Crank It Up To Eleven! 03.03.09: If I Could Change...

Posted by Sandeep Murali on 03.03.2009

...three things in music history, what would they be? Prevent all members of Fall out boy from being born? Stop Elvis from getting fat? Make sure that Michael Jackson didn't turn into a creepy white lady? I'm afraid the answers are of a slightly more serious nature than that. Read on to find out:





Hello folks, hope you enjoyed our little head-to-head comparison of Axl Rose and Dave Mustaine last week. There certainly was no dearth of comments as fans from either side of the fence let their thoughts be known from the matter. Let's take a look at them, shall we?

---

Talk dirty to me:

timtmyy Gets things rolling with: "Well, "blonde" is the correct spelling."


From the American heritage book of English usage, "Terms that came into English from French to designate hair color, such as the pairs blonde/blond and brunette/brunet, are sometimes treated in English as in French: the gender-marked form of the adjective or noun, ending in -e or -te, is used when referring to a female, and the non-gender-marked form is used when referring to a male."

Thank you, that has been your education for the day.


He follows it up with: "But more importantly, Dave Mustane and Axl both have RED hair. That is plain to see in any picture."




"O'rly?"


Anyway, since it's PAINFULLY obvious that you read the whole article and not just the teaser, I thank you for the effort, sir.


Jarmoo has some things to say about the new Gn'R. "I beg to differ.

New GN'R is not one happy family.

Paul Tobias quit.

Robin Finck quit.

Buckethead quit.

Bryan 'Brain' Mantia quit.


Thankfully, kok set the record straight and saved me some effort: "Paul Tobias didn't want to tour - he only left touring lineup and remained active in studio.

Robin Finck is only temporarely with NIN - or would you rather believe he worked a decade on Chinese Democracy and quit right before it was released.

Buckethead - Axl said he has no isues with him recently.

Brain just confirmed he's rehearsing with the bend for upcoming tour, so I don't believe he quit either.

Things just aren't all that messed up ;-)"



Guest#3906 drops in to spread his infinite wisdom with "This guy has so many facts wrong....

Next time, we mention WHAT exactly is wrong, mmkay?


Finally, Extraho gets exactly where I'm coming from: "THANK YOU!! i'm so tired of hearing crap about Axl and the new band + record. i don't know where people got the impression of that they rest of they old guns are a bunch of kittens, while Axl is the big bad tiger, (well he is, but you get my point) I'm pretty sure Slash ripped some heads in his days as well.

I think they broke from GNR 'cause they couldn't handle Axl needing them sober. hell, Steve is still on the rocks and Slash has only been sober for...3-4 years? and to be honest, VR's stuff (or any or their solo stuff) isn't especially good. Considering the amount of marketing Ch.D. had, it's sold pretty well. He only posted ONE note on the GNR site, and it's been on the lips since. I have been to every record store in my city, and it wasn't even in the GNR section. I had to ask for it - and then explain the Ch. D was NOT a band, but an album (idiot emo teens) to my defense she was wearing a GNR shirt and humming Sweet Childe o' Mine....


I agree wholeheartedly. The new breed of salespersons at music stores and even musical instrument stores make me wanna kick puppies with their ignorance. Just weeks ago I came across this teen at the Fender section of a music store who had no idea who SRV was. Which isn't all that bad until you consider the fact that she had his signature edition Strat in her hands and was trying to sell it to my friend. Sigh...



Bouquets, brickbats, whatever you got; throw ‘em this way. It's all good.

---

If I could change 3 things in music history:

In wrestling, it's called "Fantasy booking". The more daring ones call it "Playing god". The skeptics dismiss it as little more than a glorified wishlist. Either way, a fan's views on how his favorite music genre would have been better off had some things occurred differently makes for an interesting read and that my friends, is my goal here.

Force Metallica to stick to their tone from Kill 'em all/ Ride the lightning :

Now you know very well that I simply love this band to shreds, but by god; they have the worst possible tone ever! Now I can certainly understand pretend-metal bands deepening their sound so as to cover up their lack of technical skills, but come on, this is met-fuckin-allica we're talkin' about. Kill 'em all had shoddy production and Ride the lightning wasn't all that better, yes. But listen to say, Call of the Ktulu and you'll hear the distinct separation of frequencies between James' and Kirk's guitars and Cliffs throbbing bass. This was because they had a very "Dry" tone for the guitars which had little midrange in it, decent bass and mostly treble. And justice... more or less had a similar setup, but they basically killed Jason's efforts on the mixer. But from the Black album on, a worrying trend has started to emerge.


James and Kirk (James, really)decided to change their tone.


All of a sudden, Metallica now had a deeper, darker sound. The guitar tone now had boosted bass, tonnes of mids and comparatively less treble. This was noticeable to the expert ear in the black album, but was painfully obvious to everyone and their deaf grandma in Load/ Reload. Unlike most people, I like these albums and the variety they offer but this newfound tone completely rapes the solos of the life and dynamics they had. For example, Kirk's wah use had so much more life to it when he was playing around with a wider frequency spectrum, but with these albums, it just sounds like an afterthought. I can only imagine how much more better the solo from "Outlaw torn" would have been, had he used a "Dry" tone. As a side effect, the bass of course, remained buried.


And let's not even discuss the abomination that was St. Anger, which featured Drop C tunings and a part time Bass player.


With Death Magnetic, the band actually has a winner in their hands. But once again, the tone prevents some killer solos from sounding as good as they could have been. If only James and Kirk stuck to the tone of "Fade to black", the very similar "Day that never comes" would have been infinitely more awesomer. And let's take "Cyanide" and "Suicide and redemption", two tracks where the Bass work is crucial; and we see that Rob can only be heard through when James and Kirk aren't actually playing. Yes, I tried playing the songs over noise canceling headphones with things cranked up to 11, and the result was the same.


If you still haven't got a clue of what I'm talking about, listen to some Pantera or even Megadeth songs and see how the guitar work is clearly and distinctly identifiable from the Bass riffs. THAT's what I'm talking about. Multiple layers of frequencies is what adds up to the texture of a song. Not an indecipherable pile of garble. As a fan, I hope Metallica realizes this and make more albums the way they were meant to.

Hold the release of Nevermind Back until Ten became a success in its own right :

Because I still maintain my belief that of all the alternative bands that gained prominence in the early nineties, the least special one got the most credit. Song-for-song, Ten is miles ahead of Nevermind when it comes to variety and texture. Pearl jam did the subtle-heavy thing in a much more befitting way to building up the song than Nirvana who were just alternating between the two 5 times in a track. Vedder obviously has a far superior vocal range and Cobain's skills on the six string don't even belong in the same discussion as those of McCready and Gossard. And lastly, I consider "Black" to have done a better job of conveying human pain and heartbreak than anything Nirvana has in its entire catalog. And still, Ten is seen as riding Nevermind's coattails to fame and that is extremely unfortunate.


But more importantly, I wanted Ten to have made a bigger impression than Nevermind for one simple reason. Their legacy. For every band that makes their mark in history leads to the rise of several others who clone them in attitude, sound and style. Nirvana's stripped down style might have sounded like a breath of fresh air following a decade of complex guitar work, but very soon, "Musicians" with barely passable skills decided to use this style as a crutch and a mask and push themselves to the limelight. Yes, I'm talking about Nu-Metal and the success of Nevermind is a huge factor in the rise of this dreadful genre of music. The difference of course is that the guitars were tuned down even further, the distortion pushed up, the "singers" could barely cover both ends of a single octave and they were all in it to make a quick buck with little regard to music as an artform.


Pearl Jam on the other hand, had sound that was very much inspired by classical rock. The guitar work was melodic and they never used distortion to mask out the nuances of their playing. They did not hit a million notes per second like the shredders of the 80's, yet let their talent shine through in just the right amounts. Of course, Vedder was there to wrap the whole thing in a rich serving of emotion. This was the change that I wanted to see and had it been this way, we would have seen a lot of talented bands get their recognition they rightfully deserved instead of the talentless hacks from Nu Metal inc.

Stop Randy Rhoads from "Getting on that plane" :

Yes, Ozzy wasn't the only one who felt the same way after Rhoads' death. The little man was such a revelation when it came to guitar playing. An inspiration to neoclassical shredders who came after him, Randy used his expertise in playing the classical guitar into constructing rock 'n roll solos that were unmistakably unique. The solo from Crazy Train wouldn't have sounded quite the same had someone else been in charge of writing it, for example.


Rhoads' young, yet eventful life was cut down unnecessarily at the age of 25 in a freak flying accident that was in many ways, preventable. Yes, one can say the same about several talents who went before their time such as Hendrix, SRV etc. but Rhoads was a harbinger of a new revolution that was to sweep up the entire world of rock 'n roll in the next decade and he didn't live long enough to see it happen. Lightning quick, blitzing solos were to become the order of the day in everything from the most pop oriented bands to the heavy hitters and Randy was in many ways, one of the pioneers of this style of playing. And his brand of shredding wasn't all about pointless six string wanking either. Every solo had a purpose. A definite start, climax and an ending. A strong buildup, a plateau of blitzkreig notes and a fitting finish. He was special in every way. And we realized that way before he could hit his peak.


Randall William Rhoads, the world of rock 'n roll misses you very much. And if there was any way I could have done it, I'd have prevented you from getting on that plane, sir.






Well there you go. Three things I would change if I could. A band's sound, an album's release date and the fatal mistake a great musician made. Feel free to post your own choices in the usual spot.

---

Never say goodbye:

Words cannot describe the happiness I felt when I heard that Metallica had extended their Hall of fame invitation to Dave Mustaine. Equally classy was Dave's open letter which congratulated his former band on their success. The boys sure have come a long way, folks.


That being said, Dave's firing from Metallica is one thing I wouldn't have changed if I could. If Dave had remained with the band, we wouldn't have had to opportunity to enjoy some great music from two equally great bands that would be remembered a long time after they are gone.



Rock on and see y'all next Tuesday.