I think most men of my vintage were into Heavy rock or Metal music when they were teenagers and it's hard to let go of those moments which meant so much to your adolescent self. I was a huge Kiss fan and saw The Number of The Beast tour in I think 1983 or 1984. I saw Dio during the Holy Diver tour and met the man himself and Vinnie etc. They struck me as very professional. Listening to HD just recently, it is very much of its time, but RJD managed to overcome the inherent ridiculusness of his genre by virtue of his commitment and talent. I was rather sad when I found out he had died and I feel, as time moves on, that I have more respect for him than Mr Osbourne. I was also a huge Hawkwind fan. I feel they are a very under-rated band. As I met other people and became introduced to other music, I began to feel dis-satisfied with the simplicity and one-dimensional nature of much 'heavy' music- it's actually not really heavy and a lot of the musicianship is somewhat pointless. I am now far more likely to space out to something like Miles Davis or some new classical Indian music. I do love blues and spent fully 5 years trying to get my blues chops right, this is after more than a decade of playing! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Derek Trucks, he is right up there in the blues world. I also appreciate good dance music. Every genre has a few very special artists who manage to redefine their area, so I feel it is im-mature to cleave to one type of music as the only type worthy of one's attention. I once saw a young man wearing a T-shirt with the legend "Heavy Metal is my RELIGION!" Riiiiiight.
As my musical abilities have increased I have found it increasingly difficult to appreciate a band which does not allow every member to contribute fully, so watching players like Billy Sheehan getting paid millions to play at 1/10th of his ability behind Joe Satriani is very frustrating. I would ideally be in a band in which I was the least able member. The guitar is extremely versatile but if I could be a master of any instrument, it would either be the piano or drums. Every time I've seen Trilok Gurtu he has blown my mind- the last show I saw had himself and an Italian string quartet. These guys rocked as much as any artist I've ever seen, but the tone and complexity was there in spades. Yngwe, Vai et al are pretty pathetic in comparison.
As my musical abilities have increased I have found it increasingly difficult to appreciate a band which does not allow every member to contribute fully, so watching players like Billy Sheehan getting paid millions to play at 1/10th of his ability behind Joe Satriani is very frustrating. I would ideally be in a band in which I was the least able member. The guitar is extremely versatile but if I could be a master of any instrument, it would either be the piano or drums. Every time I've seen Trilok Gurtu he has blown my mind- the last show I saw had himself and an Italian string quartet. These guys rocked as much as any artist I've ever seen, but the tone and complexity was there in spades. Yngwe, Vai et al are pretty pathetic in comparison.
