Bring Back Glam! Favorite Albums Of 2023

Now that 2023 is officially over and behind us, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the past year.

These are in no particular order – just stuff I really enjoyed and kept coming back to, time after time. An asterisk means I bought the vinyl version, too!   

• Conquer Divide, Slow Burn*
• Dirty Honey, Can’t Find The Brakes
• Beartooth, The Surface
• I See Stars, D4MAGE DONE
• Stray View (Dave Escamilla new project), “What’s Done Is Done” (just a song but I hope the future album is just as good!)
• Asking Alexandria, Where Do We Go From Here?
• Steel Panther, On The Prowl
• Attack Attack! Dark Waves*
• Winger, Seven
• Def Leppard with the Royal Philharmonic, Drastic Symphonies *
• Falling In Reverse, Neon Zombie (well, really the track “Watch The World Burn”)
• The Rolling Stones, Hackney Diamonds

The video for "Watch The World Burn" has to be the best music clip of the year, by far:

The Best Skid Row Cover Of All Time: Asking Alexandria

Back in 2010, my beloved Asking Alexandria released an album featuring two Skid Row covers. The Life Gone Wild EP includes "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 and Life." AA's take on "Youth Gone Wild" is a longtime favorite of mine. It's been on my running playlist for years now.

Asking Alexandria performed "Youth Gone Wild" with Sebastian Bach in 2011:

New Music Saturday: 'See What's On The Inside'

You know I love me some Asking Alexandria so I wanted to share some new music on this Saturday. The band just released a deluxe edition of See What's On The Inside, featuring five new acoustic tracks. One of those is "Faded Out" and features Within Temptation. Asking Alexandria also just dropped a video for the single "See What's On The Inside" and it is below. It's pretty cool stuff.

'Alone Again' Vs. 'Alone Again'

Dokken had a hit with "Alone Again" back in 1984. The song is on the Tooth and Nail album. The track is great, but I personally can't listen to it anymore. I have heard it so many times, that I never seek it out when actively listening to Dokken. When the track comes on Hair Nation, I go to another station.

Now there's another "Alone Again" making waves. Asking Alexandria has a big success with their song - in fact, it is the band's first number 1 radio hit (active rock category). I am a fan of the band, but I do love metalcore in general. Also, the guitar work is just fantastic. The Asking Alexandria song is on the album See What's On The Inside. At this point in time, I choose the Asking Alexandria version over Dokken. What do you think?

Best Road Songs

There's nothing quite like a road song. I had MTV Classic on in the background while working yesterday and Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" came on. Of course, the song is one of the best about being a rock band on the road. I decided to make a list of my favorite road songs. Let me know what you think!

Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive

Bob Seger - Turns The Page

Asking Alexandria - The Road

Metallica - Wherever I May Roam

Allman Brothers Band - Ramblin' Man