Johnny Metal and John the Music Nut over at My Music Corner have been relentlessly going through the Judas Priest catalogue, from Rocka Rolla to Invincible Shield. This week they tackle the 11th Priest album Turbo. A very divisive album: Priest go synth! Yet also a crucial album as it garnered them some newer, younger fans. Where do we fall on this album? We go through the album track by track, before the Music Nut dives deep into the Fuel For Life tour. We talk background and fallout.
Thank you to John and Johnny for having me on. This was a blast to record. Good memories, good music, and good guys.
On this episode of The Year of the Priest, we look at 1986’s Turbo. This was a bit of a divisive album for Priest fans! How do we look at it?
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!
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!
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!
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!
RECORD STORE TALES #1107: Dark Clouds &; Silver Linings: CD & Vinyl Haul, and Grab A Stack Of Rock spotted on WWE Wrestling
Jen has experienced a few health setbacks. Last week, she took another hard fall. It wasn’t a seizure this time, but a pothole in the sidewalk. She took a tumble, busted her expensive therapy glasses, and ended up with a bruise on her forehead that became its dominant feature. During a moment of levity, I dubbed her Mikhail Gorbachev, which she took to heart with a comedic post on Facebook about her resemblance to the former Russian president. You have to laugh sometimes. Despite this, all the setbacks have taken a toll on my own health, and I really have not been doing well either.
One night last week, I was so stressed out that I slept for 10 hours and still woke up feeling like a zombie. My head banged and every limb ached. I really struggled to come down after some of the recent events and scares.
However, as always, there are good things amongst the rest.
I took Jen to the eye doctor after her fall, and killed some time at the local Record Store. They had a bunch of cool Marillion and Fish in stock, so I snagged all of it.
Marillion – “Incommunicado” 5″ CD single – damaged packaging, but this is a duplicate CD and will be donated to a worthy friend
Marillion – “Freaks” (Live) 5″ CD single
Marillion – “Hooks In You” 3″ CD single
Marillion – “Uninvited Guest” 3″ CD single
Fish – “Big Wedge” 5″ CD single
Fish – “A Gentleman’s Excuse Me” 5″ CD single
Boston – Greatest Hits CD
Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast 40th anniversary LP
I’ve been wanting a complete collection of classic 80s Derek Riggs Iron Maiden on vinyl, so why not. I remember when Sam the Record Man had Powerslave, brand new, for $5.99. Beast was $39.99. Holy moly. The total haul was $92.
New music is good for the soul, so this haul, expecially the 3″ discs, was especially satisfying. I did notice a few things about the Record Store.
Back in my day, there was a “not hats” rule. That was hard and fast. I had bad hair a lot of days and couldn’t hide it under a hat. On this visit, one guy had a touque, the other a baseball hat.
Neither guy asked me if I wanted any help. That also used to be a hard and fast rule. You had to ask every single person who walked in the door. Give ’em a minute, and ask. Neither guy bothered. Things sure have changed in the last 20 years.
I had to laugh at a couple things though. An older man came in and asked about a movie on DVD. The guy at the counter told him the movie was still new in theaters. I remember having that very conversation in my days at the Record Store.
I also observed people coming in with boxes and tubs full of CDs, movies and videos games, reminding me of my busier Saturdays in the days of yore. I really didn’t enjoy buying used CDs by the tub, but in came the discs regardless! By the tub, bag or box, the CDs came in a never-ending stream of media. I spotting a woman bringing in a Tragically Hip Phantom Power CD from 30 feet. I still got the skills.
I think I did well at the store today. I did even better after. Cooler than a CD haul at a Record Store though, was the surprise that Johnny Clauser had for me.
John Clauser, from My Music Corner on Youtube, is one of my favourite music people. He was off to a televised WWE event, Road to Wrestlemania Smackdown, in Birmingham Alabama. Johnny had ringside seats. Rumour had it that Dwayne “The Rock Johnson” was going to be there that night. He was.
On national television, John Clauser can clearly be seen, wearing his Grab A Stack of Rock shirt. It’s there for the world to see.
When the Rock enters, it appears he sees the shirt, and stares at it for a few seconds. John says he was staring directly at the shirt…the Grab A Stack of Rock shirt! You can see it happen on video.
Regardless of the rumours, John planned two weeks in advance on wearing my Grab A Stack of Rock shirt to the event. I didn’t know of his plan until he started sending me pictures from ringside. By the next day, people were sending me screenshots and video clips of John at ringside, on national television.
John, I cannot tell you how much this means to me. To see my shirt on your chest on national television. To have this image of the Rock and my shirt together…it is beyond words. I cannot express my gratitude to you. It’s beyond measure, sir. I’m sure John has plenty of shirts. Thank you sir, for making my day a little sunnier.
As it turns out, the sun came out Saturday for the first time in many days. It was glorious to behold.
Spring is closer and closer. Better days ahead. I smell the what the future is cooking!
A bright end to a crummy week! Jen is a trooper once again. She may have taken a spill again, but as always, she insists the show must go on. If she didn’t, then we wouldn’t have had this wonderful Friday night to remember. Thank you Jen.
I need to thank my special co-host and guests tonight. They all brought the lists, with Roger cheating a little bit (taking a bit from the Harrison playbook) and everyone adding a unique spin.
Tim Durling of Tim’s Vinyl Confessions proved to be the expert on all things Bob & Doug McKenzie, which came in handy on my #5 pick. We also took a look at Tim’s new Y&T book, Down for the Count! Please, get yourself a copy on Amazon.ca or your local version.
Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation provided an Australian pick and a number of familiar favourites. Check out Peter’s channel for an interview with Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, and many awesome videos. He is also one of the contributor’s to Tim’s new book.
John Clauser of My Music Corner surprised us all with some great picks, some obscure ones, and one very special #1. I did not see this one coming.
John the Music Nut, Clauser’s co-captain, also provided some brilliant and unique picks this evening. John recently contributed to Tim’s Y&T book as well.
Metal Roger went outside the box on a number of picks, and also provided comedy relief for pretty much the entire night!
Additionally, we have some excellent lists from Harrison Kopp and Uncle Meat. These provided some great discussion topics.
As far as physical product goes, we saw some mail-order-only Marillion and a very cool lenticular album cover that I must acquire somehow.
Merry Christmas one and all! This is the last show before the big day, as the 22nd is a night off for Jen’s birthday. Don’t worry though – we have a re-run scheduled, of a great show from the summer: Arkells appreciation with Aaron and Nurse Kat.
Enjoy!
A very special Christmas to my “forever” friend @manda_runs_and_swims. Write me!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 44: Our Top Five Favourite Christmas Tunes
Are you ready for Christmas? If not, our cast of characters will provide for you the Top Five best Christmas songs that you need to play this year. We searched far and wide for the best of the best of the best, so please welcome our crew this week:
Special guest co-host: Tim Durling of Tim’s Vinyl Confessions! We will also be unboxing his latest book, Down For the Count, all about Y&T…who never recorded a Christmas song to my knowledge!
Every once in a while, we do a show that was so much fun, that I literally can’t sleep afterwards. That was tonight.
Some context. On October 28 2022, Harrison and I went live to grab some stacks of rock.
Tonight, Harrison and I celebrated the anniversary live with some friends. Since it was our one year anniversary, the theme was Top Five Songs About the Number One.
Peter Kerr from Rock Daydream Nation once again broke new ground with some artists who have never been featured on the show, one in particular. Quite a few stonkers! There may or may not have been a “Little” drama, regarding whether or not I bribed Judge Reed when we did our Vinnie Vincent episode. The jury is out.
All the way from Birmingham Alabama, 1st timer John Clauser from My Music Corner gave us a sneak peak at that new 7 Savage W.A.S.P. set with one of his picks. Johnny definitely brought the metal! Thank you so much for coming on, John — we will do it again.
Robert Daniels from Visions In Sound brought a couple soundtracks, of course, but he was not the only one tonight. He also picked a “royal” one that I liked a lot. Thanks Rob for celebrating tonight.
Tim Durling from Tim’s Vinyl Confessions had 8 tracks, 7″ vinyl, and Canadian content – the trifecta! He also gets bonus points for poking Jex Russell in the side with his #1 pick.
Harrison the Mad Metal Man represented Australia with the majority of his picks. He also audibly laughed when I announced my #1 pick, and the proof is on video and I might just have to make a loop of it and play it on repeat.
Tee Bone Erickson, our music guru, submitted an “Ask Mike” question at the top of the show, and probably his best video for us yet: in the guise of “Sammy Hagar”! Tee Bone also submitted his own unique Top Five list: Top Five Van Halen songs with “One” in the title, in chronological order! He also asked Mike to list his Top Three Van Hagar songs, which I did.
Fun fact: Two of the albums picked tonight had some of us thanked in them: one thanking me, one thanking Johnny Metal!
Rest in Peace to W.A.S.P. and L.A. Guns drummer Steve Riley. That was not fun news to break to Johnny Metal today. We spoke a moment about Steve at the top of the show.
We’re taking a couple weeks off to work on some secretive side projects. However, we will be back November 17 with a brand new guest. It will be Jex and PLA here on Grab A Stack of Rock, and there will be dancing!
Thank you for watching, and let’s make this second year as fun as the first…or even top it. Rock n’ roll!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 40: Happy One Year! Top Five Songs About the Number One
Our one-year anniversary happens to coincide with Show #40! One year ago (on the 28th, to be exact), I was feeling the itch to go live once again, and so I messaged Harrison that morning. “Are you free if we decide to go live tonight?” We didn’t have a name, a theme song, or a plan. Grab A Stack of Rock was born. Despite the highs and lows of 2022-2023, it was a bright spot our of weeks for the last year. I can’t wait to see what another year will bring.
We started out as a casual show to show off our music collections. It’s currently more than that, with lists and special guests once again. In fact this week we’ll have a new one who has never been on the show before, John Clauser from My Music Corner. Harrison and I will also be joined by Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation, Tim Durling, and Robert Daniels. Because it’s one year, we’re doing Top Songs About the Number One.
Thanks for Grabbing a Stack of Rock. Hope to see you celebrating with us!
LIVE Friday Oct 27 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
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