Do you know the song “I Love Rock And Roll“? If you do, in fact, love rock and roll then I’m sure you know this song well. “I Love Rock And Roll” has been covered by many artists since it’s original release 36 years ago (I can’t believe it’s already been that many years!)…but do you know who wrote and recorded it originally? It’s quite likely you guessed it was Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
But, although her version reached the #1 spot on the U.S. music charts, Joan Jett’s version of the song is a remake. She isn’t the original artist. It was Alan Merrill with his band (at the time) The Arrows who wrote and originally recorded the rock masterpiece “I Love Rock And Roll”.
Alan Merrill in 2011.
Alan Merrill is American and currently lives in his home state of New York…but he has lived in both England and Japan for a number of years…and reached celebrity status in both countries. Mr. Merrill was kind enough to do an excellent and interesting interview with me.
Click here to read his interview with me (and then come back and leave a comment on this post with your opinion of the interview).
I wrote a post about the Japanese heavy metal band X-Japan (they were simply called “X” when I first came to Japan).
I was surprised by the negative comments that post I wrote received from a number of X-Japan fans overseas! The post is here, by the way.
Well, X-Japan has released a new English-language song via i-tunes.
It’s currently available to for download in America and Europe.
The price is £0.79 (which equals about US$1.27 (or ¥102)).
(Click here if you want to download it from i-tunes.)
It will be available for download in Japan and Asia on 2011 July 13.
The song is titled “Jade“.
Here’s the video for the song:
Also, X-Japan is currently on a short world tour.
They just played a concert in London on Tuesday (July 28) and then they play a few more shows around Europe.
Then on August 13 they’ll be in Osaka, Japan and on August 14th they’ll play in Tokyo.
From there, they’ll play some shows in Central America.
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!
Eric Carr was the second drummer for the rock band “KISS“. He replaced the original drummer Peter Criss who quit the band in 1980.
When Eric Carr joined KISS, they were still wearing their trademark make-up. So it was decided that Eric Carr would wear make-up in the persona of “The Fox” (former drummer Peter Criss had been “The Catman“).
"Creatures Of The Night", the only KISS album cover that has Eric Carr in his "Fox" make-up (he's at the top of the cover).
Eric Carr remained a member of KISS until he died of heart cancer at the age of 41 on 1991 November 24th.
I was already in Japan when Eric Carr passed away and I was shocked when I first heard the news that he had died.
As a KISS fan, I was dismayed that Eric Carr’s death was overshadowed by the death of Freddie Mercury, the vocalist of the band Queen, who died of AIDS the exact same day.
It’s not overlooked by KISS fans in Japan that Eric Carr died at the age of 41.
In Japan, there are three ages for men and three for women that are considered by be unlucky with a higher chance of illness or injury.
These ages are called 「厄年」 (“Yakudoshi“) which means “Calamity years”.
For women these ages are: 19, 33 and 37.
For men, they are: 25, 42 and 61.
Maybe you noticed that Eric Carr died at the age of 41 and the closest 「厄年」 (“Yakudoshi“) age is 42.
But the year before and the after 「厄年」 (“Yakudoshi“) are considered dangerous as well. They’re called 「前厄」 (“Maeyaku”) and 「後厄」 (“Atoyaku”), respectively.
It’s believed that people’s bodies are changing at those ages and are prone for sickness or injury.
Actually, I twisted my ankle a few days after my 41st birthday a few weeks ago. True story.
Are you at the age of 「厄年」 (“Yakudoshi“)? Take care!
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.
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).
On the days that my kids don’t have basketball practice or guitar lessons etc, we’re gonna go to the zoo and the movies (to see 「カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家」 (“Up“)) and things like that.
Anyways, on a different note, I heard that Ozzy Osbourne‘s new album will be released this summer.
The title will be “Scream“. It was originally set to be titled “Soul Sucker“, but many Ozzy fans complained about that title…so it was changed.
I’m glad that Ozzy has decided to use his “original” logo for his name. He changed his logos for his album covers since the ’90s…but I think this original one from the ’80s is the best.
The album’s song track list is:
“Let It Die”
“Let Me Hear You Scream”
“Soul Sucker”
“Life Won’t Wait”
“Diggin’ Me Down”
“Crucify”
“Fearless”
“Time”
“I Want It More”
“Latimer’s Mercy”
“I Love You All”
Jason McMaster was kind enough to do an interview with me today.
Do you like heavy metal, southern hard rock, Dangerous Toys, KISS, Judas Priest, Metallica or Motorhead?
Of course, you do! Who doesn’t??
Then click here and read my interview with him. (And come back to this page to leave comments / questions).
Japanese rock fans are living (the) music. They believe in it’s power.
The American rock band KISS released a new album last autumn titled “Sonic Boom“.
And every summer for the past ten years or so, there is a rock festival in Japan called “Summer Sonic” (actually this is one of the numerous rock festivals in Japan every year).
Well, my good friend Masa told me today that KISS is planning to play at this year’s “Summer Sonic” festival near Tokyo this August to promote their “Sonic Boom” album.
Maybe they’ll call their shows at the festival the “Summer Sonic Boom Tour“. 😉
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If you like heavy metal music you probably recognize the name Marty Friedman.
He used to be the guitarist for the American heavy metal band “Megadeth“.
Marty played on Megadeth's excellent "Countdown To Extinction" album.
Marty Friedman has a Japanese wife and can speak Japanese. When he was a member of Megadeth, he would do all of the band’s media interviews in Japanese when they toured here in Japan (usually Dave Mustaine, the lead singer, does the interviews).
After he quit Megadeth, he and his wife moved to Tokyo (now, like me, he’s an American KISS fan living in Tokyo with his Japanese wife 😉 ).
Now that he lives in Japan, he makes a living by occasionally co-hosting music shows on TV, writing for music magazines, playing in a variety of Japanese bands, and he has released albums of remakes of Japanese songs.
Most recently, he has recorded TV commercial for the Fanta soft drink with three Japanese musicians and Akenono, the former 横綱 (Sumo Grand Champion).
In these commercials, Marty Friedman and the others (who are all famous in Japan…actually, Marty Friedman is the least famous of the five in Japan) are in a “FANTA” rock band.
Since they are all musicians in real life except Akebono (the former sumo champion)…in the commercials, Akebono plays the drums but always messes up.
The reason that these five celebrities were chosen for the “FANTA band” is that the first initial of each member’s name spells F.A.N.T.A.
They are: Marty Friedman (guitar), Ayanocozey (sometimes called “DJ OZMA”) (bass), Nana Tanimura (vocals), Takamizawa (aka: Takamiy (of the Japanese band “The Alfee“)) (guitar), and Akebono (drums (and “bodyguard” 🙂 )).
These commercials are to promote the new Fanta drink in Japan…”Moo Moo White“.
(Click here to read the post I wrote about this drink.)
Here a video of the TV commercial that Fanta released (it doesn’t show who the band members are…in an attempt to build up anticipation):
And here’s the latest one (Akebono, the sumo wrester / drummer drops his drum sticks):
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Also, in Japan, yesterday was the holiday “White Day“.
What do you think the best-selling albums of all time are?
Yesterday I saw a list of the world’s 75 best-selling albums ever. I was surprised that though The Beatles have a few albums on the list…their highest ranking album is only at #15 (“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band“).
I was surprised that Elvis Presley isn’t on the list at all, and I was disappointed that KISS isn’t on the list at all either.
Even though I don’t like his music, I wasn’t surprised that Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” album is the number one best-selling record of all time (110 million units sold).
The number two record didn’t even sell half that many.
I have never owned a Michael Jackson record…but I do have the number two album.
What do you guess the second best-selling record ever is?
It’s “Back In Black” by AC/DC. An excellent album! Do you own a copy?
AC/DC "Back In Black" (49 million units sold)
Here are the top ten best selling albums ever:
1. Michael Jackson “Thriller”
2. AC/DC “Back In Black”
3. Pink Floyd “The Dark Side Of The Moon”
4. Meat Loaf “Bat Out Of Hell”
5. Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971-75”
6. Various Artists “Dirty Dancing” OST
7. Whitney Houston “The Bodyguard” OST
8. Andrew Lloyd Webber “The Phantom Of The Opera” (musical score)
9. Backstreet Boys “Millennium”
10. The Bee Gees “Saturday Night Fever” OST
I can’t believe Whitney Houston and The Backstreet Boys sold more albums than KISS, The Beatles or Black Sabbath!
Here are some albums that I own that are on the list:
AC/DC "Back In Black" (#2)
Meat Loaf "Bat Out Of Hell" (#4)
Led Zeppelin "IV" (#13)
Guns 'N' Roses "Appetite For Destruction" (#32)
Metallica "Don't Tread On Me" / ('The Black Album') (#50)
I was surprised by the negative comments that post I wrote received from a number of X-Japan fans overseas! The post is 
Tokyo Five 
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