Come an' Get It: The Whitesnake Hardly Anyone Knows...

I know what you might be thinking. Whitesnake Brad? Everyone knows Whitesnake, or at least "Here I Go Again." But, did anyone know that it was a remake of the original version that the earlier, and in my opinion, better incarnation of Whitesnake recorded in 1982 for their "Saints 'an Sinners" album? Probably not. It is pretty sad that people do not know that Whitesnake actually started in 1978 as a backup band to David Coverdale. It eventually turned into a actual band by the time they recorded 1979's "Lovehunter." The early incarnation of Whitesnake was a super bluesy hard rock band. They had the flow of a bar band, but the chops of an arena rock band. The albums they released from 1978 to 1984 were ridiculously good. They did not have one bad record during that time period. My personal favorites are 1980's "Ready 'an Willing" and 1981's "Come 'an Get It." Those records are bluesy hard rock at its sleaziest and finest. They can do rave up bar tunes like "Wine, Women 'an Song" and "Black and Blue." They can groove like a mother on "Ready 'an Willing." They can be melodic like on "Don't Break My Heart Again" and "Come 'an Get It." But, simply, they can flat out rock your balls off on "Sweet Talker" and "Hit 'an Run." The incarnation of Whitesnake that was around from 1978 to 1984 was so much better than the Whitesnake that everyone knows. You know, the one with the over-produced, sappy songs and cheesy music videos. Sure, the version of Whitesnake everyone knows had some great moments, like the remakes of the songs the earlier version of Whitesnake had recorded (Crying in the Rain, Here I Go Again) and the killer hard rock tunes in "Bad Boys" and "Still of the Night." But, that version just does not live up to the Whitesnake that was around earlier in time. They tried too hard to fit in with the times. It was more like David Coverdale and his back up band again. It is a shame no one knows about the bluesy, hard rockin' Whitesnake of the early 80s. I feel like that incarnation of Whitesnake should be getting more recognition than the one with the primpy hair, wanking, bass licking, and over production. The guys in the 1978-1984 incarnation of Whitesnake were super talented and really could PLAY. Especially Micky Moody, their guitarist from 1978 to 1984. That man, to me, is one of the greatest blues-rock guitar players no one knows. He could wail on that slide guitar and pour ever ounce of emotion into his guitar solos. Then, there is 2/5ths of Deep Purple in that incarnation, along with Coverdale. Ian Paice and Jon Lord are monsters on their respected instruments (drums and keyboards) and really were able to flex their musical muscles in Whitesnake from 1979 to 1982. Bernie Marsden, the other guitarist and back up vocalist, really shined brightly on his axe with his stellar rhythm playing. Neil Murray is the underdog of the lineup, keeping it together on the bass. Then, there is David Coverdale, one of THE best vocalists of all time. His sleazy growl could really give people chills, and his sexy, bluesy wail could make the ladies really hot and bothered. The way he strutted around on stage and held his mike stand showed that he was in control of the stage and he made sure you thought so. The man is simply THE frontman and is definitely one of the best. It is a friggin' shame this lineup gets no love whatsoever. It's always the lineup from 1987 on. Now, I gotta tell you, the Whitesnake lineup of today fucking smokes! It's the closest they have gotten back to their bluesy, hard rock roots. But, they will never, and I say NEVER, make music as good as they once did from 1978 to 1984. That music shall remain timeless and sleazy. Hopefully, one day, the early years of Whitesnake will be getting some love, and lots of it.

Classic Lineup:
David Coverdale: Vocals
Jon Lord: Keyboards
Neil Murray: Bass
Micky Moody: Guitarist
Bernie Marsden: Guitarist, Backup Vocals
Ian Paice: Drums

Classic Album:
1980's "Ready 'an Willing", by far. Many great moments, from their first US charting single "Fool for Your Loving" to the grooving title track. "Sweet Talker", "Ain't Gonna Cry No More", and "Black and Blue" are standouts too. This record is quite hard to find, it seems. But, get your grubby little hands on this record if you can, somehow, someway.

Killer Song:
There are many great tunes from this lineup, but one that always gets me all psyched is "Hit 'an Run" from 1981's Come 'an Get It album. The fucking riffing on this tune really excites me anytime I hear it and gets me pumped, especially that slide guitar on this tune. The talk box guitar in the breakdown of the song, courtesy of Mr. Marsden, is way better than anything Peter Frampton ever tried to do with the damn device. The rhythm section really holds it down on this tune, with Ian Paice driving this tune with his kick ass drumming. It is sleazy blues at its finest, by far.

Enjoy and hopefully you learned a little something about a band that has more to them than music videos with a chick dancing on car hoods and cheesy ballads. Until next time motherfuckers,

Bonzo Brad

The Top 5 Killer Underrated Albums by Classic Artists

Many classic artists have vast catalogs full of grand music. But, some of that music is sometimes overlooked or just simply shat on. It's a plain shame that this happens because a lot of these artists have some very killer albums in their catalogs besides the classic albums everybody wants to listen to. I have decided to pick, by personal opinion, the 5 albums that, to me, are extremely under appreciated in the hard rock and heavy metal community. So, here we go fuckers!

1. Aerosmith - "Night in the Ruts"

Aerosmith is a very extremely legendary band, known for everything from their bluesy hard rock to their excesses. It was around the time that this album was released that the band started to fall off the wagon due to the drugs and partying. But, it honestly did not stop them from making killer music like most people say. A lot of people look at this album like a piece of shit, because for some reason, they do not think Joe Perry played on this record at all, but he actually did play on 5 of the songs on this record. They also think this album is shit because they felt the drugs effected their songwriting and therefore, the songs on this record are rather weak. That is DEFINITELY not the case. I bought this record at a garage sale for 2 bucks when I was 8 years old. I remember knowing that I did not have this Aerosmith record, and since it was Aerosmith, I was buying it no matter what. I only knew one song off of that album, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", due to its inclusion on 1980's "Greatest Hits" record that I had, but I would soon find out that their is a hell of a lot more to the record than that damn song. This record simply kicks ass and rocks like a mother most of the way through (save for the last song on the album, the weak ballad "Mia"). From the swaggering "Cheese Cake" to the funky "Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)", this album is chock full of Aerosmith gems. It is a bit hard to find, but I'm sure your local record store has it in some form, somewhere. I suggest to you all to check this record out. It simply is a killer underrated record, and the most underrated record of all time, in my opinion.

Bonzo Brad's Killer Tracks: "No Surprize", "Chiquita", "Cheese Cake", "Three Mile Smile", "Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)"

2. AC/DC - "Flick of the Switch"

Holy HELL! I must admit, I blew off this album myself for awhile for some odd reason. Now that I finally listened to record, I kick myself in the head every damn day wondering WHY I blew this record off and thought it wouldn't be good at all. The truth is, this album rocks and rolls all the way through and also features some of THE best riffage by Sir Angus Young, the schoolboy from hell. The album has such a raw, reckless sound to it compared to the last couple albums they had put out, 1980's "Back in Black" and 1981's "For Those About to Rock", that were quite slickly produced by Mutt Lange (Def Leppard, Foreigner). Those albums really kick ass too, especially "Back in Black." But, this record, man oh man, it is a dirty motherfucking record. The album was the last for awhile to feature drummer Phil Rudd, who was fired from the band midway through recording the record. He did complete the drum parts on this record though. This album is perhaps the rawest album they have made with Brian Johnson, and the more I listen to it, the more it becomes one of my favorite AC/DC records.

Bonzo Brad's Killer Tracks: "Guns for Hire", "Landslide", "Deep in the Hole", "Badlands", "Bedlam in Belgium"

3. Ted Nugent - "Intensities in 10 Cities"

Sweaty fucking Teddy. He is simply a guitar god and a fucking maniac. Yeah, I definitely don't agree with his politics, but the man is simply a killer musician and one hell of a hard rocker. He has many great albums and is honestly one of the more under appreciated artists in the music world. He just loves having a good time and going crazy like many fun people, but unfortunately, in the music world, some people don't believe in fun. ANYWAYS! This record simply kicked my ass listening to it. I did not know what to expect of it because well...I never knew it existed until about December of last year. Once I knew of this record, I decided to check into this record and see what it was all about and holy shit! This record smokes! A live album with all new songs on it was something that was quite adventurous at the time (1981), but Uncle Ted pulled it off with the only way possible: making the songs as "Gonzo" as possible. The songs were definitely very "Gonzo." Just loud slabs of raucous and righteous rock and roll in overdrive. I can't believe that this record is not even talked about when it comes to Sweaty Teddy's best work, because it is certainly one of his top 3 best albums, along with "Cat Scratch Fever" and his self-titled record. Very hard to find record, but you can get it on i-Tunes for sure!

Bonzo Brad's Killer Tracks: "Put Up or Shut Up", "My Love is Like a Tire Iron", "Heads Will Roll", "The Flying Lip Lock", "I Take No Prisoners"

4. Judas Priest - "Point of Entry"

Yeah, yeah, I know. I have mentioned this album before here on this site. In fact, the first thing I wrote about on this site was this album. Why? Because this album simply kicks ass and no one even talks about this record. Hell, people talk about "Turbo" more than this record, and "Turbo" is quite weak compared to this record! Yeah, this album was a little slicker and commercial than the previous record they put out, 1980's "British Steel", but this album is still hard rockin' and heavy as hell. There are so many killer moments on this record and not one weak spot at all. What people find to be the weakest spot on the record, "Turning Circles", is actually quite a good fucking song. Very catchy and great guitar work from Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. I will never understand why this record does not get talked about much, but I know, in my heart, that this album will be one of my favorite Priest records. Hopefully, they play a couple tunes off of this album on their farewell tour this year!

Bonzo Brad's Killer Tracks: "Heading Out to the Highway", "Don't Go", "Desert Plains", "Solar Angels", "Troubleshooter"

5. KISS - "Rock and Roll Over"

Well, well. My boys in KISS. It was quite tough to choose between this album and 1974's "Hotter Than Hell", but, this record really is a killer hard rock record full of KISS KLASSIKS. Yeah, people know "Calling Dr. Love" or "Hard Luck Woman", but no one ever knows what ALBUM they are from. Well, boys and girls, this is it! But, those songs are not the only ones on the record. This record, well really, the rest of the record, has so many killer hard rockin' tunes about women, rock and roll, and plenty of underage sex. The album definitely has plenty of swagger to go around and killer heavy, bombastic production thanks to the excellent Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Anthrax, Led Zeppelin). When people talk KISS, they think "Alive!" or "Destroyer", but god damn, this album is definitely right up there with those two. A very underrated KISS record, in my opinion.

Bonzo Brad's Killer Tracks: "I Want You", "Take Me", "Ladies' Room", "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em", "Makin' Love"

Honorable Mentions:
Van Halen - Van Halen II
Motley Crue - Theatre of Pain
Scorpions - Animal Magnetism
Anthrax - State of Euphoria
Def Leppard - On Through the Night
UFO - Obsession
Cheap Trick - Dream Police
Dio - Sacred Heart
Megadeth - So Far, So Good, So What!
Whitesnake - Come an' Get It

Enjoy these great underrated albums and please check these out! They are definitely worth it.
Cheers fuckers,
Bonzo Brad

Rats in the Record Shelves: Some Obscure 70s Heavy Metal Albums

 Axis. A very underrated band.

Lately, I have been trying to find new music to listen to and check out. So, I decided to dig real deep and find some really obscure stuff, and I mean REALLY obscure stuff. Shit I never even knew existed. So, the best way I did this was simply type in "obscure hard rock and heavy metal albums" in Google. Then, I decided to go by decades, like 70s and 80s, and I had a lot more luck finding some albums. In fact, I found lists of about 100 obscure albums or so. The decade that stuck out to me the most was the 70s. There were some pretty killer records released around the 70s that no one has even heard about. So killer that people would have a hard time finding them in record stores. So, I decided to go and download a lot of these records. A lot of what I heard was really fucking cool stuff. I couldn't believe some of this music has been obscure. So, I have decided to share with you all a handful of albums that really stuck out to me out of the several that I downloaded. So, here we go children!

Dust - "Hard Attack"

When I saw the cover of this album, I thought, how METAL is this record going to be?! Well, the first song, "Pull Away-So Many Times," kinda threw me for a loop with the intro. I was starting to think this might have been some CSNY-esque band, which wouldn't have been bad, but I was thinking...you know...METAL, especially with that cover. But, the song kicked in and I started thinking, "THIS is what I was looking for." Really classic heavy metal/hard rock record from the 1972. Kind of has a Cactus feel to it, but with darker and more fantastical lyrics. The drums are thunderous, the guitars have a nice bite to them, and the bass is rumbling. I found out that two of the members in this band, Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise, would go on to produce KISS' first two albums (heavy metal classics!). Standout tracks include "Learning to Die," "All in All," "Ivory," and "Suicide."

Elf - "Elf"

 No, this is NOT the soundtrack to the kick ass Will Ferrell holiday flick. This happens to be Ronnie James Dio's first "professional" band's record. The cover, well, Jesus Christ, that shit is scary (happens to be Dio on the cover. Holy Hades!) I knew once I heard that Dio was on this record that it would be kick ass, and that is exactly what it was, just...not the music I expected. It is very boogie, blues, southern rock oriented music, but very hard rockin', to say the least. The album just boogies and woogies all the way through. This was the first record to feature Dio (many people think it was the Rainbow records, but that was certainly not the case.) Dio is definitely in fine form, like always, on this record and it is quite fun to hear him sing these bluesy, boogie tunes. The instrumentals kick ass too on this record, with the drums sounding quite pummeling and the guitars have that nice twang in overdrive feel to it. Any fan of Dio's work will love this record. Standout tracks include "Hoochi Koochie Lady," "Sit Down Honey (Everything Will Be Alright)," "I'm Coming Back for You," and "Gambler, Gambler."

Axis - "It's A Circus World"

My man and one of my drumming influences, Vinny Appice. Bad ass all around, and a thunderous drummer. Little did I know though that he had some projects he did before Black Sabbath. He played with Rick Derringer (an under appreciated artist, in my opinion. Killer tunes.) and also had a band after his work with Derringer. That band is Axis, and, from my knowledge, they only had one record, and that record is "It's A Circus World." Many, many solid tunes on this record. Honestly, not one bad tune on the record. Very thundering hard rock from these boys. Gives people a taste of what is to come with Appice in Sabbath. Standout tracks include "Busted Love," "Train," "Armageddon (my favorite," and "Cats in the Alley."

Hairy Chapter - "Can't Get Through"

Now, on to some cool, heavy shit. This little obscure classic comes from Germany, where there seem to breed cool fucking metal (Accept, Scorpions, Michael Schenker, need I say more?). It is a very adventurous, yet heavy record. Of course, around the time the album was released (1971), Sabbath was starting to hit it big, so this album can definitely be compared to Sabbath, especially in heaviness. But, this record has a lot more musicality to it, in my opinion (nothing against Sabbath though, one of my favorite bands.) 5 tunes on this record, but all of them are very fucking rad heavy metal tunes. It's like if Alice Cooper, Zeppelin, and Sabbath had a threeway and came up with this little concoction. Standout tracks include "Can't Get Through," "It Must Be the Officer's Daughter," and "You've Got to Follow This Masquerade."

Hard Stuff - "Bulletproof"

Another obscure early 70s metal gem. This album has riffs written all over it. I love the guitar work on this record. It can be very funky on end ("Jay Time" and "The Provider (Part One)") and rock n' roll with garage attitude on the other ("Taken Alive" and "Time Gambler"). But, these riffs can be very all over the place and in your face. So heavy and so distorted. The vocals on the record remind me a lot of the singer of The Guess Who, which is not bad at all. Really killer heavy metal album that hardly anyone knows about, but should know about. Standout tracks include "Sinister Minister," "No Witch at All," "Monster in Paradise," and "Mr. Longevity (RIP)."

Ram Jam - "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram"

I know what you might be thinking. The band that sings "Black Betty" Brad? Really? Yes, really. And no, this album does NOT have "Black Betty" on it. This is Ram Jam's sophomore album and, from my knowledge, their last album. But, this album is way better than "Black Betty" and is definitely a kick ass heavy metal/hard rock album with just a little bit of southern-esque flavor thrown in. But, from listening to this album, I do not think of Ram Jam as a southern rock band anymore. This album shows that they are far from being such a thing. This album simply kicks your ass all the way through. No need to say more. Standout tracks include "Gone Wild," "Pretty Poison," "Hurricane Ride," and "Turnpike."

Atomic Rooster - "Death Walks Behind You"

Some more early 70s metal for you! This band is definitely some kind of Sabbath/Yes hybrid, and I really dig it. I feel like this band was sort of a precursor of the whole prog-metal thing that would start to happen in the 80s with bands like Fates Warning, Queensryche, and others. But, also, it kind of has a doomy feel to it that I feel would be a big influence on a lot of the stoner metal bands of the 90s, like the Melvins and Kyuss. Basically, this band should have been as big as Black Sabbath or Yes! This album is absolutely marvelous and I'm pretty positive that a lot of this album has been influential on metal somehow, someway. Standout tracks include "Vug," "Sleeping for Years," and "Gershatzer."

Lucifer's Friend - "Lucifer's Friend"

Last, but certainly not least, is one last early 70s metal gem (what a time for heavy metal!). The name of this band alone is quite metal. But, who knew French Horn in a metal song could sound...metal? Well, I found that out listening to this album and the opening song, "Ride in the Sky." This band reminds me a lot of Uriah Heep if David Coverdale sang for them instead of David Bryon. It also, obviously, reminds me of Sabbath if they had incorporated Hammond B-3 into their sound. For how early this album came out (1971), this is quite the heavy metal record. I feel like if "Paranoid" was not released the same year, this would have been one of the definitive heavy metal albums of that year, or ever. But, unfortunately, that did NOT happen. Standout tracks include "Ride in the Sky," "Keep Goin'," "In the Time of Job When Mammon Was a Yippie (what a title!)," and "Baby You're a Liar."

Honorable Mentions:
Electric Sun - "Earthquake"
The Boyzz - "Too Wild to Tame"
The Godz - "Nothing is Sacred"
Talas - "Talas"
Bloodrock - "Bloodrock"
Target - "Captured"
Heavy Load - "Full Speed at High Level"


Hopefully, you go onto Youtube to check out some of these albums, or perhaps go buy and or download these albums for your listening pleasure. Trust me, these albums are very much worth it.

Peace and cornbread,
Bonzo Brad