Grab a Stack of Rock / LeBrain Train

Our Heavy Metal Origins with John Clauser, Reed Little, Roger and Jex Russell!

A longer episode, but worth it:   A treasure trove of memories unfurled on Friday night.  How did we discover heavy metal music?  What did we listen to before that?  What were our earliest metal records?  Johnny Metal (My Music Corner on YouTube)  came prepared with stacks upon stacks of rock (and Johnny Mathis).  Metal Roger brought a younger perspective, highlighted by Elvis Presley and Slipknot.  Reed Little left us spellbound by the stories he weaved of his Heavy Metal Origins!  Growing up watching MTV and MuchMusic, together we reminisced about Kiss videos, getting music from friends, finding our musical identities and generally rocking out to heavy music.  Family man Jex Russell joined in shortly after, with stories mix CDs, buying a turntable in 2004 (way before it became trendy again) and hearing the Heavy Metal soundtrack.

Several artists came up repeatedly.  W.A.S.P., Dio, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Accept.  Regardless of some of the age differences here, certain albums were common to our stories.  Reed and I share a background involving a love of science fiction and discovering Kiss at an early age.   We also shared an aversion to rock music that was from a prior generation, for “old people” such as…Deep Purple!  Obviously we all grew in the years since, but when we first discovered metal, all of us went head first, all-in.

I hope you enjoy this show and this exceptional panel.  See you in two weeks with Jex Russell on Good Friday at a special afternoon time!

 

METAL: Point of Entry! Our introductions to heavy metal music with John Clauser, Reed Little, Roger and Jex Russell

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

Episode 55: METAL:  Point of Entry

We are back to live streaming this week!  Tonight I am joined by John Clauser of My Music Corner, Metal Roger, Reed Little of the Contrarians, and Jex Russell joining in a little later at 8 PM!  The topic tonight is a simple discussion:  What was our “Point of Entry” into Heavy Metal music?

It’s an important question.  We are all passionate about the music we love.  We all have a story about how we got there.  What’s yours?

We will show off some old records, and talk about how we discovered and fell in love with this genre of music.  I will run some old promo clips from MuchMusic to illustrate our stories, and the fun will flow like molten lead!

Topics to cover:

  • What music did we listen to before metal?
  • What metal band or song changed that?
  • What were our first metal albums?
  • What were our earliest memories of listening to metal?

There will be vintage MuchMusic clips and lots of records.  All this and more with our fantastic panel!

 

 

Friday March 15 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube, or (HOPEFULLY) Facebook!

Unboxing The Vault! A Massive Mailing from Gene Simmons and Rhino Records (VIDEO)

Two weeks ago, Rhino Records released a stripped-down version of Gene Simmons’ The Vault box set.  For only $80, you could get all 11 CDs including such hits as “My Uncle is a Raft” and “Eskimo Summer”!  That’s all I ever wanted.  As a collector of physical media, I would love to have, but cannot afford, the full $1500 Vault with all the bells and whistles.  For that, head on over to 2loud2oldmusic and have a gander at John Snow’s copy!

This box also includes the famous Van Halen demos for the Love Gun album.  To finally have them is unbelievable!

The book is huge and packed with liner notes.  But don’t take it from me…watch the video!

 

Rock Daydream Nation: Faster Pussycat – Best Hard Rock Debut you’ve never heard of!

Sort of a followup to our controversial roundtable discussion on The Decline of Western Civilation Part II: The Metal Years, this time Peter Kerr invited me back to talk about a band I never listened to before:  Faster Pussycat.

John Clauser went into this show with a negative opinion after some not-so-great live gigs.  I went in with almost virgin ears.  I knew the songs Faster Pussycat had in the movie, and I liked them.  Peter challenged John and I to listen to the whole album and discuss our conclusions.  The results may surprise you!

See if you can spot my subtle jab at Tuff singer Stevie Rachelle who accused us all of being “probably Rush fans” when he didn’t like our Decline episode.

Here’s Peter’s description of the episode:

Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser (My Music Corner/The Contrarians) and Mike Ladano (Grab a Stack of Rock) go back to 1987 and put a spotlight on the self titled debut album from ‘Faster Pussycat’. Is this the best Hard Rock Debut album you’ve never heard of? Part classic rock with a dash of glam with a hint of blues…. We do a song by song analysis and talk all things Faster Pussycat…Remember, don’t change that song and check out the show! (There is even a Faster Pussycat video on the show)

I bought the CD specifically for this show, and my written review will go up Monday the 11th.  Enjoy the show!

“Hella” Great Show? Too Much Music Part 3 on Grab A Stack of Rock!

A huge thank you for watching this show with me last night!  It so happens that John and Henry in the comments are currently buying Alice Cooper albums, and I showed off a few of ’em on this show.  In other timely circumstance, I also had on hand a rare Slash CD, in time for Slash to put out his new video on the same day, for “Killing Floor”!  Lots of great stuff happening in music right now.

In this episode we also looked at the very obscure “Vinyl Disc” format with a release from the Hellacopters.  We dove into huge chunks of Deep Purple, King’s X, Faith No More, and Marillion.  Indeed, when it came to Purple and Marillion, we ran into live album after live album, which simply have not received the time and attention they deserve.  Why?

Too much music.

I hope you enjoyed this show!  Look for a new episode of Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser and myself this weekend, and a live episode of Grab A Stack next Friday.  Cheers!

 

A Music Fan’s Nightmare? Too Much Music Part 3 on Grab A Stack of Rock!

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

Episode 54: Too Much Music Part 3

Welcome to the third (and final?) “Too Much Music”, a series on Grab A Stack of Rock where I simply grab a stack of nearby random CDs and show them to you, the rock fan!  Inevitably, I run into multiple discs that have never been played, or have gone unplayed in years.  That’s why we call this series “Too Much Music”!

On this show, we will dig through some of the following:

  • My favourite album of all time
  • Marillion box sets, remix albums and singles
  • Deep Purple reissues
  • Compilations
  • Soundtracks and rare promos with rare tracks
  • Blaze
  • More Canadian content
  • Lots of King’s X
  • Alice Cooper
  • Dio
  • Catherine Wheel
  • Queen
  • Loudness & more Japanese imports
  • Scorpions
  • April Wine
  • Faith No More
  • Steve Vai
  • Pearl Jam
  • Brant Bjork
  • Tribute albums
  • Deluxe editions
  • And a look at a really weird format called Vinyl Disc

All this and more.  I do not think I will be able to do the comments section due to illness.

 

Friday March 8 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube, or (HOPEFULLY) Facebook!

Grab A Stack of Rock: Brighton Rock Collections with Len Labelle, on CD & Vinyl

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and Len Labelle

Special Edition Episode:  Our BRIGHTON ROCK Collections

Established in 1984 under the name Heart Attack, from Niagara Falls Ontario came the mighty BRIGHTON ROCK!  Powerhouse screamer Gerry McGhee, Greg “Shredder” Fraser, Stevie Skreebs, Martin Victor and Mark Cavarzan comprised the original lineup.  Johnny Rogers joined in the by the first album on keyboards, and the band began making their footprint in rock history through an EP, three studio albums, a live CD and a handful of standalone recordings.  We walk you through all of it from start to finish.

Joining me for this special episode is longtime friend Len Labelle, a local collector whose history with Brighton Rock goes back to the debut.  Len talks first impressions, a brief encounter with a band member, and favourite songs.  We played two vintage MuchMusic interview clips with the band and talk about a VHS tape that we believe never came out.  Towards the end, we detoured and took a great look at A World With Heroes, a Kiss tribute album featuring Brighton Rock.  We returned course and talked about the final Brighton Rock recordings, and the present day with Storm Force.

We hope you find this episode fun, informative, and full of love.  We lost Gerry McGhee to cancer in 2020, and fans continue to miss him.  I hope we did Gerry justice.

Please enjoy this special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and Len.  If you know anything about that Brighton Rock home video, please leave a comment or drop us a line!

Discussed this episode:

  • Brighton Rock EP (1985)
  • Young, Wild and Free (1986)
  • Take A Deep Breath (1988)
  • “Hangin’ High & Dry” 12″ single (1988)
  • Unreleased home video? (1989)
  • Love Machine (1991)
  • Room For Five Live (2002)
  • “Creatures of the Night” (2013)
  • “End of Time” (2019)
  • and Storm Force Age of Fear (2020)

Top Five Ozzy Tunes on Grab A Stack of Rock with Peter Kerr, Mike Slayen and John Clauser

Hot on the heels of his excellent interview with bassist Bob Daisley, Peter Kerr suggested we run through the Top Five Ozzy Osbourne solo songs, and a brilliant idea it was!  Ozzy’s solo career is rich, especially in the early years, with beautiful ballads and incendiary metal.  There are heavy progressive moments, advanced arrangements, and brilliant lyrics. We gave Ozzy’s career a solid listen this week and extracted our lists, and not without difficulty!

Your panel this week:

  • Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation with loads of insight and some great picks.
  • John Clauser of My Music Corner, with a guest list from Jake Not-From-State-Farm.
  • The “Dude” Mike Slayen, from San Diego, home of Jake E. Lee, and that little bit of extra guitar knowledge we needed.

I bought a guest list from Jex Russell, and the combined six lists covered a lot of ground!  Hits, deep cuts, lots of ballads, and almost every lead guitarist who played with Ozzy.  Lots of love for Randy and Jake here especially.  Besides the first two classic Ozzy records, there was a lot of respect here for No Rest for the Wicked.  The Ultimate Sin, Ozzmosis, No More Tears and Scream were mentioned multiple times.  There were a number of B-sides mentioned, and one track that almost got me disqualified!

Stay tuned for some cool honourable mentions!

Thank you everyone for watching tonight, and we’ll see you Monday with brand new guest Len Labelle, and a run through the discography of Brighton Rock.  See you then!

 

ALL ABOARD! Top Five Ozzy Tunes on Grab A Stack of Rock with Peter Kerr, Mike Slayen and John Clauser

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

Episode 53:  Top Five Ozzy Tracks with Peter Kerr, John Clauser, and the return of Mike Slayen!

All aboard!  Ah ha ha ha ha!

Peter Kerr is back, having survived his encounter with Stevie Rachelle and his army of trolls!  He is also fresh from an interview with bassist Bob Daisley, so why not do a list show on our Top Five Ozzy Osbourne songs?

For this epic topic, spanning Ozzy’s solo career, I have recruited a special panel:

We continue to wish Harrison a speedy recovery.  I hope to see you back on the show soon, my friend.  We all miss you.

Tonight will be all about the Prince of Darkness, and together we will list Ozzy’s Top Fives according to each of our tastes.  Deep cuts guaranteed!

Friday March 1 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 4:00 P.M. Pacific.   Enjoy on YouTube, or Twitter!!  (Facebook has been problematic of late.)

Our Journey Collections, on Six Formats (With Tim Durling) – Happy Birthday Jon Cain! – Grab A Stack of Rock Special Edition!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and Tim Durling

Special Edition Episode:  Our JOURNEY Collections

 

Happy birthday to Jonathan Cain of JOURNEY, as we celebrate his discography today with Tim Durling on this very special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock!  We look back at the entire discography of the legendary rock band, all the lineup changes, all the big songs, and a bunch of deep cuts as well.  On six different formats, I show you the entire catalogue, with help from Tim to fill three holes in the official collection.  (There’s still one or two essential things I need to get, but you’ll have to watch the video to find out.)

Tim Durling is what I would call a “Journey expert”.  He knows the facts and the sales numbers and the singles, and he was essential in this video coming to be.  Not just the live albums I’m still missing, but also the knowledge and personal history.  I was late getting into the band, in the late 1990s.  Tim had 10 years on me.  Thank you Tim for helping me make this video!

Together we presented CDs, cassettes, vinyl, 8-tracks, Blu-rays and DVDs of all the essential Journey.  We looked at imports from Japan, Europe, the US, and Mexico as well as different pressings with different bonus tracks.  A wide variety of Journey CD editions are here for you to examine.

Thank you Tim and thank you Journey for the music!

 

Discography included:

  • Journey (1975)
  • Look Into the Future (1976)
  • Next (1977)
  • Infinity (1978)
  • Evolution (1979)
  • In The Beginning (1979)
  • Departure (1980)
  • Dream, After Dream (1980)
  • Captured (1981)
  • Escape (1981)
  • Frontiers (1983 and 2023 40th Anniversary editions)
  • Raised on Radio (1986)
  • Greatest Hits (1988)
  • Time3 (1992 boxed set)
  • Trial By Fire (1996)
  • Greatest Hits Live (1998)
  • Arrival (2000-2001)
  • The Essential Journey (2001)
  • Red 13 (2002)
  • Generations (2005)
  • Live In Houston 1981: The Escape Tour (2005)
  • Turn the Page (Live Bootleg w/ Jeff Scott Soto (2006)
  • Revelation (2008)
  • Live in Manilla (2009)
  • Eclipse (2011)
  • Greatest Hits 2 (2011)
  • Escape & Frontiers Live In Japan (2019)
  • Freedom (2022)
  • Live In Concert Lollapalooza (2022)
  • Alive In America (2022 booteg)
  • Neal Schon’s Journey Through Time (2023)