Praise for Tommy Lee

There have been some great American drummers. No doubt. Dave Lombardo from Slayer, Mike Portnoy and Mike Mangini from Dream Theater and Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters come to mind right away... But let's face it, the really great ones are either from another country or are dead-Americans. Let it be noted, I recognize Phil Lesh as a great American drummer but I'm just not versed enough to really comment! I will not, however, give the same respect to the likes of Don Henley or Joey Kramer. That brings me to Tommy Lee. Is it possible that Tommy's only real crime was being in the the wrong band at the right time? I don't expect any of you to run out and buy Theater of Pain or Dr. Feelgood, but perhaps you could put away your hairband bias for just a few moments and listen to how Lee plays. I think he might just be as close as the 50 states have come to that crude character from the U.K. If you're able to clear your head of all your preconceived notions of Motley Crue, you might just discover a really solid drummer. Perhaps not Bonham but that's a pretty tall order. Tonights 5 songs are some of Tommy's greatest hits. Enjoy. I cheated on 5 songs tonight. I couldn't pick a song from Dr. Feelgood so I just picked them all. This might be the best album Bob Rock ever produced, and that includes Metallica's Black Album. Feelgood is, IMO, a perfect hard rock album and one of the most important of its era. Without it, Lars doesn't hire Bob Rock for the Black Album and Metallica makes another Justice. There is so much to love about Lee's playing on this album, but I have to bow to the production as well. Without the ride-bell slicing through and the touch of gate-reverb on the snare, who knows? Still, to be a fly on the wall when Lee was laying down the groove for Feelgood would have been magical.

Tonight's five songs clock in at well over an hour. Settle in and enjoy some truly self indulgent nonsense. ELP is particularly silly in this live recording of Rondo. Over the years I've grown much more used to the live version of Supper's Ready. It's nice to get back to the studio. I hope you like Porcupine Tree and Mostly Autumn. They definitely fell from the Genesis Tree! D

Today's 5 songs are probably not the best selections for launching a new blog, but I call um' as I play um! These were taken at random from my Hard-er rock Spotify playlist. I'm still trying to link Spotify to the blog but until I do you can access my playlists through Spotify if you have a membership. If you don't subscribe to Spotify... Well, you're nuts! Spellbound starts off the 5. This comes close to the end of 'The Triumph Era' but the origin album, Thunder 7, is probably their most polished if not their best. I still hold that Rik Emmett is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time-- Certainly one of the most versatile. Triumph suffered greatly from operating in Rush's shadow. (The world only needs one Rush) It can be argued that Triumph suffered for other reasons as well, but lack of talent was certainly not one of them. No question, the best of this batch is "Born to Lose" from UFO. Phil Mogg is one of the great underrated vocalists and Marc Bolton is a beast of a guitar player. Who wants to take a guess as to the producer of the these UFO records?

I'm finishing Hammer of the Gods... Again. I haven't read it in a few decades but I don't remember feeling this sad the last time I read it. What a miserable quartet. Just awful in every way... Except one. I'm listening to Tesla's cover of Love in Vain and while it's a Stones cover, Tesla is certainly one of THOSE 80's bands that were modeled in the Zeppelin mold. I wonder just how many bands we can say this about.

I once believed that my first post would be the most important post. Much like the first paragraph of a short story or novel. I was wrong. Not only is that mindset WAY to much pressure but the truth is, by the time this blog gains any momentum, this post will be way back in the archive. So, without any pressure, I welcome you to El Cinco's Rock Blog. I gained the dubious nickname, "El Cinco" during a late night game of Taboo about 20 odd years ago. I had a bad night coming up with answers, never achieving more then 5-- so my brother-in-law starting calling me, El Cinco. It was an instant hit and after 25 years I FINALLY had a nickname. My love for rock and roll started much earlier, however. My amazing sisters were much older (6 and 7 years) and they initiated me very early. My oldest sister, Sara, played The Kinks and The Stones for me. Joanne played Haircut 100 and Weather Report and Bonnie Rait. Mom and dad would blast Mozart's operas and Pucini and Ravel. I firmly believe that I owe my love of heavy metal to them. I'm pretty sure this is irony but I'm confused about this ever since that stupid song caused all that hubbub. I heard my first Rush song at Chuck McCarren's house back in Junior High but it was in Mike Masse's basement beginning in 9th grade that I sold my soul to rock and roll. I have a Spotify playlist titled, "Mike's Basement" and I'll be referring to it often. [I'm looking for a way to link Spotify to this blog though I'm not sure it's possible.}We listened to a lot of music that takes a helluva beating these days: Def Leppard, Dokken, Motley Crue and others. But we also listened to Yes, and Marillion, and IQ, and of course Rush. Above all, there was always Rush-- The band that was not just 3 guys from Canada-- Rush was a statement about who YOU were. By 1988, cool people did not listen to Rush. That lasted for about 30 seconds during the fall of 1981. Ohh, to much on that. More later. From there I moved into some punk and hard-core as well as industrial metal and then back to progressive metal. Nowadays, you'll find my playlist ranging from Tesla to Tesla Girls (OMD), Mastadon to King Diamond, Rush to Iron Maiden, Social Distortion to Minor Threat. What you won't find, though I've tried, is Allman Brothers, Phish, Dead or any of the other truly talented 'Jam-Bands'. It just doesn't resonate with me. I can't say why. You also won't find a whole lot of modern country on my playlists but you will definitely come across some early Hank Williams Sr. As I listen to Alice in Chains, "Angry Chair", I feel I should say that my grunge era knowledge is pretty limited. I'm definitely a student of the 70's, 80's and 90's progressive rock and metal. That said, this blog is about exploring music long forgotten and music missed. Rock On!