There are some bands that are huge in certain parts of the world and in other areas they are barely a blip on the radar.  The Darkness, hailing from jolly old England, are a prime example-  these guys have been huge in the UK and Europe since their debut LP Permission To Land was released in 2003 but are relatively unknown in the States in comparison.  But a great band is a great band and I snapped up a couple of tickets for me and my brother to check out Lowestoft’s finest.

Arriving shortly after the first band played we were treated to a local band (The Skunks?) who took advantage of their 20 minute slot and put on a highly entertaining and spirited performance.  Shortly after their set my brother and I moved front and center of the stage about 15-20 feet back of the proceedings, which we figured would be a prime location for a rocking good time.  Also billed on this tour were another band from the UK in newcomers Raveneye featuring blues guitarist Oli Brown, who has taken time away from his solo gig to lead a more heavier, blues based trio.  The band put on an outstanding show, all three members very solid and the band interplay was fantastic.  Really cool to see three guys playing their hearts out and playing off each other.  Brown is a damn good rock singer and player- so impressed were we that we grabbed the EP from the drummer on our way out the door.  But not before…

About 20 minutes after the breakdown of the Raveneye stage setup, the house lights went down and we were treated to a good few minutes of bagpipes ‘n synth as the stage was bathed in blue light.  Shortly thereafter the band strolled onto stage before Dan Hawkins’ kicked off the intro chords to “Barbarian” and we were off!

Playing for about an hour and a half, the band did not let up.  Riffs and lead playing were tight, drum and bass were solid, and Justin Hawkins’ vocals were just about dead on perfect.  If you are not familiar with anything from The Darkness, then you’ll be in a shock when it comes to hearing the ridiculous range of Hawkins’ high tenor and incredible falsetto.  Think Freddie Mercury fronting a band that’s a cross between AC/DC and Thin Lizzy and you are damn near in the ballpark.  And how the guy still has that range at 41 years old and can sing AND scream in that falsetto/head voice is absolutely amazing.  And boy did he nail it tonight!

The songs?  Pretty much everything off debut Permission To Land with about two each from the remaining three albums, which was certainly appreciated by me as that debut is loaded with my fave cuts.  The overall performance?  Top notch.  Justin Hawkins is a unique and very entertaining frontman; at one minute being hilariously overdramatic and the next minute throwing classic rock star shapes in an effort to fire up the crowd.  His in between song banter is quite funny as was the occasional interplay with bassist Frankie Poullain (who was decked out in 70s disco fashion to go along with his huge ‘fro and fu manchu moustache).  And watching younger brother Dan’s heads down, take no prisoners guitar riffing certainly delivers the rock star goods as he hammered away on a variety of sweet Gibson Les Pauls.

The overall verdict?  To steal a phrase from the Brits, is was a bloody good show and we were dead chuffed by night’s end.  Three cheers all around!

Can 2016 get any worse?  I wrote about the passing of some of our favorite artists just a couple of months ago and we’ve had a few other deaths since then, but I wanted to make a special case here for an unsung artist whose death was overshadowed due to the media’s coverage of the passing of Prince.  No disrespect to His Purpleness, who was certainly a game changer and iconic figure that helped set the tone for 80s music and beyond, but sometimes such mass reportage overlooks “the little guy”.  That “little guy”, in this instance, is the passing of guitar great Lonnie Mack.

And no, Lonnie Mack was no “little guy”.  Mack was a bonafide 60’s guitar star that influenced many artists from Jeff Beck to The Allman Brothers to Stevie Ray Vaughan, the latter of whom covered Mack’s “Wham” and also brought him out of semi-retirement to produce the classic blues rock album Strike Like Lightning for Alligator Records.  But Mack wasn’t just the blues-  he blended rockabilly, country, soul, surf into one package and slayed audiences with his searing guitar style (a mix of fast runs, chicken pickin’, and steamy bends with an awesome watery tone) and extremely soulful singing voice over a 40+ year recording career.  I was fortunate to catch him live in the late 80’s in downtown Cincinnati and he put on such an outstanding show that it remains a favorite concert memory.  As the title of one of his late 80s songs attests, he was “too rock for country, too country for rock n roll”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3JQM3noYxk

Oh yeah…  here’s your fun factoid of the day…  you know that classic rock staple “Roadhouse Blues”?  That cool bassline that plays along with the main lick?  That’s Lonnie Mack, who guested on the Morrison Hotel album of fellow Elektra label mates The Doors.  Spring that one on your rock lovin’ older brother/uncle at your next family gathering 🙂

Ahhh, the power ballad…  likely initiated somewhere in the ’70s and became so disgustingly overwrought and over(wind?)blown during the rise of hair metal in the ’80s that could very well have killed off that genre and spawned the grunge movement in the process.  But who wrote the first one?  Who can we blame for foisting the likes of Kip Winger as he stares brazenly at the camera while “heading for a heartbreak” or Jani Lane from Warrant as he opines that “heaven isn’t too far away”?  Or what about Vince Neil from Motley Crue pining for “Home Sweet Home”?  Who?  WHO?????  Someone must take responsibility!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WAZ60xA9wo

Alright, let’s step back for a second.  Just what is a “power ballad”?  Does it have power?  Is it necessarily a ballad?  What are the key components to unite those two seemingly unrelated words into one cohesive phrase?  Look at it this way…  the bands that wrought these monstrosities upon us are categorically hard rock or heavy rock bands (the “power”) that have decided to expand upon their creativity  by experimenting with different colors from the artistic rainbow.  What I mean by that is, instead of non-stop crunch and rah rah rock they’ve decided to soften their approach somewhat by introducing instrumentation such as keyboards and acoustic guitars with the occasional bombastic moments (yeah, the rockin’ parts) thrown in for good measure.  Pretty cool concept until the record companies started smelling beaucoup $$$ and decided that EVERY rock band needed one!  And ya gotta do a video too!  Women LOVE these bad boys and they’ll love them even MORE if they see how soft and sensitive they are!  Close ups of EVERY band member staring into the camera!  Explosions!  Slow motion shots of a screaming crowd!  Slow motion everything!   AUUUUGHHHHH!!!!!

OK…  sorry, got carried away…  let’s start pointing fingers.  Mind you, I like some of these songs but I am a rock dude so these certainly aren’t in the “most played” category of the iPod.  Let’s start with two specific ones:

“Dream On” – Aerosmith and “We Are The Champions” – Queen

Your two key elements, piano and bombast, all rolled into one!  Certainly both bands are well known for their rock songs but in this instance you’ve got a little more pomp and grandiosity with Queen but more of a classical figure and vibe with Aerosmith with its gradual build.  Both songs are excellent, very powerful, and maybe, just maybe, sowed the seeds of our topic du jour.

Now let’s go on to two others:

“Beth” – KISS and “Babe” – Styx

A new concept!  LOVE!  Ahhh, sweet love.  But where is the “power”?  Certainly not here.  No, these are flat out ballads, one introducing more of a symphonic concept and the other a bit more schmaltz but honest in delivery.  But like I mentioned in the definition, both bands were certainly known for their rock songs.

So there you go, four contenders for inventors of the “power ballad” and all four songs with different key elements to the concept.  Shortly thereafter some of these bands’ contemporaries were releasing their own mellow cuts-  Journey with “Open Arms” and “Faithfully” (two definite love ballads) and REO Speedwagon with “Time For Me To Fly” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” to name just a couple of bands (what, no mention of Foreigner!).  But then everyone had to jump on the bandwagon because, dog gone it, they made money and gobs of it!

Who am I to argue?  I said I liked SOME of the songs.  So if you hold me to it, here are my top five power ballads.  Not sure you agree that these are “power ballads” but it’s my blog dammit!

5.  “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, Poison

4.  “Sister Christian”, Night Ranger

3.  “Wanted Dead Or Alive”, Bon Jovi

2.  “More Than Words”, Extreme

1.  “The Flame”, Cheap Trick

1.  Keith Moon

Ahh, Moonie…  former clown prince and court jester with and oversized personality and heart of gold,  Keith Moon was a drummer and character unlike no other.  If drumming were a tornado Moon “the Loon” would be categorized as an F5, cutting a wide swath of destruction and leaving little in its wake.  Moon wasn’t your typical rock n roll drummer; nah, he was more of a surf music nutter that always propelled the music forward and was not really content to sit back and tap out a simple 4/4 beat.  He wanted your attention and he damn well got it.

There are two things that amaze me when watching a live performance from The Who during their glory days:  1)  the synchronicity between Moon and guitarist Pete Townshend, and 2) just how in the hell Moon does it behind the kit!  For the former just watch how the two interact:  The Who was infamous in how they could take the basic structure of their songs and make them explode with such power and ferociousness in a live setting.  Both of these guys would have their eyes on their fellow comrade as they play off each other and instinctively KNOW when to push, when to pull, and when to come back to the main structure of the song.  That, my friends, is the power of a live band in action.

But for the latter…  I just can’t figure it out.  I mean, I’m no drummer though I can tap a decent beat on the kit, but…  with Moon what you hear and what you see appear to be two different things.  I’ve watched other drummers play and can see what they are doing and it makes sense but in this case I’m bewildered and befuddled.  Watch Moon and it’s all arms and legs that looks like pure chaos but what you hear is so totally exciting and exhilarating, almost as if you are watching a magician in action.  I think part of that is likely due to his unique style as he pushed that beat and rarely relied on keeping time with the hi hat, working various cymbals into his extremely creative and thundering drum rolls.

And the songs!  Like listening to a drum orchestra with some of those manic drum breaks and rumbles-  “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”, “My Generation”, “Substitute”, “Underture”, “Happy Jack”, “I Can See For Miles” (those first two snare cracks are a thing of beauty-  WHAP WHAP)…  hell, that’s just stuff from the 60s!  As Townshend’s songs grew ever more creative, Moon’s talents grew as well:  “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Bargain”, “The Real Me” (An Entwistle tour de force but listen to those drums too!), “Bell Boy” (Moonie on vocal!), “Who Are You”…  the list is endless.  And let’s not forget the classic Who live platter Live At Leeds for prime drum work.

Like Bonham, Keith Moon unfortunately died far too young.  Like Bonham, I play the “what if?” game as well.  But all I can do is share my love of the man’s talents and the overwhelming joy that he has brought not only to me but to countless music fans out there.  Keith Moon may be gone, but his music and influence lives on forever.

2.  John Bonham

What can I say?  With a sound often imitated but never duplicated, John Bonham easily slots in high on this list.  Not really a 2 but more like a 1a due to my love for the man and band, but I have to categorize these somehow 🙂  Everyone knows the classic intros (“When The Levee Breaks”, “Rock N Roll”) and some may pick out the finer qualities (the shuffle in “Fool In The Rain”, the footwork in “Good Times Bad Times”, the relentless locomotive chug throughout “Achilles Last Stand”), but the ability to combine that “tight but loose” feel with the light and shade found throughout the Zeppelin catalog is not an easy task for any drummer.  I mean, what do you think about when you hear the name Led Zeppelin?  Is it the heavier songs?  Is it more about their mystical side?  How about the acoustic based material?  The band covered a lot of territory and Bonham was certainly a key ingredient as to their success that it is certainly understandable that after his unfortunate death in 1980 that the band “could not continue as we were”, per the official press release.  Replacing such a character with such feel on the kit that had his own unique sound and almost inhuman metronomical timing was nigh impossible.  And they weren’t just replacing their drummer-  they would have been replacing a lifelong friend of Robert Plant.

Along with drummer #1 (who may be obvious by now), one of the most tragic deaths in the history of rock and roll.  Too many “what if?” scenarios go through the minds of many as we pontificate on what could have been.  Thank you John Bonham for the music you did make in your short life and the skills you displayed behind the kit-  you are sadly missed.