The History of Metal -1979-- Host Jon “The Vernomatic” Verno is joined by show correspondence” Metal Walt” and Ian O’Rourke as the three dis

Good evening metal heads! Welcome to another edition of Metal Mayhem ROC. Tonight, we are continuing our celebration of National Metal Day with the latest installment of our riveting series “The History of Metal”
Show host Jon “The Vernomatic” Verno is joined by correspondence” Metal Walt” and Ian O'Rourke as the guy's dissect some of the greatest releases from the year- 1979.
Vernomatic provides commentary on the ACDC Highway to hell Albums, as well as taking a deep dive into the unfourtunently end of LED ZEPPELIN and the breakup of AEROSMITH. Vernomatic also covers the VAN HALEN 2 release.
“Metal Walt” catches us up on the” Deep Purple Family Tree” situation with updates on RAINBOW, WHITESNAKE And The GILLIAN BAND. “Metal Walt cover in detail two classic JUDAS PRIEST releases Killing Machine and Unleashed In The East, as well as the state of KISS and QUEEN at the end of the decade.

Ian covers the EURO scene with the latest from UFO, THIN LIZZY and then joins the “Vernomatic ”on a show ending discussion on the brilliance of VAN HALEN 2.
We invite you to share your comments at www.podchaser.com. Just enter Metal Mayhem ROC in the search box, scroll down and press the MMROC logo and Rate and Review.
As Always you can contact us at Vernomatic @metalforever.com and join the discussion at the Metal Mayhem ROC Facebook Group page https://www.facebook.com/groups/409879766475870

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
W l v DD Radio. Areyou ready? Live from the Middle Mayhem
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(00:25):
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Mayhem ROC. It's good, nice, heavy and now Welcome to night's host,
John the Verna, Madic Verno,who do you me? And everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Metalmayhem ROC. Thursday night's new content drops.

(00:50):
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(01:10):
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Let's see Monday Nights, I dothe live radio show on that metalstation

(01:34):
dot com. It's a great threehour live interactive radio show. I play
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touch with people listening to the showall over the world. It's a real
good time, great way to bringyour metal Monday in for a landing.
Tonight's show, We're continuing our ongoingseries The History of Metal the Year nineteen

(01:59):
seven nine. I'm joined by mytwo metal partners, Metal Walt from the
New Jersey, New York area,a veteran of over thirty five forty years
of concert going. He's just awell of knowledge. And we have Ian
O'Rourke, our metal musician from theband Motor Lord. These two guys are

(02:21):
a great addition to the Metal MayhemROC team. Tonight, nineteen seventy nine.
A lot of good things going onin seventy nine. The old Guards
are on their way out, Zeppelin, Arrowsmith Kiss running into alcohol, drug
problems, just falling off the radar, and as the seventies come to a
close. Some of those seventy bandsScorpions, Judas Priest, they're ready to

(02:43):
gain global domination. And the youngguns ACDC, Van Halen, Motorhead,
they're up there taking the spot asthe front runners of metal. So the
year nineteen seventy nine, it's areal good time. So let's get things
going. Let's welcome back to MetalMayhem ROC from New Jersey Metal Wall.

(03:06):
Hey, well, what's going onman? How you been? I'm great,
Verno Hygen doing well, looking forwardto seventy nine, So what do
you got this year? So nineteenseventy nine summed up, is what I
would title a transition year, right, It's the start of the old Guard
handing over to let's say, thenew Guard. I think you're starting to

(03:27):
see less and less of the worldsof Zeppelin, Purple Sabbath, even Kiss
for that matter. They're declining andyou're seeing an emergence of the new bands.
I think in those come in differentgenres of hard rock and metal.
I think you're starting to see theemergence of the new wave of British heavy
metal coming in such as you knowreleases in seventy nine, demos on Deaf
Leopard and Iron Maid, and youhave Saxon coming on with their debut release,

(03:52):
and then maybe not categorized in thatthat field, but just the straight
ahead metal bands that are gonna comeand become very popular in the eighties,
band such as Accept and Riot forthat manner. I also think that you
see the American hard rock radio friendlybands really emerging into the forefront of things.

(04:13):
You know, you have Van Halen, Cheap Trick Sticks, thirty eight
Special, Sammy Hagar, Molly Hatchett, Farner even putting in the Scorpions there
right. These are all bands thatare now up on the top of that
top of that list here, andthinking ahead a couple of years from now,
where let's say the introduction of let'ssay the video world with MTV looms
very large in this and a lotof these bands are going to be really

(04:34):
even stepping up their popularity even moreso because of that form that they're in.
Seventy nine, I think you alsosee a continuation that trend of great
live albums, which will touch uponand I think another really important thing is
you're starting to see very large bandsstarting to replace prominent band members and these

(04:56):
are just not little pieces coming inand out. These are singers, guitar
players, members, Ronnie James,Dio, Jill Perry, just to name
a few in this year, andwait till nineteen eighty comes to see even
more changes to come. So Ithink also in let's say, the newly
formed bands, whether these are bandsthat are about to make releases in nineteen
eighty or bands that are forming aroundand maybe they don't come out for releases

(05:19):
for another two three years, butthose lists are growing and it's really expanding
into America. And I think oncewe touch upon just naming some of those
artists, it really is that,you know, playing field is just extremely
large. So when you go backin time and you take a look at
nineteen seventy nine a snapshot of that, let's say, from where we were

(05:41):
four or five years ago in seventyfive, seventy six, it's really a
different landscape. So I think that'swhat seventy nine brings in. So the
first band I'm going to touch uponis Judas Priests, and Judas Priest in
seventy nine actually released two albums.One was actually Held Bent to the Leather
was released the United States, whichreally was the killing Machine album that was

(06:04):
released in the UK and Europe andseventy eight. It didn't get released in
the United States because the record labelColumbia CBS didn't like as quote unquote the
murderous implications of the title, sothey basically made them change the title in
the imagery and calling it hell themfor Leather. So no surprise there,

(06:25):
but the bag he really was againthe Unleashed in the East live album these
are this is a show recorded overa couple of nights in Tokyo. You
know, again, no secret herereceived this over the years with a lot
of things. There's a lot ofword and even Rob Halford confirms this that
the vocals from the original according orrecording where apparently they were, they didn't

(06:48):
come out right or they were damaged, so they had to recreate the vocals
in a live sitting in the studio, so in a way they were doctored.
But nonetheless it's a great album.I think you have nine tracks that
cover, you know, the twosides of the album, and they're just
your best subtracks, the tracks thatevery priest fan is going to kill for,

(07:09):
especially from that era. It justshows you here that live albums were
a trending here because this one actuallyhit top ten in the UK. Years
later it was released as a JapaneseEP with even additional bonus tracks add to
it, which even painted the landscapeof that album to be even bigger and
better. I think you know again, the imagery on this also was great

(07:31):
on live albums. You see theband on the stage, you see Rob
Halford coming out in the forefront,and there he is front and center with
his leather hat and his whip andhis leather pants, and you know,
you know what's to come in thefuture years. So I think, you
know, a standout album and onefor every priest to be proud of.
So Ian, I think you're goingto touch on UFO. Yeah, I

(07:55):
mean, we've gone in great detailto talk about how much affinity we have
for the live albums that came outduring this period Strangers in the Night.
If I had to give a nodto an album that I was going to
suggest for someone that maybe had neverdelved much into UFO, this would be

(08:16):
the one that I would go to. I mean, all the killer songs
Doctor Doctor and Mother Mary and stuff. Rock Bottom, It's a fifteen minute
juggernaut of a jam you still gotbig songs like let It Roll and Shoot
Shoot. I mean, it isjust one of the better live albums to
be released and something that anybody thatis a fan of live albums should definitely

(08:37):
have in their collection. Ian can'tagree more with that. UFO streams and
then it's a classic. I mean, another classic that comes to mind is
the Queen Live Killer's album. It'sa double live album actually that came out
in this year. It was recordedon the Jazz tour throughout Europe. Again,
just like the Juda's Priest album thatpeaked number three in the UK and
even did very well in the Statesnumber sixteen. Um had double platinum salves,

(09:01):
which is which is really amazing ifyou think about the times and I
think, without reading off the trackson the album, I mean it's it's
four sides, but you know,it's not so much the tracks that they
pick, but it's the way theyset up the live show, from the
introduction and to the changes in thesongs from rockers to let's say the quirky

(09:22):
stuff to the ballady stuff to theacoustic stuff, and they kind of go
through that all the way. AndI think, like a lot of other
live albums at the time, yousee the songs open up and change and
they the end of they take ona life for their own. As a
live album, you know, andyou think of, let's say, the
starting track in the in the showis that we Will Rocky. They start

(09:43):
with that, but it's the fastversion, right, and that's not something
that really comes to mind when youthink about it. It's the ebbs and
flows and the build up towards thesongs m and then of course you know,
as every Queen fan and every showgo forward, it was always the
big crescendo at the end with bohemianraps ay and we will rock You,
We'll tie your mother down in there, so you know, definitely something that

(10:05):
is just another one. It's uh, it should just be right in there
on top live albums for all hardrocks see Please Please. Circling back on

(11:18):
that Judas Priest that Unleashed in theEast, when they reissued it, there
was four tracks added to it thatwere done on that tour, Rock Forever,
delivering the Goods, Hell Ben forLeather and Starbreaker. That's on the
reissue, it's on the Spotify version. So three grade albums the seventies was

(11:39):
the decade of the live albums.One band that reaped the benefits of a
live album was a CDC with theIf you Want Blood, You Got It
back in seventy eight. Well,when seventy nine came around, they had
their album Highway to Hell. Nowunfortunately last album with Pond Scott, but
this album was just filled with youknow the title track Highway to Hell.

(12:03):
Girls got rhythm Night Prowler. Thisis a CDC at their pinnacle, I
think in the Bonds Guide era originallyAtlantic Records eighty six. The producing crew
of George Young and Harry Vanda broughtin Eddie Kramer, who had success with
Jimi Hendrix and some other acts.Didn't gel with the band. They brought

(12:24):
in a young, hotshot producer bythe name of John mutt Lange, who,
if you know anything about rock androll, this guy's probably produced albums
that have sold close to two hundredmillion copies. Did He helped Bond Scott
achieved some vocal performances that Bonn evensaid that he couldn't even think he had
it in him. Possibly one ofthe most infamous songs on the release as

(12:46):
a song called Knight Prowler. Itwas connected with Richard Ramirez in nineteen eighty
five. Ramirez was a highly publicizedmurderer. He was nicknamed the knight Stalker.
Ramirez a fan of a CDC.Police also claimed that Ramirez left an
a CDC had at one of thecrime scenes. Just a bad dude,

(13:07):
but he was really into the ACDCsong again. Bod Scott died nineteen eighty
February of nineteen eighty out drank in. You stop and wonder where they would
have gone. And as we getinto nineteen eighty, we're gonna find out
where they did go. Well anyand put on the CDC. I know

(13:28):
you're a fan. What do youthink of that Highway to Hell album?
Adding to your story here, Ithink important to call out the imagery again.
I've been trying to focus not somuch also on the music, but
let's say the importance of the albumand what the cover looked like and what
the inserts look like. Right,I mean, this is another great one,
right because it's Angus coming out withthe Devil Horns, right, and

(13:50):
how many times has that been puton merchandiseing and just been on posters and
key shirts, and you know,the album title and the imagery here really
became you know, one of thosepieces that is known for ACDC. I
think, you know, in additionto the songs, I think what would
really let's say, important in thegrowth of the band here, and at
the same time as Shane, wasthat this was their one opportunity where they

(14:13):
were really ready to break through commerciallyand really ready to become that global band
that maybe wasn't you know, existinga year or two before that. So
we all know what comes next.And I think that was even probably not
expected the band itself that they wouldhave expected that by replacing a singer they

(14:33):
would have really pushed them into stardom. So but again you look back at
that album and it's just nothing butgreat memories on it. Again, those
live albums leading the way for commerciallyacclaimed releases The Scorpions and seventy eight they
had Tokyo Tapes. Seventy nine theyhad Love Drive, sixth studio album by

(14:54):
the band, considered by some criticsto be the pinnacle of their career.
Don't know about that, but LoveDrive was a major evolution of the band's
sound. Love Drive was the band'sfirst album to re release by Harvest Records
in Europe and Mercury Records in theStates also saw the return of Michael Shanker

(15:16):
younger brother rhythm guitarist Rudolph Shanker.He had just split from UFO after the
Obsession album. Now Shanker contributed leadguitars on some killer songs on this album,
another piece of Meat, the instrumentalCoast to Coast, the ballad Holiday
and Loving You Sunday Morning. Atthe beginning of the tour, though,

(15:37):
in February seventy nine, Shanker rejoinedthe band as the part of the touring
act, and the group reluctantly partedways with Mattias Jabs, who had taken
over for Ulrich Roth the previous year. Well, as fate would have it,
Michael Shanker quit, which led toJabs the media return after an it's

(16:00):
hence rounded negotiations. Now this wholeTwisted Scorpions MSG Michael Shanker Tree spawned the
band MSG Michael Shanker Group. Ian. Now you're a big Shanker fan and
you have some knowledge of the situation, you're getting information on this MSG.

(16:22):
Yeah. The biggest thing with itis that Michael probably because he's another one
that fell to his demons way toomany times, had a lot of personal
issues. I think you know thatthat pushed him back, you know,
and coming into the thing with theScorpions, he really kind of wanted to

(16:44):
be more of the lead dog.I think that's one of the things that
led to him going aside from hisyou know, just getting into these crazy
drunken hazes. But then he endsup putting together the Michael Shanker Group or
MSG, and we're not gonna hearanything from them until next year. But
when that album comes out, boy, he comes back with a vengeance and

(17:06):
he's ready to just tear us intoeverybody. So it's really some cool stuff.
It's too bad that even to thisday he has unresolved issues with his
brother over some of the things thathave occurred. Yeah, the biggest thing
with it is that Michael, probablybecause he's another one that fell to his

(17:26):
demons way too many times, hada lot of personal issues. I think
you know that that pushed him back, you know, and coming into the
thing with the Scorpions, he reallykind of wanted to be more of the
lead dog. I think that's oneof the things that led to him going

(17:47):
aside from his you know, justgetting into the crazy drunken hazes. But
then he ends up putting together theMichael Schenker Group or MSG, and we're
not gonna hear anything from them untilnext year. But when that album comes
out, boy, he comes backwith a vengeance and he's ready to just
terrass into everybody. So it's it'sreally some cool stuff. It's too bad

(18:08):
that even to this day he hasunresolved issues with his brother over some of
the things that have occurred, unresolvedissues the very couple old Nitti's fighting.
Granted, you know, they arebetter. I can't imagine how holidays are
like in the Schenker household, youknow, I know, you know Michael

(18:32):
Shanker accusing Rudolph of what was hesaying, stealing raftsern just just stealing rifts
and apparently his money when Rudolf orwhen Michael was going through the nineties,
he was in such a drunken hazeall the time that Rudolph actually had stepped
up to help manage his money sohe didn't go broke. And Rudolph aims

(19:00):
or Michael excuse me, claims thatRudolph stole his money, and I'm honest
to God, don't think that.I hope it's not true. I think
that a lot of it is mismanagementon behalf of Michael Schenker and some of
his issues with alcohol and his demonsthat have stayed with him. But who
knows. It's always trouble when youstart getting sober and start realizing the difficulty

(19:26):
you put you and your family throughduring your tough times. But Michael Schenker
regrouped and he's been contributing positive materialever since. Now we're going to go
into a little segment right here thatit's very unfortunate because two of the powerhouses
of seventies rock and roll had aterrible demise. Led Zeppelin nineteen seventy nine,

(19:48):
their last album as a band,in Through the Outdoor. The band
wasn't at a good place it wasseventy nine. The reason behind that,
John Bonham was battling his alcoholism andguitarist Jimmy Page, who often failed to
show up on time, was dealingwith a heroin addiction. The band started

(20:10):
rehearsing material for this album in seventyeight. After six weeks, they traveled
to Stockholm to begin recording. Incontrast to previous Zeppelin albums, In Through
the Outdoor features much greater influences onthe part of bassist and keyboardist John Paul
Jones and vocalist Robber Plant. Themusic got In through the Outdoor is dominated

(20:33):
by Jones so much. They hadtwo of the songs from the album,
Southbound Suarez and All of My Lovewere the only two original Zeppelin songs that
Jimmy Page had no part in writing, and ironic part there is All of
My Love. It's one of themost eccentric, different sounding Zeppelin songs there

(20:53):
is out there, and it standson its own. I think it's one
of their greatest songs. But thatbeing said, the album went to number
one when it was released, reportedlyselling close to two million copies within days
of the release. This is Zeppelin'slast album with John Bonham. He died
in unfortunately another drunken escapade late Septembernineteen eighty, right when they were doing

(21:19):
rehearsals for the Inter the Outdoor Americantour. Well, any input on Zeppelin,

(21:51):
I think it's one of those albumsthat the way you describe it,
um, you know, I thinkit They they hid that. I think
you have some you know, somematerial out there that is still good and
in the public eye. Back inseventy nine, I'm sure nobody really knew
what was going on behind the scenes, but you had, you know,
good songs Pulling the Rain, hotDog, and all of My Love,

(22:11):
right, I mean, these arestill memorable songs in the whole catalog,
right, So yeah, I thinkmaybe not as bad as it seem.
But when you really know the backgroundon the story, you know, that's
where where you see it was allunraveling. I uh, you a Zeppelin
fan, any take on this release? I am. The one thing I
will say is full in the Rain. Just listening to that final performance by

(22:37):
John Bonham and just the way thathe played with that song is just monstrous
in itself. He's one of thosepeople, like we've discussed with others,
that he's still revered today because he'san irreplaceable part and that's why the band
continued or did not continue as ledZeppelin without him, say, I see

(23:49):
see, oh, I agree,you know, and that's weird because they

(24:15):
never went through the eighties. Theone was Zeppelin one is that sixty nine?
Yeah, a ten year career it'syou know it, And really those
last couple of years, they reallyweren't putting much out when was presence is
at seventy seven, seventy six.But the point I'm trying to make is

(24:36):
they had that inactivity really the lasttwo or three three years of their career.
And it's sort of sad because youwatch some of the footage that neb
Worth and you know, Jimmy Pagewas a mess, and the band was
just truly sort of like like thatearly Sabbath. It was just as great

(24:56):
as they were, they fell sofar down. Another band that that had
happened to was Aerosmith. Aerosmith obviouslycomes around into early seventies. They had
the run of fantastic albums. We'vechronicled it, but by seventy nine the
band was a mess. Night inthe Rots their sixth studio album released in

(25:19):
seventy nine, but took well overlike a year to make. They're into
studio, They're wasting money left andright. Joe Perry's drinking. Steven Tyler
snorton Peru, it's just the familiesare fighting together. Band members were in
dire financial straits. Put it thisway, Joe Perry owed the company eighty

(25:42):
thousand dollars for room service alone.Who to help bring rings up an eighty
thousand dollars room service bill. Theband was forced to go on tour and
that wasn't good. Substance abuse amongthe members gradually were sind they started fighting
among themselves. This often led tomissed and sloppy live performances, and,

(26:07):
like Walt said in the beginning,this led to the departure of Joe Perry.
The situation came to a head inJuly seventy nine at the World Series
of Rock in Cleveland. Perry leftthe band halfway through the tour after a
heated argument with Tyler. Prior toPerry's departure, he had completed parts for

(26:30):
six or seven songs off of thewhat would end up being Knight in the
Roots. Guitar parts for the remainingsongs were recorded by Brad Woodford and Jimmy
Crespo, who eventually took over Perry'srole in the band from seventy nine to
eighty four. While Steven Tyler endedup getting clean, Joe Perry ended up

(26:52):
going out on his own and playingclubs and driving around in a van.
It's just a terrible story because ErrolSmith, like Zeppelin, they were just
they were monsters. They were justyou know, you couldn't touch them.
But drugs and alcohol just destroyed thesebands. Well, what do you think
of aaro Smith, because you've beenaround the block with these guys, any

(27:15):
remembrance of seventy nine and your interpretationof Night in the Ruts. To be
honest, no, I know Iknow Aarosmith from the heyday of the seventies,
and then it's almost like there's thisperiod of time from seventy nine to
around eighty seven where it's almost likethey never existed. And I know they
did, right, but I thinkit's just like a very dark cloud period

(27:37):
where they stayed alive, but therethere's no real memory in a good way
of the band there, you know. And I think they were one of
the lucky bands that came out ofthis and really got a second chance on
life and had a second career,right, you know, you think about
permanent vacation in eighty seven forward,you know, they were they were like
a cat with a second wife,and that's a great thing led Zeppelin.

(27:59):
They have that chance, right,and I think that's something to be proud
of it in a way. Ithink you think about some of these other
bands that maybe we're in a demiseor even let's say a slump, but
maybe kept it going. I thinkof even Kiss right and seventy nine Kiss
put out Dynasty. Now, certainlythis wasn't the death of the band,

(28:21):
but it was a band that therewas a head scratcher. I mean,
the guys were basically following the formulaof the four solo releases, and I
think they they goofed on their ontheir model of what they thought success was
right instead of sticking with it andwhat brought them there. From let's say
seventy four, seventy five through seventyeight, they went in a whole different

(28:45):
direction. I mean they put togethera pop album to try to get on
pop radio. They tried to campin and jump on the disco bandwagon,
you know, to a degree.And this is where maybe Gene and Paul
became very stingy and very greedy andwanted to manage the band. A granted
Peter, and they said the alcoholand the drug the problems themselves, but
they were no longer a group.I mean this album was written essentially they

(29:08):
all you know, wrote in theirtracks, brought their demos to the table.
None of it was done as agroup. I mean, and despite
that, you think about the album, it's it's a flop, right,
and at its moments, I thinkagain, as we talked about with the
solo albums Ace comes out of therelooking like the hero. I mean,
yeah, he does a cover ofThe Stones two thousand man, but it's

(29:30):
a great version. Hard Times isa cool little rock track on there,
and I think he looks like thebetter, better of the group, you
know, I think there's still youknow, there's some okay tracks on there,
catchy songs, charisma, maybe Sureknows something and you know Paul has
an okay song and magic touch,but definitely he's nothing that you look back
at Kiss and say, hey,this is a Kiss album and you think
about what's to come the next yearon a Mass it's even worse, right,

(29:52):
I mean, even if you thinkabout it. Behind the scenes,
you find out many years later thatPeter was in a car accident in seventy
eight and was hurt and banged up, and I guess they didn't like his
performance on the album. They broughtAnton to Big to play and so that
became the beginning of you only seenthe names of the artists on the album,
but not knowing who actually played thesong. Bob Coolick was another one
that played in there for as manyyears to come, and really was that

(30:17):
the start of that low and mysteriouspoint of Kiss until again they came back,
let's say in eighty two or eightythree, with a new image without
the makeup, and then they startbuilding themselves off in a whole other career
in the non makeup era, andthey came back and became an eighties you
know, an eighties iconic fan again, another band that got a second play,
right, So I think you canmake those parallels to Kiss and Narrowsmith.

(30:41):
Now, will you mentioned that aDynasty and Unmasked had studio players and
uncredited musicians, But that was goingon as far back as possibly Destroyer and
Rock and Roll over different guys doingit. Bob Culick, he was all
over the place. They had lastfourth side of Kiss Alive two with those

(31:03):
all American man and larger than Livethat was sprinkled with other musicians. Do
you think there is a lot moregoing on than before Dynasty? Perhaps some
of it, but I think itslowly grew in the distrust of Gene and
Paul with Ason Peter. It waslike, you know, two of the
members going one direction to going theother. You could just see who was

(31:26):
taking control of the band. Andthey wanted it their way. They wanted
to, you know, protect theimagery of the band. And now when
they were at this high with theirmerchandising with the you know, all the
kids stuff and the movies and kissMe Standom of the Park and the comic
books and everything else, right,they were going to protect the trademark.
And they weren't worried about the membersand if it meant, you know,
bringing better guys into play the songs, and the fans weren't really gonna know

(31:48):
what was going on because the fourguys in makeup from the cover, who
cares? I mean thinking about youknow, other bands with let's say temperamental
members, you know, take controlof the band. I see you see
that continue again in in Rainbow rightwe touch upon let's say the deep Purple
family tree, and I think,you know, we'll just keep calling it

(32:08):
that because it is what it is, right, But I mean you had
again White Snake was starting to buildup their momentum there and they put out
their next release, you know,walking in the Shadow of the Blues.
You know, it was a greatsong on the album. They had the
killer album cover with the snake andthe girl with the with the nude rear
end. Gylan coming out with anothersolo album, Mister Universe. But you

(32:30):
know, getting to the point waswith Rainbow. Right, here's another guy,
Richie Blackmore, that can't make uphis mind what he likes, what
he dislikes. He doesn't mind changingmembers every year, and here it goes
again. You know Ronnie James Dio, who is, in my opinion,
the best singer that they ever had, who is a guy that can stand
on his own and actually has anopinion on things and can stand for himself.

(32:52):
He actually quit. He didn't waitfor Blackmore to fire. He left
on his own. But what itdid was it turned Blackmore into yet again
spinning the lineups around. I mean, rumor has it he actually asked Ian
Gillan to rejoin the band and Gillansaid no, But he did bring Roger
Glover in and then he brought DonArie in to play keyboards, so again

(33:14):
another formidable lineup, and I thinkthe one you know that everybody knows.
In seventy nine, they released adown Earth album. It's the one and
only album featuring Graham Bonnet on it. But it was also a trend out
of that let's say classic card rockmetal and into what Blackmore envisioned would be

(33:34):
more of a commercial sounding melodic band. And he definitely did it, and
he did it well let's let's let'sbe honest here. As the time went
on and he brought Joeln Turner in, they became really really popular and they
really good radio friendly songs. Youknow. The interesting part about Graham Bonnet
was he was not a rock oreven a metal musician. He had like
more of an R and B styleof singing, and certainly his look he

(33:58):
had kind of the slick back hairfrom you know, say, looking like
a greaser or somebody out of thefifties, and he wore those let's say
pilot sunglasses. But he had agreat voice, and I think the songs
they're memorable songs, songs that youcan still hear today and go, man,
that's a kailler song, you know, all night long and since you've

(34:19):
been gone. And then there's likethe rockers that kind of lump them in
all together. They're all pretty goodsongs. There's really not much difference than
any of them, songs like Lostin Hollywood and Eyes of the World and
even danger Zone. You know,good rockers. Nothing nothing standouts, but
you know, definitely a good,solid album. But even this one,
this was another short lived one,and I don't recall exactly what happened.

(34:39):
I think there was some infighting withinBlackmore and Bonnet, and I think they
Bonnet was on all kinds of substances, and I remember there was a certain
show maybe in the UK at afestival, and that was kind of themise
of the band, and he wasout before you know it. So it
was going on all over the place. So on the motor headfront. Motor

(34:59):
Head it was one of the bandsat this time in seventy nine that released
two albums. The first was thealbum Overkilled. I think this was an
album that unexpectedly did a lot betterthan perhaps even the band expected because it
was only their second three second album. Um, I think to most listeners

(35:20):
it's a much better album than thedebut, and I think it might be
right up there with as the landmarkalbum and definitely one that's looked upon as
one of the best in their intheir catalog throughout their career. I think
in the title track, right,I mean who does love the title track?
I mean you got the the thedrums and the bass, and at

(35:43):
tension builds up and then you know, as you get to the end of
the song, you think the song'sover, and there comes that and it
goes on and on and on.It doesn't another time and another time,
another time, and another time,and then at the end of it,
here's a song coming in it seveneight minutes. But you know, I

(36:04):
mean even some of the other songs, like you know we Pay motor Head,
it is this sort of you know, uh garage thrash punk, you
know, whiskey band. But inreality, think of a song like stay
Clean. It's got a great riff, right, and it's just one of
those ones add Dan and I'll bampingup on Baan, you know stuff that's

(36:28):
memorable. These are hooky hook youknow, very hooky type riffs, and
it brings motor Head into a differentsound. You know, song like Metropolis.
Think of Metropolis, right, andanother one there how it's got a
great opening riff. The lyric isgreat and it's that crescendo in the beginning
and it just drops off and itkicks into the high Gear song. So

(36:51):
I think it's definitely a highlight forme from their catalog and just totally a
you know, a great album laterin the year, maybe these Bomber,
which I think was you know,I was solid. It got everything you
wanted to get. I mean,the songs are very characteristic of that classic
Motorhead sound. Nothing unique, butcertainly nothing bad. I mean the title

(37:12):
track, songs like Stone Dead Foreverand dead Man Tell No Tel all really
good stuff. So I think thiswas another big year for Motorhead, growing
that ladder, putting themselves on themap, and it really came out with
a formidable year. Well you know, uh, it's sort of like when
the seventies ended and these guys wentinto the eighties, yea, and they

(37:32):
had to beef up the sound.They had a commercialize it, trimming a
little bit, make it a littlemore accessible, and you know, people
just partied. Everyone had their habitsand brought their addictions and it just ruined
a lot of great bands. Speakingof great bands and what's going on in
the thin Lizzie Camp well, it'sfunny you should say, you know,

(37:54):
when you're talking about the stuffs,it's abuse problems, because it's no you
know secret that Phil Lennitt and Scottgorm at that particular time where both deeply
entrenched in heroin addiction themselves. ButBlack Rose came out in seventy nine.
Gary Moore rejoined the band. Hisold friend Phil Lenett reached out to him.

(38:19):
He had done some touring obligations afterBrian Robertson had left previously. So
they record the album and it's,you know, it's got some great songs
on there. The probably the biggesttwo songs on there would be Waiting for
an Alibi, which is probably themost memorable single as far as a rocker
from the album, and then thesong black Rose, which if you've ever

(38:44):
heard the song Emerald from the Jailbreakalbum, and then later on through Life
and Dangerous, very Celtic themed,very you know, bombastic, majestic,
big, bold, powerful song blackRose is the same way, if not
times five, so it takes itto a whole other level. But this

(39:05):
is another band, you know,um going into the eighties having some hiccups
along the way because of the substanceabuse issues and what trend they're going to
actually follow. You know, Philwas very much involved with He was friends
with, you know, all theguys in the Sex Pistols and a bunch
of punk bands. He was reallykeen on a lot of the new wave

(39:28):
bands. So as you go forward, you listen to some of their albums
and it's like there's a hodgepodge ofeverything again, you know, there's no
consistency. So that's that's really funnythat, you know, all these parallels
can be can be drawn along allthese bands, and the one consistent that
comes back is either alcohol or drugs. Yeah, you're right, those parallels

(39:50):
are pretty obvious. It's it's toobad that substance abuse rips our bands apart.
So in seventy nine, a lotof the mid level of American acts
were in the game, you know, like Sammy Hagar, Riot, Cheap
Trick, and up in Canada theyhad their own little uh scene bruin bands
like April Wine, triumphant helix Ian. You're familiar with these acts. What

(40:15):
was going on with these groups inseventy nine, so Verno, the Cheap
Trick obviously, you know they're atthis point, one of those bands that
everybody's talking about there. You know, you could probably classify him in some
of those poster bands like Walt wouldtalk about. They released a dream Police
album. On the other side ofthings, you've got Sammy Hagar. You

(40:37):
know, when he came out ofMontrose, they were trying to make him
a little bit more singer songwriters,I guess, a little bit more baldy,
a little bit more soulful. Stillhad the occasional rockers that he was
throwing in her, but he wasworking with a lot of songwriters. But
by the time he gets to thispoint in seventy ninety, he releases the
album Street Machine. He is atthis point getting him self established and you're

(41:00):
seeing him with some of these biggeracts. You know, he ends up
going out and touring with Kiss acouple of times, well once and then
it was never invited back again.And then you also have that nice little
band from New York called Riot.They have released their second album now called
Narita, and they are really honingin on that metal sound, a smoker

(41:22):
from beginning to end. And asyou mentioned, the other band that was
kind of doing that same ascendency,even though they had had a couple albums
underneath their belt at this point.The previous album by April Wine got them
a little bit more radio play,a little bit more familiarity with people out
there. They had the song Roller, which is just a freaking smoking,

(41:45):
heavy boogie song. But they comeback this time with harder, Faster.
It's one of those albums you cansee where they're at this point. Like
we had said before, you getthat two three four albums in a row
where they're really establishing themselves coming upthrough the rank. And on the other
side, you know, with theCanadians up there, you know, you've
got Triumph releasing just a game,keeping themselves into the conversation with some of

(42:07):
the hard rock that they're putting out. And then a little band called Helix
released their debut Breaking Loose. SoI mean, there's a lot of good
material that's coming out all over NorthAmerica at this particular point. What was
the problem with Sammy Hagar playing openingfor Kiss once? I think I read
something recently about that, But what'sthe backstory on that? Yeah, so

(42:30):
apparently you know how Kiss fans arelike Maiden fans or like Metallica fans,
you know, they're very devoted andrabid towards the band. And Sammy was
out there trying to do his thingand people were yelling for kiss and he
got into a little bit of acursive altercation with some of the crowd,

(42:52):
and Gene Simmons didn't take kindly toit and asked him to leave, and
he was not invited back again.Well, you know what, they both
went on to have successful careers,and I'm sure they're not exchanging Christmas cards
or Hanuka cards or whatever it isthey exchange. Who knows at this point
in the game. Yeah, Iknow. Now back into States, at

(43:15):
this time, the arena bands weresort of still going full force, bands
like Ted Nugent releasing State of Shock. Not much really on this album,
you know, it's Nugent, it'spost cat Scratch Fever. This is really
when Nudge was starting to lose alittle of his commercial luster and he gained

(43:35):
it again in the next couple ofyears with a couple of albums that he
did after that, Sticks releasing Cornerstone, Let's see a Journey evolution. You
know, this is a pre StevePerry journey. So you know, these
albums, they're existing, not reallygoing too far. Both those bands,
Sticks and Journey when eighty and eightyone came around, had monster albums.

(44:00):
We'll touch on that in the nextcouple episodes. Let's see Bad Company Desolation
Angels. I'm not really too familiarwith Bad Company either, you guys know
anything about this Desolation Angels release.I will say that this is the last
classic lineup album by Bad Company becauseit has been documented that, or at

(44:22):
least by Paul Rodgers in one ofthe docks at the head on the band.
When John Bonham died, Peter Grantbecame so despondent about anything and everything
that was going on with the musicalworld that he pretty much ignored what was

(44:43):
going on with running or helping runSwan Song Records, and they kind of
were some of the victim of thatwhole thing when it came to the management
side and everything that occurred. Imean, is it the worst album in
the world, No, but itdoes not pack any of the punched at
Their earlier album was good for sure. Let's see what's going on with the
Metal front Saxon's debut album came outas well as the accept debut. Not

(45:09):
neither of these albums really contain anythingthat you'll remember. Shirts their first ones,
but their best material came later onMolly Hatchet Flirting with Disaster. Now,
Molly Hatchett was one of those bands. They one two, three punch
of the debut Flirting with Disaster andthe third one Beating the Odds. Even

(45:31):
though they had a second singer,it was still fantastic stuff. Now,
Ian, you're real familiar with Blackfoot, you know these guys they had some
roots, They're from down South andthey're lake. They were kick ass band.
Well, what kind of a threeplay today have? So seventy nine

(45:51):
saw the album Strikes come out,which is most known for the song Train
Train It's just a stamp proven album. This is the album that they toured
Europe with and the UK in supportof Judas Priest when Priest was at their
peak with the uh you know,the Killing Machine help them for Leather Tour.

(46:13):
The next album after this, TomKaton and then Marauder after that.
That's a three album run by theseguys that are is considered that that trinity
of great albums. Just like youhad mentioned there with Molly Hatchett, you
know, you got the self titledThe Flintwood Disaster and beating the odds.
This is some really great stuff becauseit's it's a deviation from the Skinnered side,

(46:37):
which was a little bit more lousybased Southern rock. These guys are
really bringing that heavier edge, alot more guitar, a lot more attitude
to the music. So it's reallycool stuff that's coming out at that point.
Totally agree. I had a chanceto see that eighty one Marauder tour
and a young def Leopard open.It was Leopard on their high end dry

(46:59):
tour sou and it was funny becauseI remember they had the tour shirts Blackfoot
Marauder eighty one through eighty four worldtour, and at the time, I'm
like, nineteen eighty four, man, that's so far away. But you
know the way as you get olderyou see time just zips by, and

(47:21):
they had it planned out. Soall right, well, you know what,
We're gonna take a little break rightnow, and when we come back,
we're gonna revisit Van Halen. VanHalen two, the Monsters, The
Pasadena Kings came around with their secondalbum and walton Ian are gonna give us
an update on the fans honing theirskills and the basements and garages around the

(47:43):
world. I'm the Vernomatic. Thisis Metal Mayhem Roc the History of Metal
nineteen seventy nine potensition metal heads.Since we launched in twenty nineteen, Metal
Mayhem Roc has been the goating sourfor metalheads to talk about and hear the
music day love. If we can'tthank you enough for being part of the

(48:05):
family. If you're listening on ApplePodcast, hit subscribe so you know when
we go live. Plus tell folkswhy you'd like to listen when you leave
a rating and review. If you'relistening on another platform, head over to
podchaser dot com and type in MetalMayhem Roc in the search bar, Hit
subscribe, then rate the show andleave a comment on while you get your
metal fixed from the Vernomatic and hisguests, It'll Mayhem Roc now back of

(48:30):
the show. Just want to remindyou folks. On Monday nights, I
host Metal Mayhem Roc Live. It'sa three hour, totally interactive heavy metal
show. I play the best ofmetal from the last forty fifty years.
There's a chat room you could goin there interact with other bangers around the

(48:52):
country in world. Sometimes it's locatedon that metalstation dot com. You could
go to our website Metal Mayhem rocdot com and get details. So the
guys are gonna share right now what'sgoing on in garages and basements around the
world. Well, all, Iwant to thank you for joining us tonight,

(49:15):
but your parting shot who's developing theirsound. Lots and lots of newly
formed bands and seventy nine. Wecan't touch on all of them, but
there's some good ones here and justquick quick points on these bands. Docking
Dock and released a two song EPand seventy nine they toured all over Germany.

(49:38):
There was a band assembled and thisis where Don Docan met same producer
Michael Wagner, who eventually they formeda relationship and Don Docan moved to La
and they got involved in that wholeLa Hollywood scene, which prompted them forward
to what would have become with themin a few years. Europe the band

(50:05):
out of Sweden, John Tempesta,John Norham. They started their band in
nineteen seventy nine and the band namewas forced right, So that was the
origins of Europe. Night Ranger,Jack Lades, Brad Gillis and Kelly key
I mean you think about these arethree guys that have been with his band
for their whole career, and theyactually started this band in nineteen seventy nine.

(50:30):
The band's name was Stereo and thencame out of the aushes the ashes
of a band called Rubicon who wasa performer that had a pop funk sound
and was a member of Slime thefamily Stone. So, making a long
story short, Jack Lades was involvedwith this particular artist. He took his

(50:51):
guys with him and they formed Stereo, which became night Ranger. And then
you have Sabotage, one of myall time favorites. You were brothers John
and Chris out of Tampa, Florida, and again they get their origins in
their first true hard rock band calledAvatar in seventy nine, which would prompt
them forward and eventually become Sabotaged.So I think you have a couple to

(51:13):
head. Yeah, it's it's reallykind of funny the mechanism of what's going
on because you have these bands,like you had mentioned, you know that
you got the you run the gummentof you know, European hard rock and
you know American hard rock, andthen some of the metal bands and different
things that they're going on. Theband Trouble out of Chicago gets their start

(51:42):
right around the same time that youhave in California the band Saint Vitus,
And if you had to throw ina trilogy for this year, you also
have in England you have Which FinderGeneral. Now, anybody that is a
fan of doom metal knows that theseguys along with is a band that got
their start back in seventy six andit's luging it up through the clubs,

(52:05):
the obsessed these This is probably theamount rushmore of early doom metal, at
least that second wave you know,post Black Sabbath, that really doesn't start
to rear its head until the earlyeighties. But by the time it does
and it starts the springboard, itleads to a whole plethora of bands,
and you can see that the doommetal front kind of running a parallel with

(52:30):
the new wave of British heavy metalas we go along through the eighties.
So really some cool stuff to lookforward to. Definitely, Well, you
know you guys, I want tothank you for putting the homework in and
coming up with these new bands thatare right around the corner, all right,

(52:51):
right now. I wanted to savethe granddaddy of them all for the
end Van Halen. Van Halen twocame out in nineteen seventy nine. You
know, these stories events shared timeand time again, but they're always worth
telling again. Van Halen toured theworld nineteen seventy eight. Started in February.

(53:12):
They opened for Journey. They hadfamous black Sabbath opening spot. They
went around the world, they cameback to the States. They toured through
the fall. They ended at thebeginning to December. They took a week
off for the holidays and bam backin the studio to do Van Halen two.
Many of the songs on VH twoare known to have existed prior to

(53:34):
the release of the first album.They're scattered throughout the zero demos, all
the stuff you hear on those bootlegtapes when they're playing you know, Gazaries
in the star Wood. They usedto have different titles. They rearranged them.
You know, Beautiful Girls was Bringon the Girls, and just you

(53:55):
know, different titles. Here's afun act that black and yellow guitar on
the back of the album, knownas the Bumbledee that's buried with Pantera guitars
Dimebag Darryl Eddie van Halen placed itin the kiss casket at Dimes funeral.
Now it wasn't the guitar that Eddierecorded the album with, but it is

(54:17):
the guitar that's on the back albumphoto shoot and Eddie played it on the
tour. Dave Lee Roth on theback of the album has a broken toe
turned out to be a broken heel, and he has the cane that was
during the photo shoot when he's jumpingoff the riser for the back album.

(54:38):
Perfect, perfect follow up the vanHalen one. They only have one cover
on here, the Clint Baylor juniorcover of You're No Good. Linda Ronstant
had success with it about two yearsbefore song. They wrote in the studio
Dance the Night Away. It's afine Dave ash In, it's um.

(55:00):
Dave's telling the story about like oneof his first sexual escapades with a I
think it was a housekeeper or someonethat he had relations with when he was
younger. Bottoms up, Somebody getme a doctor. Eddie does the instrumental

(55:21):
Spanish fly on a you know,like an acoustic guitar, but he,
you know, originally learned it ona Flamingo on a whim. One night
he was at Ted Templeman's house afterTed had come back from vacation. He
went over there and it was justleaning against the wall. He picked it
up and started, you know,noodle and Spanish fly. Ted's jaw dropped

(55:44):
to the floor. Damn, it'son the album Beautiful Girls, Women in
Love. I could go on andon. This album is a soundtrack to
My youth. One of my favoritevan Halen albums. They're all my favorite,
but Van Halen Too just really strucka chord with me. Eddie van
Halen on this album was just onfire. But you have to grasp the

(56:07):
reality here, folks, that Eddievan Halen when he came on to scene.
Every album like that original six Pack, but really those first albums,
everything was just groundbreaking and it wasjust coming out, you know, every
year back then, albums were comingout yearly. They recorded this album in

(56:29):
just one week. Come on,one week, van Halen Too. I
give it a ten out of ten. Ian. You're a huge van Halen
fan. What's your take on thisalbum? Man? One of the best
quotes that I ever heard was ZachWilde talking about Eddie van Halen and talking

(56:51):
about the song Spanish Fly, andI don't quote me on exactly what he
said, but something along the linesof if he didn't show everybody what he
could do enough with the song eruptionwith an electrified guitar, he decided to
come back and go, oh,by the way, I'm that good.
I can do it again, andI'm going to do it here on this

(57:12):
acoustic guitar. And he did.He just goes through in rips and everybody
that heard the first album listen tothis one and they're like, what was
that. I mean, it's justyou said it ten out of ten.
Another album that they were so wellrehearsed and they were so good at what
they did that they were able tobang it out in a week. That's

(57:36):
two albums back to back where theyspent next to no time fucking off in
the studio part in my mouth,and they just came in and kicked ass
and they really I mean the nextalbum that we'll be discussing in nineteen eighty
Women and Children First, I thinkthat was the one where they actually elaborated
and took a little bit more time, and I think that still was only

(57:58):
two weeks so I mean, theseguys were really just they were beyond at
the top of their game. Theywere at the top of all games.
They were putting out such great material, the command that they had over their
music and over the crowds at theirshows. They were just doing things that
other bands would sit there from theside of the stage and be like,

(58:22):
what are we witnessing? You know, And that's why they are the Mighty
Van Helen, plain and simple.I mean, you and I even Walt,
we all have that love for him. But I mean, come on,
you got to give props. We'reprops to do. These guys just
literally set the world on fire whenthey came out, and this was another
example of it with this album.Yeah, we could go on all night.

(58:45):
We'll save that for another deep dive. So that's the end of the
seventies. Nineteen seventy nine. Youknow, the eighties are around the corner.
Things change, Some of the powerhousesand the biggest bands in the world
come around. We say goodbye tosome of our you know, classic bands.

(59:08):
Like we said, Zeppelin's basically DeaddePurple is in fifty different kind of
incarnations with members and bands, soit's sort of a sad time, but
it's an exciting time because the heydayof metal is really ready to start in
nineteen eighty. So look forward tonineteen eighty with you guys. Have a

(59:29):
great week. That's about it fortonight. I want to thank you for
listening. We encourage you to sendus some feedback on either the Metal Mayhem
roc dot com website or our Facebookpage, or we have a new location,
Podchaser dot com. It's really easy, folks, go there in the

(59:51):
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it's a new thing we're doing here. That kind of stuff really helps what
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makes the show more accessible to abroader audience. So for my metal brothers,

(01:00:15):
Metal Walt In Ian O'Rourke of theband Motor Lord, I'm John the
Vernomatic Verno. This is Metalmayhem ROCand we'll talk to you next week.
Keep it heavy metal forlive. Thanksfor listening to Meddlemayhem ROC. Check out

(01:00:37):
our websites at Middlemayhem roc dot comand Metal Forever dot com for information on
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