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.

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!

The Holy Diver has passed away

When I go online, first I check my email.
Today one of my emails was from my friend Masa. He told me that the legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio has passed away.

After I check my emails, I always check my favorite websites for updates. There are a number of blogs, news sites, and others that I visit everyday.
But once I knew that Dio has died, I knew that some of my favorite music-related blogs would have posts about it…Hard Rock Hideout, Metal Excess, Metal Odyssey, Heavy Metal Addiction, and Heavy Metal Time Machine all wrote excellent posts about Ronnie Dio’s passing.

Ronnie James Dio was most famous as the lead vocalist for the metal bands Rainbow, Black Sabbath (after original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne was fired), and his solo band Dio.

I knew that he had been fighting stomach cancer but I was still surprised and saddened to learn that he died on May 16.

Ronnie James Dio, 1942 July 10 – 2010 May 16, R.I.P.

Here are a couple official promotion videos for two of his biggest hits with his solo band Dio, “Holy Diver” and “The Last In Line“.
The videos seem pretty “cheesy” nowadays, but when they were first released in the ’80s they were cool (at least to the teenage heavy metal fanatic that I was back then).

Top 20 Albums

Stuff.co.nz has a so-called list of “MTV’s Greatest Album Ever Top 20” on their site.

Number one on their list is “Thriller” by Michael Jackson!

I not a Michael Jackson fan by a long-shot! I dislike him and his music. I think that “Thriller” album is way over-rated!
Their list also includes albums such as “OK Computer” by Radiohead. They’re even worse than Michael Jackson!

In fact, every single album on their list is a waste of vinyl, in my opinion…except one: they have “Appetite For Destruction” by Guns ‘N Roses listed as number three.
“Appetite For Destruction” is a great album!

I couldn’t believe, though, that they put a list of the Top 20 Greatest Albums Ever and included those other nineteen albums!
But after I re-read the article, I noticed it says “…votes were cast by fans asked to choose their favorite album since 1981 from a shortlist of 26 LPs.”

So, their list is basically meaningless (and so wrong!).

That made me do a search for a better list of the best albums of all time.

I found a list of the Best 500 Albums Of All Time.
It’s better…but KISS doesn’t appear of it even once! (And they have that awful Radiohead as number one! Motörhead ♠ or Diamondhead would’ve been better!)

So, I decided I should put online an accurate list of the best albums.

Here it is…the Best Twenty Albums Of All Time:

• KISS (their debut album). Eight out of the ten songs on this album are classics! How many other albums have 80% of the songs that are concert staples for decades?

• AC/DC : Back In Black.

• KISS : Alive II. When I was about eight-years-old, this is the first KISS album I ever saw. It made an impression on me.

• Mötley Crüe : Shout At The Devil. The epitome of ’80s heavy metal.

• Guns ‘N Roses : Appetite For Destruction. The only album from MTV’s list that belongs on a Top 20 list!

• Jackyl (their debut album). The lead singer plays the chainsaw! That’s rock ‘n roll!

• Def Leppard : Pyromania. The last decent album by this band! I saw them in concert after the drummer lost his arm in an accident and began drumming with one arm!

• 

• Megadeth : Countdown To Extinction.

• Metallica (the black album. (Should be titled: “Don’t Tread On Me” because of the cover)). All of Metallica‘s albums up to this one are great! Don’t know what happened to them after they cut their hair though!)

• Ozzy Osbourne : Blizzard Of Ozz. Ozzy is the Godfather of Metal. I love all of his albums…but this one is best!

• Judas Priest : Defenders Of The Faith.

• Queensrÿche : Operation:Mindcrime. This album is a masterpiece! I usually don’t like concept albums…but this is the rare great concept-album!

• Quiet Riot : Metal Health. Every metal-head bought this album in 1983!

• RATT : Out Of The Cellar.

• Black Sabbath : Master Of Reality.  Any Black Sabbath album is great!

• Savatage : Hall Of The Mountain King. By far their best album.

• Scorpions : Love At First Sting.

• Twisted Sister : Stay Hungry. Did you know that they dedicated this 1984 album to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

• Skid Row (their debut album). The song “Youth Gone Wild” is the perfect metal anthem.

• Dangerous Toys (their debut album).

What do you think of my list? Have you ever listened to any of these albums? Do you own them? Do you like them?

Write your own “Top 20 Best Albums” list in the comments section?