This Day in Music History: King Crimson/Beat and Van Halen/For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (06/18)

Beat is the ninth studio album by the British rock band King Crimson, released on this day in 1982.

The album focused on the 25th anniversary of the publication of the novel On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The album makes several references to the writings of the Beat Generation.

This Day in Music History: Van Halen/OU812 (05/24)

OU812 is the eighth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1988, and the second to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. It sold over four million copies (quadruple platinum) and reached #1 on the Billboard album charts where it stayed for four weeks.

This Day in Music History: Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Halen (03/24)

A double dose of classic albums today:

Lynyrd Skynyrd/Nuthin' Fancy (1975) - This was their third studio album, and their first to reach the Top 10, peaking at #9 on the US albums chart. It was certified Platinum on 7/21/1987 by the RIAA. This is the first record with new drummer Artimus Pyle and the last with guitarist Ed King until the reformation of the band in the early 90's.

"Saturday Night Special" was the only single released and reached #27 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Van Halen/5150 (1986) - This is the 7th studio album by the band and was the first of four albums to be recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth. It was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, itself named after a California law enforcement term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code). The album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, surpassing the band's previous album, 1984.

The album was notable for a number of love songs and ballads, which were not a feature of the straightforward rock stylings of the Roth-fronted era of the band. Many who had heard the previous incarnation of Van Halen called the new iteration "Van Hagar" either derisively or affectionately, a nickname widespread enough that, as Hagar points out in his book, Warner Bros. asked them to consider renaming the band as such.

The singles released were: "Why Can't This Be Love"(#3), "Summer Nights"(#33), "Best of Both Worlds" (#12), "Love Walks In"(#4) and "Dreams" (#3).

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This Day in Music History: Journey, King Crimson, Van Halen and ZZ Top (03/23)

On this day, there was certainly a plethora of classic albums released by several bands:

So let's start chronologically shall we?

Friday and the Random 10 (AudioVisions Down Under Edition)

Welcome to a new and improved, simplified and stripped down Random 10! 

Here's a picture.

Friday and the Random 10 (Rock Till You Drop Edition)

Welcome to a new and improved, simplified and stripped down Random 10! 

Here's a picture.

Friday and the Random 10 (When It's Over Edition)

Welcome to a new and improved, simplified and stripped down Random 10! 

Here's a picture.

Bandannas are bad-ass

Friday and the Random 10 (Jamaican Me Crazy with These Long Songs Edition)

So things are finally settling down some. The park hours are cutting back, it's cooling down a bit, and the Electric Light Parade is coming up to its final performance (Oct 9th)! After that, they have no idea what we will be doing at night. No really, there is nothing scheduled as of yet to replace it. Get ready for more Move It, Shake It dance parties!!! Meh.

Friday and the Random 10 (National Championship Afterglow Edition)

Well things are starting to slow down around here...slightly. It has been a busy time with Christmas and then New Years. Throw in the fact that I am still on cloud nine after Bama won it's 16th championship on Monday, followed two days later by my birthday it is a wonder I even have time to work on my blog. Some changes are in store for sure, and I have already "tested" a few of them. More on that later. For now, on to the music:

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Friday and the Random Ten (College Football Returns Edition)

Well it's about time! College football returns this weekend (actually started last night) and I know millions of people are happy about it. NFL? Whatever. Take you deflated balls and go home. My beloved #3 Alabama Crimson Tide opens up tomorrow night with #20 Wisconsin. Gonna be a slobberknocker! How bout some music to get us fired up? If you're not fired up already something is wrong with you...

Friday and the Random 10 (Broken Down Car Blues Edition)

So yeah on the way home from a magical kingdom Monday I had a bit of a car problem. There was a break in the attachment where the radiator hose goes and all of my water leaked out on the highway. This caused my car to overheat badly (duh) and basically burn itself up. Thanks to a friend I was able to get home and all, but the car is toast. Literally. So now I have no car and no way into work. That's been my week, how is yours?

So last week I celebrated the end of July with a special Random 10 31. That's how we roll around here. Unfortunately that's the only rolling going on lately. Car joke, get it? Anyway, so this week's randomness comes from these albums below:

Friday and the Random 10 (24 Hour Disney Day Edition)

And here we go again. It's the Friday before Memorial Day so what does Disney go and do to us again? Yep, it's that deal where we stay open for a whole 24 hours. I have a 13 hour shift, but at least I am not part of the overnight crew. So to honor all us hard working cast members I am going to copy what I did in this countdown from the previous over-nighter and do a Top 24 list, instead of top 10. Yeah it's one of those special event type things. Next week will return to normal (or for what passes for normal around here).

Even though it does not apply this week, you can still check out last week's Random 10 by following this link, or trying to figure out the artists from the cool picture below: 

As always the rules and whatnot are up there ↑ at the top next to the Home tab.

Friday and the Random 10 (154 Games Edition)

So there is some talk that is gaining steam that the MLB season might be reduced back down to 154 games like it used to be (it's 162 now). As a baseball purist I do not like changes made to the game. I still think inter-league play takes the luster of the World Series, and the DH is an abomination. However, in this case, it really doesn't bother me that much. Might even make the pennant races more exciting. Either way, baseball needs to do something to become more popular again.

Speaking of popular (nice segue-way Von), how about that Random Ten last week? You can take a quick review by following this link, or trying to figure out the artists from the cool picture below: 

As always the rules and whatnot are up there ↑ at the top next to the Home tab.

This Day in Music History (04/29)

Fair Warning is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen. Released on this day in 1981, it sold more than two million copies, but was still the band's slowest-selling album of the David Lee Roth era.

The cover artwork features a detail from The Maze, a painting by Canadian artist William Kurelek which depicts his tortured youth. The album was listed by Esquire as one of the 75 Albums Every Man Should Own.

The album peaked at #5 on the pop album charts and went double platinum.

Friday and the Random 10 (Friday the 13th Part II Edition)

Because of a cosmic coincidence we have yet another Friday the 13th just four weeks after the last one! Course it also has to do with February having 28 days and whatnot as well. The next and last one for the year is in November (I just checked). Who cares about the reason? It just means we get more bang for our buck today. The music count continues...

In keeping with the ever growing and evolving list of traditions around here, this countdown will feature not ten, but thirteen songs. But first, as a quick review of last week, you can follow this link, or try and figure out the artists from the cool picture below: 

As always the rules and whatnot are up there ↑ at the top next to the Home tab.

Friday and the Random 10 (Disney Chaos Edition)

Well there is certainly a lot going on right now with Christmas coming up. The tree is finally up at the Magic Kingdom (#crooked) since all the parade filming got done this week. Props to my MayKay. I work every single day after today.

There is also the Survivor finale next week, the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special, and bowl season (#RollTide #SEC) all leading up to New Year's Eve. Disney is the one place you do not, I repeat DO NOT want to go that day. It's chaos I tell you! Chaos!

Friday and the Random 10 (Rockin' Edition)

Right now we find ourselves poised on the precipice of the holiday season (I don't count Halloween). By this time next week, we will have passed out into our Tryptofan comas after experiencing severe meat sweats. Others will head into the madness that is Black Friday. Me? Oh I work for Disney so I will be working. A lot. Like 80+ hours in the next week. Makes for a decent paycheck but the only family I will be seeing is my coworkers. #CastMemberLife

Friday and the Random 10 (Tragic Kingdom Edition)

August is finally in full bloom and I'm not sure what I am most excited about: Doctor Who in 16 days(!) or Alabama football in 23(!!). At least they won't be on at the same time so I won't be faced with a difficult dilemma like the whole Capt Jack/Tony Stark debate (still time to vote...just saying...).

Anywayz, let's focus on the here and now and get down to the random 10. Last week shows us how persistent some bands can be, with The Moody Blues still trying to sneak past the Tarkus to no avail. Hopefully they can stay away for just one week and make themselves eligible again. Here's hoping.

Time to spin the wheel of fate...

1) Dream Theater/Only a Matter of Time - My brother Scott has been on me for a long time to listen to these guys. I finally relented and they show up right away. You know what that gets:

2) No Doubt/Happy Now? - Gwen Stefani. Yes please. Album cover winner:

3) Def Leppard/Stagefright - Oh yeah we're rocking now.

4) Dennis DeYoung/Pilate's Dream - DDY did a Broadway album with this song from Jesus Christ Superstar. I give him a lot of crap but he has an amazing voice.

5) Van Halen/Little Guitars (intro) - Eddie plays a mean acoustic guitar too.

6) Nektar/You're Alone - Thanks for pointing that out guys. Oh and Viggle has no clue what song this is.

7) The Nice/Rondo (69) - This is Keith Emerson's band before he was in Emerson Lake & Palmer. Great experimental stuff.

8) Return to Forever/Celebration Suite Pt.1 - Here's more of that late 60's/early 70's jazz fusion rock stuff.

9) Bronz/Harder Than Diamond - Viggle has no idea from this one hit wonder. Once again, this wasn't the hit. You know what, time to bring the Cybermen Award back:

10) Jon Anderson/Hurry Home (Song for the Pleiades) - This was JonJon's solo album (with members of Toto) that he did right before the ABWH album. I see some elements here that he used later.

And there we have it. I'm thinking of making a "Viggle rule" that if it cannot be identified then it gets deleted. I'm not sure about that though. I'll have to think on that some more.

The STCS song for this week is Trans-Siberian Orchestra/The Safest Way into Tomorrow. Let us rejoice for The Moody Blues have finally been set free! Also, no one got banned this week either. Awesome.

As always stay cool and dry central Florida, and Roll Tide!

I'm gonna let Jon play us out.

Friday and the Random 10 (Too Moody Edition)

So here we go again. Last week was a mess of sorts I suppose. We have The Beatles, Jimmy Buffett and Jimi Hendrix all unavailable for this week's countdown. That's the most I can ever recall at the same time. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check the rules and whatnot up there ↑ at the top.

Moving on. Some of you may wonder how I name each "edition". Well I really have to wait until the end to see how things actually played out. That is how randomness works. Anyway, let's fire up Viggle (yeah I'm still playing with that) and the music and see what we get.

Here we go!

1) The Human League/The Lebanon - Never heard this one before. A whole 80's edition would be awesome though.

2) Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Tracers - One of their non-Christmas CD's. This one was called Night Castle and parts of it are just plain wicked. In a good way.

3) The Moody Blues/Evening:The Sunset:Twilight Time - Awesome album with an orchestra. Album cover winner:

4) The Moody Blues/Running Out of Love - Ugh they can never show up just once it seems. Banned.

5) Joan Jett & The Blackhearts/You Don't Know What You've Got - Keep on rocking you sexy thang!

6) Van Halen/(Oh) Pretty Woman - They got to a point where they did a lot of other people's songs. I don't know why.

7) Jon Anderson/Good Day Morning - Even Viggle couldn't figure out what the Hell Jon was singing about.

8) Asia/The Last to Know - Great, great song from Alpha.

9) The Mahavishnu Orchestra/Sister Andrea - Cool. Haven't heard from these guys in awhile.

10) Enigma/Callas Went Away - Wow, Viggle couldn't sort out the Jon Anderson song, but gets this right away from birds chirping? Dang.

Well there we go for another week. None of the three got Tarkus'd, but The Moody Blues did get banned. Both Jimmy's get set free, but The Beatles still have to wait until the month is over. That's how the rules work.

The STCS this week is Yes/Something's Coming, which is a song I never knew about until I got the YesYears box set. It's from the West Side Story. Yeah, back when they would take popular songs and "Yesify" them. Good, creative stuff.

And there we have it. 

As always stay cool and dry central Florida, and Roll Tide!

Play us out solemnly boys...

Friday and the Random 10 (Viggle Edition)

I have been playing around with this app called Viggle. Some of you may know about it already. Apparently you can earn points just for watching TV that you can redeem for gift cards and such. I haven't gotten that far just yet, but I have noticed that it also has a music option that will identify what you are playing for points as well. Been using that on my drive to and from work. Figured I might as well use it here as well. Points are points right?

Well anyway, looking back at last week I see there was a lot of activity. The Beatles got the monthly ban, and Mr. Pina Colada-burg got Tarkus'd so we won't be seeing him this week either (I have no idea how to make the tilde over the "n"). As always the rules and whatnot are up there ↑ at the top.

Let's Viggle away!

1) Van Halen/Girl Gone Bad - Yeah that's the way to start off. Classic album cover:

2) Ratt/Back for More - Oh it looks like we're rockin' this week.

3) Billy Joel/The Longest Time - Well at least it was still in the 80's.

4) Camel/Drafted - Wow, Viggle identified this before I could figure it out who it was. I still love their sound.

5) The Beatles/Tell Me Why

5) Kansas/The Pinnacle - Completely epic. No one does music like this anymore.

6) Chicago/Where Do We Go From Here - Now this is some old school stuff back when they were still hippies.

7) Casting Crowns/Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me) - Wow, it's been a long time since they've shown up.

8) Styx/Kiss Your Ass Goodbye - Okay apparently Viggle doesn't work too well with live versions. Sounds crappy anyway.

9) Steve Howe/Never Stop Learning - Viggle had a hard time with this demo but it eventually matched it. Yes, this demo did end up on ABWH as Brother of Mine.

10) Jimi Hendrix/May This Be Love - Believe it or not I'm not very familiar with a lot of his stuff. Working on changing that.

Well there it is. The Fab Four tried but the Tarkus got them. Everything else was pretty cool. The STCS this week is Jimmy Buffett/Creola Err, umm, no. I'm going to ignore that and go with the next one which is Jimi Hendrix/Purple Haze. Much better, but now Jimi can't show up next week. Ugh. That's the way it goes.

As always stay cool and dry central Florida, and Roll Tide!

Play us out magnificently boys!