Song of the Week: The Ace of Spades

Listening to Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" again showed me why this is one of their most popular songs. You have to admire Lemmy's fucking voice! I love that guttural cry it gives such a hard edge to any song , seems as if Lemmy is grinding stones with his throat when singing! Fucking A! The song opens with this fast bass line which is very typical of trailers and those fast car games and the opening riff adds this feeling that life is in the fast lane and indeed it is in gambling and so its an awesome way to begin this song. My favourite part is when Lemmy says,

You know I'm born to lose,
and gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby,
I don't wanna live for ever,


And don't forget the joker!

I love the way the song slows down and then stops at certain points, and the hiatus that comes before he talks about the joker, makes it look as if he really forgot to talk about it. Genius. Absolute genius!

Up the irons ! \m/

Metalheads of the world unite !!

It is always nice to see metalheads unite in one fashion or another whether for parties, concerts or for a good cause; especially a good cause since it shows the light side of the dark art. People always subject metal/HR to all things negative and black and frankly that pisses me off and the one time that the metal gods of the world united to help out people undermined their effort. I am talking about the Hear 'n' Aid concert organised during May of '85. Stars from bands like Dio, Quiet Riot, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Blue Oyster Cult, and many more gathered to record the song "We're Stars" written by Ronnie Dio, Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell with the latter two conceptualising the idea. The result was an anthemic song that lasted well over seven minutes of pure metal with some of the brightest metal stars of the era. After noting the successes of various other humanitarion projects by musicians the metal industry had the perfect answer with the perfect blend of music and lyrics evoking emotions and a "feel-good" attitude but still preserving the metallness. Who said metal has never done anything for society? Fuck those people who point such a finger at our music. Fuck them all! We are as good a part of society as any and we deserve to be recognised ! Yes!!!

Click here to see a video of the song.

Here is a list of all the participants:

Vocals

• Eric Bloom
• Ronnie James Dio
• Don Dokken
• Kevin DuBrow
• Rob Halford
• Dave Meniketti
• Paul Shortino
• Geoff Tate

Backing Vocals
• Tommy Aldridge
• David Alford
• Carmine Appice
• Vinnie Appice
• Jimmy Bain
• Frankie Banalia
• Mick Brown
• Vivian Campbell
• Carlos Cavazo
• Amir Derakh
• Brad Gillis
• Craig Goldy
• Chris Hager
• Chris Holmes
• Blackie Lawless
• George Lynch
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Mick Mars
• Dave Murray
• Vince Neil
• Ted Nugent
• Eddie Ojeda
• Jeff Pilson
• Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser
• David St. Hubbins
• Rudy Sarzo
• Claude Schnell
• Neal Schon
• Derek Smalls
• Adrian Smith
• Mark Stein
• Matt Thorr

Guitar
• Vivian Campbell
• Carlos Cavazo
• Brad Gillis
• Craig Goldie
• George Lynch
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Mick Mars
• Eddie Ojeda
• Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser
• Neal Schon

Guitar Melody Lines
• Dave Murray
• Adrian Smith

Bass
• Jimmy Bain

Drums
• Vinnie Appice
• Frankie Banali

Keyboards
• Claude Schnell

Up the irons! \m/