|
First of all, I want to say that ever since I was a child, I have loved your music. However, you have a cooking show. I am
confused and would like to see you live, not cooking mind you, but singing.
I would love to see you at the Rodeo or the Sam Houston Racepark with hundreds of others singing in unison, both drunk and sober, to She’s In Love With the Boy, and plenty more. Bottom line: you are a legend.
However, you need to tour more. More specifically – please come to Houston sometime soon.
Go Coogs!
As you may already know, the Wild Heart is a proud alumnus of the University of Houston in Houston, TX. With that said, it is a well-known fact that in Texas, we take football a bit too seriously down here – much like the rest of the world does with soccer. (Even though the soccer one is quickly changing in Houston due to the fact that it is the most ethnically diverse city in the US next to New York City)
Since UH has joined the Big 12 Conference for sports, that means we have more fans. Also, the students have voted to raise their own tuition to get a new stadium – one that’s bigger.
However, as with any stadium, I believe that someone needs to “break in the acoustics.” Even though its an outdoor stadium, it must be done. Needless to say, the wheels in the Wild Heart’s head have been turning.
What the UH officials need to do is bring back concerts permanently to the University of Houston. With the exception of a few local bands, Larry Gatalin (who apparently was a UH alum), Cyndi Lauper, and a few others including the Gym Class Heroes – UH concerts have all but disappeared from both Hofheinze Pavillion at UH (my father went to see bands like the Who, the Guess Who, Trapeze, just to name a few) and Robertson Stadium.
This needs to change!
With that said, how about getting the UH Spirit of Houston Marching Band to team up with none other than Fleetwood Mac to do a rendition of “Tusk” at the first-ever halftime show.
What do you think?
So last week for the Houston Press, the Wild Heart got to go review the Heart concert at the House of Blues in Houston, TX. It was a ton of fun.
However, a somewhat major announcement that has been circulating around as a rumor was made official: the Wilson sisters will be releasing not only a box set entitled Strange Euphoria that will include live performances, some of their best hits, unreleased rarities and a dvd.
But that’s not even the best part of it. Ann and Nancy will also be releasing an AUTOBIOGRAPHY! That’s right everyone, we will soon be able to read about such subjects as Roger Fischer and his little onstage meltdown, Ann’s battles with weight, and plenty more I am sure.
I don’t know about you, but this sounds pretty awesome. For the most part, rock autobiographies are pretty wild. They give you an insiders look into the life of the artist: what inspired them to write some of their biggest hits, record company struggles (sometimes the ARTIST knows best – not the record company!)
Pat Benatar is one of the best artists to emerge from the MTV era of rock & roll: the 60s-90s. Among such heavyweights as Journey, the lovely ladies of Heart, Fleetwood Mac, and even the Buggles, Benatar holds her own with her powerhouse
vocals. This what has made her an icon. However, as with all great artists, they are meant to be heard live. Benatar proves she’s worthy of this with her 1983 live album, Live From Earth.
However, with all great artists, they are meant to be heard live and Benatar proves that she’s worthy of the “must-see” concert label.
She opens the show with the haunting classic “Fire and Ice.” However, things get really amazing when she breaks into the gritty “I Want Out” followed by the awesomeness that is “We Live For Love” and the grisly, sad, and controversial “Hell Is For Children.” That track is literally one that leaps out of the speakers and grabs you instantly. Clearly, this is Pat Benatar at her “tough-girl” persona best. One which she would abandon for another persona, a bit more personal one if you will – motherhood, with her 1984 album Tropico. The two studio tracks, the ever-popular “Love Is A Battlefield” and “Lipstick Lies” (both containing very memorable videos – such as Benatar herself doing Michael Jackson-style dance sequences) serve as a great transition into this new era for Benatar.
What Pat Benatar live album would not be complete without her performing her swan song, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot?” None! However, this is probably the weaker track of this album because you can barely hear her vocals. Since the album was recorded in many places, wherever they recorded it, the acoustics are TERRIBLE!
Benatar and her husband Neil Geraldo quickly redeem themselves on “Promises In the Dark.” The live version of “Promises In The Dark” actually sounds better than the recording as heard on 1983′s Precious Time album.
This album is okay, however it seems more or less like a greatest hits collection thrown in with a few new tracks. But its a good live album overall from what sounds like one exciting tour. B+
So I have come to the conclusion that, in this life, my 1st few dream concert tours will never happen. What is it you ask? The Beatles with Jimi Hendrix or Big Brother and the Holding Company with Amy Winehouse and Axl Rose. Sadly about 1/3 of these people are dead (John Lennon, George Harrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Amy Winehouse) and one is a bit bipolar and LOVES to cause fights.
However, one could happen with lots of wishful thinking: a tour with Heart, Pat Benatarand Stevie Nicks – the queens of rock and
roll! They could call it the Wild Hearts, Lovemongers, and Heartbreakers tour.
Could you imagine what their setlists would be? Here’s what I think it would be:
Pat Benatar
Stevie Nicks
Heart
In 1982 a band from Boston entered an annual radio contest – a “battle of the bands,” if you will. They were a new wave bandthat consisted of 2 Berklee college alums (including indie darling Aimee Mann on bass and lead vocals) and a few other locals. Their song “Love In A Vacuum” was a hit and won them the contest. This eventually led to them landing a record deal with Epic Records – home of such legends as Michael Jackson, Blondie and Wham!.
That band was ‘Til Tuesday. In 1985 they released Voices Carry . It became a staple on Mtv when the network actually aired videos.
Voices Carry is a catchy little album. Mann’s bass playing combined with her vocals are hard to ignore. She plays hard on that
bass and it shows on such tracks as Love In A Vacuum, Looking Over My Shoulder and the album’s title track.
However, the album falls flat on such tracks as Sleep, Maybe Monday, and Don’t Watch Me Bleed. Essentially, aside from the great new wave track that is Winning the War, side b is filler music and nothing more. It adds nothing to the listening experience.
Also one of the more quirkier things about this album is the fashion: lead vocalist Aimee Mann is wearing a rats tail hairdo. While this factor does date the album as far as the cover goes.
B-
Rock music’s gold dust woman makes a huge splash with her 1983 release, The Wild Heart.
Rocker and Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks shows off her best vocals on her 1983 release "The Wild Heart."
Stevie Nicks is known for having a lush, deep, contra-alto voice. Nicks’ beautiful voice truly shines on such tracks as synthesizer-driven If Anyone Falls. The track only gets better on the chorus, when Nicks is joined by her two backup singers which include die-hard fan favorite band member Lori Perry- Nicks.
However, the best track on this album is the ever-popular Stand Back. Since the album’s release, it has become a staple at both Nicks’ solo shows and Fleetwood Mac concerts. It shows Nicks at her best – complete with vocal prowess.
Nicks also shows what a great songwriter she is on Nothing Ever Changes in which Nicks exclaims “Come back…little boy/ baby come back…yeah…little boy/ Ooh…it’s just me that lies waiting/ Well it could come from anywhere/ oooh it could come straight straight from my heart/ nothing can be saved here.”
The one weakness of this album though is the end track, Beauty and the Beast. To anyone who was born AFTER 1983, do not let this title fool you because it is not inspired by or even talking about the 1992 Disney classic of the same title. She is speaking about the silent film of the same title. It just sounds too slow tempo-wise and doesn’t fit in with the overall album.
Overall the album is comparable to other great artists such as Sheryl Crow and her body of work, who has cited Nicks as an influence and also worked with her. I would recommend this to any fan of independent music because it has a definitive independent feel to it. Overall, it is a great album.
The Pretenders grow up with the release of "Learning to Crawl."
Any true punk rocker or feminist should love the Pretenders. Over time, Chrissie Hynde has brought the band from underground U.K. band to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend status. Learning to Crawl is quite possibly the quintessential Pretenders album that shows both their artistry and maturity.
The record starts out strong with Middle of the Road, which comes complete with a searing harmonica solo done by Hynde and driving rhythm guitar.
However, the album shines on the song My City Was Gone in which Hynde laments about how her hometown of Akron, OH. The main highlight of this song though is not the lyrics, but very-repetitive bass line. Ironically enough, the song is now the theme to The Rush Limbaugh Show.
Overall, the album is a great album that shows that this band can hold its own against other classic rock bands.
Also, be sure to listen to the hit song Back On the Chain Gang – a tribute to fallen band members James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose.
The Police, as a band, are completely unpredictable. No two releases or songs are like the other. Ghosts In the Machine (1981) is no exception. One minute you maybe listening to a straight-up pop number and the next minute you maybe listening to a reggae-tinged song.
The album’s overall strong points are the first tracks, which are the album’s singles: Spirits in the Material World and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.
However, there is a little bit of weakness on this album. On Invisible Sun, the overall sound is very monotonous with a catch on the chorus.
But the album kicks into overdrive with a fretless bass line that every bassist would dream to play on Hungry For You (J’aurais tojours faim de toi). The bass lines only get better on the next track, the one and only Demolition Man – which is only 6 minutes long. As a novice bass player, I shudder but accept the challenge to play this particular bass line.
One thing that is unique about this album is the usage of the french language. Though most of The Police’s albums have french title, such as their previous album Zenyattta Mondatta, this one has an english title but contains a song in almost complete french - Hungry For You (J’aurais tojours faim de toi).
Overall the album is a great album. B+
You have to hand it to Styx, they are pretty bold and brash when it comes to politics for an art-rock band. On their concept 1983 release Kilroy Was Here, they don’t hold back on their anti-censorship stance.
Kilroy was Here follows the story of a former rock star, Kilroy (lead singer Dennis De Young), living in prison in a future where rock n’ roll is illegal due to the the hands of of the MMM (Majority for Musical Morality) and a fascist government. The album picks up in the future where robots manufactured in Japan, called Mr. Robotos, work nonstop in jobs once held by humans. In addition to this bleak future, there are the ever-present anti-rock music rallies where citizens literally burn guitars, records, and other rock paraphernalia.
However there is a rebel leader, Jonathan Chance (Tommy Shaw), who wants to bring back rock music. The album follows both Chance and Kilroy’s attempts to prove Kilroy’s innocence as well as break up the MMM.
Kilroy Was Here is a clear stab at the then-prevalent Moral Majority and Tipper Gore‘s Parental Music Resource Center – better known as the PMRC. This is due in part to Christian fundamentalists branding their song Snowblind as “satanic.”
The album itself is a great album both musically and, for the most part, lyrically. On almost every single the synthesizer reflects the eerie time that this world could come to if such a power akin to the MMM were to be in power.
Overall I would highly recommend this album if you are a big musical fan, but otherwise forget it.
However, it is still entertaining to watch.
You have to hand it to people like Deborah Gibson – the woman is talented and will
In 1987 Deborah Gibson released "Out of the Blue," making her the youngest person at the age of 16 to ever write, produce and record an album
always be good at what she does. Gibson still holds the record for being the youngest person to ever write, produce, and have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song Foolish Beat.
While most young women at the age 16 are busy either catching the attention of guys or earning their drivers liscence, Gibson, along with producer Fred Zarr, were collaborating on what would become her debut album Out of the Blue.
Some of the songs occasionally slip into the slope of cheese albeit very slightly. Take for instance the track Red Hot. It’s rather unlistenable due to the repetitive drum track – it sounds too electronic and does not fit the song.
One thing that is great about this album is the fact that a great deal of the songs are catchy and even danceable. On Out of the Blue, she talks about finding new love – something that is relatable regardless of age because, literally, love comes from “out of the blue.” The hit single Shake Your Love is reminiscent of Motown artists such as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas‘ Dancing in the Streets albeit with an 80′s twist. Overall these are the songs that make this album great overall.
One of the greatest highlights is the underrated bass-happy Fallen Angel. The bass line is what makes the song great.
A
Hands down, Michael W Smith is one of the smartest artists both musically and
In 1984, former keyboardist for Amy Grant Michael W. Smith released "2," the follow-up album to his well-received debut, "Michael W Smith Project."
lyrically in Christian music. Not only can he write though-provoking lyrics, but he’s also a classically-trained pianist.
Smith shows that sometimes you don’t need to be familiar with his previous project, Michael W. Smith Project in order to have any sort of appreciation for his second album, 2.
One of the most remarkable contributions is the use of fellow CCM rocker Dan Huff of White Heart fame. Huff plays guitars on most of the albums tracks.
On the song A Way, which sounds alot like a prayer out of the book of Psalms, Smith pleads with God “You find me waiting for a miracle/ You hear me praying for a plan/ You are the only one prepared to rescue me/ then you take away the distance/ found between the truth and me/ and you give us simple reason to my restless rhyme/ Woa, hide me in the heaven/ You have held within your hand/ And make a way to find a way to soothe my mind.” This is perhaps one of the best tracks on the album because it is basically a prayer.
However, the biggest eye-opener comes on Restless Heart, which features a suprise duet with CCM superstar Amy Grant. Though she is only credited for background vocals on Restless Heart, she is clearly singing a duet with Smith. It is a welcomed surprise nevertheless. Grant and her then-husband Gary Chapman also contribute background vocals on All I Needed To Say.
The greatest thing about this album, however, is the fact that Smith shows what EXACTLY he can do with his classical piano training. He shows off his classical chops on such songs as Musical Instruments and Wings of the Wind.
Rock music’s Gold Dust Woman, Stevie Nicks, returns with Live In Chicago,
her first live video since 1987′s Live at Red Rocks. This is a concert dvd that
is sure to please Nicks fans old and new.
Nicks surely knows how to entertain an audience. Instead of this being a standard concert dvd, Nicks makes it an experience for concert-goers and viewers alike – complete with stories about what inspired such hits as If Anyone Falls and Landslide. She opens the concert with the ever-popular Stand Back from her 1983 hit album The Wild Heart. On the ever-popular Fleetwood Mac hit Rhiannon, Nicks re-emerges dressed in a black top-hat, black gloves, and a black skirt – thus becoming Rhiannon. She does this transformation again on Gold Dust Woman, which makes the concert more enchanting and brings it to a new level of greatness.
One of the most entertaining stories that Nicks shares is about the time she wrote a song during the recording of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album in 1977 in Sausalito, CA. There was a time when she was not needed in the studio. A person in the studio gave her a key to Sly Stone‘s (of Sly and the Family Stone) studio. While there, she wrote what would be Dreams.
Stevie shows her true rock side when she exclaims that “this is my most angriest song” albeit with a little love and breaks into Fall From Grace from her 2001 release Trouble in Shangri-La.
However, one of the more weaker moments is when she invites Vanessa Carlton to sing The One and Circle Dance. Though Nicks is a rocker, Carlton is a soft rocker. She has no point in being there.
Overall, it is a great dvd that celebrates the many hit songs spanning Nicks’ 3-decade long career. Perhaps the dvd’s title should have been titled “An Enchanting Evening with Stevie Nicks in Chicago” because it is one enchanting experience.
Band fights: Almost every single band goes through this. Fleetwood Mac was no
Mirage is another example of what can come from pain: beautiful music.
exception with their release of 1982′s Mirage. There was much in-fighting within the band that seems to stem from the time during when Rumours was released in 1977.
One of the best tracks on the album is the Lindsey Buckingham-penned Can’t Go Back. It’s made even better by the beautiful piano playing and finger-picking guitar combination of Christine McVie and Buckingham. However, the melody of the song does not seem to match the overall lyrics. The overall lyrics are about lost love.
On the country-tinged That’s Alright, Stevie Nicks talks about a mutual breakup. Overall, it doesn’t seem to stand the test of time as the other great Nicks-penned track. Gypsy. Gypsy is a beautiful track that has a beautiful piano highlighting the entire track with Buckingham on backup vocals. Also, the lyrics are completely impeccable when Nicks says “So I’m back to the velvet underground/ Back to the floor that I love/ To a room with some lace and paper flowers/ Back to the gypsy/ that I was/ To the gypsy/ that I was.” She only gets better on Straight Back – which seems like a deeper version of Dreams. It keeps getting better when she starts singing with McVie.
Keyboardist Christine McVie never seems to disappoint with her contributions to Mirage. Only Over You, a love song written to her then-boyfriend and late member of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson. McVie’s voice is often underestimated and it should not be because it is the thing that makes this track absolutely beautiful.
However, one of the most annoying tracks is Book of Love, where Lindsey Buckingham cries throughout the chorus “Oh tell me who wrote the book of love/ Was it somebody from above/ Surely he must know all the rules.” Overall, the writing is on the wall about whom the song is about: Stevie Nicks.
Hold Me has to be the best album track overall due to McVie and Buckingham’s almost duet-like singing. McVie and Buckingham blend very well vocally.
B+
Pat Benatar is one of the feistiest singers in rock & roll. In 1979, she hit the music
scene with a vengeance with In The Heat of the Night.
Benatar exclaims to her ex-lover “you’re a heartbreaker/dream-maker/love-taker don’t you mess around with me” on the smash single Heartbreaker. Benatar’s gritty albeit beautiful vocals, combined with guitarist and future husband Neil Giraldo‘s searing guitar solos, make this track one of the quintessential songs of Benatar’s career.
Subtlety works well on the title track. The bass line, combined with a much more vocally subdued Benatar, makes this for one unforgettable early Benatar track. It gives it a suspenseful feel. In a possible homage to the movie The Stepford Wives, Benatar tells of a fake woman living the life of another in My Clone Sleeps Alone.
One of the weaker tracks is If You Think You Know How To Love Me. It is essentially filler music and does absolutely nothing to make the album better.
Benatar shines on such other tracks as We Live For Love and Rated X. Rated X talks about a porn star who seeks out love in all the wrong places. While she wants love, all of the men that she seeks out want sex. According to husband Neil Giraldo in her autobiography Between a Heart and a Rock Place, We Live for Love was written as a love song for Pat Benatar by her future husband. However, she thinks otherwise that it was written for another woman.
Though it is not a perfect album, it is still a good album. In The Heat of the Night only gives us a taste of what to expect of her other albums including her followup to this album, Crimes of Passion and Precious Time.
What do Apple Computers, Steve Wozniack, Mtv, Ozzy Osbourne, The Ramones, the Cars, Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks,
The Us festival quite possibly was the best festival since Woodstock and Altamont
Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead, Missing Persons, and Willie Nelson all have in common? The greatest music festival since Woodstock 1969 of course: not the butt of a Homer Simpson joke on The Simpsons but rather the US Festival!
What is the US (pronounced “us” not “u-s”) festival you ask? It was the biggest musical festival since Woodstock and the poorly planned 1969 Altamont festival. It happened on Friday, September 3 and went through Sunday, September 5, 1982 - Labor Day Weekend and happened again on Memorial Day Weekend, 5/28/1983-5/30/1983. It finally ended on July 4, 1983. There were different themes for each day: country day, rock day, new wave day, and heavy metal day. The lineup consisted of such great artists as INXS, Pat Benatar, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks (both with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo act), Van Halen, U2, and the Clash.
It was literally the biggest festival since Woodstock.
However, it has never been released on dvd or blu-ray. But it has been shown in increments on VH1 Classic. I think that needs to change, don’t you?
Here are the 10 reasons Steve Wozniack needs to release this great festival on dvd and blu-ray:
1. Bono climbs the scaffolding during U2′s set.
Bono is a great showman, no doubt. However, this is the height of greatness when the greatest frontman of one of the greatest (and possibly the most controversial) Christian bands of all time decides to pull a stunt that could quite possibly put him one more step closer to God.
2. Breakfast with the Grateful Dead
What happens when you get pothead’s that are ending their “last dance with Mary Jane” all in one place? You get “Breakfast with the Grateful Dead!”
3. A blitzed David Lee Roth takes shots at Mick Jones of the Clash onstage.
You gotta love it when one rock star fights another. It’s like one of those moments that says “sucks to be you buddy!” As history has it, the Clash and Van Halen already had a fight going on when guitarist Eddie Van Halen decided to criticize the music that the Clash played by saying that it was “like music that I played in my garage.” At the Us festival, a clearly blitzed David Lee Roth said “I wanna take this time to say that this is real whiskey here… the only people who put ice tea in Jack Daniel’s bottles is The Clash, baby!” Roth only took one time to bash the Clash.
4. Heavy Metal Day
The artist lineup for that day was quite possibly the best lineup of heavy metal artist that ever walked the face of the earth. It was a sellout crowd with an estimated 375,000 attendants. It was, as Motley Crue’s Vince Neil put it “the day that New Wave died & rock & roll took over.” With a lineup that included the likes of Van Halen, Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Triumph and Scorpions – Neil’s point is well-taken.
5. Stevie Nicks babble’s and has technical issues.”
The night was a rather interesting night for rock goddess Stevie Nicks. For starters, she was high and a little off-key on her hit single “Edge of Seventeen.” But the more funnier and greatest moment of her set was when she performed her upcoming new hit single (and signature song) “Stand Back.” Nicks says nice things like “I am only talking cuz I should keep my mouth shut” and then tells the audience that she will “hand deliver it [her now-classic album The Wild Heart] to each one of you. I will! We will………sorta like Girlscout cookies!” She is clearly high at this point. she shows that she has a sense of humor when she starts explaining the lyric “be standin’ in” means and of course introduces the band. However she gives a great performance of “Stand Back” for the first time ever and that is what makes this performance memorable. Also, during the performance of “Edge of Seventeen,” Nicks dedicates the song to her late best friend, Robin, who passed away from leukemia during the success of the release of “Bella Donna.”
6. The Ramones perform “Rock and Roll Highschool.”
Words cannot describe this.
7. Pat Benatar sings “In The Heat of the Night.”
Never has a song been so fitting for both the time of day (or night in their case) and even the weather – which was a blistering 110 degrees in the middle of the day.
8. The Divinyls
Now, to anyone born after 1985, such as myself, they are known as a one-hit wonder band. Apparently they were labeled wrong because they did a bang-up set at the Us Festival. However, one must wonder what was lead singer Christina Amphlett was thinking with the fake ugly teeth.
9. Fleetwood Mac performs Tusk minus a marching band. However, the mac daddy and company make up for it by having keyboardist Christine McVie rock out on the accordion. Who knew that playing the accordion could make a person even more amazing than they already are? Christine pulls it off very well.
10. David Bowie electrifies the crowd with “Let’s Dance.”
David Bowie is one that never ceases to amaze.
Unfortunately, on Christian radio, music that sounds great is, well, nonexistent these days. That’s not the case with 
Amy Grant and her 1988 release Lead Me On.
Grant is probably the best-known person of her genre and with this release, it is well-deserved. She is better-known to nonChristians as the singer of such hits as Every Heartbeat, That’s What Love is For, Good For Me, and the number one hit Baby, Baby - all tracks from her multiplatinum release Heart In Motion, which is more pop-oriented and a little less sophisticated. Lead Me On is not that kind of album. It is much more sophisticated both lyrically and melodically.
On 1974, Grant talks about how she came to faith and how her faith has stayed with her through the years. She exclaims “stay with me/ make it ever new/ so time will not undo/ as the years go by/ how I need to see/ that’s still me.” Also, the way that Grant harmonizes with herself in a very echo-like manner is nothing short of beautiful.
Lead Me On is the best-known single from this album. Rarely does a song address history in light of religion: Grant addresses slavery and the Holocaust and what the victims of such tragedies were thinking by saying “man hurts man/ time and time, time again/ and we drown in the wake of our power/ somebody tell me why.”
Every single track on this album is great – which is a rarity in any genre. One thing that is constantly overlooked is the great production value of this album. For example, the excellent drum solo intros on Sure Enough and All Right. It is a greatly overshadowed album and deserves much more respect than it is given.
If you live in the Houston area, you may want to head over to Ecclesia church. They will be hosting The Crucifixion According to Radiohead on Friday, April 22nd at 12pm, 6:30 pm (childcare will be provided) and 8:30 pm. The event is being done by their artist-in-residence Scott Erikson.
So if you are a Radiohead fan or want an interesting way to celebrate Good Friday, please do come. I, the Wild Heart, will be there as well so if you read this, please tell me what you think. I always enjoy the feedback!
Ecclesia is located at 2115 Taft Street in Houston, Texas 77006
This was too funny a quote to not put up on the Wild Heart, thus the Wild Heart had to put it up from tonite’s episode of Glee:
“I spent three years sending hate mail to Debbie Gibson until she wrote me back and said that the stress of my letters was giving her alopecia and then I felt terrible because I realized it was just my jealousy that she could fill a mall with her adoring fans.” — Holly
This was too funny to not pass up. First of all, if you send 3 years of hate mail to Debbie Gibson, you have no life and probably no friends. You are creepy. You need to have a restraining order and be quarantined.
Though I love Debbie Gibson and the work that she has done musically, I now cannot stop laughing about that. I also cannot stop thinking of that one episode of How I Met Your Mother that Robin was a Canadian teen idol much in the style of both Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.
Rebecca Black meet your match!
However, I like Debbie Gibson as I stated earlier. She’s talented.
Vision Quest, though it has some gems, falls flat on its face
Ahhhh Vision Quest. A movie I never saw that nevertheless has a rather strong soundtrack. Either way it is a soundtrack that has a little something for the balladiers, headbangers, rockers, and the pop princesses.
The soundtrack to Vision Quest is one that screams more 80′s than Flashdance ever did. The album starts out very strong with a track by classic rock greats Journey with Only the Young. Unfortunately it falls flat in some areas, such as the disco-themed Shout to the Top by the Style Council. Even worse is I’ll Fall In Love Again by Sammy Hagar. It sounds too bland. However, it quickly redeems itself with Madonna’s The Gambler, a dance-oriented synth-happy track where the material girl exclaims “YOU CAN’T STOP ME NOW!”
This soundtrack even will please the rockers in the form of Don Henley’s She’s On the Zoom.
However, Vision Quest takes flight and goes off into its rocketing orbit with the late Ronnie James Dio‘s Hungry For Heaven. Dio proves himself to be worthy of a rock god.
One of the best tracks is Foreigner’s Hot Blooded, which has been covered a few times in concert by country rocker Gretchen Wilson.
Unfortunately, tracks by F0reigner, Journey and Madonna cannot even save this soundtrack. A good soundtrack should be able to tell the story of the film without seeing it. Vision Quest falls flat on its face.
…………or at least bring back happy memories of summers gone by.
Since it is a nice day in Houston, so much that I went swimming, I figured I would tell you what my picks are for the 10 best songs of the summer.
It’s not a “rumour” anymore folks! The hit television series Glee will be airing an entire episode devoted to one of the greatest rock albums of all time: Rumours by
The "Rumours" episode will air on May 3rd on FOX with guest star Kristen Chenoweth
Here is some SPOILERS and hopes that the wildheart has about this episode:
I will post what the Wild Heart considers to be the 20 best Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks songs.
Magical. Mystical. Beautiful. Legendary. Mysterious. All of these words describe rock legend Stevie Nicks. One thing that Nicks seems to be immune to is age. She seems to live by the notion that “age isn’t anything but a number” because after all, she is in her 60′s and still looks great and sounds great for any woman in rock & roll – a rarity.
Nicks’ albums are sheer experiences - like dreams. This album is no exception. She starts out the album with the dreamlike-trance Secret Love, which is nothing short of sexy. It was a song that was written when Rumours was made back in 1976, but thankfully she kept it for herself and we have it now in this extremely beautiful version.
In Your Dreams is an almost-return to some of the songs that made Bella Donna famous – minus the duet with Tom Petty. It has a feel that is reminiscent of Stop Dragging My Heart Around. I am sure that it will please both classic and newcomers to Stevie’s music, something that she has always been good at doing.
One of the best things about this album is both the mix of rock and trance-likeness that weaves throughout the entire album. She proves this well on Wild Sargasso Sea, which tells the tale of a jilted lover and/or friends with benefits. She continues this haunting with the tribute to New Orleans song entitled New Orleans. As someone who lives in nearby Houston, TX and saw all the refugees coming from Hurricane Katrina, this is a very beautiful song about the hope and promise that New Orleans is back up and running despite the horrible events of Hurricane Katrina. Nicks exclaims “I wanna dress up/ I wanna wear beads.”
The best melodic song, though, has to be You May Be the One. Nicks’ classic backup singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Petty Nicks (her sister-in-law) join her in once again-unmatched harmony. It is nothing short of beautiful and sounds much like Nicks circa 1983 when The Wild Heart was released.
Annabel Lee sounds like an updated version mixture of The Wild Heart and Nightbird. All in all it is amazing and it is a welcome return to rock music. However, one of the biggest surprises comes on Solider’s Angel – a surprise duet with Lindsey Buckingham, her former boyfriend and fellow member of Fleetwood Mac.
Overall the album is one of the best Stevie Nicks albums out there. It sounds much like classic Nicks with a dreamlike kick, which is what makes the album extremely beautiful. It is sure to be a bestseller and hopefully a successful tour will come out of this. This album will hit stores on May 3rd.
In keeping with the fact that Rumours will be the theme of next weeks episode of Glee, I thought it would be fun to post some videos of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks behind the scenes and live. Enjoy!
Stevie Nicks rehearses a demo of “The Wild Heart” while applying makeup
Behind the scenes footage of the video shoot for “Hold Me.”
The first performance ever of Nicks’ iconic hit Stand Back. Unfortunately she is a bit coked up on this performance at the Us Festival – however she is really funny throughout this performance which is what makes it a classic.
I love it when Stevie performs with Tom Petty! It always is a great performance!
And now for some DEMOS!!! Some of the demos sound better than the released versions! Every Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks fan needs to hear them!
Demos for “Little Lies”
Demo for “Seven Wonders.” Though this is one of my favorite songs off the “Tango In the Night” album, thank goodness they made it better!
Demo for “Hold Me.” This is probably one of my favorite demos and even the finished song is a favorite.
Honestly I think the “Tango In the Night” recording is much better.
Lesson to be learned: don’t make Stevie mad at you. This is a great demo of “Smile at You.”
One of the most underrated tracks from “The Wild Heart:” “Nothing Ever Changes.” Good thing is that this track did change – at least on the chorus.
I am kinda liking this demo of “Talk to Me.”
What collection of demos would be complete with a few takes of “Edge Of Seventeen?” None!
Glee has nailed it when it comes to the personification of Fleetwood Mac and their ever-popular Rumours album. All the infighting, breakups – which really made the band great.
So here is a recap of the best of what happened last night:
Overall it did the album justice, but there was a bit that was left out
The ever dumb Brittany now has her own web show called “Fondue For Two” where she invites guests, or in this case Tina Cohen-Chang and Mercedes Jones to eat fondue and do what people like her do best: gossip. She reveals that Santana is a lesbian by saying she “plays for the other team.”
However, Sue Sylvester gets quite a bit of airtime this time – something that the Wild Heart absolutely loves! Her outrageous disguises ranging from David Bowie to conservative commentator Ann Coulter within one take, are nothing short of classic.
But the special appearance by Kristen Chenoweth as April did not seem to fit. Her performance of Dreams does not even begin to touch the original by Stevie Nicks. It seemed overall fake. However, this is quickly kicked out of the ballpark by Artie’s performance of Never Going Back Again - albeit with a chorus of acoustic guitars. The performance of the songs of Rumours is made even better by Rachel’s performance of Go Your Own Way. It almost makes you think that during the original album, either Stevie Nicks or Christine McVie should have sang the lead vocals – not Lindsey Buckingham.
Overall B+ because it was still rather funny.
Very few albums, or artists for that matter, have served as a soundtrack to a generation. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours does exactly 
that. It’s still is a relevant album because it explores in a voyeuristic way, the personal turmoil amongst the band members during the recording of the album. The mix of personal turmoil amongst the band, though it nearly cost them their sanity and was fueled by lots and lots of drugs, make this a beautiful masterpiece.
Best of all, it is easy to relate to lyrically due to its content – which includes jabs at other band members, all of whom were experiencing romantic turmoil: bassist John McVie and his wife Christine’s marriage was in shambles as was the romantic relationship between singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Additionally, Nicks and drummer Mick Fleetwood (who was married at the time) were having an affair.
Songs like Don’t Stop and Songbird which are nothing short of an offer of hope both personally and for the band itself. Perhaps they were thinking in they lyric from The Chain: “I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain.” It is one of the few songs that is written by the ENTIRE band and it is a gem.
Also, one of the other great things is the actual skill of the musicians. One of the best sounding tracks on the album is You Make Lovin’ Fun. Lead vocalist [for this track] and keyboard player Christine McVie is remarkable on all accounts. However, all of the lyrical greatness and great sound come together on Gold Dust Woman - which is both a metaphor for drugs and quite possibly the ending of the relationship of the songs author, Stevie Nicks, and then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham.
For those of you that saw last week’s episode of Glee, this is an album worth buying due to the fact that it is great musicianship under fire, something that happens to us all. It is very relatable if you have ever endured a never-ending breakup. That is what makes this album one of the greatest albums.
Also be sure to check out the special Classic Albums that VH1 Classic and the BBC documentary they did on Rumours, where they go into both the technicality of making the album as well as what the songs are about – including stories and interviews with band members and album personnel.
Yes is quite possibly one of the greatest art-rock bands of all time. They prove themselves with the return of lead vocalist Jon Anderson on 90125.
The album itself is quite possibly what music would sound like if we all lived in outer space or in a friendlier version of Blade Runner. Either way it is very futuristic sounding. It works well for the band. On Leave It, their harmonies are superb and they blend well with the echoishness of the background music. Also, their rhythm section – the drummer, has composed some very interesting drumming repetitions which make the album interesting.
However, there is one place the album falls flat: Our Song sounds overall uninteresting and downright repetitive.
Overall, however, I cannot recommend this album because it is an acquired taste. Don’t get me wrong, it is still good but still a bit avant-guard.
The Wild Heart is not making this up people (or random robots and cats that walk across the keyboard and hit “ENTER.”)
Stevie Nicks has made an announcement to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton that Fleetwood Mac will be going on tour sometime next year!!! It will happen after both Nicks and fellow band member Lindsey Buckingham finish promoting their various solo albums.
With that said, let’s hope that somehow this blog, the Wild Heart (btw my real name is Christina), takes off like a rocket within the coming year. What do I mean you ask: I would like to turn this into a real job – blogging about music. Right now I am jobless and living at home searching for a job. (Aaaah the plight of the recent college graduate of a state university!) What I am trying to say is that if you would like to sponsor this blog, please email me at christinahildebrand123@gmail.com. I would absolutely love to speak with you.
Also, I would love to do more with this blog as well – such as cover concerts from both Houston, TX – where I am based; but also famous festivals like Glastonbury, FreePress SummerFest - an annual indie festival in Houston, TX, CreationFest (for Christian music), the CMA music festival – one day I will review one of the country albums or cds that I do have (mostly Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack, LeAnn Rimes, Gretchen Wilson and Taylor Swift) Sponsorship is the way to do this as far as I know.
Additionally, concerts in general are not cheap and I would like to be on the good side of the management, so if you are a major artist (or even minor artist) and you would like for me to cover your concert, please email me at the above address.
Anyways, so if you would like to sponsor me and this blog or even have suggestions about how to turn this blog into a business – please feel free to email me at christinahildebrand123@gmail.com and I would love to speak with you.
Pat Benatar is one of those voices that can do any sort of genre: pop, rock, metal, country and even swing. However, most people love her as the pint-sized rocker who can blow everyone out of their seats. She does that throughout her album Precious Time.
Don’t be fooled by her niceness or even sultry style because she will blow you away – which is exactly what she does on Promises In the Dark. It’s one of those songs that you think is gonna be a nice and slow sad song, but alas, it is not.
This album, unlike other albums by Benatar, has many twists and turns and possibly foreshadows what is to come with her smash album Get Nervous. One excellent example of this is Fire and Ice - it has a sort of suspenseful feel to it, but takes a different approach than its predecessor In The Heat of the Night - the title track from her debut album.
Often, she seems to take jabs at her now-husband Neil Giraldo, whom she was broken up with at the time on such songs as Promises in the Dark and It’s a Tuff Life and even continues it on Take It Any Way You Want It. She says “You hate to say you were wrong/ You want contentment but ya’ can’t be that strong/ You see the shadow on the window blind/ but that shadow will never be mine/ so what/ You deserve everything that you got/ Ya’ think I’m gonna be there, but I’m not/ So take it any way you want it/ Take it anyway you please/ Take it anyway you want it/ But I don’t think you wanna bother me.” However, remember this was Benatar at her absolute angriest.
One interesting thing about this album is that it has not one, but two cover songs: Just Like Me by Paul Revere & the Raiders and Helter Skelter by the Beatles. As someone who has yet to hear both songs, she makes me want to listen to the originals and compare them to hers. Her covers simply rock and they take no prisoners!
But there is one weakness here: the album can get a tad formulaic at times, but is still very much in the style of classic Pat Benatar. Hard to Believe is a prime example of this.
B+
As a member of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks was just one of many contributing voices and songwriters. However she proves
that she is much more with the release of Bella Donna.
This album is almost like an extension of her contributions to Fleetwood Mac at least on the title track and Kind of Woman, but she quickly kicks things into gear with a duet, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around with fellow rocker Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It is a sign of what is to come on her next album, The Wild Heart. She continues this with the country-tinged Think About It and The Highwayman.
However, Bella Donna takes flight in the area of sheer amazement with the ever-popular and seminal smash Edge of Seventeen. It is one of the best songs of the album not only because of its driving guitar, but even its meaning. It has a pretty interesting story behind the song. Nevertheless it is a sad story. It is about the death of both ex-Beatle John Lennon and Nicks’ Uncle John, who died around the same time of each other. It is referenced metaphorically throughout the song. Nicks has talked about this many times whenever the subject of this song comes up. It has since become a staple of all her concerts.
On Leather and Lace, former boyfriend and Eagles lead singer Don Henley joins her in a rather beautiful manner. She tells him “I have my own life/ and I am stronger than you know/ But I carry this feeling/ That when you walked into my house/ That you won’t be walking out the door.”
Overall the album still sounds like some of the Fleetwood Mac material, yet Nicks shows that she is capable of having a great solo career outside of the band.
According to some quack preacher, we’ll all be raptured come 6pm in whatever time zone you are in and 6 months later, the end of the world shall happen. So I thought it would be a fun idea to post some of the best rapture-related songs.
Prince is one of those types that could quite possibly lead a revolution in song.
Rapture by Blondie
It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine) by R.E.M
Contemporary Christian musicin the late 80s-early 90′s, for the most part, was a basic copycat of its non-Christian counterparts.
Susan Ashton is one of the most underappreciated voices in Contemporary Christian Music.
Susan Ashton, like Amy Grant, is not one of those copycats. She is an original that has yet to be copied to this day! However, she has been covered by many country artists such as Kathy Mattea (who covered her song Grand Canyon on her 1994 album Walking Away A Winner), Martina McBride, and Garth Brooks – whom she used to sing backup for and even opened for him.
Her debut album, Wakened By the Wind is almost country-lite but with less twang and more lush vocals hinted with a guitar. On the albums opening track, Down On My Knees, Ashton confesses “You bear the weight of condemnation/ cleansing with the blood of truth/ so with my humble acclamation I wanna give myself to you.” She is clearly referring to sin that leads to ultimate death but also the redemption and forgiveness that comes with being a follower of Jesus Christ. Essentially she is telling the listener that she is not perfect, but rather dirty and is made clean by the Lord.
One of the best tracks is Benediction, which is a semi-uptempo song about searching for what God wants her to do. Ashton follows up in this vein with Land of Nod - a Bonnie Raitt-inspired song about how Christians should not be complacent in their faith, but instead be challenged in their faith.
Many of the songs on this album such as No One Knows My Heart and I Hear You are also basically prayers. Others, such as In Amazing Grace Land, are praises to Jesus for the price that he paid on the cross for the sins of the world.
This is one of the most underrated Christian albums and artists of all time. It rarely gets any current airplay on CCM radio, even in her hometown of Houston, TX – where I, the Wild Heart, grew up and currently reside. Hopefully one day she will be rediscovered.
It’s summertime and everyone is on vacation if they have the means to do it. (I don’t) One of the greatest places to go vacation, no matter who you are, is Disney World. Also it seems like every summer Walt Disney Pictures (or Pixar) releases another amazing movie whether it be this years Cars 2, or the blockbuster movies they’ve released over the past couple of summers: Tarzan (1999), Mulan (1998), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010) and my favorite – Finding Nemo (2003).
Also, the Wild Heart herself, a.k.a Christina, is a huge fan of all things related to Disney. So here it is people: the 100 ways that Disney Rocks!
Yellow Submarine was set for a 2012 release
The Wild Heart wants to wish one of the many inspirations of this blog a happy birthday. (That is, next to Heart, Van Halen, Amy Grant, Pat Benatar, etc) Who is it you ask? It is a member of Fleetwood Mac that bangs a tamborine around onstage and sings such beautiful songs as Enchanted, If Anyone Falls In Love, Stand Back, Gypsy, Landslide, and the favorite of the Wild Heart herself, Wild Heart.
I figured since it is a good day to talk about this, I will. I am a recent Stevie Nicks fan – mostly dating back to last summer. I was in the UH library (I was in summer school) looking up stuff for class and listening to Pandora radio. I already had disproven my father’s longstanding dislikeness of Stevie Nicks based on the rumour that she was a practicing Wiccan. (Note: I come from a Christian family – I am still a rather devout Christian, but I try to see others as Christ sees them and not judge them) I had already downloaded the respective artists on iTunes. I guess I wanted something more to listen to on Pandora, so I put both artists in and I loved what I heard and downloaded more as time went by.
So here are some of my favorite Stevie performances:
Anytime I hear this song I think of my friend Jamie and how I wanted to get on Oprah for the Ultimate Stevie Nicks fan contest so I could get her to sing this as an extra wedding gift to Jamie and her now-husband. I guess I will have to give her the cd.
I love this song, but unfortunately it reminds me of a friend who’s an ex-addict who decided to date another ex-addict who was a terrible person. They had a child together and, needless to say, I think of this song as a metaphor for her relationships with others that have been destroyed due to the fact that she decided to date this terrible man and make some choices that resulted in a child born out of wedlock and shotgun marriage. Also, in a way it is what I wanted to tell her about her decision to date this man, but more harshly! I love it!
Ahhhh Fleetwood Mac. A band where you know who dated who and who broke up with who. However, when they make music together, it’s completely sheer magic. On Tango In the Night, this magic once again doesn’t fail them.
On this album, the band members take a more stylized production approach – a slick pop approach that still stays true to the style and music of Fleetwood Mac. Mirage and Rumours were more organic in both their sound and lyrics. Tango In the Night is, but with more production overdubs and a more pop approach. It sounds like they took more production cues from their most popular band member, Stevie Nicks, whose latest solo release at the time was Rock A Little (1985)
The greatest thing about this album is that there is no weak track. Each is a great standalone track. But perhaps one of the greatest tracks is Big Love due to the creative guitar-playing and “love grunting” of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.
One thing to notice about the album is that the presence of Stevie Nicks is a little less. While she sings backup on many of the songs such as Little Lies, she has less songs where she is the lead vocalist, or even the main songwriter. The reason is due to the fact that she was in rehab for a cocaine addiction. On the other hand, Seven Wonders, though it’s not Gypsy or Gold Dust Woman, is still a viable (and underrated) classic. One surprise great track is Welcome to the Room…..Sara. It almost is a foreshadow of her later work including her latest single Secret Love from her latest album In Your Dreams.
Overall this is one of the most under appreciated albums of Fleetwood Mac. It is definitely a good listen, even though it is a deviation from the normal bluesy-pop/rock that has become beloved among Fleetwood Mac fans.
What happens when you mix a virtually unknown Christian rock band from Australia that sounds better than its mainstream
The Newsboys are one of the craziest and most serious bands in Contemporary Christian Music.
Australian predecessors (INXS, Kylie Minogue, the BeeGees, and even Men at Work), a rotating drum set, the message of Christ‘s love and forgiveness, and all-around craziness? You get the Newsboys!
Since the landmark release of their eponymous album Not Ashamed in 1992, the Newsboys have been at the top of their game within modern-day Contemporary Christian music.
One of the best things about Take Me To Your Leader is that it is an album that is fun to listen to. You don’t have to be a Christian to love their music because it is fun for everyone. Especially on the title track, where they talk about those that are searching for Christ in all the wrong places. Co-lead singer John James proclaims “I don’t know why you care/ I don’t know what’s out there/ I don’t know how it’s done/ Just take me to your leader son” Breathe, in the same vain, talks about how Christ is all about renewal to humanity.
However, one of the most standout tracks is the disco-friendly Reality, which is a retelling of the story of the Prodigal Son.
The Newsboys are not immune to their own sense of humor, especially on Breakfast where they exclaim “with spoons held high we bid our brother ‘cheerio.’”
On the other hand, the album gets a bit more serious with songs that talk about why forgiveness, though hard, is something that needs to be done because it is what Christ says to do (Let It Go) and even miracles on Miracle Child.
This album is definetly a classic.
photo courtesy of amazon.com
Chances are, if you were born after 1986 in the US, you have never heard of Joe Jackson. That is because by some, he has had very few hits in the US, the 2 being Is She Really Going Out With Him and Steppin’ Out. However, he is one artist that needs to be heard much more on this side of the pond due to both his songwriting and sophisticated style. He’s hardly a rocker these days, but he is the embodiment of cool.
With Jackson’s 1982 release Night & Day, Jackson both captures both what it is like to live in New York City in 1982 – both the wonder, excitement, and even scariness. He also captures the music of the various districts, including Spanish Harlem with the latin jazz-tinged Target. With that track, its just a mere warmup to the albums most popular track, the no. 1 single Steppin’ Out.
Steppin’ Out perfectly captures both the promise of whatever you want to happen in life: love, success, or both. Jackson sings “Now/ the mist across the window hides the lines/ but nothing hides the colour of the light that shines/ electricity so fine/ look and dry your eyes/ we/ so tired of all the darkness in our lives/ with no more angry words to say can come alive/ get into the car and drive/ to the other side.”
Two songs deal with rather touchy issues even to this day in some circles: cancer causes and the gay lifestyle on such songs as Cancer and Real Men. Jackson attacks the fact that all these medical reports, in some way shape or form, tell you that you will contract cancer if you ingest modern-day things such as nicotine, booze, or even protein. Real Men deals with the social expectations of men as seen from the point of view of a gay man living in New York in the early 1980′s.
Overall the album is pretty good, but at times a tad bit repetitive with the drum bits – it has the same parts at the same time. However this is the albums only real weakness. It was nominated for the 1982 Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance Male.
Bands often don’t have the distinguished honor of having both a musical AND 2 movies, one of which starring Oscar winner Meryl Streep, celebrate their songs – not to mention is still widely popular. For a band that survived the tacky disco era of the 1970′s, this is quite an an accomplishment.
With their 1976 album, Greatest Hits, ABBA shows those that reside in the US that they are most definitely star-worthy with catchy songs such as Ring Ring, Mamma Mia, Waterloo, and Fernando. For those that are more familiar with the film rather than the actual group, this is a great way to get into the music of ABBA. However, only 3 songs that were used in the film are present. One of these songs is I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do – which contains a unique blending of band members Agnetha and Frida’s beautiful voices with a sound reminiscent of the Beach Boys hit single Wouldn’t It Be Nice. If you remember from the film version of Mamma Mia, this is what is sung when Donna’s ex lover (played by Pierce Brosnan) proposes to Donna (played by) Meryl Streep.
Though there is some great tracks such as Ring Ring and Fernando, I cannot recommend this album. ABBA is great for downloading, but they are not an album artist. Their music, though at times creative, is somewhat formulaic and that formula goes bland when you flip it to side 2. However, I do highly recommend the film version of Mamma Mia. The music is more entertaining due to the fact that there is a different track selection than the this piece of junk.
Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: “Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the oppurtunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.”
Clarence Clemons was a member of the E-Street Band as a saxophone player. He died at the age of 69 from complications of a stroke. We shall miss you man.
Some days you just need to stick it to the man! This is a day that is like that for the Wild Heart for reasons unspecified.
So here it is folks: the 10 best songs that bring out the rebel in the wild heart – or at least the angry side! Even more funnier is the fact that some of these have been used in film!
1) We’re Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister. One thing that Twisted Sister did best was portraying rebellion of any kind. However their specialty was teenage rebellion. This rang true in their classic videos on MTV when they cast Mark Metcalf (best known for his role as the sadistic asshole that is ROTC leader Lt. Doug Niedermeyer in the John Landis classic National Lampoon’s Animal House. I must say this has to be a sequel to Animal House – even though it says at the end that Niedermeyer was shot by his own troops in Vietnam. Sadly I guess he survived.
2) Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears. If you have ever seen the film Real Genius with a very young (and handsome) Val Kilmer, you will know that this is the song that’s played at the end of the film. The film itself is about a group of Pacific Tech student scientists who are tricked into building a tracking device for a weapon. When they find out they were tricked, they exact a little revenge on the dean of students, Dr. Jerry Hathaway. Needless to say that due to his misdeeds (and felonies), he got what he deserved! On a more personal note, I had two of these in college. One was (I kid you not) a campus minister with the Baptist Student Ministry. Anyways, she would always act extremely rude to me and some of my friends. When I finally got the nerve to leave her group because of her sorry ass, she basically went from bad to worse: I joined another Christian group on campus and she tried to kick them out of the room (which the BSM owned) in the chapel at UH. She also asked friends of mine to leave the free lunch (which was open to the entire campus) that the BSM hosted just because my friend wanted another piece of pizza which they were throwing in the trash – why waste it? Thankfully she is no longer at that campus (they moved her to the UH Downtown campus) so its safe to say “good riddance” to her. The other one tried to falsely accuse me of something just to have me removed.
3) I Wanna Rock – Twisted Sister. If you ever had a mean teacher like this in highschool you can totally relate to this!! I did. She was my highschool algebra teacher
4) Invincible – Pat Benatar. According to Pat Benatar’s autobiography Between A Heart & A Rock Place, this was filmed shortly after the birth of her first child. In other words, her record label back then, Chrysalis, didn’t give her any sort of maternity leave because they were absolutely against her and her husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo having a baby. They thought it would ruin her sexy-rocker persona. One can only imagine that the bite in her vocals maybe was aimed at those snakes at Chrysalis.
5) You Better Run – Pat Benatar.
6) Land of Confusion – Genesis. Probably one of the most creative yet creepiest music videos ever made. The video drew much criticism for showing then-US president Ronald Reagan as stupid and out of touch with the rest of the world. The video came from the hit British television show Spitting Image. The funny thing is that some of the stuff rings true today especially when it comes to how the US dollar is pretty much in the toilet, the terrible state of the US economy
7) Volunteers – Jefferson Airplane. Lead singer Grace Slick definetly lived up to this song. She was friends with the likes of Abbie Hoffman and once tried to spike then-President Richard Nixon’s tea with 600 micrograms of LSD.
8) Crazy On You – Heart. Suprisingly enough, this is actually a protest song! According to the Wilson sisters, this is a song that was written in response to the war in Vietnam. At the time of writing, their boyfriends were draft-dogers living in Canada.
9) Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who. This was probably one of the best performances the Who ever did. It was after the horrible events of September 11, 2001 where 3 hijacked commercial airlines hit Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and a field in Shanksville, PA – the latter was thought to be headed towards the White House. This was part of the Concert For New York City at Madison Square Garden. In some ways, this was the Who, as British citizens, were maybe saying “we are with you. Kill those terrorist bastards!” The Who themselves have said that this was one of their best performances to date. 10 years later we caught and killed the mastermind behind all of the terror: Osama Bin Ladin.
10) Kerosene – Miranda Lambert. Word to the wise: don’t mess with Miranda Lambert!
Stevie Nicks has proven herself to be the most powerful woman in rock & roll. However, even rocks Gold Dust Woman has
her “what was she thinking” moments. Rock A Little perhaps is one of these.
Rock A Little is a little like her previous release, the 1983 classic The Wild Heart albeit with a more 80′s pop feel. It fits Nicks much like a fashion accessory – too many of them break the overall outfit. The title track, “Rock A Little (Go Ahead Lily),” is one of those tracks. The lyrics scream rock song or at least a power ballad, but instead it is a slower song. Either way, neither song nor lyric fit each other.
“The Nightmare” is a completely senseless song. Though it has a great beat, it’s like she was on quite a bit of drugs when she recorded it. The same goes for other songs such as “I Sing For Things” – which would be an enjoyable track had Nicks not been on drugs, thus slurring her words. She does this on many of the tracks. Shortly after the Rock A Little tour, she famously entered the Betty Ford Clinic for treatment for a cocaine addiction.
However, “I Can’t Wait” is almost like an updated version of the classic smash “Stand Back.” A surprise track that the Wild Heart loves is “If I Were You” – a ballad that is a plea to a significant other to stay in the relationship. It is a beautiful, yet uptempo, ballad. “Sister Honey” is a rare almost-dance track from Stevie Nicks. It is a great album cut. One of the best album tracks is “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You” – a song written for then-boyfriend and member of the Eagles Joe Walsh, who had suffered the loss of his young daughter due to injuries in an automobile accident en route to nursery school in 1974. Walsh took Nicks to the water fountain that she frequented when she was alive to show Nicks that her problems and pain were nothing compared to the hell he has put up with.
Overall the Wild Heart can only recommend this album if either a) you want to show your children what music on drugs sounds like or b) you are a die-heart Stevie Nicks fan. Otherwise, only download a few tracks and nothing more.
If you were a young girl or woman of any age that listened to country music in the mid-late 90′s, it’s quite a guarantee that Shania
Twain was somewhere in your cd collection or you at least heard her ad infinitum on the radio.
Shania Twain is one of those rare acts that has a very interesting backstory with a Cinderella-like quality. Born in Windsor, Ontario Canada into abject poverty, Twain had to endure both tragedy that came in the form of her parents dying in horrific car wreck and taking care of her younger siblings in their absence. It was during this time that she honed her talents in the local bars and resorts to keep the family afloat.
This feisty Canadian, Twain, in the 90′s pushed country music to its pop limits and beyond international boundaries like never before with such albums as The Woman In Me and Come On Over. She makes country music for those that are normally appalled by the hat-wearin, honky-tonk-frequenting, hillbilly image that previously defined country music. She is the quintessential timeless country chic lady and proves it on songs like the title track, Come On Over, That Don’t Impress Me Much, and the still much-loved ballad You’re Still the One.
However some tracks such as Rock This Country, Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You), Whatever You Do! Don’t!, and Rock This Country don’t even sound like country music. That doesn’t stop them from being great tracks.
Overall I would recommend this album. It is a great album to listen to.
In 1976, there were very few well-known women in hard rock. Enter two sisters named Ann and Nancy Wilson from Seattle, WA and their outlaw boyfriends Mike and Roger Fisher. When those women came across the borde
r, magic and Dreamboat Annie was born!
Dreamboat Annie is the 1st album that was released by Heart. Normally with legendary bands, when they release their first album, it takes a bit of maturing on the part of the band to find their voice. Not so with Heart. Heart knows that the audience wants 100% unbridled creativity from their artists and that is exactly what shows on such songs as the hauntingly beautiful Magic Man where Wilson exclaims “‘come on home girl’ he said with a smile/ ‘you don’t have to love me and let’s get high awhile’/ ‘but try to understand’/ ‘try to understand’/ ‘try try try to understand I’m a magic man.’” On other tracks such as Crazy on You and Sing Child show that the Wilson sisters can rock with the best of their peers. They even get a bit raunchy like their male counterparts with White Lightning and Wine - a tribute to the effect that happens when you mix cocaine and booze.
However, the Wilsons are not all hard-rock, no ballad. There are plenty of beautiful ballads such as the three (count ‘em), three different versions of Dreamboat Annie – all of which are amazing.
Unfortunately for Heart, their fortune was put in trouble with their own record company, Mushroom Records, decided to launch a poorly-done campaign resulting in a tabloid-style ad placed in such magazines as Rolling Stone that showed band leaders and sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson as sister lesbian lovers. The ad campaign showed the sisters from the shoulders up with the headline “it was only our first time.” This led to a host of legal problems involving both the band and Mushroom records – which went out of business in 1980.
Legal problems aside, the album itself is a great album. The Wilson sisters made history with this album and that is what makes it great.
Heart is one of those bands that has had many incarnations but still has the constant two frontrunners in the form of sisters Ann 
and Nancy Wilson. They are the female counterparts of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. However, their reasons for the original lineup change is because of their original romantic entanglements with former drummer Mike DeRosier and Roger Fisher.
Heart’s 1985 self-titled album is proof that that the lineup change that occurred with the previous album, Passionworks, and signing on with record label powerhouse Capitol Records, worked.
Heart’s self titled album is nothing short of great. While it stays true to Heart’s somewhat angry hard-rockin’ musical roots with songs such as The Wolf and If Looks Could Kill, one of the best changes is that there are some hard-rockin’ love songs. On Never, Ann cries “We can’t go on just running away/ If we wait any longer we will surely never get away/ Anything you want – we can make it happen/ Stand up and turn around – never let them shoot us down.” She continues with this passion on All Eyes.
One surprise is that, for a change, guitarist Nancy Wilson gets to sing lead vocals for the first time ever on a Heart album. She has a beautiful voice on the smash single These Dreams. The lyrics of the song describe the fantasy world a person enters when faced with a real-life difficult issue. This song was dedicated to a close friend of Nancy Wilson, Sharon Hess, who died of leukemia shortly before the song was made.
One track though, falls flat. Nobody Home sounds like it wants to be a hybrid power-pop ballad meets the signature sound of Heart. It doesn’t work for the band. Shell Shock sounds like an overdone hard-rock song. It even has corny and cliche love song lyrics that do not fit into the repertoire of Heart.
Caveats aside, the album is a welcomed return to both great music and the radio for Heart.
Fleetwood Mac is one of the great blues, pop/rock bands that spawned the successful solo careers of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie
Happy Birthday!
Nicks. However, there is one rather underrated vocalist/keyboardist that almost never gets the attention that she deserves. I am speaking of Christine McVie. Since it is her birthday, I figured we would celebrate and countdown what the Wild Heart thinks are the 10 greatest songs she has written with Fleetwood Mac.
Nightbird’s performance at the Flamingo Room in Houston, TX on July 17th was one that was rather memorable. It was almost
as if you were in the audience for Stevie Nicks‘ Soundstage DVD.
Lead singer Brooke Alyson gave a spot-on performance as the lead singer of the Stevie Nicks tribute band, Nightbird. Alyson opened the show with a rousing, loud, and excellent rendition of Stand Back. Surprisingly enough, she even does Nicks’ signature high-kick at the end, which made the performance more authentic. But one of the best things about this opening was that it did not sound like the 1983 Wild Heart recording but rather the mystical-ness of the 1986 Live at Red Rocks version as well as the technological skill of the Soundstage version. This made the performance feel a bit more authentic along with how the lead singer was dressed – which was very Stevie-esque including long shawls, long black dress and a tophat.
On Nicks’ 1985 hit Talk To Me, Alyson sings with much ease on this beautiful song. One of the greatest highlights was when Alyson hit the line “Though we lay face to face and cheek to cheek our voices stray from common ground where they could meet/ the walls run high to veil a swelling tear” with great ease.
Other songs such as Dreams and Gypsy, Alyson shows that she has a slightly higher vocal range than the contra-alto vocal range of Stevie Nicks. However, this works well for both songs. Gypsy is only made better by the guitar skills of Adam Walton, who plays the solo much better at times than Lindsey Buckingham.
One of the more mesmerizing moments was during Rhiannon, which was done with a stunningly beautiful piano opening from keyboard player Kelli Thompson. Also, Alyson stayed true to the performance version rather than the original recording.
However, the exquisite show-stopper was the show closer: Nicks’ signature smash Edge of Seventeen from her 1981 album Bella Donna, complete with its signature repetitive guitar as Alyson croons the familiar opening “just like the white-winged dove sings the songs sounds like she’s singing/oooh baby ooh.” It was an excellent closer to a band that is as good and at times even better than its original counterparts.
Billy Joel is one of the most versatile artists that rock & roll has ever encountered. One album could be heavy-laden with jazz-tinged 
songs, and the next one could be something completely different. They are never dull and always keep listeners wondering “what is Billy gonna do next.” The same rings true with his 1983 release An Innocent Man – a direct homage to Joel’s influences.
The album, upon first hearing, makes you wanna get up and dance. Especially on Easy Money, which is an homage to the musical and vocal style of James Brown. Other songs such as The Longest Time – which Joel required 14 track harmony and harmonizes with himself.
However, one of the greatest tracks is none other than Uptown Girl, where Joel laments about loving a woman that is clearly out of his league as far as looks and money are concerned. rumored to be about Joel’s then-girlfriend (later mother of his daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, and now ex-wife), supermodel Christie Brinkley. However, she is present in the video.
One of the best things about Billy Joel’s albums are that they capture what it feels like to be in New York. As a native Texan, this is a great thing because it is extremely different. To me, this album screams like it came from the borough of Queens circa 1955-1962. This is what makes this album a fun and happy album to listen to.
Today as I was talking to my wild heart tweeters on twitter, I saw a very interesting trending topic come up on my Twitter account: Aaliyah. I haven’t heard of that name since she died. Kinda sad because she was talented. But it got me to thinking, was it shocking? Not as shocking as what happened 9 years later – even though it probably was a shocking death to both her fans, friends, & family.
To me, the most shocking death in music was none other than Michael Jackson. His is one death that, when I found out, I was in a state of shock. It’s not something that I will forget anytime soon.
Here is my story of where I was when I found out Michael Jackson had died. I was in college at the University of Houston taking summer classes. I also worked at the campus newspaper as the beat writer for the Moores School of Music – one of the best music programs in the nation. I was assigned to write an article on the Concert Chorale going to a major music festival in Llangollen, Wales. So I had to call a few of my music school friends for help. So when it came time for me to go to my own voice lesson, it was there that I found out about his untimely death. My voice teacher told me about it and it was all over the news networks. I was rather upset, but not crying. When I finally got home, it was all over the networks from CNN, ABC had some Barbara Walters Specials airing that were devoted to the King of Pop, you name it. The next morning my friend, Jenny called me as I was getting ready for school. I had it on the local R&B station (Hot 95.7 I believe) and people were sharing their memories about him. I was sharing my memories of him with Jenny. As a newswoman, I figured that I need to jump on this so I called the newsroom after class and asked them if I could do an article and they let me do a tribute article. Needless to say, I was in for a big ride for my college journalistic career that hit me between the eyes.
I spent an entire weekend working on that article. I watched Captain EO at least 5 times on YouTube. It was probably for inspiration. I enjoyed it – but not at the cost of death.
Also, my opinion of him and whether he was inappropriate with a child changed. Like every other American, I thought he did it. Now I look back, the evidence doesn’t measure up.
I remember both when the actual article was published – I was proud of my work and still am. I also remember watching the funeral on CNN and going to a celebration of his life at school – I got a tshirt out of that one.
Needless to say, it was an unforgettable time.
Image via Wikipedia
Rod Stewart is one of those artists that is very chameleon-like and kinda timeless: no matter what decade or genre, he can do it. He’s done punk with his former band, the Faces, disco with Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, straight-up rock with She Won’t Dance With Me, synthpop and new wave with Young Turks and finally aspects of the Great American Songbook.
On his 1974 release, Blondes Have More Fun, Rod Stewart decides to start out the album with a sexy party with the disco-tinged come-on Do Ya Think I’m Sexy. One of the greatest things about this song is that it sounds like its song title. Best of all, like most of Stewart’s songs, it is written as a narrative – almost like he was watching as an observer. But this changes when it comes to the infamous chorus “If you want my body and you think I’m sexy/ Come on, sugar, let me know/ If you really need me just reach out and touch me/ Come on, honey, tell me so.” Stewart is clearly talking about himself.
Other songs like Dirty Weekend are kinda, well, dirty. The word “pussy” does not fit the song – it’s straight up inappropriate. The album further falls on its face with Last Summer. It sounds like he is trying to recreate a slower version of his classic Maggie May. It’s an epic fail on his behalf.
However, the absolute best song is the title track – a straight up rock song that proves to Stewart’s critics that he still a rock & roller in his heart. He even fuses disco and rock together with Standing in the Shadows of Love – which sound great no thanks to legendary drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Phillip Chen.
Overall, this album isn’t worth buying, however some of the good tracks like the title track, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy and Standing In the Shadows of Love are worth downloading.
Image via Wikipedia
Sadly right now the Wild Heart’s twitter account has been suspended until further notice. If we are able to acquire another account, we will let you know what our new twitter handle is. If you followed us or subscribed to us before, we would encourage you to do so again. However, the Wild Heart as a site will still continue to be in use.
You can now follow the wild heart on twitter at @wildheart983.Follow @wildheart983
Ok so we had some more twitter troubles. Please 
. Also, if you were a previous follower of me as thewildheart198 – I would love for you to follow me again!
Kate Bush is one of those artists that has had a rather silent hand in shaping modern-day music in the US. While you may have never heard her original music, she has been covered by and inspired numerous artists that are either from or popular in the US and Canada including Coldplay, Charlotte Church, Natalie Cole, Maxwell, Tori Amos, Lily Allen, Pat Benatar, Coldplay, Muse and even rap duo OutKast, among others.
Her music has been featured in such films and television shows like She’s Having A Baby (whom Bush thanked director John Hughes in the linear notes of The Sensual World for using her song “This Woman’s Work” during the birth scene) and the hit CW television show 7th Heaven.
One of the best parts of the album is Bush’s 1986 single Hounds of Love from her album of the same name. The song itself includes sound samples from the 1957 British horror film, Night of the Demon. The sample itself is spoken by actor Maurice Denham.
The coolest thing about Bush is that she extensively melds classical music and pop/rock. She does this well on such tracks as Sat In Your Lap and the new wave-tinged Experiment IV.
Her 1986 album, The Whole Story, essentially highlights the best of Kate Bush’s career right up to 1986. While the album is great, it doesn’t even begin to cover her. Noticeably absent from this compilation are Them Heavy People from her debut album The Kick Inside and Big Sky. Perhaps this would be better billed as “Kate Bush for Dummies” because, while it doesn’t cover 100% of her illustrious career, it is a great introduction to one of the greatest female vocalist England has to offer.
Let me get this clear into your head I am NOT pregnant! I need a husband – as in I want to be married to the father of my future children 1st, so I can yell at him in the delivery room and cry like a baby with me when the lay little Rhiannon in my arms for the first time. (or Matthew if it’s a boy)
I kid you not its like babypalooza at church. But babies are good despite the fact that the poop, scream, cry, spit up, pull on your ears and cry when they see the Wild Heart. They are cute! I honestly believe they are a gift from God.
I have a friend who was due to give birth yesterday – her due date was yesterday. As far as I know, she has yet to do so. Therefore I am going to do her an unwarranted favor and give her and you a list of songs or albums that could possibly spur on labor for my friend. If you are reading this and are pregnant, I’m helping you even though I am not Dr. Wild Heart. (though I did get my BA in Communications-Broadcast Journalism)
Happy 30th birthday. I wish I could say that you’ve come along way baby. Who knows, maybe you have but is that a good thing?
Please play some videos!
When you started out, you were a burst of sheer amazingness. I wasn’t even born in 1981 and watching all the classic MTV stuff on YouTube & VH1 Classic is still amazing. Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, JJ Jackson, Martha Quinn, & Mark Goodman introduced everyone to the greatest pop/rock & R&B to ever grace a television set: Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, the late Michael Jackson, Stray Cats, Dire Straits, all those amazing other new wave & rock bands. Better yet, there were also the legends like the Who, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Heart, Van Halen, and Yes that had innovative videos that made them cooler and bigger than they were already.
Unfortunately Mtv you disgust me. You don’t air videos. Sure, you air that crap you call the Jersey Shore or those whiny rich kids that dominate The Hills. All I can say is that you no longer deserve that “M” in your title, but rather an “S” – SuckTV because you are terrible. You don’t air videos anymore and when you do – they suck. Lady GaGa is horrible and a ripoff artist – remember Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons? Does her style not remind you of Lady Gaga? You have traded your originality for unoriginal, mindless, uninspiring entertainment. The last decent video you had in this century was a Taylor Swift video in which Kanye West interrupted her VMA speech for said video. Gone are the days of “You Better Run,” “Big Love,” “Money For Nothing,” “Take On Me,” and “Thriller.” Do the math.
So MTV I have some advice for you and I want you to listen very well: PLAY SOME VIDEOS! Do not play the Jersey Shore. I know thousands of people that would love you to do this.
Image via Wikipedia
Pat Benatar is one of those artists that can be angry, sweet, and in this case, insane within one album: Get Nervous.
One of the greatest things about what Benatar does is that she sings from her gut. She does this well on Anxiety (Get Nervous). As a listener, you can feel the fear and trembling in the opening lines “I feel a little shaky, I can’t control my nerves/I know you think I’m freakin’, but can’t you feel the curves?/I swear to you this feeling it scares me half to death/It gathers in my throat and it gathers up my breath.” She also screams and cries her way through Fight It Out and Tell It To Her.
Benatar and husband-guitarist Neil Giraldo are also ones that know how to write an inspiring anthem. Shadows of the Night is a clear follow-up to her signature hit Hit Me With Your Best Shot from her 1980 album Crimes of Passion. It is a song about running into the arms of love despite anything bad happening. However, Benatar and her band return to their classic music formula with Little Too Late, which is an amazing rock song. However that’s only a warm-up to creepily amazing I’ll Do It.
Get Nervous is essentially a concept album without actually being a concept album. In this case the concept is Pat Benatar goes insane. Insane about what? From possibly her 2010 autobiography it could be a metaphor for both her relationship with her then-record company, Chrysalis, and all of their demands. Concept albums aside, Get Nervous is a keeper!
The Wild Heart’s existence is officially justified! I’m not going to name names of who thinks we should not exist, but now I have 
proof that vinyl is superior in sound to both cds, Zunes, and iPods.
As I am writing this, I am listening to one of my latest purchases from the record store, Pat Benatar’s 1984 release Tropico. I own about 2/5ths of the album in other formats: iTunes and her Greatest hits on CD. As I am listening to Painted Desert, one thing that I can clearly hear is her husband, guitarist Neil Giraldo’s beautiful guitar playing as well as some bongos in the background. This cannot be heard on the version that I have on iTunes.
Let’s face it, the days of the CD are numbered. It will become like the 8track: history. Vinyl will once again be king and mp3′s will be at where cassettes were in the 80′s and 90′s – mixtape madness. That is, if people are smart enough.
I say this because the current bestselling artist worldwide, Lady GaGa, has released her latest album Born This Way on vinyl. Other current artists such as Green Day, Adele, and even Nine Inch Nails. Furthermore, other great classic rock artists like Fleetwood Mac, who re-released their landmark Rumours album on vinyl last April, the Police, Guns & Roses, Stevie Nicks, and the late Michael Jackson – who saw a huge resurgence of record sales in 2009 after his death, are re-releasing some of their greatest albums on vinyl.
Now let’s compare some of the qualities of that vinyl has over cds or even iTunes using the current album I am playing: Tropico by Pat Benatar along with a few others from the immaculate collection of the Wild Heart.
Cost: Since we are in a recession we’re fighting high gas prices, cost is everything right now. For my latest purchase, Pat Benatar’s Tropico was $6 used at Black Dog Records in Houston, TX – a place specializing in near-mint condition vinyl. On iTunes, to download this entire album, its $10. Now since apparently this album as a stand-alone is out of print (they re-released it as a dual-CD with Seven The Hard Way) so if you want a stand-alone copy of this album you will end up paying a whopping $10.95 for a used copy of this Pat Benatar classic. However, new vinyl is rather costly – look to spend at least $25 or more.
Sound: Did you know that you hear in analogue? You do. CD’s are recorded in digital, which is why they have an artificial sound. The sounds on a CD or even an mp3 are digital sounds, meaning the sound is more processed and less organic. It doesn’t sound as rich as it should. Take for example Stevie Nicks’ song Sister Honey from her 1985 album Rock A Little. On this track, you can clearly hear the disco-style bass line as well as the high parts where Nicks nearly screams “and she’ll go fast like a jet plane and then fast like a star stream.” As one that likes to listen to this album at work on Grooveshark as well as owns the actual album, the LP version is superior not only due to the sound quality, but the song sequence is messed up on Grooveshark. (I don’t have time to put it in its rightful order) With any artist, there’s a reason the songs are in a certain order. This could be due to the fact the album maybe a live recording, a concept album, or the artist – such as is the case with Nicks – who’s known for being picky about the song sequence on her albums. Also one major downside to vinyl is the fact that it gets scratched after repeated usage – thus affecting the sound quality.
However, we should not knock mp3′s. They are great for sharing music (in the legal way!) and, if you have a smartphone like an iPhone or Android, you can play music for your friends wherever and whenever.
Image via Wikipedia
Musicians Respond to Amy Winehouse’s Death | Rolling Stone Music.
My heart and prayers go out to the Winehouse family as they are suffering quite terribly at this time.
Image via Wikipedia
I wonder why they are not going to re-release A Night At the Opera. That’s the one that everyone from my generation knows because of 2 guys named Wayne and Garth and a little cable-access show we love to call Wayne’s World.
On July 27, 1981 Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks released her landmark solo album Bella Donna. That album with songs
30 years of entertainment and white-winged doves
like Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Leather and Lace - both duets with Tom Petty and Don Henley respectively, and the ever-popular Edge of Seventeen launched her enduring solo career. Though its a belated birthday, I, would like to present you with the 10 facts that you probably didn’t know about Bella Donna.
Kings of Leon Show Fiasco Hints at Band Problems | Rolling Stone Music.
Dear Caleb Followill,
I hate to break it to you but yeah you were drunk at that show. Call the wild heart straight up crazy, but I don’t think that performing as drunk as you were is cool. It’s not. Please go get help. Go to the Betty Ford clinic if you must. I hear it is a great place for celebrities like you. Or Drew Pinskey.
Image via Wikipedia
Van Halen Working On New Album With David Lee Roth | Rolling Stone Music.
OMG! This would be amazing! I know David Lee Roth can sometimes be a bit of a man-diva, but let’s face it, with the wave of classic rock artists like Heart, Stevie Nicks, and Def Leppard releasing albums of new material, I would predict that this album or at least the tour would go far and sell well.
Image via Wikipedia
Slash: Rocks with ‘Phineas and Ferb’ | Rolling Stone New and Hot Videos.
Since the best friend of the Wild Heart loves Phineas and Ferb (she’s a graphic designer just so you know) I thought this was rather amazing!
Introducing the Queen of Pop | Rolling Stone Music.
Aren’t they forgetting the original Queen of Pop, who is also the Material girl: Madonna?! I think they are!
Dear Steve Wozniack,
Hi, my name is Christina, a.k.a “the wild heart.” Since I have watched Us Festival portions on VH1 Classic and YouTube, I have come to one conclusion: you must bring this amazing festival BACK! You could get some of the original acts like Pat Benatar and Ozzy Osbourne, but also some of the newer ones as well – like Arcaid Fire for example.
Think of it as a way to showcase the latest and greatest of Apple and put the hurt on Google, whose followers (*ahem*) are more cultish than us Apple users. Google cannot pull something as amazing as this festival was and would be if it were to be done again.
Signed,
Christina Hildebrand
A.K.A “The Wild Heart”
Houston, TX
One of the best things about Contemporary Christian Music singer Amy Grant is that she isn’t afraid to tell the truth. Though the truth can hurt, she does it in a very loving way. This is what makes her rather popular even to this day in Contemporary Christian Music.
On 1982′s Age To Age, Grant shows that she is now a beautiful, young, Christian woman. Grant, whose previous albums included her self titled debut album (recorded when she was only a teenager), My Father’s Eyes, 2 live albums, and 1980′s
forgettable Never Alone.
Grant takes a new musical direction with Age to Age. She and then-piano player Michael W. Smith experiment with some of the musical stylings that made the music of Fame popular at the time on Don’t Run Away. Grant also grows up lyrically on Got to Let It Go where she exclaims ”Lord, here’s my heart/ I’ve been keepin’ it from you/ And I’ve got to let it go/ Holdin’ on just brings me worry.
Other songs, she takes a more classically-inclined approach. Songs such as Sing Your Praise to the Lord, and El Shaddai, which is sung partially in Hebrew. The latter talks about the death of Christ.
Age to Age was the first Christian music album to gain gold certification status in 1983. It became the first of its genre to be certified platinum in 1985. Upon its release, it became the fastest-selling CCM album during that time – unheard of in that genre back then!
Overall this is a good album, but if you are not familiar with Grant’s earlier work – only her later work, you will be dissappointed. However this is still a classic.
Music From ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ by Various Artists | Rolling Stone Music | Music Reviews.
Ok everyone there is something inherently wrong with the idea of having U2 do
songs for a musical about one of my favorite films from highschool: Spiderman. It’s one thing to have the memorable video by Dashboard Confessional but quite another to have U2.
Not to mention this show has had many OSHA violations, resulting in the actors getting injured!
Cover of Solitude / Solitaire
Peter Cetera is the quintessential rockstar for women, which is quite unexplainable. Much akin to most men that love Rush. Perhaps it is because Cetera knows how to say everything that a woman wants to hear from a man and more. On his 1986 release, Solitude Solitaire this former front-man for Chicago proves that he can do more than the horn-laden easy listening music of his former band. Instead, he goes for the slick, synth-laden production that dominated music in the 80′s.
However, this is what makes this album good. Cetera shows that he knows what a woman wants step-by-step in this album, starting with Big Mistake, where he warns women to stay away from cheating men. They cause only harm. He also praises women on the upbeat song They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To by saying “don’t ever stop trying/don’t let her get away/they don’t make ‘em like they used to/ I think they’re better than before/ It’s more than a physical attraction/ Keeps you coming back for more”This is a rare thing even today to hear an artist such as Cetera actually praising women, not calling them ‘bitches’ & ‘ho’s.’
One of the best tracks is Next Time I Fall which features a then-unknown CCM singer named Amy Grant. It’s a sexy tack and shows both singers’ talent very well.
Overall, it’s an ok album if you are into slick production. But if you are into being consistently swept off your feet or are in love, this is the album for you. Rated A for Amour.
Image via Wikipedia
Jay-Z, Kanye Are ‘Young Legends,’ Otis Redding Daughter Says – Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV.
I don’t know if I agree with Ms. Redding but I will say this: I do like most of the lyrics to Jesus Walks except for the part where he uses the n-word.
However, Kanye acts crazy! I mean, as the president said, he’s a jackass. He interrupted Taylor Swift’s speech. What did she do to deserve that? But everyone makes mistakes
Image via Wikipedia
And The Top 25 Tours Of 2011 (So Far) Are… | PerezHilton.com.
I wouldn’t put the Kings of Leon on there because the rest of their summer tour because the lead singer needs to check into Betty Ford.
Now the mere idea of George Strait and Reba touring together, as a native Texan and semi-lover of country music (something in the water here I swear!) – that would be strait-up country legend bliss. I am surprised they didn’t make a stop in good ol’ Houston, TX yet since both haven’t been around the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo lately. (For the record, if you ever come down to TX sometime in February or March, make sure you go to this because this is the most UNIQUE rodeo you will ever go to music wise – I saw Janet Jackson last year at the rodeo)
No more Eurythmics reunion, says Annie Lennox | TopNews.
Dear Annie and Dave,
Hi, I am Christina. I live in Houston, TX. I like the Eurythmics and would love to see you record and tour again. Yes I am well aware, Dave, that you are working with Stevie Nicks now. In fact, I wanted you to come to Houston for the In Your Dreams tour, but sadly you declined.
But I think it is time for yet another reunion. Don’t you think?
Sweet dreams are made of this.
Love,
Christina Hildebrand
AKA
The wild heart
Image via Wikipedia
Stevie Nicks – Original Stand Back US Fest 1983 – YouTube.
In celebration of the In Your Dreams tour coming to Houston, TX this Saturday at 8pm (if you haven’t gotten your tickets yet and live in Houston, go to get ‘em!), I think I shall post a few things about, well, the author of the album that is the name of this blog: The Wild Heart herself. (Though I blog about other artists too!)
I will also be tweeting from the concert so if you aren’t following me, well now is a GREAT time to start following me on Twitter.
Theres Gonna Be Two Versions of The Glee Concert Movie: One With & One Without… | PerezHilton.com.
As you may or may not know, the Wild Heart loves Glee. What would you think of me doing a review of this film? I think I should.
Video: Flaming Lips’ Stage Collapses in Oklahoma | Rolling Stone Music.
This is the 2nd time this has happened this summer. I think it is turning out to be a bit disastrous of a summer concert season. First it was Cheap Trick, then the Kings of Leon canning their summer tour, and now the Flaming Lips. Then of course the death of Amy Winehouse.
What is becoming all of this!
………why the Wild Heart may have lost respect for Kings of Leon.
Kings of Leon: Premiere clip from ‘Talihina Sky’ | Rolling Stone Videos.
Seriously Caleb, if you keep acting like the douchebag, you are going to kill your band! Nobody likes a douchebag including the Wild Heart.
Singer Gaving DeGraw Hospitalized After Vicious Attack In NYC! | PerezHilton.com.
Whaaat?! Either way I, the Wild Heart, will try to keep you in my prayers!
A few months ago, an old highschool friend of mine named Trey asked me, the Wild Heart, about where to sell his parents records in Houston. I, of course told him to go to either Cactus Records on S. Shepherd and Portsmouth st. or Black Dog Records on S. Shepherd.
So I have decided to come up with a list of things you should look at when buying records. I am not one that assesses records regularly, but I do buy records on a semi-regular basis.
Here are some of the things that you need to look at when selling your records. However, one thing you are going to need is a knowledgeable friend who knows about the genres or superfans of the artist.
Notice that Stevie's name is misspelled - there is no "e" at the end of her name when there should be.
Misprints: Believe it or not, misprints, goofs, and misspellings will, in this case, work to your advantage when selling your vinyl records. These are mainly manufacturing goofs. A great example of this would be from the Wild Heart’s own record collection: an original copy of Buckingham Nicks, an album by Fleetwood Mac members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who released the album in 1973 prior to their musical union with Fleetwood Mac. In the album’s linear notes, Stevie’s name is misspelled. A more famous (and funny) example of this would be the Beatles first album released in the US that contained a risque misprint.
Alternate album covers: Alternate album covers can automatically bring up the price of an album tenfold. In my opinion, depending on how rare the alternate album cover is. I would use this rule of thumb: if its an alternate album cover, as in it doesn’t look like the album cover everyone knows, then you should charge them more. Take for example CCM artist Amy Grant’s 1977 self-titled debut album. It wasn’t expected to sell as well as it did considering that Contemporary Christian music was considered a niche
The re-shot album cover for Amy Grant's 1977 self-titled debut album
market and sold only in Christian bookstores. However, the album sold over 50,000 copies and launched her successful career in Contemporary Christian music and later, pop music. Therefore, possibly the original album cover was unappealing for the mainstream market, therefore they shot another album cover and that is what we know today. Either way it is now worth a pretty penny.
Import: If the album is considered an import, as in its from another country, then tack on at least $10-15. If you can remember where you got the album, then you should probably note it. However usually there is a way to tell and it’s located on the back of the album. It may say “Germany” or whatever country it is from. For example, if you got a Beatles record in Australia, you can make the buyer pay well for that one.
Buckingham Nicks was originally released in 1973 but went nowhere. However, in 1978 after the success of their union with Fleetwood Mac, Polydor decided to re-release the record in 1978. Note that on this album it says 1973, making it an original release.
Year & record label: This is probably the thing you wanna check first. This will tell you if it is a reissue or an original pressing. An original pressing is a good thing, you want this because it will get you more money. Reissues will get you nothing.
Popularity of the artist and the record: This is perhaps one of the most important things to look at. The more popular the artist, the more worth the album will be. One thing I would look at is this: are they in some sort of hall of fame? If they are, it would be safe to say that you can ask for more money. Also, you need to know how popular the record was upon first release. For example, if you have a copy of Synchronicity by the Police, you can sell it for a good price. However, if its something non-legendary such as Heartbeat City by the Cars – then you can virtually give that one away.
And last but not least…..look at the condition of the record. If it repeats or skips on any song, you’re better off making it into a DIY project. Don’t sell it. People don’t wanna buy a scratched record.
Ouch Johnny! Hope you are on the road to getting well so you can sing all of everyone’s favorite Lynyrd Sknyrd songs like “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Freebird” – the anthem of the rest of the southern states of the US (except for Texas – ours is “God Bless Texas” by Little Texas – better known to everyone else as the jingle for Ford Motor Trucks)
So hopefully this “Freebird” will once again be flying and touring the rest of the US as well as their “Sweet Home Alabama.”
In 1973 there was a young couple that resided in Los Angeles that were from the remnants of a band called Fritz – who previously became popular because they opened for the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, among others in the San Francisco Bay area. Though their band Fritz disbanded, band members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks secured a record deal with Polydor records.
Though the album flopped and was dropped from Polydor, it served as a springboard for both members musical careers. One day producer Keith Olson was playing Long Distance Winner to Mick Fleetwood, drummer for the popular British then-blues band Fleetwood Mac, who had endured a staggering 9 lineup changes prior to the inclusion of Buckingham Nicks. Originally Mick wanted only Buckingham. However, according to Behind the Music Remastered, Buckingham insisted on his then-girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, come as part of a “package deal.”
Buckingham Nicks’ self-titled debut album is like a beautiful diamond in the rough or even a fine wine: it gets better with age and experience. Nicks voice sounds raw as does Buckingham’s fast guitar picking on Don’t Let Me Down Again which, at one point Nicks seems to slightly scream “Baby baby don’t treat me this way.” One of the more hauntingly beautiful tracks is Races Are Run, which singer Stevie Nicks voice shines. The song itself though, in retrospect kinda foreshadows what would happen to Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who famously were one of many of the band members in the throes of a bad breakup during the recording of Fleetwood Mac’s enormously popular Rumours album in 1977. Though they have had their moments, the two are still friends to this day.
However, one of the coolest things about this album is that if it was released today, it would quite possibly be a hit in the indie world. In a perfect world this album would’ve been a hit, they would have gotten married and made more albums like this. But as time went on to successful careers: Stevie as a member of Fleetwood Mac as well as a massively popular solo career and Lindsey Buckingham as an influential guitar player.
A+
In celebration of Ms. Nicks (and the fact that this blog is named after one of her best albums, The Wild Heart) coming to the land Down Under this week, we’d like to present you with the 10 best songs that every little Nicks fan needs on their Grooveshark account or iPod if you can get them onto there – some are rare tracks. If you do not have a Grooveshark account, please do get one. You can thank me later.
It was a full moon with blazing humid Texas heat but that didn’t stop thousands of enthusiastic Stevie Nicks fans from singing 
along to some of her greatest hits at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands – a suburb of Houston, TX on August 13.
Nicks opened the show with a searing rendition of her 1983 classic Stand Back as she slowly twirled around with her red shawl adorning her back and arms. She even did her signature high-kick near the song’s end.
“Well hello hello Houston welcome,” Nicks said in a mysterious tone. “They said it was gonna be hot but this is fantastic.”
Nicks then launched into a very enchanting rendition of Secret Love, the first single off her latest album In Your Dreams.
During the concert, the Gold Dust Woman proved that she is the master of suspense. For a moment she left the stage as it faded to black and changed into a golden shawl as the band chimed in with her signature Fleetwood Mac hit Gold Dust Woman. After the song Nicks lamented about the death of Amy Winehouse and how Nicks, while singing the lyric “you don’t see me now/you don’t feel me now” was thinking of the singer and her untimely death as she was singing the song. Nicks repeated this suspenseful vibe later in the show while performing a bang-up rendition of her 1976 hit Rhiannon.
One of the most touching moments of the evening was when Nicks talked about her trip to Walter Reed Medical Center, which made her cry. It served as the inspiration for Soldier’s Angel. The audience gave her a semi-standing ovation. Nicks then encouraged everyone to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project and the USO.
Nicks shines when she kicks up her heels and rocks – which is exactly what she did on Ghosts Are Gone. However that paled in comparison to the extremely popular showstopper Edge of Seventeen – which had a very long intro as Nicks emerged dressed in a white blouse and black dress. Shortly after she came back onstage for the encore she said “we want to leave you with a kiss” and launched into a beautiful rendition of Love Is.
The Gold Dust Woman, though she was losing her voice, still sounded amazing. She proves that at the ripe age of 63 that she can still rock it like she did in the 1980′s. After all these years, Stevie Nicks still looks and sounds amazing.
Black Sabbath reuniting | Celebrity Buzz – KKRW 93.7 The Arrow Houston’s Classic Rock Station.
That’s right all you metalheads! The original lineup of Black Sabbath is reuniting after nearly 33 years. They are reportedly recording a new album in their hometown of Birmingham, England. Their last studio album, Never Say Die, was released in 1978.
This will surely please all metalheads everywhere, which gives the Wild Heart fuzzy feelings inside. 
Image via Wikipedia
I must admit, and I know I will probably anger many Van Halen purists, but it must come out: I like the Sammy Hagar years of Van Halen. I don’t know why, but I think it is because of this video here:
Unfortunately this weekend, the Indiana State Fair suffered a catastrophic loss of 5 people with dozens more injured when country band Sugarland was to take the stage.
Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that something horrible has happened in concert. If anything, it should be a lesson to concert promoters and management to make sure that the stage is structured properly and also, if bad weather is coming – which they were reportedly forewarned a few hours earlier, please take the proper precaution so that this never happens.
Unfortunately in the past, some concerts have even gotten violent, such as these. May those that suffered or died know that you have not been forgotten.
Altamont
Altamont was an accident waiting to happen when it came to security detail. It was billed as “Woodstock West” – it was anything but. Instead of getting regular security guards or even SFPD, they paid the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels with $500 worth of beer. The headlining Rolling Stones were intimidated by the whole situation. Mick Jagger urged everyone to “just be cool down in front there, don’t push around” shortly before a fight erupted within a minute of their third song “Sympathy For the Devil” – one minute into the song. After consistently telling the crowd to calm down, the Hells Angels went after 18 year old Meredith Hunter, who became a homicide victim after drawing a pistol. It was a rather violent festival that also included 3 accidental deaths, injuries, property damage and cars stolen.
The event was so violent that other acts such as the Grateful Dead refused to play after the Stones’ set.
Woodstock 99
A peace group passed out candles that were supposed to be lit when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played “Under the Bridge” but were instead used to make a massive bonfire and burn everything in sight. There were also reports of rape going on – including a woman who was crowd surfing during Limp Bizkit’s set, was pulled down into the crowd and gang raped.
1979 Who Concert Disaster
In 1979 the Who’s concert at Cincinnati, OH Riverfront Coliseum killed 11 fans and injured dozens more. Seating at the venue was festival seating – first come first served. There were only a few doors opened when everyone outside heard the band warming up and thought the concert had actually started. Bottlenecking ensued and people were essentially trampled and suffocated. This resulted in the remainder of the concert season of the venue, which included Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult, being cancelled as well as festival seating being banned in Cincinnati for many years.
The Station Fire in Rhode Island featuring Glam metal band Great White
The Station Fire in Rhode Island was perhaps one of the worst tragedies in concert history. On February 23, 2003 at a glam-metal themed nightclub, The Station, Great White was scheduled to perform and decided to use pyrotechnic gerbs during their opening number, which ignited the flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings that surrounded the stage. Over 100 lives were claimed including Great White’s lead guitarist Ty Longley and WHJY DJ Mike “The Doctor” Gonsalves.
Nearly 27 years ago, a mother listened to her daughter’s copy Prince’s Purple Rain and came across the song Darling Nikki and 
heard the lyrics which talk about sex. This mother, Tipper Gore, was upset at what she heard. So, being the wife of US Senator and future Vice President Al Gore (D-TN), she teamed up with the other politicians wives to form the Parental Music Resource Center.
The PMRC is essentially a censorship watchdog group hopped up on a great deal of power that seeks to censor music.
However, one must wonder if it is a violation of our 1st Amendment Rights? It is because it is a double-edged sword. What maybe objectionable to one person may not be objectionable to another. Take for example the song 666 by Christian rockers DeGarmo and Key.It was banned due to violent content, even though Mtv has aired equally violent or more violent videos at the time that the song came out. Actually, it’s not that violent when say, compared to other music videos such as Be Chrool To Your Scuel by Twisted Sister or even the Michael Jackson classic epic Thriller. But perhaps it could be because of DeGarmo and Key’s strong Christian lyrics. We will never know.
Additionally, lyrical meaning can be misinterpreted. This always seemed to plague early rockers such as the Beatles – whose song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. The song was about a painting John Lennon’s son brought home from school. Everyone else thought it was about drugs because the song spells out the acronym “LSD.”
Also, is it needed nowadays with digital downloading and youtube? Instead of your parents putting down the gauntlet saying “you can’t listen to country music or other nonchristian music” when they themselves have a sizable record collection consisting of nothing but the Who, Pink Floyd, Heart, the Doors, Bad Company, etc. Now, if a child wants to listen to something the parent considers objectionable, they can always do one of these things:
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
With that said, I think that it should be up to the parent, not the government, to allow the child to listen to whatever music. Because free speech is subjective. Now for me, if stuff like Katy Perry and Lady GaGa are still popular when I have children, I won’t let my children listen to them. But I will train them in right and wrong.
Alice Cooper, overall, is one of rock music’s greatest and craziest showmen. Love It To Death – the Alice Cooper Tribute Show stayed 
true to the timeless idea of crazy fun that is Alice Cooper Saturday night at the Flamingo Room in Houston, TX.
Lead singer Paul Byron opened the night of crazy fun with Department of Youth. However that was a mere warm-up to the most popular song of the evening No More Mr. Nice Guy.
One of the greatest things about Love It To Death was the showmanship of Paul Byron, who entered during Eighteen with a bent-up crutch. He Byron uses the crutch to push out guitarist Rob Jacobs out for a searing solo and uses it almost like he’s powering Jacobs like a wind-up doll.
Billion Dollar Babies was sung with as much fire and grit as Alice himself. Byron even threw out disco beads and fake money into the crowd with a fencing sword. However, that pales in comparison to both the scarily exciting snake that was bought out for It Is My Body.
As someone who has only a working knowledge of Alice Cooper, his stage show and music; this show makes the audience members want to further explore the music and stage show that is Alice Cooper. This is a show that should not be missed!
Image via Wikipedia
Throughout her career, Pat Benatar has worn many wardrobes: angry rocker chick, sultry singer, wife to guitarist Neil Giraldo, and on 1984′s Tropico, impending motherhood. Benatar and husband Neil Giraldo found out that they were pregnant with their firstborn [their duaghter Haley] between the video shoot for Painted Desert and the recording of We Belong.
As with impending motherhood and the requirement of growing up, Benatar and Giraldo grow up musically with this album. This is well shown in the lyrics of Takin’ It Back. Benatar and Giraldo trade in the hard rock that made In the Heat Of The Night, Crimes of Passion and even Get Nervous for a more pop-oriented sounding album. Also, gone is the anger and grit that made those albums. Instead, a considerably toned-down persona has taken its place. Surprisingly, it fits Benatar very well.
There’s literally is no weak track on Tropico. This is perhaps Benatar’s strongest effort since Crimes of Passion. Also, it relies less on the angry rock and more on optimism, which is shown on Diamond Field and the album’s hit single We Belong.
However, some of the best tracks aren’t even 100% hit material – such as Love In the Ice Age and A Crazy World Like This.
Overall, this is a “don’t miss” album by Pat Benatar.
Image via Wikipedia
So It has come to the attention of I, the Wild Heart, that yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the death of legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn. Since I was born, raised, and still reside in the great state of Texas – Stevie is a big deal when it comes to blues music. You could say he is the equivalent of what Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi are to those on the Jersey shore.
However, there’s something about Stevie that makes him a little different than other guitarists. However, it has almost nothing to do with his technique, style or even vocals. It is what he believes. It turns out that later in his life, Vaughn rediscovered the faith of his childhood.
Here is an excerpt from his journal according to topix.com:
“God…I pray that I be cleansed/washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Born again. I pray that I may be of use to you as you see fit. Help me that I may do my part. Amen.” ……….”God has been very good to me. He is good to all life. The willingness to try to work on my health is another and I am grateful for this opportunity.” ……….”Altho I can get confused about life and it’s lessons, I can say that I am trying very hard to learn. I can see that I am learning how to care for others and for myself. Slowly sometimes, but surely nevertheless. I can play beautiful music. This is a gift that God has given me and a gift that I do my best to use for good and give it all I have. I am loved by many of God’s children for this, and because it does show that I am trying to grow in this life. God saved me among so many and I must accept that he has a purpose for me. If I am good enough for God, I should be good enough for me. Thank you, God!”
Also here is a sample from “Life Without You.”
“You know, right now, the most important thing in my life is to make sure you understand that first of all, I thank God I’m alive today. And I mean that. You see, I spent too many years of my life thinking that the big party was the whole thing. It took me quite a while to realize that the real deal is to be able to be enough of a person on your own to know when somebody loves you and cares about you. You see, we are here, as far as I can tell, to help each other. Our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our enemies. That’s to help each other, not hurt each other…and sometimes, to help them, we have to help ourself…so that we’ll know that they’re around in the first place.
You see, it’s a big world out there…there’s enough pain and misery in it without me going around and helpin’ it out by hurting myself, and consequently, those that care about me. What I’m trying to get across to you is: Please take care of yourself and those that you love…because that’s what we are here for, that’s all we’ve got, and that is what we can take with us.”
Now here is an interesting ordeal: the Wild Heart serves the same God that Stevie is talking about. I maybe a bit imperfect – actually I am VERY imperfect. But Christ makes me perfect.
Sadly for Vaughn, he passed away August 27th, 1990 in East Troy, Wisconsin in a helicopter crash.
His time may have been short, but he was one that will never be forgotten.
Just thought that was super-interesting to share.
Thursday night at Stereo Live on Richmond in Houston, TX was given a lil’ blast from the past from Great Britian and the US in the 
form of 80s bands When In Rome, Animotion, and A Flock of Seagulls. In the words of Animotion bass player Charles Ottavio, “You have just stepped into a time machine and traveled back to 1985.”
Animotion literally stole the show for the night. Their high-energy show was nothing short of infectious and made you want to bang your head metal-head style, dance, or both. This was due in part to lead singer Astrid Plane, who performed such songs as their best-known smash single from 1983, Obsession. Animotion performed songs from their 1st and 2nd albums such as I Want You as well as some new songs like Ready To Fly in which lead singer Plane said “this song is dedicated to anyone who has had to start over this year.”
Well-spoken, Astrid!
Special thanks to Cactus Records in Houston, TX for the tickets.
It was a night with the sisterhood of the traveling guitars, a Gold Dust Woman, and a lady hailing from Port Arthur, TX Friday night at the Flamingo Room in Houston, TX with Spare Heart – a Tribute to Heart, Nightbird: Stevie NicksTribute, & Kozmic Pearl – a tribute to Janis Joplin.
Kozmic Pearl helped everyone step back in time with their interpretation of the best of late legend Janis Joplin., and opener Black Roze.
BlackRozeHouston kicked off the evening with a nice rendition of Your Love by the Outfield. However, that was nothing compared to the sultry vocals of the excellent Pat Benatar classic Invincible by Claudia Valenzuela. Their set was like a nice iPod playlist. They were a pretty good warmup for what was to come.
Spare Heart kicked off their set with a nice rendition of the 1978 hit Straight On from the Dog & Butterfly album. They even added a few bars to the song in a sort of jam-like session virtue, which gave the song a strong, welcome-to-the-show-like quality. However, the definitive showstopper was none other than Heart’s 1985 single Never in which bass player Sean Harrold brought the house down with his mad bass-playing skills.
In the style of the original Heart, Spare Heart changed the pace of the show with a slow, yet beautiful rendition of Love Alive. However, lead singer Linda Lambert kicks it back into high gear with Crazy On You and the ever-enchanting Magic Man. One of the more interesting things about their performance of Magic Man is that guitarist Staci Butler stays true to the Dreamboat Annie Live version rather than the actual recording of Dreamboat Annie.
However, what performance of a Heart tribute band would not be complete with a rousing performance of Heart’s most recognizable hit, Barracuda, which is the [literal] high note that Spare Heart used to close their set.
Kozmic Pearl was essentially like a little glimpse into what it may have been like to see the late legendary Janis Joplin with the Kozmic Blues Band in 1969 at Woodstock in . However, the highlight was when lead singer Myrna Sanders launched into a sultry rendition of Summertime and Cry Baby. According to one event attendee, Sanders was pretty close in her interpretation of Janis Joplin in both voice and even her bohemian-like style.
The main headliner was Nightbird – a Stevie Nicks tribute band. Lead vocalist Brooke Alyson portrays “Stevie Nicks” with much finesse as she launched into the ever-popular Stand Back – complete with twirls and sashays much like the real Stevie Nicks. One of the interesting things is that Alyson consistently takes cues from Nicks’ live shows – such as Nicks recent live show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion.
One of the best things about Nightbird is that, like Stevie herself, Alyson adds quite extensively to the performance version of the songs – much like she did on the classic 1985 single Talk To Me. Alyson’s version sounds more like the Live At Red Rocks version rather than the actual recording. One of the best moments is when she semi-quietly sings the line “though we lay face to face and cheek to cheek/ Our voices stray from the common ground where they could meet/ The walls run high, to veil a swelling tear” and then bursts into the rest of this beautiful song, giving it a majestic bang.
Nightbird pleases both new and dire-hard fans of Stevie Nicks
However one of the major surprises is that Alyson performed some of the deeper tracks of Nicks’ career such as songs from her latest album In Your Dreams where she did an a capella version of Moonlight (A Vampires Delight) as a lead-in to Sorcerer. Sorcerer is a Buckingham Nicks song that was meant for (but didn’t make the final cut) of the album of the same title that was released prior to Nicks and then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham’s union with Fleetwood Mac.
Another major albeit nice surprise was the fact that keyboard player Kelli Thompson sang the Fleetwood Mac hit You Make Lovin’ Fun from 1977′s Rumours album as well as guitarist Adam Walton’s interpretation of I’m So Afraid.
It was a great night that celebrated the three most influential women in rock and roll.
Beyonce Is Preggers!!! Announces Pregnancy At MTV VMAs!! | PerezHilton.com.
That’s right everyone, Houston’s own Beyonce announced at the MTV VMA’s that she and husband Jay-Z are expecting their first child.
Exciting!
With that said I would like to make a song dedication to Beyonce and her husband. It’s from one of my favorite singers, who, upon recording this song and the subsequent album, found out she was pregnant.
Image via Wikipedia
Fleetwood Mac Set for 2012 Reunion – Spinner.
Well, the “rumours” are true. That’s right! The legendary Fleetwood Mac will once again hit the road and entertain us all.
Now though the Wild Heart absolutely loves the band the way it is, I think it would be really special if, say, for a few shows, former keyboardist Christine McVie returns – even if it was just for a show in England, where she currently resides.They could then tape the show and call it “Fleetwood Mac: the final dance.” Let’s face it, they aren’t getting any younger and are pretty close (if not already) at the US average retirement age.
Also, it would be nice to hear some of McVie’s songs as well such as Hold Me, Everywhere, Songbird, and Love In Store.
Image via Wikipedia
In honor of the latest announcement from Fleetwood Mac, we thought it would be nice to tell the whole wide world of what artists would be possibly a well-sold tour if they teamed up. As they say, sometimes two heads are better than one.
We are starting another new thing here at the Wild Heart called Artist to Watch For. Whenever we find a artist that we fancy that is a
Watch out for this duo - they are ready to reintroduce real music into the scene.
newcomer, unsigned, etc we will tell you all that we think about it.
Jack And White’s On the Move.
In an alternate musical universe, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks would have gotten married and had children. Jack and White quite possibly would have been their children. Their single On The Move is available all week on iTunes as a free download. This is one download that you should not miss!
Image via Wikipedia
Beyonc’s Pregnancy Boosts Her Record Sales | Rolling Stone Music.
Wow! That’s crazy-cool. Now, here is the funny thing: about 26-27 years ago, according to Pat Benatar’s autobiography, Between A Heart & A Rock Place; her record company, Chrysalis, went absolutely berserk upon finding out that she was with child.
I guess sex symbols aren’t supposed to grow up. But who’s to say that pregnancy isn’t a beautiful thing.
Image via Wikipedia
Paul McCartney’s Intimate Voicemails to Heather Mills Hacked? – Spinner.
OOOOOH! That one is going to leave mark! Kinda reminds me of a personal time when a former (and she is this for a reason!) friend’s unsavory fiancee and father of her daughter got ahold of my cellphone number without my or apparently her permission. Apparently she didn’t have the passcode lock (like I do) and he got ahold of my number and called me TWICE.
Not fun.
Image via Wikipedia
Madonna’s Story to Be Told in Her Own ‘Female Force’ Comic Book – Spinner.
Now THIS will be a must-buy on the Wild Heart’s future version of her version of “Oprah’s favorite things.” What do you think?
Image via Wikipedia
Boy George May Reunite Culture Club For 30th Anniversary!! | PerezHilton.com.
This could get interesting!
karma karma karma chameeeellleeoon/you come and gooo/you come and goooo ooh ooh
Jay-Z Breaking News and Gossip | PerezHilton.com.
Well if you must know, the Wild Heart is a February baby. So I must say that this baby may share a birthday with another awesome person – ME!
Image via Wikipedia
Watch Out, Hollywood! Hackers Are Coming After YOU! | PerezHilton.com.
Dear Hollywood Hackers,
You may think this is very funny to hack into celebrities (or in my case – musicians) cellphones, computers, etc. As a technical writer by day who runs and manages the Wild Heart blog at night, to say that I’m not a fan of you is a complete understatement. I loathe you. You are extremely lucky I am a Christian and am censoring myself in what I say to you here!!
Nobody likes you and what you are doing. People’s jobs are being hurt because of you but I guess you don’t give a damn about that now do you?
Cover of Private Dancer
Rock music has many survivors. Tina Turner is one of them. She is living proof that a woman can break away from a manipulating wife beater (and musical partner) named Ike Turner to go onto a record-breaking solo career.
Turner’s comeback album, Private Dancer, proves that she is much better than the douchebag that is Ike Turner. Turner is a true survivor. She wastes no time in letting the listener know this fact on I Might Have Been Queen where she declares “I’m a new pair of eyes/ an original mind/ with my senses of old/ and the heart of a giant/ and I’m searching through the wreckage/ for some reconciliation that I might have been queen/ for every sage that falls/ there is an ancient child.” This is essentially Turner declaring that this isn’t the Tina Turner of Ike and Tina Turner, but rather a new and improved Tina.
One of the major highlights is the title track, which showcases Turner’s vocal prowess on the chorus. She also explores the complication of love with What’s Love Got To Do With It – which has since become her signature song. The song later became the title of the 1993 biopic starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.
However, Tina goes all out with Steel Claw, which sounds like an updated version of hers and Ike’s cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival single Proud Mary. It is perhaps the best song on the entire album.
One part of the album, though, falls flat: her version Help by the Beatles. It’s a reinterpretation that doesn’t make any sense.
Bad interpretations aside, it is a good album. A-
Image via Wikipedia
Fleetwood Mac is one of those bands that’s timeless: they have a tendency to stay relevant regardless of the time period, yet somehow stay true to their musical roots. However, they are a little prone to experimentation, which can be somewhat of a hit or miss.
Tusk is one of those albums where Lindsey and co. do exactly that. At times, such songs as The Ledge sound great, but lyrically sound like a veiled reference to all the fights that led to the demise of the romantic relationship between band members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham – who wrote the song. If it is meant to invoke the insanity of their breakup, well Lindsey captured it very well. Other songs such as I Know I’m Not Wrong, sound a bit reminiscent of their previous album, Rumours, but with a bit of a nice kick.
What Makes You Think You’re The One shows the overall strong musicianship of original member, drummer Mick Fleetwood.
However, there are some major misses with this album, such as That’s All For Everyone. The song drowns in mediocrity – something very uncharacteristic when it comes to the creativity of Lindsey Buckingham. Even worse, on both this song and Not That Funny you can barely decipher what Buckingham is actually saying.
One of the major hit and misses with Tusk is some of Stevie’s contributions. On one hand, you have Sara, which is very beautiful track. Sara was written about Stevie’s then-best friend Sara Recor, whom Mick Fleetwood (who Stevie was dating at the time) fell in love with and eventually married and divorced her. One must wonder though, considering the circumstances, is this meant as sarcasm to her or just a nice song to a close friend? One of her better songs is Angel, which sounds more like the familiar Fleetwood Mac sound, albeit with a rather interesting bass line provided by John McVie.
However, keyboardist Christine McVie almost steals the album with her contribution of the hauntingly beautiful Brown Eyes. The track itself is reminiscent of both the Doors and Led Zepplin. McVie is the true balladeer of Fleetwood Mac. She proves this on the following track as well: Never Make Me Cry.
The best thing about Tusk is the title track. The band goes all out – complete with the USC Trojan Marching Band. The track has an overal stalker-like tone when Buckingham whispers the lyrics, then Mcvie and Nicks break in with him with the rallying cry of “Don’t say that you love me/ just tell me that you want me/ TUSK!”
Unfortunately, when it was released, it wasn’t the massive hit that Rumours was for many reasons: since it was a double album, it cost consumers $15.98 which was a steep price to pay for an album released in 1979. Another nail in the album coffin was the fact that the RKO radio chain played Tusk in its entirety shortly before the album was released and many listeners possibly recorded the album off the radio. Additionally, the album itself cost over $1 million to make.
Overall Tusk is the equivalent of a musical rollercoaster ride with an ongoing soap opera element. You never know where it will go next.
Image via Wikipedia
Gibson goes on the offensive | The Tennessean | tennessean.com.
Dear Mr. President,
I just want to say thank you for wasting my hard-earned tax dollars on this little raid of yours. I must ask you, is this your way of trying to create jobs in this economy – by enforcing a law that was made in 1903 and then raiding them on that 100+ year old law? You are joke! If anything, in the real world, aka Houston, this DESTROYS jobs. Oh but I guess you want everyone reliant on the government tip, which means more votes for you right?
I hope your musician friends that supported your campaign are smart enough to never vote or give you money for your re-election campaign. Don’t ever count on Bruce Springsteen helping you.
Canada Lifts Ban on Dire Straits’ ‘Money for Nothing’ | Rolling Stone Music.
This, to me is a bit of a mixed bag. Though I live in the US where we have free speech, I at the same time do not like for others to be hurt via hate speech. Period.
Now I will say this: I love the song Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. I am glad it is back on Canadian radio because I believe it is an overall good song that sort of mocks MTV. I am glad they are airing the censored version.
On the other hand, I am a bit anti-censorship. I maybe one of the few Christians that actually is this. I see it as this: censorship is a double-edged sword. If you give them one inch they will run a yard with it. They can use that double edged sword against anyone they want. Clear Channel did something like this shortly after 9/11 where they put out a list of songs that were suggested to not be played after the attacks.
Ultimately I think it should be up to the listener. If you don’t want to hear that song, turn off the radio.
Classic Rock » Blog Archive » Aerosmith: New Album In The Spring.
A few questions I have:
Image via Wikipedia
In honor of what would have been Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday, Google Canada yesterday and today the US version of Google have devoted their entire frontpage to the legendary frontman. So with that said, here’s 10 cool things you probably didn’t know (or maybe you did) about Queen.
It’s been a long time since they rocked and rolled!
Image via Wikipedia
Madonna Fans Rejoice: New Album Due in Spring 2012 | Billboard.com.
Madonna says that she’s “started a little bit of work in the studio” for the forthcoming album and will continue recording in “New York, until the end of the year” when she returns to the United States. The entertainer began working on the album officially on July 4, as confirmed by her manager Guy Oseary, via a tweet. That day marked her “1st day in the recording studio for the new album.”
To read more click above.
MTV ID – One Night Stand w/ Fleetwood Mac – YouTube.
If I were alive during this time I would totally enter this contest. I know that it is no secret that the Wild Heart LOVES Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks – heck, I am named after one of her albums. (the one with Stand Back)
However I can safely say that if I WERE alive back then, my loving but strict Christian parents probably would NEVER let their daughter enter in a contest like THIS. Why you ask? a) drugs b) they thought Stevie was a practicing Wiccan – she wasn’t. c) my dad prefers the Peter Green years. I prefer the Buckingham Nicks years. and d) a young Baptist girl meeting a famous rockstar or a whole group of them would not bode well with the members of the local Southern Baptist Church. (still wouldn’t actually)
Here’s to dreaming though!
Quite possibly one of the best deep cuts ever recorded by the Wilson sisters.
Cover of Not Ready to Make Nice
Dixie Chicks – Not Ready To Make Nice – YouTube.
On this day in Rock History controversial country music band the Dixie Chicks embarked on a European tour in 2003 shorty after their lead singer, Natalie Maines, decided to declare to an audience in London “Just so you know, we’re ashamed that the President [of the USA] is from Texas!”
Talking Heads – Life during wartime LIVE – Stop making sense 1984 HQ – YouTube.
On this day in rock history rock club CBGB’s is given an eviction notice. CBGB’s was best known as the place that launched the careers of the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, etc.
Image by edans via Flickr
Aerosmith – Dream On Official Music Video – YouTube.
On this day in rock music history Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is born in 1960.
Image by jackharrybill via Flickr
Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me (She’s All That official music video) – YouTube.
On this day in rock music history Christian alternative band Sixpence None the Richer and the Jayhawks team up with Habitat For Humanity to build houses in 2000.
If you have followed the Wild Heart for awhile (ok this blog is only a couple of months old people!) you probably have figured out
"Ladies and Gentlemen....rock & roll!"
by now that there are 3 musical things that the Wild Heart is passionate about: the 80′s, Fleetwood Mac, and early Mtv.
Now once upon a time there was a little network called Mtv, where all 3 of those little passions would have gotten fed had I been born earlier (like in 1970 or earlier). But alas, I was born in the mid 80′s.
Aside from the fact that I was not allowed to watch it as a young girl due to religious upbringing (I was more into VH1 anyway!) and I was just too young to get it, I missed the good years of MTV. But now, I can watch them on a little channel on YouTube that someone has made that is 100% devoted to the 1st 24 hours of MTV – even right down to the commercials that were aired during those 1st 24 hours of amazingness. Talk about a meticulous recreation! All I need now is a long HDMI cable and the time and patience to put all the videos in order in a playlist and one day I shall have a little MTV video party!
Anyways here are 10 reasons I have become obsessed with this little channel and why you should be too!
Cover of Bounce
New York and New Jersey are often referred to as having a neighbor-like relationship – much akin to the neighbor-like relationship between Texas and Louisiana. Therefore, when one suffers, the other suffers too. When New York experienced the horrible attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 – New Jersey suffered too.
One of the greatest bands from the US suffered that day: Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi, along with many other bands and artists (including Bruce Springsteen, Blondie’s Deborah Harry, etc) suffered in a way that was unfathomable to the rest of the nation: it was their backyard that was [literally] on fire. As artists, they did what they felt they should do: write about the events and how it affected them.
On Bon Jovi’s 2003 album, Bounce, this is exactly what Jon, Ritchie and the rest of the group did.
The album’s opener Undivided, directly addresses the attacks with the classic Bon Jovi style of ‘hit them and hit them immediately where they will feel it.’ Bon Jovi and Sambora waste no time in addressing the attacks and how it affected the people of New Jersey and New York with the opening verse “That was my brother lost in the rubble/ That was my sister lost in the crush/ That was our mothers, those were our children/ That was our fathers, that was each one of us/A million prayers to God above/A million tears make an ocean.”
In fact, many of the songs on Bounce talk about the endurance of the American spirit including songs like The Distance. Other songs such as Everyday and Joey talk about living each day as if it’s the last one. One of the best things about Joey is that Bon Jovi speaks of him as if he’s an old friend from their hometown, which makes the “Joey Keys” character seem more real and tangible.
Other songs such as the Right Side of Wrong and Hook Me Up speak of Bon Jovi’s days as a reckless youth in New Jersey.
Bon Jovi saves the best for [near] last with the album’s title track, Bounce – which is a direct reference to the fact that the US went to war with Afghanistan after 9/11 to catch the perpetrator, Osama Bin Ladin. After it was announced that Bin Ladin was shot dead, people celebrated everywhere from Washington DC, various parts of New York City, various universities around the country. I can picture someone playing this song loudly over their iPhone.
Well done.
Rock music’s Gold Dust Woman is perhaps one of the most visually descriptive artists. Listening to her lyrics is like listening to the
likes of great writers such as James Joyce, C.S. Lewis, John Keats, and John Steinbeck. Couple that with the overall sound of Stevie Nicks and you have the American answer to the British Kate Bush – albeit with a lower vocal range and an edgier sound.
Stevie Nicks’ 1989 release The Other Side of the Mirror is a return to the sound that made her a great solo artist. Gone are the cheesy 80′s synthesizers, producer Jimmy Iovine (with whom she had a relationship with sometime during the making of Bella Donna and The Wild Heart) and cocaine that defined her 1985 release Rock A Little. Here, Nicks returns to her roots, but this time takes a bit more of an adult approach. She proves this on Rooms On Fire, which is a more grown-up version of The Wild Heart. Nicks has stated that the song “is about a girl who goes through a life like I have gone through, where she finally accepts the idea that there never will be those other things in her life. She will never be married, she will never have children, she will never do those [that] part of life.”
Many of the tracks are nothing short of beautiful. One prime example of this is her duet with Bruce Hornsby of Bruce Hornsby and the Range on Two Kinds of Love. One of the greatest aspects is the harmonies with both Hornsby, Nicks, and her ever-present backup singers Lori Perry-Nicks and Sharon Celani. However, Nicks returns to the rock sound that we know and love hearing her sing with the down and dirty rocker Whole Lotta Trouble.
Nicks also seems to take slight cues from her peers on Alice – a song about Alice from Alice In Wonderland. (which is the theme of the overall album) However, the overall sound seems a bit inspired by the later works of fellow rocker Pat Benatar. However, there is interesting little surprise on this track: Kenny G on tenor sax.
However, one part does get a little spooky. On Doing The Best I Can (Escape From Berlin) speaks of life after an abusive relationship. But it works well for the album.
This album is probably one of the more underrated gems of Nicks’ career. However it is still worth investing into because this is alot like reading a book at times.
Garth Brooks introduces his ill-fated alter ego Chris Gaines
You are NOT an emo rocker. Plus emo rockers suck anyway.
Dear Garth Brooks,
First of all let me say that I admire you as a country artist. For starters, you’re like a rocker for country music people (well, you were the first in that manner until Gretchen Wilson came around).
However, though you maybe a rockstar as big as David Bowie, you cannot pull off a Ziggy Stardust like Bowie did. So thank you for ditching Chris Gaines.
-The Wild Heart
If you anywhere near or between Bastrop, TX and basically Galveston, its no secret that there are some pretty bad wildfires happening due to the drought that we’re experiencing. I’ve known of at least one person who has had to evacuate because of this, I’ve had to bow out of covering one event because of reported ash in nearby Cypress. The Wild Heart resides in Houston, which is basically in between Bastrop and Galveston. Even worse, it has been spreading because George Bush Park caught fire twice this week apparently.
However, today I heard something I have not heard in about a month and if so, very scantly. Also, we have had water rationing which is a BAD thing.
But today I heard something outside my window today: rain!!!
So I thought it would be pretty cool to present to you the 10 best songs about rain (or storms)
And lastly how could I not include Mr. Gene Kelly?! It would be a sacrilege if I didn’t!
It’s no secret that the Wild Heart is a fan of the hit FOX tv show, Glee. It has 2 things this Wild Heart loves: music and comedy. Not 
to mention it’s introducing classic pop and rock songs to a new generation and Jane Lynch is insanely funny as Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester.
Glee returns with its third season on Tuesday, September 20 on Fox.
Last season was pretty amazing with the casting of Gwyneth Paltrow as the sex ed teacher, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the shocking (yet still excellent) season finale, and the Fleetwood Mac Rumours -themed episode.This leaves the Wild Heart with much hope for the upc0ming season.
First of all, one of the big things that I would like to see is Will Schuster (Matthew Morrison) and Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) have a relationship. They have danced around it for far too long – from the time they almost had sex to Emma’s rendition of Touch-a Touch-a Me in the Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed episode. I would love to see them perform a duet together on Valentines day. More specifically Next Time I Fall by Peter Cetera and Amy Grant.
Secondly, one of the funniest things that was ever introduced to the show “Fondue For Two” with Brittany Pierce – where the online show revolves around school gossip and dipping random edible things into fondue such as raw meat and giant marshmallows. This was absolutely hilarious.
Finally, the Wild Heart would like to see more themed episodes. This is not only good for the show and the public who watches it (they learn about new music), but it is also good promotion for the artist. When the writers decided to do an entire episode based around the Fleetwood Mac 1977 classic album Rumours, the album once again entered the charts in other countries and renewed interest in the band. Some of the artists thatI’d suggest they cover are Pat Benatar, Heart, the Beatles, Duran Duran, Blondie, and Linda Eder.
Image via CrunchBase
Today has made the Wild Heart into one busy beaver so much that I have been working all morning!
First off, we have a new “like” button on the side so you now have no excuse except to like The Wild Heart on Facebook. Secondly, as I have learned at work, a company is nothing without a logo. Well I guess the Wild Heart is a somebody now that I HAVE A LOGO! Though it’s still a work ion progress (I need to work on the font though) I will still however be tweaking the font a little because it needs a title. All I know is that the font cannot look anything like the font used on the Stevie Nicks album cover of the same title due to copyright infringement.
Oh and we have a username on Facebook
The crowd was clean-cut and full of families, but that did not stop them from rockin’ out to southern Christian rock band Third Day and Matthew West on Saturday night at the Berry Center in Cypress, TX.
Co-headliner Matthew West started his set with the prayerful, Coldplay-like, and soulful single The Motions with the
rallying cry “What if I had given everything instead of goin’ through the motions?” West, at times, is known for being a bit autobiographical in his songs and on Next Thing You Know, this was no exception. It tells the story of a young West and how he came to faith in Christ that he currently has – bumps and all.
West talked a bit about his latest album Bigger Picture and how, instead of writing the usual songs about his life as a Christian, he asked people to send in their story of their faith journey. The response he recieved was overwhelming: 10,000 stories from the US and worldwide! One story that he shared was about a Christian woman whose daughter wasn’t a Christian. Her daughter suffered a near-fatal car wreck and was basically brought to her knees by the event.
The audience was all nice and warmed up by the time Third Day, who blasted the audience away with their searing Hendrix-style guitar solos. “Is anybody having a good time?!” exclaimed lead singer Mac Powell. Many people worshipped during their songs.
However, the boys kicked it into high gear when they did a mini acoustic set on a small stage in the middle of the arena.Powell asked for some requests from the audience. One shouted Consuming Fire from their 1996 self-titled debut album. Another shouted “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
It was an amazing show that at times had you either worshipping the Lord, rockin’ out, or both.
Special thanks to Joanna Bonner and Daniel Jackson for the tickets.
Cover of Bebe Le Strange (Exp)
Heart is one of the greatest and most enduring hard rock acts to ever come out of the influence of Led Zepplin. They prove they have learned well from the hard rock masters on their 1980 release Bebe Le Strange.
With Bebe Le Strange, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, drummer Mike DeRosier, Howard Leese and Steve Fossen decide to abandon the occasional soft rock that made the “butterfly” portion of their previous album, 1979′s Dog and Butterfly. Instead, they crank up both guitarists Steve Fossen’s and Nancy Wilson’s amps, distort them, and let them go to town. They do this well on such songs as Bebe Le Strange & Rockin’ Heaven Down.
However, the Wilson sisters kick things into overdrive with the hit single Even It Up – which could quite easily be showing the already bare cracks within the band – romantic ones at that. According to VH1′s Behind the Music Remastered, both Ann and Nancy Wilson were romantically involved with manager Mike Fisher and guitarist Roger Fisher – Mike’s brother. Mike started cheating on Ann and Nancy started falling in love with drummer Mike DeRosier while still dating Fisher. Needless to say, shortly after the release of 1984′s Private Audition, these men left the band because nobody messes with the Wilson sisters. Needless to say, all of the drama leading up to that seems to be channeled very nicely into that track.
Overall, I would 100% recommend this album for any Heart fan.
Additionally, if you happen to live in the Houston area, Heart will be performing with british rockers Def Leppard at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion on Friday night at 7pm. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster. I highly recommend you attend this because it is a show that is not to be missed.
Image via Wikipedia
SuperHeavys debut album in stores today
If you haven’t heard already, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, Joss Stone, Damien Marley and A.R. Rahman have all joined forces in a way equivalent to the Justice League to release an album.
The Wild Heart wants to know what artists would you like to see record together? Better yet, who would be your dream band members if you could construct a band?
Here is mine.
Drums: either Rick Allen (of Def Leppard) or Phil Collins (of Genesis as well as his impressive body of solo work)
Guitar – lead: Eddie Van Halen (of Van Halen)
Guitar – rhythm: Nancy Wilson (of Heart)
Keyboards: Michael W. Smith
Bass: Tina Weymouth (of Talking Heads, Gorillaz inc, and Tom Tom Club)
Lead vocals: Roger Daltry (of the Who)
Image via Wikipedia
So according to many sources including Ticketmaster, Guns & Roses are going back on tour. Now the question remains: will Axel actually show up to the shows? Also, will a riot happen?
Axel and friends usually have had nothing but fun and games. Riots, coming after fans taping the show, rants by Axel himself, fans fighting the photographer and Axel jumps in, Axel yelling SHOVE IT at random protesters (if there are any), and many more things. Basically its like a night with Courtney Love, but with more violence and destruction.
If I ever went to a Guns & Roses concert, well one can only imagine what kind of tweets/facebook posts I would be writing – let alone the comments. I think they would go like this:
Axel please don’t throw that human on me!
Did I just steal a Delorean and go back to Woodstock 99? Nope, I’m somehow in the middle of a riot. Thanx Axel!
Who concert 1979. G&R 2011. Same thing only the lead singer is a douchebag. I like Roger.
OWWWW!!
Heeelp!!!!!
The wild heart needs to get OUT of the jungle!
sfadkodasjklewklwekldhtbnlxflknsdfa (gibberish because I have a concussion at this point)
See what I mean wild heart lovers?
Would you go to see Guns & Roses? Take the poll and let the Wild Heart know!
Cover of Speaking in Tongues
The Talking Heads are probably one of the smarter new wave bands. They didn’t need success to prove what kind of brilliant musicians they were, yet it found them on their 1983 release Speaking In Tongues.
Speaking In Tongues is like art-rock/experimental but still new wave all at the same time. Lead singer David Byrne personifies this both in what he sings about, such as him taking shots at then-president Ronald Reagan’s “reaganomics” (Aka trickle-down economics) economy plan. On other songs, such as “Making Flippy Floppy,” “Burning Down the House” and “Pull Up the Roots,” the band shows off their mad skills.
However, one of the best things about this album is the bass lines of Tina Weymouth. On virtually every track she shines as the bass player. This is a rare feat on any album. She borrows quite a bit from funk with her repetitive & rhythmic bass lines.
Bottom line: this is a great album.
Image via Wikipedia
Judge Dismisses Copyright Case Against 50 Cent | Music News | Rolling Stone.
The Wild Heart thinks that someone was trying to milk this for all it was worth.
Image via Wikipedia
Unexplainable Photo Snapped at Jim Morrison’s Grave | Music News | Rolling Stone.
My question is this, why does Jim Morrison want to haunt some poor guy for taking a picture of his grave. HE’S FRIGGIN FAMOUS!
I think the picture maybe fake. But feel free to tell me what you think!
Image by ahisgett via Flickr
Let’s see. Which rock soap opera is more jucier: Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham vs. Stevie Nicks vs. Mick Fleetwood or The Beatles George Harrison vs The Yardbird’s Eric Clapton vs. Patti Boyd? Let’s do a comparison:
Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham vs. Stevie Nicks vs. Mick Fleetwood
Image via Wikipedia
Well 2 days ago the Wild Heart missed a major, and I mean MAJOR album birthday: as of September 24th, 2011 it was 20 years ago to the date that grunge-heads everywhere went insane with the release of Nevermind by Nirvana. This is considered the quintessential, if not defining, album of grunge music.
However, there’s probably much either you did or didn’t know about this masterpiece. So here it is folks, the 10 things you probably didn’t know about Nevermind by Nirvana.
Well according to E Online and Heart’s official website, the Wilson sisters have been announced as nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! The Wild Heart really hopes that they get in because they truly deserve it.
Anyways, here is my post that sort of chided the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for excluding the Wilson sisters earlier this year.
Every single year, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame releases its list of inductees. Every single year one band keeps getting snubbed. That band is Heart.
The Wild Heart thinks the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is making a terrible mistake by not including the Wilson sisters.
Two of the make-or-break qualifications to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are that you must be very influential and your 1st album must have been released 25 years ago.
Dreamboat Annie was released in 1976. That was over 30 years ago!
Without Heart, you would not have the Seattle music scene. No Nirvana, Alice In Chains – whose late lead vocalist Layne Staley even recorded a cover duet of Bob Dylan’s Ring Them Bells for Heart’s 1993 album Desire Walks On. Members of Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and others have cited Ann and Nancy as influences on their music. Other current great artists such as Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, and Gretchen Wilson have all cited Heart as influences. Some of these artists have recorded at their Bad Animals studio in Seattle, WA.
Heart was the first hard-rock female act. Many female acts have followed in their footsteps including Pat Benatar, Patti Smyth (of Scandal), Avril Lavigne and pretty much any other woman that has picked up a guitar since 1976. Rock music is no longer a boys club no thanks to them.
Lastly, they have enduring popularity. Since reuniting in the early 2000′s, they have sold rather well in both their albums and tours. Not many musicians with an absence like theirs from both radio and touring can say that they are successful after a long break like what they went through.
Today’s announcement of who was nominated to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is absolutely exciting because the famous snub of the Wilson Sisters, aka Heart, is no more!
The main requirement for an artist or group to have this honor bestowed on them is that their first album must have been released 25 years ago. However, many have been famously snubbed over the past few years.So here is who the Wild Heart would like to see get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Till Saturday, due to my busy schedule and the fact that I have to pay off a speeding ticket, I am rerunning all my posts about Heart in honor of their nomination into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Saturday I will be covering the Spare Heart – a tribute to Heart concert at the Concert Pub North near Spring, TX. so be on the lookout for that review.
Heart is one of those bands that has had many incarnations but still has the constant two frontrunners in the form of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. They are the female counterparts of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. However, their reasons for the original lineup change is because of their original romantic entanglements with former drummer Mike DeRosier and Roger Fisher.
Heart’s 1985 self-titled album is proof that that the lineup change that occurred with the previous album, Passionworks, and signing on with record label powerhouse Capitol Records, worked.
Heart’s self titled album is nothing short of great. While it stays true to Heart’s somewhat angry hard-rockin’ musical roots with songs such as The Wolf and If Looks Could Kill, one of the best changes is that there are some hard-rockin’ love songs. On Never, Ann cries “We can’t go on just running away/ If we wait any longer we will surely never get away/ Anything you want – we can make it happen/ Stand up and turn around – never let them shoot us down.” She continues with this passion on All Eyes.
One surprise is that, for a change, guitarist Nancy Wilson gets to sing lead vocals for the first time ever on a Heart album. She has a beautiful voice on the smash single These Dreams. The lyrics of the song describe the fantasy world a person enters when faced with a real-life difficult issue. This song was dedicated to a close friend of Nancy Wilson, Sharon Hess, who died of leukemia shortly before the song was made.
One track though, falls flat. Nobody Home sounds like it wants to be a hybrid power-pop ballad meets the signature sound of Heart. It doesn’t work for the band. Shell Shock sounds like an overdone hard-rock song. It even has corny and cliche love song lyrics that do not fit into the repertoire of Heart.
Caveats aside, the album is a welcomed return to both great music and the radio for Heart.
Spare Heart wows the audience with both authentication and skill
Spare Heart – A Tribute to the band Heart and Love It To Death performances at The Concert Pub North on FM 1960 in Houston, TX were filled with songs the fans love and deep tracks from the artists’ respective catalogs. It was one rockin’ night!
Spare Heart kicked off the evening with a rousing and loud rendition of Even It Up from Heart’s 1980 classic Bebe Le Strange followed up by the ever-angry rocker Heartless, which was highlighted by the driving rhythm section headed by John Hill on drums and Sean Harrold on bass.
The cover of the power-ballad cover of Alone, which, like the actual recording, kicks into high gear around the chorus. Things only got better with the nicely done keyboard playing of Jeff Ball. It served as a nice complement to the smash hit These Dreams – a beautiful rendition done by the “Nancy Wilson” of the group, Staci Butler. However, this version was a bit more acoustic sounding, which made it sound organic.
Things were kicked back into high-gear with the driving guitar forces of Staci Butler and Mike Lambert on Crazy On You, which was quite possibly the fan favorite of the night.
One of the greatest things about Spare Heartis that they do both the “greatest hits” and some Heart’s deep tracks such as How Can I Refuse, which was beautifully executed by lead vocalist and the “Ann Wilson” of the band, Linda Lambert.
Shortly thereafter, Love It To Death – The Alice Cooper Tribute show took the stage.
The highlight of Love It To Death – The Alice Cooper Tribute show’s set was none other than No More Mr. Nice Guy. Many in the audience enjoyed the song. Some even sang along.
One of the best things about Love It To Death – The Alice Cooper Tribute show is the fact that they are authentic: lead singer Paul Byron, when in makeup and other trademarks of Alice Cooper, looks strikingly close to the real Alice Cooper. He adds authentication to the performance by doing what Cooper may do during live performances. Such as when he performs Billion Dollar Baby, he throws out fake $1 billion dollar bills containing the band logo. The audience was highly entertained.
Overall, it was a nice precursor to kick off the Halloween season.
Cover of Pearl
In the film Walk The Line, there is a scene where Johnny Cash and his band, the Tennessee Two, are auditioning for Sun Records. Owner Sam Phillips asks them to sing it differently. The reason is because how they are singing the song is essentially boring.
Johnny Cash: “Well you didn’t let us bring it home.”
Sam Phillips: “Bring… bring it home? All right, let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you was lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing *one* song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you’re dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up. You tellin’ me that’s the song you’d sing? That same Jimmy Davis tune we hear on the radio all day, about your peace within, and how it’s real, and how you’re gonna shout it? Or… would you sing somethin’ different. Somethin’ real. Somethin’ *you* felt. Cause I’m telling you right now, that’s the kind of song people want to hear. That’s the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain’t got nothin to do with believin’ in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believin’ in yourself.”
This is exactly what Janis Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band do on Joplin’s posthumous release Pearl, Joplin literally sings every note like it is her last.
One of the best things about Janis Joplin’s voice is that it leaps out of the speakers and grabs you by the shirt. Joplin wastes no time in doing this starting with Move Over. Joplin demands the listener’s attention when she says “You say that it’s over baby, Lord/
You say that it’s over now/ But still you hang around me, come on/ Won’t you move over.”
Pearl is Janis Joplin’s quintessential last album. Shortly before she finished recording, Joplin died of a drug overdose on October 4, 1970. However, there was enough usable material to finish the album. One song, however, remained unfinished: Buried Alive In the Blues. On the day that she was scheduled to lay down vocals for this song, she was found dead. So the song was included on the album as an instrumental piece. This quite possibly was done as a way of showing her absence within her band. One can only wonder what the vocals would have sounded like, but I am pretty sure they would have sounded spectacular.
The best track is none other than Mercedes Benz where she pleads with God “O Lord won’t cha buy me a Mercedes Benz?/My friends all drive Porshes/ I must make amends.”
Well-stated Janis.
One artist that the Wild Heart has come to have a strong love for lately is the Who. They are, and always will be, the quintessential showmen of rock & roll with their onstage personas.
The Who is one of those artists that are perhaps better live than their recordings. They prove this on their 1971 release Who’s
The Who mix the old with the new on "Who's Next"
Next. The best thing about this album is its usage of synthesizers on such songs as Baba O’Riley where lead singer Roger Daltry leads the rallying cry “we’re all wasted!” with gusto. It makes the listener want to get up and do their best windmill air guitar. Baba O’Riley is only made better by the roaring violin that seems to dominate the track. It is nothing short of beautiful.
Though some tracks, such as Love Ain’t For Keeping and My Wife sound like their classic 60′s songs like I Can See For Miles, this album was clearly a signal that the band was taking a step in a new musical direction. However, on Won’t Get Fooled Again, those two musical worlds are meshed together.
Either way, it is a beautiful marriage of the musical style that made the Who popular in the first place with what is to come.
The Wild Heart is saddened to hear about the death of perhaps the greatest CEO/businessperson (next to Walt Disney and Howard
Hughes that is) of the greatest computer corporation to ever grace Silicon Valley: Apple. At the age of 56, legendary founder and former CEO of Apple computers, Steve Jobs, has died at the age of 56 in Palo Alto, CA.
Jobs was perhaps one of the greatest innovators in both film, music and, bar none, technology with the creation of Pixar Studios, the iPhone, iPod – take your pick which model, and the iTunes store.
Additionally, without Apple, the Wild Heart as a blog would not exist. Every chance I get, I try to write my blog on my Mac Mini or my iPhone, where I also tweet from. I am one that is a big fan of anything Apple does. I blame my father for this. For my highschool graduation gift he bought me a then-brand new iMac computer. This was back in 2005 when Mac was sorta hitting its stride. I absolutely adored that thing! I took notes in class at the college I attended. Watched YouTube videos and updated both my MySpace and Facebook accounts. Later on, when I got into my major, I learned how to record and edit sound and video on a mac. At work I have to use a non-Mac computer and I don’t like it.
One other way he revolutionized the media was by film with the formation of Pixar – a subsidiary of Apple. That studio single-handedly changed the way films were made or seen. Everything became computer-generated. I can clearly remember as a 9-year-old going to the AMC theater near my house with a friend to see this new Disney movie called Toy Story. I absolutely LOVED it! My favorite scene was where Sid gets freaked out by Woody and the rest of the toys coming alive and telling him “We toys can see EEEEVVEERRRYYYTHHHIIING so play NIIICE!”
As with every decade, how we listen to music gets better and better. in the 60-70s, we had 8track. The 80′s we had LP’s and the 90s the compact disc became hugely popular. However, in the 2000′s we had a small device to play all our music: the iPod. You got all your music from the iTunes store. I can clearly remember when I DIDN’T have an iPod. I had a discman and my 1st semester of college I lugged around that clunky thing and played Woven and Spunby Nichole Nordeman ad infinitum. However, that all
Steve, like his predecessors, was a "think different" type of person
changed during Christmas of that year when I got what I asked for: an iPod nano and a $50 iTunes gift card. I remember downloading stuff like Missing Persons, Joe Jackson, Lisa Loeb, etc. It was my magic jukebox with whatever I wanted. Though I still love my records, hence why the Wild Heart exists, I sometimes will try to preview an artist before actually buying their record to see if it is worth my time and money.
Steve, you were a true revolutionary! Godspeed. You won’t be forgotten.
Hank Williams Jr. Officially Dropped From Monday Night Football | Music News | Rolling Stone.
That’s right folks, Hank Williams Jr. has been dropped from Monday Night Football – at least the theme song, All My Rowdy Friends, which he wrote has. The reason is because of his comparison of House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, hanging out with President Barack Obama as “Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu.
I think that ESPN did the right thing because that is pretty offensive to Jewish people. If they were to keep that song as the anthem, they could not only lose in the ratings but also have a few legal battles as well.
Image by cnraether via Flickr
Such a shame and waste!
Image by baldheretic via Flickr
Magnet And Steel by Walter Egan Songfacts.
This is probably the coolest website if you ever want to go a bit more behind the music with fun facts.This particular entry talks about the song Magnet & Steel - a song written ABOUT and featuring a certain member of Fleetwood Mac that goes by the name of Stevie Nicks.
If you know the Wild Heartwell, it’s a widely-known thing that I LOVE Seinfeld. However, there is one particular episode
Happy Festivus from the Wild Heart
that strikes my fancy: The Strike. This one is perhaps best-known as The Festivus.
With that said, I present to you the Wild Heart’s celebration of Festivus. HAPPY FESTIVUS! LET’S RUMBLE!
The airing of grievances gathers everyone you know and you tell them how they have wronged you in the past year.
And now for the toasts of 2011
Image by ahisgett via Flickr
In celebration of me winning some last minute tickets to see Lindsey Buckingham, I will be rerunning the best of my posts on Fleetwood Mac. I will have a review up sometime tomorrow.
Ahhhh Fleetwood Mac. A band where you know who dated who and who broke up with who. However, when they make music together, it’s completely sheer magic. On Tango In the Night, this magic once again doesn’t fail them.
On this album, the band members take a more stylized production approach – a slick pop approach that still stays true to the style and music of Fleetwood Mac. Mirage and Rumours were more organic in both their sound and lyrics. Tango In the Night is, but with more production overdubs and a more pop approach. It sounds like they took more production cues from their most popular band member, Stevie Nicks, whose latest solo release at the time was Rock A Little (1985)
The greatest thing about this album is that there is no weak track. Each is a great standalone track. But perhaps one of the greatest tracks is Big Love due to the creative guitar-playing and “love grunting” of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.
One thing to notice about the album is that the presence of Stevie Nicks is a little less. While she sings backup on many of the songs such as Little Lies, she has less songs where she is the lead vocalist, or even the main songwriter. The reason is due to the fact that she was in rehab for a cocaine addiction. On the other hand, Seven Wonders, though it’s not Gypsy or Gold Dust Woman, is still a viable (and underrated) classic. One surprise great track is Welcome to the Room…..Sara. It almost is a foreshadow of her later work including her latest single Secret Love from her latest album In Your Dreams.
Overall this is one of the most under appreciated albums of Fleetwood Mac. It is definitely a good listen, even though it is a deviation from the normal bluesy-pop/rock that has become beloved among Fleetwood Mac fans.
Very few albums, or artists for that matter, have served as a soundtrack to a generation. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours does exactly that. It’s still is a relevant album because it explores in a voyeuristic way, the personal turmoil amongst the band members during the recording of the album. The mix of personal turmoil amongst the band, though it nearly cost them their sanity and was fueled by lots and lots of drugs, make this a beautiful masterpiece.
Best of all, it is easy to relate to lyrically due to its content – which includes jabs at other band members, all of whom were experiencing romantic turmoil: bassist John McVie and his wife Christine’s marriage was in shambles as was the romantic relationship between singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Additionally, Nicks and drummer Mick Fleetwood (who was married at the time) were having an affair.
Songs like Don’t Stop and Songbird which are nothing short of an offer of hope both personally and for the band itself. Perhaps they were thinking in they lyric from The Chain: “I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain.” It is one of the few songs that is written by the ENTIRE band and it is a gem.
Also, one of the other great things is the actual skill of the musicians. One of the best sounding tracks on the album is You Make Lovin’ Fun. Lead vocalist [for this track] and keyboard player Christine McVie is remarkable on all accounts. However, all of the lyrical greatness and great sound come together on Gold Dust Woman - which is both a metaphor for drugs and quite possibly the ending of the relationship of the songs author, Stevie Nicks, and then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham.
For those of you that saw last week’s episode of Glee, this is an album worth buying due to the fact that it is great musicianship under fire, something that happens to us all. It is very relatable if you have ever endured a never-ending breakup. That is what makes this album one of the greatest albums.
Also be sure to check out the special Classic Albums that VH1 Classic and the BBC documentary they did on Rumours, where they go into both the technicality of making the album as well as what the songs are about – including stories and interviews with band members and album personnel.
In 1973 there was a young couple that resided in Los Angeles that were from the remnants of a band called Fritz – who previously became popular because they opened for the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, among others in the San Francisco Bay area. Though their band Fritz disbanded, band members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks secured a record deal with Polydor records.
Though the album flopped and was dropped from Polydor, it served as a springboard for both members musical careers. One day producer Keith Olson was playing Long Distance Winner to Mick Fleetwood, drummer for the popular British then-blues band Fleetwood Mac, who had endured a staggering 9 lineup changes prior to the inclusion of Buckingham Nicks. Originally Mick wanted only Buckingham. However, according to Behind the Music Remastered, Buckingham insisted on his then-girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, come as part of a “package deal.”
Buckingham Nicks’ self-titled debut album is like a beautiful diamond in the rough or even a fine wine: it gets better with age and experience. Nicks voice sounds raw as does Buckingham’s fast guitar picking on Don’t Let Me Down Again which, at one point Nicks seems to slightly scream “Baby baby don’t treat me this way.” One of the more hauntingly beautiful tracks is Races Are Run, which singer Stevie Nicks voice shines. The song itself though, in retrospect kinda foreshadows what would happen to Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who famously were one of many of the band members in the throes of a bad breakup during the recording of Fleetwood Mac’s enormously popular Rumours album in 1977. Though they have had their moments, the two are still friends to this day.
However, one of the coolest things about this album is that if it was released today, it would quite possibly be a hit in the indie world. In a perfect world this album would’ve been a hit, they would have gotten married and made more albums like this. But as time went on to successful careers: Stevie as a member of Fleetwood Mac as well as a massively popular solo career and Lindsey Buckingham as an influential guitar player.
A+
Image via Wikipedia
Fleetwood Mac is one of those bands that’s timeless: they have a tendency to stay relevant regardless of the time period, yet somehow stay true to their musical roots. However, they are a little prone to experimentation, which can be somewhat of a hit or miss.
Tusk is one of those albums where Lindsey and co. do exactly that. At times, such songs as The Ledge sound great, but lyrically sound like a veiled reference to all the fights that led to the demise of the romantic relationship between band members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham – who wrote the song. If it is meant to invoke the insanity of their breakup, well Lindsey captured it very well. Other songs such as I Know I’m Not Wrong, sound a bit reminiscent of their previous album, Rumours, but with a bit of a nice kick.
What Makes You Think You’re The One shows the overall strong musicianship of original member, drummer Mick Fleetwood.
However, there are some major misses with this album, such as That’s All For Everyone. The song drowns in mediocrity – something very uncharacteristic when it comes to the creativity of Lindsey Buckingham. Even worse, on both this song and Not That Funny you can barely decipher what Buckingham is actually saying.
One of the major hit and misses with Tusk is some of Stevie’s contributions. On one hand, you have Sara, which is very beautiful track. Sara was written about Stevie’s then-best friend Sara Recor, whom Mick Fleetwood (who Stevie was dating at the time) fell in love with and eventually married and divorced her. One must wonder though, considering the circumstances, is this meant as sarcasm to her or just a nice song to a close friend? One of her better songs is Angel, which sounds more like the familiar Fleetwood Mac sound, albeit with a rather interesting bass line provided by John McVie.
However, keyboardist Christine McVie almost steals the album with her contribution of the hauntingly beautiful Brown Eyes. The track itself is reminiscent of both the Doors and Led Zepplin. McVie is the true balladeer of Fleetwood Mac. She proves this on the following track as well: Never Make Me Cry.
The best thing about Tusk is the title track. The band goes all out – complete with the USC Trojan Marching Band. The track has an overal stalker-like tone when Buckingham whispers the lyrics, then Mcvie and Nicks break in with him with the rallying cry of “Don’t say that you love me/ just tell me that you want me/ TUSK!”
Unfortunately, when it was released, it wasn’t the massive hit that Rumours was for many reasons: since it was a double album, it cost consumers $15.98 which was a steep price to pay for an album released in 1979. Another nail in the album coffin was the fact that the RKO radio chain played Tusk in its entirety shortly before the album was released and many listeners possibly recorded the album off the radio. Additionally, the album itself cost over $1 million to make.
Overall Tusk is the equivalent of a musical rollercoaster ride with an ongoing soap opera element. You never know where it will go next.
The crowd was silvery-haired, young and old, but that did not stop them from rocking out to “An Evening with Lindsey 
Buckingham” Sunday night at the Verizon Wireless Theater in Houston, TX.
The Fleetwood Mac guitarist opened the night with Shut Us Down from Buckingham’s 2006 release Under the Skin – a nice subtle opener minus the bells and whistles of his backup band. Buckingham then quietly launched into his 1984 hit Go Insane. Go Insane, stylistically-speaking, is an almost-homage to his music he made in 1973 with then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks on their album Buckingham Nicks.
Lindsey is like the antihero rockstar. He’s an underrated but nevertheless extremely gifted guitar player, vocalist and songwriter. He proved this when he launched into the Fleetwood Mac classic Never Going Back Again from the ever-popular Fleetwood Mac classic album Rumours. Buckingham sings with such beauty and emotion it’s almost like he cries through the song. This has the audience eating out of his hands.
Buckingham lamented during the night about how, as a child, he learned how to play the guitar by listening to his older brothers’ record collections.
The true highlight of the evening was when Buckingham started performing an acoustic version of the 1987 mega-hit Big Love. However, before launching into the performance, he explained the meaning of the song: that it has become an echo to him because it was where he was in life during the writing and making of the song.
However, the evening really took off when Buckingham’s backup band took the stage for such songs as In Our Own Time and Illumination. Everyone in the audience loved Buckingham’s rendition of Tusk and even chanted along to the ever-popular chorus.
Buckingham ended the night with 2 encore performances:a high energy performance of Treason from his 2008 solo effort Gift of Screws and the title track of his latest album Seeds We Sow. The latter was like a message of hope.
Kate Bush is perhaps the most unique visual-oriented rock artists to ever emerge from England. Her music mixes both visual
and literary forms with extremely distinct musical stylings that are far above her peers both past and present. Who knew that a farmgirl from Bexleyheath, Kent, England would forever change music.
Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside quite amazing. Bush shows that she isn’t your average british rocker on Kite, which appears to make heavy use of a synthesizer in an almost-Christine McVie (of Fleetwood Mac)-like fashion. Bush continues this on the Billy Joel-esque James and the Cold Gun.
However, she hones her qunique art-rock sound on Them Heavy People, where she talks about how a persons religion can be their driving force.
With this album, Bush heralded in a new era where the men were no longer the kings of the music charts. With her debut single, Wuthering Heights (which would later be covered more famously in the US by rocker and MTV darling Pat Benatar) made her the first woman to ever have a self-penned number one hit in her native United Kingdom.
Image via Wikipedia
Good art stands the test of time. The 1980 version of Fame is one of those films that, as long as their are teenagers with dreams, will always stand the test of time. Couple that with the pre-MTV disco-tinged soundtrack, you have one excellent film.
The film follows a unique group of students at the New York Highschool for the Performing arts (currently known as LaGuardia Highschool) in the areas of drama, dance, and music. Starting with their auditions, we are introduced to these endearing characters. Little do we know, we are in for a rollercoaster of a time.
One of the best things about this film is that it is meant to be edgy. It was released in 1980 and covered such current hot-button issues like abortion, drug usage, and even GLBT issues. A scene that exemplifies this is when Ralph Garci wows the audience at Catch A Rising Star, but then is caught up in the downside of fame including drugs and alcohol.
It’s a cast of virtual unknowns but somehow it works.
This is perhaps the best representation of what it is like to go to a performing arts highschool.
A+
One thing, for better or worse, it seems that in the past couple of years has been going on in music is a wave of remakes. This spans all genres, surprisingly. However, is this a good thing? I don’t know. So here is a lost of remakes and whether or not they are worthy of the original artists blessing.
1) Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks.
Remade by Lindsey Lohan
Hit or miss? Miss by a LANDSLIDE! Seriously! Lindsey you sound coked up and drunk! Your version is like a bad youtube video of you singing karaoke with friends.
2) Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas.
remade by: Rachel Rachel.
Hit or miss? Definetly a hit. Whereas the Kansas one was excellent, the Rachel Rachel not only introduced it to a brand new then-niche audience, but also gave it a nice 80′s facelift.
3) Boys of Summer by Don Henley
remade by: The Ataris
Hit or miss? Miss. The original was better. It contained less screaming.
4) Take My Breath Away by Berlin
remade by: Jessica Simpson
hit or miss? Berlin’s version was more organic, albeit with a tint of lonliness. It worked well for the Top Gun Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. It even won the 1986 Oscar for Best Original Song. Those tracks are some pretty big ones to follow in. Jessica Simpson doesn’t do so with her earthy version.
5) Here In My Heart by Susan Ashton
remade by: Martina McBride
hit or miss? Definetly a hit. Both are great versions because they are done by great vocalists. Ashton’s version is a bit more rockabily However, the main thing that carries this song is the message it has, which is about how
6) Stop Draggin My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty
Remade by: Neko Case and My Morning Jacket
hit or miss Definetly a hit. Neko does a great job singing Stevie’s part. Additionally, My Morning Jacket sounds UH-MAAZING playing the song. It’s a nice little update to a classic with 2 of the current-hottest rockstars.
7) This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush
Remade byMaxwell
Hit or miss: Definetly a hit for this reason: it introduced Kate Bush to a new generation.
8) Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears
Remade by Relient K
Hit or miss: Relient K is quite possibly the best at remakes. They always stay true to the heart of the song. This is a hit!
9) Wouldn’t it Be Good by Nik Kershaw
Remade by: Danny Hutton Hitters
Hit or miss: I must say that both versions are pretty good. However, the more memorable of the two has to be the version by the Danny Hutton Hitters because it was featured in the 1986 Brat Pack classic Pretty In Pink.
10 Is She Really Going Out With Him by Joe Jackson
Remade by: Sugar Ray
Hit or miss: Though it stays true to the heart of the original, it just doesn’t click with Mark McGrath, a decent-looking guy, singing the song. It fits Joe Jackson much better.
CCM artist Susan Ashton is perhaps one of the most underrated artists of all time. Not only has she worked in Contemporary Christian music but she has also worked in country music: she is an occasional backup vocalist for Garth Brooks and has even released a country album, 1999′s Closer.
However her better moments were when she recorded 1992 album for Sparrow Records, Angels of Mercy. This masterpiece has one theme that flows freely throughout the album: mercy and how it plays into the various aspects of life with Christ. Ashton wastes no time in singing God’s praises about how he never leaves or forsakes his children with the rockabily-fused CCM classic Here In My Heart.
One of the most gut-wrenching (and convicting) tracks is the country-tinged Started As A Whisper, which tells the story of a teen mother being turned away from a church because she’s pregnant. It’s a track that almost foreshadows the current state of the church in America, which is in a state of decline. Ashton points out in her own poigniant way “The chance we have today just maybe gone tomorrow and when it comes down to the soul, time may not be borrowed.”
Ashton’s strong points are her penchant for country-rock. She does this well on Walk On By, which speaks of the subject of temptation. Ashton even alludes to her own past struggles in the Trisha Yearwood-fused Walk On By.
This Grammy-nominated album is a little hard to come by these days unless you are able to get it used. If so, I highly recommend it. This album is anything but cheesy.
A few months ago I wrote about how bad radio in Houston has gotten since rock 101 KLOL went off the air in 2004. Even worse, it seems like Clear Channel has taken over everything. The playlists from station-to-station are virtually indistinguishable.
I wanna know this: when it comes to playing an artist, especially a female one, radio programmers seem to stick to only a few hits – not all their hits. For example: when Stevie Nicks came to Houston in August, 93.7 the Arrow celebrated by playing one of her cds for their “Classic CD at Midnight.” However, did they pick one of her classics such as Bella Donna or The Wild Heart. No. They chose to play Crystal Visions: The Best of Stevie Nicks. There’s nothing wrong with that per se except for the fact that it furthers the fact that, whenever they play a popular artist, they will play the same 4-5 songs by that artist that are on their playlist and nothing more. Why not play Bella Donna when she comes to town?
The Gold Dust Woman isn’t the only one they do this to. They have also done this to Pat Benatar. They seem to play either Heartbreaker, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love Is A Battlefield, Shadows of the Night, etc. No You Better Run or I Need A Lover or the like.
Here’s a thought: how about playing some different songs from various artists back catalogue? Take for example anytime Cocaine is played by Eric Clapton. How about playing Forever Man or Tears In Heaven. Would it hurt to do that? People are tired of listening to the same old song and dance.
Okay so its no secret anymore that Lady GaGa is a ripoff or almost carbon copy of Missing Persons lead vocalist Dale Bozzio. It seems like everything from not only Bozzio’s fashion, but her music, is getting copied.
Many blogs both in the fashion and music realms. Now my question is this: why isn’t places like Mtv & VH1 picking up on this?
When Lady GaGa does this, she shows that she’s unoriginal in her approach to style. The same is also true for her music. Perhaps GaGa has never heard of the old saying “don’t do as I do – do it better.” As far as talent and taste go, she has some, but it is mostly like watching a copycat.
Bozzio, on the other hand, is an original. When most punk rockers had weirdly shaved hair, she went with a rainbow-colored hairdo. She also could sing rather well and had a good backup band, Missing Persons.
However, I must wonder, why must artists such as Lady GaGa be unoriginal? Apparently she hasn’t realized that legendary artist areoriginal. Great minds don’t think alike – they think for themselves. Stevie Nicks did not become a fashion icon by copying others – she made her own. Same goes for the bohemian style of early Madonna and the feathery-laden Janis Joplin.
U2 Unsure of Their Future | Classic Rock News – KKRW 93.7 The Arrow
Houstons Classic Rock Station.
This cannot be happening. Everytime they come to Houston it never fails: I have no real job and everyone else gets to see U2 including my arch enemy, who basically was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and thinks it’s okay to mock me. Somehow his sorry self gets pit tickets and I get NOTHING as usual!
So I guess I can count the fact that I will never get to see U2 live – but everyone else will.
The Summit later became known as the Compaq Center in the 90's. It's now home to Joel Osteen Ministries, better known as Lakewood Church.
Today I stumbled across an old Stevie Nicks video called Whole Lotta Trouble. I remembered reading about how the concert video was filmed – more specifically its location. It was filmed in Houston, which is the home of the Wild Heart. More specifically, the Summit – the fomer home of the Houston Rockets. As a result, I thought of the 2 concerts that were held there in which I and my parents attended: Handel’s Young Messiah in 1992 and Handel’s Young Messiah Farewell Tour in 1995. Both were major tours within Contemporary Christian music at the time and boasted a “who’s who” of artists at the top of the CCM charts: Steven Curtis Chapman, Twila Paris, Sandi Patti, First Call, Point of Grace, Christian metal band White Heart, the list goes on and on.
The Summit was to performance/sports venues in Houston what Madison Square Garden is to New York City. Though yes, we do have the Toyota Center (which is the current home of the Rockets), but as a music lover who resides in this great town I keep wondering why do we keep getting rid of our historic musical venues? Let me ask you this: what would New York City be without Madison Square Garden? What would Los Angeles be without the Staples Center?
The Sam Houston Coliseum hosted numerous musical legends such as the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen just to name a few.
Unlike San Francisco, Houston has a nasty habit of getting rid of historical buildings: the Sam Houston Coliseum, the Music Hall. Okay maybe they didn’t have landmark status, but considering some of the acts that walked onto their stages: the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney just to name a few – these venues deserved that status. However, they are all demolished now or turned into a megachurch. Could we not make the needed changes to these places to cater to Houstonian music lovers? Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
The interior of the Music Hall. Isn't It beautiful?
All we have now is the Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park, Reliant Arena, H-Town Arena Theater, Verizon Wireless Theater, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion, and the House of Blues. Though these are great venues, they somehow don’t measure up to their predecessors. Essentially what we need in Houston is our own version of places like the Fillmore.
The Music Hall in its heydey
He’s guilty. I hate to say this but the writing was on the wall the whole time. Here is what I mean:
For the most part, in the mid-1980′s, Contemporary Christian Music was dominated by protestant southerners with the occasional
Californian tossed in. Enter Margaret Becker: an Irish-German Catholic-raised native of Long Island, NY whose hard-rockin’ powerhouse vocals could easily compete with the likes of fellow Long Islander Pat Benatar.
With Becker’s 1987 Sparrow debut, Never For Nothing, she bursts onto the Christian music scene with her own hard-rockin’ sound. She was and always will be the true female rocker of her genre. Becker doesn’t waste her time in showing us what she’s got on such tracks as Fight For God and Love Was Waiting. Becker proves one thing is certain: she can rock hard!
One of the coolest things about this album is that it sounds like arena rock in the vein of some of her nonChristian counterparts, such as Poison and Lita Ford on Giants Will Fall. I can imagine that, on the tour that supported this album, this was the absolute showstopper.
However, this album is not void of any weaknesses. Sacred Fire, at best, sounds a bit repetitive. The same rings true also for What You Feel, which talks about how a person feels. Margaret Becker is a talented songwriter and that song is a waste of her talent both vocally and lyrically.
Overall Never For Nothing is a classic of its own genre.
A-
Kevin Max Smith, formely of DC Talk.
A few months ago I was at my day job and I was listening to Out of the Grey’s 1993 self-titled debut album on my Grooveshark account. My boss waltzes in and sees my home screen, which has a picture of the album cover and asks “Out of the Grey: are they still ALIVE?!” to which I respond with a “yes.” Needless to say, he was surprised that someone as young as I would actually know who Out of the Grey is.Unbeknownst to him, I am well-versed in who Scott and Christine Dente are as I am with the likes of Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar. I have or have had at one point all of their albums and seen them in concert twice in the 90′s – my parents would take me.
It got me to rethink something I have been pondering for a considerable amout of time now: why can’t the Contemporary Christian Music industry see that there maybe a market for a CCM classic station? One of the things that I hate about CCM radio is they refuse to play anything from the 70′s-mid 2000′s. With the exception of their golden boy Chris Tomlin, its like artists such as Point of Grace, DC Talk, Rebecca St. James, Out of the Grey, Russ Taff, etc have all dropped off the face of the earth.
As a result of this, a whole generation is now coming of age not knowing that TobyMac is famous for being in DC Talk, not just his solo work. They’ll never know who the other two guys are: Michael Tait and Kevin Max Smith. Nevertheless, it’s a travesty that these guys will never know that great band.
Plus, people like retro. They love nostalgia. That’s why classic rock is very popular. That’s why, whenever a long-broken up band (such as Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, the GoGos’s, Aerosmith) return, they return in a major way. People buy their tickets and albums because not only do they like the new stuff, but they also like the familiar faces. From what I saw when TobyMac performed “Jesus Freak” in concert as the encore, the crowd LOVED it.
Also, with CCM, there is one thing that makes it stand out from all other genres: its the same rhetoric from over 2000 years ago. Granted, yes, some of the slang maybe different as well as styles and fashion choices, but the message is the same. Though yes, Christians should try to remain relevant but relevancy for one person is irrelevancy to another. Who knows? Some people may love 80′s hair metal bands.
Additionally, great musicians are influenced by other great musicians. Margaret Becker and Amy Grant. would not exist without Joanie Mitchell. Without Metallica, P.O.D would not exist. Music, generally-speaking, is a form of building blocks. If CCM doesn’t start both openly promoting older artists, they will be taking away a major building block in creativity. One must be inspired to create, so how come other, older Christian artists inspire a younger generation? Why can’t Amy Grant to a 16-year-old girl who feels excluded because of some of her nonlegalistic ways?
I love the song “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel. It’s like 40 years of history crammed into one song. However, it is now a little out of date because, let’s face it, alot has happened since the song’s release in 1989. So Mr. Joel, if you are reading this, here is a list of suggestions you can put in from the past 22 years.
1990
Image via Wikipedia
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Anyways that is all I have for now. Tell me what you think!
I must admit, I love Glee. I love it not so much for the musical performances, but for the fact that it is reintroducing some great music and artists into the mainstream. One of the best things that Glee does is their themed episodes, usually around an artist or a musical genre. Last year, they did another episode featuring Lady GaGa, Britney Spears as well as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
If you have been following the show this year, things have gotten pretty interesting: Sue Sylvester is now running for Congress. She wants music education abolished.
Here is a story arc they could do, but it would revolve around the somewhat politically-charged rock opera/concept album Kilroy Was Here by Styx. The premise would revolve around Sue wanting to censor everything the New Directions wants to accomplish musically.
Sue wants to run her campaign as a member of the “Majority for Musical Morality” along with her campaign manager, Dr. Righteous. Sue witnesses Puck doing a rendition of Hot For Teacher by Van Halen and brings it to the attention of Principle Figgins, whom she threatens to blackmail with a picture of them sleeping together once again if she doesn’t have her way. Figgins caves in and strongly scolds Mr. Schuster and Puck into submission. Mr. Schuster, as a punishment for letting Puck perform that song, must now sendin whatever song the kids choose to do. The kids, as a result, must have prior consent to whatever song they want to do. This also has a chilling effect on Shelby Cocoran’s group also. Both glee clubs hate it!
Shelby and Will Schuster, and his girlfriend Emma decide that Sue has gone too far and, this time, Sue is gonna get a fierce fighting back. Since Burt Hummel, Kurt’s dad and Finn’s stepdad, is running as a write-in candidate against Sylvester, they, along with both glee clubs decide to meet at Burt’s auto repair shop. They decide that this is an issue of censorship and that it would be a great way to teach the students about how bad censorship is. So they decide to use the 1983 classic album by Styx entitled Kilroy Was Here. Better yet, the kids and adults decide to use this album to film as a campaign commercial for Burt Hummel.
Kurt and Blaine team up and film a short commercial for Burt where they are singing Mr. Roboto. The commercial is a bit reminiscent of the classic 1984 Superbowl ad for Apple computers. It ends with “this is what you will get if you elect Sue Sylvester for Congress.”
Rachel and Finn, while out at Breadsticks one night, discover Sue on a date with the head of a major contributor to her campaign and hardcore political extremist. Rachel and Finn recognize him from the news and immediately call up Burt to tell him what they found. They also take pictures with their iPhones of the would-be Congress member and extremest canoodling in a nearby booth. The next afternoon, while at practice at Burt’s garage, Rachel performs Double Lifeand tells the Glee club what she and Finn saw
.
Burt decides to personally confront Sue about what Finn photographed. He and Sue sing a mashup of Cold War and Heavy Metal Poisoning as they verbally spar with each other.
Prior to election night, the Glee club releases another commercial with the photograph where they list all these accusations against Sylvester where they sing High Time.
The Pretty Woman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is perhaps the quintessential 90′s romance comedy soundtrack with
it’s pizzaz and sultriness.
Natalie Cole puts things in place with the freespirit anthem Wild Women Do. One of the best things about this track is, if you have seen the film, you can easily picture the sequence where Edward (Richard Gere) and Vivian (Julia Roberts) are shopping on Rodeo Dr. for clothing in Beverly Hills.
One of the best things is that this particular soundtrack seems to play in a subconscious manner, the thoughts of the characters in relation to the scene. One of the best examples of this is the opening scene where Edward and his girlfriend (who is unseen) breakup while they are in Los Angeles and Manhattan, respectively. Edward, with very little remorse, takes his lawyer (played by Seinfeld‘s Jason Alexander) Stuckey’s Lotus Espirit and drives down Hollywood Blvd where he meets Vivian, a hooker, for the first time. This is well-played along with King of Wishful Thinking by Go West.
The soundtrack gains its sultriness with No Explanation by Peter Cetera. With his signature adult-contemporary sound, he adds a bit of a softer side to the album for the men. This softer side for the women is repeated with Lauren Wood’s Fallen.
Unfortunately there are a few weak spots: Robert Palmer’s Life In Detail and Tangled by Jane Wiedlin. They somehow do not seem to fit with the rest of the album. They both sound extremely over-produced.
IF you have not listened to the soundtrack Pretty Woman or even seen the film itself – both are great. It is the beautiful Cinderella - like story about a corporate raider who falls in love with a hooker and molds her into a beautiful woman. It is only made better by its soundtrack.
Disney is a pretty cool place. Why can't they totally rock out?
It’s no secret that the Wild Heart loves is all things related to Disney. Disney ROCKS when it comes to good art, animation, and just making people feel like kids again. My childhood would not be complete without such films like The Little Mermaid, Oliver and Co., Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story and even Aladdin. The songs only made the films better.
As I wrote about earlier, Disney has a pretty interesting relationship with rock & roll and Broadway. However, one way I was thinking about earlier is how they have a Contemporary Christian music festival every year called “Night of Joy.” Night of Joy is one big festival that requires a separate ticket that takes place in the Magic Kingdom.
So as I was thinking today while watching a YouTube video about Epcot Center was this: what about a rock festival or concert series that incorporates both rockers past and present? Like Night of Joy, it would be a separate ticket event. However, it would dwarf Night of Joy in the form of 3 stages sometime over Memorial Day Weekend in May. There would be 3 stages that are active on 3 nights. The 3 stages would be set for different types of artists:
Better yet, they could even sell some special edition trade pins with the artists on them either featuring a classic album cover of the artist but, in place of the artist have either Mickey or Minnie. Or you could have a picture of the artist in a pose (Paul Simon with his guitar singing to an animated Mickey Mouse, Donald getting serenaded by Ellie Goulding, Mickey making faces at the Kings of Leon, etc) or Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy paying tribute to a well-known album. These would all be limited edition pins.
What do you think of this idea?
You gotta love it when rock stars such as Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac visit wounded soldiers.
When Stevie Nicks came to Houston in August and performed Solider’s Angel, she encouraged everybody to give to the USO and Wounded Warrior Project
Alas, the holidays are once again bestowed upon us all: Christmas, Hannukka, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, you get the idea. Whether you get your presents in one night or eight nights, everybody needs to not be clueless in what to get the rocker in their lives.
Beatles fans
The Beatles Fab 4 store has some pretty interesting Beatles merch. This amazing online store contains both the usual Beatles
memorabilia (lunchboxes, tshirts, keychains, etc) and unusual – a Beatles pinball machine ($39.99 USD) so that you can hone your skills as a pinball wizard. (Oops! Wrong band!) However one piece of merchandise stood out to me and that was all of the hats. They have hats for both the fashionista and the non-fashionista. The Wildheart highly recommends the woolknit help-style hat ($22.00 USD)
Tshirts, hoodies and other really cool stuff
You have to hand it to the British: they always give us great rockstars and they have a great sense of fashion. DJ-Tees is a UK-based online tshirt company that specializes in tshirts and hoodies of rockstars, tv stars (mostly British ones, but a few Americans also), footballers, and more.
Also, if your rocker friend or family member is a huge fan of a certain artist, be sure to check the artists website. Their official website usually has more of a variety than what you see at the artists concerts and it is much cheaper. However, if you are looking for something more specific, like a vintage tshirt of an artist, check your local antique shops or ebay. Buyer beware, though: vintage tshirts can go for as high as $300. Be sure to measure the person (or yourself) when purchasing any sort of vintage clothing because the sizing is different: what may have been a large back in the 1970′s is probably now a small or medium.
Check your local record stores as well.
For your fellow lover of all things related to records
I cannot say this enough: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE! Support locally owned shops this holiday season. Also, local record stores usually have both cds and albums. Some, such as Cactus Music and/or Black Dog Records in Houston or Rebel Rebel Records in Manhattan, offer both used and new records in addition to new and used turntables and turntable supplies
10 years ago today, former Beatle George Harrison died of lung cancer in a rented mansion in Hollywood, CA. It was a sad
day for the music world because, even though he was considered “the quiet” or “spiritual” Beatle, nevertheless it now meant there are now only 2 surviving Beatles: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. However, it also meant the death of the most underrated songwriters of the Beatles.
George revolutionized rock and roll by adding spiritual elements such as the sitar into Beatles recordings.This was in part, due to his own involvement with the Hare Krishna movement – Harrison was a devout follower of Hinduism. One of the first rock recordings that ever used the sitar was Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), which was played by Harrison himself. This ended up revolutionizing rock music.
Every Sunday (ok well almost every Sunday), the Wild Heart attends church. Every year, around this time at church, my church promotes Advent Conspiracy, which encourages people to ”Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All” – a pretty revolutionary idea don’t you think?!
If I had money, I would totally give, but the economy is terrible right now and I am jobless. Therefore, I will do whatever I can to promote giving this holiday season. I have included very diverse nonprofits ranging from ones having to do with music and film to ones dealing with natural disasters, AIDS, education, you name it.
So please check the facebook page each day to see what charity is being spotlighted each day. If you haven’t already become a fan of our page, now’s as good a time as any to do so.
In 1996, Contemporary Christian music, as a genre, was starting to take off with the likes of girl-groups such as Point of Grace, as well as such mainstays like DC Talk, the Newsboys, and crossover-pop queen Amy Grant. The nonchristian music world was enjoying the likes of Sarah Machlachlan, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Jewel, Blues Traveler, Soundgarden, and Lisa Loeb. However, the two musical worlds collided with the release of Sarah Masen’s 1996 self-titled debut album. Masen’s debut album is nothing short of insane awesomeness with a dash of quirkiness and creativity. The lead-off track and hit single on Christian radio, All Fall Down, proves that Masen is very creative in both lyric (“the fool stands only to fall but the wise trip on grace – all fall down”) and overall sound. Never has a guitar sounded like it came straight out of a Beatles tune since Phil Keaggy entered the scene in the 1970′s. Other songs such as Break Hard the Wishbone, Tuesday, and Fly Baby sound a bit too mellow, but not unbearable. Lyrically, songs such as Flames of Truth sound great. However, it still sounds too mellow. Masen takes many cues from her influences on the Sheryl Crow-Jewel-tinged rocker Unveiled Faces. If anything, Masen
does sound like Lisa Loeb, but is more talented than her both lyrically because of the spiritual metaphors that she uses about finding Christ on Downtown. Masen sings “In the middle of our human condition/ is the emerald city of our saving provision/ and we wrestle and struggle/ till we can hardly stand/ and we drive downtown into that praying land/ but what we want most is home/ what we want most is home.” Come In is one of the best tracks due not only to what it talks about – feeling awkward in a new place, but also in its overall sounds: it gives the feel of awkwardness that works extremely well. This songs screams “I’m awkward and so are you. Let’s be awkward together and be friends.” Sarah Masen’s debut album was a critical success. All Fall Down was even featured on the 1996 soundtrack to the hit television show Party of Five. It’s a wonder why Masen didn’t build on this success and achieve greater noteriety both within the Contemporary Christian music community at large as well as with her mainstream counterparts. (like maybe getting booked for a few spots on the Lilith Fair tour?) Sarah Masen’s self titled debut album is 100% a winner.
I must admit: I absolutely love FOX’s hit television show Glee. The Wild Heart is well-aware that, yes, some of the singers need a little “help” in the form of autotune and some of the themed episodes (such as the Britney Spears tribute episode “Brittany/Britney”) are a bit vapid. However, one of the best things about Glee is that the show is introducing classic rock and pop songs to a brand new generation as well as current hit songs. It’s also getting this new generation excited about performing once again.
Glee uses both classic and current pop/rock to tell the story of the teenagers that perform with the New Directions glee club at Mckinley Highschool. Some of these performances can be breathtakingly great, such as their performance of New York by Alicia Keys. Some can be funny, such as Finn and Quinn’s impending birth announcement to Quinn’s parents by using the Paul Anka classic Having My Baby - which of course gets Quinn kicked out of her parent’s house. Others can be rather touching, such as Puck’s performance of Waiting For A Girl by Foreigner to his two-year-old daughter.
Since the show hit the airwaves in 2009, not only have some artists seen both a sales resurgance and renewed interest into their music (such as Fleetwood Mac, who saw a 1,951 % increase in record sales for their landmark 1977 release Rumours) Other artists such as Britney Spears also saw a spike in record sales too.
However, artists such as Slash (of Guns & Roses fame) and the Kings of Leon have laid down the law and said “no” when it comes to using their music. I think that these artists are failing to see that teenagers and other audiences can rediscover their music. By these artists doing this, they are denying this discovery.
Additionally, Glee is inspiring kids to make music once again. When I was in highschool, it was the ‘uncool’ thing to be in the choir or glee club (mine wouldn’t let me in, just so you know). Now, enrollment in such activities has doubled. Additinally, applications to arts colleges have seen a spike too.
One thing, however, that I would like to see with the show is this: have them release an album that contains the original recordings of the songs that are performed each season. Don’t get me wrong: it’s okay that they release their album of songs as featured and sung on the show. But I think this would be a better way to introduce some of the older music and newer music to a new generation. Also, as a viewer I would like to see more guest spots of the artists that you cover. For example: when one of the characters covered the Fleetwood Mac classic Landslide, Stevie Nicks paid a personal visit to the cast. Why not try to writer her into the actual episode – like she could be Puck’s mother or whatnot. Same goes for the members of Van Halen – whose song Hot For Teacher was recently covered on the show. Perhaps a cameo from Eddie Van Halen would be just fine.
Magical. Mystical. Beautiful. Legendary. Mysterious. All of these words describe rock legend Stevie Nicks. One thing that Nicks seems to be immune to is age. She seems to live by the notion that “age isn’t anything but a number” because after all, she is in her 60′s and still looks great and sounds great for any woman in rock & roll – a rarity.
Nicks’ albums are sheer experiences - like dreams. This album is no exception. She starts out the album with the dreamlike-trance Secret Love, which is nothing short of sexy. It was a song that was written when Rumours was made back in 1976, but thankfully she kept it for herself and we have it now in this extremely beautiful version.
In Your Dreams is an almost-return to some of the songs that made Bella Donna famous – minus the duet with Tom Petty. It has a feel that is reminiscent of Stop Dragging My Heart Around. I am sure that it will please both classic and newcomers to Stevie’s music, something that she has always been good at doing.
One of the best things about this album is both the mix of rock and trance-likeness that weaves throughout the entire album. She proves this well on Wild Sargasso Sea, which tells the tale of a jilted lover and/or friends with benefits. She continues this haunting with the tribute to New Orleans song entitled New Orleans. As someone who lives in nearby Houston, TX and saw all the refugees coming from Hurricane Katrina, this is a very beautiful song about the hope and promise that New Orleans is back up and running despite the horrible events of Hurricane Katrina. Nicks exclaims “I wanna dress up/ I wanna wear beads.”
The best melodic song, though, has to be You May Be the One. Nicks’ classic backup singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Petty Nicks (her sister-in-law) join her in once again-unmatched harmony. It is nothing short of beautiful and sounds much like Nicks circa 1983 when The Wild Heart was released.
Annabel Lee sounds like an updated version mixture of The Wild Heart and Nightbird. All in all it is amazing and it is a welcome return to rock music. However, one of the biggest surprises comes on Solider’s Angel – a surprise duet with Lindsey Buckingham, her former boyfriend and fellow member of Fleetwood Mac.
Overall the album is one of the best Stevie Nicks albums out there. It sounds much like classic Nicks with a dreamlike kick, which is what makes the album extremely beautiful. It is sure to be a bestseller and hopefully a successful tour will come out of this. This album will hit stores on May 3rd.
You have to hand it to Styx, they are pretty bold and brash when it comes to politics for an art-rock band. On their concept 1983 release Kilroy Was Here, they don’t hold back on their anti-censorship stance.
Kilroy was Here follows the story of a former rock star, Kilroy (lead singer Dennis De Young), living in prison in a future where rock n’ roll is illegal due to the the hands of of the MMM (Majority for Musical Morality) and a fascist government. The album picks up in the future where robots manufactured in Japan, called Mr. Robotos, work nonstop in jobs once held by humans. In addition to this bleak future, there are the ever-present anti-rock music rallies where citizens literally burn guitars, records, and other rock paraphernalia.
However there is a rebel leader, Jonathan Chance (Tommy Shaw), who wants to bring back rock music. The album follows both Chance and Kilroy’s attempts to prove Kilroy’s innocence as well as break up the MMM.
Kilroy Was Here is a clear stab at the then-prevalent Moral Majority and Tipper Gore‘s Parental Music Resource Center – better known as the PMRC. This is due in part to Christian fundamentalists branding their song Snowblind as “satanic.”
The album itself is a great album both musically and, for the most part, lyrically. On almost every single the synthesizer reflects the eerie time that this world could come to if such a power akin to the MMM were to be in power.
Overall I would highly recommend this album if you are a big musical fan, but otherwise forget it.
However, it is still entertaining to watch.
The air was cool and crisp. The crowd was enthusiastic and receptive at the Concert Pub & Grill last Saturday night on Richmond Ave in Houston, TX as bands Nightbird – Stevie Nicks Tribute took the stage for a benefit for the MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital.
Nightbird opened the evening with the Rumours-era classic The Chain. However, the magic started when lead singer Brooke Alyson launched into an enchanting version of Dreams followed by the equally enchanting Silver Springs. Silver Springs was originally slated for thehe Rumours album. However, due to the time allotted on the LP, the song didn’t make the cut. Over time though, it has had a second life in the form of the track’s presence on the Fleetwood Mac reunion album, 1997′s The Dance, as well as the 2001 and 2001 remastered re-releases.
One of the highlights of the evening was lead guitarist’s Adam Walton’s interpretation of I’m So Afraid. It sounds hauntingly great as the version heard on The Dance. Walton’s vocals well capture the fear of the song, which makes it a classic.
Alyson mysteriously disappeared offstage for a bit as the band played on but then reappeared in true Stevie-style for the megahit Stand Back. Alyson shines brightly in her portrayal of the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman.
Nightbird’s faithfulness to the music of Fleetwood Mac shines on their rendition of Tusk, where drummer Jason Phillips gave a searing drum solo. Though they did not have a marching band at their disposal, keyboardist Kelli Thompson showed off her technical expertise of her instrument very nicely on the resounding chorus “don’t say that you love me/just tell me that you want me/ TUSK!”
The band also shows their expert knowledge of Ms. Nicks’ vast musical catalogue when they pulled out a deep track from 1979′s Tusk album called Sisters of the Moon, where bassist Wolff DeLong and drummer Jason Phillips bring out the mystic of the song.
Nightbird’s set came to a beautiful end with their rendition of Rhiannon. Keyboardist Kelli Thompson opened the song with a beautiful piano intro, coupled with the ever-familiar “Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and wouldn’t you love to love her.” If, like Ms. Nicks, Nightbird wanted to “leave the audience with a kiss” (as Nicks herself said during the encore of her last show in Houston), they left the audience with one enchanting kiss.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Announce 2012 Tour | Music News | Rolling Stone.
Yes yes yes yes yes! It looks like 2012-2013 are going to have some pretty amazing concerts because Tom Petty has announced that he and the Heartbreakers will indeed be touring in 2012.
The Wild Heart wonders who he will be bringing along with him. Perhaps old pal Stevie Nicks? Sheryl Crow? Maybe he will bring an up and-comer like Foster the People?
Fleetwood Mac has many facets in the form of their lead singer-songwriters. Lindsey Buckinghamis the serious “come-back-to-
Late Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie
me-lover-I’m-desperate” songwriter. Stevie Nicks is the “let’s give people a window into my life” songwriter. Christine McVie, is, for the most part, “the balladeer” of the bunch.
Once again, Christine outdoes herself on Only Over You from 1982′s Mirage. It’s a ballad inspired by then-boyfriend Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys.
McVie’s use of keyboards coupled with the background vocals of the rest of the band are nothing short of beautiful. However, what makes Only Over You shine is it’s beautiful lyrics: “People think I’m crazy/ But they don’t know/ Thought love had failed me/ But now they’re watching it grow/ Angel please don’t go/ I miss you when you’re gone/ They say I’m a silly girl/ But I’m not a fool.”
Unfortunately their relationship did not last due to Wilson’s heavy drinking. They broke up in 1981 and 2 years later, he drowned in the Pacific Ocean in Marina Del Rey, California.
Ahhh the Human League! Best-known as the possible favorite band of the tantrum-throwing-anarchist Rick from the classic hit BBC series The Young Ones.
One of the best songs by the Human League was (Keep Feeling) Fascination. However it’s b-side, Total Panic is a pretty good early cut of what ended up being Don’t You Know I Want You. I must say that this early instrumental cut is actually BETTER than what it ended up being. Don’t You Know I Want You is a rather bland but not Total Panic. Total Panic gives a sense of electronic chaos, which works well for the cut.
However it does make you wonder why they did not use this mix instead.
B+
Imagine for a moment a musical saturday night in Houston: there’s a highschool senior that is a trumpet player. He and his friends, also brass players, decide to go out and play for tips and maybe sit in at a local jazz bar. Meanwhile, a garage band nearby is also warming up – after all they have their first gig in a few weeks, so they must practice. In a nearby bar, a more seasoned rock rock band plays on. Meanwhile, a police officer is on patrol. As he and his partner are patrolling the neighborhoods, he hears all this various kinds of music. The cop has had a bad night with keeping the city safe. He hears the music outside the bar booming. He is not a fan of this genre. So what does he do? He pulls over, goes into the club and fines both the owner and band with a whopping $2000. The cop completely ignores the other bands that are playing nearby – including the brass band who has decided to not only get drunk but also play their musical instruments outside – but they are ignored by the cop.
This is what could happen if the police enforce this new city ordinance that will allow them to hand out tickets to anyone within a residential area or commercial area that goes over the new decibel limit: 65 decibels. According to the Houston Press Rocks Off blog, the police now do not need a sound meter to test the decibel limit – making it subjective according to what the officer sees.
This ordinance impedes on small businesses. I liken this to public intoxication and DUI’s: it’s unlawful for a cop to catch someone for suspicion of public intoxication or a DUI without giving them a blood test or a breathilizer. Why is it okay then for a cop to fine someone for suspicion of breaking the decibel ordinance without hard evidence?
Also, I have another question in regards to the claim made in the Houston Chronicle about the city not having enough money to even get the sound meters to test the decibel level at these venues – then tell me this Ms. Mayor, why the hell are you even bothering with this issue?
Ms. Parker, this is like a cheap shot at the Houston music and bar scene. In a recession like this, we do not need to be shooting ourselves in the foot and putting more regulations upon businesses. Also, you are spitting on the legacies of some of the greatest musicians that got their start in Houston: R&B superstar Beyonce, country singer Lyle Lovett, contemporary christian artist Susan Ashton, rockers ZZ Top, and plenty more.
If you as a citizen want to have your opinion heard there will be a town hall meeting at Fitzgeralds on Tuesday, December 20th at 7pm. Fitzgeralds is located at 2706 White Oak Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77098.
So the big news story in the music world is that lead singer of Bon Jovi, Jon Bon Jovi has reportedly died. Guess what, he’s alive and kicking – probably spending Christmas with his wife and kids. So the rest of New Jersey can breathe now because their other son is safe and sound.
Apparently the dailynewbloginternational thinks hoax death announcements are funny. They really aren’t.
With that said, Johnny is alive.
Janet Jackson is quite possibly one of the best live performers of all-time. After all, she did learn from one of the greatest music artists of all time, her brother Michael Jackson.
Back in February, I had the opportunity to see her live at, I kid you not, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. She was pretty good! She is a rare artist that can rock, dance, and look good while doing it.
However I like this video of her because she is soo young and green. This was back when she was just an actress on Diffrent Strokes. But she proves with this video that there is something about her that makes her special.
From the home of the Wild Heart in Houston, TX to wherever you’re at, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Enjoy this clip from the Arsenio Hall Show with the New Kids on the Block and remember to “have a funky, funky Christmas” and a happy holidays!
In 1974, a relatively unknown British blues band named Fleetwood Mac was in dire straits: they constantly had issues in retaining a guitarist. Original guitarist and founding member Peter Green suffered a mental breakdown. His replacements either had an affair with drummer and co-founder Mick Fleetwood‘s 1st wife, joined a cult, or simply got sick of the drama that plagued the band. Also, their move to the US from the UK didn’t make matters better because they were still without hits. The Mac was in trouble.
But this all changed one day when Mick was in the studio and heard a track called Frozen Love by a duo called Buckingham Nicks, which consisted of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks. Mick was very impressed with Buckingham’s guitar-playing and asked him to join the band. Buckingham accepted, but with one stipulation: his girlfriend Stevie could also join. They were a “package deal.” Mick accepted the proposal and on July 11, 1975, Fleetwood Mac, along with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, released their 2nd self-titled album.
The addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks is like a breath of fresh air for the band in both their songwriting and overall sound. This is shown from the beginning with the upbeat Monday Morning by Lindsey Buckingham, where he declares “Monday Morning you look so fine/ Friday I’ve got travelin’ on my mind/ First you love me then you fade away” – which is a possible foreshadowing of tension and ultimate breakup that would arise during the recording of their next album between he and then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks.
However, things really heat up with the classic Stevie Nicks-penned Rhiannon – a mystical song about a beautiful welsh witch. Unfortunately this is a track that is better when Nicks performs it live because the actual recording doesn’t do justice to how she performs it live.
Longtime Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie makes a rather excellent contribution in the form of World Turning. McVie and her teamup with Buckingham is amazing. It proves that, even though she is the balladeer of the bunch, she’s an excellent rocker as well.
Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled album was a step in the right direction with the addition of the two newcomers. At the same time, it is only a preview of what is to come with Fleetwood Mac. Though it’s not Rumours, this album is highly recommended.
Journey is one of those bands that is liked by many people because of their versatility. They can rock hard, but they can also
show their sensitive style too. However, when they combine both their hard rock sound and sensitivity, they do rather well. On Only The Young, this is where they shine!
Unfortunately Only The Young has a tragic story behind the song. Journey had recorded it and it was intended for their Frontiers album in 1983, but it was pulled at the last minute and ended up on the soundtrack to Vision Quest. One day, they received a letter from a mother whose young son, named Kenny, was in the terminal stages of Cystic Fibrosis. Kenny was a huge fan of Journey and wanted to meet them before he died. The meeting was arranged through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
So the band went to meet Kenny and gave him a Walkman and a cassette copy of Only The Young. The next day, Kenny died. He had the walkman with the cassette in his hands when he died.
This made lead singer Steve Perry break down crying so much to the point that the nurses had to take him out of the room.
Either way this chance encounter resulted in the band using this song as the opener for the Raised on Radio tour.
Only The Young is a great track because it perfectly captures what it is to be young in both lyric and sound. But the best thing about this song is that it offers hope to those that are enduring.
Thanks to the lovely people at the Houston Press Rocks Off blog, the wild heart has discovered a new way to make other people
Hall and Oats can help you with everything
go insane: give all “maneaters” (a.k.a “mean people”) and “rich girls” (a.k.a “snobby people”)…………or at least make you happy.
It’s called Callin’ Oats. They can help you with everything: relationship problems, problems with your cat scratching the furniture, people problems, problems with your dog getting into the trash, therapy sessions, and so much more.
In the 1980′s, Fleetwood Mac member and successful solo artist Stevie Nicks was at the top of her game. However, she was
hiding a rather heavy cocaine habit. By 1985, when her bestselling Rock A Little album came out, it was having an effect on her overall performances.
Nicks is usually known for being a mystical-womanlike figure when it comes to her image and overall sound. This is what keeps her fans coming back for more. However, this is not so with One More Big Time Rock & Roll Star, the b-side to Nicks’ hit single Talk To Me.
One More Big Time Rock & Roll Star is void of any of the mystical greatness that made such ballads as Leather and Lace, Two Kinds of Love, Outside the Rain, and even 2011′s Secret Love great.
This song was meant for the Rock A Little album, but didn’t make the cut and for a good reason: it simply doesn’t measure up to Nick’s previous solo work.
In the music world, there are “jam bands.” Fleetwood Mac used to be one of these, albeit a british blues band. The Mac daddy
and friends return to this with the b-side to the 1987 smash hit Little Lies entitled Ricky. However this time that semi-jamlike sound gets a nice 80′s production makeover.
Ricky is a Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham-penned track. It doesn’t have much as far as lyrics go, but it shows off the rest of the band’s musicianship, especially the licks from bass player John McVie, whose bass playing serves as the main melody of the entire song. McVie shines well on this track.
A+
One of the coolest things to ever emerge from my generation was none other than the Wonder Years. The reason why is
because it was one of the first American television shows that successfully, for my generation, showed what the 60′s and early 70′s were about – abeit with the perspective of a preadolescent kid named Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage). He was accompanied by his pal Paul Pheiffer, love interest and later highschool sweetheart Winnie Cooper as well as his family: his brother the bully Wayne, hippie sister Karen and parents Jack and Norma. Jack was a bit conservative much like most fathers were in that time period. Norma was middle-road and sort of a feminist – much in reflection to the Women’s Liberation Movement.
However, there was one thing that made this show hit the ball out of the park: the music. Never had a show truly encorporated the hit songs of the time with such ease. They used songs such as Light My Fire by the Doors, Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Steppenwolf, the list goes on. The soundtrack to that show not only introduced that music to a new generation but also made good scenes between characters great.
The other great thing about The Wonder Years is that it shows that regardless of decade, the aspects of growing up never change. Young girls will always be chased by the young guys. There will always be teenage rebellion and angst. In the 60′s it was artists like Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix as well as Vietnam War protests. My generation gets the horrible events of September 11, 2001, No Doubt, Nirvana, and Jay-Z. Not TOO shabby but still, they aren’t as comparable to those legends.
It wasn’t good television. The Wonder Years was GREAT television.
The young grinch who tried to hurt rock fans worldwide by lying about Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi‘s death was arrested on
Dec. 24th according to news sources. The federal government tracked the IP address of the boy’s computer.
The man, a highschool student and Pennsylvanian musician, admitted via a friend’s twitter account that he started the hoax. He did it because he was sick, tired, and possibly even jealous of the Bon Jovi frontman.
Sources:
Heart is rock & roll’s most enduring band – there’s no doubt about it. However, even rock music’s most famous sisters have
their bad moments. 1982′s Private Audition is one of their moments.
Private Audition simply does not measure up to what we have come to love about Heart. Rather it seems like Heart has seen better days with their previous albums such as their classics: Dreamboat Annie, Dog & Butterfly and plenty more.
What makes Private Audition terrible is that it is, at times, an almost-total deviation of the style and essence that has made Heart legendary. In fact,l this deviation only works for them once and that is on This Man Is Mine. Furthermore, none of the songs showcase the powerhouse vocals of lead singer Ann Wilson, nor the mad guitar skills of her sister Nancy.
This is perhaps Heart’s worst album they have made. Thankfully most Heartmongers, including the Wilson sisters themselves, have all but forgotten this turkey of an album. Soon after the album’s release, the sisters got rid of band members Steve Fossen and Mike DeRosier.
The verdict: buy any other album by Heart, but not this one.
Image via Wikipedia
Guns N’ Roses frontman Axel Rose is quite possibly the most insane frontman in rock & roll. I mean, who else can singlehandedly start a riot, but also make amazing songs such as Sweet Child O’ Mine, Welcome to the Jungle and plenty more? However, that is what keeps everyone coming back for more!
I liken this moment to the fan to be a bit lik “sucks to be you buddy – you shouldn’t have been taping the concert!”
Football, though I have no problem whatsoever watching the Superbowl (I like the funny and breathtaking commercials along with the halftime show – usually), football is something that I don’t always get even though I’m from Texas – home of the laughable Dallas Cowboys and the Texans (yes that’s the name of Houston’s team and yes it is lame, I know!). However, sometimes when you combine music and football………..things get interesting!
Take for example when Amy Grant did the opening for Monday Night Football on ABC: EPIC FAIL! Therefore she must be lampooned! So I present you with this……
Oh well, it could be worse – like Glee’s Jane Lynch singing during the football game!
Fleetwood Mac is one of those bands that loves to experiment with new sounds. Sometimes it works for them – such as the
stylistic change they experienced with the addition of the two Americans in 1974 [guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his then-girlfriend, Stevie Nicks] to a then-all British blues band. Other times the band experiments a little too much, such as they did with the addition of Bekka Bramlett in the 90′s due to the absence of singer Stevie Nicks.
Cool Water is the b-side to their hit 1982 single Gypsy from Mirage. Thankfully, it was left off the album. It’s stylistically more fitting for a Lindsey Buckingham album, not Fleetwood Mac.
The verdict: don’t waste your time with this track.
In 1985, Heart was on the verge of a MASSIVE comeback. Their 1985 self-titled comeback album went to #1 on the US Billboard 200 charts. The album itself yielded such hits as What About Love, Never, If Looks Could Kill, Nothin’ At All, and the ever-popular smash These Dreams.
The b-side to What About Love is Heart of Darkness. Unfortunately, it sounds like every other song on their 1985 album – which is probably why it wasn’t included on the album. It’s a bland piece of production. Heart is a better band than this song. It doesn’t show off the high vocal range of Ann Wilson nor does it show off Nancy’s mad guitar skills. It sounds simply like another hyper-produced song from the 80′s.
Don’t bother in finding this b-side.
Michael W. Smith is the most talented keyboard player in Christian music. Back in the 80′s and 90′s he and his former employer, CCM legend Amy Grant (whom he played keyboards for in the early 80′s). were the genre’s answer to Bernie Taupin and Elton John.
In 1984, Smith released the followup to his Michael W. Smith Project album; the aptly titled Michael W. Smith 2. The album’s opener is the impressively synth-friendly classic A Way. The song is great lyrically and stylistically – a somewhat rare ordeal in contemporary christian music.
The lyrics talk about God meeting us where we are at, rather than us trying to reach him:
Caught in a dream of where I want to be
Wrapped in a web of where I am
I feel a wall between what is and what should be
You find me waiting for an miracle
You hear me praying for a plan
You are the only one prepared to rescue me
Then you take away the distance
Found between the truth and me
& you give a simple reason to my restless rhyme
Woa, hide me in the Heavens
You have held within your hand
And make a way to find a way to soothe my mind
There is a way that might seem right to me
a dim reflection of what’s good
Just an illusion of the best that I can be
But there’s another path you offer me
I wish I always understood
Some way you see right through my thoughts
And all my needs
This is a must-have for your download collection!
In 1980, Pat Benatar was at the top of her game. She had a couple of hit singles from her first album, In the Heat of the Night including We Live For Love and the now-classic Heartbreaker. Her second album, Crimes of Passion, was to be released in August of that year and one of the forthcoming singles from the album, You Better Run, was about to be chosen to be the second video to be played on a brand new all-music channel called MTV. To top it all off, she was dating (and later married) the guy she had always had eyes for in the band: Neil “Spyder James” Girarldo. She was on the verge of success and fame.
Among the tracks is the little gem, Never Wanna Leave You. One of the greatest aspects of this track is not only Benatar’s surprisingly softer vocals, but the driving bassline. It almost sounds like a sequel to We Live For Love, which, according to both Benatar and her husband, chronicles their then-budding romance.
Either way it’s a crime that it wasn’t a hit single. However, it is still a winner.
So a few days ago I got an email about something the Wild Heart (a.k.a Christina Lynn – who is the wild heart) has wanted for quite awhile. I’ll give you 3 clues as to what it doesn’t pertain to: marriage, babies or changing religions. For starters, I’m not married nor am I seeing anyone – yet. Children – see aforementioned sentence. Religion – ok Christianity is a relationship and I am never leaving Christ.
Anyways so at the beginning of the year I sent in some of the blog posts I have written to the Houston Press Rocks Off Blog. Houston Press is a local weekly magazine based out of Houston, TX. Anyways, I sent in the one about the Stevie Nicks concert that was held back in August, my open letter to Mtv, a review of Bounce by Bon Jovi, and a write-up about Queen’s frontman Freddie Mercury.
A few days went by and I got a response! The Houston Press Rocks Off Blog is wanting me to do freelance work for them! I have accepted the position. This is literally my dream job – to write about music and get paid to do it. Furthermore, some have even told me that I wouldn’t be a good writer or that I would never make it as a music writer or blogger. I won’t lie – that hurt me a great deal. But, as always, Jesus had other plans for his child because he loves his children
Now, this doesn’t mean the end of the Wild Heart. I will still keep up the Wild Heart the best that I can. Let me make this clear: this is NOT the end of the Wild Heart. I will update this blog as much as I can.
Ahhhhh LeAnn Rimes before she was, well, not tabloid fodder. The 90′s version of Taylor Swift. Either way, she was very big in the world of the Wild Heart when she was only 11-13.
Her debut album, Blue, was one of the first nonChristian cds (next to Read My Mind by Reba McEntire) I got. However, I was a bit of a late-bloomer: it seemed like everyone else in Texas had discovered her including my aunt, who’s an avid country radio person. (Trust me she listened to FM 100.3 KILT, 93Q Country, etc. all the time back then)
This was my favorite song off her debut album from 1996. Now I look back at it and, even though it is a fun song, consider this: she was only 13 when she made the video. Sorry LeAnn but you were waaaay too young to be “drinkin’ champaign” at that age. Texas and pretty much every other law back then in the US in regards to drinking require you to be 21. You are also too young to be going around San Francisco like that. My mom would have NEVER stood for that – she freaked when I was left alone at a NEWSBOYS (note Newsboys are a Christian band!) concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion when I was 12! I can see her side of that because I have since seen 2 friends endure drugs and alcohol issues: one survived but went through rehab and a shotgun marriage. The other one, well, she crashed her car into a tree and died.
Sadly my parents never shared my enthusiasm for country music back then. Therefore going to the rodeo every year in Houston was completely out of the question. I won’t lie – that hurt because everyone else in my class, church, or Girl Scout troop went. I wanted to go. Maybe my dad was mad because they stopped having KSBJ day at the rodeo – the local Christian station. Either way he would always tell me because he thought everyone there was a “fake cowboy.” (And he isn’t when he wears boots everywhere?)
But that all changed in 04 when Amy Grant came with her husband, Vince Gill. I wanted that as my birthday present when I turned 18 and my parents and I, along with my school friend Dorianne went. We had a ball. I’ve since gone sans my parents to see Gretchen Wilson (Twice! One time being at a bar too!) and last year I saw Janet Jackson.
Trisha Yearwood is, hands down, my favorite country singer of all time next to Reba and Shania Twain. (I’m definetly a 90′s country girl aren’t I?) This was one of the first songs I ever heard of hers that I can recall. I was only 10 and someone told the Girl Scout leader to turn it up. It was awesome.
However, I have an interesting little story behind why I like this song.
At the University of Houston – where I got my Bachelors in Broadcast Journalism. I worked at the Daily Cougar and covered student groups. I found a student group to cover called Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, who were having a “welcome back to school” outreach event. I was already a Christian that was in the Baptist Student Ministry at the time, therefore, due to conflict of interest, I couldn’t cover any of their events. Intervarsity, however, I requested to cover their event and did so.
So I covered the event and there was this girl named Nicole that spoke. She told her story of faith and all that jazz.
A few weeks passed and I kinda felt like God was leading me away from the BSM. I was looking for a new accountability group – one away from my parents church. So I went to the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Women’s Bible Study and Nicole was there. Nicole was there and we became fast friends. We met each week and talked about basically any and everything. We even worked out together at the Rec center once – she broadcasted to everyone who I liked at the time.
Anyways, so a year or so later, she got married to her college sweetheart – a fellow engineering major like herself. (even though she decided to become a campus minister) I always thought this song was very fitting for her and her husband. Nicole likes country music and I think it fits her well.
Only deal is I would’ve had to change the names of the 2 characters in the song to fit her and her husband, the name “Tastee Freeze” (because we have a Dairy Queen, not a Tastee Freeze), and some of the aspects of how he proposed, the fact that they weren’t childhood sweethearts but college sweethearts, etc. I think it would have made a great wedding gift to them.
But it never happened.
Nicole and I are still friends to this day. She moved up to Dallas for her and her husband’s job shortly after she got married in 2010. However, we do try to get together every now and then when she comes to Houston.
Sometimes in the midst of madness and insanity, one can find a gem. This is so with Stevie Nicks‘ 1985 album track If I Were You from her album Rock A Little.
If I Were You is a plea to a lover to stay. However, what makes this track stand out the most is that, unlike some of the songs on Rock A Little (such as Imperial Hotel, Rock A Little, and The Nightmare) you can coherently hear what Ms. Nicks is saying. It is quite clear she was on alot of cocaine when she made this album, but somehow we got this little gem.
The other thing that makes this track stand out is that it seems to take a detour from all the synthesizers and 80′s cheesiness that made this album terrible. Rather it’s an updated homage to the overall sound that made her famous in the first place.
Bravo!
Madonna is one of those artists that likes to shake things up. Whether it be her controversial videos (i.e Like A Prayer, Erotica, Justify My Love, What It Feels Like For A Girl etc) or her controversy-happy tours. Also, she can sing and dance – she does both well even now in her 50′s.
But I think we can all agree that Madonna was truly in her prime in the early-to-mid-80′s. Her song, Gambler, is a prime example of such. It is perhaps her most underrated track of all time. It’s fast, upbeat, and amazing.
It’s also one of the most inspiring songs Madonna. For someone (such as myself) who has been told stuff like “you don’t measure up,” “you’re no good,” “”you’re not a good christian,” “stupid,” and my favorite “your blog will not work” – this song carries an inspirational message. Madonna sings “I’m a gambler/ and I will take you by surprise/ Gambler/ I’ll aim this straight between your eyes/ Gambler/ yeah I know all the words to say/ ‘Cause I’m a gambler/ I only play the game my way/ yeah/ Don’t want to say this but I think that I should I’m better off forgotten if you think that I’d be good/ One day you see me/ the next day I’m gone/ Don’t fight me baby/ I don’t want to hold on/ I’m a gambler/ a gambler/ You’re not happy with the way I act/ You better turn around boy, don’t look back/ You’re getting angry, you know I can see/ You’re just jealous ’cause you can’t be me/ You can’t stop me now/ ‘Cause I’m right and I’m making advances/ Let me show you how/Tonight, I’ll be taking my chances on you.“
Bravo! Mad props to you Madonna!
Okay, normally the Wild Heart NEVER gets political. However, todays post, well, that isn’t the case. Why? Read on Wild Heart lovers!
Today,l I read that there has been a bill introduced to Congress called the Stop Internet Privacy Act, a.k.a the Protect IPAct of
You could see something like this next time you bring up your favorite website. Do you really want that?
2011. Sounds good at face value does it not? There’s where you are wrong. It’s basically an internet censorship bill.
An internet censorship bill would mean an infringement on the US freedom that we cherish the most: free speech. Also, what it would do is stop any sort of unauthorizd streaming of audio or video. In short, unless any sort of video you watch is from a major media network or Vevo for music videos as well as Pandora, Last.fm or iTunes for streaming audio – you can kiss the unauthorized videos of YouTube and basically all of Grooveshark goodbye. Also you can kiss sharing such “unauthorized” contraband goodbye too – you’ll be sent to prison.
Such popular websites such as Facebook, Mozilla, Paypal, LinkedIn, WordPress (where the Wild Heart calls her virtual internet home), and many others will either blackout or are considering a blackout on the day that the bill goes to the senate on January 24. Thus, the Wild Heart will be doing likewise on January 24.
This will also stifle small businesses because it threatens to shut down other places such as Etsy – an arts and crafts website where you can buy things such as a Michael Jackson softball or a purse made from a record, Grooveshark – where people upload music much like people upload videos on YouTube as well as YouTube itself. This is an assault on small businesses, up and coming artists (some of which do covers of classic songs and become famous themselves) just so that the already established businesses can keep making money.
Here’s a list of music industry SOPA supporters if you choose to boycott them:
American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
BMG Chrysalis
BMI
Capitol Records Nashville
CBS (and I would assume the people that own the rights to all things that were once CBS records)
Christian Music Trade Association
Church Music Publishers’ Association
Copyhype
Copyright Alliance
Country Music Television
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
Gospel Music Association
Lost Highway Records
MCA Records
Mercury Nashville
National Songwriters Association
Provident Music Group
Republic Nashville
Showdog Universal Music
Sony Music Nashville
UMG Publishing Group Nashville
Universal Music
Warner Music Group
Word Entertainment
Now the ways that you can help are this: write your senators as well as President Barack Obama and tell him that this bill is an infringement on your rights to freedom of speech!
In the mid-80′s rocker Stevie Nicks was at the top of her game with her multiplatinum-selling albums (1981′s Bella Donna & 1983′s The Wild Heart). However, by 1986, her “game” was being threatened by a deadly cocaine habit which greatly affected her then-latest album, Rock A Little, and its subsequent tour. Her 1986 concert, Stevie Nicks: Live At Red Rocks chronicles her concert at the beautiful Red Rocks Ampitheater tucked away inside the Colorado Rocky Mountains in Denver.
While this dvd is far from Nicks’ worst performance, it’s not up to par with her post-drugs performances such as her 2009 dvd: Live in Chicago. Nevertheless, there are some redeemable parts of this concert. For example, she opens the show with the Bella Donna-era classic, Outside the Rain with a nice fade-into her Fleetwood Mac classic Dreams.
However, one of the best parts of the concert is when she performs Talk To Me from 1985′s Rock A Little. Her vocals sound amazing just as they do on the album.
One of the cutest moments of the film is after Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You. Someone in the audience releases a white-winged dove. The dove is then handed to Nicks (who tries to get the bird to speak into the mic) and she tries to release it, but the bird doesn’t leave.
Unfortunately Nicks’s performance of No Spoken Word is an absolute disaster in both sound and film. The closeups of her face are obviously retouched due to her drug issues. She looks tired. Additionally, her vocals sound tired. It gets even worse with Beauty and the Beast. On the ever-popular Edge of Seventeen, she performs a completely unnecessary vocal solo. At times, she even looks like she’s, as the great George Costanza once said on Seinfeld, in “a full-fledged body heave set to music.”
Overall, it’s an okay dvd due to the fact that it contains rarer songs that Nicks nowadays doesn’t perform live. However, it shows her in the worst part of her drug-fueled days. Fortunately after this tour she checked into rehab and has been off cocaine ever since.
B-.
I think I maybe in love with this show. I mean, a) who goes insane like Rick does for the Human League? I had a boss once
who considered the Cars to be the greatest rock band of all time – but he was an evil, annoying jerk who wasn’t as funny as Rick. Finally, b) who dances to the Human League like that? Funny!!!
Word to the guys reading: if you see a tampon, which usually looks like what Rick holds in the clip, please don’t play with it. Better yet, just leave it alone because you’ll make yourself look straight-up creepy.
You had one amazing voice Etta! Rest In Peace.
Well, this week and next, we will be rerunning some of the best of the Wild Heart – with maybe a few extras that you will have to see on our facebook page! Why, you ask? Because it’s been one year since the Wild Heart was born! (We had to skip it this year because of the whole SOPA thing)
Up until 1985, nobody ever would have thought that the words “Amy Grant” and the word “rock star” would have ever been uttered in the same sentence. That is, until 1985 when she released Unguarded.
This was definitely an album that broke many barriers within Contemporary Christian music back in the 1980′s. For starters, not every song was about…
Sheryl Crow at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2007
If you have lived in Houston, TX for any length of time, you will know that every year in the spring the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo comes every single year. Also, every year they have the top acts within country, pop, r&b, and tejano. It also includes such things as a trail ride, where people ride in from various outskirts of Houston and camp out in memorial park, a calf scramble, a carnival, honkey tonk with live music and of course, the main stage where all the headliners go.
Some of these past perfomers have included Trace Adkins, Reba McEntire, Beyonce, Bon Jovi, Cheap Trick, Ray Charles, Dixie Chicks, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Jackson 5, Janet Jackson, Los Kumbia Kings, KISS (yes you just heard me say KISS was at the rodeo!), Petra, REO Speedwagon, Willie Nelson, Darius Rucker (former lead vocalist for Hootie and the Blowfish), the late tejano legend Selena, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood, Taylor Swift, Gretchen Wilson, and the Zach Brown Band.
Quite a lineup has come over time don’t you think?
This year’s lineup includes the following:
However, if I were in charge of the lineup I would add a few more people:
You gotta hand it to Debbie, er Deborah Gibson: she writes and produces her own music. Better yet, she became the youngest woman to ever produce her own #1 hit with Foolish Beat in the ’80s.
Gibson is a talented pop artist – there’s no question about that. Her voice fits her craft very well and she proves this fact for the most part on her sophmore effort, 1989′s Electric Youth. But it’s not without its caveats. Unfortunately, those caveats arekindabig.
She starts out with the beautiful track Who Love Ya Baby. This song is very reminiscent of the title track of her first album, 1986′s Out of the Blue. It’s definetly a more grown-up, less puppy love, version of her early work.
However, the rest of the album is rather repetitive. In Debbie’s case there is too much bubblegum so much that it’s saccharin! This is true on such tracks as Helplessly In Love
C+
0:22-0:44 – Stevie, if you’re gonna hand deliver The Wild Heart to everyone then how come I had to pay $3 for it at the record store. (note: I wasn’t even born yet!)
3:27-3:54 – “Where am I again? This dance I’m trying to do…….was done bad.”
This is perhaps one of the best, albeit craziest, performances of Stand Back that exists.
Here’s something to ponder: what is the most underrated science fiction film score of all time? Back to the Future, Blade Runner,
or Tron? Well, if you ask me, it’s none other than Tron and its predecessor, 2010′s Tron Legacy.
Both soundtracks seem to pay homage to one another in various ways. Wheras the original Wendy Carlos score uses elements of classical music mixed with synthesizers, the Daft Punk score is all digitized. Either way, its a great reflection of what it would feel like as far as elements go in a technology world.
I have come to the conclusion that the city of Houston and surrounding areas of Galveston and Lake Jackson Freeport needs a music festival. Yes I know we have the Free Press Summer Fest and all and that is great. I am in no way bashing them. However, I think we need something much bigger. When I say bigger, as far as festivals go, I mean something on the scale of the original Woodstock festival and Us Festivals.
One thing that often plauges Houston during the summer is the heat. Every year we have 100% humidity. This past year, we had a record-breaking triple digit summer that brought on a drought.
However, outdoor concerts and venues, despite the heat, are still very popular. Every year, Free Press Summerfest brings in hordes of crowds from all over the country. Also, there are many concerts at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion, as well as free concerts at places like Miller Outdoor Theater, Eleanor Tinsley Park and Discovery Green.
Also, the beach is quite nice to go to during the summer.
So what am I proposing? A festival on or near the beach. It would be called “Beachfest” and it would take place on or near the
beaches of Galveston or Lake Jackson Freeport.
It would be like the Us Festival meets Woodstock at East Beach – the largest beach in Galveston. It would have specified days for each act – much like the Us Festival did. It would take place either at the very beginning of summer or near Labor day over the course of 3 days.
If this were to happen, each day would be as follows:
Coming up! (day 1)
This would be a day for up and comers. One day, they shall be big – least I think they will! It would also include indie bands and local talent too.
blast from the past and future (day 2)
On this day, we would have obscure rock bands that were once hits but aren’t anymore. Kinda like a mini “80′s Rewind” Festival – or 90′s. Also we would feature up and comers too.
Legends of rock (day 3)
This would have to be sponsored by 93.7 the Arrow.
Let’s make Houston one hard-rockin’ place again!
The Wild Heart is quite possibly one that loves stuff from the late 70′s and 80′s. Why? Because it was a time when rock n’ roll was starting to become more accepting of women. That’s important to the Wild Heart because the Wild Heart is a WOMAN!Also, it brought about one of the best things to ever hit music initially (but has since become a bad promo tool) and that is none other than MTV.
Pat Benatar was an integral part of that. She, along with others like Fleetwood Mac‘s Stevie Nicks, the late Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship’s Grace Slick, as well as Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, would become the trailblazers for female rockers. She showed women that it’s okay to be as tough as the boys. Just listen to the lyrics to songs like “Heartbreaker,” “Fight It Out,” “No You Don’t,” “You Better Run” and the ever-popular “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” Get the point?
Benatar also showed us that classical musicians CAN become rockers. She was originally going to study opera at Juliard, but decided to not do so. The two worlds, in spite of their differences, are essentially the same if you look at them very closely. This is something I always try to tell a music teacher friend of mine. She has [in my opinion] a somewhat limited knowledge
Cherry Crimson
of rock music.
“I knew the sound wasn’t right.As I sat there, listening to the playback from my first-ever recording session, I knew that something was off. It wasn’t that the speakers were bad or the mics were low. It wasn’t that my voice sounded wrong or the drummer was off the beat. It was more subtle than all that, but also much worse — not something that could be fixed by a simple equipment change. The problem was that I sounded like Julie Andrews trying to sing hard rock.” – Pat Benatar on her first recording session (Between A Heart & A Rock Place)
Also, she had a pretty good eye for fashion. When it comes to music, unless you are the terrible Lady Gaga, you cannot go wrong with that.
We salute you!
Yes friends, Eddie Trunk of That Metal Show has officially won my respect. Why? Because he has repeatedly called out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (or to him “The Rock and Roll Hall of Shame”) for not including such hard rock acts as Heart, Rush, Foreigner, Journey, Alice Cooper, in lieu of such acts as Donna Summer, various rap acts, etc.
I am in full agreeance with Trunk! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame leaves much to be desired. They consistently shun the real legends – the ones who have actually influenced others to be rock & rollers.
KISS
KISS, whether or not you love them, they are rather influential. They are very successful touring artists. They’ve been eligible since
1999 because their debut album was released in 1974.
Heart
Without the Wilson sisters, there would be no Seattle music scene, Alice in Chains and maybe even Nirvana. Virtually every woman who has picked up a guitar has in some way been influenced by Nancy Wilson; or for that matter any woman that wanted to sing Zepplin-style rock & roll with Ann’s powerhouse vocals. (Go listen to songs like Barracuda, White Lightning and Wine, How Can I Refuse and the ever-enduring Magic Man) Better yet, they, like KISS are still popular even with younger people today! I remember I went to their concert they performed with Journey (another deserving artist) and Cheap Trick back in 2008. I was expecting the crowd to be mostly people my parents age – in their 50′s. To my surprise, there were many people there my age as well as the age of my guest – I was 22 and a junior in college at the time. My guest was 19 and a freshman in college. They have been eligible ever since 2000.
Stevie Nicks
Though she already is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac, she has never been inducted as a solo artist. She is technically eligible as a solo artist due to the fact that Bella Donna was released 30 years ago. Many artist such as Sheryl Crow (wh is a legend herself if you ask me) and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine have all cited her as an influence.
Journey
Never has a band since Aerosmith seen such a surge in popularity than say, Journey. The main factor in the surge is none other than the usage of Don’t Stop Believingon MTV’s The Hills and other shows like Glee. They’ve been eligible since 2000.
Foreigner
Without Foreigner, there would be no Bon Jovi. They’ve been eligible since 2002.
Read this article for more info.
Saturday was a pretty weird day that turned sad. I had just come home from a friend’s baby shower. I was sitting in front of my
Whitney Houston - Concert in Central Park / Good Morning America 2009 - Manhattan NYC (Photo credit: asterix611)
television watching a dvrd episode of 30 Rock and I got the text that told of her fate. Needless to say, I was a bit saddened when I found out it was true – not that I didn’t believe the text. I then texted a close friend of mine the sad news. After all, she would’ve been of age to like her music.
One of my favorite Whitney moments was when she performed Hold Up The Light with gospel artists BeBe and CeCe Winans.
If you have been reading the Wild Heart for any length of time, you will know that I am a devout Christian that just happens to likes me some rock & roll. However, I do understand that rockers sometimes succumb to bad habits such as drugs and alcohol. Same goes for any Christians. I think that is what happened to Houston. She was both. She will be missed.
A friend of mine said once that Fleetwood Mac is a band of solo artists – or something like that. Currently, you have Stevie Nicks – the lead singer, In this case he is right on the money. His proof: the documentary Fleetwood Mac: Destiny Rules.
Destiny Rules is a candid documentary that follows the making of the band’s 2003 studio album Say You Will. It was the first album without longtime member and keyboardist Christine McVie and the first record with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham back in the band. Buckingham left the band shortly before the tour for their 1987 album Tango In the Night.
What Destiny Rules shows us is that, while a considerable amount of healing has taken place among the band – particularly between the notoriously stormy relationship between Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks, there are still some caveats. For starters, they are somewhat worlds apart in their approaches to their craft – in particular the overall style.
For starters, Buckingham wanted their latest album to be a double album. A sordid Tusk 2.0 if you will. Nicks and the rest of the band see a double album as career suicide. She is right in her assessment that younger people, their target audience, will not buy a double album in 2003. After all, she would know because her solo efforts have, for the most part, consistently sold well despite her own age. Buckingham’s albums haven’t sold as well as hers.
To further drive home this point, when I saw Nicks in August 2011, her audience was a pretty full house. It consisted of young
women, families with children, some men and older women. It was at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion in the Woodlands – just outside Houston, TX. When Lindsey Buckingham came to the Verizon Wireless Theater in downtown Houston, it was a smaller audience that consisted of older men and women. I and my friend Javier both joked that the audience was “the Woodstock generation” because we are in our mid-twenties.
But one of the best things is that it shows the actual production process that the album went through. Such as the scene where Stevie and Lindsey converse about Throw Down and the possibility of editing out a verse. Also the idea of choosing the right mixing person to mix the songs is shown.
However the biggest complaint with this DVD is that there are absolutely NO extras. It is bare bones. It says on the back that the documentary was culled from over 500 hours of footage. You mean to tell me that you couldn’t make some extras out of that?!
B+
Madonna is one of those artists that can do everything and do it well: sing, dance, and act – though that remains rather questionable. Howevever, every artist must grow up eventually and prove to both audience and peers that they are great. Madonna does this in her own unique way with her 1989 release, Like A Prayer.
Like A Prayer unveils a new persona of Madonna: the grownup. With the release of this album, not only does her own voice seem to mature – but also the overall production and lyrical content. On the title song. Madge explores religious elements in both lyric and production. She uses a backup choir and the lyrics are both a double entendre for prayers to God and sex.
In fact, this song wasn’t without controversy. The video for Like A Prayer stirred up quite a bit of controversy among Christiansdue to its exploitation of burning crosses and Madonna having sex with a saint in a church. Pepsi used the song for a commercial
The cover of the album is a direct homage to "Sticky Fingers" by the Rolling Stones
starring Madonna and ended up pulling the commercial altogether after only a few airings.
One of the best things about this album is the production quality. For this album, Madonna chose the production team of Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard. Leonard previously had worked with Madge on some of her best known hits such as La Isla Bonita, Where’s The Party, and Who’s That Girl. Bray was previously a member of her old band, Emmy and the Emmys. The instrumentation on such songs as Till Death Do Us Part, Cherish, and Keep It Together are all amazing.
Lyrically, Madge also grows up. Promise To Try feels like a letter to a 5-year-old Madonna from the adult Madonna. It is quite possibly about the death of her own mother, who died of cancer at the age of 30. Madge herself has said that this fact – her mother dying at such a young age, was on her mind along with her divorce from actor Sean Penn. These 2 factors influenced the recording of this album.
Overall, this is Madonna at the height of her career. It’s one of her best and definetly worth a listen.
……concert ticket prices were cheaper?
……fans could vote on the entire library of the artist to perform.
Call it wishful thinking but if technology has its way, this could be a reality for the future of tours.
Not too long ago, before he died, Michael Jackson tinkered with this idea for his This Is It farewell concert. Also country supergroup Sugarland is apparently doing this for their current tour.
Now here is a proposed idea: what if you could vote on their setlist and, as a reward for voting, you receive a code to use at all ticket outlets that gives you upwards of 45% off of the ticket price?
This would be a great idea because unfortunately, ticket prices are too high for popular artists.
Tell me what you think
