Inferno of Rock Report – JANUARY 2017

By Ian Liberman

IN MEMORIAM

2016 ended as it began, with the death of another rock icon.  Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died of cancer at the age of 69.  ELP was one of the first progressive rock bands to receive critical attention in the ‘70s.  Lake was also member of King Crimson.

 

NEWS & NOTES

The Epiphone Revolver Music Awards returned to North America this year.  For the first time ever, the awards were held in NYC.  Check out the full Hard Rock Daddy recap.

 

 

LOUDER THAN HELL – Katherine Turman

Last summer, I finally got around to reading Jon Weiderhorn and Katherine Turman’s Louder Than Hell, a New York Times Best Seller that I had been anxious to read.  The book features a number of top hard rock and metal stars discussing the history of the genre.  Some of the artists featured include Axl Rose, Rob Zombie and Tom Morello discussing their respective roles in the history of rock.  This book is a 5-star read for rock and metal fans!

Artists like Axl Rose, Rob Zombie and Tom Morello explain their roles in the history of rock.  I guarantee it is a five star read!

 

The following is my interview with Katherine Turman….

IAN:  Why did you limit your market to just hard rock and metal when you decided to write a music book?

KATHERINE: While both Jon and I love many genres of music, as journalists, the majority of both of our experience, over two decades, has been interviewing and writing about hard rock and metal bands like Metallica, Pantera, Lamb Of God, Black Sabbath and hundreds of others.  We are both very passionate and knowledgeable about metal.  So, we had the credibility, insight and contacts to cover metal from top to bottom.  Plus, at more than 700 pages, there’s no way we could have included other genres in the book.  We had so much more to put in about metal, but ran out of room!  But Louder Than Hell is not only for metal lovers; it’s for music lovers and people interested in subcultures of society, and for everyone who likes to read great stories straight from the musicians’ mouths.

 

IAN:  Which artist was the most transparent and revealing about their life, and in what area?

KATHERINE:  Many of the artists gave us hours and hours of time.  We had especially good interviews with Philip Anselmo of Pantera, Rob Halford of Judas Priest (who wrote the book’s afterword) and Scott Ian of Anthrax (who wrote the forward to Louder Than Hell).  Philip was open about his drug use, as was Halford, who also spoke about coming out as a gay man.  Don Dokken spent hours on the phone and delved into dirty details, while Ministry’s Al Jourgensen liked his interview for Louder Than Hell so much that he commissioned Jon to write his book – The Lost Gospels of Al Jourgensen.  But our goal was to get different stories and different sides of stories already told, which is why we tracked down people like Terry Glaze (the singer of Pantera before Anselmo) and Neil Turbin (the first Anthrax singer).  We’re so glad that people enjoy Louder Than Hell.  It took us four years, and sometimes we wondered if we’d ever finish, but we couldn’t be more proud and happy with the final result!

Thanks to Harper Collins, Jon Wiedernhorn, and the amazing Katherine Turman taking the time to talk with Hard Rock Daddy’s Inferno Of Rock column.

 

 

 

MUSIC’S UGLY (BUT SUPERIOR) STEP-SISTER – ROCK

Since the inception of the Grammy Awards in 1958, the sound of rockabilly and blues were dispensed with as a major part of the musical part of the platform.  Unfortunately, even when rock exploded in the mid-‘60s, with its creative genre and sub-genres, the trend continued.  This despite the fact that sales of rock, hard rock and metal continued to outpace pop by four or five times.  In 2012, the Grammys finally capitulated, and created ten rock categories (including Metal).  The Grammy Association found a way to pervert those rock classifications by getting rid of the hard rock groups, while trying to place pop artists in the rock categories as often as possible.

What followed next were the horrors of Jethro Tull and Tenacious D being listed in the Metal category.  This year, Beyoncé , appeared in the rock category. The band Trapt has complained that there has been a conspiracy to destroy rock, and based on the evidence, they are probably correct.

The rule was to maximize the shelf-life of pop artists, because once their songs dropped off the charts, they were out of the eye of consumers.  They also knew that rock music sold its self without the benefit of high promotion.  This story was broken wide open by an insider author, Henry Schipper, who wrote Broken Record in 1992.

Don Harris of the Daily Press stated…

“Schipper’s book shows that, from its inception, the Grammy’s have been remarkably short-sighted, and were created by big label interests and “pop” songwriters in an angry response to the popularity of rock ‘n roll music.  That explains why, to this day, the Grammy Awards virtually ignore rock music.”

Further evidence is provided in The Song Machine (by John Seabrook), which shines a light on this theory.

Take a look at this year’s nominees in the rock categories to see for yourself.

 

   INFERNO OF ROCK TRIVIA QUESTIONS:

If trivia is up your alley, make sure to check out the Inferno of Rock Trivia Card Game available on Amazon or worldwide from Rock From Hell.

 

JANUARY 2017 TRIVIA QUESTIONS

[1]  Which Metallica album helped to inspire the band’s latest release – Hardwired To Self Destruct?

 

[2]  What do Skillet and DevilDriver have in common?

 

DECEMBER 2016 TRIVIA QUESTIONS

Which band has been criticized for appearing on the X Factor TV Show in Australia?  Disturbed

 

The Vigilante Classical Music Orchestra in Belgium will do their first non-classical tour using metal rock tunes. Which band and tune will they use?

[a] Led Zeppelin – “Stairway to Heaven”

[b] Pink Floyd – “The Wall”

[c] Tool – “Stinkfist”

 

An award winning metal band has said that their 2017 release will have “the return of the deity.” Name the band…

Ghost