Yeah I think I prefer the longer version too. I still can't think of lady Gaga as anything but an attention _____ after that meat dress stunt though.

Band out of Switzerland. Might have been an interesting nomination for the current Rock Wars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSR9CLcVBMM

I used to agree regarding Lady Gaga, but one event changed that for me. I think she used those bizarre stunts to get famous and it worked. I just ignored her.

Turned on the Today Show several years ago and just left it on while she performed for thousands of fans. Towards the end, it began pouring rain while she sat at the piano, playing and singing. While she (and the audience) were getting soaked, she just kept playing. No one brought an umbrella, she didn’t look around for help, she just kept singing and playing for her fans. I confess, I started to fall in love with her that day and that hasn’t wavered as I learned more about her as a nice person. Her fans seem to love and respect her, and she them.

I couldn't find the performance that I remember, only another of her dancing in the rain; that is NOT the one I saw and is not that impressive. Here's a song I like.

ANGEL DOWN (Lady Gaga)

It wasn't bad. might even buy it on iTunes.

Dwight Twilley has passed away. I was thinking his hits came out while I was overseas but I guess his biggest one came out in 1975 though for some reason I hadn't heard it before I was sent across the pond.

I discovered his other hit off a collection of naughty videos I rented at Blockbuster. His song featured an under age Traci Lords shaking her adult looking moneymakers thru the video so I guess you won't be able to find that video any more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QxH__FXPZY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBFQT0aNBNY

This thread needs more HeroClix representation.

I love DJ Cummerbund. Although I think WAR MCA missed an opportunity to weave in a Beastie Boys song.

OK. I’m just going to say it and hope I don’t get banned of infracted(?) or something….

Holy crap!! What a fun mashup. Everybody needs to hang in there for a few seconds until it sinks in what is going on. I definitely understand how one could have wanted a Beastie Boys addition, but the same could be said for lots of other high energy songs.

This made my day. Oh, and I chickened out on the “just going to say it” part.

The video was tainted by the appearances of Tucker Crapleson. How did this relate to Heroclix? Have they done Wrestleclix or something?

Or something.

I sometimes get flak (politely delivered and definitely justified) for always pushing Asian bands, particularly Band-Maid. Recently The Rolling Stones, Guns n' Roses, and Metallica have all released new music and this got me to thinking about non-Western rock and how it might be related to current sub-par music (my opinion only) from former Western Rock Heroes.

Completely my opinion and based on nothing, I am starting to think GREAT innovations in music have come from a 30 year cycle of musical invasions that have had lasting influences. When the new cycle starts may be strongly influenced by when a person starts to enjoy the current popular music, but for me it began in the 60's. There are always good songs, of course, but the quantity of good versus mediocre, and especially variety within genres, steadily declines until the next invasion of talent occurs.

The 60's saw the British Invasion, some say repackaged and updated American blues, beginning somewhere around 1963. Whatever the basis, the 60's were innovative and still well-remembered rock and roll years. The 70's still brought us lots of good music. The 80's began to see a bit more homogenization.

The 90's brought the Seattle Invasion, for me a refreshing change from what had been popular for a while. It renewed my interest in music. Again, there was still good music being produced in the world in the 2000's, but by the 2010's things were again becoming more predictable.

I believe the next big invasion, for the 2020's, has begun and it is an Asian Musical Invasion. Yes, it is heavily influenced by Western rock and metal, but many of these bands have taken technical ability to a consistently higher level, have advanced song structure in unexpected ways, and aren't afraid to sometimes be surprising in mixing genres. Some of the most popular bands are Babymetal, Band-Maid, Nemophila, and Lovebites, most of whom have been touring in the US this year.

I believe these bands are starting to gain popularity and creating some renewed interest in rock and roll. Not yet widely popular, they do appear to be growing in appeal. My wild theory is that the old-school Western Bands are aware of this renewed interest in rock and roll in Asia and are producing new music so they can tour successfully in those markets. Asian bands have recently collaborated with GNR, Rob Halford, Tom Morello and others. Rob and Tom still appear relevant. In my opinion, the others not so much. I still love their old music but prefer to remember when they were great.

Again, every decade has great music; I would never discount any song based solely on when or where it was released. But I do feel that after periods of innovation and new energy, more and more mediocre musicians begin to parrot what has been successful and churn out less than exciting songs. Great music is still produced, along with increasing amounts of fluff. Hopefully, a new period of widespread innovation has begun.

Watching the movie "Black Widow" and part of the soundtrack was a cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I searched on when did the song come out and got a short video (purely coincidence) by Trash Theory about how we now need a new sound to make rock music relevant again, just like Smells Like Teen Spirit did in the early 90's. I remember that VelvetGuru had mentioned earlier that GNR could have created a Nevermind, but never developed their sound further. Anyway the video was predicting a new brand of punk might be what we would get. My bet is of course Asian Rock. I guess anyone can have a theory.

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT (Nirvana)

Here is the eight minute video from 2018. - Evidently a bandmate of Kurt Kobain's girlfriend told him he smelled like Teen Spirit. It wasn't until the song had been released that he learned it was because his girlfriend used a deodorant called Teen Spirit.

I don't expect a new wave of music to revolutionize the music industry. I think that corporate media and their slow roll toward monopolies is choking out musical creativity and I don't see them rallying behind anything that even remotely smacks of real rock music. Greed and avarice are killing the vibe. Radio stations mostly suck. Just watching KSHE; which was the premiere rock station of St. Louis slowly wither away. My favorite L'A. rock station ended just four or five years after I left the area because of corporate contamination. Jan Wenner; who used to be a voice of reason in the world of rock media has recently proved that he's been totally corrupted by money and power and his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has become mostly a joke. The shows that present contemporary music pale in comparison to American Bandstand and a show I loved when I was a kid called the Music Scene. Even the Ed Sullivan show was a better alternative than what we see now. It's all about bloated egos now and foolishness where a musician has to wear a garish costume that cost enough to feed hundreds of school lunches for destitute kids just to get noticed.

Here in North Carolina, some nighttime temperatures are in the upper 30's and the leaves are turning yellow, red, and brown. Not winter yet, but the signs are pointing in that direction.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING (Bobby Womack)

CALIFORNIA DREAMING (The Mamas and the Papas)

HAZY SHADE OF WINTER (The Bangles)

I think that just mentioning the term "southern rock" will probably gain me a bit of ridicule and avoidance. I suspect that my good friends Velvetguru (pretty sure) and Captain Beyond (maybe/maybe not) and others don't really love the genre. I've always felt this a little unfair and think at least a couple of these bands were/are impressively progressive. But today I am listening to them a bit and feel like sharing.

ANGELS HIDE (The Outlaws)

ANGEL (WHAT IN THE WORLD'S COME OVER US) (Atlanta Rhythm Section)