This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite For Destruction. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 73 features comments from Doro Pesch, Charlie Benante, Gene Hoglan, Alan Tecchio, Jon Leon(both written and verbal), Dave Reffett, Lonny Paul of the band Adler, author Martin Popoff, journalist Mitch Lafon, Mark Strigl from Talking Metal, and Roch from Radioactive Metal. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

Below you will find links to purchase not only Appetite For Destruction, but music featured throughout the episode.

Before jumping into the standard comments that we post along as part of the column, I wanted to include an excerpt from former Rip editor Lonn Friend great book Life on Planet Rock: From Guns N’ Roses to Nirvana, a Backstage Journey through Rock’s Most Debauched Decade. Here is a small bit regarding Appetite For Destruction:

Appetite unfolded like a prurient postcard depicting the zeitgeist of Hollywood near the end of the millennium-s most dubious decade. “It’s So Easy”, “Nightrain”, “ Out Ta Get Me”, “Mr. Brownstone”, “Paradise City”, “My Michelle”, “Think About You”, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, “You’re Crazy”, “Anything Goes” and “Rocket Queen” – the LP is a seamless glorification of excess where every recorded moment burns with ball-busting truth.

Producer Mike Clink-who would prove to be the George Martin of GN’R, manipulating the dials to every release the band would create-told me that the female groans of ecstasy during “Rocket Queen” were authentic. “The guys were taking turns fucking this girl in the studio,” recalled Clink. “Those are actual sounds of sex, captured live on tape.” But above all, Appetite signaled the breech birth of the most charismatic, morally corrupted, possessed, and passionate front man since the mike-stand-wielding, loose-lipped junkie Steven Tyler stepped off the Cambridge streets fourteen years before.

Growing up William Bailey in the heartland town of Lafayette, Indiana, W. Axl Rose sang, stalked, swam, and smelled like no other fish in the big-hair, heavy-eyeliner, poseur-polluted L.A. hard rock sea. While he borrowed bits in vocal technique and body language from his heroes Iggy Pop, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, and, of course, Jagger, and Tyler, Axl was a complete and inexplicable original prone to personal misbehavior and public misunderstanding.

To read more check out Lonn’s excellent book Life On Planet Rock!

Here are the written comments that were submitted:

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – It was about 3 in the morning, and this video comes on MTV, some new band… was ballsy, groovy, great vocals, cool riffs, not your typical cookie-cutter song arrangements, there were some real roots in this stuff… next day I told some friends about it – they had already heard about ‘em. Within a week everyone knew about ‘em.

Greg Prato – At the time of its release, this album had the same effect on me as Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ would a few years later – as both albums were a return back to basics, and a reaction against horrible hair metal. Sadly, G n’ R (like Metallica) would become the same overblown rockers that they were initially a reaction against.

Dave Starr – Huge. Not really a fan, but you can’t deny the impact this record had on millions of people.

Dan Lorenzo – The most overrated band in the history of music. Yes this cd is good. “My Michelle” is vicious hard rock at it’s best. There are a couple of other fantastic songs. Maybe even 4-5. WHY are we still talking about them though?? How the hell could people fall over themselves with a song that rhymes the words “pretty” and “city”? C’mon. Really?? Still?? Yes…it IS a good cd. But since then? You STILL care? Really? I’m going to go listen to Aerosmith ‘Rocks” now.

Peter Ellis – Quite simply, the best Hard Rock album of all time.

Jon Leon – The definitive album of all LA bands of the 80′s. Along with Van Halen 2, it is the most important release by an LA band. It is sunset blvd 1986-7 in all its glory. One of the best sounding records of all time. Like them or not after this release-I can think of no band that can rock a legacy off one album more than this one. The Back in Black of the Hair metal world.

Ron Scalzo – This was a benchmark album for me. I saw the video for “Welcome To The Jungle” on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and I was off to the record store – this was a regular practice for me at that age. One song and I was sold. This was a controversial album for a 13 year old kid in a fairly strict household, but the kicker was that I actually won the album on vinyl from the big Top 40 station in NYC. Once the package showed up at my house, “Appetite” and Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” rarely left my piece-of-shit record player (I wouldn’t even call it a turntable). Sinking into “Appetite” was the equivalent of a kid watching porn for the first time – it was another world, the first down n’ dirty badass sweaty & shirtless album of my teenage years. It was a 12 song fuckfest without a condom. By high school a few years later, GnR were legendary and I put a band together to play at our HS Battle of the Bands. We played “Stairway To Heaven,” Skid Row’s “Youth Gone Wild” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” The other guys wanted to do “Paradise City” but I was not yet talented enough on the drums to pull off those Steven Adler hits and fills that bring the song into hyperdrive. Ah well, we won anyway. Fuck you Steven Adler.

Joel Gausten – Axl Rose is a sage. His lyrics paint the clearest, most vivid picture of life in Los Angeles ever committed to tape. “Think About You” is the best song Hanoi Rocks never wrote.

Erik Kluiber – One of the greatest albums of all time even if radio has numbed us from it.

Phil Rind – Took me a while to get over the fact that they looked like posers. Sick record though. You can hear the hunger in it.

Ricky Armellino – If I go back and listen to any of this I’m just going to picture new Axl singing it. He looks like the kind of bum I just don’t want to give any change.

James J. LaRue – I loved this, still do. Schminese Schmemocracy, this was G’n'R. I wasn’t allowed to buy the entire album, but mom gave the greenlight on the Sweet Child single. She was worried about the subject matter. Mr Brownstone was the B Side,
but I had no idea what it was about. Brown colored rocks I thought. Never liked that song as a kid anyway, but now I listen to the entire thing and skip Sweet Child. That’s their signature tune, everyone knows it, I even played it when I was in a disco cover band? It’s a little too popular with everyone and next thing you know Fergie is butchering it.

Scott Middleton – The ultimate marriage of punk rock, blues and rock ‘n’ roll. The benchmark for modern rock music. Appetite sounds like a cross between a less fake version of the Sex Pistols, meets an ultra badass version of Aerosmith. Nearly every song on this record was a hit and still sounds more vital than any contemporary rock record.

Chris Tsangarides – When this little epic first came to my attention I was wondering what all the hype was about, it sounded like music that was a bit dated given the current musical climate. I wasn’t overly impressed that is until I got the album and listened to it in my music room from start to finish… I was amazed at the consistency of the song writing and was left feeling elated and like every guitar player tried to figure out how to play “Sweet child of mine” I was sold on this now Classic Rock album and it’s still one of my all-time faves.

Jim Florentine – Genius. This album alone will put them in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

Raul Galvan – Just from the bombastic opening riffs you could tell this album was going to sweat pure rock n roll. This album impacted my adolescence, and is one of the greatest albums of all time, and contains some of the greatest songs of all time.

JL – Not my favorite album of Guns by sheer stubbornness, but a manual for sleazy rock. To open an album with a great song such as Welcome To The Jungle leaves you god smacked for the rest of listening. My Michelle, Sweet Child ‘O Mine, Nightrain … another one of those debuts that makes history, with Izzy Stradlin in a state of grace, Slash his Les Paul come alive. I think we should thank Erin Everly for having been a muse so propitious.

Gonzalo Leiva – I think that for many people (like myself), it is the best album GNR released. It is an album with twelve songs in which there are very few low points. In an age where most bands used keyboards, this album maintains certain segments that has nothing but a basic foundation of bass, guitars and drums. Another album that you listen to from beginning to end and between songs you say “oh what a good song.

David Lozano – What rock n roller hasn’t listened to this album?

Sean Bryant – I remembered that I really disliked most people that liked this album. I am guessing it was mostly due to the fact that MtV took hold of GnR and blasted it everywhere. Turns out Axl was truly an asshole. Who’d of guessed?

Will Carroll – I saw Guns N’ Roses open for The Cult on the Electric tour at The Warfield in S.F. in 1987. This was a couple of weeks before Appetite came out and I had no idea who they were. By the third song I was trying to return my Cult shirt for a GN’R one. That was one of the sickest live performances I’ve ever seen. And when the album came out I was not disappointed. If someone who claims to be into rock or metal and hears this album and can’t get anything out of it than maybe you should check them for a pulse.

Steve Smyth – I actually really hated this band when they came out, because I felt like they were trying to rip off Aerosmith, being that I am a big classic Aerosmith fan. Then I realized that Aerosmith were never going back to their 70’s sound, and this album grew on me. Favorites are Night Train and Mr Brownstone, but to me, I can have the whole album on in the background and not really mind….

David Ellefson – This is one of the most pivotal albums of my young adult life. I remember clearly the day I heard “Mr. Brownstone” on Los Angeles’ KNAC radio station as me, Jay Reynolds and Dave Mustaine were driving to Lake Elsinore to go jet skiing on a day off. You could just tell this was going to be HUGE!!

Bat – This album was huge when I was a teenager, I loved it, Ill never forget the summer when “Sweet Child of mine” came out, Its the only GNR release I like. I still listen to it now and again. A classic.

Chris Czynszak – Appetite for Destruction was like a gateway drug for me. The reason that I say that is due to the fact that my 12 year old self was immersed in the hair band culture. I was completely caught up in the aesthetic of bands like Poison and Motley Crue. I loved the whole mindless culture of party rock that allowed everyone to just forget everything and have a good time. While I still enjoy some of that stuff even today, I was introduced to a whole other sect of rock music when I saw the video for Welcome to the Jungle late one night on MTV. I had never seen anything like it. While Axl was straddling the hair band look a little bit in the video, the song was pure, unadulterated hard-edged magic. I felt like I had been flattened by a steamroller….and loved it. This album truly stands the test of time. Aside from the great songs on the album, it opened me up to check out music by GNR’s influences. Suddenly, I was discovering groups like Nazareth, Hanoi Rocks, and Shark Island. I credit the Appetite for Destruction album for increasing my musical vocabulary and giving me an appreciation for a wider variety of rock music. It’s hard to pick a favorite track from Appetite as I don’t feel that there’s a weak track on the album. I have a special soft spot for It’s So Easy and My Michelle but feel that Rocket Queen encompasses the whole album in one song with all of its twists and turns. I love that the song starts with such a moody, dark sound before erupting into full-anthem mode by the end. I’ve found things to like about all of Guns n Roses albums since but don’t think it’s possible to top Appetite. You hear things about planets aligning and blah blah blah but I truly think that was the case with this album. You had five guys that were at the right point of instability and recklessness that poured their souls onto two-inch tape and left a masterpiece that still holds up today.

Shawn Duncan – What can be said! Appetite came out at the very peak of the Hollywood scene in the 80′s. Everything going on at that time was captured on this record. Sex, Drugs, Aggression it is an explosive record to this day! The impact of this record is historic. They were REAL! Nothing manufactured or pre-conceived about this album. The songs are first rate and always will be. Saw G&R many times in the clubs before the album came out and it was obvious they were going to do well..but when I first heard Appetite I was floored. You can’t mention this record and not mention Mike Clink, he managed to catch lightning in a bottle..A top tier classic.

Grover XIII – I’ve never been a G’N'R fan, although I owe them a serious debt of gratitude just for helping to kill hair metal, and later for giving us a musical equivalent of Duke Nukem Forever.

Jason Bittner – Not much needs to be said here – this is one of the greatest rock albums of all time and I was lucky enough to see the real band open for Aerosmith touring for this album back in 1988. A night to remember for sure!

Davish G. Alvarez – I love every track off of this album. A lot of people have told me that Use Your Illusion is a lot better, but you read Slash’s book, and they were very sloppy and sleazy playing, but it was there thing, and you keep reading the book, and read tales about them being so drunk and high, and you think, how did this gang of junkies record something so good? I love My Michelle, the solo at the end of Paradise City is just beyond awesome, it is perfect. The ways the guitars sound on the album are just unbelievable. I actually think Matt Sorum is a better drummer from his body of work, and love his playing, but Steven Adler just has this feel on the album that is just unbelievable, and adds to the greatness of the album.

Jorge Salan – Huge album, my favorite album by the band. Who doesn’t know a track off of this album? The entire thing is full of megahits that made them rock stars. With all of this said, You Could Be Mine is my all-time favorite track by the band. I think it is one of the best hard rock tracks off all time. The solo is just spectacular, how the intro that leads into the solo with the drums, and bass, combined with that sleazy guitar part leading into the solo is just awesome and over the top.

Militia – I was pretty young when this album came out. I don’t remember how I first heard about it but I remember wanting the album so bad. GNR were all over MTV and I has never seen anything like them before- they were strangely erotic to my innocent little eyes.
I asked my dad to get APPETITE for me and he said he would- I was beyond stoked. When the album finally arrived, he wouldn’t give it to me! It had an parental advisory sticker on it and he said he listened to it and decided not to give it to me because of the language in some of the lyrics. ARRRGH! I was crushed. When I see that freggin cassette in his music collection, still to this day, I wanna steal it.
APPETITE is GNR at their best. All the pieces fit- the artwork is killer and now iconic. The songs were varied- heavy, yet, radio friendly. And the intro to Welcome to the Jungle alone… it just makes you turn you stereo on B L A S T. ((Dad, give me my tape, dammit! Yeah, I can buy my own now and I don’t even own a tape player anymore, but still!!))

Patrick Kennison – I remember getting my drivers license & being considered cool by some older girls who were friends with my older sister, for blasting that in my car. That album helped me become a man. Even if it was only for less than a minute. Even though it’s a focused album, the song styles vary nicely track to track. From the jangly Think About You to the sinister My Michelle, it’s a perfectly imperfect album.

Black Paul – I got to sing in my first band, Sweet Jane and the Sugardaddies, when I was eighteen. The other guys were extraordinary players who loved to rock. We only ever played house parties but we had high standards and we hit the classics like the Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Hendrix and Cream. The only new band we ever covered was Guns and Roses.

When Appetite For Destruction broke, mainstream rock was all about trying to be the next Bon Jovi and the mainstream was all I knew. It was a frustrating time but thankfully, the next Jimmy Page appeared wearing a top hat, in a band that sounded raw and restless and that wrote lyrics about a world beyond vikings and unrequited sex.

When I discovered I could do a fair mimic of Axl’s voice, the challenge was on.
“Sweet Child” was a no-brainer. Hearing the distinctive harmonic opening made the audience’ eyes bug, it has lyrics I could pour all my bitter-sweet yearnings into and you know how amazing that solo is. It should be in the all-time top five.

We also loved “Welcome to the Jungle” with that huge, rocking groove, the violence and desperation in the vocals and that incredible break: “You know where you are?”. We just had to attempt it but always had trouble keeping it all together in rehearsal. We hammered at it, though, and decided we had to play it in front of an audience at least once to justify all the time spent rehearsing it, and because it was such a cool song. We’d never played it right so were looking sideways at each other before launching into it on the night of our first gig. To our surprise, we nailed the fucker and knocked the a room full of 17-18 year olds into next week. We decided not to challenge our good fortune and relegated that performance to legend.

It wasn’t long before I graduated from the recommendations of big brothers and the mainstream and met that cool girl who knew about Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Rollins Band. GnR didn’t seem so cutting edge anymore although I thought it was appropriate that Appetite For Destruction shared a home-made cassette with Never Mind the Bollocks.

I thought I was done but I got another perspective on AFD when I met a girl with a thing for “Rocket Queen”. I got to hear it a lot and found I’d never considered that Axl portrays a strong female role in the song. Respect! And it’s a damn fine song, too!

Aaron Rossi – The first band I joined when I moved to LA was a Guns N Roses tribute band. At the time, I was really into progressive rock and was playing a million notes on the drums. Playing along to Steven Adler’s drum parts on “Appetite” really taught me the true essence of rock n roll drumming, and how to incorporate the cowbell. Every song on this album is a timeless rock n roll classic. To me, Axl Rose is the epitome of rock singers, incredible voice mixed with the bad boy attitude, much like my singer Al Jourgensen from Ministry. Slash changed every guitar players life with his amazing riffs, and stage presence. One of the greatest albums, by one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

You can purchase Appetite for Destruction on mp3, or CD here.

You’ll also hear snippets of songs that come off of the following albums, please support our contributors and buy their albums or at least purchase the tracks you enjoyed hearing:

Back from the Dead – Adler

Fight – Doro Pesch

Anthems – Anthrax

Alien – Strapping Young Lad

Unfinished Business – Eric Carr

The Devils Cut – White Wizzard

Sinister Ambassador – Captain T

Dethroned – Autumn Hour

The Call of the Flames – Shredding The Envelope

The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download From iTunes
Download From Stitcher

Appetite For Destruction (Explicit Version)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Slayer‘s Seasons In The Abyss. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 68 features comments from Gene Hoglan, Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, Jon Leon and Giovani Durst of White Wizzard, author Martin Popoff, Mitch Lafon of Pure Gain Audio, Andrew from Metal Assault, and Roch from Radioactive Metal. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

Here are the written comments that were submitted:

Dan Lorenzo – Well I’ve been awake for 25 straight hours as I just flew home from Italy. So let me throw on some Slayer so I can stay awake a bit longer. Slayer to me, are one of the most consistent bands with the most integrity. I would put South of Heaven and Reigning Blood at the top of their output, but I am listening to Seasons right now for you Victor. War Ensemble is classic Slayer, particularly the break at 2:35. Blood Red is bad ass. The opening of Dead Skin Mask is pure evil. The title track is probably the 2nd coolest intro they ever wrote. When I first heard it I actually thought it was Trouble! Great production, great performances, a bit more melody/singing from Tom than previously, but another classic by….SLAYER!!!

Jon Leon – The finest hour of Slayer in the charts. Rick Rubin and the band dumbed down the sound JUST enough to crack Slayer in the Billboard top 100. Slayers best will always be Reign in Blood though….seriously. Show no Mercy also pisses on this album. So does South of Heaven. Then again…only Master of Puppets can even hang with those 3. Slayer are THE masters of thrash PERIOD.

Erik Kluiber – Born of Fire!

Ricky Armellino – This record ruled.

Mitts – An improvement in the thrash department from South Of Heaven. After Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven seemed like someone pulled the emergency brake. Seasons brought back the pace.

Scott Middleton – Most people will hail Reign in Blood as Slayer’s best record, but I had Seasons first, and really, this has all the best songs. The title track is certainly the catchiest and most hook laden Slayer has ever been. This is the Slayer sound perfected. Evil melody, brutally heavy, frightening lyrics, and terrifying artwork make this the quintessential Slayer record.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!

JL – Slayer have always been the exception. They have a lot of what I hate in other bands and yet how they present it they make it undeniably attractive. This album is a demonstration of full-fledged fierceness, from the very beginning “War Ensemble” it is clear exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

Fer Fakyea – Well, what to say about the legendary Slayer? Their career spans nearly 30 years and with 10 albums behind him, all heavy and known for their uniquely characteristic “speed metal”. Seasons In The Abyss is composed of long, elaborate songs, combining speed with half time playing, that helped drive the band to the monster career they are today. The album isn’t as fast its two predecessors, but it’s definitely a very complete and extreme album that brought us classics like “War Ensemble”, “Dead Skin Mask” or one of his most emblematic yet perhaps less know tracks due to how stylistically different it is, would be the title track, “Seasons In The Abyss”. I honestly would not recommend the disc to someone who had never listened to Slayer, but it is an album that any fan of the band should have in collection.

David Lozano – Dead Skin Mask is the first song I ever heard by the band, as a result I have special attachment to this album. Great album that came out during such hard times.

Chris Shrum – A piece of metal art from a deep, dark place.

Mikey Pannone – The first time I heard this album, I had to check my skull to make sure it was still intact…it wasn’t. That’s all I have to say. None more evil than the almighty SLAYER!

Sean Bryant – So evil!! there were a few tapes that I had in my VW bug and those were Slayer, Seasons, Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy, and probably Lenny Kravits Let Love Rule, all of which got significant amount of play time. I can say that when Seasons came out, I was certain that they were products of an under-worldly creation, especially when you heard the demonic chords of the title track and that first drum roll. My steering wheel was certainly abused by the pounding out of the drums while blasting this, windows down, rolling through the Mormon neighborhoods. 666!!

Will Carroll – I never understood the popularity of this album. Aside from the two video songs (War Ensamble, Seasons In The Abyss) its pretty generic. The follow up (Divine Intervention) blows doors over this one This is my least favorite Slayer album not counting anything after Divine..

Steve Smyth – Slayer really grew into something with this album, I think. Lots of powerful compositions, great ensemble playing from the team of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo and Tom Araya. Every song is a favorite of mine, I can’t pick favorites when it comes to Slayer! Ha ha!

David Ellefson – We did a lot of touring together during this time period and I personally liked that Slayer was doing more than just playing fast. To me, this album showed a lot of maturity in their song writing and broadened their scope of world views, which Thrash fans love.

Domonic Rini – Seasons In The Abyss is a natural progression for Slayer. This one really, in my eyes was one of the heaviest ones they put out. With tracks of “Skeletons of Society” and the title Track “Seasons In The Abyss” it made you want to break something whenever you heard it.

Niek – I love this album for only one reason: the title track! What a delicious piece of ass! For a band that spent 99.9% of its career on making lightning-fast but not all too intelligent Thrash, the song Seasons in the Abyss is an absolute masterpiece. And it would have been for any other band too. The long-stretched tension-building intro has a habit of making me very impatient, in particular because I know what’s coming. But never is what’s coming so amazing as when you’ve listened to the intro in full. When the main riffs breaks loose, there’s no helping the headbanging. The progression of chords and vocals in the chorus is tasty as bacon. But the best things in the whole songs are the heroic drum fills by Dave Lombardo and the characteristic tearing-up-the-sky guitar solo by Kerry King (still with hair) and Jeff Hanneman.

Jason Bittner – Just spent the last 5 1/2 weeks on tour with Slayer watching them every night…Still one of my favorite bands ever and they still crush every night! Seasons- not much need to be said about this album- its my favorite!!! Well maybe “Reign” is, but this is damn close!

Davish G. Alvarez – This is my favorite Slayer album, we’ve been talking about covering the title track live. The song is unbelievable, and is possibly my favorite by the band. When this album came out I was listening to a lot of Mercyful Fate, I was looking to discover something new, and you hear that song how it builds, little by little, how the arpeggios come in, and the song keeps building, to me it’s the perfect song. They were playing the song live while we were opening up for them, and I watch them do the song, and get almost like a holy shit type feeling. You see them play the song, and the guitar parts aren’t that complex, but it’s the entire composition, the whole package, how it builds, and changes, and then the end, just an awesome song.

Erun Dagoth – This album really blew my mind. When I started listening to extreme metal I started with Life And Death and Show No Mercy by Slayer. I started listening to them in like 91, so by that time they had release a bunch of albums by then. I started listening to every album Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits, all the way up to this album, and again, it just blew my mind. The album has a certain feel to it, a certain atmosphere that sound super satanic, especially the title track. At the same time I started discovering bands like Venom, and Bathory, and things of this nature, and it was like a extreme metal boom time for me. Then they put out Diabolus In Musica and it was the last album of theirs that really blew my mind. After that, things just weren’t the same, the band had changed. And a lot of people had criticized them over Divine Intervention because they had slowed down a little, but it still sounded really cool to me, it still had the same appeal.

Keith “Keefy” Chachkes – When the bands from the 80s Thrash scene era continued releasing albums into the 90s, and interesting split occurred among people. Many bands tried to shift with the already changing times in music to get further away from labels like Thrash or Speed Metal. Other bands were changing more naturally on their own, modernizing the sound of what had been a sub-genre with a growing cult following and making it more successful overall. SLAYER’s Seasons In The Abyss set a bench mark for the old-school American bands, which is saying a lot since both MEGADETH and ANTHRAX released great albums in the months prior to its release. Yes, there were unhappy fans griping that the totality of “Speed Metal” days of the band were lost to the past. Critics and fans that didn’t like South of Heaven, didn’t say they loved SITA when it was new. People were finding fault with a more grown up, better songwriting band that was trying to stay true to who they were and still progress further out. As it turns out SITA is one of the most complete and solid of the DAVE LOMBARDO albums, with better production, memorable riffs, sick solos and batshit insane, yet smart lyrics. “Dead Skin Mask” was even said to be a sellout by some at the time, but is one of the most enduring cuts by any band of the time. “War Ensemble” was a throwback to the early days of the group. Other tracks like “Spirit In Black”, “Expendable Youth” and “Skeletons of Society” have so much balls and groove to them, it’s tough to believe people at the time said they were lame. The title track is a masterpiece all on its own. Personally, I count SITA as one of the top four SLAYER albums ever and it still sounds fresh and vital to me today as when I first heard it.

Bruce Moore – I am a huge fan of Slayer especially their earlier material like Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits. Seasons In The Abyss is a mixed bag for me while it contains some of my favorite all time Slayer tunes War Ensemble”, “Dead Skin Mask”, and “Seasons In The Abyss other songs just fell flat for me and did not get my blood flowing.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Pantera‘s Far Beyond Driven. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 60 features comments from Rex Brown formerly of Pantera, and currently in Kill Devil Hill, Gene Hoglan, Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, author Martin Popoff, Mitch Lafon from Bravewords, and Aaron from Iron City Rocks. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – This is the album that made me a total Pantera fan, this, Vulgar, Cowboys, Trendkill, Steel… another band that inspired a thousand more…

Dan Lorenzo – Before I tell you my thoughts on this album I have to interject with one of my highlights of my musical career involving Pantera. Right after ‘Cowboy’s came out, my band NON-FICTION opened up for Pantera in NYC. I don’t even think I even met any of the members of Pantera that night. In all honesty I thought ‘CFH’ was a bit too derivative of Metallica when I first heard it. I fell in love with Pantera when ‘Vulgar’ was released. By that time NON-FICTION had gotten signed and I was in L.A. with Alan Tecchio doing press for the first NON-FICTION cd. At one point I went back to my hotel room and I found myself alone in the hallway. Phil Anselmo was walking towards me. I said, “Phil..I don’t know if you know who I am, I’m Dan from Non-Fiction.” Phil said, “Of course I know who you are.” Then he started singing “The My Way” (the first song off the first NON-FICTION cd ‘Preface’) at the top of his lungs. How cool is that? Anyway, Far Beyond Driven contains the songs, “I’m Broken” and “5 Minutes Alone”. Monstrous riffing. Incredible vocals. Barreling drumming. And they just ripped it up live. ‘Vulgar” is still my favorite Pantera cd, but Far Beyond Driven is “Far Beyond” anything new coming out today for sure.

Peter Ellis – By the time Far Beyond Driven came out Pantera was a beast of a band! Each member had found their place and was comfortable within the spectrum of the band and were comfortable taking their music to uncharted territories. Also this album features one of my all-time favourite covers, Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath. I honestly don’t think any other band on the planet could have done a better job than Pantera did covering this song. Phil Anselmo will always be the best extreme Metal singer in history and the reason no other hardcore singer can sound like him is the fact that HE COULD ACTUALLY SING!!! He didn’t get into screaming because he couldn’t sing well like 99.9% of screamers. One of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands.

Jon Leon – Dimebag was a hero of 90′s metal guitar. That said….Pantera put out 3 albums that helped save metal in the 90′s, this one being the best of them. RIP Dimebag and Pantera will always be one of the all-time great heavier bands.

Erik Kluiber – must have seen Pantera 10 times between 93 and 95. They hit Detroit every few months. Their scene kinda turned less cool as time went on due to skin heads and jocks.

Phil Rind – Vulgar Display of Power is my favorite. I love the song “Rise”.

Mitts – Pantera’s best album. They were one of a few bands who kept metal alive through the 90′s era of grunge rock.

James J. LaRue – I got into Pantera with Vulgar Display. But I can’t stand phil’s voice or MMA/bro-down attitude. He ushered in a whole bunch of angry bros with thick necks shouting over stuff (“bro-cals”) and trying to be tough instead of learning proper vocal technique, but Dime was so great, and I suffered through the alpha male vocals because of that ultra-heavy guitar tone and wild leads. Once in a while I’ll throw this one on if I’m really really pissed. Anyways, I love Dime and his whole personality on the guitar and as a person. He had a huge effect on how I approach getting heavy tones. Pre-distortion EQ and solid state amps, later the tube Krank heads. He was friends and jam-buddies with another favorite player of mine, Blues Saraceno. I wish there was more recordings of Dime outside of Pantera. He was awesome.

Scott Middleton – Essentially Far Beyond Driven is the bench mark for modern heaviness and true attitude. Anything since has copied, borrowed, or stole something from this band. Straight up, this record is where 90% of metal and hardcore bands have stolen their tones from, whether they realize it or not! This band changed the way things were done, and no one since has put out a true metal record that really eclipses what this band accomplished. For christ’s sake it debuted at number one in ’94 when most metal bands couldn’t give away their records.

Jaye Schwarzer – The song ‘The Badge’ is a shredder of a tune that uses sound clips from the movie Taxi Driver. This record rips!! Dimebag Forever!

Seth Thacker – I personally think Pantera is the greatest metal band ever, always have and always will feel that way. I remember Far Beyond Driven being the first real metal record that I heard. It was so powerful, and it had so much attitude. It really opened me up to metal because up until then I really never cared for music of any kind. Once I discovered Pantera it was no holds barred on looking for other metal bands. Naturally I went backwards and discovered the previous records Pantera released. But Far Beyond Driven is probably one of my favorite records of all time. You just and beat it, the groove, the guitars, and Phil’s vocals just make for the perfect sound.

Scott LePage – Good Lord. This album is far beyond brutal. Especially for 1994 when most of the popular stuff was mid tempo grunge. I think I blew the tweeters in my car to this cassette. The riffs! And that clicky kick drum! My ears are still ringing….. Hold on, I’m gonna go put this on now!

Chris Biermann – Total fucking destruction in every note.

Jim Florentine – The heaviest album I ever heard at the time!

Raul L.R. – This sonic temple was released in ’94, it made clear to me that I would choose Pantera for life, instead of the metal gods like Metallica or Sepultura. I am no ashamed to say this. Phil Anselmo stands out, and is Darrell my favorite guitarist, I love the way his development of riffs and solos, the perfect balance, just perfect, just great, the whole album stands out, but to me tracks like 3 and 4 just shatter my brain, 5 Minutes Alone and I’m Broken, possibly because seeing the videos for this song really resonated and help form how I play guitar.

JL – With the “Vulgar Display of Power” Pantera were gaining considerable notoriety, which made many of us imagine that the next album would take advantage of the notoriety the band was having (with Vulgar Display). What happened was that none of us saw what was coming. As a result, the album is heavier, less polished, sharp as a razor, and powerful as a wrecking ball across the face.

Fer Fukyea – To begin I must say that Pantera is one of the best metal bands of all time, pioneers in this genre (abstain from mentioning Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth and these sort of groups that do not belong to this style) and that have influenced probably 99% of the groups of metal today. What to say about “Far Beyond Driven,” well it is a very impressing, great album, the heaviest album they recorded up until then. It did not shake things up like when “Cowboys From Hell” was release, and won’t be remembered like “Vulgar Display Of Power”, but it is a tremendous album from start to finish. The Abbott brothers put together one hell of a set of song, “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (guitar) and Vinnie Paul Abbott (drums), they demonstrate strength and incredible skill of the instrument on this album. Vinnie Paul does not need to play hundreds of notes per minute to back up a strong and brutal riff, and Dimebag … How original is the fucking man! Each song is different. I must say, while I am critical of James Hetfield (lead singer/guitarist of Metallica), and Phil Anselmo, lead singer of Pantera, I must say that in the studio he has a voice that varies between lower and higher registries, gravely and melodic, with impressive ease, but live, well, I do not know if he would have performed better sober, but he was drunk, almost always, and left much to be desired.

Jandro Storm – It was the album that we were all anxiously looking forward to hearing, after Vulgar Display Of Power. The truth is that nothing I was not disappointed and definitely put Pantera on my top 5 metal bands of the moment. I have the vinyl edition of this album, which has a different more explicit cover.

David Lozano – With Far Beyond Driven I discovered an energy in music that I had previously never experienced. They are definitely one of my favorite bands, and one that has influenced me a great deal as a musician.

Mikey Pannone – I honestly didn’t believe it was possible for any band to be THIS heavy. This album is the very definition of metal. Every song on this thing is like a natural disaster…tornado, hurricane, earthquake, volcanic eruption…all the above. R.I.P. Dimebag.

Owain Williams – One of the heaviest albums ever! Everything just sounds brutal. Except the bass drums. They sound like a typewriter! Haha. Throes of Rejection has to have one of the best Dime solos ever. I miss Dime.

Steve Smyth – Standout album from the legendary Pantera! You had the amazing chops of Dime and Vinnie, Rex holding it down, and Phil getting across all kinds of crazy sh*t vocally and lyrically! Awesome power on this album, in tracks like Strength Beyond Strength, Becoming, Five Minutes Alone, Shedding Skin, and their cover of Planet Caravan? A hard album to beat by a band on fire at the time, and in my opinion, I think they found it hard to follow as well…

Bat – I loved Vulgar display of Power and it has such great riffs and grooves and hooks. I found this album difficult to get into but I loved the version of “Planet Caravan” I was very lucky to meet and smoke spliff with Dimebag and Phil Anselmo in Dublin 93 just before this album came out

Clay Withrow – When Far Beyond Driven first came out it put Pantera on the map for a lot of metalheads. At a time when Korn and Limp Bizket were mainstream radio acts, most critics had given up on heavy metal thinking the audience had moved on. Thank god Pantera wasn’t led astray and continued to fly that heavy metal flag high. I honestly can’t think of many albums that top this, aside from the band’s later effort The Great Southern Trendkill. It’s a perfect mix of abrasive vocals, groovy rhythms, infectious guitar riffs and precision drumming. My favorite songs on that album would have to be “Hard Lines Sunken Cheeks” for its breathtaking solo and “Shedding Skin” for that insanely awesome opening verse. There’s no doubt in my mind Pantera is the most important metal band to come out of the 90s and one of the most influential heavy bands in history.

Kenny Pierce – Oddly enough by the time that “FBD” was released my interest was waning in Pantera. Having owned and loved “Cowboys From Hell” and “Vulgar Display Of Power” when they were released I was not prepared for the changes in the bands groove as this slightly new sound and direction were not my cup of tea. Back in the day this shift of interest was thanks to my switching over to more melodic Power Metal and believe it or not I sort of embraced the earliest providers of the Grunge Movement who were manifesting on that side of the USA. I felt that the strongest of the Hard Rock and Metal bands would survive that wave of “newness” that many felt was killing Metal, so while the USA moved to the plaid shirts my musical head turned to Europe where Power Metal continued to proliferate and dominate for many years. Looking back on “Far Beyond Driven” I can say that it was a solid album but not one of my favorites. I did enjoy the bands take on Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” of course and was shocked to see that one pulled out of the idea bank and delivered to fans.

Etan Rosenbloom – Far Beyond Driven was the first Pantera album I bought, and one of the first albums to spark my interest in the more extreme forms of metal. The album meant the world to me when I was a teenager and it still holds up. It’s got some of the band’s all-time grooviest riffs (“5 Minutes Alone,” “I’m Broken,” “Slaughtered,” “Shedding Skin”), and just as important, this was where Pantera embraced the swampy blues vibe that made them unique – “Hard Lines Sunken Cheeks,” “25 Years” and, especially, their cover of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” all pointed to a more nuanced, subtle approach to aggression than we’d heard from Pantera before, but also a nastier one – no wonder it was also the first Pantera record where our dear departed Mr. Abbott changed from “Diamond Darrell” to “Dimebag Darrell.” This must count as the heaviest album ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts. Man…times have changed!

Grover XIII – When it comes to Pantera, Far Beyond Driven is a distant third behind Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display Of Power, but this album has some great tunes. The drumming on ‘Becoming’ is fantastic, and it took serious balls for these guys to cover a song like ‘Planet Caravan’, just because it’s so different from what they normally played.

Wayne Findlay – Far Beyond Driven is EPIC… Love that album.

Doug Gibson – Far Beyond Driven marked a noisier sound than the previous albums and it took me a while to warm up to it. “Becoming,” “Five Minutes Alone,” and “Becoming” were instant winners, and worth the purchase price alone. The latter half of the album pushed the boundaries a little more into noisier and more extreme sounds. Eventually, the entire album grew on me and is one of my all-time favorites, right behind Vulgar Display Of Power.

Jason Bittner – Great fuxking record by a great band- Becoming has one of the greatest double kick grooves ever by VP- the Bonham of groove metal!! Actually were in Australia now doing a lot of hanging together once again!! I met the Abbott brothers for the first time way back in 2004 when we toured with Damageplan- always straight up good dudes and never rock stars towards us!! Vinnie is the man, my bro-and we all still miss Dime every day! LITE ‘EM UP!!!

Jose Izquierdo – That’s the first album I heard by the band. A friend’s sister bought it for him on vinyl with the original cover. The first time I heard a song by the band was on the show El Pirata (famous metal show in Spain), I was sitting there with my brother, and my other brother and we all looked at one another and sort of said “What is this?” Getting back to my friend, his album is completely scratched, due to all of the times that we listened to the album. It was also the typical what is this reaction where the music just punches you in the face, and you’re trying to figure out exactly what you’re listening to. Planet Caravan winds things up perfectly, you really enjoy all of the other crushing tracks on the album, and then this track winds it all down perfectly.

Davish G. Alvarez I remember listening to Becoming for the first time and things, my god how is doing that. To this day, I don’t think I know exactly what he’s playing during that solo, I can’t play it exactly the same. You also have to look back and realize that with all of the Grunge that was being played at the time, they came out with a crushing album, heavy as anything, and it was the number one album. In reality I probably prefer Vulgar Display of Power, but this album was an evolution of the band, great, strong tracks throughout, even their cover of Black Sabbath’s Planet Caravan was incredible. It worked perfectly with the album, perhaps they put this cover on another album, and you sort of thing to yourself, what have you done? But it works on this album, it’s perfect.

Jorge Salan – Great album, Dimebag Darrell definitely had his own style, the way he played his solos, and in my opinion they created a style that so many others have followed. They have fans everywhere. I was actually invited to a Dimebag Darrell tribute in Madrid where I got to play Shattered, which is my all-time favorite track by the band.

Erun Dagoth – Crystal Moors lead singer Uruksoth brought this album to my attention, he’s a big thrash metal fan. He bought the album, and loved it, so I asked him to let me borrow it, since I was curious to hear what the band was all about. I also found it odd that a lot of people here in Santander (Spain) wore Pantera t-shirts. I listened to the album, and didn’t like it. Years later I asked to borrow the album again, and the same thing, I tried, and tried, but I just can’t get into them. They have songs that I think are really cool, and they’re all great players, but there is something about their style that I just can’t fully get into. They created their own style, which is very admirable, but they unfortunately don’t do anything for me.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Motley Crue‘s Shout At The Devil. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 56 features comments from Glen Drover, Gene Hoglan, Jon Schaffer, Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, author Martin Popoff, Mitch Lafon from Bravewords, Mark Strigl from Talking Metal, and John from Iron City Rocks. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

Greg Prato – Shout At The Devil: The last album Motley Crue released that I can still somewhat stomach. They seemed to totally lose their minds after this album – bad glam metal, lame songs (“Girls Girls Girls”), idiotic behavior. Not a fan at all. But circa 1984, the Crue was one of my favs, and ‘Shout’ and ‘Too Fast’ were constantly being listened on my Sony Walkman. After that? No thank you.

Dave Starr – Don’t get me started…. Everyone had this record when it came out, but I always though these guys were way over rated.

Dan Lorenzo – Most bands first albums hit you the hardest. Shout At The Devil was Motley’s 2nd cd but it is STILL my favorite. I am not a fan of much of the Crue’s music that followed “Shout”. Yeah, each cd had a couple great songs, but Shout At The Devil is easily their best. And for some reason, other than Judas Priest, I’ve seen Motley more than any other band-because it was ALWAYS about more than just the music. Nikki Sixx has always described Motley Crue as a pseudo “punk” band. I worship Nikki…but have no clue what the hell he is talking about. I am in no means an expert on punk music….but I am pretty sure Motley has NOTHING to do with punk. Ok, so they stole the riff for “Ten Seconds To Love” from one of the best cds ever ( The Plasmatics Coup De E’tat), but this is glam metal with dropped tuning. The title track and “Bastard” are stunning. And I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit that “Too Young To Fall In Love” gets me EVERY time I hear it on Sirius/XMs “The Boneyard”. Pure pop genius. Mick Mars deserves so much more credit than he gets. As simple as Motley’s music sounds Mick has some tricky moves on this cd. Vince’s voice was already done by the time he left the studio after this…but I’ll still go see them every time they pass through NYC.

Jon Leon – Solid album. The Crue are an attitude band and sell a look. They are the KISS of the 80′s…they have not really aged well though with the material that followed this album. They have lost me over time. As a kid I would rock this one hard and it has some great hooks by Mick Mars who is one of the most under rated guitar players in metal. He really had a cool tone and vibe that made those first 2 crue albums hold up. I would say after this one I would not ever seek out a later release when I am buying vinyl, and I have no desire to see them live. I would have loved to have seen the 84 tour with OZZY though.

Metal Mike – Killer album. Shout At The Devil has modern Black Metal roots all over it whether people are aware if it or not. Songs rock and you are listening to a real band, raw in the studio as you see them on the streets. I miss that sometimes. Crue is bad ass.

Erik Kluiber – The first 2 albums were their best, and then some good radio hits afterwards. Too bad they couldn’t keep the fire.

Phil Rind – They’ve got the looks that kill!

Ricky Armellino – Motley Crue was a big inspiration to me. After watching some of their tv special I just looked at my guitar and was like “maybe hip hop would be a more fitting place for my ideologies”. I literally had rape fantasies about these mongrels.

Mitts – This is definitely the most metal record this band ever released. The pentagrams and occult theme were a little goofy, but the songs are classic.

James J. LaRue – I was into ‘metal’ as a kid, and I did not include Crue, Poison, Warrant, etc in my collection as they were too glam and not really virtuosos, but the hooks were just too catchy on this one and it won me over. Which means it’s damn good. People from all walks of life know these songs. When I see old footage from those days, Crue were obviously there early in that scene and their live shows at the time were insane. You could say it was very derivative of a Kiss show, but more evil and satanic with all the pentagrams. A way heavier image than the music called for. They were on fire, literally, back then.

Kevin Estrada -Motley was one of the local bands in Los Angeles that I was lucky enough to have followed since their beginnings. Too Fast For Love was a great set-up and showed that Motley Crue was a serious force to be reckoned with. But Shout At The Devil was the TNT they needed to explode. The writings were on the wall when Motley Crue performed at the US Festival in 1983 – they were up against major metal bands with huge followings (Judas Priest, Van Halen, Scorpions, Ozzy, etc) – and Motley Crue outperformed most of these bands, while at the same time blowing away the audience and locking in 200,000 new fans. The band’s song writing had matured greatly with Shout – songs like Knock ‘Em Dead Kid, Red Hot, Looks That Kill and Too Young To Fall In Love display this maturity. But overall, it was Motley Crue’s hunger for success that wrote that album and broke that band. It was Magic and all the pieces were there.

Scott LePage – This album came out around the time I started playing covers in my first real band. Of course we covered Red Hot and Shout at the Devil. Great heavy driving songs. Probably one of the only “hair band” albums that I got into.

Jim Florentine – My fav Crue album

Gonzalo Leiva – I first heard of the band when Girls, Girls, Girls came out, at the time I went back and discovered their previous album (Theater Of Pain), and they instantly became one of my favorite bands. Shout At The Devil was even better, with its raw sound, and solid songs that fit really well with the band. Also, tracks like the intro In The Beginning and God Bless The Children Of The Beast give the album a special atmospheric touch. My favorite tracks on the album are Red Hot, Too Young To Fall In Love, Shout At The Devil, Danger (among others), also their cover of Helter Skelter is pretty good as well.

Sean Bryant – Oh, wow. While I as in grade school this album came out. We had to write a story in class and mine started out with walking up to a friends house and hearing the opening track “in the beginning”. In the story I remember how cool and frightening I wanted to make it feel. I really don’t think the teachers and the kids, in a SLC class really appreciated how dark my story was. That is all I remember to the story. So it goes.

Will Carroll – The last great Crue album which is kinda sad considering its only their second. This album was my soundtrack for 1984. They took KISS and added fake Satanism and buckets upon buckets of sleaze and I ate it up. Mick Mars’ guitar tone makes this album and let’s face it, at the time nobody looked cooler.

Steve Smyth – I was big on Crue for the first 2 albums, and this one to me defined them in many ways. Their sound was much tighter, and the songs were strong. Red Hot, Bastard, Danger and Shout stood out to me as strong songs, and showed the writing strength of the band, as well as chops of Tommy Lee and Mick Mars.

David Ellefson – In some ways Motley played up the Satanic image more than most and the mainstream bought it. This album was just heavy enough to be loved by the metal heads and just mainstream enough to loved by all.

Chad Bowar – The Crue’s second album saw them refining their sleazy Sunset Strip glam metal, although the sound was still pretty raw. “Looks That Kill,” “Too Young To Fall In Love” and the title track were successful singles, and they also did a cover version of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.” Commercially it also did rather well, peaking at number 17 on the album chart. It symbolized the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll vibe that the ’80s were all about.

Shawn Duncan – I enjoyed this CD when it came out. Motley Crue mixed Metal with glam rock and nailed it. From Shout at the Devil to Looks that Kill this album opened the door for an entire genera of music! You cannot deny the impact of this record.

Jason Bittner – Shout at the Devil was the best album by Motley hands down! At the time they kicked ass, I loved this record, and I was a big Tommy Lee fan when I was a kid (it was 1984 and I hadn’t discovered thrash just yet) of course years later when I met the guy, it was such a letdown that I can sum it up in one word…. A great art rock band from the 90′s – TOOL!!!!!

Scott Thompson – When someone mentions Shout At The Devil my mind always goes back to 1983 practicing in the garage and jamming on the title track. Our guitarist at the time happened to also be a very busy coke dealer and would invariably be late for practice…in his garage. There was this always eager Tommy Lee wanna be that lived next door and would take the opportunity to come over and try to sit in. So I would take the guitar, the drummer would take bass and “Tommy Junior” would hop on the kit. Problem was he only knew the opening part so the whole thing would be him playing that part accompanied by Tommy inspired stick twirls. As pointless as it was it did provide some humor while we waited for the guitarist to show up.
Sadly I don’t think that kid ever had the innate sense to explore the rest of the album. That boy missed a aural feast. This was a still hungry Crue with all the swagger of “Too Fast” but having the benefit of a better budget and some nicely gelling song writing chops.

Let’s start with the cover, I bought this bad boy on vinyl and that black cover with the pentagram was not be ignored. I will admit that a few months later I was also lured into buying the picture disc of Helter Skelter. Most people bought that disc because it was at the time their only way to hear the Leathur Records mixes of a two songs off of “Fast”. That wasn’t the appeal to me since I already owned the original Leathur version. I bought it on the strength of the tunes on “Shout”. I was just caught in the momentum.

To this day the tunes from this album continue to be the cornerstone of any Crue show. It’s almost guaranteed that they are going to play Looks That Kill , the title track, and at least one more. Even though Vince’s voice ain’t what it used to be these tunes always rock balls live.

No matter what else they release I think this album will remain the blueprint of what is considered the Cure sound. Even the title track from their latest release harkens back to “Ten Seconds ‘Till Love”.

There will always be the contingent that will say the Dr. Feelgood is their definitive release but for those of us who bought this own when it first came out, there’s no other Crue release that will ever come close.

Kirk Windstein – Shout At The Devile had a huge impact on me…at the time it came out, I already had Too Fast For Love. S.A.T.D. was much more abrasive sounding, and also took their look a few steps further!

The songs are very strong, and this record, in my opinion, encompasses everything Motley Crue are. It’s the perfect “Cure” record, and the last to still feature their “fuck the world” punk side! I give it 10/10 for sure…a record I never turn off when it’s playing!!!

Jorge Salan – They’re a great rock band, the issue I have is that they have some hits that I can’t profess to really liking, the chick thing, the being on the beach thing, is sort of on a different wave from where I’m at. That said, once Bob Rock got a hold of them things went to a different level, especially a song like Kick Start My Heart, which is such a great song, or something like Sticky Sweet, all of those songs, and actually that album (Dr. Feelgood) is more of my thing.

Domonic Rini – 1983, in my eyes the strongest push for thrash and the evolution of the big hair days. MC grabbed a record deal with Elektra and put this release out with Producer Tom Werman. It really showed in the production that this band could take their music to new levels and really make them musicians. Shout At The Devil really hit a chord in peoples heads and the youth ate it up. With an evil surrounding feel to this release they were able to really pull it off.

Doug Gibson – “Shout At The Devil” is classic Crue at their best. Not only does the album still stand the test of time, but it’s the best defense against the haters who try to lump the Crue in with lighter hair bands and claim they’re not metal.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast (podcasts): Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Judas Priest‘s Painkiller. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 54 features comments from Doro Pesch, Glen Drover, Gene Hoglan, Jon Schaffer, Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, author Martin Popoff, Mitch Lafon from Bravewords, Mark Strigl from Talking Metal, Anirudd “Andrew” Bansal from Metal Assault, and John from Iron City Rocks. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – I’m a long-time fan of Priest, going back to Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings, they were cool, bluesy, but also melodic and composed, harmonies everywhere, such a great band. From there they got heavier and more intense with each album. They really ripped your head off at moments with Painkiller.

Greg Prato – Painkiller: Although not my all-time fav Priest album (a two-way tie between ‘British Steel’ and ‘Screaming for Vengeance’), it was a great to see the Priest return full-on with ‘Painkiller,’ after a few missteps during the late 1980′s. Rob Halford’s vocal performance throughout the album showed once and for all that he is unquestionably one of metal’s greatest singers (I’d say he and Ronnie James Dio are at the top of my list).

Dave Starr – I love JP, but this is not one of my favorite CD’s from them. I do love several tracks though: “Hammer and the Anvil”, “A Touch of Evil”, and “Hell Patrol”.

Dan Lorenzo – When I was a in high school my favorite bands were Kiss, Cheap Trick, AC/DC and Aerosmith. By the end of high school Kiss was getting cheesy and I discovered Judas Priest. I’ve seen Priest live more than any other band. I saw them as recently as two weeks ago. I even saw them twice with Ripper. Right before Painkiller came out I was “over” Priest. The song “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin” kinda ruined the whole vibe for me. It’s not even a bad song and I LOVE the rest of that cd. But moms now “liked” Judas Priest and I was getting more into Slayer etc. I’ll never forget the first time I heard the title track from Painkiller. I was working on writing the early NON-FICTION material and I thought I knew what was cool and what was not. Dave Holland’s weak drumming was gone and a monster named Scott Travis was now on the throne. Damn. Glenn/KK/Rob, Ian…you got me again. Painkiller is kick ass. I even love the more commercial “Touch of Evil.”. Priest were back on the right track and they have stayed that way. I’ll always cite “Hell Bent For Leather” as my favorite…but Painkiller was a very welcome surprise and a return to form.

Peter Ellis – My favourite Priest album and in my opinion the very best album they ever made. By the time Painkiller came out both KK and Glen Tipton had really matured as guitarists and had started introducing lots of different sounds and new elements to the band’s music and of course this album features some of the very best performances in Rob Halfords storied career too. Also the addition of Scott Travis on the drums proved to be one of the best decisions the band’s ever made and personally I wish they’d done this a lot earlier as I think that Travis sounds like the natural successor to Les Binks and I’ve always believed that bringing Dave Holland in held the band back and put limitations to their style that wouldn’t be there with a more competent drummer.

Jon Leon – Judas Priest gave everyone what they wanted with this album. Scott Travis on drums along with the thrash movement inspired a new direction. It is classic priest but heavy as hell and at a million miles an hour. No Parental Guidance type songs here. Less catchy and more balls out. It was the exclamation point that rounded out and finalized the legacy of the great Judas Priest. I saw the tour as a little kid and they opened with Hell Bent for Leather -it was insane.

Metal Mike – I love this record. It set a blueprint for some many other bands to follow. Bands are still trying to rewrite Painkiller every year, but we all know that there is only one Metal God.

Erik Kluiber – Saw this tour with Megadeth and Testament. Unfortunately, my neighbors who gave me the ride hated priest and forced me to leave once they took the stage.

Ricky Armellino – Always loved the Priest. Just never a reason not to listen to them, ever. Unless you need a break to listen to Dio but you could always just do what I did and play both simultaneously.

Mitts – Judas Priest meets double-bass. The cornerstone heavy metal band added a much needed dose of modern drumming to their sound. Great riffs, too. A punch in the face record, redemption for the band that made “Turbo”.

Chris Tsangarides – What can I say about a record that I made without sounding like a complete ego maniac! But this record is one that I am very proud of on many levels. I was in 7th heaven during this project. It is one of the most cohesive and focused Heavy Metal albums in my humble opinion of all time. We set out with the objective of making a great recording and that’s how it came out. It is so hard to get clarity in the sound when the tempos are so fast but because of the great arrangements between the instrumentation we managed to achieve this. It also inspired a whole slew of bands to carry on in that tradition of Power/Speed Metal.

Raul Galvan – This album along with some of Manowar’s work is what I consider to be the top of the mountain for heavy metal.

JL – Another classic, from one of those bars that oozes smoke, alcohol and metal. Tipton and Downings had their axes sharpened like knives, but nothing cut through more than Halford’s voice. From the album cover, to the song titles, there is nothing more metal than this album, not even if the sky opened up and a downpour of knives ensued!

Gonzalo Leiva – A very powerful album, the opening track makes you say wow after the first listen. The rest of the album is also good, containing some very heavy and technical drumming from Scott Travis. Painkiller is a punishing track, but you also have tracks like Nightcrawler, Between The Hammer And The Anvil, A Touch Of Evil, and Hell Patrol (just to name a few). These tracks make this album a must have for any rock or metal fans.

David Lozano – One of my all time favorite albums, I think it is of utter importance that it finds its way into any metal fan’s album collection. I still think this album is a head of its time, case in point, I still hear bands implementing things in their music that Priest did on this album.

Sean Bryant – I had seen quite a few Priest concerts growing up. One I remember mostly was during Turbo Lover Tour. Bunch of friends and I went to the Salt Palace in SLC. This was the first time I had heard a band blowing the power at a large venue. I always looked forward to him driving his motorcycle out onto the stage. With this album in particular, the only thing that comes to mind is when drinking at the Anchored Inn and Shana from Bad Dream ran down the stairs while she was dj’ing. She insisted that we do shots throughout the song!! Needless to say, my pain was killed that night and many after that.

Will Carroll – A very important album. Not only for JP but also for Heavy Metal in general. It extended the lifeline of metal for a few more years until metal was nearly wiped away in the early/mid nineties. A favorite JP album for many and I can totally see why. My favorite is Sin After Sin.

Steve Smyth – Oh HELL yeah! The mighty Priest delivered the goods after a disappointing few previous records. I loved it when Scott Travis joined them, and Glenn and KK got up some new chops, as Halford delivered the goods in songs like All Guns Blazing, Nightcrawler, Hell Patrol, Leather Rebel, and the title track! One of my favorites from the mighty Priest!

Jon Bodan – This was the album that got me into Priest, before that I had come up on some glam like Skid Row and from that got into bands like Metallica and Testament. So I heard these guys on a compilation CD and was like “where have I been”? Halcyon Way used to tease the song “Painkiller” at the end of our set but we could never be bothered to learn the whole thing, haha. But the best story with this is that one time I was with our old singer Sean at this Korean karaoke bar, and all these people were singing these Korean pop ballads….so I went over and signed him up to do “Painkiller”. It was hysterical, everyone there was like “What the hell????” Classic.

Domonic Rini – Rob Halford really shows his vocal prowess in this effort. Some of his greatest tones on any Priest albums are found in this one. I think with Painkiller, Judas Priest was really trying to see how metal they can be and it really shows.

Shawn Duncan – Awesome, Love Painkiller!

Wayne Findlay – Painkiller…Wow, what a killer intro with Scott Travis at his best.
I was blown away when I found out he got the drummer position for Priest. He was great in Racer-X and when he joined Priest, it took them in a whole new direction. This album just brought it to a whole new level for Priest.

Tim Ripper Owens – Great cd. Really brought the Priest back to form, and that was with a lot of help from Scott Travis. WOW, he was just amazing and gave them the spark they needed! But everyone was on their Game. Amazing guitar playing, Bass playing and Singing!! P A I N!!!!!!

Jason Bittner – Priest’s best album hands down- the guitar work got amazingly better from Ram it Down to PK!! Obviously the BIGGEST improvement was adding the mighty Scott Travis to the band! I got PK on tape for Xmas in 1991, and refused to leave my basement that day for family affairs until I had that intro learned and down!! And I succeeded too!! Many many years later Scott and I are friends and I actually bought his old kick drum road case off him back in 2004- he still asks me about it, and yes I still have it- gonna be sad to see this band actually say “farewell”. Priest rules!!

Anthony Esposito – Monster cd,
hello Scott Travis……from the opening sound making his arrival noted. He is a monster drummer. We played a show with them in Los Angeles right after this (album) was released.
At soundcheck, while Priest was up onstage George quietly turned to me and said “Ant, we are gettin blown away tonight.” The title cut and A Touch Of Evil are my favorites (on the album). Rob’s voice is amazing as usual.

Kirk Windstein – It was a welcomed surprise after the disappointing RAM IT DOWN record. PAINKILLER is an over the top, pure metal masterpiece! Great riffs, solos, and of course, vocals. Halford earns a 10 out of 10 for his work! Actually, all the members do, and the addition of Scott Travis was the icing on the cake. In my opinion it should have been the follow up to DEFENDERS…Judas Priest (The Best Heavy Metal Band Ever), were at their finest on this classic! Thanks for the Metal, Gentlemen!!!

Jose Izquierdo – I discovered Judas Priest with this album. I mean I had heard songs, but I really didn’t know people that where in tune with the band, and could hook me up with a tape of their songs. There wasn’t really a radio station in Albacete (Spain) that played Judas Priest either. Someone gave me a copy of the album, and of course after that I started really looking into their music.

David G. Alvarez – I remember seeing Painkiller, Jugulator, and a video compliation, I believe it was called Metalworks, I don’t exactly remember. But and then saw images in Rockarolla, and thought to myself, I think I bought the wrong tape. I saw that hats, and everything else they were wearing and though it was something else. My favorite track off of the album is Metal Meltdown, it’s obvious they made a serious changes to their sound, especially with the guitars. They changed from very melodic playing to sweep picking, and they returned with their own proper sound. Scott Travis also gave a big push to the band, a lot of energy.

Jorge Salan – I really like this album, but I have to say that Stained Class is my favorite album by the band. A track like Exciter is one of those that really inspired me, it’s a classic. I think the redone version from Hero Hero, I don’t remember if it was a compilation, or if it was all new tracks, but it had Victim of Changes, which I think is just ridiculously good. I really like Painkiller, but I’ll stick with those two I mentioned.

Militia – A great album through and through! Killer songs loaded with all the best elements of

Priest:

Halford’s vocal performance is enthralling- an uncanny balance of raw aggression and operatic precision. Lyrics that are borderline Shakespearian. Artwork, imagery and storytelling of creatures and monsters that create its own heavy metal mythological world. Guitar tones and riffs that singe your fuckin ears. Drums that relentlessly beat your brain into a bloody pulp. And that signature Priest groove that keeps it all together is so addictive…

Some of my favorite Priest songs are on here: Hell Patrol, Nightcrawler, Metal Meltdown, Between the Hammer and the Anvil and the ultimate metal anthem as well as one of my favorite songs to sing- the PAAAAINKILLAAAAH!

Chris Howorth – This is such an incredible album, and its arguably the heaviest priest album of all time! The title track pretty much sums the whole thing up, starting with Scott Travis ripping drum intro and non stop double bass, and Tipton and Downing turned the gain knob to ten and shredded their asses off from start to finish, I always loved Judas Priest but this album got brownie points for being extra heavy right at the time when grunge and all that crap was getting popular. This album is a lesson in real metal, pay attention all you trend following scene metal bands!

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast (podcasts): Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Megadeth‘s second full length album Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 51 features comments from Chris Poland,Glen Drover,Doro Pesch, Gene Hoglan, Jon Schaffer,Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, author Martin Popoff, Mitch Lafon fromBravewords, Mark Strigl from Talking Metal,Anirudd “Andrew” Bansal from Metal Assault,and Aaron from Iron City Rocks. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

Here is a Q&A with founding member of Megadeth David Ellefson. The questions obviously focus on Peace Sells.

When writing/recording the material that ended up on Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? was it apparent to you or anyone else in the band how important this album would be for Megadeth and for metal?
We didn’t think about in those terms but as we did a quick three week tour just prior to recording the album we could certainly tell that “Peace Sells..” Was going to be a hit. Beyond that, we worked really hard touring that album for 18 months around the world in the USA, Japan, Europe and finally ending with a show in Hawaii. It was epic and was so cool to do that at such a young age.

At what point does the album’s importance become apparent to you?
Once the video for “Peace Sells.” hit MTV we knew we had something special going. You could tell by watching it that it wasn’t your typical high gloss, overly produced film-type of video but rather a real raw and edgy clip and that was something really unique on MTV in those days. After that people outside of just Thrash metal took notice of who we were.

The opening bassline of the title track is arguably your most recognizable part, who came up with that intro? When recording the track did you ever think that people would identify you with it 25 years later?
Dave wrote the song and it quickly came together in our rehearsal room as a four piece. I remember adding the high harmony vocal to the outro chorus and everyone looking at me like ‘wow, he can actually sing like that!’. It was from my training listening to Michael Anthony’s vocal lines in Van Halen as a teenager.

The bass line and end guitar riff are essentially the same part and starting the tune with the bass riff was unique as most metal tunes start with a guitar riff or the entire band. Dave was always calling me to the forefront of the songs rather than just being a background bass player and I think that really set us apart from a lot of the other metal going on in those days. We had a really powerful front line to the band with two very different guitar players and an aggressive bassist in me.

How much pressure was placed on the band to deliver the album?
Initially it was recorded for Combat Records, our label at the time. We were more insistent on getting it done than anyone because we had completed the “Killing Is My Business” a few months prior and we knew we had to get the next album done to get back on tour. Plus, we were hoping that a major label would pick us up.

Once Capitol Records got involved to pick up our contract and be our new major label we couldn’t wait to get going. By that time the album was recorded and mixed and then they brought in Paul Lani to do a re-mix to give it a bit more polished sound. He was the one that muted the band during the “Peace Sells.” chorus, which really helped make it sound more like a radio hit. He also muted the bass on the beginning outro riff for “Wake Up Dead” and that added a nice dynamic to build the ending of the song.

A lot of emphasis is always placed on you and Dave Mustaine regarding this album, that said, could this album of been recorded with anyone else but Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson?
After having recorded our debut album and then doing the pre-production tour for “Peace Sells.” in early ’86 we had really tightened up as a band. It was the four of us that had that magic sound for that record. There isn’t another album in our catalog that sounds quite like it!

Given what they did on the Megadeth albums does it surprise you that Gar and Chris never had any commercial success after the band?
It’s very difficult to ever have ANY success in this business and usually lighting doesn’t strike twice if you get one shot at it. The simple fact is that even though the Megadeth fans will always check out other things we each may do they really just want us in THIS band.

How has your gear evolved from when this album was recorded?
Pretty much everything is different. I was using BC Rich basses back then. I used two of them to record that album. The one was the fighter jet graphic Mockingbird which is now in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It had Alembic P/J pickups and active preamp. The other was a red Mockingbird that had two Dimarzio P-bass pickups with the standard active circuitry from BC Rich. They both had Badass bridges.

For amps, I had these two 4×12 cabinets made by a manufacturer in down town Los Angeles known as Decuir. They had some generic bass speakers in them. I used an Ashley pre-amp and AB Systems power amps that were part of a PA system I owned back in Minnesota a few years earlier. I picked those components out and put them in a rack to build a bass rig for myself and brought it out to LA with me when I moved out there in 1983 after I graduated high school.

Not too long after we went on tour for that album in late ’86 or early ’87 I switched over to Jackson Concert basses and Hartke 4×10 cabinets with GK 800RB heads. I use a similar setup now with a new line of Jackson basses and the latest Hartke LH1000 amps and their HyDrive 810 cabinets.

What is the biggest compliment you’ve received concerning this album?
I think that so many people regard it as this seminal album, one that has such an impact on their lives. That’s always cool to hear and of course I’m always appreciative of the compliments on playing the “Peace Sells.” opening bass line!

Does the album’s impact of the album effect the band when going in and recording a new album?
I think you tend to draw on all of your experiences when recording a new album. All of those albums help you get to where you are now.

One thing that has always interested me about Megadeth is you never hear band members come out and say our new album is “our best album since Peace Sells” or “it sounds like Peace Sells Vs. Rust In Peace). How important is it to the band to make sure each album stands out on its own?
To us those couple of fan favorite albums like “Peace Sells.” and “Rust In Peace” are just albums we did during those periods and are just part of our overall work. It’s like trying to pick our your favorite children.you can’t do it because they are all part of your family. We put the same intensity into every album we do and it’s every once in a while one will rise up as the crème’ de le crème’ for the fans. For that, we are truly appreciative!

Here are comments sent in by others regarding the album.

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – Great album! Love what Poland and Ellefson did on that album…

Greg Prato – I’m not the biggest “prog metal” fan, but Megadeth is about as close to the style that I can say I honestly enjoy. Dave Mustaine is one of metal’s greatest guitarists, and I don’t judge a “great guitarist” by how fast he/she can solo. I mean the amount of great riffs, their influence on other guitarists, etc., and Mustaine certainly fits the bill. I first heard ‘Peace Sells’ in late ’86, and it blew me away – especially all of side one. I still sometimes wonder what Metallica would have been like if they kept their short-lived Hetfield-Mustaine-Burton-Ulrich line-up intact.

Dan Lorenzo – Do you want to know why I have a ton of respect for Dave Mustaine? Because he’s a survivor. Imagine the horror of being kicked out of a band that is about to take off big-time. Lesser men would fold and never be heard from again. One time, Jason McMaster told me he thought Megadeth were Metallica-lite. I don’t see it that way at all. Dave was a VERY important ingredient in the first Metallica album, and I love the first Megadeth cd. When I first heard the opening track, “Wake Up Dead” off “Peace Sells” I knew Dave could be in for the long hall. I LOVE Wake Up Dead. Peace Sells scared the shit out of everybody in HADES. Why? Because we were pulling up to LaMour in Brooklyn to open up for Megadeth as they were doing their soundcheck. My God, they sounded JUST like the record. We felt better when we realized they were filming a video for “Peace Sells” and it WAS their record. Dave could be intimidating, but he was always cool with us…even wearing the ugly red HADES shirt I gave him after the show. I loved their cover of “I Ain’t Superstitious” as well.

Jon Leon – I remember when I was given this as a gift on cassette. From the sound of the capitol records beeps came a riff that to this day defines what thrash IS to me. Wake up Dead is just a perfect thrash metal song. Along with Slayers Angel of Death and Metallicas Battery-it was one of the 3 1986 anthems that opened 3 amazing releases. This album features the 2 MVP members of Megadeth-Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson(RIP) Chris Poland has always had an amazing Jazz/metal fusion band called OHM that plays in L.A. often and I recommend seeking them out. This album is the best Megadeth and one of thrashes all time must owns.

Joel Gausten
- Best bassline in Metal. This and “So Far…” define Megadeth for me.

Metal Mike – I sharpened my guitar skills to this record. I must say that Megadeth is probably the band that had the most influence on how I write songs and structure guitar riffs. I love early Megadeth stuff. It’s absolutely amazing. Obviously, there is nothing like Mustaine when he is lit up and pissed off.

Erik Kluiber – Possibly the greatest album of all time.

Phil Rind – The last record I liked by Megadeth. Killing is my Business is my fave.

Ricky Armellino – Mustane was such a crucial vocalist for me growing up, you don’t even know. I’m only managing to pull off these vaguely on key speaking grunt vocals and I’m looking over at my copy of “Sells” and I’m all like, “I know I can, Dave. I just know it.”

Mitts – Classic record. This was the point where Dave Mustaine started to write actual songs, instead of trying to prove that Megadeth could play faster than Metallica.

James J. LaRue - This being pre-Marty, I didn’t really get into it. I got to know the title track since it would become a concert staple for them, but Marty’s exotic sounding leads against Dave’s mechanical rhythm is the foil that gave Megadeth their appeal for me. So I’ll always see Rust in Peace (non remastered version) as their “classic”, and it’s the one that got me into them. I love Megadeth, one of my all-time favorites, but I only listen to Marty-era stuff.

Scott Middleton – Light years better than the shoddy production of Killing is My Business…Peace Sells is a true speed metal classic. Wake Up Dead is easily one of their best songs to date and Peace Sells was probably the first Political themed song/album for thrash metal, and really proved that metal could be technical or “thinking man’s music” when it wanted to be

Jaye Schwarzer – This is what your band sounds like when you are still pissed off about being kicked out of your old band and you start railing huge amounts of cocaine. I had never heard songs played so fucking fast while being equally as melodic. Riffs!!

JL – You have to take into account that the albums that I like most by the band are Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia, but this album was the one that got me into the band. What would have happened if Metallica would have never gotten rid of Mustaine? Would they be infinitely bigger than they are today? I try to focus on the fact that we have been able enjoy a lot of good pieces of music due to the decisions that were made.

Chris Shrum – Some of the best classic Megadeth ever, you can still listen to regularly and never get tired of it!

Mikey Pannone
- I am a huge Megadeth fan, and this album is one of the main reasons why. Dave Mustaine gives us all a lesson in pissed-off genius musicianship, and “Good Mourning/Black Friday” still gives me goosebumps to this day.

Sean Bryant – This was one of those albums that I got into after Metallica. Megadeth was just so fucking raw at this point. Mustaine wasn’t getting all whiny and shit but was washing you with some gritty, no holds barred, fuck you metal. Most of the albums that followed fell off my radar as it seemed that polish started to come about. I like it raw!!

Will Carroll – I loved this album the second “Wake Up Dead” started. Every song rules. Even the cover tune “I Aint Superstitious” delivers. This album gives ANY…ANY Metallica album a run for its money.

Steve Smyth – One of my alltime classic favorites, and 2nd favorite lineup of the band as well! Chris Poland is amazing on this album, and the title track, The Conjuring, Devil’s Island, Good Mourning are standout faves of mine

Chad Bowar – In thrash annals, Peace Sells… captured Megadeth in their prime; a tight, well-oiled machine. Their second album blasted off with “Wake Up Dead,” and includes Megadeth classics like the title track and “Devil’s Island.” The 1986 lineup of Dave Mustaine, Chris Poland, David Ellefson and Gar Samuelson was a strong one, although struggles with drugs made the recording of this album rather difficult.
The band recently released a 25th anniversary remastered edition of the album, which also includes a previously unreleased concert from 1987. Megadeth plays songs from their first two releases, and it’s a very solid set, especially for those who prefer the band’s early material. Superfans and those with some extra cash might want to skip the 2 CD version and go with the deluxe box set.
The box set includes 5 CDs: the original album, the 1987 concert, Dave Mustaine mixes for the 2004 reissue, Randy Burns mixes and the album and concert in high resolution audio. It also comes with 3 LPs, a book, photos and replicas of vintage Megadeth memorabilia. It will set you back nearly 130 bucks, but for hardcore fans it’s well worth it. For thrash fans, Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? is mandatory.

Bat - I bought Peace Sells on Vinyl when I was about 14, I thought it was amazing, loved Black Friday and used to bring it to the disco in my local community center and ask the DJ to play it, he played it once! A great album.

Etan Rosenbloom – I personally prefer Rust in Peace, but 25 years on, Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? still stands out among all the other thrash albums from the mid-’80s. Mustaine’s songwriting was so diverse compared to that of his contemporaries, and his distinctive vocal style – a combination of snide growls, roared melodies and spoken asides – grants the charisma that allow his politically-charged lyrics to shine. Thrash metal wasn’t all partying and high tops, and Peace Sells epitomizes the more thoughtful wing of ’80s thrash.

Shawn Duncan – Love this Album! The band sounds killer on this. Peace Sells, Bad Omen, Waking Up Dead, Good morning/Black Friday…The whole thing kicks ass! Always liked Megadeth especially the first 3 records!

Grover XIII – I tend to prefer Rust In Peace for my quick Megadeth fix, but Peace Sells is an undisputed classic. The bassline on the title track is usually enough to give me a half-boner.

Tim Ripper Owens – Wow..What a record!! I did plenty of these tracks growing up in the local scene here in Akron, Ohio!! I did Peace sells, Devils Island, Wake up dead…maybe more!! This is just a great cd, and a classic!! Love the Cd, Love the guys!!

Doug Gibson - I was always partial to Metallica over Megadeth, but “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying” is a classic that’s held up well over the years. “Peace Sells” and “Wake Up Dead” are timeless thrash classics, while “The Conjuring” and “Devil’s Island” are good cuts too. Anyone growing up in the MTV era likely had the Peace Sells intro bass line ingrained in their heads as I do.

Alex - It is my honor to talk about this album, as it is exactly as old as me. That’s right, aside from ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’, my dad also forgot to pull out. Guess a lot of metal shit was born that year…

The thing I don’t understand about Megadeth’s 80s album titles is: Why did Dave (almost said ‘they’ for a second, hehe) use every punctuation mark in the goddamn universe? Why not call it ‘Peace Sells’? Why call it ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’

If he feels witty about it, why not go all the way and name it ‘Peace sells… But who’s buying? Huh? Who is it dude? Tell me. Tell me GOD DAMMIT CAUSE I WANT TO KNOW!!!’ — At least that way I would have been mildly amused by it.

But let’s not nitpick the title too much, after all, it doesn’t matter. Instead, I’m gonna nitpick the songs.

I’m just gonna talk about the title track… First of all, can we really call it ‘the title track’? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the song is called ‘Peace Sells,’ that’s it. Why have common sense about the song, but write a long ass title for the album?

I really like the song, I just think the lyrics are a bit on the pretentious side…

“What do you mean I don’t believe in God? I talk to him everyday” seems like something a maniac would write on a wall before going on a killing spree in a school. I am not suggesting Dave is crazy, but there’s something about people who claim they ‘talk’ to God 1 on 1 that doesn’t sit well with me.

“What do you mean I ain’t kind? I’m just not your kind” — See what he did there? He used the other meaning of kind and flipped the question around, ha ha ha, classic!

I could go on and on about Dave’s lyrics, but I’d just waste both my time and yours. Instead I’m gonna be serious for a second and say that this is a very decent album, and in spite of my lame jokes, I actually really like the title track. I just don’t think it’s anywhere near what Metallica released that year, and yes, I totally went for the obvious Metallica comparison.

I’d give this album a 5 out of 5 star rating if this was a proper review, or if I had any credibility as a music journalist. But it’s not, and I don’t, so let’s just say that it’s a Megadeth classic…. But who’s buying the 1432 remastered editions?

Jason Bittner – “peace sells………hands down the BEST Megadeth record in my opinion! the riffs, the playing, the attitude, you can tell Mustaine had a Metallica monkey on his back. from start to finish this CD kicks major ass, and I used to play along to it all the time………many many years later when I actually “made it” I played some of these tunes with David Ellefson when we did some clinics together – very cool and very fun. Gar was a master drummer – a jazz cat in a metal band…….he was a beast!! RIP

Jessie Sanchez - Growing up in the “mtv generation” i had no idea mtv news was using the intro to peace sells for all their segments. I had been a Megadeth fan before but had never heard “peace sells” back then. My first Megadeth album was “Countdown to Extinction” and i was immediately hooked after the first riff hit my ear drums, I found myself buying all their albums soon after. After finally getting a chance to check out “Peace Sells but whose buying?” i was blown away, the opening track, “Wake up Dead” had a 16 year old hormone pumped Jessie running up the walls with inspiration. “Peace Sells but who whose buying?” was one of the first albums to influence me to pick up the bass in the first place. every black friday i still paint the devil on the wall

Scott Thompson- A bass line, one of the most iconic albums of 1986 is most remembered not for the brilliant guitar work but for a bass line. Dave Ellefson’s classic opening to Peace Sells has been pumped into millions of metal fans heads never to be forgotten, and as the opening for MTV’s news segments it has been infused into millions of non metal fans as well.

So there’s one bit of irony. Then there’s the fact that at 69 bpm, Peace Sells (the best known track) is the slowest overall track on the album. An album from a band with a reputation for being the most uncompromisingly thrashiest band around. Yet it sounds like a freight train hell bent on destruction. There lies a second ironic twist. And yet in that irony lies the brilliance of Megadeth which finally blooms with this album and would explode with the followup “Rust”.
A mere thrash band would just go for speed. Megadeth was no mere thrash band. They brought elements previously taboo in thrash. Gar and Chris brought in jazz and bop. Combined with the hard rock and classic metal elements from Dave squared and you get the light and shade that influenced so many bands that came after including future lineups of Megadeth. Yes, some of this was present in Killing, but here was an album with a better budget that allowed that vision to be fully formed.
Seven tracks (I’m not counting the cover tune) of pure rage and substance fueled metal. In the words of someone I can’t remember “All killer, no filler”. Perfectly sequenced on vinyl with a heavy on the mids sonic signature shamelessly copied ever after, Peace Sells continues to be quite simply one of Mustaine’s finest hours.

Perhaps it isn’t put any better than in Dave’s own words from “My Last Words” final track on the disc, “Feel a might unsteady, but still I have to play”.

Jorge Salan – I love this band, especially Youthinasia. This is one of those special albums that catched you during a certain period of time, a certain period of your life, around thirteen years of age. And I can’t say for sure it’s their “best album”, but due to the age you start listening to the album, it becomes something special to you. Especially the second track on the album Train Of Consequence which to me is just a huge song.

Jose Izquierdo – An absolute gem! What this band does is very special, you hear the guitar parts which are very thrash, but what they do on bass and drums is extraordinary, and puts the band at another level. Given what we do in this band, Peace Sells, and Rust In Peace go beyond being simple albums. They become essential lessons of what needs to be played in this band.

David G. Alvarez – To me this album is a reference point for not only for thrash, but all of metal. Regardless of how many years have gone by, this album still sounds relevant. I love the original mixes of this album, although they didn’t do much to alter the sounds with the remixes, there is something special with the sound on the original mix of the album.

Victor Valera – They put out Killing Is My Business, and you could see certain things with the band, but they put Peace Sells out, and it was a statement, here we are, and get ready for what’s about to come your way.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast (podcasts): Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Tool’s second full length album AEnima. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 49 features comments from Charlie Benante, Gene Hoglan, Alan Tecchio, and Aaron from Iron City Rocks. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Jon Leon – Tools finest hour. The title track is the best sarcasm on fake culture in hollywood you will ever hear.

Vince Neilstein – Aenima was the beginning of the beginning for Tool. Undertow had great songs, but Aenima saw the band experimenting and branching out with longer songs, complex time signatures and what would become their general sense of Tool-ness. It was only a sign of what was to come.

Erik Kluiber – Tool at their peak

Phil Rind – Heavy, thought provoking and inspiring.

Ricky Armellino – This is the album that completely expanded my 12 year old mind and introduced it to the idea of fisting.

Jaye Schwarzer – I had never listened to anything that was so heavy and so seething while at the same time being so chill and mellow. There WAS another approach to being a heavy band.

Chris Tsangarides – If I could play guitar in any band it would be this one. This album is just so full of awesome grooves and the sound they get on record is pristine. Many influences in their music from Beefheart (again) to Arabic and Greek time signatures. I love it when I hear original and unique music, I can’t think of a bad thing to say about this band. The thinking man’s rock band? I don’t know about that but they have become huge without conforming to any convention but their own. Probably one band that is closest to how I feel how music should be made, long may they rock!

Scott LePage – I freaking love this album. I could listen to Eulogy 100 times straight through and still want more. So many textures on this album. Probably one of my top 10 favorite second albums of all time.

Chris Biermann – Best album I’ve ever heard sonically – that is the kind of mix I aspire to attain, though I will never be able to! LOL!

Raul L.R. – What to say about Tool and the tremendous album that Maynard and the band released. This was the first album I heard from the band, I can thank a friend for that, he played the album in his van everyday going to rehearsals. To me they’re the perfect band, dark, and wise with the way that they develop and execute each one of the tracks on the album. The first track Stinkfist is a declaration of the band’s intent. Maynard is unreal with each melody, Danny Carey is a savage on the drums, Adam Jones playing is easily a 10. He is one of my favorite guitarists, not because of his virtuosity, but because he knows exactly what each track needs, without having to be some over the top guitar hero that gets carried away with some self indulgent solos. His playing helps each album become a musical journey into the world of Tool. I listen to the second track Eulogy every morning, it happens to be the alarm clock on my cell phone! This track is simply genius. Justin Chancellor’s playing on the album is just sublime throughout; he is a true master at the bass, and something for every base player to aspire to be.

JL – This marked a before and after. It was an album that I could never put on while I was studying, because it required all of my attention. There was always a detail to discover, especially with Danny Carey’s playing which is just plethoric.

David Lozano – Unfortunately I’ve never gotten into Tool, that said, I appreciate their talent.

Steve Smyth – I always dug how this band could put together good ensemble-like pieces, songs like Eulogy, Stinkfist, and 46 and 2 I remember hearing a lot, like everyone else, but the title track is a standout as well, and who could forget Hooker With A Penis?

Luke Wenczel – Danny Carey of Tool is another ongoing influence. His creativity and expression behind the kit really speaks volumes and adds to the tracks he plays on to no end. Danny is a drummer of many layers. The playing he hammered out for Tool’s third release Ænima is something I always come back to and rediscover. Danny’s the reason I play a 14×8 inch snare and, like Nicko, he plays his Ride in the same place. A few of his cymbal choices have also made their way into my set-up, mainly the effect cymbals, the china and splashes!

Etan Rosenbloom – I still remember being holed up at my aunt’s house in late 1996, some mysterious flu-like illness forcing me to stay inside night and day. Tool’s Aenima, released just a few months prior, was my solace, a constant presence on my portable CD player as I convalesced. The closing track “Third Eye” was the most powerful to me, but there are memorable moments aplenty on Aenima – the gargantuan opening riff to “Stinkfist,” which was the most intriguing song on rock radio that season, and easily the mot bizarre video on MTV; Justin Chancellor’s serpentine bass lines throughout “Forty Six & 2;” the propulsive drive and righteous hatred all over “Hooker with a Penis;” Maynard James Keenan’s misanthropic tribute to Bill Hicks in “Aenema” (“Learn to swim / See you down in Arizona Bay”). The German monologue “Die Eier von Satan” freaked me out to no end, even after I discovered the guy was just offering a recipe for Mexican cookies. More than any individual moment, Aenima felt like a triumph of sustained mood to my teenage self. I’d never before heard an album that felt like it was made for arenas but felt so intimate, one that balanced cerebral, ofttimes spiritual ideas and visceral music in such powerful ways.

Shawn Duncan – Wow, Aenima, what a killer album! Opens with Stinkfist and this should have alerted you immediately that something was gonna kick your ass!! Awesome drum tones..great production..Tool has a way of being progressive without getting ridiculous, they always manage to maintain a “song” mentality and groove Danny is a MONSTER!..H, Pushit, Hooker with a penis, and Forty Six & 2!!! I mean c’mon, how could any die hard metalhead rock and roller not fucking dig this!?!?!?

Mark Hunter – I discovered Tool on the Lollapalooza tour. I instantly became a fan as this was a new spin on heavy music. When Aenima came out, Tool changed the game once again. Epic song structures, beautiful melody and technicality that virtuosos can stand behind. They infused more psychedelics and all of the musical boundaries disappeared. Very few words can do this album justice. It’s better to just turn off the lights, turn on the album and take a journey of your own. This is one of the most important records of all time.

Grover XIII – For some reason, when I’m listing albums that I really, really like, I always forget about this one. I’ve listened to this album so many times that the whole thing sticks in my mind, and ’46 & 2′ is one of my favorite songs ever, and yet it always escapes my mind. This was easily some of the darkest, most unique music to get played on major radio that I’ve ever heard, and the influence it had on my musical tastes is something that I’m still not fully aware of, I think.

Wayne Findlay – It was and still is a big inspiration and influence on me. Not many bands get 7 minute songs on the radio these days!! And only a few can say that they do…Incredible musicianship all the way around.

Jose Izquierdo – One of our tour van’s all time classic albums. You either love the album or you hate it, it can drive you nuts, or you’ll only want to listen to this album. I can attest to this because it’s happened to me.

David G. Alvarez – Wow, what to say about this album? I actually dig the last one a lot more, and I’m not sure if this album or Lateralus has the track that was written based on the Fibonacci Code, but their writing is pure genius. Some people complain about the time signatures, and what have you, but you have to appreciate their talent whether you like them or not. I remember having to dissect Adam Jones’ parts, from a technical stand point, they aren’t difficult to play. But the way that he has mastered how to use something as simple as a delay, and create all of the sonic textures you hear on this album. Justin Chambers and Danny Carey, both are incredible players and do some amazing things on this album.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast (podcasts): Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Van Halen’s second album Van Halen II. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 46 features comments from Charlie Benante, Gene Hoglan, Glen Drover, Chris Poland, Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, Martin Popoff, Mark Strigl, and John from Iron City Rocks. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Here are comments that have been contributed to us via e-mail regarding Van Halen II. Remember to check out the index page if you’re not sure who someone is, or to check out their sites to find out more about what they do. Again, these comments are in the order we’ve received them.

Bumblefoot – Some really cool songs on this album – Doctor, Bottoms Up, Outta Love, Light Up the Sky, DOA… great guitar moments in every song, that incredible guitar sound that I WISH I could get – and a great acoustic instrumental to break things up – it’s a killer follow up to a groundbreaking debut album.

Greg Prato – Not sure what my favorite VH album is (perhaps either ‘Van Halen’ or ‘Fair Warning’), but ‘VH II’ is a classic as well. Raw and rocking, that DLR era VH line-up was – to borrow a quote from the movie ‘The Blues Brothers’ – powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline. “Dance the Night Away,” “Outta Love Again,” “Light Up the Sky,” “DOA” – VH was unquestionably THE KINGS of US rock n’ roll in the early 1980′s…until Mr. Roth exited.

Dave Starr – I think the debut CD was better, but this record is still pretty cool. EVH re-wrote the book on rock/metal guitar.

Dan Lorenzo – While I fully understand Eddie Van Halen is one of the most important guitarists of all time, I never got in to Van Halen too much. Obviously they have a dozen or so phenomenal songs. Here’s what I didn’t like. I don’t like guys in overalls. I’m not a fan of guitarists smiling onstage. Diamond Dave? Too Hollywood for me. To lead off your 2nd cd with a fucking cover song? You’re kidding me, right? HADES did cover “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” in the early 80s back when we were a cover band, but only because our drummer at the time was an enormous VH fan. “Dance The Night Away” is a nice enough song..if you’re a girl. I DID love songs off other VH albums like “Atomic Punk”, “Everybody Wants Some”. Jamie’s Crying”…..but I never felt the desire to see VH live. Too California. Too happy. Not heavy in any way shape or form. I know most people would disagree with me…but I would have been fine if Van Halen never existed.

Jon Leon – Along with GNR Appetite for Destruction the most important LA sunset strip rocker metal album ever recorded. Dead or Alive is the greatest LA rebel teenage anthem ever. Never was Van Halen so full of killer riffing. David Lee Roth has never been better and I would kill to go back in time to a backyard party in Pasadena when this album was released and see this band live. I would do kegstands all night.

Erik Kluiber – One of the greatest bands of all time. Anything from the Roth era is pure gold

Ricky Armellino – I think Jack likes that record. I don’t know, I never owned a Sunbird or anything like that so it never rotated in my car. No one wants to hear Van Halen coming out of a jeep. They just want that all wheel drive muscle roaring. What up ladies.

Chris Tsangarides – Another of my all time faves! Although it took me a long time to come to terms with Alex’s “donk” sound of his snare. Just by using one guitar through most of the album demonstrates how awesome they would have sounded in the live concert! Eddie’s guitar is like nothing we had heard back then and started a whole new trend for guitar players….

Kevin Estrada – This album has to be one of, if not THE, most anticipated albums in my life. Van Halen was my band. I will never forget the day I discovered the band – I was 11 years old, walking through a department store with my mother and brother. I flipped through the new releases in their tiny record department. The sight of Edward Van Halen’s black and white striped Frankenstrat changed my life. My brother and I put our money together and purchased the LP. That piece of vinyl never left our turntable! I had never been so moved and changed by music in my life. This is what I was looking for, I had finally found it – Van Halen. I counted down the months, weeks, days until the release of Van Halen II. I was not disappointed! From the opening notes of “You’re No Good” to Dave’s farewell kiss on “Beautiful Girls” – it was perfection! The songs, the solos, the vocals, the tone, the attitude – it was all there.

Jim Florentine – No sophomore jinx here. DOA is my fav Van Halen song

JL – The typical thing would be to just focus on Eddie Van Halen, but I was never a fan of the guitar heroes and all of their pyrotechnics. With this album David Lee Roth’s vocal excesses really stand out. You have to really listen to the vocal tracks to realize how over the top he really was. There are times when it seems as if there are two notes coming out of his mouth at the same time. Listening to him leaves me speachless!

Chris Shrum – A trend setting classic album and a piece of music history

Mikey Pannone – Very underrated album! Heavier than the first one. You can tell they had such a great time recording it. “Light up the Sky” is probably my favorite track from this one.

John Nymann – It’s tough to follow Van Halen’s epic first release, even for VH. This second album does have some classic moments, though, to solidify them as the world’s premier party rock band. Starting off with a cover tune “Your No Good” was just No Good! Especially, when they have the perfect song “Dance the Night Away” (Pure Power Pop) this should have started the record, IMO. “Doctor” and “Bottoms Up” are typical VH tunes and work good to fill out the album. The highlights for me are Eddie’s “Spanish Fly”…his amazing dancing fingers, so clean and pure of a performance on a nylon string. The cool groove tune “Women In Love”…Michael Anthony’s vocals sound great on this tune. And the classic David Lee Roth moment “Beautiful Girls.” Also, I’d give “Light Up The Sky” an honorable mention for an inventive tune and arrangement for the time.

Will Carroll – A classic. Maybe the greatest summertime rock album ever made. Even the muddy production can’t stop the vibe and brilliance.

Steve Smyth – Love this album, as this was one of the first albums I learned in it’s entirety. Eddie’s tone on this album is amazing, the harmonies of Michael, Eddie and David Lee are awesome and hard to beat! My favorite songs are: Somebody Get Me A Doctor, DOA, Spanish Fly, jesus, the entire album rocks!

Chad Bowar – I wasn’t very old when Van Halen II was released, and discovered it a few years later along with the rest of Van Halen’s early material. I prefer their debut album, but II has some great songs as well. “Dance The Night Away” and “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” are classics. Sammy Hagar is a better singer, but David Lee Roth is the consumate frontman, and the Roth-era albums are great. I actually don’t want them to make a new record, because there’s no way the Van Halen of today can hold a candle to the Van Halen of the late ’70s/early ’80s.

Karl “Inski” Szulik – ‘Beautiful Girls’ was one of the first rock/metal songs I attempted to learn when I got my first electric guitar. I had already had a few years practice on acoustic, but totally wanted to rock it with overdriven guitar! That day I came home and spent hours practicing that song. All my mates dropped by that night and were like “play some Offspring dude!” But instead I ripped out ‘Beautiful Girls’ and kicked arse! Eventually I bought a Peavey Wolfgang so I could be just like Eddie. He is incredibly talented and someone I still look up to as a guitarist.

Domonic R – I understand that most of the tracks of the VH2 was done prior to the first one. This one had to be a nice addition to the VH collection. And actually did a great job in keeping the power and the guitar shredding to a max. One of the greatest follow up releases to date.

Ken Pierce – “Van Halen II” was a strong successor to the self-titled debut for sure. I always felt that VHII was a tad more playful in its song composition with tunes like “Bottom’s Up”, “Beautiful Girls” and the blockbuster single “Dance The Night Away”. “Light Up The Sky” felt like an anthem of living an energetic life to me and I just loved the drum solo as a player myself around that time. The grand presentation of the bands logo on the album cover spoke volumes to the bands power and the material still holds up thirty years later.

Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast (podcasts): Play in new window | Download

This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Queens Of The Stone Age’s Songs For The Deaf. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 43 features comments from Charlie Benante, Gene Hoglan, Mark Strigl and Alan Tecchio. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.

Click here to go to an index page that gives you details on everyone involved in the column.

Here are comments that have been contributed to us by others regarding this album. Remember to check out the index page if you’re not sure who someone is, or to check out their sites to find out more about what they do. Again, these comments are in the order we’ve received them.

Greg Prato – This was probably the last true CLASSIC hard rock album in my mind (meaning it held its own against such albums as Superunknown, Nevermind, etc.). I was lucky to see the Dave Grohl QOTSA line-up play a small venue shortly before this album came out. WOW! Great stuff. Such a shame that Nick Oliveri left the band after this album, as I feel he was a major reason why QOTSA was so powerful and special during this era. Hopefully one day he will return…

Jon Leon – Solid record. Very unique riffing. Dave Grohl showed his diversity on drums and gained more of my respect. Everyone should own, though not a top 25 of metal.

Erik Kluiber – A few songs are ripping, some are very meh.

Phil Rind – Their greatest record. Great songs and Chris Goss, Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan to boot.

James J. LaRue – I don’t know much about Kyuss, or Screaming Trees. All of this dusty desert rock seems related when you dig beneath the surface. My introduction to QOTSA was, like with Metallica, a music video. Go with the Flow, by Shynola. At the time, an amazing and ground breaking video. But the rest of the album doesn’t live up to the colorful, digital razzle-dazzle of the video. It’s more of a darker, “stonery” grunge type sound. Similar to what Grohl did on the Probot album. I like Dave though, even though I don’t like Nirvana. I’m fond of the area and geology where QOTSA found their inspiration. I love the deserts of the American southwest. Still I find myself wishing there would be less slop and buzz to their sound.

Scott Middleton – Certainly the pop record Kyuss never made. Josh Homme and co had hinted at this kind of greatness with their first two records, but with SFTD it was as if they had thought “let’s make the catchiest stoner rock ever” and “Why not get Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan to play on it too?”. Joe Baresi nailed the production on what would essentially be Queens’ last true Stoner Rock album and it fuckin’ rules!

Jaye Schwarzer – This is in my opinion still one of the best sounding records I think I’ve ever heard. Huge, raw guitars. Massive drums. Mark Lanegans eerie baritone smoked out voice and Dave Fucking Grohl on drums. It’s a stone cold groove!

Chris Tsangarides – Of most post Grunge bands these guys really did it for me, I was a fan of Kyuss but I really do prefer QOTSA. I love the power of this band and also the great quirky grooves which are very reminiscent of old Captain Beefheart. If anyone knows me they would tell you what that the good captain and the magic band have had a huge impact on my musical tastes. Watching the band play at Milton Keynes Bowl was a great moment in time.

Jim Florentine – Very overrated band

JL – Having Dave Grohl on the drums is like having life insurance. I’m surprised that you can practically hear the chain on his bass drum pedal at the beginning of “A song for the dead”. Mark Lanegan is brilliant on “The hangin’ tree”. It is obvious that Josh Homme always has the perfect riff in mind, like on “Millionaire” or ”First it giveth”, as well as the intricate tuning of “No one Knows”.

Fer Fukyea – The third album by these ex-members of Kyuss, band that pioneered “stoner” rock/metal. The album is in my opinion the best by the group; it is an unbelievable explosion of creativity. It is a very diverse rock album, with loads of influences, yet sounds uniquely like them. The álbum is filled with hard rocking tracks, although it does have an assortment of mellow tracks, and some others that are somewhat odd. An interesting tidbit surrounding this album is that Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Probot, etc.) recorded all of the drum tracks after the band’s drummer, Gene Trautmann decided to focus on other projects. I have a special admiration for Dave Grohl, and to tell you the truth he did an excellent job with the album.

David Lozano – I never thought that I would enjoy the style of music on this album so much. But, they sucked me in, and so many others. Without a doubt this is a classic, I love this album.

Sean Bryant – Songs for the Deaf brought me back into heavy music. For a few years I was away doing some other fancy electronic shit, but, once I heard the tone, melody, and general badassery of their new album, I knew instantly that the Heavy was going to re appear within my brain!

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast (podcasts): Play in new window | Download

We kick the Classic Albums column off with Metallica’s …And Justice For All. The Mars Attacks Podcast episode 36 contains snippets of songs from the album, and comments from Charlie Benante, Gene Hoglan and Mark Strigl, along with an explanation as to why this album was selected. You can stream or download the podcast from the bottom of the page after everyone’s written comments.

Click here to go to an index page that gives you details on everyone involved in the column.

The comments are displayed in the order received.

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – A great follow up to Puppets, hits hard right from the start…

Greg Prato – Although I dug this album mightily when it first came out, it just doesn’t stand up as well as their first 3 albums (which are all timeless). It’s one of the oddest-sounding metal albums of all-time too, as you cannot hear the bass AT ALL on this album! Although I was glad to see Metallica playing arenas and selling a shitload of records after years of hard work, you could say this was the beginning of the end for me as a Metallica fan, as like G n’ R, they would slowly become the same overblown rock stars they were eventually against – and most glaringly, each album got progressively worse (‘Load’? YUCH!).

Dave Starr – Where is the bass!!! I was never really into this record, “Ride the Lightning” was my favorite Metallica album

Dan Lorenzo – You want to know what I think of “…and Justice For All”? Let me throw it on. I own all of Metallica’s albums, but I don’t know when I’ve last listened to them. I respect them…I like them a lot….but these days listening to songs over 3 and a half minutes in length seems like work to me…and I already work thirty hours a week!! Fortunately, I accomplish 50 hours worth of work in that time. Ok, “Blackened” still sounds great to me. I turned it off at 4 minutes in, now the title track is on. Shit, that mellow guitar opening is majestic. Beautiful. Great riffs. Where’s the bass? I know you’re in there somewhere Jason. As a guitarist, I have to say the production actually DOESN’T bother me. Somehow the lack of bass works ok here. A little too much pseudo musicianship going on here for me on “The Shortest Straw”…..oh-ok-here comes my favorite, “Harvester of Sorrow”. Brutal. LOVE IT!! Yeah, this cd was all about “Harvester of Sorrow” for me. I saw Metallica at La Mour (NOT LaMours) with Cliff and they were tight. I saw them in Jersey at the Prudential Center on Super Bowl Sunday two years ago and they STILL kicked my ass. Yeah I left before the end of the show because I have a super short attention span.

Jon Leon – I will start by saying Master of Puppets is this bands best album BUT….you can say this album has a sound unlike any record ever released. No bass which I have always disliked. I guess it’s a cool different vibe on this album. It is not the best…but an important record in the Metallica experience. Maybe one of the most unique sounding metal albums ever. It also has some strong anti government stances lyrically. It was a vital album as they came back strong after losing the important writing influence of Cliff Burton. I think it has no weak songs. Everything is good, though the title track does not quite satisfy like the title track on Master. The last progressive Metallica before they would simplify the sound.

Erik Kluiber – a few good songs like blackened, dyers eve, and eye of the beholder. A couple of snoozers on it as well. I remember being bummed out at first listen, but it grew on me.

Phil Rind – Other than the production it’s perfect. Dyer’s Eve is still one of my favorite songs by them.

Ricky Armellino – Had a guitar tab book for that album that I saved up for and bought at a music store. That was the first time I realized you had to learn the solo AND the rhythm part behind it. Blew my mind, man.

Mitts – Incredible album, despite it’s “experimental” production. Pure metal. The difference, in my opinion, between metal and heavy metal is the amount of rock n roll influence in the riffing. There’s virtually no rock left in the formula for AJFA. Pure metal.

James J. LaRue – This changed my life. It’s not something I listen to today, as I’m one of those previously loyal Metallica fans who was thrown for a loop with the black album. It was the video for One that got me to play guitar. James playing those heavy riffs on that explorer, in that wife beater with mustache, the image of it, it grabbed me right away. I remember thinking “I wanna do that” a few seconds into my first viewing of that video. Though I had tinkered with an old guitar before this, I remember it as being the moment I made a decision to get an electric guitar and learn how to play it aggressively. I was 12. By 13 I had a Justice t-shirt cut out and sewn to the back of my denim jacket. I had a ton of Metallica patches and posters and magazine pages on my wall. They were my favorite band until I heard Maiden. I think Justice is their “peak” and they were starting to jump the proverbial shark with the black album. Metallica meant a lot to so many misfits and misunderstood youth. They were so important to me as a kid, and they just took this turn to shittiness that I never got over. It was like having a religion then finding out your god isn’t real. But I still like the first 4 albums including this one.

Scott Middleton – Some of the most aggressive and dark sounding rhythm guitar ever put to tape. Its easily Metallica’s gloomiest record as a result of Cliff Burton’s death prior to recording. Kirk Hammett’s solos on this record made me take my instrument seriously. Major respect for a band who clearly does what they want. Justice is clearly one of their least commercial records ever, and easily among their best.

Jaye Schwarzer – The first album Metallica made after the death of Cliff Burton. The songs are as heavy as anything off of Master Of Puppets or Ride The Lightning only with a lot more melody. Bass is almost non-existent throughout the record but somehow still manages to be heavy as fuck.

Kevin Estrada – When …And Justice For All had come out, Metallica had jumped from an arena support band to an arena headliner. They even made the jump in which my alterny-friends thought Metallica was cool. To be honest, that worried me a bit. My pals and I had followed and supported Metallica for years now and we had always hoped for the day Metallica became the biggest metal band in the world. But, something happened along the way. Don’t get me wrong, I think …And Justice For All is a solid album, but it marked the beginning of a departure from the Metallica that we had supported in the past. The songs were bigger, longer, slower, hookier…but it was still Metallica – afterall, a band has to spread their wings in order to grow or else they risk becoming stagnant. But in my bones, I knew that Metallica was changing and someday they would no longer be the band we loved. In my opinion, …And Justice For All was the last great Metallica album, or at least the last Metallica album that was made by the original Metallica. From then on, Metallica became a household name and things were never the same.

Dan Hardman – “And Justice Fall All” is one of my top records of 1988 and the first year I started my music career journey. I remember watching “One” the video on MTV and seeing Metallica on stage at Monsters of Rock 1988 US Tour with Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, and Kingdom Come. Metallica have paved the way for many rising artists and glad to see they are back on track with their latest “Death Magnetic”.

Steve Banks – A marathon from start to finish. Wouldn’t have made it through senior year without this album. To this day I will argue till I could puke coat hangers that this is hands down the BEST metal album ever created.
Jim Florentine – So fucking heavy. Great follow up to Master Of Puppets

Big Mario – I don’t recall how old I was when I first heard this album; I think I was 13 or 14. I remember it automatically became one of my favorite albums of all time. For some, the band’s greatest accomplishment is Master of Puppets, for others it’s the Black album. For me it’s Kill ‘Em All and …And Justice For All. Fuck, that guitar intro to Blackened is just incredible, a lot of kick ass riffs, good solos (I find it amazing that their Kirk ‘I forgot how to play’ Hammett’s). The title track is ridiculously good; everything is done to perfection and at a level above everyone else. It wasn’t Heavy Metal, it wasn’t 100% thrash, it was without a doubt a kick ass hybrid that was undoubtedly unique to Metallica’s sound. The epic track One (who hasn’t jammed away during this song with their parent’s wooden racket, pretending it was James’ Explorer?). The anthem Harvester Of Sorrow, the emotional dedication to the late great Cliff Burton To Live Is To Die. And one of my all time favorite Metallica songs, Dyers Eve, an authentic thrash gem, the perfect closing track to close a very cool album. The tracks are long, but they don’t wear you down, perhaps that is the best thing about this great album which came out back in 88!

JL – I remember being at my father’s birthday party, and having one of his co-workers let me listen to it on his walkman. The album just came out, and this guy was so hyped up about the album that he had to share it with this little brat! They had a difficult task at hand, trying to follow up Master Of Puppets. But listening to the reverse guitar intro to Blackened was just exquisite. The Shortest Straw, Harvester Of Sorrow, and the classic One. People can complain about this album, but it has some great tracks on it. My only issue is the lack of bass in the mix.

David Gonzalez – Like most people in my surroundings, the first thing I ever heard from Metallica was the Black album. It was after all the album that captured the largest audience. I loved the album, and it made me want to investigate (the band) a little more. It didn’t take that long for me to get my hands on Master Of Puppets and And Justice For All. To my surprise, those albums gave off a lot more power than the Black Album, and in my opinion where a thousand times better. The sound is a little less polished, perhaps not as commercial, but they transmit so much more. This was the authentic version of Metallica, it was what I wanted to remember the band by. My favorite track on the album is Eye Of The Beholder. I love the time changes, I could also talk about One, but that track is so epic, I don’t even want to touch it!

Gonzalo Leiva Palacios – I like the album Metallica more, but I find this album to be more technical, with a lot of precision, and a great interpretation of music. My favorite track is Eye of The Beholder, although Dyers Eve makes the album a powerhouse.

Fer Fakyea – Without taking into consideration the bands most epic album Master Of Puppets, or their best sounding album, The Black Album; ….And Justice For All is probably the band’s most emblematic album. The album contains hit after hit. It is full of perfectly elaborated melodies that have been covered hundreds of times by artist from the same genre, and others like pop or country. When Metallica comes on and you’re at a bar or at a party, changes are its something off of And Justice For All. The album combines a structured aggression, with some incredibly infectious melodies. A lot of you will hate me for what I’m about to say, but it’s true….listening to this album makes you go back in time to an era when James Hetfield knew how to sing, when Lars Ulrich played more than one drum pattern (and didn’t change what he was playing live), when Kirk Hammett knew how to play great solos, and not a series of notes that had no rhyme or reason. I love Metallica, and I hate Metallica.

Jandro Storm – That guitar sound, tuned and heavy, those dense songs, that intro, that band photo on the back cover where the band has that pissed off look on their faces…Every Friday night for about a year of my life I had a the same ritual, pop And Justice For All into my walkman before falling asleep. The song One would just leave me perplexed, although my favorite track is Harvester Of Sorrow.

David Lozano – An album that marked the transition between Metallica’s classic thrash, and the metal that would appear in the future.

Angel Rubin – I’ve been a fan of heavy metal for over 22 years; I started out with groups like Dokken, Europe, and Judas Priest. I was curious to find out about Metallica, since I had heard so many people talk about them. A friend of mine gave me a 90 minute cassette that had Kill Em All on one side, and Ride The Lightning on the other. That cassette tape changed my life forever; I had never heard a band with so much personality, originality, power, technique, rage and hooks. A few months later I listened to and knocked off my feet by Master Of Puppets. I wanted more, so in 1990 I bought And Justice For All on tape. I thought that there was no way they could reinvent themselves, and surpass what they did on those fantastic first three albums. After all, these albums have already changed my life, and boy was I wrong. On And Justice the drumming was just incredible, Lars was playing some impossible fills, some great double bass that no one had previously done. His playing on that album has influences, and been copied by millions of thrash and black metal bands.

The guitars where pushed almost to the point of saturation, Kirk was soloing frenetically all over the place. The production was like no other album up to that point. All of this combined make this album very special. I can still tell when someone is listening to the album on their head phones. This is thanks in part to the double bass on tracks like Blackened, One and And Justice For All. Another favorite of mine on the album is Shortest Straw. Frayed Ends of Sanity is another great track. The album is full of long, intense, creative tracks that never seem to get boring. The album is full of anthems that have been driving legions of fans crazy since 88.

Another thing that is often copied from this album is the great voice possessed by the hero himself James Hetfield. His voice contains a fine line between diabolical, and rabid. If I’m forced to say something about this album, it would be unsurpassable, I love its sound. Although I realize that the band isn’t really enamored with the sound of the album, I don’t think they ever thought that this album, to this day, would be a reference point and influence millions, and millions, and millions of bands worldwide. I actually have the bands logos tattoo on me.

Richard Royuela – I’ve been a big fan of the band since I first discovered them. I’ll never forget the moment I heard them for the first time, the song was Motorbreath. My relationship with And Justice For All is a bit strange, and is without a doubt the album I’ve listened to the least from the band’s classic era (considering everything up until the Black album). Maybe because my relationship didn’t start off in the best of ways. I can still remember going to the store to buy the album. I had to come back home empty handed. I had no idea it was going to be a double album; no one from my surroundings knew it was going to be a double album. I took 1,500 pesetas (Spain’s old currency), a little more than what a single album cost in those days, but not enough to cover the 1,720 peseta cost of the album. That price will always be burned into my memory. After multiple trips to the store I was able to determine that the album lacked the speed of its predecessors. The intro de Blackened was immense, but it was missing the speed that drove tracks like Battery or Fight Fire With Fire. I had to listen to the album multiple times before getting used to it. For example, the notorious mix of the album, which has become so characteristic of it, the loss of Cliff Burton, the lack of speed, etc. I finally realized that the band was evolving, and taking its first real steps toward converting themselves into a band for the masses, the biggest selling heavy metal band of all time. As mentioned above, this album became the “classic era” album that I’ve listened to the least. As a matter of a fact, when I’m in the mood to listen to Metallica I can listen to almost anything from the classic era, except And Justice For All. That said, when I want to listen to And Justice For All, it is the only album by the group that I want to listen to. Yesterday I listened to the whole album, and at times it makes me think that it’s the band’s most complete album. What I think makes the album truly special are some hidden gems that have never been overexposed within the San Francisco band’s live repertoire. Shortest Straw and Dyers Eve are the best examples of this. These are kind of like our little secrets (for long time fans of the band). That’s not to say that I don’t value songs like the title track or Harvester Of Sorrow, they’re both metal classics. Some people will ask what about One? We have to put this track on a pedestal of its own. The crescendo and the final three minutes of the track are unsurpassable, a masterpiece that goes beyond logic. These are the types of things that demonstrate the difference between any other band, and what Metallica has become. The album definitely offers so much more than the 1,720 pesetas I spent on the vinyl back in the day. As with so many other classic albums, I still enjoy listening to the album on vinyl, and have never listened to it on CD. I have reputation to live up to!

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

Download MP3

Download From iTunes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download