skepticlysm

Tag: iron-maiden

  • Recalibration Ride-A-Long

    Recalibration Ride-A-Long

    • It occurred to me this morning I did not listen to any music when writing yesterday’s odd, perhaps demoralizing List.
    • Remedying that today.
    • Hit play on my “Liked Songs” in Spotify.
    • Just after clicking the shuffle button.
    • Obviously.
    • First up, Machine Head’s cover of Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
    • Fantastic cover.
    • Metal that shit up.
    • Maiden’s never struck me as a metal band, really.
    • I’m not sure what they are.
    • Iron Maiden, I guess?
    • No one sounds like them.
    • Almost all their songs contain a narrative, which is cool because I’m not sure a lot of modern music does?
    • (I have nothing to support that claim.)
    • Btw, the denizens of the Discord made up a new word this morning: buttcry.
    • Which was supposed to be “buttery.”
    • “This is what it sounds like when buttcry.”
    • Anyway.
    • Iron Maiden.
    • I did not listen to them at all for like four years after going to their Tulsa show at the BOK.
    • For one, at the time, I thought they were too loud (when really, it was my faulty ears).
    • For another, they played mostly new stuff, which I thought sucked.
    • I wanted to hear the hits.
    • Lately, however, lots of Maiden in the rotation.
    • I have been playing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Number of the Beast (albums) during gaming sessions.
    • I know, I know.
    • If you don’t like Maiden, you dgaf.
    • Got it.
    • We watched the first two episodes of Dept. Q on Netflix.
    • “By the guy who did The Queen’s Gambit.”
    • Sold.
    • Dept. Q is good stuff.
    • Like it a lot so far.
    • Again, character’s the thing.
    • It’s full of good ones.
    • And it’s gorgeous.
    • Music interlude: NP – “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo,” Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
    • And then because I typed some other stuff first: (cover) “Where is My Mind,” Maxence Cyrin
    • “Got the Time,” Anthrax (also a cover, but I can’t remember the originating band’s name)
    • Damn, I love that song.
    • Was released my senior year of high school.
    • I remember trying to get the people in the car to listen to it on our way back from a student council thing in Edmond.
    • “No such thing as tomorrooooowwww …”
    • I write about music all the time.
    • I can’t live without it.
    • That guitar thing I mentioned a couple weeks ago.
    • Bucket list skills.
    • Gonna do that.
    • Hell, James was over here Friday night doodling around on the Fender we got the kid a couple years ago and I had to stifle a bit of jealousy.
    • What is it that keeps us from doing the things we’re interested in?
    • That we want to do?
    • Goddamn phone.
    • It’s not just that, however.
    • Not the phone at all, really.
    • All our speedbumps are internal.
    • NP: Moby, “Flower.”
    • Man, that Moby album had a shitload of good songs on it.
    • They’re still good, btw.
    • Might want to revisit that one.
    • (Having an a.d.d. kinda day.)
    • What I was saying is Music has a monumental impact on my mood.
    • Would you rather go blind or deaf?
    • Oof.
    • Neither.
    • NP: Spiritbox, “Circle with Me.”
    • (Nice bassline in this song.)
    • (Actually, this song is cool af.)
    • I’m not trying to convert anyone.
    • If you’re not into metal by now …
    • You do you, man.
    • In this world of “influencers …”
    • I got my first-ever writing gig back in college as a columnist for the O’Colly.
    • No joke, I wanted to be Dave Barry.
    • That led me into journalism and creative writing as degrees.
    • “Wait. I can do this for a living?”
    • (Yeah, kinda. You gonna be po’, kid, but yes, technically, you can write for a living.)
    • My question now … what’s a modern-day columnist?
    • Are they the “influencers?”
    • These lists are columns.
    • Format is jacked, but … your attention spans have been abbreviated. Amputated?
    • And I’m bludgeoning you with music today.
    • Books tomorrow.
    • Streaming shows and movies.
    • NP: Killswitch Engage, “My Curse.”
    • (Brother can SING.)
    • Does GenX give af about influencers?
    • I ask for market research purposes.
    • (Coming soon to an Internet near you.)
    • For real though.
    • Who do you read/listen to (not music) and why?
    • (I have no one I follow consistently.)
    • (I’m not exaggerating when I beat the “no heroes” drum.)
    • Okay, the riff is the thing.
    • I love a great metal riff.
    • LOVE IT.
    • Sure, it has to have good around it.
    • Great bass. Great drumming.
    • But something about that metal guitar sound …
    • Better than a pocket full of sunshine, I tell you.
    • Also, it’s not just about the riffs. Or Metal.
    • Beautiful solos.
    • Like the last one in Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” or the last one in Maiden’s “Wasted Years,” (which is one of my favorite songs ever, btw. Holy shit, so good.)
    • NP: Anthrax, “Intro to Reality,” which is an instrumental.
    • I’m typing on the couch listening to this song, bobbing my head, feeling … happy and satisfied.
    • Sure, the specter of work looms, but the tunes and typing are keeping it at bay.
    • NP: NIN, “Eraser (Denial: Realization)”
    • Here comes the riff …
    • I’m not apologizing for the weirdness of the list.
    • It’s a playlist ride-a-long.
    • Music: keeping the outside world, and the nonsense in my head (literally and figuratively), away.
    • NP: Pixies, “Where is My Mind.”
    • Great place to stop.
    • I’ll see you tomorrow.
    • Do not go gentle.