From The Attic: Metallica / Tank December 3rd, 1984 Mannheim, Germany Poster

Here is a poster that requires very few words.  It is a very rare poster from Metallica's short tour in Europe where they headlined for the first time.  This poster is from their stop in Mannheim 28 years ago today.  Tank were the opener and I can't think of many better bands to support Metallica on the Ride The Lightning tour.  If anyone out there has never heard Tank do yourself a favour and track some of their early stuff down.

Beginning to creep across the land...

This is a beautiful piece and one of the most desirable posters by collectors and fans alike.  They are very hard to find in any condition, mine is pretty good, but very fragile.  I will restore it in the future, but for now it is safely resting in a frame.

Worth noting, I should mention that a few years ago I purchased Tank's Don't Walk Away 45 on ebay a  from a seller that had it listed for a very good price with a few other 45's.  The seller turned out to be none other than Metallica's former fanclub head and Northwest Metal founder KJ Doughton.  Turned out he was selling a lot of nice and rare items so I grabbed as many as I could and he was nice enough to throw some stuff in since I bought so much.  A great guy and a pleasure to deal with.

As shown by this 7" record, Tank have one of the coolest names and logos 

in the history of metal

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Rogers Arena, Vancouver, B.C. Nov 11, 2012 Review

When I arrived downtown, the night started in typical drunken Vancouver concert night fashion. Within 5 minutes of arriving downtown I bumped into an extremely intoxicated man in a Neil Young t-shirt.  He was wearing a very nice vintage Crazy Horse shirt, but he appeared to have had one too many wobbly pops on this particular evening.  He was having a hard time navigating his way through the pub (The Kingston) that we stopped at for pre concert beers, and the show was still about two hours away.  It is probably safe to assume that the guy didn't make it past security at the Arena, which would have been a shame given his cool shirt and obvious long standing fanhood.  An inexcusable rookie mistake, but perhaps he does not get out much anymore.  Oh well, looks like he had fun up to that point anyway and the night was off to a good start, "Keep on Rockin' In the Free World"  I guess.  To avoid being called a hypocrite, I must admit I missed an entire Poison Idea gig because of this kind of pre-show nonsense once, but I was only about 22 and never made that mistake again.

(photo by Lord of the Poser Holocaust)

Knowing the deafening volume levels of Crazy Horse and Neil Young, I was planning on skipping this show as I am working my way into semi retirement regarding concerts and gigs.  Years of playing in bands and concerts have damaged my hearing a bit and I would rather save what is left of them for my own jamming and messing about.  I figure I have been to over 250 shows, probably seen 500 or so bands and it is just sort of time for me to be more selective in picking artists I have not already seen in most cases.  Anyway,  I was offered a free ticket and we are talking about Neil Young with Crazy Horse, so it was a no brainer to change my plans and make an exception.  It was a bit weird watching a concert from a luxury suite high above the masses below, to say I felt detached from the action while sitting with the rich would be an understatement, but I will not complain about a free ticket and just say that it offered me an interesting new perspective.

Canadian born Neil Young is almost 70 years old (in fact it was his 67th birthday at midnight) and even after his diagnosis in 2005 of a brain auneryism is showing no signs of slowing down or turning down.  Those expecting a nice country inspired mellow set from Mr Young would be sadly disappointed, this was not a greatest hits setlist for casual fans, the first tip off to any complainers should have been the fact that it was a Crazy Horse show.  Instead, what we got was a no holds barred maelstrom of distortion and noise with a few classic songs thrown in for good measure.  The carefully controlled feedback and distortion at times served as segue between songs and was so loud that one could be forgiven for thinking they were at a Throbbing Gristle concert.

While some may feel ripped off by the lack of "hits", one woman even complained that if she "wanted to listen to jackhammers and construction tools she would have stayed home to listen to the construction site across from her house".  The truth is this was Neil Young at his best playing for himself, his bandmates and his die hard fans, but I guess you can't please everyone and especially not casual fans.    If you came to see a great performance, one could not have been disappointed by the chemistry between Crazy Horse and Neil Young as it was amazing and proved yet again that they can still rock and roll with the best of their peers and are probably the best of all of them.  In fact Neil Young and Crazy Horse are still a better live act than most if not all younger bands, displaying more energy on stage than bands half their age, not to mention the energy is genuine, un-choreographed honest emotion which is sadly something a lot of newer bands could take a lesson from.  Neil Young plays and writes songs because it is something he must do, not because he wants to sell entertainment and with Crazy Horse you get uncompromising rude rock and roll.

The night started with a redition of the Canadian national anthem and was immediately followed by a brilliant 20 minute jam of 'Love and Only Love'.  Other highlights within the two hour set were 'Powderfinger', 'Ramada Inn', a real crunchy toned 'Cinnamon Girl' and a perfect version of Mr Soul. The lack of pyro was quite refreshing after Metallica's recent Vancouver 3-D pyromania.   Instead, the music did all the talking with the stage show being little more than the giant amps and road cases which you come to expect at a Neil Young stadium show.  Other than that a minor light show and a bit of trash blowing in the makeshift wind.  An additional nice touch were the retro tube style TV screens that he uses on the left and right side of the stage.

On a final note it was absolutely stunning how few people there were at this concert holding up their smart phones and other nerd devices.  It really was incredible!  With the exception of a bit of a cell phone frenzy during 'Cinnamon Girl', the most I counted being used at once was just over 10 in the entire building being used!  I felt like I was transported back to a wonderful long lost place in the the past where people were not slaves to their telephones, rather, it was just a handy device to use when at home.

Neil Young was already one of my favourite artists, but after this show my respect and admiration for the man grew even larger.  A masterpiece of a concert experience that I only wish I would have had better seats for.  Absolutely brilliant.


The entire Setlist:

Love and Only Love

Powderfinger

Born In Ontario

Walk Like A Giant

The Needle and the Damage Done

Twisted Road

Singer Without A song

Ramada Inn

Cinnamon Girl

Fuckin' Up

Mr Soul

Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)

encore

Roll another number

From the Attic: Metallica 1992 Gent, Belgium poster

Was going through some posters tonight and I happened to notice that this poster was for a show that happened exactly 20 years ago today.  This was sent to me by a German trader that told me this was his first Metallica concert.  It is a pretty cool poster from that era, as lots of the posters from that tour are pretty boring and there are also quite a few counterfeits from that era on the market as well.  Like most of the the German posters this poster from Belgium is on pretty thin paper and thus these European posters are very susceptible to creasing and general wear.  However, this one in my collection is in great condition.

It is worth noting that I am pretty sure that this was the first show to be played after the tour with Guns and Roses.  It was also the first show with James back on guitar after his pyro accident in Montreal.  Hard to believe all of this was 20 years ago... On another somewhat related October note, it is even harder to believe that it has already been two years since the Big 4 tour and box set was released.  The box was release October 2010.

"Time has taking its toll on you, the lines that crack your face"   

Flanders Expo, Gent, Belgium

Full Arsenal 3D Metallica and a Visual Metallica history in Vancouver

Been awhile since my last post, but with Metallica in town filming their 3D movie, it is time to celebrate a little of Metallica's history in Vancouver.  Everyone knows that Metallica recorded parts of the black album in Vancouver with Vancouver's own Bob Rock, but does anyone know it was Wednesday, May 31st 1989 where Bob Rock first saw Metallica play? Also a certain guy by the name of Kurt Cobain was also at that show (but according to the Spin generation... Kurt Cobain never listened to metal)

1985:

Above is the poster for Metallica's first show in Vancouver.  It took me years to track down this poster.  The New York Theatre in Vancouver was sort of like our version of CBGB's.  It was sort of a dump, but hosted a lot of awesome bands.  It was an awesome venue.  I started going to shows a few years after this show and when I first stepped into the place in 1988 I could not believe that Cliff Burton and Metallica once played there.  The craziest show I have seen to this day is still when DRI and Cryptic Slaughter came to town in about 1988-89 and along with a few hundred crazy fans almost destroyed the building.  It was pure insanity, kids today would not last 5 minutes!

The stories that locals told and still tell about that Metallica show are legendary.  Some dude stage diving with a motorcycle helmet on, bottles flying through the air and an intense performance from the band.  Everyone who was there seem to agree that Metallica destroyed the place.  There is a recording of the show that lays proof to this fact, it is an intense performance that does not let up.  My favourite part of the recording is after the intro where you literally feel the intensity and you can hear a couple people in the crowd remarking, "holy shit!" and "look at those bellbottoms!"  Priceless!

Unfortunately for me I got into Metallica a few months before this show, but there was no way in hell that I would have been allowed to go to this show as I was only in grade 5, so I will have to settle for this great piece of Vancouver and Metallica's history on my wall.  Too bad Raven were not exactly in their peak during this period, Armored Saint sure would have been cool to see in that era though.  I did not get to see them until the shows at the Fillmore for Metallica's 30th anniversary.

After it's closure, The New York Theatre became the Raja Theatre.  In this photo it is abandoned and awaiting restoration.  Currently, the restoration is in the early stages and it will eventually be a music venue again.  Though it is doubtful it will feature many metal or punk shows.    

Some dude came up to me years ago (either 1986 or 1987) and gave me this photo because I was wearing a Metallica shirt and he told me it was taken at the New York Theatre Show.  I am not sure if this is true or not, but the shot is more than likely from 1985 so this could be true

1986:

Next up and not long after playing the small theatre on Commercial Drive, Metallica made the move to the Pacific Coliseum (see poster above).  At the time, to any of us who were fans before Master of Puppets came out, it was strange how fast the bands fortune was changing (albeit not playing to a full stadium yet).  A friend and I had actually bought tickets to this show and being in grade 7, I was not allowed to go when my parents found out I had tickets!  I don't think I talked to my parents for awhile after that!  This show was supposed to take place earlier, but was postponed due to the accident that took Cliff's life.  Information and photos of the band were lacking at that time so being that close to seeing them, only to have our hopes crushed killed us at the time.

Anyway, by all accounts it was another great show and another very rare poster.  I have also been searching for this poster for a very long time and I finally found it a few months ago.  I was not even sure it existed as none of the major players from the local scene remembered seeing it and no one seemed to have it.  Finally, it appeared on ebay from an American seller and after contacting the seller, I acquired it.  I want to thank my friend Matt from the Netherlands for pointing it out to me when it ended up for sale.   Oh and according to a friend who attended the show, James Hetfield was hit in the head by a flying bottle during "Master of Puppets".  It should be noted before moving on that the first Metal Church album pretty much slays anything in its path and also worth noting, when I met Lars, I asked him what he remembered about the first two shows in Vancouver, his one word response was simply "cold".

1989:

Okay, finally my chance to see the band, but I had to wait about 4 years.  When Metallica announced the Damaged Justice tour was coming to Vancouver, I was not missing this one!  By this time I had been able to go to a few concerts, so my parents were no longer a hurdle.  The only thing I needed to secure were floor tickets.  Thus, when tickets went on sale, I was at ticketmaster bright and early and ready to buy General Admission tickets.  Once the tickets were secured we waited patiently for the date to arrive.  In the meantime, I spotted the flyer fairly high up on a telephone poll in front of another gig my friends and I were at a few weeks prior, I somehow scaled the pole to get the flyer and wound up with a few scrapes and cuts.  The things we do for metal.

When the day arrived, and Metallica hit the stage, the floor was complete chaos.  There were 4-6 circle pits happening, at least 4 fights, hair flying everywhere and a lot of slamming bodies.  It was even crazier than the Slayer show I attended about a year prior.  I was not too interested in watching the Cult as I had waited so long to finally see Metallica I had little patience for anyone standing in the way, so my memory of them is vague.  I seem to remember Ian Astbury talking about himself like he was some sort of rock God.  Too bad though, because the Cult had some great material and it is a shame I did not pay more attention to them on that night.

1991-2007:

I apologize for having little to say about the black album tour to St Anger period in Vancouver, but I don't have the posters and I didn't attend the shows with the exception of one.  On the black album tour it was clear that Metallica's fan base had went through a major overhaul and to be honest I was not ready for the album or the change at the time.  The people that had made fun of metal from school were all of a sudden "big fans" and it was all sort of hard to stomach, combined with being slightly disillusioned by all the changes in metal around me I turned further towards other interests (skateboarding/punk rock/and bands from the black and death scene and I guess what would now be labeled as "extreme" metal). By the time Load and Reload came out, I was immersed in working, school and paying bills and those albums did very little for me, even to this day I am yet to really find much on those albums that speaks to me.

Despite that, the classic first four releases remained my favourite albums during those years and Metallica has always remained my favourite band.  I should add it was St. Anger that sparked my interest in what Metallica was doing not in the past, but in the present again.  St Anger is a heavy, brutal and misunderstood album with an admittedly horrible snare sound and sadly no guitar solos, however, despite its faults, it is a good, mostly honest and a very personal album that provides lyrically (if you can work your way through some of the bad team effort lyrics) what is perhaps the only opportunity to get inside Hetfield's mind.  I still have trouble with a lot of Load and Reload and find most of the material on those two albums unmemorable and boring, but there are some great songs on those records as well.  Anyway, I am always on the hunt for the Vancouver posters from that era... so if you have them get in touch.

2008:

Fast forward to World Magnetic Tour 2008.  This was a great tour and Metallica were excellent at both the Vancouver and the Seattle shows I managed to attend.  These were also fun shows for me personally as I finally got to meet a few of the people I trade with online.  For me Death Magnetic is the best Metallica album since the black album and the band was in top form live and ripped through new and old material.  The songs off Death Magnetic were great in the live environment as well.  Sword were good, but looked a tad out of place on Metallica's stage.  Lamb of God almost bored me to death both nights, but looked comfortable on the in the round stage.  Modern metal core is not my cup of tea, I like my metal core with a dash of DRI, COC and Suicidal.

2012:

...and finally the latest shows....

Night 1:

The day started by knocking off a few beers before the show with a few good friends and long time fans, you could feel the excitement downtown that Metallica were in town.  After making our way to the venue, I was reminded of how much things have changed since the old days and how stadium shows tend to attract the lowest common denominator.  A small portion of the fans at GM Place/Rogers Arena (whatever it is called this week) were basically the same type of meatheads that Slayer began attracting in the 90's, except now they watch UFC instead of wrestling.  Outside before being allowed into the building many people seemed totally confused about how and where to lineup to gain entrance into the building.  Some were throwing mini temper tantrums and attempting to throw their weight around.  It was obvious these "weekend warriors" don't get to the big city much.  Later in the night I saw huge neanderthals choking people for picks, pushing and hitting women out of their path, people passed out with their heads buried in toilets (well I guess that last part is not so different from the old days!) and weekend warrior hipsters dressed up as "rockers" for the night like it was halloween.  

Anyway, despite my gripes with the crowd, Metallica were great and played an "everybody's favourites" type setlist that had everyone in the crowd smiling at some point in the night I am sure.  For me the highlights were 'Ride the Lightning', 'Fade to Black' and the always crushing 'Battery', with the only low point being 'Cyanide', which is the weakest song off Death Magnetic in my opinion, but it is a fairly easy song to play and provides a much needed rest for the band i am sure.  It also comes across live quite well, but 'All Nightmare Long' would have been the better choice.  It was also too bad they skipped St Anger entirely as it would have been nice to see every album truly represented.

Doris made her return to Vancouver, but she no longer shows her breasts at concerts!

Night 2:

Night 2 was a better crowd that was more into the band, at least it seemed to be more diehards present.  I had to go to a wedding, so I arrived alone 5 minutes before the 'Ecstasy of Gold' started.  Perfect timing!  Setlist was the same, but this time I watched it from the floor position which while great in its own way, it was not the best way to experience this current stage and show.  This stage setup must truly be seen to be appreciated, it is massive and best seen over multiple nights.  It is sort of like seeing The Wall, but without the politics.  Metallica were in top form as usual and it was another great night.  Even though I enjoyed the assault on the senses and the two shows were amazing chapters in Metallica's long history, I sort of prefer to see the band without all the pyro and gimmickry myself, but what the hell... it was a lot of fun.  Did I mention they had tesla coils producing REAL lightning during 'Ride the Lightning'?

Tickets and a few pic I from the Vancouver Full Arsenal shows.  Some guy named Lars scribbled on one of tickets.

Night 3:

Night 3 was advertised as a filming night with long breaks in between songs and tickets were 5 dollars with all proceeds going to the Vancouver food bank, pretty hard to complain about much at that price!  After a couple pre-show beers, my friend Brian and I headed to the venue to meet my bud Gerald.  Once we arrived we were surprised by the long lines to get into the venue.  I am not sure why there were so few entrances open for these shows, it seemed to create a lot of hassles and long waits.

After finally making our way inside the building, I must admit it was a slightly unusual night, but it was a very unique experience.  Metallica did not seem to be in the greatest of spirits on stage, but they still managed to squeak out some excellent performances,  'Creeping Death', 'Ride the Lightning', 'Sanitarium' and 'One' were great in particular.  No 'Battery' was a bit of a disappointment, but hey we got to see 'One' twice in one night.  How many fans can say that?!  I am sure all the pauses and breaks were unusual for the band as well. Perhaps, the strangest thing about this show was all the extras that were hired to mainly fill the floor and some of the lower bowl.  I guess they were supposed to get the band and filmmakers certain shots they wanted, but it was just sort of lame and I cannot see how this is in any way better than the real crowd from Friday and Saturday night.  However, that's show biz I guess and maybe some of the extras have something to do with the movie?  Despite my complaints, be clear, it was still great to be part of this special night and to watch them go through most of the set again.

In conclusion, once the smoke cleared after all the drinking, the hugeness of these shows combined with a small portion of the fans, made me miss the old days slightly.  It  blows my mind that I experienced a time about twenty five years ago when Metallica's following was at a cult level, just a bunch of dumb like minded kids with denim jackets with patches and Venom shirts.... (and some with skateboards) crazy.  However, the ride still continues, albeit in a different way, as the vibe in the pubs and throughout the city that many of the current fans (some new, some old) created was amazing and a lot of fun.  I met a lot of great people who flew here from all over the world and met many cool locals that I had never met too.  I also caught up with a few of my trading brothers again and shared a few adult pops and fun nights with them.  I think it is safe to say that Metallica came and totally destroyed Vancouver again and left everybody waiting for their return.

A photo of Rob I took during Master of Puppets on Night 1

Pat's Chili Dogs - Cinderella 1983

A friend sent me this today via email, I cannot believe I have never seen or heard of this before.  This is great on so many levels.   This almost made me forget that the first Cinderella album is actually a great record, but at least it looks like they are taking the whole thing with a sense of humour as they seem to be having a lot of fun with this.  I used to consider their first album a guilty pleasure, the kind of thing to put on when your Slayer hating girlfriend was over, but I am too old to care what people think now and I must admit their debut is a pretty kick ass record.  I wonder how many months of free dogs they got for this, I also wonder if they considered the homoerotic implications of stuffing their faces with wieners at the end of the video?  

From The Attic: Robot Death Figure Derek Riggs Poster

Today's post features an amazing poster I received in the mail about a month ago from Mr Riggs himself.   I felt like a kid again when this arrived in the mail the other day and I stared at the poster for far longer than I care to admit.  This poster is an old painting he did around the time of the Killers album, but it was never used by Maiden.  However, despite this fact, the Maiden vibe is prevalent and it would have made a nice cover for any Maiden release in my opinion.

I must admit that I think I like Derek Riggs artwork more than any Iron Maiden albums that came out after Live After Death (though they still pump out great music when they are not busy with greatest hits comps and live cd's), it is a pity that this artwork was not used instead of the shoddy artwork used on the last few Maiden releases in particular.  It was because of Rigg's sinister artwork that I got into Maiden in the first place.  To some of you out there that might sound shallow, but you have to remember this was before everything was spoon fed to the youth, sometimes you had little more to go on other than a cover when investigating new bands.  The Killers LP sleeve seemed genuinely evil and the music was absolutely stunning as well when I first heard it (and still is!) I remember when I hung the flag on the ceiling over my bed, my parents were worried to say the least.

Unfortunately, Mr. Riggs does not seem to get the respect from Maiden and their management that he deserves, so please support him and buy his posters and/or book (which is great by the way).  Remember, there are countless imitators, but only one Derek Riggs.  You can acquire this poster via Derek Riggs for a very reasonable price at his website here. He is also nice enough to sign it for you if you wish and you can also see on my poster that he has hand drawn a couple of sketches, one of which bears a striking resemblance to ol' Ed!   Hopefully, if you buy this poster, it will do for you what it did for me, it almost made me forget about that terrible Dance of Death cover or the newest abortion of a cover that graces their most recent release, The Final Frontier.  Still, Iron Maiden are and will probably always be the greatest live band out there though.  They put bands half their age to absolute shame.

From the Attic: 30 years ago today

It was 30 years ago today that Metallica played their first show. Well, actually it is not the 14th for a few hours, but close enough I think! I don't want to get in the habit of reposting photos already posted, but I think given the significance of this day certainly it warrants a repost of their first flyer ever and the holy grail of my personal collection. This is the real deal and was formerly owned by KJ Doughton.  Enjoy!

From the Attic: Aardschokdag 1987

With February coming to a close, it would be a shame if I did not find an excuse to post what is one of my favourite posters. The date of the show was February 8th, 1987, 25 years ago and the poster featured a pretty amazing lineup, made extra special by the appearance of the mighty and great Celtic Frost (I believe the only time they opened for Metallica, but I could be wrong). It is a beautiful poster adorned by one of the best Pushead designs (the Damage Inc. artwork), and also features one of the best designed logos in metal (Celtic Frost). In addition, it also features a great lineup with Crimson Glory being the only weak act on the bill.  With Metallica, Metal Church, Celtic Frost, Anthrax and Laaz Rockit all together on one bill, I am still jealous of the very lucky dutch folk that went to this show in 1987.

From the Attic: Metallica Promo Poster circa 1986 and cancelled dates poster 1986, RIP Cliff Burton.

Cliff Burton would have been 50 years old today. Amazing how time flies. I still remember the day I found out he died, I was walking to school and a metal friend called out at me from his window with the bad news as I walked by his house.  It was a shock, my heroes seemed immortal and the news that one had fallen seemed unreal.

The following promo poster hung up in the local record store around the time of Cliff's unfortunate death and it is the holy grail of Metallica promo posters and quite hard to find. I had asked for it from two different record stores in 1986 and was rejected as someone else had asked first. In an effort to help me, my mother even asked a record store that was next to her work, but still no go. It took me over 20 years to finally get this poster in excellent condition and I must thank my friend Aaron for helping me end my search. It is a great poster, but I never understood why they did not include Kill 'em All. I suppose that Elektra did not have everything sorted out with Megaforce yet, I don't know. Anyway, I think this is a great shot of the band during what I still think was their best era, enjoy!

Also from my collection is this nice poster with the German cancelled dates for the shows Cliff never had a chance to play due to his untimely death. A nice poster, but a sad reminder of the dates that never happened.Both of these posters will go for framing soon.

I never met the "major rager on the four string motherfucker", but I did manage to meet his father which is the next best thing. Ray Burton is a very kind man and great guy. I really enjoyed talking to him about his son and I am very grateful to have had the experience. I also should thank Mike Bordin for taking the following photo.  He took the extra effort to make sure the photo turned out right which was very kind of him.  It was one of those moments where you are incredibly happy, but also too stunned by the excitement to smile.  Oh well, I was smiling inside.

R.I.P. Mark Reale, June 7th 1955 - January 25th 2012

More sad news in the metal/hard rock world. Mark Reale the founding guitarist of the great band RIOT has passed away. The band's stated through their website at www.riotcity.com yesterday that they are "deeply saddened to confirm that Mark has lost his battle with a lifelong illness" Mark had been Crohn's disease for most of his life and was "working and performing while enduring almost constant pain and the side effects of treatment for his illness" . Mark was only 57 years old.

Mark is seen on the far right in this promo photo

Riot were basically the closest thing to NWOBHM that came out of America. Anyone out there who does not know about Riot, please go out there and find a copy of Fire Down Under. In addition, the albums Narita and Rock City are also under appreciated gems that are more in the rock vein. The album Thundersteel is also a heavy metal classic that deserves a listen and I have noticed that recently this album in particular is getting the respect it deserves in the metal record trading community.

I am saddened not only as a Riot fan, but also because this disease hits close to home, my wife was also diagnosed with this disease last month, though treatment has advanced a bit since Mark was first diagnosed with this disease. 

Here is a killer track off of their first album

From the Attic: 1985 Metallica Promo Logo and 1989 Damaged Justice Japan Tour Promo posters

Here is a strange item, it is a promo logo from 1985 that was hanging in some record stores in between the signing of Metallica to Elektra Records and the release of Master of Puppets. Simple, but very effective, I guess when you have the coolest logo in Metal, you might as well use it. This was part of the advertising campaign that followed Metallica's signing to Elektra records and the rerelease of Ride the Lightning.  Too bad they never followed through with one of the rumoured plans at the time which was to make a video for Escape!  This lovely logo promotional item was given to me by a nice guy I had the pleasure to deal with about 7 years ago. Soon it will go to the framers for the proper treatment. Enjoy.

Even if they would not play the records in the shop, it was pretty clear that when you were confronted by the crushing power of this logo upon visiting the record store, that this band was probably not going to sound like Wham!

Next up are these two beautiful Japanese promo posters which are very nice and feature art from the one and only Pushead. These are easily the nicest Metallica posters out there in my opinion and are quite rare. They are promo posters, but also serve to announce and advertise the Japanese dates of the Damaged Justice tour. I want to thank my friend Terry from Japan who sold and traded me these posters. It is much appreciated. Enjoy.

Mt Fuji!

Spider!

Nitro O.F.R. promo poster

I got this poster from a friend of mine today, and it is pretty sweet swag from the 80's. Back in the day I thought Nitro were pretty fuckin' funny, albeit with a pretty amazing guitar player, whereas my bud thought they were pretty cool and went and saw them live where he got this poster. If anyone is not familiar with Nitro, they basically are most known for taking every stereotype of glam and metal and setting out to push the envelope further. The four dudes in this band had much higher and bigger hair than every other glam band combined! Vocalist Jim Gillette held his screams twice as long as anyone else in metal and at a higher pitch. Guitar player Michael Angelo needed 4 necks on his guitar to perform his face melting solos, not one like all the other posers on the scene. Meanwhile back on earth, Rory Gallagher only needed one neck... maybe we should all ponder on that for a bit.

Their album was called O.F.R. which stood for Out Fucking Rageous and a it is a perfect name for 4 guys who don't understand subtlety in the least. Anyway, despite all the laughter this album brought my friends and I in the late 80's, later in life I took a chance on the LP hoping to get a quick laugh (which I did), but I also realized that these guys can actually play and while their brand of music is not for everyone I must admit I sort of enjoy spinning this record once in awhile, it has become sort of a guilty pleasure, but at this age, there really is no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Sure, their songwriting abilities are a bit weak at times, but it does feature some pretty amazing guitar playing especially in regards to the solos and the record has become sort of an important historical piece. It is not really a glam record as much as it is a glam record with speed metal and traditional heavy metal also prevalent in small doses. However, do not misunderstand me, this is not a great record, rather it is an interesting listen. The record is brilliant at times and at other times it is absolutely terrible, the lyrics in particular are downright embarrassing. Anyway, the poster is great and I do wish I went and saw these guys back in the day because sadly bands like this don't exist anymore!  This is from an era that will never be repeated.  

That guitar is totally OFR dude!!!

From the Attic: Texxas Jam 1988 poster featuring Scorpions, Metallica and others.

This came in the mail today, but it probably came from someone's attic, so the title still applies. Anyway, it is nice poster from 1988 that looks like it is from 1988. There is really not much else to say about this one other than the Dinosaur with the guitar is pretty cool. Oh... and this show is mostly known for the fact Van Halen could not play more than a couple songs due to Sammy Hagar losing his voice. It is not the greatest lineup ever assembled, but the poster features a cool design. Still can't go wrong with Scorpions and it would have been cool to see guitar greats George Lynch, and Eddie Van Halen on one bill.  I have a bootleg of the Metallica set, it is a good performance. but the sound is pretty bad. Anyway, if anyone has some stories they want to share about this show, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

Texxas Jam, Monsters of Rock:

(From the Collection of the Lord of the Poser Holocaust)

From the Attic: 1984 Venom and Metallica Seven Dates of Hell poster

Today I was searching for a Black Sabbath poster to post a pic of, but came up empty handed, but while searching I did come across a very cool piece of metal history. Not to take anything away from my other post today about Tony Iommi, but I occasionally plan to feature something from my collection to share with the world in a series I call "From the Attic" and I have a bit of time today to post it. Hopefully the metal Gods will take this offering to help make Tony Iommi better.

The following poster is one of my favourite items in my collection. Here we have the very rare offset printed black and white poster from the 7 dates of Hell Tour. This poster is of a very high quality and was printed in pretty small batches, it is much higher quality than the more common colour paper ones and really needs to be seen in person to understand. It was apparently hung in the venues and given to band, roadies etcetera. For now this baby is hiding in the attic, but a trip to the framers is planned soon where it will also get a few basic repairs. Remember kids always frame with acid free materials and at least 99% UV protectant glass. Enjoy!

"Live like an angel die like a devil, got a place on the wall reserved for me"

Get well Tony Iommi!

Today I was informed via a friend that Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with cancer. According to his www.Iommi.com, "Tony has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma, his bandmates would like everyone to send positive vibes to the guitarist at this time. Iommi is currently working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan--the “IRON MAN” of Rock & Roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full and successful recovery."

This is very sad news and believe me I am sending Tony all the positive vibes that I can right now and will continue to do so until he manages to slay this bloody cancer dragon that has already taken down one of metal's finest and bravest warriors, former Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. I am sure Ronnie was able to at least permanently injure the cancer dragon, thus hopefully giving Tony a slight edge towards a speedy recovery.

The fact that this comes as Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill Ward are writing and recording their first album in 33 years makes this news all the more sad, but hopefully after beating the cancer and taking care of his own health first, he will be able to carry out the plans and even tour. However, the important thing is that the mans gets healthy first, everything else is secondary.

Here is a very unprofessional photo I took of Tony and Ozzy via a disposable camera at Ozzfest 1999

Now I am going to go put on some Sabbath and start sending those positive vibes Tony's way. For the record, last time I saw Black Sabbath was at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver BC, at Ozzfest on July 16, 1999. I almost did not go to that show due to some personal problems at the time, and as a long time Sabbath fan I was very stressed that I was probably going to miss the reunion with Ozzy, however, a friend stepped up and bought me a ticket. I still owe him for that one as it was a great show and Ozzy was in excellent form. Slayer also played on that bill and Black Sabbath is probably one of the few bands that can successfully follow a Slayer set. In fact, I once left a Judas Priest concert after about 5 songs because my energy was so high after a ferocious Slayer set that I could not handle late 80's Priest after being totally and absolutely Slayerized! I don't think I need to say that of course, I regret that decision now.  Anyway, Black Sabbath are one of the most important bands in the history of rock and roll period, and this is not debatable.

This was also probably the most expensive concert I attended up until that point in 1999. At the time $70.00 to see Sabbath and Slayer seemed like a lot of money, but in hindsight it seems pretty reasonable now, but I still miss paying between 5-25 bucks for a concert.