Saturday, December 15, 2007

If I'm going to celebrate Nikki Sixx's birthday, then I can't forget to celebrate the birth of one of my other heros...Ted Nugent. The Motor City Madman turned 59 on December 13th. My love for Sweaty Teddy runs deep but for different reasons. Don't get me wrong, he is a musical genius and he was quite the looker back in the day (how do you resist a man in a loin cloth?), but I truly appreciate him for his honesty and his candidness. Even when I was a crazy, vegetarian, card carrying member of PETA (please forgive me Uncle Ted), Ted Nugent was the ONLY hunter that I had any respect for. Why? Because he never buys his meat from the store and hasn't since the late '60's or early '70's. And after reading his book, God, Guns, & Rock N Roll, he opened my eyes and made me see a very different side of the whole gun control issue. I'm pretty sure that if the presidential candidates don't get any better, I'm writing Ted Nugent in on my ballot. Although I'm fairly liberal on most issues and I'm sure I'd disagree A LOT with Ted Nugent about most issues, at least he'd be honest and at least he'd be the first person to tell you that he's an asshole. Besides, he did write one of the greatest songs of all time, Stranglehold, and that's all I need to base my presidential decision on. And another thing...he was the most sane person on Super Group, which came as a complete shock to me.

It was recently announced, to my delight, that Extreme is joining forces for a comeback in spring of 2008. Never in a million years did I think this would happen, especially after Nuno snubbed everyone on that VH1 show where they tried to get Extreme back together the first time. This is another band from my teeneage years that I was obsessed with. My brother introduced me to them well before that sappy, ballad More Than Words hit the airwaves and destroyed them. Unfortunately, they got pigeonholed into that "ballad band" genre, and could never tear themselves out of it; the rest of the world had NO idea what a rockin' band they were. For me, Extreme will always be one of the most underrated bands of that era. Musically, they were phenomenal. Nuno Bettencourt is a freaking guitar god and Gary Cherone has a great set of pipes (although those pipes didn't fit in Van Halen...at all). So now for their triumphant return with the original members except for new drummer, Kevin Figueiredo. I'm very excited to hear the outcome; I only hope the public gives them the chance they deserve.

Posted on msn.com between the headlines "What Tom Likes To See Katie Wear" and "K-Fed's Lawyer Responds to Spears' No-Show" was a little headline that said, "Anthrax Picks Unknown As New Lead Singer." Good to see that Anthrax still demands just as much attention as Britney & K-Fed. Replacing Joey Belladona on vocals will be personal trainer and part-time singer, Danny Nelson. I guess networking on myspace really does work because that's how this guy snagged the front man gig. Nelson met guitarist, Rob Caggiano, a few years back and recently hit him up on myspace. They are currently working on a new album with no release date as of yet. It should be interesting; I think the world could use a little Anthrax right now.

1 comment:

Big Blue Barry said...

I was excited to hear about Extreme too. I remember watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and waiting around to the end of the movie just to watch the credits to find out which band played that song "Play With Me". I've been a fan ever since. Their 3rd album, III Sides To Every Story, in my opinion, is their best, as well as one of the best albums ever recorded. Nuno is the man!