Time once again for a curveball on the shuffle post by giving my musings on the first ten artists that pop up on the iPod, plus pick my favorite three songs from the artists.  Let it roll…

Mercyful Fate

Of course, let’s start with a tough one…  Mercyful Fate, a band I never really got into until maybe the 90’s when King Diamond decided to resurrect the band after his lengthy solo career.  All that said, King and the boys were a huge influence on the metal scene (especially Metallica) with songs full of steely riffs, macabre lyrics, and over the top vocals.  And that Denner/Sherman guitar tag team is aces and the King’s ultracool personality (not to mention insane singing style) is totally unique.

Favorite Cuts:  “A Corpse Without Soul”, “Curse Of The Pharaohs”, “Evil”

Wild Cherry

Only got one cut from Wild Cherry and it’s a KILLER…  the ubiquitous “Play That Funky Music”; a song with an insistent funkiness and stanky groove topped off with an insanely catchy singalong chorus.  Never fails to bring a smile to my face even after years and years of hearing it, and if someone is gonna frown on it then I don’t want you hangin’ out at my party.  Hate to say that I’ve never heard anything else from the band though.  Oh well.

Favorite Cut:  “Play That Funky Music”

Survivor

Loved these guys back in the early 80s and liked their extremely popular Vital Signs LP with the major hits (well, those outside of “Eye Of The Tiger”), but man…  if I clamor for some Survivor I have to go with the Dave Bickler era-  just some great heavy blue collar rock from the Chicago boys.  Sure, the Jimi Jamison era was more popular but it got a little too poppy and ballady for my tastes which now I look at it more as a product of the MTV era.

Favorite Cuts:  “Poor Man’s Son”, “The One That Really Matters”, “Eye Of The Tiger”

Allman Brothers Band

Big fan here; love the Allmans and really got into them moreso over the past 15-20 years or so.  Preference is definitely for the Duane Allman era but I certainly don’t discount anything done since his unfortunate demise (especially the latter Warren Haynes years).  Brother Gregg’s (RIP) soulful singing o’er top of that dual guitar interplay between Duane and Dickey Betts is the main selling point for me, plus they wrote a good number of hits and did some excellent blues covers.

Favorite Cuts:  “One Way Out”, “You Don’t Love Me”, “Nobody Knows”

Rory Gallagher

Wow, tough tough call here as I have a few things from Rory but I don’t listen to him enough to make the call but hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do and I’ve put three down that I like.  Hard thing though is actually picking songs because he’s mostly known for his guitar prowess, which is quite incredible.  I was in a record store one evening and they were playing his Live In Europe and I was floored by the insane fire and energy from his performance.   And yeah, the live stuff is where it’s at.

Favorite Cuts:  “I Take What I Want”, “Cruise On Out”, “Bullfrog Blues”

The Winery Dogs

I remember when these cats teamed up and how excited I was at the prospect of what they would put together, but I was slightly disappointed.  Not sure exactly why though as the talent is there but it may have been that I was looking for more fiery fretwork and less bluesiness from the band, which is a shame in my thinking as the players are all killer and Richie Kotzen has some great soulful pipes.  Still, I’m wanting a more aggressive approach from him to match the tunes.  Got some really good tunes though.

Favorite Cuts:  “Six Feet Deeper”, “Desire”, “Not Hopeless”

The Beatles

As much as I dig the Fab Four it’s hard for me to say that I absolutely love them.  That may be blasphemy to some; however, my tastes lean heavier and a bit more bombastic compared to the melodic tunefulness and brilliant songcraft of the band.  That said, I have MASSIVE respect for what they’ve done and they definitely fall into the top tier of favorites of all time due to their immense creativity and wealth of iconic music.  They literally changed the face of popular music during the 60s and their influence cannot be denied.

Favorite Cuts:  “A Day In The Life”, “Let It Be”, “Eleanor Rigby”

Sex Pistols

Short of the Never Mind The Bollocks… CD I have nothing else from the Pistols so I’ll be a little biased towards my choices.  Funny tho, I’d heard covers of Pistols songs before I actually heard a thing from the band themselves.  Even funnier listening to this these days is how relatively tame it seems to be, which just goes to show how much punk rock influenced a lot of the heavy music I grew up with.  Still, Johnny Rotten’s snotty delivery is often imitated and never duplicated and the songs were strong- don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Favorite Cuts:  “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Holidays In The Sun”

Iron Maiden

Yeah, don’t need to go into much more detail on my all time favorite band having already done that as they achieved the #1 spot on that list.  But yer gonna get another small dose of it anyway.  Great musicianship?  Check…  Excellent songs?  Check…  Fabulous live energy?  Check…  Cool lyrical content?   Absolutely…  the best metal frontman ever?  Hell yes…  We can talk Maiden on here all day, but I’ll leave you with this-  there’s not a band anywhere that’s as deep in my soul as these guys are and there never will be.  Entrenched and anchored well within…

Favorite Cuts:  “The Trooper”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Wasted Years”

Monster Magnet

The cool thing about working at a record store back in the day were the promos that were sent out, which was my first exposure to the great Monster Magnet.  At one point in the 90s I thought that their brand of stoner rock would be THE NEXT BIG THING but unfortunately it was not.  Still, they did have a semi hit with the over the top video for “Space Lord” but they never did replicate that success.  But man, the band’s spaced out fuzz and trippy lyrics are really deserving of more exposure.  Runs the gamut from stoner to cock rock and it’s all good.

Favorite Cuts:  “Negasonic Teenage Warhead”, “Space Lord”, “Medicine”