Videos

The Contrarians: Top 5 Wild Encounters Working at the Record Store

Thank you to Marco D’Auria for inviting me for this special episode of the Contrarians!  What are my Top Five Encounters when I was working at the Record Store?  I mulled it over and told some stories.   (I did mess up a couple minor details but nothing major.)  This fun 35 minute video highlights some of the funniest highs and lows of working at a Record Store for 12 years!  Many of these stories involve “live wire” customers!  Some are about some really rare CDs that I scored back in the day.

Working in used CDs during the Golden Age of the CD was an experience not many people get to have.  I am grateful that I am one of the few.  I will never forget it.  Please enjoy the show!

 

All my Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors
  23. Eyes Without A Face
  24. Rock Out With Your Clock Out!
  25. Album Covers You Can Hear
  26. Album Covers You Can Smell
  27. Huh?!? Album Covers that Send the Wrong Message

Top 5 Album Openers: Re-edited for length

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Special Re-Run

Top Five Album Openers – LeBrain Train Re-edited

Tonight Mike is off, recording an episode with Peter Kerr for Rock Daydream Nation.  Therefore tonight we’re re-purposing a five year old LeBrain Train episode that you gotta see.  This episode, edited here for length, originally ran October 1 2021 with Uncle Meat and Harrison Kopp:  Top Ten Album Openers!

LeBrain Train debuted at the start of the pandemic, in March 2020.  It was more geared towards chat, since nobody had anywhere to go or anything to do back then.  The episodes are too long to be enjoyed today, so we’ve cut the chit-chat and kept it to the music for this re-run.

What songs do you think just kicked off an album right?  We made sure we didn’t skimp on the analysis and appreciation.  Ritchie Blackmore, Ozzy Osbourne, Ian Anderson, Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson and of course Blaze Bayley all graced us with their musical presence on this night.  There was plenty of discussion with the audience that night, some of which is included in this re-run.  We also included a slew of runners-up for you to check out.

Every one of the songs listed tonight deserve some time in your ears.  You can read the lists below, or have some real fun and watch the show!  It’s all under an hour.

Friday March 13 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

 

 

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 31: The Final Frontier

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 31:  The Final Frontier

With special guest D’Arcy Briggs

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #140

When Iron Maiden returned on 13 August 2010 with a new studio album The Final Frontier, for the first time in a long time, it felt like “just another Iron Maiden album”.  There were no gimmicks, no comebacks, just 10 new songs.  Many of the new songs were longer and looser.  The beginning of the new Iron Maiden?  We at 50 Years of Iron Maiden try to appreciate each album as they stand on their own, and in this episode we break it down track by track, retrieving nuggets of gold.

Joining Mike and Harrison this time is new guest D’Arcy Briggs from the @Darcyska YouTube channel.  D’Arcy was glad to be able to choose this album.  He explains why in the episode.  Once again, we have the right guest for the right record.  This is a passionate episode with depth and appreciation for an album that often slips through the cracks.

Unfortunately, for the first time in Iron Maiden history, we have a new studio album with no new B-sides.  We do have singles, but no additional songs.

Once our trio of fans breaks down the album for analysis, Harrison will run us through the tour and setlists.  Would many of these songs reappear on tours down the road?  Harrison has the details.  And of course, we’ll address the controversial artwork!

Please join us for this premiere as we love to interact in the comments!

Friday March 6 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

SCHEDULE NOTE:  CLOCKS CHANGE ON SUNDAY – DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

 

 

NEWS: Sebastian Bach to join Twisted Sister for select 2026 dates!

Very exciting news today as Twisted Sister guitarists Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda announce that former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach will be joining the band for select dates in 2026.  The dates are scheduled for fall, and “do not affect or conflict with Sebastian’s current or future solo touring schedule, which remains fully intact.”

We are very excited to see what Twisted Sister sound like in their new incarnation.  Fans will recall that Dee Snider had to drop out for health reasons.  This is never an easy decision to make.  It will be interesting to see Dee’s reaction, but ours can be found below.

 

Bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza will not be on the tour, replaced by Dee Snider’s bassist Russell Pzütto.  Replacing A.J. Pero on drums is ZO2’s Joey Casatta.  Bach sang lead on “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll” from the Twisted Forever tribute CD.

🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 30: Somewhere Back In Time & Flight 666

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 30: Somewhere Back In Time & Flight 666

A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #139

Scream for me, YouTube!  In May 2008, Iron Maiden released a new “best of” CD, unlike the previous four.  Yes, that makes Somewhere Back In Time– The Best of: 1980-1989 the fifth Iron Maiden “best of”.  Despite the title, it has no songs from the first two albums, subbing in live versions with Bruce singing.  The actual tracklist focused on the Dickinson albums from 1982-1988 (Number of the Beast to Seventh Son).  Then, Maiden embarked upon a tour designed to recreate the Live After Death era, with some added goodies (and Eddies) from Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son (plus one song that didn’t fit).

Singer Bruce Dickinson, who was also a licensed pilot, had an idea:  would it be possible to modify a passenger jet to carry all their gear and crew, and fly it from gig to gig no matter how far?

It was indeed possible (if not difficult), and Ed Force One took to the skies to bring Iron Maiden to their fans around the world.  In the pilot’s seat:  Bruce himself!

The first leg of the Somewhere Back In Time tour was documented by Sam Dunn and Banger films for a movie:  Flight 666.  This film played theatrically, and was eventually released on a double DVD set with the movie and all the complete songs.  There was a complete soundtrack on CD and vinyl, and tonight we’re going to look at it all.

Mike and Harrison will dive deep into the film, the songs and the tour.  Mike has over 2000 words of notes, and copies of Flight 666 on CD, DVD and vinyl.  We will tackle Somewhere Back In Time itself as an album, and Harrison will discuss the tour legs that followed.

This will truly be an epic episode, so do not miss it.  We love to interact with the comments.

 

Friday February 27 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

 

 

Happy Birthday Dan! Off The Charts: Dan’s Birthday Live Stream

Happy birthday to my friend and collaborator, Dan Chartrand from Off the Charts.

Though February 22 is his birthday, Dan celebrated online last night with a listening party full of friends.  I was happy to be invited, and so I joined Dan, Steve Deluxe and a couple new friends for some songs.  Each guest picked a song to play that had some kind of connection with Dan.  Of course, having interviewed Rick Hughes of Sword with Dan, it made sense to pick a Rick song from his new album Redemption.

Thanks for inviting me Dan, and happy birthday.

 

VHS Archives #160: Queensryche Spotlight

Here are all the interview segments that I recorded from the Queensryche Spotlight on MuchMusic, around late 1991 or early 1992.

1. Queenryche introduce the MuchMusic Spotlight (Chris DeGarmo and Geoff Tate)

2. Why did Queensryche cover “Gonna Get Close To You” by DalBello?  Geoff Tate 1986.

3. Let’s Talk About Seattle with Geoff and Chris in 1991.

4. The whole ooint of doing Operation: Mindcrime with Chris and Geoff 1991.

5. Putting on a good show with Geoff and Chris 1986.

🅻🅸🆅🅴: Top Ten Songs of Queensrÿche

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode featuring guest Tim Durling & Uncle Meat

And guest list from Jake

Episode 138: Top Ten Songs of Queensrÿche

Raise ’em up!  Uncle Meat wanted to count down the Top 10 songs from Queensrÿche, a band we have yet to tackle on Grab A Stack of Rock.  So, we looked into the Eyes of a Stranger, placed Hand on Heart, and tried to shed some Nocturnal Light on these songs.  But it wasn’t Just Us!  Along for the ride is terrestrial DJ Tim Durling, and we will also have a guest list from Jake (Not From State Farm).

Spanning the EP all the way to Digital Noise Alliance, Queensrÿche have a lot of songs to sift through.  For this special episode, Mike even went as far as to acquire a copy of Frequency Unknown, the album that Geoff Tate made before he lost the rights to the Queensrÿche name.  (For added fun, this copy was gifted by Matthew Phillips, who had three remixed CDs sent to him by Cleopatra records.  This is not the retail Billy Sherwood remix, but the rare mail order only version dubbed “we remix, you decide”.)

Even though Queensrÿche arguably had a “dark period” with some albums that didn’t ignite the fire in fans, they also had a strong comeback with Todd LaTorre on lead vocals.  Will any Todd songs make the list tonight?  We’ll be Breaking the Silence to reveal all!

Friday February 20 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 29: A Matter of Life and Death with Uncle Meat

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 29: A Matter of Life and Death

With special guest Uncle Meat

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK episode 137

“I love work. I can sit and watch it for hours.” – Nicko McBrain

Our longest episode of the entire series, A Matter of Life and Death is a special album in the Maiden arsenal.  Bringing back one of Maiden’s most popular lyrical topics, the album largely focused on warfare, with a sideline into religion and social commentary.  There might even be an original fictional tale or two here, sprinkled in with the cold historical reality.  A Matter of Life and Death is a high water mark, we will argue, and hope you’ll listen to what we have to say.

Original Grab A Stack of Rock alumnus Uncle Meat returns for an album that he picked, because he was fortunate enough to see this tour.  That will become important later on.  Along with Mike and Harrison, each of the 10 new songs are broken down musicially and lyrically, with historical and personal context added for colour.  An album laden with highlights, we take our time to appreciate the minor details.

We’re only just getting started:  This album has a whopping 11 assorted bonus tracks and B-sides to discuss, plus a vital bonus DVD.  The extra tracks come from many formats:  A magazine CD tribute album to Deep Purple’s Machine Head, a DVD single, several CD singles, a 7″ and 10″ vinyl, just to get all the tracks.  There is also an additional promo CD single to mention, and an exclusive live track that you can’t get anymore because it was a download-only.  Bummer.

When we’re done all that, and have discussed the included documentary DVD in detail, we move on to the tour(s).  And oh, what they did nearly tore fandom apart.  As illustrated on Mike’s bootleg CD, Revenge Is Living In The Past, Maiden played all 10 album tracks in sequence before getting to a smattering of classic hits (including of course “Fear of the Dark”).  Uncle Meat was there when it went down in Toronto, and not knowing what we was in for, he describes his immediate impressions.  As a group, we tackle the tour’s historic importance, and the fallout that came next.  The next time around, Maiden had cut the 10 songs down to just five, and added more classics back into the set.

This 1 hour 38 minute episode includes the last musical B-sides or bonus tracks we’ll get from Maiden, save one RSD picture disc we’ll discuss later on.  The bonus tracks are a wonderful, confounding collection to complete.  We hope you enjoy the level of detail we went into for this episode.  We felt the album deserved nothing less.

 

Friday February 13 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

 

 

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

 

VIDEO: Francis Buchholz (Scorpions) Tribute (1954-2026) by Cretin Classics

My good buddy Davey Cretin from Noo Yawk has done a wonderful tribute video to the late Francis Buchholz, long time bassist for the legendary Scorpions. There was a lot of info here that I did not know about Francis, such as his post-Scorpions output. Davey also relays his experience of seeing Francis live twice with Scorpions, including the 1988 Monsters of Rock festival.

I was pleased to have provided some info for Davey from my collection of MEAT Magazines from the 90s.

Check it out and rest in peace Francis Buchholz.