Nuclear Assault is an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, Toxik, Carnivore, and Anthrax, where Nuclear Assault bassist Dan Lilker was a member from its formation in 1981 to 1984 (when Frank Bello replaced him). After releasing five full-length albums and touring relentlessly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Nuclear Assault split up in 1995. They briefly reunited in 1997 and then reunited permanently in 2002.
Nuclear Assault has released six studio albums to date, the latest being Third World Genocide (2005). Their most successful records are Survive (1988) and Handle with Care (1989), which peaked at #145 and #126 on the Billboard200 chart respectively.
Their original name was Knight of Demon, but that was changed after a few weeks. They went from an Iron Maiden-esque sound to one heavily influenced by Venom in a matter of weeks.
In the early '90s, Flemming Rönsdorf (Artillery) was asked to join Destruction as new vocalist. He rehearsed with the band, but didn't join because, according to Ronsdorf himself, the label didn't want to send him money in advance before the upcoming tour.
The releases between 1994 and 1998 have been disowned by the band and are now classed as "Neo-Destruction" and not part of their official discography.
Mike Sifringer was unable to perform at Portugal’s Caos Emergente festival in September 2009 due to a broken finger. Ol Drake of Evile took his place onstage.
Oliver Kaiser works as editor in Basle and gives for many years lessons in Musiclab. After leaving Destruction in 1999, he studied sociology, law & on the music academy.
It was their last album with guitarist Frank Blackfire (who would later join Kreator) until his return to the band in 2018. The lyrical content delves deeply into Tom Angelripper's fascination with the Vietnam War, with a song dedicated to the ground assault aircraft AC-47 as well as the Agent orange defoliant-inspired title-track. It was the first thrash metal album to enter the German album charts where it reached number 36. Agent Orange sold 100,000 copies in Germany alone and marked the commercial break through for the band. The song "Ausgebombt" was released on the EP Ausgebombt with German lyrics.
The album's liner notes carry the message: "This album is dedicated to all people – soldiers and civilians – who died by senseless aggressions of wars all over the world."
In March 2010, Agent Orange was re-released in a digipak with bonus tracks and liner notes containing lyrics and rare photos.
but later returned to Metal Blade to continue their musical career. The band split in 2000, but reunited in 2006. Sacred Reich has been credited, along with Testament, Destruction, Death Angel and Dark Angel, for leading the second wave of thrash metal movement in the late 1980s
In November 2006, the band announced they would play several shows in the summer of 2007 in Europe, including Wacken Open Air. However, according to an interview with bassist/vocalist Phil Rind, there are no plans to record a new Sacred Reich album.
The band also contributed the Black Sabbath cover "Sweet Leaf" to the Hempilation: Freedom Is NORMLcompilation album to benefit NORML, and the Subhumans cover "The Big Picture" appears as the B-side of the "Open Book" promotional single. A three disk boxed set with remastered versions of Ignorance and Surf Nicaragua with additional bonus material, including the "Draining You of Life" demo tape and a live DVD, was originally slated for release in September 2005, but was released in Europe only in the summer of 2007 by Metal Blade Records. In the spring of 2017, the band announced their first North American tour in 21 years.
In January 2018, Sacred Reich signed to Metal Blade Records and are at work on their next album, due for a tentative 2019 release
If the title of this post and affirmation of the importance of vocalist Fee Waybill (born John Waldo Waybill in 1950) of The Tubes sounds at all familiar, it is because this is precisely how Fee Waybill was addressed in the 1989 film, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Since I know you’re curious, the other two people included in this very important trio were Martha Davis of The Motels (because of course, she was) and the big man himself, saxophone player and long-running member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Clarence Clemons. Bill and Ted might not have been the brightest bulbs, but they were right to call Fee Waybill important. Because god dammit he was and still is and I’ve got pictures and live footage to prove it. Excellent.
Anyone growing up on MTV remembers The Tubes. “Talk to you Later” was in such heavy rotation it would have been impossible not to absorb the lyrics without even wanting to. Their early, proto-punk records were popular in the UK but didn’t really break through in the U.S., so as far as most MTV kids were concerned, The Tubes they saw on television didn’t exist before “Talk to You Later.” They had likely never heard of the band’s 1975 debut, White Punks on Dope. During their time in the 70s, they became known for their elaborate stage productions which stepped far beyond merely going to see a band, and more like live, interactive, improvisational theater with sick jams.
Then, you have Fee Waybill, taking it a leap beyond the beyond appearing in characters he created for the stage such as a BDSM fan, and a glam rocker called Quay Lewd. Waybill also dressed up like a crazed astronaut from time to time and a masked bad-dude. Others would follow, and Waybill’s revolving cast of characters would make regular appearances during Tubes’ shows for years and years. According to Waybill, Quay Lewd was an “amalgam” of “Rod Stewart, David Bowie, David Johansen, Robert Plant and all the quasi-homosexual glam-rock gay lead singers with platform shoes in the 1970s.”
In 1977 The Tubes played two highly praised totally gonzo sold-out shows at the Hammersmith Odeon with Wire. Both performances were recorded and released in 1978 as What Do You Want from Live. In addition to wanton appearances by Waybill dressed in bondage gear, Quay Lewd also came out to taunt the crowd. Journalist Paul Rambali reviewed the gigs for NME, including the following assessment which I think sums up what the fuck happened at the Odeon:
“They (The Tubes) are not strictly a rock band, neither are they a show, a satire, nor a marriage of rock and theatre, (although they do admit early inspiration from the original Rocky Horror Picture Show). The Tubes are a spectacle like no other. They present a relentless two-hour onslaught of humor, outrage, parody, idiocy, music, and costume—a feast for the senses.”
On April 27th, 2003, a reunited Stooges played at Coachella, marking the first time in nearly 30 years Iggy Pop had performed with the Asheton brothers. It went so well that what was supposed
to be a one-off gig turned out to be just the beginning. For the next five-plus years, the Stooges toured the world over, playing in front
of adoring crowds—for the most part. Six months after the Coachella date, the band had another festival appearance, but instead of encountering their usual audience—fans thrilled to be seeing the Stooges—the group was met with indifference and hostility.
This REALLY pissed off Iggy, and brought out the fighting spirit in him. The Stooges’ set that evening recalled the confrontational shows of the past, and turned out to be one of the most memorable gigs this version of the band ever did.
In 2003, the annual Voodoo Music Experience festival was held at City Park in New Orleans from October 31st-November 2nd. The lineup was a mix of jam bands, rap acts, and groups that were popular on mainstream rock radio at the time. Plus, the Stooges.
The Stooges hit the stage at 8:15 pm.
A photo taken by one of the few Stooges fans in attendance.
The first song is their usual set opener, “Loose,” from the second Stooges album, Fun House—
one of the greatest records EVER MADE—and the crowd just stands and stares. Iggy immediately recognizes that the audience doesn’t care, and he becomes combative. Throughout the show,
Pop hurls a range of insults at the apathetic kids—including a guy he can clearly see is yawning.
The best put-down of the night: “You suck like the bands you like.” But there are moments when Iggy’s doing his best to stay positive; at one point, he invites the audience to come on stage,
though just one dude takes him up on it. Other times, as he unleashes on the dum dums in attendance, the Ig’s rage is palpable.
The Stooges’ November 1st performance was scheduled between nu metal band Staind and the headlining act, Marilyn Manson. At the conclusion of Staind’s set, a good chunk of the young crowd—who we have to presume had never heard of the Stooges—left to check out another one of the fest’s stages, while most of those that remained were there to hold their ground for Marilyn Manson. When an MC came out and hyped the upcoming Stooges set, there was faint applause, but the kids went crazy when he mentioned Marilyn Manson
It turned out to be a fantastic performance, despite—no, scratch that—*because* of the aloof crowd, which spurred the band on. It’s the closest a reunited Stooges would ever get to the days of Metallic KO.
One of the first death metal bands, originally founded in 1983 as Mantas, changed their name to Death in late 1984.
Death disbanded due to Chuck Schuldiner dying of a high-grade pontine glioma (a malignant
type of brain cancer that invades the brainstem) on December 13th, 2001.
The cause of death was that he took the drug vincristine to help combat the cancer and his condition worsened as he became ill with pneumonia.
Clearly, this band is not to be confused with Death, the garage rock/proto-punk band from Detroit, Michigan.
Throughout their career, Death went through constant line-up changes; however, the long enduring name was and still is regarded as a moniker of mastermind Chuck Schuldiner, who was the only member to appear on all recordings, except for one demo, which Kam Lee released, under the name Death, after Chuck's move to San Francisco in 1985. The demo is better considered Massacre material.
Death had some dramatic changes in their sound; in the beginning, before even r
eleasing a demo and under the name Mantas, the band wanted to play Venom/Celtic Frost
influenced metal, but upon hearing bands like Possessed, Mantas wanted to play and expand death metal.
Thus, they decided to change their name to Death to sum up what their music and lyrics
were about. So Death started off as death metal with gore related lyrics, as heard on Scream Bloody Gore. Starting with Human, the band underwent a noticeable transformation, with lyrics not relating to gore but more to the human mind; starting Individual Thought Patterns, the band had brought in progressive elements: thus the last studio album, The Sound of Perseverance, has a sound significantly different from that of the traditional death metal the band originally helped to define.
Beginning in 2012, former members of the band and others have toured as cover/tribute band under the names Death to All, Death DTA, and Death DTA Tours. These acts have the support of the Schuldiner family's Perseverance Holdings Ltd., which manages Chuck's legacy.
Spiritual Healing's middle section riff was originally the opening riff for the track Legion of Doom, which only appeared in demos and in the Scream Bloody Gore aborted sessions tape.
Recording information:
Recorded and mixed at Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida.
Produced, recorded and mixed by Death.
Arranged by Death with invaluable studio assistance by Scott Burns.
These things make us feel like dancing and since today is the last day of summer we’d like to celebrate by sharing this song written by Maurice White, Al McKay and Allee Willis, and recorded in 1978 by another of the greatest bands of all time Earth, Wind & Fire! We hope that you enjoy our take on this wonderful classic and that it will give you a new reason to remember the 21st night of SEPTEMBER.
In the mid-1980s, the pop music scene had this idea that recording songs with superstar ensemble bands would change the world. Nobody (especially not Sir Bob Geldof) stopped to consider that maybe it was a little condescending, a little patronizing, and a little bit OH I DUNNO colonialist to want to “fix” all the poor starving dark people. Do they know it’s Christmas? Probably not, dude. And they probably don’t care, either. Ever considered that “they” may not be into the whole Jesus thing?
Right. So these songs have existed for years (although obviously George Harrison got in on that action first with The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.) The most famous ones (of course) were the gazillion-selling hit singles where proceeds went to Ethiopia—“We Are The World” and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (in 1984 and 1989 respectively). Hell, even the money from George Michael’s “Last Christmas/Everything She Wants” single went to helping the famine in Ethiopia. Not that this was bad. I mean, I’m certainly not gonna attack George because that dude was amazing.
The general feeling of these charity songs ended up being a little “OMGZ we need to helpz the poors who can’t help themselves, c’mon other rich musik frenz! Let us change the world with our synthesizer-ness, big shoulder clothing and rockstar monies!” On the other hand, it catalyzed some pretty HFS songs and mind-blowing music videos. The following works are not all that…good. But they are also not all terrible! Some of them you should love authentically. They are great! Others…well, I love them. But I also recognize that the cheese factor is basically at Wisconsin-level.
Shall we take a look?
When the pop stars got all philanthropist-y, the metalheads just had to get in on the action. Thus we got the complete insanity of Swedish Metal Aid and Hear ‘n Aid. Both bands were (like their new wave/pop siblings) ensemble acts with proceeds headed towards Africa. Unlike Band Aid and USA for Africa, these two acts had hair, voices and attitudes that went sky-high. And spandex. Lots and lots and lots of spandex. Swedish Metal Aid was fronted by Joey Tempest of Europe (yes, “The Final Countdown,” thatEurope) and involved members from bands with names like Neon Leon & the Bondage Babies, Heavy Load, Trash, Treat, Orion’s Swords and Glorious Bankrobbers. Hear ‘n Aid was organized by the one and only Ronnie James Dio and he got everybody in there—Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Yngwie Malmsteen, Queensrÿche, Dokken, Mötley Crüe and even Spinal Tap!
Swedish Metal Aid’s song was called “Give a Helpin’ Hand,” while Hear ‘n Aid released “Stars.” Behold the damage….
But the 1980s was not where charity tunes began. In 1974, there was a horrible cyclone in Australia in the city of Darwin. Joke all you want about the name of the city where it happened but it was really awful and to make things worse? It happened on Christmas! The Kiwi pop duo Bill and Boyd recorded a song called “Santa Never Made it into Darwin” to raise money for Cyclone Tracy relief. I’m a fan of the song. I’ve included that here for your listening pleasure as well.
You may have some familiarity with the charity Comic Relief. It’s a bit of a big deal in the UK, where it’s quite a large event, highly star-studded and…called Red Nose Day. Because everyone, you guessed it, wears red noses. It targets the same charitable areas—worldwide poverty and local hunger organizations. That said, it has produced a few of the absolute best songs for its cause. My personal favorite is, hands’ down, the Cliff Richards/Young Ones collaboration on a song that I love, “Living Doll.” But I will say that I swoonswoonswoon over Bruce Dickinson singing Alice Cooper
I’m nerdily crazy about one of the last ones I’ve included. Another ensemble band collected in the UK for the BBC Children In Need telethon called The County Line. They cover David Bowie’s “Heroes” and the video is so 80s I could puke Aqua Net. I love it! How can you beat a band that boasts Suzi Quatro and Bronski Beat??? But this one is really special.
But before he set out on any of these merry adventures, Eddie spent an unforgettable evening with Mags. There he is on the cover of the “Sanctuary” single—the one with Maiden’s best singer, the futureinmate Paul Di’Anno, pleading for “sanc-choo-ree from the lahhhhhhhhhhhh-hawwwwwwwww”—there’s Eddie the Head, fresh from knifing the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on a desolate streetcorner. He does not appear extra jazzed that you, the viewer, have caught him in the act.
Neil Daniels’ Iron Maiden says the depiction of Thatcher was the band’s idea, some kind of goof on her nickname, “the Iron Lady.” In Run to the Hills: The Official Biography of Iron Maiden, Mick Wall places the image in the context of UK politics and tabloid reporting c. 1980:
A knife-wielding Eddie is depicted crouching over the slain, mini-skirted figure of a woman that, on close inspection, appears to be Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative prime minister who had been swept into power in Britain at the 1979 general election. Judging by the scene, Eddie had apparently caught the malingering PM in the unforgivable act of tearing down an Iron Maiden poster from a street wall, a crime – in Eddie’s mad, unblinking eyes – worthy of only one punishment. The blood is still dripping from his twelve-inch blade as we catch up with them. However, the single’s release had coincided with a series of highly publicised real-life acts of violence perpetrated by the various disaffected members of the British public against several top-level Tory government officials. (Lord Home had reportedly been set upon by a gang of skinheads at Piccadilly Circus tube station and Lord Chalfont was given a black eye by another closely cropped youth while walking down the King’s Road.) [...]
On 20 May, The Daily Mirror reproduced the uncensored version of the ‘Sanctuary’ sleeve under the banner headline “It’s Murder! Maggie Gets Rock Mugging!” Soon questions were being asked in Parliament. “Premier Margaret Thatcher has been murdered – on a rock band’s record sleeve,” reported The Mirror in shocked tones. Hilariously, it quoted a ministerial spokesman as saying, “This is not the way we’d like her portrayed. I’m sure she would not like it.”
On the advice of their publishing company, Zomba Music, Maiden’s next single was a cover of Skyhooks’ “Women in Uniform” recorded with AC/DC producer Tony Platt. (Can you guess what Zomba Music was trying to achieve, and in what part of the Australasian subcontinent?) The sleeve art picked up the continuing story of Eddie and Maggie: as the ghoul struts down the street with a girl on each arm, just around the corner, the PM lies in wait in beret and olive drabs, ready to cut them all in half with a few blasts from her submachine gun.
Take heart. Look how bleak Eddie’s prospects were around Halloween 1980, when “Women in Uniform” came out. Today, nearly five years have passed since the Iron Lady finally succumbed to the injuries she sustained on the “Sanctuary” sleeve, and Iron Maiden is still on tour.
Below, Iron Maiden plays “Sanctuary” on Beat Club, and Eddie cavorts with “Women in Uniform” in the band’s first video.
The first generation of “picture discs” was literally a disc put into a picture. They were called Gramophone postcards. These buggers were made up of small celluloid discs containing audio information, which was then glued to postcards. A hole went through the disc and the postcard and it played at 78rpm. Voila!These showed up around the turn of the century, first in Germany, although they made a comeback in the Soviet Union in the 1950s because hey, everything old is new again, right? Plus they were dirt cheap to produce, unlike vinyl records.
Here’s where it gets wild. The early generations of picture discs were not just pressings for the latest romantic crooners or hot jazz tunes. Nope. Starting in the 1920s and moving forwards, there was a certain amount made for fascist propaganda. Fun times with Hitler and friends becoming early adopters of the latest fad technology.
Around the 1940s, picture discs made their way into people’s homes in a cardboard format. Larger than the Gramophone postcards, these “discs” operated on the same principles: a plastic coated card with information grooves able to be played on your average record-playing device of the time. And, of course, it had a picture on it. You may have had versions of this as they continued to be made into the 1980s and printed on the backs of cereal boxes. The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” hit was a natural to sell sugar cereal and the Monkees were famously “heard” on boxes of Post’s HoneyComb, Alpha-Bits and Rice Krinkles cereals starting in about 1970. [Note the Don Kirschner connection there.] Teen idol Bobby Sherman and the Jackson 5 also saw their music printed on cereal boxes.
the Gramophone postcards!
The glory of the Vogue Records discs!
A commercial for the Monkees records that were printed on the boxes of several varieties
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