OzzFest Japan

Yesterday (2013 May 12), my friend and I went to OzzFest Japan.

It was great!

We went the second day of the two-day heavy metal festival. There were bands on the first day that I would’ve like to see…namely Slipknot, but I mostly wanted to see Black Sabbath.

Here’s the line-up of bands that I saw:

Black Sabbath played:
“War Pigs“, “Into the Void“, “Under the Sun“, “Snowblind“, “Black Sabbath“, “Behind the Wall of Sleep“, “N.I.B.“, “Fairies Wear Boots“, “Symptom of the Universe“, “Iron Man“, “God Is Dead“, “Children of the Grave“
and the encore was “Paranoid“.

Here’s a photo that I took of Ozzy Osbourne:

(A bit blurry…)

 

OzzFest!

First of all, today is November 3rd…the Japanese holiday 「文化の日」(“Culture Day”).
If you went to the 浅草 (Asakusa) area of Tokyo today, you would have seen the interesting 「東京時代祭り」(“Tokyo-Era Festival”).

I’ve been to that festival a couple of times before. Click here to see the photos and videos I took of it in 2008.

Anyways, I found out yesterday that the godfathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath will come to Japan in May 2013!

Ozzy Osbourne will bring his metal festival “OzzFest” to Japan for the first time!

Click here to visit the official OzzFest Japan website.

On Saturday, May 11th 2013, Slipknot will headline.
On Sunday, May 12th 2013, Black Sabbath will headline.

The venue will be the Makuhari Messe not far from Tokyo.

U.S. Independence Day by numbers

Today is already July 5th in Japan, and America’s 「独立記念日」 (Independence Day) isn’t obserevd in Japan (obviously)…but, as I’m American, I thought I’d write a post about it.

Kind of a “Didja know…?” post.

So, did you know that…

- three U.S. Presidents died on July 4th? (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day…1826 July 4th, and James Monroe died on 1831 July 4th.)

- Heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne was married on 1982 July 4th (thirty years ago yesterday).

- There were (at least) two movies with Fourth of July-related titles…”Independence Day” and “Born On The Fourth of July“.

- Tom Cruise starred in the aforementioned “Born On The Fourth of July” and he nearly was born on that day…his birthday is July 3rd.

Can you think of any other July 4th coincidences or interesting trivia?

Are you American? How do you celebrate America’s Independence Day? (Even better…are you not American but celebrate the holiday??)

An impossible decision

Tracy Latimer died eighteen years ago today.

Do you know who she was?

The heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne has written a number of songs about real life people…such as Aleister Crowley, Charles Manson, and Jimmy Swaggart.

So, when I heard the song “Latimer’s Mercy” on his latest album “Scream” I suspected it was about someone named Latimer.

So I checked the internet. Sure enough, it’s a song about the case of the mercy killing of twelve-year-old Tracy Latimer by her father Robert.

Have you ever heard of Robert Latimer?
After I read about this case, the lyrics to the song suddenly made sense.

It’s a sad story. No parents should ever have to even contemplate such a decision.

Although, I can understand Robert Latimer’s motives to end his daughter’s suffering, I can’t say whether it was the “right thing to do” or not.
I could never make such a decision, though.

Tracy Latimer was born in Canada in November 1980 with Cerebral Palsy, which meant she would never be able to walk or talk or even feed herself. It also caused her to have severe muscle seizures for which she needed medication.
In addition, she often dislocated her hip which caused intense pain but she couldn’t take pain killers because of her anti-seizure medication.

In her short life, Tracy had already undergone many major surgeries and doctors had told her parents that she would need more surgeries.

While the rest of his family was at church on Sunday, 1993 October 24, one month before Tracy’s thirteenth birthday, Robert Latimer put his daughter into the cab of his truck and ran a hose from the exhaust.
Tracy Latimer died of carbon monoxide poisoning and her father went to prison for her murder.
But many people in Canada supported his decision to end his daughter’s pain and believed Robert Latimer shouldn’t have been convicted.
Robert Latimer was released on parole last year.

Here are the lyrics to “Latimer’s Mercy” by Ozzy Osbourne:

Another day, another full seizure,
Another pill, you spiral down deeper,
Another cut by a surgical butcher,
It’s just a way of prolonging the torture

*I won’t say I don’t know what I’m doing,
I won’t say that I’m sorry (I’m sorry)

I can’t bring you back,
I can’t leave you helpless (helpless),
I’ll make the pain rest in peace (rest in peace)

I’ll turn off the lights,
Swallow your last breath (last breath),
So close your eyes, fall asleep (close your eyes)

I’ll never hurt you (hurt you),
I’ll never hurt you (hurt you)

The sun shines on this deadly new morning,
The church bells ring an early warning,
Your eyes shine as I turn on the motor,
The tears fall as the mercy gets closer

(repeat *)

You can listen to it here:

Tracy Latimer, 1980 November 23 – 1993 October 24, RIP

Animetal USA

Have you ever heard of the Japanese heavy metal band “Animetal“?

The Japanese band "Animetal".

They were an extra band made just for fun by members of other established Japanese metal bands. Animetal played heavy metal versions of Japanese anime theme songs.

The artwork of the cover of Animetal's first album (released in the mid-90's).

Animetal disbanded about five years ago…but this year, Marty Friedman (who was the lead guitarist of the American heavy metal band Megadeth but quit that famous band so that he could live in Tokyo with his Japanese wife) helped organize the formation of “Animetal USA“.

"Animetal USA"

Animetal USA consists of Mike Vescera (formally the lead vocalist of the Japanese band “Loudness” for a short time), Chris Impellitteri (of the band “Impellitteri”), Rudy Sarzo (from “Quiet Riot”) and Scott Travis (of “Judas Priest”).

Just like the original “Animetal”, this band sings heavy metal versions of Japanese anime theme songs…but, unlike the Japanese band, only some of their songs are in Japanese—the rest are in English.

They will be releasing their debut album on 2011 October 12 and on October 15, they will perform at this year’s Loudpark Heavy Metal Festival in Saitama, Japan.

The cover artwork for Animetal USA's debut album...due for release on 2011/10/12.

Here is the official video for “Animetal USA“‘s first single…the theme song of the anime 「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」 (“Space Battleship Yamato“):

Famous fathers in pop culture

Today is 「父の日」 (Fathers Day).

My wife and daughters made a delicious Mexican dinner and gave me some new clothes for a Fathers Day present.
Wonderful gifts!

For my Fathers Day blog post, I thought I’d mention the first five famous fathers in pop culture that I thought of, whether they are fictional or “real”.

So, here’s my list (in no particular order):

–Homer Simpson–

The cartoon father figure of the American TV series “The Simpsons” is a selfish, clumsy, overweight, accident-prone father of three.
He works in a nuclear power plant but treats his responsibilities with the same importance as he does with everything else in his life…not much.

Despite all of his flaws, his family always supports him.

–Archie Bunker–

If you lived in America during the ’70s, then you surely know who Archie Bunker is.
He was the father figure on the popular (during the ’70s) American TV sit-com series.

On the surface, he seemed obnoxious, impatient and un-accepting of anyone different from himself. But, as much as he tried to hide it, he actually had a good heart and would stand up and help others.

–Ozzy Osbourne–

This is the only person on my list who isn’t a fictional character…but in many ways Ozzy Osbourne’s life has been “stranger than fiction”.

He was the original lead vocalist of the English heavy metal band “Black Sabbath” but had even more success as a solo artist after he was fired from the band he helped form.
He was infamous during the early years of his solo career for such antics as biting the heads off of a dove and a bat (on two separate occasions) and urinating on “The Alamo”, a landmark in the U.S. state of Texas (which got him banned from that state for over a decade).

In the early 2000′s, he (and most of his family) became more famous for their reality show on MTV titled “The Osbournes” about their unconventional family life.

–Baka-bon-no-papa–

The Japanese cartoon 「天才バカボン」 (“Tensai-Bakabon“) is actually named after the son, who is a foolish boy…but his father, simply called “Bakabon’s papa” is even dumber than his son and has become the most famous character in the Japanese comic book and TV cartoon series.

–Darth Vader–

The scene where Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke Skywalker's father.

Darth Vader has always been my favorite Star Wars character. He made a big impression when I was seven years old and saw him for the first time.
It was also quite a shock when I was ten and Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father!”.

—-
What famous pop culture fathers can you think of?

(And, to my own father…Happy fathers day.)

The best movie soundtracks

I have written a post about my favorite movies and another about classic movies quotes, but until now I hadn’t written one about the best movie soundtracks.

I have a number of movie soundtracks in my CD collection. Some are outstanding collections of songs from terrible movies and some others have only a few songs that are worth listening to…but I enjoy listening to all of the soundtracks on this list and I recommend picking them up if you don’t already own them.

So, here they are in no particular order (other than the order in which I remembered them as I mentally cataloged my CD collection)…the songs that I like are written in red:

 

◎ Who Made Who (the official soundtrack for the movie Maximum Overdrive)

AC/DC "Who Made Who"

Track listing (all songs by AC/DC):

1. Who Made Who
2. You Shook Me All Night Long
3. D.T.
4. Sink The Pink
5. Ride On
6. Hells Bells
7. Shake Your Foundations
8. Chase The Ace
9. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

The movie is called “Maximum Overdrive” and was written and directed by Stephen King, so you’d think the movie would be good…but it’s unbearably bad.
The soundtrack though (titled “Who Made Who“) is an AC/DC album and, as you’d expect, is excellent. That said, though, it’s mostly a “greatest hits” type collection…only three songs were new songs written for the movie: “Who Made Who“, “D.T.“, and “Chase The Ace“. Of those three, the title track is a good song but the other two are instrumentals, which I personally don’t care for. And the other six tracks are AC/DC classics.

 

◎ Last Action Hero

This is an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (one of his three films that Danny DeVito co-stars in) and, similarly to Maximum Overdrive, it’s a bad movie with a great soundtrack.
Personally though, I don’t like five of the songs on the album but the other seven songs are on my i-pod.

Track listing:

1. Big Gun (by AC/DC)…great song.
2. What The Hell Have I (by Alice In Chains)…I don’t like this one much.
3. Angry Again (by Megadeth)…great song.
4. Real World (by Queensryche)…I like Queensryche but not this song.
5. Two Steps Behind (by Def Leppard)…I’m not a fan of this one either.
6. Poison My Eyes (by Anthrax)…great song.
7. Dream On (by Aerosmith)…classic great song.
8. A Little Bitter (by Alice In Chains)…much better than their other track on this album.
9. Cock The Hammer (by Cypress Hill)…this song’s not bad.
10. Swim (by Fishbone)…I don’t like this one at all.
11. Last Action Hero (by Tesla)…great song.
12. Jack And The Ripper (by Michael Kamen and Buckethead)…I don’t like it.

 

◎ Detroit Rock City

This is the second “KISS movie” (the first was the ridiculous “KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park“) and stars Edward Furlong as a teenager trying to get to a sold-out KISS concert in Detroit. It’s not as boring as it sounds…it’s actually kinda entertaining.

As I’m a fan of the band KISS, naturally I have this movie on DVD and the soundtrack on CD.

Track listing:

1. The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy cover by Everclear)…not bad.
2. Shout It Out Loud (by KISS)…classic great song.
3. Runnin’ With The Devil (by Van Halen)…great song.
4. Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent cover by Pantera)…great remake of a great song.
5. Iron Man (by Black Sabbath)…great song.
6. Highway To Hell (AC/DC cover by Marilyn Manson)…Marilyn should’ve stayed truer to this excellent song!
7. 20th Century Boy (by T.Rex)…this song is alright.
8. Detroit Rock City (by KISS)…classic great song.
9. Jailbreak (by Thin Lizzy)…great song.
10. Surrender (by Cheap Trick)…it’s alright.
11. Rebel Rebel (by David Bowie)…I don’t like David Bowie’s music.
12. Strutter (KISS cover by The Donnas)…pretty good remake of a great song.
13. School Days (by The Runaways)…I don’t enjoy this song much.
14. Little Willy (by Sweet)…I don’t this too much either.
15. Nothing Can Keep Me From You (by KISS)…it might be blasphemous for a KISS fan to say—but I hate this song!

 

◎ Shocker

Another terrible movie with a good soundtrack. Shocker is a horror movie by director Wes Craven (who wrote and directed “A Nightmare On Elm Street“) about a serial killer who is given the death penalty for his crimes but “becomes” electricity after death with the power to possess other people…or something stupid like that.

I remember watching this as a teenager and recognized the voice of Paul Stanley (of KISS) singing the closing-credits song…so I bought the soundtrack to get the new “KISS song” which, it turned out, is a song by “The Dudes Of Wrath“, which was a special one-time collaboration of Paul Stanley with members of Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Motley Crue.

Track listing:

1. Sword And Stone (by Bonfire)…I don’t like this song much.
2. No More Mr. Nice Guy (Alice Cooper cover by Megadeth)…great remake of a great song.
3. Shocker (by “The Dudes Of The Wrath“)…it’s alright.
4. Timeless Love (by Saraya)…I don’t like this song either.
5. Demon Bell (by Dangerous Toys)…great song.
6. Love Transfusion (by Iggy Pop)…not so good.
7. Different Breed (by Dead On)…great song.

 

◎ Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey

Another stupid movie with a good soundtrack. If this even had a plot I can’t remember what it was.

Track listing:

1. Shout It Out (by Slaughter)…not a great song, but not horrible.
2. Battle Stations (by Winger)…not a favorite but alright.
3. God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You II (by KISS)…good but certainly not one KISS‘s best.
4. Drinking Again (by Neverland)…it’s alright, I guess but not really my style.
5. Dream Of A New Day (by Richie Kotzen)…it’s alright.
6. The Reaper (by Steve Vai)…Steve Vai is a guitar wizard but I don’t care for instrumentals much.
7. The Perfect Crime (by Faith No More)…pretty good.
8. Go To Hell (by Megadeth)…great song.
9. Tommy The Cat (by Primus)…this band was too weird for me.
10. Junior’s Gone Wild (by King’s X)…I don’t like King’s X.
11. Showdown (by Love On Ice)…not so good.
12. The Reaper Rap (by Steve Vai)…this “song” is stupid!

 

◎Mission: Impossible II

The movie was alright and the soundtrack has some gems hidden amongst some tripe.

Rather than listing this album’s entire track listing, I’ll list the few good songs on it (with it’s track number):

1. Take A Look Around (by Limp Bizket)…this band has a couple of good songs and this is one of them.
2. I Disappear (by Metallica)…great song.
3. Scum Of The Earth (by Rob Zombie)…great song.
6. Have A Cigar (Pink Floyd cover by the Foo Fighters and Brian May)…excellent remake.
8. Goin’ Down (by Godsmack)…pretty good.
12. Alone (by Buckcherry)…pretty good.

 

◎ Iron Man 2

The sequel to the movie about the American superhero character. I can’t elaborate because I haven’t watch the film…but, like the Maximum Overdrive soundtrack, this one is entirely by AC/DC (and all the song’s are great, of course).

Track listing:

1. Shoot To Thrill
2. Rock ‘N Roll Damnation
3. Guns For Hire
4. Cold Hearted Man
5. Back In Black
6. Thunderstruck
7. If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
8. Evil Walks
9. T.N.T.
10. Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be
11. Have A Drink On Me
12. The Razor’s Edge
13. Let There Be Rock
14. War Machine
15. Highway To Hell

What are your favorite movie soundtracks?

Is my music collection considered “oldies” now?

In 1986, when I was sixteen years old, if you had asked me my opinion of music that was released twenty-five prior to that (in 1961)…music by artists such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry was popular at that time…I wasn’t interested in that type of music and I probably would of considered it “ancient”.

It’s now 2011 and 1986 is now twenty-five years in the past!
My taste in music hasn’t changed at all. I still listen to the same great albums that I bought in the ’80s.
My I-pod has a number of albums from 1986.

Look at this list of albums that are now twenty-five years old (listed here in order of release). You can’t deny that they’re all excellent…much better than most of the forgettable “music” that is released today:

• Black Sabbath “Seventh Star“ 
  
• Ozzy Osbourne “The Ultimate Sin”

• Metallica “Master Of Puppets“

• Van Halen “5150“

• Judas Priest “Turbo”

• AC/DC “Who Made Who“

• Savatage “Fight For The Rock“

• Loudness “Lightning Strikes“

• Great White “Shot In The Dark“

• Iron Maiden “Somewhere In Time“

• W.A.S.P. “Inside The Electric Circus“

• KiLLeR DWaRfS “Stand Tall“

Have you heard any of these albums? What do you think of them?
As for me, even though they’re twenty-five years old now…and nearly every one of these bands have better albums in their catalog (except Metallica—”Master Of Puppets” is legend!…these albums still stand the test of time!

What would John Lennon think today’s world?

The late, great rock ‘n roll pioneer and peace activist John Lennon was born on 1940 October 9.
If he were still alive, he’d be seventy years old today.

Yoko Ono and the late John Lennon protesting the Vietnam War.

John Lennon was murdered by a lunatic “fan” almost exactly eight weeks after his 40th birthday.
(I wrote this post about that).

A number of rock musicians have a Japanese wife…including Marty Friedman and Paul Gilbert. But John Lennon’s widow is probably the most famous Japanese spouse of a western celebrity.

I’ve been a fan of The Beatles since I was a child…but John Lennon is my favorite member.
But I’m mostly a fan of heavy metal music and many of my favorite artists, including KISS, Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson, are fans of The Beatles.

The way KISS has four members who share lead vocal duties (but mainly rely on two “main members”) is just like The Beatles.
Ozzy Osbourne often wears sunglasses that are similar to the glasses that John Lennon wore.

Motley Crue did a remake of The Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter“, Aerosmith redid “Come Together“, as so many other bands have done remakes of Beatles’ songs.

Here’s a video of Ozzy Osbourne doing a remake of John Lennon’s song “Working Class Hero“, followed by a video of Marilyn Manson singing the same song:

In honor of John Lennon’s 70th birthday today, there is a YouTube channel of birthday wishes to the late artist. There are videos by Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Jeff Bridges and many others.
The YouTube channel is here.

Here’s the birthday wish from Aerosmith:

I wonder, if John Lennon were alive today, what he would think of the world today.

Upcoming metal shows in Tokyo

Are you planning a trip to Tokyo this year (or are you already here?)?
Wanna see a heavy metal concert in this city while you’re here?

There are a number of great bands scheduled to perform on stage in the Tokyo area this summer and autumn.

● First up is Faster Pussycat with special guest Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns.

Faster Pussycat

I saw Faster Pussycat in concert back in 1986 when they opened for David Lee Roth in Florida.
(And I also saw L.A. Guns on their “Hollywood Vampires” tour in 1991 in Yokohama, Japan.)

I can’t believe it’s already been nearly 25 years since that Faster Pussycat concert I saw…but this is their “25th Anniversary Tour“.

They play at 「渋谷サイクロン」 (“Shibuya Cyclone“) club on Friday, June 25th and Saturday, June 26th starting at 7:00PM (doors open at 6:30PM).
Tickets cost ¥5,000 in advance or ¥5,000 plus one drink if you pay at the door.

● Next is Bullet For My Valentine.

Bullet For My Valentine

They’re scheduled to play at the 「新木場 Studio Coast」 (“Shin-Kiba Studio Coast“) club in Tokyo on Wednesday, September 1st (they’re scheduled to play in 大阪 (Osaka) the next day)).

Their show starts at 7:00PM. Doors open at 6:00PM.

● Metallica will bring their “Death Magnetic” tour to the Tokyo area on Saturday, September 25th and Sunday, September 26th.

Metallica's 'Death Magnetic' album cover

Metallica is scheduled to play at the 「埼玉スーパーアリーナ」 (“Saitama Super Arena“).
Doors open at 5:00PM. Their show will start at 8:00PM.
Tickets cost ¥9,000.

● Also, there’s Loudpark coming up.
This is a heavy metal festival every October near Tokyo.
Click here to see my entry about it on my “Festivals in Tokyo” page.

Flyer for 'Loudpark 2010'

This year’s Loudpark festival will be at the 「埼玉スーパーアリーナ」 (“Saitama Super Arena“) on Saturday, October 16th and Sunday, October 17th.

Doors will open at 10:00AM and the first bands will begin playing at 11:00AM.
Tickets cost ¥14,000 for a one-day ticket or ¥25,000 for both days.
For an extra ¥3,000 you can get a Loudpark 2010 T-shirt.

This year’s line-up includes:

Ozzy Osbourne

KoRn

Motorhead

Avenged Sevenfold, the Japanese band Dir En Grey, Stryper, etc.