GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Bonus Episode
A Lot ‘O BLOTTO! Collected Works of Vinyl And CDs
A real treat for you today, with a special 17 minute bonus episode! Today we’ll go through my entire, still growing, Blotto collection. This will include all my vinyl, CDs, VHS, and more. There are stories to go with each, and a ton of show and tell. Included in this episode is an 8″ flexidisc, buttons, letters and more. There is even an Easter egg, but only the diehard of diehard Blotto aficionados will notice it.
No words needed. I have been vindicated by Alex Van Halen himself!
See below from “Sammy Hagar” after our LeBrain Train episode on the 5150 album. In a case of over-preparing for the episode, I played 5150 numerous times that week, along with 1984, OU812, and Eat ‘Em and Smile for context. I felt that each era had its merits, but Dave had better lyrics than Hagar. I still feel that way,
I was teased for calling David Lee Roth a “poet” while critiquing the lyrics on 5150.
In 2026, Alex Van Halen said: “He was a poet. We did our best work with Dave.”
I’d call this vindication!
Full LeBrain Train episode is below (April 30, 2021).
Hold onto your seats, folks, because T-Bone will blow you away with his 5150 knowledge and insight. In fact, all six panel members tonight brought it!
While it wasn’t fun being the lone dissenting voice when you’re up against heavyweights like Kevin and Meat, this was one of the best discussions on 5150 that you are likely to hear. And you need a dissenting voice, right? I was happy to play the role of punching bag too!
The Van Halen talk begins at exactly 0:48:00 and runs through to the end. Enjoy!
This is my birthday weekend, so I’ve decided to take a break from doing shows. Instead, today we’ll premiere something very much related to my birthday: the Transformers! For my birthday in 1984, I received my first two ever: Skywarp (Decepticon plane) and Windcharger (Autobot minicar). For many birthdays since, I have received Transformers toys and memorabilia.
In 2012, I started doing animation. You’ve seen some of it already: Transformers 2 – Revenge of the Schnauzers. However, as the title implies, that was just one of the many animated films I made. In 2026 I edited the whole series together into one film, with new segments shot more recently. The new supercut with everything thrown in is called Transformers Revisited. It consists of elements shot in 2012, 2022 and 2026. In a weird case of unintended synchronicity, one of the 2026 segments worked perfectly with the 2012 stories as a new opening sequence.
The fun thing is this will be an ongoing story. At the conclusion of this movie, I already have two brand new shorts ready to roll out to continue the series. Those will be coming later this summer, and are all filmed in 2026.
Please enjoy Transformers Revisited, with a full soundtrack by Max the Axe. I plan to attend the premiere!
Friday July 17 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy onYouTube.
I always enjoy talking music with people who are more musically scholarly than I am. Me? I can tell you what I enjoy about a song or a band. I can recite lyrics and I can mimic solos and riffs that I enjoy. bicyclelegs, on the other hand, helps us dive a little deeper.
Join us for the premiere today of Album Battle: Angine de Poitrine!
You’ve seen and heard all about this bizarre microtonal duo from Quebec (actually, from space). They have gone viral and have recently re-pressed their albums Vol.1 and Vol.II (yes, we talk about that annoying difference!), and we have both acquired our copies. After numerous listens, we report back with our findings. Spoiler: the albums are very different though still unmistakably Angine de Poitrine.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Special from the Train Archive
“Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” JUDAS PRIEST Albums – First Appearance of Harrison!
On May 30, 2020, history was made: Harrison Kopp and Mike Ladano met face to face for the first time, and did their very first show together. The show was on Facebook Live (we didn’t even have a name yet), and we decided to rank our Top Eleven Judas Priest albums. Since this was pre-Invincible Shield, the lists only cover up to Firepower. A subject near and dear to our hearts, we later did a larger Priest ranking episode with John Snow and Geoff Stephen on graphs. That said, there’s nothing like the first time!
For your enjoyment, this is the very first episode ever starring the duo that would become known as Grab A Stack of Rock, edited for pace and length. We rip through the lists in rapid fire, with a third list provided by the site regular known as Holen.
This episode was a lot of fun to edit and revisit. Not only was it the beginning of the Mike and Harrison partnership, but it was also the very first cottage show from Grab A Stack Summer HQ, ever! Below is the text we wrote when the episode was first posted.
Please welcome Harrison to the Saturday live stream! With only minor technical glitches, the Mad Metal Man himself joined me from the other side of the world today.
Today’s subject: A solid “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” list on the might Judas Priest. Harrison was armed with an additional list by Holen!
Friday July 10 at 7:00 AM EST, 8:00 AM Atlantic. Enjoy onYouTube.
Peter and I are already taking a little heat for the title of this episode! “This album needs no defending,” they say, and while they may be right, let us cast our minds back. After all, it was only 1999 when the Canadian Minister of Movies declares that “the Canadian government has apologized for Bryan Adams on several occasions.”* In regards to the other complaint, “defence” and “defense” are both valid spellings of the word. “D-FENS” is not, but it is also a cool 90s reference.
Regardless, Bryan Adams has not been cool with everyone all the time, considered by many to be vanilla rock, mom rock, or worse. In Canada, at his peak fame and success, there was certainly some backlash. In this episode of Rock Daydream Nation, Peter Kerr and I will evaluate Bryan’s massive Reckless album. I have never owned a Bryan Adams album before this. Because I go all-in, I chose the deluxe Japanese 2 CD set. For this episode, Peter and I focused on the core 10 songs.
Join us for this fantastic dive into Bryan’s best, and perhaps set your assumptions aside. This is a good one!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode
Episode 152: An Interview with James Neeson – Mental Health for Metalheads
As part of our Music and Metal Health series, please welcome author James Neeson to the show. Readers who have been with us from the very start 14 years ago will remember James. Back then he was Jimmy Neeson, aka KingCrimsonProg, right here on the WordPress platform. Now he has joined fellow WordPress blogger Angie Moon as a published author. Today we’re here to discuss his important new book, Mental Health for Metalheads. Joining us for this instalment is frequent co-host Johnny Clauser, from My Music Corner.
This new book is not your typical self-help tome that you’ve seen for sale everywhere. This book is about smashing the stigma, specifically for people in our sub-genre of music. Metal is considered “tough” and “macho”. It can be difficult for someone from that background to take the steps to deal with regular, everyday problems like depression and social anxiety. This book helps metal fans relate to mental health issues and healthy habits by framing them within the lyrics of our favourite music stars. If someone like Mike Patton of Faith No More can admit to needing help, why can’t we all? Neeson will help guide you through the steps, while rocking you like a hurricane.
While I have not written about all the personal aspects of this topic, we have discussed them on the show. In 2012 I began my own mental health journey when I went to the hospital and sought help, for a hopeless feeling that I now know is a combination of depression and panic. I am not on any medication, but through 14 years of therapy I’ve learned to manage my symptoms much better. I talk about this openly because I want to smash the stigma. Doing this takes strength, not weakness! So we are here to spread the word about James Neeson’s new book, and hopefully help others in the process.
Please join us today, for a special pre-holiday afternoon show! 3:00 PM EST, and join us in the comments with any questions for James. See you then.
Friday July 3 @ 3:00 PM EST, 4:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTubeor Facebook.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 151: Top Five Vintage Video Games! With D’Arcy and Dr. K
An episode long in the making! We have been talking about doing an episode on vintage video games for three years, but in January, D’Arcy Briggs and I began to discuss it a little more seriously. Finally we’ve got the episode ready and we’ve brought Dr. Kathryn along for the adventure.
First we had to define “vintage”. For our purposes, we limited our choices to 70s, 80s and 90s video games. This still left us with so many choices, that it was hard to put these lists together without using cheat codes! Yet we rose to the challenge with very minimal, but predictable overlap. What came as a surprise was how deeply personal some of these picks are. You might be surprised how video games helped shape the people we would become.
With arcade classics, adventures, first-person shooters, puzzles and more, coming from hand-held machines, consoles, and PC’s, we have a variety of games for you to look at. What’s more, in addition to gameplay clips, we have physical product that will knock you out. Dr. K visited Nintendo-crazy Japan and came home with treasures. She also had some of our vintage Atari and NES gear on hand. And wait until you see D’Arcy’s collection!
You’re going to love this episode. Be sure to join in the comments!
Friday June 26 at 7:00 PM EST, 4:00 PM Pacific. Enjoy on YouTube.
I’m not sure why, but my original video for this gathering has been lost. I think it might have been taken down due to a song copyright, but I can’t be sure. Regardless, I thought the Sausagefest 2012 video had been lost. Fortunately I found the files, and was able to re-edit the video to new music. I lost a little bit of voiceover stuff as a result, but better safe than sorry.
Sausagefest 2012 was the first to be documented on video. It was the 11th Sausagefest, and I was hesitant to make a video, due to the “What happens in the valley, stays in the valley” rule. But I didn’t see any harm in sharing these visuals. I got complaints in the following years. “The media is coming!” said Ryan any time I approached. “Here comes the paparazzi!”
This video was originally posted in two parts, now joined into one. My former brother-in-law Melvin saw the first part and said, “You talk about this great party you’re having, but this video is just rain and mud. Doesn’t look very fun.”
“Yeah, but what happens in the valley, stays in the valley,” I responded.
I thought about it and he was right. I created the second part after, to show the party as well.
Additionally, while working on the video, I also discovered that I had a ton of still photos that were not used in the originals. Since I was editing to a specific song and had those constraints, I may have left these out for length reasons. Now I can add them back in, and just pick a longer song. This time it’s the “Randy” Remix by Max the Axe. I sprinkled in the still photos throughout the video, to hopefully give you a more seamless experience.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Bonus Episode: Summer HQ Tour with Grab A Stack of Rock!
Tonight, Mike is recording an episode with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation, so a pre-recorded episode is on deck! One of my all-time favourites in fact. As a sequel to last week’s bonus episode, a tour of Grab A Stack of Rock HQ, this week we’re doing the tour of Stack Summer HQ!
As we did last week, we’ll take a look at the memorabilia here at Summer HQ, and hear the stories. Some will be familiar to original readers, but most will be previously unseen and unheard. There is a lot of personal music history in these woods, going back to Grandpa’s original backyard parties with his turntable and massive speakers playing “The Gambler”! There are also plenty of cool books and collectibles, art and animals. Animals? Indeed – when one tours Grab A Stack of Rock Summer HQ, one must be prepared for chance encounters in the wild. One such encounter happens in this amazing video.
Please join tonight! This is an episode you don’t want to miss. Since I am recording with Rock Daydream Nation, I will not be in the comments section, but we’ll be back with your regular Stack soon!
Friday June 19 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube.
mikeladano.com 