GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 84: Lost Videos & Shorts – A Grab A Stack of Rock Special Friday Presentation!
While not a live episode, this special presentation was put together by yours truly, with me as your host through these forgotten and lost videos from years gone by. I have been making videos for 36 years now, and this collection of mini-episodes run from 2013 to the present day. These videos were made primarily for this blog, but also for other channels, my old show the LeBrain Train, and Grab A Stack of Rock. Some of these individual clips would require lots of determined scrolling and searching to find otherwise, so I thought it would be nice to take a viewing of some favourites of mine, and add in some that are now new and exclusive. It is certainly amusing to watch my look change, from bearded to clean and back to bearded and clean again.
New, previously unseen, and “lost” topics covered in this special episode: Rare rock and metal CDs sent from friends, rare books and rock magazines, rock band branded playing cards, a discussion on iTunes, video reviews of rare CDs, a updated check-in at the HMV/Toys R Us store, my collection of M.E.A.T Magazines, and the very first video I made in 1989. But that’s not all – stick around for Easter eggs.
I hope you can check it out tonight for this very special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock, assembled with care for your enjoyment.
Friday January 3 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
Harrison and I would like to thank our new guests Ashley Geisler, Melissa Nee, and Sidney from Slogan’s Rock & Metal Extravaganza, as well as returning guests Johnny Clauser and Todd Evans, for a rollicking good time on New Year’s Eve.
The concept was simple. Each of us took turns going round, showing off an item we got recently over the holidays.
Sidney had a massive haul of Rock Candy CDs, and used metal bargains from The Beat Goes On. He had a strong showing of Budgie remasters, and a diverse collection of bands. Melissa had some cool Iron Maiden stuff, while Ash is collecting bootlegs and had several to show us. Johnny Clauser brought some recent purchases, and Todd Evans scored well in the Neal Morse department. As for Harrison and I, he had a cool Trust tin and something call ONXRT. I decided to unveil my Van Halen For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge deluxe edition, with a short discussion.
We also started the show with the traditional Ask Harrison featuring Jex Russell.
It’s very possible the winner of the year 2024 was Judas Priest with the recent Rocka Rolla reissue. Have a watch and see.
Because we did the live show mid-week this time, Friday’s show is a pre-recorded special episode. Don’t miss it January 3!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 83: New Year’s Eve Drop-In Show
It has been a while since I’ve attempted a show like this, but it’s time to do something random and chaotic to end the year with a party.
Disclaimer #1: I never make it to midnight.
Disclaimer #2: I have no idea what will actually happen tonight.
Harrison and I need a break like this to blow off steam. We’ve both been active on other channels, plus we have been preparing our massive Iron Maiden project for 2025. We are ready to launch it in January. But first, let’s have a party.
Tonight Harrison and I will be hosting some brand new guests: Ash Geisler from Australia, plus Logan and Sidney from Slogan’s music channel. There will be some returning guests and some random drop-ins.
If there is a theme tonight, it’s just showing off music we acquired over the holidays. It should be a fun discussion on that front.
Bottoms up. It’s gonna be a rock and roll party tonight…with a 52 year old host who will require a nap mid-day.
Message me if you need a link to join tonight.
Tuesday December 31 at 9:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 10:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
RECORD STORE TALES #1171: The Best and Worst of 2024
‘Twas another interesting year here at Grab A Stack of Rock HQ! Remember that old curse? “May you have interesting times.” We sure did in 2024.
Jen’s health started the year on a low note, but she bounced back. With the right help, she’s had her best year in a long while. There’s a lot of work still to be done, but has been a year of leaps and bounds for her health!
On Grab A Stack of Rock, we had a strong start to the year, but in February, Harrison got sick. Sometimes you don’t how much you need someone until they’re fighting their own battles. Fortunately Harrison fought hard and has made a recovery, but the timing for me wasn’t ideal. I was trying to increase my YouTube presence by doing two shows a week, but without the Mad Metal Man, I found myself despondent. I tried out a couple new co-hosts to fill in for him while he recovered, but struggled. I almost cancelled the show. Twice.
Still, I carried on, until the great shelf disaster of 2024. That almost broke me. I told people I was going to sell my collection and quit this hobby for good. Because, ultimately, that’s what this is: a hobby. I don’t get paid enough to motivate me to produce content. Advertising and T-shirt sales help fund my WordPress and Streamyard fees, but I don’t make a profit. I don’t break even. I’m about $10 in the hole every month. I almost replaced Grab A Stack of Rock with a food show, after a review of a Chef Ramsay microwavable meal got some hits. Grab A Stack of Eats?
But I didn’t quit. I kept going. Why? The power of friendship. They kept me going. They know who they are.
Thanks to fellow music fans like Grant Arthur, Johnny Clauser, Marco D’Auria, Rob Daniels, Tim Durling, Peter Kerr, Harrison Kopp, Jex Russell, John Snow, Aaron Stewart, Metal Roger and many more, I pushed onwards. I feel like we are now part of a larger, less insulated world. I owe these folks a debt of gratitude for including me in that world. All I have ever wanted, for better or for worse, was to be a part of something, with people who wanted me there equally as much. I feel like I’m in a healthier space again. We have built a bigger, more metallic and welcoming Community. Long live the Community!
I think the thing that brought me the most happiness in 2024 was simply making videos. I’ve been making videos for 35 years, and there have been peaks and valleys. In 2024, drones were incorporated into some. Jex Russell encouraged me to utilise more angles and edits. In one of the 2024 videos, I used six cameras, a record for me!
Since we already did our Top 5 Albums of 2024 on Grab A Stack of Rock, this year I thought I would pat myself on the back and pick my Top 5 Videos from my own channel! I called it the 2024 Narcissus Award!
NARCICCUS AWARDS 2024
FAVOURITE VIDEOS OF THE YEAR
In no particular order.
1. The Battle of ’84: Defenders of the Faith vs. Powerslave with Pete Jones
To have the Professor himself join me for the this epic battle was quite the honour. We tore these albums inside and out, and ultimately picked a favourite. Harrison even joined us at the end, which was a delight. It was hard to pick just one episode of Grab A Stack of Rock for this list, but I think this was the deepest dive of the year.
2. Our Journey Collections on Six Formats with Tim Durling
From the brief period where I was trying to do two episodes a week. I woke up one Saturday morning with the idea to do my entire Journey collection, but realized I didn’t have the historic knowledge of the band to do it justice. Tim Durling happened to be online, and so we did this episode with zero preparation. I think it turned out pretty cool.
3. Mike and Aaron Return to Toronto 2024.
Long overdue. Of all our Toronto videos, this one is the best. I think I just went into it with a clearer idea of the end product, and everything turned out as great as I’d hoped. Plus, the Toronto trip was a total success as you’ll see with the scores we brought home with us. A very special video to me personally. Also, look for the drone shot!
2. An 8-Track Holy Grail discussion with Aaron and Tim Durling
Aaron texted me one day from Harriston, Ontario with photos of 8-track tapes he found. One of them happened to be a very rare “Holy Grail” that Tim Durling needed for his collection. Aaron sent it to me with some other cool scores, and then I sent the Grail to Tim. We made this video in two sessions separated by several weeks, but with the magic of editing, it’s all seamless. This is a very special video for anyone interested in 8-track tapes.
5. 30 Years After the Beat Goes On with Robert Daniels from Visions In Sound
I think this is my proudest achievement in 2024. I had an idea. It had been 30 years since I was hired at The Beat Goes On in Kitchener Ontario. It would be cool to go back to the mall and see how much it has changed in those three decades. Rob Daniels was the perfect guy to join me, since we reconnected at the front counter at The Beat Goes On. We hadn’t seen each other since highschool. He was an avid soundtrack buyer, and I was the new employee. Together, with Jen on camera, we toured the mall landmarks and shared memories of the way it used to be.
I would have had better audio if I used external microphones, but never having done this before, I am incredibly proud of the way it turned out.
Bonus: Mike’s Birthday Video by Jex Russell
I can’t really count this for the Narcissus award, because I didn’t make it. However, my favourite video of 2024 was this kind gift. Jex assembled a cavalcade of surprise birthday greetings from many of my friends, family, and a few special rock stars. Jex put a lot of work into this video, not only with getting the guests, but editing it together with his own theatrics. Probably the greatest birthday gift I’ve ever been given. If I ever feel down in the dumps, I just need to watch Martin Popoff call me a “Canadian legend”.
I can’t say how grateful I am for this thoughtful gift.
I am excited for what 2025 has in store. Buckle up. If 2023 and 2024 couldn’t kick me down, then I still have a lot of gas left in the tanks.
List of everyone who has ever joined me on Grab A Stack of Rock to date:
Wanna see what I got for Christmas in video form? Check that out and a whole bunch of Tim’s Vinyl Confessions viewers’ gifts too. The TVC episode below features the gift of music in the year 2024. My segment is roughly 3:00 long. Have a great new year everyone! Here is what Tim has to say below.
The best of 2024 in rock and pop was on showcase this week on Grab A Stack of Rock. Tim Durling, Harrison Kopp and special surprise guest Uncle Meat brought their Top Fives and runners-up in this fun and action packed show.
What did you miss? Well, shirtless Jex for one. That one even scared off Peter Kerr, but did result in some pretty hilarious comments.
The comments section was lively, and if you want to catch Johnny Metal’s Top Five of 2024, his were in the comments section which I put on screen. Meanwhile, there was some minimal repetition, and actually less than I expected. Mr. Big, Deep Purple, Jon Anderson and Bruce Dickinson were among the artists who scored two hits on tonight’s lists. There was plenty of love for other artists’ new albums such of Opeth, Paul Di’Anno, Blaze Bayley (of course) and Arkells.
We also took a look at three books that I enjoyed in 2024 – two of them by Mr. Durling!
A fun, passionate and laugh-filled 90 minutes of music appreciation awaits you below.
See you December 31 at 9:00 PM EST for a drop in New Years Eve party!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 82: Ranked: Top Five Albums of 2024 with Harrison and Tim Durling
2024 was another fantastic year in music. From new music from legacy bands, to great reissues and live albums, to new music by newer bands, we saw it and heard it all in 2024.
What were your Top Five Albums of 2024? Leave them in the comments, or drop them in the live chat tonight, as Harrison, Tim and I talk Top Five Albums of 2024. I am always personally limited by what I was able to buy and what I had to miss in a given year. For example, last year I didn’t get Blame My Ex by the Beaches in time to make my list. This year, unfortunately Blaze Bayley didn’t make it into my inventory in time, nor did the new live Ghost. However, they may appear on other lists.
Join Tim, Harrison and myself tonight live at 7:00 PM EST to take part in the fun. Spirits will be high, and I may be drinking alcohol. We’ll just have to see what happens! Remember to let us know your own Top Five in the comments section.
Let the fun begin!
Friday December 20 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
I never say this, but this time it’s true: Our first weekend at the cottage was absolutely perfect. Without a hitch. Exactly as planned, right down to the last detail. And loaded with new music!
The road trip began at 5:15 on Thursday night, April 25. Traffic was heavy, but not as heavy as the music! (We may need to look for another route out of town next time, as it took us almost half an hour just to escape Kitchener.) I had decided early in the week that the first road album of 2024 had to be Invincible Shield by Judas Priest! I had no doubt it would be one of the best road albums of the year. So confident was I, that I packed up my copy for Friday night’s Grab A Stack of Rock – Top 11 Albums to Play with the Windows Down. And I was right. “Crown of Horns” was the singalong track, though there were no duds. The album comes to a natural close on “Giants in the Sky” which has a classic Priest ending, but it’s not over yet! The bonus tracks give you a little extra road play, with a second ending in “The Lodger”. Brilliant album that kept us energized for the drive.
Priest couldn’t take us the whole way. When the Invincible Shield had ended, we moved onto Bruce Dickinson’s Mandrake Project. I haven’t had the time to absorb it yet, but Jen really enjoyed the album as we pulled down our little dirt road and into the driveway.
Everything was exactly as I left it back in October.
Taking my speakers out of storage, and making myself comfortable on the cool front deck, I chose the first porch album of the season. I didn’t want something as heavy rocking. Nor did I want something mellow and acoustic. This calls for the Arkells!
“We got gas in the tank to go all night,” sang Max Kerman from my porch. I danced away to this perfect evening. Rally Cry is the album I connected with the least last summer, being more political and less personal. This time it hit all the right spots, scratched all the itches, and began the season on the right note.
Jen noticed that I was joking around and more giddy than usual.
“Because I’m happy,” I said. “I feel alive again. This is what I had been waiting for.”
Friday was forecast as a summery, sunny day. We started early by picking up the first steaks of the season at the Beefway. We chose one porterhouse and one ribeye. This is our place to buy meat. There’s nobody better around. We stocked up on fish, pies, bacon and cooking oil. I had duck for lunch, and hot dogs and hamburgers in the evening.
For now, it was time for the main event: the first Grab A Stack of Rock from the cottage! It was a 3 PM afternoon show, and Jex was on board with his Top 11 Road Songs, in contrast to my album picks. Once again, everything went really well! Though Jex was late with work (the only unscripted thing about it), it will go down as one of my favourite shows ever. The roaring fire in the background was something new. I love playing with my visual setting, on Grab A Stack of Rock, at the cottage. Thank you Jex for an amazing start to the year. I hope we can do more, but even if we can’t, I got to do the fireside show that I had hoped for. Scratch that off the list.
The rain began Saturday, but it only got warmer. Another day on the front porch was in order, but first we went into town to see what was new.
We hit up a thrift store. I keep seeing all these guys on Facebook buying everything they can at thrift stores. I don’t know what they do with the CDs afterwards. Do their play their new Trisha Yearwood albums? Do they try and flip them? I found nothing in the gospel and country that they had, except for one signed CD by an unknown artist. The Facebook people would have bought them all; I chose none. I don’t buy for investment and I don’t really need a lot of music “on spec” when I barely have time to enjoy what I own.
Saturday was a weird day. It’s hard to explain exactly what happened, but as the day went on the feeling got more intense. I was having Deja Vu feelings every few minutes. It wasn’t specific memories, just…overall feelings. They were usually centered around people from my childhood, but I don’t know why. I would be cooking steaks in the back yard, and having Deja Vu feelings from grade school, but I was unable to nail down any specific memories. It was just a weird feeling like, “I have done this before,” but unable to identify a specific memory. I just felt like it was childhood. It intensified at dinner time. Perhaps the aromas of the cooking brought me back to Saturday dinners at the table, with steak and corn. Our steaks were perfect.
I mentioned earlier that everything went down without a hitch. That is not entirely true….
The Toronto Maple Leafs shit the bed. We shall not discuss this. It is not a good subject.
Otherwise, everything went perfect. I was starting to feel sad on Sunday morning, as I did the dishes and packed my bags up. Deciding what to bring back home and what to leave behind, I felt sad.
“Not this time,” I said, and I fought it back.
We played Kiss on the way home. Unmasked, Rock and Roll Over, and Asylum. These albums of childhood happiness drove the sadness away, and I woke up Monday morning feeling good.
This year’s first weekend at the cottage was a diametric contrast to 2023, which ended prematurely when I decided to go home early.
2023’s first weekend began with anxiety, as my former co-host was focused only on her solo show, and did not seem to care at all what I was doing. That weekend was not just supposed to be my return to the lake, but also hers. This is where we met (online) and bonded. I could not wait to return and do it again. She couldn’t seem more disinterested. She began stripping online that weekend, and I knew the friendship was all but over. I knew that was a road I could not follow, and I knew she wanted me to, even though she refused to come right out and say it. The writing was on the wall, that cold and rainy weekend. Within seven days, the friendship had ended, as I knew it would. She would never join me at the cottage again, even though we had spent six months planning it.
Not this time.
2024 is off to the right start. Even if Jex can’t do as many summer shows with me this year, we accomplished what we set out to do. An amazing weekend was had. The music we road tested passed the gauntlet, and we are ready to get on with the summer.
Sometimes it’s fun to make a big deal out of something that doesn’t matter.
Let’s figure it out. What should the first song of 2024 be? I just woke up, I have not played any music yet in the new year. This is the kind of thing that music nerds make a big deal out of. The first song of the year! As if it sets the tone for the next 366 days (leap year!), let’s pretend that the first song played in 2024 is somehow really, really important.
How we do make such a decision? Let’s narrow it down step by step.
1. Let’s start easy. Should we play the song currently stuck in my head from yesterday? That would be “Past Life” by the Arkells with the Cold War Kids. Thematically it works. It’s all about moving forward instead of backwards, which works well with the whole “new year” thing. “I’ve been running from a past life, I wanna live this life instead!” Uplifting, and also I get that “scratch that itch” feeling of playing a song stuck in my head.
2. However, 2024 is the 40th frickin’ anniversary of a very significant year in my life. 1984: the year I committed to music as “my thing”, specifically heavy metal. The exact date was December 26 1984, Boxing Day. Perhaps I should play something from that year to commemorate this occasion. “I Wanna Be Somebody” by W.A.S.P., “Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden, “Rock You” by Helix, or “Heaven’s On Fire” by Kiss would be appropriate.
3. Or, we look ahead. There are albums to come in 2024, and we have heard some of the new music already. Judas Priest have released two singles from the forthcoming Invincible Shield. That would be a great way to start the year right — by looking forward.
4. …Buuuut I’d be starting the year by playing a song to which I have no emotional attachment yet, if I played the new Priest. That doesn’t seem like the right note to kick off a new year. Also, do I really want to start the year with a song about a “Panic Attack”?
5. Kiss is my favourite band. I first got into Kiss during that mythical year of 1984. And, the debut album Kiss came out 50 years ago, in 1974.
6. I prefer to listen to albums over songs. 1974’s Kiss gives me an excuse to play a whole album. Playing that debut would be a way to honour both my roots in 1984, and the album’s 50th in 2024.
7. …However, I didn’t know that album in 1984. I was just getting into rock, and I only knew two Kiss songs at that point: “Heaven’s On Fire” (1984) and “Rock and Roll all Nite” (1975).
8. Just a side note: this is the longest I’ve sat at my desk writing with no music playing!
9. The way I see it now, we can go one of two ways. 1984’s “Heaven’s On Fire”, which commemorates its 40th anniversary, and my discovery of heavy metal music the same year. Or, 1974’s Kiss. 50 years of Kiss is a big deal, and they were one of the first five bands I ever liked back in ’84. I prefer playing full albums, and overall I have more nostalgia for it.
10. Flip a coin. Heads: “Heaven’s On Fire”. Tails: Kiss 1974.
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