Hey, and welcome to the newest entry of The Rock and Metal Double Feature Show. I'm starting to put these up intentionally a week late, so it reminds people to tune into the next show later today. Speaking of the show on later today, that's actually going to be up at around 3:30pm as I have plans this evening. Last week's show I promoted a local band for the first time. It was Lucy Was a Decoy, who were based in North Wales. Check out their other stuff at www.facebook.com/lucywasadecoy. I'll be promoting another local band on today's show and I actually have an interview with them. If you want to listen to the show at 3:30pm check out www.mixcloud.com/johnnymercyside. Here's last week's show:
The Rock and Metal Double Feature Show: 2/3/14 Track listing: The Rock Show Coffee and TV - Blur Nobody Told Me - John Lennon Heroes and Ghosts - The Coronas Kathleen - Catfish and the Bottlemen Guilty Pleasure - Lucy Was a Decoy Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers Sweet 16 - Feeder Comfort Eagle - Cake Little Monster - Royal Blood Tick Tick Boom - The Hives Bad Blood - Beck Psychosis Safari - The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
The Metal Hour Johnny - System of a Down Iron Man - Black Sabbath I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance Children of the Korn - Korn feat. Ice Cube Stand for Something - Skindred Voices - Disturbed Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag - Marilyn Manson Beneath Black Skies - Paradise Lost Don't Fear the Reaper - HIM A Bed of Roses - QueenAdreena Dragula in the Deep - Rob Zombie vs Adele For Fucks Sake - Nailbomb Born to Raise Hell - Motorhead Total running time: 02:00:00 Other entries you might want to read: Supernatural Special - DJ Show Big News Regarding My DJing - Personal Blog My Top 50 Favourite Video Game Villains - Listing
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Hey
there. This is my first post in over two months. I've moved back to North Wales and am looking for a job. Still no luck. Fun times. But I'm going to try and get back into writing again, I have the time at the moment but in honesty I've had a lot of writers block. I'm not in my own comfort and environment at present and I'm just struggling to think properly. I hope you like the new website design. I'm going try to start posting again; it might not be all the time but I'll give it a go when it feels right. This Mixtape was definitely a nice distraction so I hope you enjoy it.
Welcome to a Jubilee special. Happy Diamond Jubilee and all that jazz. I'm really not that big on royalty so I'm not really celebrating it, but if you are, then enjoy yourself. This Mixtape came from an idea I had whilst working with the British Heart Foundation (I'm currently volunteering there). There's a sweepstake in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee that had a load of songs you can put £1 on to donate to charity. All the songs were referencing royalty in some way or another, either in their song titles or the band or singer's name. I thought it made a brilliant idea for a Mixtape, obviously mine would have some obscure songs that would not feature on that list, but it's still a lot of fun and you know what? It's a damn good list of songs below if I should say so myself.
Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The
list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further
recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids,
downloading is wrong!
So the songs below are my way of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee. I hope you celebrate it in a way you see fit. Enjoy your day off! Also, this Mixtape is now available to listen to fully on YouTube so subscribe to me if you want to listen to it properly.
Thanks for joining me on this site again. I do love writing and I hope you enjoy reading my work. I hope I can start working on the site more now, I just hope my head clears a little so my work isn't crap. Anyway enough rambling from me, have a good night.
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Hey there. It's my first proper post on here in over a week. I've been really ill recently and also in honesty, I kinda needed a little break from this site! I try to post every two days and some of my articles are quite long. But I love doing it so it's no excuse. No one puts that pressure on me but myself. It's good pressure though. But you also need a break once in a while.
Anyway, back to business. Female vocals in rock and metal are, for some reason, hard to find. I mean you find certain bands and certain artists come and make a small dent in the genres of rock, metal and indie, but it's a lot harder for a female vocalist to get the success that a male vocalist does. In pop it's a different story, you have female vocalists and girl bands all over the place. It's an oddity. So today, I'm paying homage to female vocalists in rock, metal and indie music.
Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The
list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further
recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids,
downloading is wrong!
This Mixtape doesn't sound as good as some of the others I've done. But, the content is a nice balance of all the subgenres of rock, metal and indie. So in that respect this Mixtape is a success. Also, some of the choices aren't obvious, it's to my personal taste. Anyway, enjoy!
And
that's it! I hope you enjoyed this list. There's a lot of variety here. I'm running low on Mixtape ideas, do you want to suggest any? Let me know, comment below or on my Facebook page or Twitter. That's it from me today, have a good evening!
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
To view part 2, click here. To view part 3, click here. To view part 4, click here.
Here we are, Part 5, we’re approaching half way, I hope you haven’t fallen asleep yet! The songs are getting better, well I think so anyway! This is a biased list! Let’s get to it!
#60. “Running Up That Hill” – Placebo
Released: 5/3/07
Album: Once More With Feeling
I’ll put my hands up. I never knew Placebo did a cover version of Kate Bush’s classic. I only heard it last year, being the huge wrestling fan I am, watched the fantastic promotional video between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels a few weeks before their brilliant 5 star classic at Wrestlemania. But since I heard it, I loved it. I prefer it to the original. It’s just so elegant, so light on its feet but heavy on the heart. It’s a modern day cover version classic in my eyes.
#59. “Red Morning Light” – Kings of Leon
Released: 15/7/03
Album: Youth and Young Manhood
Kings of Leon’s debut track was a fantastic little ditty. It’s probably my favourite single by the band, it just sounds really cool, and it’s everything that is good about Kings of Leon, namely, their great combination of country and garage rock. It was the main song for FIFA 04 as well, oh those were the days…
#58. “I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News) – Eagles of Death Metal
Released: 28/8/06
Album: Death by Sexy
I heard “I Only Want You” back when it came out, thought it was a decent track and then moved on. I was aware that Josh Homme was the drummer of the band but naturally the interest in this band didn’t go much beyond that.
But then this cracker came out. This song really kicks ass. The video is pretty funny as well, with Jack Black and Dave Grohl making cameos wearing wigs (which eventually blow off due to Jesse “The Devil” Hughes ‘mind-blowing’ guitar riffs). It’s by far their best single, but the album “Death by Sexy” is freaking awesome as well.
#57. “Harmonic Generator” – The Datsuns
Released: 28/10/03
Album: The Datsuns
This song kicks real ass. The Datsuns are a barely remembered footnote in history now, but back in the early Naughties they were a decent little band that had some exposure on MTV2. This was my favourite track. I love the riff, the back vocals in the chorus, the lead singers voice as well. The video is nice and colourful too. It’s just a great track, an underrated one, that’s for sure.
#56. “Burn the Witch” – The Queens of the Stone Age
Released: 10/1/06
Album: Lullabies to Paralyze
Unless you’re a decent TQotSA fan, chances are this song slipped past you. Which is a shame really as it’s my favourite single off “Lullabies”, more so than the relatively successful “Little Sister”. I just love the riff, the way the song is sung, the lyrics, it just sounds really cool. The clapping towards the end and the wooo-ing gives it that ritual-esque feeling as well.
#55. “Pretty Like Drugs” – QueenAdreena
Released: 8/7/02
Album: Drink Me
Man, if QueenAdreena released more singles then they’d find themselves on this list more. They probably don’t care mind. Anyway, QueenAdreena’s “Pretty Like Drugs” is probably their most popular song, and is one of the few tracks actually released as a single by the band. Like in a lot of their tracks, KatieJane Garside manages to combine her beautiful vocals with her screaming vocals in the same track, which really work well with the topic of the song, drugs being seen in a positive and negative light. It’s a fantastic track, and if you’ve never heard of this band before, I’d recommend you start with this song.
#54. “Rise of the Eagles” – The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Released: 4/1/05
Album: The Royal Society
I announce this entry with news that TEMBLD have officially split up. They put it on their Facebook today. It's been on the cards since about November last year. It's a serious shame as I fucking love this band and they are the one of the most underrated bands of the decade. Rant over. Anyway, TEMBLD’s second entry into this Top 100 brings the final single off The Royal Society into the mix. It’s probably my favourite of the three, although “Mister Mental” is a quality track too. Rise of the Eagles is a more mainstream effort by the gothabilly group; it’s very catchy and the “All dressed up and ready to go” hook is great. But the video is also epic, with lead singer Guy pretending to be an American president and having all the ladies wanting him. Great stuff.
#53. “Mope” – The Bloodhound Gang
Released: 5/9/00
Album: Hooray for Boobies
This is the only Bloodhound Gang effort to make any of the Mixtapes and the Top 100 biased listing. I did like Foxtrot Unicorn Charlie Kilo but not enough unfortunately. Hooray for Boobies, released in 1999, was a brilliant album and had this awesome effort on it. “Mope” has a ridiculous amount of references to other artists and pop culture, and samples a few different tracks into the song, most prominently “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The song is very catchy and the rapping is decent. I’m not a huge fan of the “Pacman on crack” business though, but that aside, it’s an awesome song.
#52. “Coming Undone” – KoRn
Released: 21/2/06
Album: See You on the Other Side
KoRn appear three times in this listing and for the first to be at #52 is pretty good really. “Coming Undone” is a funny one; I didn’t really think much of it at the time of release. Then I got KoRn’s Unplugged album (which by the way, I thoroughly recommend you get if you like KoRn) and the acoustic version of it sounded fantastic. As I said it’s a funny one, as I prefer the original now, but at the time I thought the stripped down version sounded greater. It still sounds good and the great clap sounding drums throughout the song are a highlight for me. Jonathan’s whaling vocals in the chorus are also good.
#51. “American Bad Ass” – Kid Rock
Released: 30/5/00
Album: The History of Rock
Kid Rock is one of those damn artists that as people, man, I could just punch in the face. Same applies to Fred Durst. But, if they release songs I like, I’ll own up to it. American Bad Ass is one of those tracks, that along with “Bawitdaba” are his finest pieces of music. With the great choice of “Sad But True” by Metallica to sample, this song just sounds immediately kickass. It also helps that it worked fantastically well with WWE Legend The Undertaker, one of my favourite wrestlers, and his biker gimmick back in 2000. The lyrics are shit but as I said, the song sounds fantastic, and sometimes that’s all you need in a song.
Well we’re officially half way now. You’ve seen my favourite tracks from #100 to #51. We’ll be back tomorrow to kick start the second half, from #50 to #41. Take care.
Here we are, Part 15 of the Noughtie series. This is the beginning of the bigger listings, more important listings. I said the last two are the biggest, but there's a big five and a massive two in that five in honesty. This will be in two parts, and I'll post this today and tomorrow.
Here are in my opinion, the best twenty albums of the decade. It's a biased listing, so naturally the artists that you have seen a lot of in these Mixtapes and listings will be featured. I mean they are my favourite artists for a reason. There's only one rule here, and that is a one album per artist cap. So as great as all of Muse's albums were, only one is allowed on this list, the same applies to all the artists.
It was between "Meds" and "Sleeping With Ghosts" for me, although I'm sure traditional Placebo fans would disagree entirely. I think they're both brilliant albums but this one just pips it for me. Placebo are one of those very good artists that just aren't great, that's my humble opinion anyway, sorry for insulting any Placebo fans out there. But they're a consistent band who make consistently good music. My favourite track on the album is "Space Monkey" I don't know why, I just think it sounds really cool.
19. "The Marshall Mathers LP" by Eminem
Released: 23/5/00
Rating: **** stars
Stand-out tracks: "Kim", "Marshall Mathers" "The Way I Am"
This is definitely Eminem's best album, he really hit home with this. There was a lot of pressure on the guy, at the time he was quite new to the whole mainstream success thing and everyone wanted to know how he could follow up his previous album. Well he delivered very well with this. It's got arguably his most controversial song to date on here with "Kim", if you like it or not, it's a powerful message to his off and on wife and makes very hard hearing. I do love that song however, but can thoroughly understand why some people hate it. This album had some very good non-singled tracks on it, another good one is "Marshall Mathers" where he once again explains that he's just like everybody else and doesn't see himself as anything special. This is a fantastic rap album and if you have been thinking of what Eminem album to start with, get this one.
18. "Tenacious D" by Tenacious D
Released: 25/9/01
Rating: **** stars
Stand-out tracks: "Double Team", "Lee", "Tribute"
Tenacious D's debut album will probably not be beat by the duo, it was a gathering of their musical and comedic talents from the past merged into album form. The songs were short and funny, and their skits were hilarious. My favourite skit is probably "Inward Singing" but they're all good. This album is full of silly fun and it's quite hard to describe it in a short paragraph, other than if you've heard Jack Black and Kyle Gass' band in the past and like it, you'll like their albums. Great stuff.
17. "When Pure is Defiled" by Jerk
Released: 18/4/03
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Wrong", "I Hate People Like That", "My Friends All Lie"
I've mentioned this band a few times now, this is their first and only album and it's very good if you like industrial metal, Manson and NIN influenced style. It's a very similar sound to that of Marilyn Manson and they may be ripping him off slightly, but it's very good. It's one of the heaviest albums in my collection and it's good to play loud if you're in the mood. Their album tracks are very good, probably my favourite being "Wrong", and "My Friends All Lie". This is despite their lyrics being a bit petty and immature.
16. "if" by Mindless Self Indulgence
Released: 28/4/08
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Get It Up", "On It", "Mastermind"
It was difficult choosing an MSI album because they're all **** or ****1/4 stars in honesty but I've gone with this one. The reason being it's their most mature album. That being said this is a very immature band, but that's not insulting, they produce great music with silly lyrics intentionally, or at least that's the impression I get. I've said it before, but Mindless Self Indulgence are like no other band around today they have a very unique sound and make music in their own way. I have a lot of time for this band. The only snag is why the fuck Lyn-Z won't divorce her husband and take an interest in me. WHY!?!!
Ima Robot haven't really been talked about much on this site. They've appeared on the 2003 Mixtape with "Dynomite" but that's it. Let's clear something up. Ima Robot's self titled debut album, is a brilliant piece of work. It's catchy, it's punky, it sounds a treat. But... that was it. Ima Robot released a second album three years later. I downloaded it with excitement and it was a major bomb for me. It was just lifeless it felt. All the spunk, all the imagination from the first album just disappeared. I mean, they still have a decent fan base so I'm probably in the minority really. But their first album was just a firecracker, but it seems like they want to go into a different direction for their music. Each to their own I suppose.
14. "Drink Me" by QueenAdreena
Released: 24/6/02
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "A Bed of Roses", "Pretty Like Drugs", "Under a Floorboard World"
QueenAdreena are a bit of an enigma in honesty, they're another one of those bands that have a relatively unique sound. KatieJane Garside's vocals can't be replicated, put it that way. This album, like a lot of KatieJane's songs, are full of emotions, from angry to sadness, she can probably do the whole spectrum. The music is noisy, or timid, or it can blend the two in the same song. It's just a brilliant album, I thoroughly enjoy listening to it.
13. "Death by Sexy" by The Eagles of Death Metal
Released: 11/4/06
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Solid Gold", "Don't Speak (I Came to Make a Bang)", "Chase the Devil"
This album is great, it's definitely EoDM's best. The first was okay, but it felt uneventful really, and the third hasn't been able to captivate on this beast of an album. I haven't chosen any of the singles as a stand out track, I mean they do stand out but I really enjoy those three tracks there more than their singles. You may have heard "Don't Speak" before, if you paid attention to any Nike adverts a good two or three years ago. It's a brilliant advert, it's below if you haven't. Anyway, this album is full of great tracks and Jesse Hughes' vocals are great.
12. "An Education in Rebellion" by The Union Underground
Released: 18/7/00
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Turn Me On Mr. Deadman" "South Texas Deathride", "Killing the Fly"
It's such a shame this band disbanded after one full album. But I've talked about that a few times already, there's no need to do it again. An Education in Rebellion was one of the best debut albums I've ever heard, and it still rocks hard today, I listened to it about a week ago. Man, this band had so much talent, it was a such a good band, the only thing I dislike really are the many references to drug use, but then again it's the norm nowadays, unfortunately. I really think you should give this band a go if you like the metal bands of the early Noughties, I think they were the best of the influx around then.
11. "Hot Action Cop" by Hot Action Cop
Released: 4/3/03
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Doom Boom", "Fever for the Flava", "In a Little While"
Hot Action Cop's debut funk/rap/rock album is a real treat. It's got a great sound, mixing so many different genres, if I were to put it to two band influences it'd be "Red Hot Chili Peppers" and "The Bloodhound Gang". Their lyrics are very dirty minded yet quite funny, they're very similar to Bloodhound Gang actually the more I think about it. Yet, they can do nice songs when they want to, a great example is "In a Little While" which is a really nice way to end a hard rock album. It's a very good album and one of my favourites of the decade.
Welcome to Part 13 of the Noughtie series. In this listing I'm going to talk about artists that I believe are underrated. Now underrated can mean that they are quite popular but I feel they deserve even more recognition, or it may mean artists that just aren't popular that I believe deserve more success than artists that have fame. It's a biased list again, so you may or may not agree with this list, that's cool. Let's go.
10. Weird Al Yankovic
Weird Al has been taking the piss out of music artists since the early eighties, if not earlier. Yet this decade, he's argueably produced his two strongest albums to date with "Poodle Hat" and "Straight Outta Lynwood". This is my opinion, but I feel previously, Weird Al produced funny parodies of popular songs yet his albums lacked cutting edge. It felt that his albums were just backup tracks to support those parody singles. The last two albums however have got some fantastic tracks on there, like "Genius in France" and "Hardware Store" from "Poodle Hat", and "I'll Sue Ya" and "Pancreas" from "Straight Outta Lynwood". I intentionally avoided direct parodies when choosing those songs because I really want to emphasise, this guy doesn't have to use peoples songs directly anymore to make good music. There was a petition that got rejected to get Weird Al into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame a few years back. It's a shame, because he is an underrated, well respected comedy musician. Just ask nearly everyone he does parodys of.
9. Mindless Self Indulgence
Oh Lyn-Z, Lyn-Z, why do you have to marry such an idiot in Gerard Way? You should be one of my many wives. It's only fair that someone as awesome as me, should get someone as awesome a guitarist and sexy as yourself. Sigh...
Oh yeah, Mindless Self Indulgence have finally had the breakout they deserve in recent years. Before then they were making music that was pretty damn original and innovative, yet they weren't getting the fans and interest. All that changed in 2005 when they released "Shut Me Up" and shot up the ranks of popular metal bands. But... they deserve more. They deserve to be higher. Seriously, this band is fucking fantastic. This band produces music like I've never heard before. They mix so many genres and have made a very unique sound. If you can find a band similar to this, seriously, let me know. I can't think of any.
8. Kill Kenada
Kill Kenada are probably a band you've not heard of. If there's one band on this list you haven't heard, it's this one, that's for sure. I've put two of their songs in my Mixtapes, in 2004 and 2003. If you haven't heard these songs, give them a listen. They have been inspired by the hard rock/alternative sound of bands like The Pixies, Sonic Youth and The Fall. They sound like noise, but it's a good noise, at least I think. The thing I love most about this band is the fact that they have a habit of completely changing the sound of the track in an instant. Take "Red and Black" for instance. In this song I'd say there's probably three parts of the song, all with a different sound. It's a very unique and interesting way of writing music and I like it.
7. Jerk
Jerk are an Australian band that have since disbanded. They were featured in my "Where Are They Now?" listing. They only did the one album, which was very good actually. My ex girlfriend got me into them, chances are you haven't heard of them as they barely scraped the UK in popularity. God knows how she knew of them. Anyway, they were a decent little industrial band, very easily influenced by Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. Their first and only album was of decent quality and I listen to it once in a while still. If you like industrial bands, I'd recommend you give these a listen.
6. The Union Underground
This band unfortunately don't exist anymore, and like Jerk, they have been featured on my "Where Are They Now?" listing. The Union Underground were part of the new surge of metal bands to come out in the late nineties and early noughties, similar to Drowning Pool and Disturbed, amongst others. However in my humble opinion, they were the best. They were better than those bands, and were actually quite successful. Yet while the other bands moved on, The Union Underground decided to call it quits. The Union Underground are a footnote in history now. It's a real shame. Their first and only album is still in my collection, it's still an album I'm extremely fond of. Seriously, if you like Disturbed, Drowning Pool and similar bands, give these guys a listen. They're a better band, at least I think so.
5. Hot Action Cop
I made this listing before I heard their recent EP, which by the way, is actually not that good. That being said, their early stuff is brilliant. Their only album, which is self titled, is a brilliant piece of work. Their first EP is very good too. If you've heard this band chances are you've heard "Fever for the Flava", which is a brilliant song. If not, then I'd compare this band to a mixture of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and some softer Nu-Metal bands. They rap to funk rock, basically. But the thing that stands out about this band is their very dirty lyrics. Yes they're dirty lyrics, but they're very funny too. They make very funny and catchy songs. I'd really recommend you give them a listen, and start with "Fever for the Flava".
4. QueenAdreena Man, this band is underrated. That being said, they're one of those bands that don't seem to plug their own greatness enough. KatieJane Garside is one of the best female vocalists in recent memory. That being said, she's not really your standard singer, she uses her emotions very strongly, often screams down the microphone in anger. But she's more than capable of singing the most beautiful lullabys. It's hard to describe QueenAdreenas sound, an attempt would be a mixture of RiotGrrl Punk with Metal genred instruments. If you want to make a start on listening to their stuff I'd start with "Pretty Like Drugs", arguably their most popular song.
3. The Fratellis Yes, that band again. But why not? They are underrated, I think so anyway. In terms of saying something I've not said before... I'm starting to run out of reasons, it's hard when they've only released two very very solid albums. Quite simply, this band isn't deserving of a one hit wonder in "Chelsea Dagger", they deserve much more success. They're better than a lot of the crappy indie bands around at the moment. If you want an example of a very catchy non-single track by the band, I'd recommend you listen to something like "Creepin' Up the Backstairs". That's proof that this band has talent. You know what fuck this, you can listen to the song here:
2. Saul Williams I've mentioned this artist once before, that was in my overall favourite artists. Saul Williams isn't your everyday rapper, that's why he doesn't appear on these frustrating Sky TV channels. He's a relatively unknown, yet highly reputable poet, that incorporates hip hop, industrial metal and electronic music. If you like any of those genres, please, give him a listen. He's seriously underrated and deserves a larger audience. As a starting point, I'd listen to "Grippo", it's one of his catchier songs. Here's a link:
1. The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster Yup, I'm sure the people who know me very well saw this coming. But if you don't know me well, and have not heard of this band, please, get their stuff. Do you like psychobilly, rockabilly, gothabilly music? Do you like the underground punk bands of the late eighties? Give them a go. This band has so much talent, they're my favourite British band of the decade. They have made three very solid albums (one has been reviewed by me here) but just can't get themselves higher up the music food chain. A good start in terms of getting into this band is by starting with their second single, "Celebrate Your Mother":
You may not agree with all these, that's fine. What artists do you feel did a decent shift for music in the Noughties that haven't had their rightful pat on the back? Comment below if you want to add to the list. I'll be back on Monday with the best of 2006, it was a decent year actually. Take care.
