Steviekick

Same here. BLK OUT really should have won the tournament, with an assist from Vin Gerard. That aside, I really enjoyed everything. You can check out my pics from Night 2 and 3 here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7510431@N03/sets/ .

I was their Saturday and Sunday and it was great. I'll post some pictures later.

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds What can you say? This is Brian Wilson's masterpiece, and an album that you can talk about/overanalyze forever. Each time I listen to it, I notice new things. The production is great, it's full out Phil Spector style Wall of sound madness. Lyrically, there are themes of sadness confusion both contrast and work superbly with the pop-ish friendliness of the music. Just great stuff all around.

It's looking like I'll be keeping Paul, Jamison and Butler. Oh if Caron was only playing regularly again...

Pfff....I have the original issues

Fisher did provide a veteran presence, but I really can't say the same about Okur. It's a lot different being a bench player on a championship team to being the second/third option on a fairly young team who as a whole are in their first postseason run..

The Ramones Leave Home Their second album is where the Ramones show their true genius. On their self titled debut, they show that they can play like MC5 or the Stooges, but write really short songs with no solos or additional complexities. But on Leave Home, they add another dimension to their sound. Songs like "Oh Oh I Love Her So", "I Remember You" and "Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy" have this early sixties, Beach Boys pop quality. While all the English punk bands were being angry towards the government, the Ramones were being just as rebellious, with their bastardized pop sound. It's a combination of being edgy yet catchy, a formula that's been used by countless bands since. They show their signature humor on songs like "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", "Carbona Not Glue" and "Suzy is a Headbanger." It's a perfect album in the fact that its filled many songs went on to be staples of the Ramones catalog and the handful of remaining songs are gems in their own right.

My problem with Johns mostly has to do with the Green Lanter Rebirth and the first arc of the new ongoing series. I just couldn't get into either.

Run DMC - Raising Hell What's not to like with this album? Not only is this probably the first great overall rap album, but significant as being the first rap album to go mainstream. It starts out with four strong singles (Peter Piper, It's Tricky, My Adidas, Walk This Way) and doesn't let up. The rest of the album is very solid, anchored with "You Be Illin" and "Raising Hell". DMC really gets a chance to sign on "Hit It Run." Production wise, Rick Rubin and Jam Master Jay were on. The more subtle sampling and scratching really allows the guitars and rock elements to better fit into the songs. Definitely a classic.

To me, Johns is pretty hit or miss. I usually really like his books or wind up hating them.

Those can be awful. That's kind of like when one of your lesser friend has a band that's playing somewhere and they try getting you to go.

I like some of their songs, but overall? Horrible. "I Will Be Heard" (ESPECIALLY the Hulk-Breed video on YouTube) is solid, as are "Defeatist" (best Hatebreed tune) and "Before Dishonor." I respect 'em for doing what they do for as long as they've been doing it, and not compromising for more commercial success, but really...they suck. Cool cool...as long as we're stil friends. The two artists I ever walked out on (not counting concerts that I was planning on staying the whole time) were Arch Enemy and Nile. I like both bands, but the respective nights that I saw them the sound guy must have been on crack. It was awful to the point that you really couldn't hear anything and I decided the hell with it.

See, it's funny, because I remember seeing them live before Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall on Halloween in '03, and they put on a good show. My first exposure to them. But they have just sucked more and more since then, to the point where the only people moving to them aren't even old enough to drive yet. They ALMOST killed my urge to see Slayer that night, but hey: it's fucking Slayer. I sat through Hatebreed twice to see Slayer, so I can sit through Lamb of God. I think it must be overexposure, because it seems like I wind up unintentionally seeing them constantly going back to 2000. I've seen them somewhere between 10-15 times. I still don't know why people like them, but good for them for doing well. Your totally right about their fanbase, it's a bunch of little teenagers who only like it because their music is loud and agressive. I don't mind Hatebreed too much, but only in small doses. I picked up Under the Knife and Satisfaction is the Death of Desire back around 1997ish while I was in high school when I first started getting into metal and hardcore, mostly because it was so different from what was fashionable to listen to back then. I would like to think that my taste has evolved since then, but I'll still listen to Hatrbreed. I do admire that they are a fan friendly band as far as pictures and signing stuff is concerned. They are decent enough live.

Right now, I think that Booster Gold is the best DC book out there. What's not to like about a book where the lead character gets to revisit all kinds of important moments in DC history, balancing humor and strong storytelling. If you want to ride something a little less mainstream, pick up the last few issues of The Spirit. I'll admit that I was skeptical about how the book would go after Darwin Cooke left, but they've been doing issues with short stories featuring all kinds of great writers like Dennis O'Neil, Gail Simone, Jimmy Palmiotti, Walt Simonson and Kyle Baker. This month's issue starts Sergio Aragnone's run on the Spirit, and as a writer and artist he's much more diverse in his talent than just his Groo stuff.

Lamb of God is never fun to watch. My friends and I call it the Lamb of God Effect when they play second to last, and kill all your ambition to watch the headliner.

I don't like Way. I only started reading it recently, but I'm sad that Cabel and Deadpool is done. I was really starting to like it.

It's definitely smart, since they traded an expiring contract for two more.

Hidden Hands was a really cool album. I listened to them before, but of my way to get that album was because Fred Nordstrom and a few former At the Gates-ers were making appearances on it. What can I say; I'm biased towards the Gothenberg sound.

That's what initially got me into DEP. I do like that as their lineup has changed, so has their sound to a certain extent. I'm not suprised they played one of their mainstream songs; being on Conan was propably one of their biggest appearances and they should make the most of it. I don't mind "Convalescense". It's a catchy enough track that doesn't turn off non metal listeners.

A couple years ago I went to a Lovett concert (I couldn't turn down free second row tickets to anything) and enjoyed it for the most part. He has a pretty cool voice, but I don't think I could regularly listen to him or that style folk/country.

Please don't think I'm singling you out. It always seem that in any group discussion of what the best albums are ever, there is always at least one person in the group to vehemently disagrees.

Not likely. Totally the best album ever. I would have picked it if you didn't. I think its one of the best ever as well, but it always seems to get some flack from someone.

Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction Call it overrated and overplayed, but it's still a landmark album. Appetite is really the album that killed glam metal and the hair bands. While bands like Ratt, Bon Jovi and Poison were writing pop songs about partying and love ballads, Guns put out an album thats gritty and dirty, sounding nothing like their contemporaries. The closest they get is "Sweet Child", but even that has a guitar solo that is light years ahead of anything the other bands were doing. The rest of the album is filled with violence, substance abuse and a general fuck the world mentality. After hearing this album, suddenly Look What The Cat Dragged In just isn't relevant anymore.

Type O Negative - "Frozen"

Negative.