Reflections 2016: Queen - We Are The Champions

Band:  Queen
Genre:  Classic Rock

We're gonna do a lovely thing here where I ramble about how I bumbled my way through another year of the A to Z.

I managed to not have the time to visit almost anybody's blog this year.  It really bummed me out actually cause I really liked the visiting aspect of last year's adventure.

Post wise though I feel like I'm a better writer than I was last year.  Yeah, my grammar sucks.  Yeah, my punctuation sucks.  Yeah, these short little sentences suck.  It's the way I talk, I was never really good with writing.  My bad.

Theme wise I liked this year's theme of going with a band and a music video as opposed to the albums from last year.  I think  it was a better idea that was more streamlined in its execution.

Honestly though I already blog every day.  Daily blogging is something I'm used to so the hardest part of the challenge was actually managing to keep it all in order.  I ended up keeping a running list of all the stuff I wanted to post but couldn't cause it didn't fit the theme.  That would be a load of Death Metal, Rap, and a few album reviews if you're interested.  Soon........

I've gotta go though, I'm writing this on 4 hours of sleep rom the show on Sunday and I have to be up in 5 hours.  Still though, thanks for reading and if you visited, thanks for visiting.  I'll still be here, so swing by again some time, eh?

EDIT 5-9-16:  Well dang, this sounds so much weirder reading it again.  I don't really know what I was thinking trying to write this at like, 11:30 at night instead of earlier in the day, but I suppose that really manages to sum up how I had been managing from the rest of the A to Z as well.

Congrats to all else who made it by the way, forgot to say that.  Cheers!

A to Z Challenge: Z is for Zardonic

Artist:  Zardonic
Genre:  Electro, Metal, Dubstep, Dance

Well I wasn't able to find a music video for this dude, but since it's the last day I didn't think it was too important.  I'm not about to pass on introducing you to the crazy music of Zardonic after all.

If you're a long time follower you might remember a song of this guy's I posted a while ago.  Thing is though that was a remix of one of his songs and this is an original.

Zardonic combines Metal and Dubstep in some crazy ways.  His faster tracks show it off better than the slower ones, but it's all really good and I really recommend checking it out.

Happy end to the A to Z, can't wait to get back to all the other posts I thought of while we were doing this, haha

A to Z Challenge: Y is for Young Thug

Artist:  Young Thug feat. Gucci Mane
Genre:  Rap
Language:  Strong

First things first.  I've got a Facebook page now, so you can go visit that if you want convenient updates in your social media rather than just on your blogging platform!  I know, I know, you've all just been waiting to get a little more of content into your life.  Well it's not like this is more than before, but it's now easier to find, right?

So yeah, Young Thug.  Dude lives up to his name honestly seeing as he's been arrested several times for threatening people, drugs, guns, and all manner of thug related things.  Generally not nice people doncha know.

A point of interest, there's so many freaking drugs in this video it's not even funny.  You've got your cocaine, you've got your marijuana, you've got your Sprite and codeine, and probably some other stuff I don't recognize.  Good times up in here, haha

Tomorrow is the last day of the A to Z though, so that's kinda a big deal.  Hope you've all had a good time with my theme here.

3 cheers for a majorly disjointed post that doesn't really connect to itself too well.

A to Z Challenge: X is for Xzibit

Artist:  Xzibit
Genre:  Rap
Language:  Strong

Yeah, I'm wimping out on X.  There really aren't too many bands that aren't fringe Metal acts that start with X.  If I could just go with XBox tags like xXsexhaver420Xx then I'd be good, but I had to go with what I knew.

I honestly don't know anything about Mr Xzibit, but I saw he had a song called "X" and I knew it was fate.  Let's be real, my "Oh-crap-I-can't-plan-ahead-and-have-to-pull-an-artist-out-of-my-butt" choice has a song that matches the letter?  I mean, since he's a rapper I suppose there's a pretty good chance, but still.  I'm gonna go with it.

X day though.  We've got 2 days left now to this freaking challenge.  I'm not gonna lie, this one was a lot harder than last year since I had less free time, less planning ahead, and all that stuff.  Eh, we'll talk more about that later though.

A t Z Challenge: W is for White Zombie

Band:  White Zombie
Genre:  Groove Metal
Language:  Strong

Who loves White Zombie?  You love White Zombie.  Everybody loves White Zombie.

Well fine, you don't have to like them but you can at least appreciate their contribution to the music scene with the popularization of Groove Metal.  Ya know, Metal with some groove.

This has always been one of my favorite driving songs though, for real.  It used to be that I could start this song and right when the slide guitar intro would hit I'd be hitting the main road and getting some speed going.  It was a blast.

This song is, to me, the epitome of Zombie's sound.  His new solo stuff is good, but this song just makes me think of his stuff every time.

A to Z Challenge: V is for Vanic

Artist: Vanic

Genre: Electronic

I don’t know most anything about this artist. I know that I walked into my coworker’s office and heard the song playing and I know that I liked it. That’s about it.

He found them about the same time I did though, so I’ll call that a win. He was playing a playlist on YouTube that has a lot of electronic music on it and this song happened to turn up. Good times, right?

I know you’ll enjoy the song too though, it’s (to over quote myself to death) a solid tune that is kinda smooth and just catchy.

A to Z Challenge: U is for Usher

Artist: Usher

Genre:  R&B

I personally don’t care much for Usher.  His style of music, while well executed and by no means bad, is just not something I’m really into.  Still, I can’t think of a reason not to include him in the U position of the list.

Honestly I’m amazed at the lack of bands I’m familiar with in the lower letters of the alphabet.  I would have thought that I’d know at least a few more then I do, ya know?

Eh, whatever though.  This post is about Usher, not me complaining that I don’t know any U artists.  We gonna use this song cause it's one of the few I'm kinda familiar with because of a show I watch.

A to Z Challenge: Runner Up: Thousand Foot Krutch

Band:  Thousand Foot Krutch (TFK)
Genre:  Nu-Metal, Hard Rock

I know what you all must be thinking.  "What is this Noah, all you're posting is Nu-Metal bands."

Sorry.  Since starting this blog I realized that my music tastes seem to lean toward Rap, Rap Metal, Nu-Metal, Death Metal and any range in between them you can find me.  I kinda knew this already, but writing it all down made it way more obvious to me.

This song though, this one is pretty cool.

The guitar riff in the verse sounds straight up like a Rage Against The Machine line which really makes me like it even more.  That and the song is catchy as crap.

I didn't really get too much into TFK back when I started listening to music more but I'm thinking I should start.  They've got a cool sound going down in the Rap Rock category that I'm into, ya dig?

A to Z Challenge: T is for Tenacious D

Band:  Tenacious D
Genre:  Comedy Rock, Hard Rock
Language:  Strong

I'll admit the main reason this song is here is because the song I wanted to post didn't actually have a music video.

It's still a cool thing though, because Tenacious D is a reasonably funny band, ya know?  The video below is hilarious since the band has basically been out of the spotlight since their movie came out like, 10 years ago.

Honestly outside of Guitar Hero III I hardly even remembered they existed.  This is a new video though, so apparently they are trying break back into the spotlight, right?

Hey though, if they want to try that that's fine with me.  I consider this band to be one of the better things Jack Black has done with his career honestly.  His comedy isn't really something I'm that in to, and even though the music really follows the same comedic line I kinda like it more.

Tomorrow's post will be what I wanted today but couldn't.

A to Z Challenge: S is for Sex Pistols

Band: Sex Pistols
Genre:  Punk Rock

Everybody loves some good old anarchy, right?

Turns out that the Sex Pistols like anarchy so much they actually hired their bassist Sid Vicious based entirely on his anarchist attitude. Apparently one night he stayed up all night with a Ramone's album and a crap load of speed and learned apparently managed to figure it out. A quote I managed to find is that Sid went to Lemmy of Motörhead saying "I can't play bass," to which Lemmy replied "I know."  On their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols he only recorded bass on the song Bodies.  According to legend they didn't even plug him into an amp a lot of the time.

Musically though I really dig the low talent energy that this band has.  They just smash away at their instruments and politically rage away, ya know?  There's a huge level of fun to listening to bands that really aren't good at what they do, but they do it with full enthusiasm.

Hope you're enjoying the A to Z so far from my blog and the others, been a great time so far, right?

A to Z Challenge: R is for Ryan Clark

Artist:  Ryan Clark (Demon Hunter, NYVES)
Genre:  Metalcore, Metal, Dark Electronic

I feel like I've made it reasonably clear in past posts that Demon Hunter is one of, if not my favorite, band I've ever heard.  Other than maintaining a solid sound despite switching around a decent number of the musicians in the band Ryan is my favorite vocalist second only to Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God.

Ryan's a rather talented fellow though.  In addition to being the frontman of both Demon Hunter and NYVES he's a graphic designer.  He's designed all the DH album covers and a great many other bands have used him as well (Alice in Chains being one of them.)

I really try not to fan out on members of my favorite bands, but since DH is the group that basically got me into Metal they will always hold a special place in my heart, ya know?

The reason I picked this song is because even though you don't get to hear his screaming style you get to hear his singing in the band that he usually screams in.  Enjoy, it's a solid song.

A to Z Challenge: Q is for Queens Of The Stone Age

Band:  Queens Of The Stone Age (QotSA)
Genre:  Alternative Rock

Getting into those trouble letters here.  The Qs, the Xs, and such and stuff.  The letters that have a very limited number of bands in them.

I happened upon QotSA though and thought "Hey, I remember them from Guitar Hero!" so I decided to go with them.

This video is the most poorly disguised metaphor for sex ever actually.  That's the whole reason I chose it.  It's the 3rd song of theirs I've ever heard and the video amused me enough that I thought you should all be graced with it!

Woo.  Happy Q day.

A to Z Challenge: P is for Phil Anselmo

Hey look, Phil is wearing a Ghost B.C. shirt.  Cool.

Artist:  Philip H. Anselmo

Genre:  Thrash Metal, Southern Metal

Oh Phil.  You are the subject of so many jokes in the Metal community.

From his time to lead singer of Pantera, to his more recent spotlight of screaming "white power" at Dimebash this year, Philip H Anselmo is quite a character.

Honestly I like the guy.  He's brought about a rather funny selection of parodies into my life, his music is honestly pretty good, and without him there would be no equal to Scott Ian of Anthrax when it comes to being in all the Metal history videos.

The bands he's in are honestly really good though.  SuperJointRitual and Down are solid, and the plethora of other bands he's been involved in too.  He may be an asshole, but he's a really solid artist who does deserve some respect.  His voice has a freakishly impressive range that you can see in this video.  If you care to look up other stuff he's been in you can see his low range more, but this shows that not only can he do his screaming deal but he can also pull off some legit singing.

We are past the half way point by the way, cool, right?

A to Z Challenge: O is for Outkast

Band:  Outkast
Genre:  R&B, Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Some, Strong

You know who knows a lot about Outkast?  Not me.  Not at all actually.  I chose them because I actually had a different band planned today but I didn't want to flood everybody with a pile of Nu-Metal since I realized a significant percentage of this stuff was that genre already.

Oops.

But hey, this is some catchy music, ya know?  It's bouncy, it's smooth, it's basically all good.

I'd heard their song Hey Ya before, but most of what I know about the band comes from the skit Key & Peele did.  It amused me and did not educate me on the band at all.

Good music though, and it introduced me to a group I'd love to get to know better.

A to Z Challenge: Runner Up: Ghost B.C.

Band:  Ghost B.C. (Ghost)
Genre:  Metal

Did you ever watch Lawrence Welk on tv?  The Polka King of the Midwest?

I don't suppose you ever wondered what it would look like if they had taken a Metal band a put them up there, did you?

Well you're in luck, because this is exactly what it would have looked like.

Ghost is an absolutely wonderful band, really.  They've got the whole costumed thing down even better that guys like Slipknot and the like because they live this too.  They have elaborate personas that they take up when they are in costume that it's honestly impressive to think their families don't know who they are for the most part.

For real, they keep the fact that they do this secret from friends and extended family.  That's what I call devotion.

A to Z Challenge: N is for Nachtmahr

Band:  Nachtmahr
Genre:  Industrial Techno

Another with no music video because, to the best of my knowledge at least, this guy has only released 1 video and I posted it ages ago.

Thomas Rainer of Nachtmahr is quite a fellow.  I don't know of too many bands who would combine Techno with Metal style vocal work, ya know?

This is gonna be a bit of a half assed post and I apologize for that.  This week has been miserably long and I accidentally fell asleep yesterday afternoon instead of writing this.

But hey, you've got some really weird music here to listen to while I probably go back to sleep, so that's a good thing, right?

Side note, this guy, despite what he may look like, is not a Nazi.  It's just part of the stage act and costume and if you look, all he's got is a military style uniform.  It doesn't even have a red arm band, it's a black one with an N.  Totes different.

A to Z Challenge: M is for Motograter

Band:  Motograter
Genre:  Nu-Metal
Language:  Strong

Motograter.  They're pretty freaking sweet.  They invented an instrument to make the big ugly sound they wanted.  You don't get much more metal than that.

The instrument is kinda cool actually.  It's this giant frame with industrial cables strung up on it.  They hit the cables with drum sticks and it sounds like a cross between a bass and an electric guitar of some sort.  I don't really know how to describe it outside of that, but it's one of the main driving forces in this song.  I think you can see him a little bit but the video is a little chaotic so maybe not.

Hope you're all at least finding this journey to be interesting, eh?

A to Z Challenge: L is for Lil' Jon

Artist:  Lil' Jon
Genre:  Crunk
Language:  Strong (censored)

Yo, you can't go through your life without listening to the lyrical master that is Lil' Jon.

A vocalist on par with 2Chainz in the department of "Only Good At Making A Hook", Lil' Jon is a master of the repetitive party music scene.

You can see why though, the music just sounds like the kind of stuff that you'd play loud to enjoy a stupidly intense party, ya know?

Wait, crazy pool parties aren't your scene?  Crap, me neither.  I suppose neither of us can truly appreciate what Mr Jon brings to the table.

A to Z Challenge: K is for KoЯn

Band: Korn (KoЯn)
Genre: Nu-Metal
Language:  Strong

What can be said about Korn anymore.  They were one of "those bands" for the beginning of their career because of their sound and subject matter, they disappeared for a bit with some less popular stuff, they put out a surprisingly good Dubstep album, then they finally put out what their "new sound" was.

This song is from the new album, so let's rewind in the timeline.

So they were formed way back in 93, which actually means they are as old as a band as I am as a person.  I'm unsure how to feel about that come to think of it.

They've maintained a rather consistent lineup honestly.  Head left back in 2005 but has since rejoined as of 2013.  David Silveria left the band in 2006 and was replaced by Ray Luzier on Drums.  David though, unlike Head, has done nothing but burn bridges with the band for the last 2 years.  The dude is honestly saying some rather messed up stuff that, true or not, is rather unprofessional.

But yeah, the music got a tad generic for a bit when David stopped caring.  The drums were primarily all done either on a program or recorded by the singer Jonathan Davis and as such the groove of their suffered a bit.

That's not important though because Ray has been a fantastic improvement to their sound.

Then the Dubstep album.  Fans hated this because it was released at the same time as all the Dubstep hate was reaching a peak.  It's like, at the time it was a poor decision, but going back it's like the best thing ever.  The combination of Korn's sound with the various artists that they worked with is just a terrific thing.

The newest album is a much smoother blending of the sounds though.  You've still got electronic elements but there's also a more polished version of the old Korn in there.  I like it and you should too.

Enjoy my obsession with Nu-Metal and happy K day!

A to Z Challenge: J is for Johnny Cash

Artist:  Johnny Cash
Genre:  Country, Outlaw Country

I think that there's a strong possibility that Johnny Cash may be the one Country artist that everybody can agree that they like at least a little bit.  I never really knew much about his life till a co worker made an offhand comment about Mr Cash's severe drug problems back in the day though.  I then looked into that and found, not only this amazing song, but a lot of the dude's history.

Run ins with the law, lots of drug problems, and more run ins with the law led to an eventual change, but not before he set fire to a large chunk of forest in California killing 49 of the 53 endangered condors that lived there.  His response?  "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards."

A real stand up guy, amirite?

He changed his ways though and cleaned up from drugs, but that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy a song called Cocaine Blues, right?

Apologies for no music video here, we'll have to live without for today.