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John Bonham – The World’s First Heavy Metal Drummer

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:01:15 +0000

John Bonham was one of the world’s most influential drummers, especially in the genre of hard rock and heavy metal. He was born in England in 1948, and from an early age he began banging on pots and pans, boxes, anything with a flat surface that would let him imitate the jazz and big band drummers who inspired him. He spent his teenage years working construction with his father and searching for bands to play with. This was how he ran into Robert Plant for the first time, and although the two only performed together in the same group for a brief time, they kept in touch throughout the years.

Bonham got his big break at the age of 20, when that same Robert Plant called him up to ask him if he was interested in joining a band that noted guitarist Jimmy Page was putting together. Bonham, or ‘Bonzo’ to his friends answered in the affirmative and history was made. With the addition of John Paul Jones, the lineup for Led Zeppelin was set.

Many musicologists and modern drummers agree that John Bonham was an absolute master of his instrument. He hit the drum skins very hard, and used extremely thick drum sticks. These sticks could be used to batter out the most brutal rhythm, or become incredibly agile to tap out a gentle sound no louder than that of the falling rain. He was famous for creating a groove where the drum sound seemed to occur just behind the beat, instead of hitting it exactly in the middle as was the tradition for rock drummers in his day. This playing style match very well the both Jones and Page, and Bonham was able to incorporate many complex drum patterns and fills into songs that most drummers wouldn’t even attempt during a solo.

As was the case with so many rock stars in the 1970’s, John Bonham was plagued by the demons of substance abuse, particularly alcohol. A great fan of automobiles, he also had rotten luck with them due to his drinking, and his hard partying had gotten completely out of control. On a typical morning for him in September of 1980, Bonham began his day with an extremely large amount of alcohol before being driven to and from tour rehearsals. He was left at home to ’sleep it off’, and when Jones and the band’s tour manager found him the next morning, he had choked to death in his sleep, a victim of the day’s excessive drinking.

Bonham’s tombstone to this day covered with respectfully stacked drum sticks left by those who have come to pay their respect. He is survived by a son and daughter, and his son Jason has become an excellent drummer in his own right.
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Music History – Hip Hop, Rap, R&B

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:48:09 +0000

In the early 1970s, the cultural movement of hip hop music was born. Hip hop’s fast paced music style is made of two parts; the rhythmic delivery of rap and the use ofinstrumentation by a DJ. Hip hop music also brought with it a fashion of its own, the fashion helped to represent this newly created music.

Hip hop music has its roots from West African music and African-American music. The first rap song to be put onto a vinyl record was, “Rapper’s Delight”, a song by the Sugarhill Gang back in the 1970s. This is when block parties started becoming the norm in New York City, which gave hip hop and rap the chance to explode in popularity. Hip hop’s instrumentation came from funk, R&B, and disco, when combined together make this dynamic type of music. When the DJs at these block parties learned what the people liked, they began mixing these vinyl records and created music that played continuously with amazing transitions between
songs. Hip hop was actually created by a DJ named Kool Herc, a Jamaican that had moved to the United States with a style that consisted of mixing music by using two copies of the same record. Many of the poor Jamaican’s in the town could not afford vinyl records, so huge stereo systems were set up so that many could here the rhythmic beats. These stereo systems were the kick-off for the beginning of the
evolution of block parties. So with the musical talent of these amazing DJs, with the use of vinyl record mixing, the culture of hip hop and rap music was born.

History of R & B

R&B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues, was the greatest influence on music around the world for most of the 20th century’s second-half. Rhythm and Blues is a term with a broad sense, but typically recognizing black-pop music. This type of music was introduced to the world by artists’ combining the music styles of jazz and blues. R&B is actually what was later developed into what we know as rock and roll. In the 1970s, the term R&B was being used to describe soul and funk music styles, which today we know it describes Rhythm and Blues. Along with being influenced by jazz and blues, R&B also had influences from gospel and disco music. Disco’s downturn in the 1980s opened the door for R&B to truly take-off in popularity.
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Heavy Metal Guitar Lessons

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:06:23 +0000

People often pose the question “what makes metal… metal?” Well, firstly, for posing such a vague question you deserve to be shot! But I’ll try my damnedest to make the point…

Metal guitar playing comprises of many features, techniques, tricks, or whatever you want to call them. You’ll often find that guitarists will form their own little niche where they excel in one particular area, no different from a footballer’s flare or a chess player’s technique, and eventually it becomes part of their signature sound. However, the idea is to be a well-rounded player before you find your niche.

I’ve noticed nowadays that some people make the mistake of jumping ahead, and go straight onto trying to shred as fast as they can, locking themselves away in their bedroom practicing scales to a metronome, but they don’t have a creative bone in their body, and if you asked them to write something they’d be stuck! Not to mention their technique tends to be under par, because they don’t have the foundation to build on. Solid rhythmic techniques are the foundation of any guitar great. Without it you have no sense of feel and groove, and it’s imperative if you don’t want your playing to be mechanical and lifeless!

By all means shred, but you’ll find the timing so much easier if you have a tight discipline in rhythm. You don’t run before you can walk, in other words. I also feel nowadays that a lot of flare has been taken out of guitar riffs, and they’re used purely as a stepping stone to get to the next shred passage, or a random section of sweep picked arpeggios are thrown in for good measure. A riff is the main body of the song, it’s the bit you remember, and it’s the music! If it’s not grabbing people’s attention, it’s not catchy, it has no ‘hook’ and it’s just generic, then you need to revise what the riff is all about!
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Review of Heavy Metal – Music From the Motion Picture

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:28:40 +0000

Of all the music I own, this collection of tracks in Heavy Metal, has to be one of, if not, my favorite. I have constantly upgraded the media – from wax to CD – ripped the CD to mp3s – lost the CD – accidentally deleted the mp3s – downloaded from iTunes. The music from this album, release in 1981, has held up well over the years.

Some will argue that the music is not “metal” and to an extent this is true. But the “metal” in the title is from name of the movie “Heavy Metal” of which this album is the soundtrack. There are some tracks that are early versions of metal (Nazareth, Black Sabbath for example.) These, mixed with the other tracks, provide a good cross-section of the music of the early eighties – metal, hard rock, pop, and I guess a Devo category which defies categorization (new wave maybe.)

Heavy Metal the movie is an animated collection of vignettes released in 1981 with the sci-fi and fantasy magazine Heavy Metal serving as its inspiration. The magazine was and is famous for its ****** and violence and the movie contains an ample portion of each though not to extent of the magazine. The soundtrack to the movie is sixteen tracks from a variety of artist and was released on a double album.

The songs from the solo artist rival, or in some instances, are much better than anything they have done elsewhere. Blue Lamp is one of Stevie Nicks’ best solo releases ever. Donald Fagan, just coming off the breakup of Steely Dan, shows his jazzy style in True Companion. What Don Felder does here is just as good or better than anything he has ever done, with or without the Eagles.

Blue Oyster cult wrote several songs for the soundtrack to the movie but it was a song they didn’t write for the movie that made the cut. ‘Veteran of the Psychic Wars’, cowritten by BOC’s Eric Bloom and the science fiction/fantasy author Michael Moorcock, has been covered by the Finnish metal band Tarot and by Metallica.

Tracks from early metal bands (but not too early) Black Sabbath and Nazareth blend well with the hard rock from Riggs and Sammy Hagar. Hagar is at the height of his solo career. The two songs from Jerry Rigg’s pseudonynous band are better known than anything else they have ever done. The song Prefabricated, is translated from the french and is by the band, The Trust.

Cheap Trick recorded “Reach Out” and “I must be Dreaming” for Heavy Metal. Power ballad “Open Arms” from Journey also appeared in the soundtrack to the movie “The Last American Virgin.”

The high quality “Queen Bee” was probably Grand Funk Railroad’s most notable track during their early eighties reunion. Grand Funk was one of my favorite bands from the 70’s (it’s also Homer Simpson’s favorite band.)

Hard rock, guitars, keyboards, strong vocals – if you’re looking for this sound, it’s all here.
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Power Chords Inversions For Heavy Metal Riffs

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:39:20 +0000

Power chord inversions can be useful to achieve more range on a 6 string guitar, as well as allow you to move less around the fretboard. These are kind of like scales, modes, same principle, and are very useful in all styles of music, but this can really help you with your heavy riffing if you’re into the extreme stuff like death metal, black metal, thrash metal, etc.

All of this can make your 6 string guitar come off as a 7 string guitar.

Scales modes, arpeggio inversions, and chord inversions – all intervals, but this lesson concentrates on power chord inversions specifically.

Breaking outside of the simple and everyday run of the mill chords will give you MANY more options and paths to take on the fretboard when fretting. Chord inversions also have a unique sound compared to normal chords, though you usually can’t tell unless you’re listening for it. It’s sort of like drop D, but not really.

When you start using this technique I think you’ll open up a completely new way of playing your metal riffs. Tuning to E standard and STILL getting an amazingly heavy kind of sound is now possible without having to tune down a million octaves. It’s one of my absolute favorite techniques to apply to my writing and I’m positive that when you try it you’ll never go back to only using power chords in the regular way again.

If you work on your downpicking and apply this new technique, heavy riffs await you!
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Learn Acoustic Guitar Cords – Play Tons of Songs Fast

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:15:11 +0000

First off, it is important to know what a acoustic guitar chord is. It is when you play three or more notes chords simultaneously that are “eligible” to be a chord.

A power chord is usually used in hard rock songs and usually uses 2 chords together. These can usually combine to equal incredible sounding notes even though they are only using two chords.

How to learn these chords?

First off, it is important to know how you can learn these chords. There are many different things you can do such as finding self help books that will support you when you are trying to learn chords! You can also find online website guide that will teach you various amounts of chords individually!

By finding the teaching method that suits you; you’ll be able to learn chords in no time. It’s a great option for anyone out there who is learning the guitar.

Self Help Guitar Books

You probably are searching for the self help guitar books that will ultimately help you out dramatically if you use them. One of the greatest books you can find; is going to your local Barnes and Nobles or even checking with Amazon.

This book is known as the Guitar Chord Encyclopedia which can be bought for a very cheap price. You’ll be able to hear and see the chords as you play them with the book.

Another great thing about this is that you can combine it with a online lesson software or a self-help guitar lesson tutorial that can boost your guitar learning abilities!

You’ll notice that you’ll hear a varying emotion with each chord that you strike. Some chords may be extremely pleasurable to the ears, give off positive emotions; while others are rather mellow and sad. Some chords you’ll just absolutely **** – just be sure to find the best chords that will suit you!

The most simple chords for you to learn in the beginning are going to be the major chords as opposed to the minor. The faster you can learn, the faster you can play the guitar

You also want to consider learning the guitar tabs as well; these can definitely boost your knowledge about learning the guitar as you will be able to know exactly where to place your hand, what note to play, how to play it, and when to play it – guitar tab (tablatures) will quickly allow you to play simple rock songs almost immediately!
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Gothenburg Sound And Power Metal

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 07:39:41 +0000

Heavy metal has always appealed to me. It was just something about the way the electric guitar sounds which always gave me goosebumps. Even if I didn’t like most of the song, if there was one part where the guitar just ripped, then it got a thumbs up from me.

Over many years I’ve listened to countless heavy metal songs from countless genres, from hard rock to death metal, and most everything in between. Most got swept under the rug due to my ridiculously high standards, but of the ones that stuck a few commonalities became apparent: 1) The bands are usually from Europe, 2) The songs are a combination of heavy-ness and melody. The latter can be assumed to be an absolute requirement to make a song both hard hitting and catchy. The former just happens to be this particular realization as it is overseas. When it comes to music, North America is the home of the mainstream which translates into “average”. And the average is always less than the best.

When it comes to melodic sounding heavy metal there are two countries that really stand out. They are, Germany and Sweden. Germany is very strong in Power Metal. It’s a very rock and roll sounding style but with that metal edge. Songs are often based on historical or fantasy themes and can be very epic. There is often a clear mood in them presented by numerous tempo changes and a clean uplifting sound in general. The solos can really get you going.

Sweden excels in Melodic Death Metal, or as commonly known: The Gothenburg Sound – the fusion of death metal with melodic elements, originating from Gothenburg, Sweden. The result is crunching guitars with catchy rhythm. At its best, it is high distortion axework arranged in beautiful succession. The vocals are usually rough growls and can be difficult to pull off convincingly but make for a nice effect when it does. Hard to describe. But you really have to listen to it to know what I mean.

There is a fine line I’m going to tell you about and it is this: repeatability. I have found that simple catchiness is not enough to make a great heavy metal song. This is why the radio friendly nu-metal pop-ish sounding songs quickly wear on me. Beyond their initial cool rhythm they lack substance and degenerate into that annoying song which gets on your nerve like a child’s whine. It’s not a pure sound, but superficial, which is why it doesn’t have staying power. What I ultimately like is decided by repeatability – I can listen to the song over and over and over and it sounds just as great every time. And the only two genres of music which consistently have songs which do that for me, are: Gothenburg Sound and Power Metal.

It comes down to this. The type of songs I am referring to are equivalent to the Mozart and Beethoven of heavy metal. Where classical music will appeal to the cerebral side of you, heavy metal can appeal to our primitive reptilian side. Think of it as triggering a flight or fight response by using music.

If you want to know what are my favorite songs of all time and listen to them, check out my blog.

© 2007 Vittorio Norman
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History Of Hip-Hop

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:47:16 +0000

Hip-hop music or rap music is an admired and famous style or genre of music in the USA. This well-known music genre is made up of two components, rapping and record scratching. Rapping is also known as MCing and DJing, which comprises of audio mixing. These two main components combined with graffiti and break dancing form the four core elements of hip-hop.

Hip-hop was initiated as a cultural movement by inner-city youth, mostly Latinos, Hispanics, and African Americans in New York City, in the early seventies. The word “rap” was derived in the sixties, from a slang word that meant conversation.

Hip-hop has two main historical eras, the old school hip-hop era from 1970-1985 and the golden age hip-hop era from 1985-1993. The golden age of hip-hop began only when it entered the mainstream of music and it consolidated the sounds of the West Coast and the East Coast.

The origin of hip-hop music is from African American and West African music. Contributions of griots like The Last Poets, Jalal Mansur Nurriddin, and Gil Scott-Heron were significant in a big way for the advent of hip-hop in the 1960s. Hip-hop had originally begun in the Bronx. Funk and soul music were played a lot in block parties. In the beginning, the DJs at these parties began separating the percussion breaks from hit songs. They started realizing that these breaks were more entertaining and groovy. This technique had become widespread in Jamaica and had spread considerably in the New York community via the Jamaican immigrants.

Kool DJ Herc and Grandmaster Flash were the pioneers in the hip-hop industry and other DJs had extended the short percussion interludes of funk records and created a more danceable sound. As a result, remixes had become popular with the advent of mixing and scratching techniques. Many styles of hip-hop had developed in the golden age of hip-hop.

At present, hip-hop is enjoyed all around the world. In spite, of all the controversies created by hip-hop artists they are still growing in number. Hip-hop music is sold all over the world in stores and even online.
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Heavy Metal DJ

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:00:49 +0000

Don’t worry this isn’t a rant about DJ Ashba, but a close friend of his will be involved. I have to know why Heavy Metal guys are turning to electronic music. We have a prime example in Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. When Tommy is not pounding on the skins during Cruefest he is scratching records at local nightclubs. Over the years I have come to terms with Tommy, but I read a story today that made me wonder if the world is going to end tomorrow.

Jonathan Davis is the official DJ at Infected Mushroom’s album release party. Don’t worry about Infected Mushroom, they are just some electronic band that doesn’t really know how to make music with instruments. The real story here is Jonathan Davis, the Alternative/Heavy Metal hero of an entire generation of 90’s teens and young adults. What happened Jonathan, did you get an electric shock that has messed with the chemistry in your brain?

I know I will catch flack because KORN has always had variations of electronic music in their catalogue, but have never resulted to flat out Disc Jockeying. KORN is an institution in harder edge music that had an impact through lyrics and behavior that will live for generations. Seeing those dreadlocks behind a spin table makes me want to be a contestant on “Rock of Love.”

We could blame Tommy Lee for this or we could blame the artistic side of musicians that feel they need to expand and explore their art, but electronic music? Its not even real music is it? Jonathan Davis has been really sick with an auto-immune disease and maybe he’s at a point where he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, but this might be taking it to far. Metallica takes heat for adding an alternative edge to their sound; people say they sold out Thrash Metal and turned their back on it. If Metallica committed a deadly sin what in the hell is Jonathan Davis doing by scratching some 50 Cent on a turntable?
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Can’t Miss Indie Rock Shows Coming Up In New York City

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:43:09 +0000

Scumbo on February 23rd at Freddy’s Backroom in Brooklyn. Another Brooklyn based psychedelic band. Scumbo will be putting on their much talked about insane live show at Freddy’s which is one of the coolest small venues in Brooklyn. Come see (if you can) why they are called “The Hardest Band To See In The Dark.”

Of Montreal on March 9th and March 10th at Irving Plaza in Manhattan. Of Montreal are one of the bands to emerge from the Elephant 6 collective. While they are not as out there as The Olivia Tremor Control and certainly don’t pack the emotional punch of Neutral Milk Hotel they are certainly an interesting band and they are touring in support of their latest album “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” Visit Of Montreal on MySpace.The Appleseed Cast on March 17th at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan. The Appleseed Cast were “emo” before every kid on MySpace. Then they listened to Kid A and started getting weird (and much better.) Their Low Level Owl albums are the ones to get.

The Decemberists on March 21st and March 22nd at Landmark Loews Theater in Manhattan. The Decemberists latest album was a big step forward in my opinion. They have a tendency to get very “samey” with too many listens but their latest album The Crane Wife showed that they are starting to get a bit more interesting. I’m curious to see what they do next. (they have their whole album “The Crane Wife” available to be heard on MySpace currently.)

Sebadoh on March 31st at Webster Hall in Manhattan. Sebadoh are among the forefathers of modern “indie rock.” This is a bit of a reunion tour for them as they haven’t released a new album since 1999. Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow other projects have included being the bass player for Dinosaur Jr. and fronting The Folk Implosion.
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