The Prettiest Nightmares
March 1964, Cortez High School Letterman’s Talent Show. A simple parody performance of Beatles songs by trackteam members and art students would become the fertilization of the egg that hatched the icon of shock rock. Vincent Furnier, Dennis Dunaway, and John Speer would soon be joined by the late Glen Buxton and John Tatum:, and then crawl across the music world’s web as The Spiders. Just two years later The Spiders bit down into the local Arizona music scene with their number one hit, "Don't Blow Your Mind.” From there, with some strategic band member changes, landing a manager who was originally a "pharmaceutical salesman" that was introduced to the band via Jimmy Hendrix, and a record deal with Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper were on their way to becoming misunderstood artistic influenced geniuses who inspired generations of major rock acts for decades to come.
You Wanted the Best of the Best, You Got The Best of the Best…… The Hottest Best of List in World…KISS!
We are the Creatures of the Night. Forever we Shout it Out Loud while Makin’ Love through Tomorrow and Tonight. Dressed to Kill, we drink Cold Gin to cool the Love Gun. We took The Oath, with Nothin’ to Loose, and 100,000 Years to shine on, the Black Diamonds who made it through the Psycho Circus to Dance All Over Your Face in this Rock and Roll Hell. That’s right, All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose in Detroit Rock City and the War Machine is Comin’ Home, so you Got to Choose… can you let us go rock and roll, or do you love us enough to get into the New York Groove, feel the Magic Touch of our Charisma and Rock and Roll All Nite, then party everyday? God Gave Rock and Roll to You, so don’t hit Rock Bottom, Turn Up the Night and join the Rock n Roll Party!
Miracles of the Madman
With a catalog of thirteen studio albums, five EP releases, five live album releases, sixty-five singles and more, Ozzy has a library of hit after hit. So, how does one choose a best-of list from such an iconic library? Well, just like my other list, I am not basing this list on commercial successes or greatest hits. I am picking what I feel are Ozzy’s best songs from his solo career (not my favorite songs, his best songs.). As Ozzy himself said, “Let the madness begin!”
The Best in Line
The Best in Line…
The idea of doing a best songs’ list by Ronnie James Dio spanning his entire career was tossed around. When this idea came up, immediately I envisioned covering Dio’s entire catalog, going beyond his work with Black Sabbath and his own band, Dio, to including Rainbow and Elf. Maybe even something from Ronnie Dio and the Prophets….
Sabbath, Best of, Sabbath
I did not want this to be just another greatest hits list, and a list that focused on just Ozzy era Sabbath. Like with my Judas Priest list, the Sabbath list needed to go beyond commercially successful songs, and what are the most popular among fans. So many of the songs you may have on a Sabbath’s best of list probably did not make this list.
This list is comprised from all of Sabbath’s studio works, except for the 1986 release, Seventh Star. That album was intended to be Tony Iommi’s first solo record and was only released under the Sabbath name because of management and label pressures. I am also excluding the body of work from the 2007 reunion with Ronnie James Dio. Though the first three songs released with Dio in 2007 were under the Sabbath name on Black Sabbath the Dio Years, the band rebranded themselves as Heaven and Hell for touring and future releases.
What if… Judas Priest Had a Top Ten Best Songs of All Time?
What if…. Judas Priest Had a Top 10 Best Songs of All Time? Now and true Judas Priest fan knows there is no such thing as the Top Ten Judas Priest songs. You can come up with so many variations of such a list, and Priest just has far to many songs that are great to make a Top Ten. As a journalist I found this a challenge though, how to narrow down Priest extensive catalog to just TEN best songs. After some weeks of consideration and Priest pounding through my speakers, I came up with my Top Ten Best Judas Priest songs of all time. This is definitely open for debate, but for me this is a solid list.
