizing and watching the Cincinnati Bengals, I'll be listening to Blue Murder.
"Valley of the Kings"
"Jelly Roll"
Reader Comments (15)
And you are partially to blame for that, Kenny O, as I've now really gotten into Danger Danger, cuz of you, dude!
But Blue Murder of Danger Danger have nothing on a band I'm currently frying out on my iPod...
FATE
Have you heard 'em, K.O.?
Not to change the subject from Blue Murder, but just wonderin'? If you or anyone else are into 'em (or not into 'em, hahaha!!!), it would be cool to hear your thoughts, and of course, about the subject at hand, Blue Murder, as well.
Here's what's on my iTunes as far as both bands go...
BLUE MURDER
1) Blue Tomorrow
2) Out Of Love
3) Blue Murder
4) Jelly Roll
I had more, but burned 'em off to make more room for my other passion, Polka Music from the 60's... not! Actually, the cheeze factor might have caused it, but I'll revisit that eponymous album again to see if I can handle adding the stuff I killed back on.
This is the perfect example of the common everyday dilemmas the tortured soulless shell of Metalboy! endures on a regular basis. I think I've probably burned off a G's worth of iTunes only to repurchase a quarter of them again.
Believe me, this is a problem dating back to when I was 7 when I used to hammer up my Corgi Cars and Matchbox Toys (never Hotwheels, tho, and I still have all 88 of 'em from '67 - '70) and then buy 'em again.
This kind of behavior is also evident in an isolated incident that occured in '76 when after listening to it for 2 weeks straight, I frisbeed my Aerosmith, "Rocks" LP out the front door of my house which was at the top of a hill.
Man, that thing flew down the hill and the wind grabbed it and carried it across the street below and then halfway down the street perpendicular from our property 'til it bounced and rolled into the cul-de-sac at the other end.
Of course, after 2 days I went and bought it again and of course, I still have that copy and cherish it as one of my Top !0 Albums of All Time.
I suppose this kinda stuff happens with other people, like when they total a car or sumthin' but that's probably because the insurance takes care of it. I haven't quite reached that level yet, though.
Here's the playlist on my iPod when it comes to my latest Cheeze Metal obsession, Fate...
FATE
1) Love On The Rox ('86 version)
2) Get Up And Go
3) Rip It Up
4) Hard As A Rock
5) (She's Got) The Devil Inside
6) Hardcore Romance
7) Lock You Up
8) Memories Of You
9) Limbo A-Go-Go
10) Downtown Toy
11) Fallen Angel
12) Summertime
13) Victory
14) Beneath Da Coconuts
15) Do It
16) (I Can't Stand) Losing You
17) Love On The Rox ('88 version)
They also put out an album in '90 I just ordered but that has a new singer and line-up as original singer, Jeff "Lox" Limbo and founding guitarist, Hank Sherman quit. Amusing trivia regarding these guys... Hank Sherman was in Power Metal/Thrash Metal act Mercyful Fate before going cheezy when he created a new band, with the shortened moniker, Fate.
Of course, Fate is so much cheezier than Blue Murder. By comparison, Fate make Blue Murder sound like The Grateful Dead (hey, wait a minute wasn't that song, "Touch Of Grey" kinda cheezy?, hahaha!!! Okay, not too much, but sure as h*ll, really boring!
Blue Murder's debut is a great slab of rock and Sykes's got a good voice. They spent a lot of time looking for a vocalist but I'm glad they didn't find one.
Would love to hear Ray's version of these songs - Sykes has said that 'someday' he may release them.
Allyson, I know what you mean about rediscovering music in your own catalogue that you have not listened to in a long while. So it was with me and Blue Murder, and I finally added some of their songs to the ole' ipod just this past summer. Good stuff. I still don't understand why Jelly Roll wasn't a huge hit 'on the charts'...
C'mon, guys, face it, Blue Murder is overrated! Sykes is great cuz of his playing on Whitesnake's '87 blockbuster self titled album, "Whitesnake", not the studiously mediocre, Blue Murder attempt. Coverdale fired him and everybody else who played on the album upon it's release (Hmmmm, not very sporting, Mr. Coverdale), except Adrian Vandenberg, who only played the solo on "Here I Go Again" on the album (Wikipedia) but subsequently replaced Sykes in the lead guitarist slot.
I mean, really, reality check here, guyz -- the coolest thing about Blue Murder is their logo. Too many keyboards and to few hooks! Snoot -- you got it right on "Jelly Roll". And you're comment on that song pertains to the whole album, in my book.
But I'll admit, I haven't heard 93's "Nothin' But Trouble" album by Blue Murder. Maybe it's better. But as far as the first one, sorry, what a sell out. For real, how could such a killer guitarist bury himself in such sappy keyboard laden tripe than the material that makes up the bulk of this "album"? One answer... Do-Re-Mi.
But I like his stuff with Tygers of Pan Tang back in '81 a lot more than Blue Murder, particularly their barnstormin' cover of the Lieber Stoller classic, "Love Potion #9", which you can view on YouTube (well, hear, at any rate). He cranks a short and sweet lead on it, but it's totally rockin', nevertheless. One of my all time fave Metal covers! A NWOBHM classic!
Speaking of Cheeze Metal and too many keyboards (not Tygers but Blue Murder and Fate...), I can't believe you saw Fate back in '89, Snoot! Too bad you thought they were boring. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that they are so cheezy. You don't strike me as a big fan of Cheeze Metal, based on your previous posts, which I completely understand, as I'm not that big a fan of "legit" Metal.
I go for the comedy routines masked as Metal bands. Which may be why I find Fate so amusing (Recording wise, at any rate, since I did not have the good fortune of getting bored by them in person like lucky you did back in '89). Of course, my fave kind of comedy records from this genre are the one's who don't know they are a joke (sorry, Steel Panther...)...
Gotta hand it to Sykes. He unintenionally tried to singlehandedly murder Rock and Roll with this Blue Murder stuff. I mean, it's not even funny, like most of the other Cheeze Metal out there, some of which I am a great fan, as I'll readily admit with the likes of latest obsession Fate or any other number of clowns out there... Danger Danger, Shy, Pretty Boy Floyd, Tuff, Poison, Scorpions, Autograph, Bonfire, Stage Dolls, Sleeze Beez, Cinderella, Quiet Riot, Roughhouse, Ratt, Cold Sweat, Southgang, Bon Jovi, Valentine, Dokken, Krokus, White Lion, Vamp, Van Hagar, Skid Row, Kingdom Come, Britny Fox, Black 'n' Blue, Treat, Lion, Dirty Blonde, Blonz, Lancia, The Throbs, Bad 4 Good, Gypsy Rose, Kick Axe, Heaven, Helix, Contraband, Roxx Gang, House of Lords, Journey, Hardline, Damn Yankees, Alias, Alien, TNT, Europe, Nitro, King Kobra, 220 Volt, Unruly Child, Dalton, Giant, Blackfish, Jet Red, Sven Gali, Tigertailz, Dirty Rhythm, Brighton Rock, McAuley Schenker Group, Lionheart (brutally hilarious -- nano seconds away from becoming Loverboy.. phewee!), Tattoo Rodeo, Tesla, Giuffra, Sargent Fury, Vixen, Lita Ford, Femme Fatale, Lord Tracy, Julliet, Roxxi (thanx, Al!), Tokyo Blade, Victory, Eyes, 21 Guns, Rough Cutt, both Steelers, Kane Roberts (that giant guitarist from Alice Cooper), Holland, Zebra, etc., etc... and many more! (Note: If anyone wants to add or comment on this list of fine Cheeze pleeze do. I would love to talk more about them or anyone I may have failed to mention, of which there are definitely more than a few, even from my own collection)
There's just one difference between poseurs Blue Murder and all of these other Cheeze Metal acts I've mentioned (or not) above. Everyone else is great and Blue Murder is a frickin' snore fest! I initially said I loved Blue Murder but I think it's more about being in love with their logo.
Truth be told, I think they suck except for only parts of a few of their songs and like half of Jellyroll. As Snoot notes, it's only half good. Except I think I like the second half better, hahaha!!!
And Kari, if you'll notice, those other two stoogez on "That Metal Show" keep very quiet with little Mona Lisa-esque smirks on their faces (either cuz they don't want to get sat on or fired or both) during Chump's, er, I mean, Trunk's tyraids about how wonderful UFO, XYZ and Y&T are! What? -- Is he only into bands with initialz (xcept for Blue Murder, hahaha!!!)?
Frump, er... Trunk is a self-professed Melodic Rock freak. And in Metal Math, Melodic Rock = Borefest (I should know -- I happen to love some of the crap that gets mis-categorized into this sub genre of Hard Rock -- when it's actually Metal, albeit more "melodic" in nature). I don't actually believe he actually likes most Metal. And while I'm at it, why in h*ll can't they have some of the bands perform on the show. Make it an hour show -- more time to have some performances from the guests and more time to laff out how lost clownboy Trunk actually is.
I mean, c'mon, he's generally not funny, misguided and misinformed. The other two, Don and particularly Jim, are a h*ckuva lot funnier and have a better idea of what Metal is, tho I'll give Chunk the fact that he's a pretty good Metal Trivialist.
C'mon... UFO generally bites it except for "Lights Out" and that live record Chump keeps trying to put up there with "Rocks", etc. XYZ have their moments, mostly on thier first one, but only half of it, and Y&T? Really just "Black Tiger", Al's fave -- "Summertime Girls", "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark", and that's about it.
So, maybe Chunk is into Cheeze Metal unwittingly, but only stuff that is unintentionally so (read: "legit" Melodic Rock) or maybe we should call it Cheeze Rock, as far as what he really likes... I got it -- Eddie Chump is into Mild Mannered Metal!
I can pretty much stand by this outlandish comment based on studying him closely both on that show and his foolishly narcissistic web site (I can't bring myself to listen to his radio show).
Look, I readily admit, I'm into Cheeze Metal, Poseur Metal, Wimp Metal, you name it, but it's still gotta rock (even somewhat) and I've noticed a trend with what Chumpy Trunky really likes and it is not Cheeze or Wimp Metal and I think there's a distinction between Wimp Metal and Mild Mannered Metal and that is the fact that you can barely categorize the later as Metal whereas Wimp Metal (Winger, etc. tho I'm really going out on a limb pretending I like Skippy Winger's tripe to make a point) does have real elements of Metal (chugging crunch chords, no matter how buried in the mix they are) as opposed to the accidental and rare hooks of Trunx much loved "masterpiece", UFO's "Mechanix".
Eddie Haskell, er... um... I mean, Trunk pretends to like stuff like Iron Maiden so that he appears to be a legit Metaller but c'mon, really, "Mechanix"? Argh! Wretch! Wretch! Cough, Cough... Zzzzzzzzzzzz...
Chumpy is into Mild Mannered Metal because he tellingly doesn't site "Lights Out" as his fave UFO album. He likes UFO's "Mechanix" better! And "Mechanix" can only be rivaled in the "Boring" category by none other than Blue Murder's eponymous effort, hahaha!!!
In other words, Trunk duzn't know what the h*ll he's talkin' 'bout half the time when it comes to Metal, and if it takes one to know one, I'll admit, I don't know what the h*ll I'm talkin' 'bout half the time, but the half of me that duz is tellin' ya Chumpy Trunky duz not know!
Where the h*ll is Lester Bangs (RIP! Read some of his books and articles) when I need him to make sense of all of this? Of course, he'd probably hate the whole genre of Metal (maybe not) but he did come to the defense of Zeppelin when all the other critics poo-poo'd 'em (Rolling Stone, etc.)...
And then there's alwayz...
"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock Ya Tonight"
-- Spinal Tap
Of the bands you mentioned in your last comments, for me, Cinderella is the standout. Kickin' myself I never saw 'em. I do have some DVD's of a couple of shows back in their heyday, however. The others, though great, really are a level down from Kiefer & Kompany. Scorpions are a great comedy act. I kinda think of 'em as Party Metal, also.
Skid Row and Tesla lack the humor (unintentional or not) Cinderella and Scorpions got (xcept maybe, Rachel's annoying nose ring chain thingy), yet Skid and Tesla, also former hit machines, are technically proficient and have some good songs and riffs (Tesla, i.e."Modern Day Cowboy" and "Little Suzi". Skid Row, i.e. "Big Guns" and "Forever"). And of course, Sebastian Bach's superhuman 8 octave vocal pyrotechnics count for something, as well.
It sure would be great to see Cinderella if Kiefer could ever pull it off.
Warrant
Tesla's first two albums are good, but they could have cut some tracks from both discs. I lost interest in them after "The Great Radio..." but I have to admit that their last two albums have been pleasent surprises and they kicked butt at Sweden Rock in 2008.
I keep forgettin' you went to Sweden Rock in 2008! Dude, as you know from my previous comments, I wanna move to Sweden. Well, at least I might get to do some biz there in 2010, so I want to check out some shows there, for sure, since, sorry World, Sweden rules in the Rock and Roll department (among other departments, as well, hahaha!!!).
http://www.the-rock.dk/index.php/kalender/details/248-fate--forcentury