Ah, 1998, a simpler age for simpler folks. We had just finished upgrading all our cassettes to CDs. Those old LPs that were gathering dust in the garage finally hit the curb and the landfill where they belonged. The digital age had arrived! Time for another new format to sweep away the old.
Are you ready for Digital Versatile Disc?
This segment was from the MuchMusic news program FAX, during a period when they used “videographers” carrying cameras on their shoulders at all times, to catch those always-breaking stories. Oh, the late 1990s.
Canadian rock sensation Aldo Nova made his very first visit to the MuchMusic studios in July of 1991, on the Pepsi Power Hour hosted by Michael Williams. Getting down to business, Aldo plays an unplugged “Modern World” from his brand new album Blood on the Bricks!
This nearly 20 minute segment is Williams and MuchMusic at their finest. Aldo is engaging and frequently demonstrates songs on acoustic. Subjects covered:
Signing a deal / starting out with “Fantasy”
Producing early Celine Dion recordings
“Runaway”
“Blaze of Glory”
His band and working with a singer instead of singing himself
The late, amicable Dan Gallagher was always enthusiastic about every band he interviewed. He drew a good interview out of King’s X, and asked some deeper questions that got the band thinking. You’ll also see some live footage from the Faith Hope Love tour.
Subjects covered:
What is King’s X?
What does Faith Hope Love mean?
How much does Ty hate making music videos?
Spirituality in music — does it belong?
I really love Jerry’s answer on that question.
Thanks for hanging this week for a whole lot of old VHS clips. Winter is the perfect time to work on projects like this!
It’s a clean, sober and healthy looking Vince Neil! Once again, MuchMusic had Terry David Mulligan with all the hot questions. This chat includes a surprise announcement of Motley’s next album Decade of Decadence.
TDM raises the following subjects:
What does Bob Rock bring to the Crue?
How will the Crue celebrate its 10th anniversary?
Thoughts on the next 10 years
Music of the 80s
“In 18 months there won’t be 20 teenagers left in America that would be caught dead listening to Motley Crue.” – Creem magazine
“If you coulda gotten a camera up in a tree, you mighta been able to talk to Ted.” – Tommy Shaw
Who doesn’t love a bromance? Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades formed a lasting one with Damn Yankees and it’s obvious in this summer 1990 interview. They finish each others’ sentences and talk over each other like excited kids. MuchMusic’s Michael Williams hosts this excellent interview as they discuss:
Getting signed to a label
Working with Ron Nevison
Terrible Ted and the “wimp police”
Tommy’s “critically acclaimed” solo career. Haha!
You’ll even see Michael’s Ted impression. Check out why live Much interviews were always best.
In the summer of 1990, Kim Mitchell and video director Don Allan stopped to visit with MuchMusic’s Dan Gallagher to ask fans for help. Kim’s first solo live album, I Am A Wild Party, was burning up the charts and tape decks nation wide! All he needed was a music video.
Mitchell is always a card and this segment is no exception.
Kim and Don Allan wanted footage of your “wild party” or your “air bands”; anything really to go with that “Rah! Rah! Olé!” chorus. I also included a few snips of my own footage that I filmed specifically with a rented camera for the video! Ultimately though, Mitchell and Allan abandoned the fan video concept, and made a straight live/studio clip for “I Am A Wild Party”.
This is historically interesting to Kim fans since the video as originally conceived never came to be.*
Enjoy some goofy Kim on Much!
*EDIT: Mike from Facebook was the winner chosen for the “I Am A Wild Party” video and says this!
I was the one that won that contest, and in MM’s defence they made a “limited edition play version” with about 10 seconds from our submission video that was cut off in the final version. But thanks for finding this… Rah Rah Ole!
MuchMusic’s Terry David Mulligan was always one of their best interviewers, and here he has a nice informal chat with (then) Whitesnake’s Steve Vai! TDM asks a loaded question about leaving Whitesnake and going solo.
Vai is always forthcoming and in this entertaining interview you’ll hear about the Passion & Warfare concept, lucid dreaming, the tuba, David Lee Roth, and of course wanking.
I enjoy this interview with Neil Peart, because it touches on something that I love about music: A good lyric is open to vast interpretation by the listener. Inevitably, we are going to derive our own meaning from the lyrics regardless of what the writer intended. Take this review by my buddy Aaron Lebold. “Distant Early Warning” had a meaning completely unique to him. Meanwhile, it had a very different meaning to me.
In this clip from the Presto tour, Neil Peart discusses crafting lyrics with MuchMusic. It’s a brilliant lesson from The Professor so pay attention!
Due to popular vote here’s David Lee Roth in the first VHS Archive of 2020! This interview — jeez louise! — goes back 32 years. DLR was promoting Skyscraper and was lobbed a few softball questions by rookie Steve Anthony of MuchMusic (at least in comparison to his 1991 interview with Denise Donlon, link below).
Enjoy a little live footage from the Skyscraper tour and Roth’s thoughts on success and his history.
Michael Williams asks some tough questions of Tony Iommi including “Why carry on as Black Sabbath?” You have to remember that in 1989, Black Sabbath was considered irrelevant. Ozzy was all the rage, leaving Sabbath in the dust far behind.
Other topics discussed:
The Live Aid reunion with Ozzy
Satanism in Sabbath music or lack thereof
“Heavy metal”
Rap artists (Sir Mix-A-Lot) sampling and covering Black Sabbath
Tony’s favourite version of Black Sabbath
What do you think of Tony and Cozy’s answers?
Then, stay tuned for another separate bonus interview taken from a CNN report!
