Donington Monsters of Rock

By now I’ve been to too many concerts, not all them thoroughly memorable, to make them all worth blogging about.  But every now and then there’s one which merits the treatment, if only briefly.

The other night, on the treadmill, I wasn’t able to find the Thursday night NFL game, but I did find MTV showing footage of Glastonbury Fayre in the UK.  Ack!  Kaiser Chiefs, Shaggy, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa…who are these people?  I suppose Radiohead is the only one of that type of band I can stomach.  Give me Donington and Download…

When we lived in Paris, our parents knew another family – I believe with USTS/USTTA – which lived in southwest London; Baron’s Court was the nearest Underground (“Tube”) station.   Apparently the Chelsea stadium must have been nearby, but at the time I had no clue Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, etc. even existed, much less were anywhere nearby.  Anyhow.   Since we got to go back the Wonderful US of A in even-numbered years, in odd-numbered years we’d vacation in London.  For example, we were in London the summer of 1983 when “Return of the Jedi” came out, and saw it at Leicester Square.  We’ll never forget the cheeky British kids behind us who would NOT SHUT UP, going on about “corr, Wheetabix!” and “corr, Darth Vader!” in their inimitable British accents.

ANYHOW.

I’ve already discussed Metallica’s show here in my recent Metallica blog, so forgive any repetition thereof.  Here’d I’d like to cover the festival itself.

In August 1985 we were back in London.  We learned that RATT were playing at a festival called Donington Monsters of Rock.  Then we learned that Metallica were also playing there.  DING DING DING!  The US Embassy had a bus going there – bus tickets & concert tickets combined in one package.  Where do we sign up?

Our poor Dad had to get up at 5 a.m., drive a right-hand drive car (our friends’ car, which normally stayed in the garage as we normally took the Tube everywhere beyond walking distance) through the streets of London to get us to the Navy Annex where we got on the bus.  

The bus wound its way up the … M1?  No clue.  The highway.  Anyhow.   “Money For Nothing” (Dire Straits) was on the radio literally nonstop, although Dire Straits were not playing at this show.   And my brother and I arrived at this huge empty field at a race track, with a stage at one end.  It was a huge, unruly crowd of Vyvyans, with a few Neals and Ricks thrown in there and there.

Band 1:  Magnum.   Some quasi-metal, quasi-prog British band was up first.  Matt has since investigated this band, but I never did.  They were….OK.
SET: All England's Eyes; The Prize; On A Storyteller's Night; Changes; Les Morts Dansant; The Lights Burned Out; Two Hearts; Sacred Hour; Kingdom of Madness

Band 2.  RATT.  “Round And Round” – of course.  Invasion of Your Privacy was the current album, but Out of the Cellar was the popular one – and remains so today.   A good show, though as of this point I can remember little of it.  Incidentally I’ve never seen RATT again. 

SET: You Got It; Wanted Man; You Think You're Tough; You're In Love; Lay It Down; The Morning After; Never Use Love; Round And Round; Sweet Cheater

Band 3.  Metallica.  YES!   Ride the Lightning tour.   Hetfield, Hammett, Ulrich and CLIFF F’N BURTON.  We were definitely psyched.  Not everyone else was – many bottles and cans were thrown at the stage, which James, Kirk and Cliff had to periodically duck.  Hetfield implored the audience not to “hit our beer”.   More recently I finally scored a bootleg of this show, and lo and behold, I heard him say that again.   Nice.

SET: Creeping Death; Ride The Lightning; For Whom The Bell Tolls; The Four Horsemen; Fade to Black; Seek & Destroy; Whiplash; Am I Evil?; Motorbreath

Band 4.  Bon Jovi.  I can’t remember which tour this was, and to this day remain unimpressed with Bon Jovi.  I certainly wasn’t impressed that day.   Mind you, this was before "Wanted Dead or Alive", which at gunpoint I'd identify as the Bon Jovi song I hate the least.  I think I had a headache and took a nap during their set, believe it or not.
SET: Tokyo Road; Breakout; Only Lonely; Runaway; (guitar solo); (drum solo); In And Out Of Love; I Don't Want To Go Home; Get Ready

Band 5.  Marillion.   Yes, at the same concert as Metallica was this band, who we’d never heard before.  No bottles or cans chucked at Fish & his friends.  Indeed not.  It was the Misplaced Childhood tour.   Matt and I were actually impressed, him more so than me.  I got a t-shirt, he got all their albums and followed them even into the Steve Hogarth phase.  He also followed solo Fish and saw his shows, but apparently much of those involve lengthy diatribes about Scottish independence, delivered to American audiences who have no reason to give a shit about that. 
SET: Waterhole (Expresso Bongo); Lords of the Backstage; Blind Curve; Emerald Lies (intro); Script For A Jester's Tear; Assassing; Pseudo Silk Kimono; Kaleigh; Lavender; Bitter Suite; Heart of Lothian; Incubus; Garden Party; Market Square Heroes; Fugazi; White Feather

Band 6.  ZZTop.  By now I was zonked out, and practically sleeping on the bus.  Matt says he was actually watching the show.  I like ZZTop, and now have several of their albums.  With Eliminator and its various videos playing all the time – most notably “Legs” – we knew who they were.  By now I’d call “La Grange” my favorite song.   Reviewing the setlist now, I regret I was not actively enjoying the show, but I’d have lacked the musical maturity to enjoy most of the set, including a Funkadelic cover.   [If anyone has a bootleg of this show, by all means let me know.]
SET: Got Me Under Pressure; I Got The Six; Gimme All Your Lovin'; Waiting For The Bus; Jesus Just Left Chicago; Sharp Dressed Man; Ten Foot Pole; TV Dinners; Manic Mechanic; Heard It On The X; I Need You Tonight; Pearl Necklace; Arrested For Driving While Blind; Hit It And Quit It (Funkadelic); Party on the Patio; Legs; Tube Snake Boogie; Can't Stop Rockin'; Jailhouse Rock (Elvis); La Grange; Tush 

The bus left, brought us home, and yet again our poor Dad had to pick us up again.   We’d scored t-shirts of Metallica (Metal Up Your Ass, the only choice), RATT, Marillion, and a ZZTOP DONINGTON one, none of which fit anymore, assuming we can find them (I recently got a new Metallica one in XL). 

1985 was actually the last time I was in London or the UK, so I haven’t been able to attend any more Doningtons or any Downloads.  Checking the lineups for other years shows that even numbered years had the best lineups.

Here they are, in reverse order (headliner first) (* = show recorded/filmed for official release):

1980.  Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions, April Wine, Saxon*, Riot, Touch.

1981.  AC/DC, Whitesnake, Blue Oyster Cult, Slade, Blackfoot, More

1982.  Status Quo, Gillan, Saxon, Hawkwind (!!!!), Uriah Heep, Anvil

1983.  Whitesnake, Meat Loaf, ZZTop, Twisted Sister, Dio, Diamond Head

1984.  AC/DC, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Y&T, Gary Moore, Accept, Motley Crue

1985.  See above.

1986.  Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Motorhead, Bad News, Warlock

1987.  Bon Jovi, Dio, Metallica, Anthrax, WASP, Cinderella

1988.  Iron Maiden*, KISS, David Lee Roth, Megadeth, Guns N’Roses, Helloween

1990.  Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Poison, Quireboys, Thunder

1991.  AC/DC*, Metallica, Motley Crue, Queensryche, The Black Crowes

1992.  Iron Maiden*, Skid Row, Thunder, Slayer, WASP, The Almighty

1994.  Main Stage: Aerosmith, Extreme, Sepultura, Pantera, Therapy?, Pride & Glory; Second Stage: The Wildhearts, Terrovision, Skin, Biohazard, Cry of Love, Headswim

1995.  Metallica, Therapy?, Skid Row, Slayer, Slash’s Snakepit, White Zombie, Machine Head, Warrior Soul, Corrosion of Conformity

1996.  Main Stage: KISS, Ozzy Osbourne (both headlining, but playing separately), Sepultura, Biohazard, Dog Eat Dog, Paradise Lost, Fear Factory; Kerrang! (Second) Stage: Korn, Type O Negative, Everclear, 3 Colours Red, Honeycrack, Cecil

The festival was discontinued, until 2003, when it was reborn – taking place at the same location – as the Download Festival.   Saxon’s song “And the Bands Played On” (off Denim & Leather) is about Donington. 

Hair Metal

 Woody Metal.  Back at college – the University of Maryland, College Park – in 1988, we had a friend, who we’ll call Woody (yes, his name actually was Woody).  Woody was actually the first friend I had at UMCP; I met him at freshman orientation during the summer of 1986.  Eventually I wound up in his same suite on campus.

            Woody’s preference for music was what is often referred to as “hair metal”, but we called it “Woody metal”.  Bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Twisted Sister, Guns N’Roses.   ‘Sister in fact was his favorite band before Appetite For Destruction came out, at which point Woody then preached the Gospel of Axl to anyone who would listen.

            He also listened to Fates Warning, Queensryche, AC/DC, and other bands which didn’t fit that mold, and he was certainly intelligent enough to articulate his preferences and explain exactly WHY Appetite was the best album ever.  He wasn’t Beavis or Butt-head.

            So I may as well review this type of music.

The way I see it, there were two parallel “metal” movements in the 1980s:  “heavy metal” and “hair metal”.  What I’d call “heavy metal” was Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Rush, AC/DC, Metallica, Megadeth, who took themselves seriously and wrote about nuclear war, social issues, war, etc. and not merely partying.  Their sounds were heavier, darker, and more disturbing.  I definitely prefer this kind of music.  I also like “stoner rock”, which is essentially 80’s heavy metal with a heavy dose of weirdness and psychedelia, even jamming, but this type of music didn’t emerge until the 1990s at the earliest, with Sleep and Kyuss being the original two stoner rock bands – leaving aside its obvious basis, Black Sabbath.

Music style: Jackson & Charvel guitars in most cases, played through Marshalls, with high speed guitars and shrieking vocals.  The lyrics were deliberately unsophisticated and unpretentious: girls, alcohol, drugs, fast living, partying 24/7, etc.  Though by that standard, AC/DC qualify as a hair metal band.  Anyhow.

Motley Crue.  Arguably the premiere band, though GNR make a good case for competition.  The top albums: Shout At the Devil, Girls, Girls, Girls, and Dr Feelgood.  We saw them on the Theater of Pain tour.  By now drummer Tommy Lee has far eclipsed Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Vince Neil as the most famous band member, due to his …famous member.  ‘Crue can be described as mindless party rock, competently executed.

Poison.  Clearly Bret Michaels and his crew were emulating ‘Crue, though with more makeup and hairspray.  Look What The Cat Dragged In is their Dark Side.  It was the first album my brother got for his newly purchased CD player.

Ratt.  This is MY favorite among them.  “Round and Round” is the top hit, from their Dark Side, Out of the Cellar.  We saw them at Donington in 1985.

Def Leppard.  Emerging from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the only band of that genre to successfully sell out; Diamond Head crashed and burned trying to do the same, whereas Iron Maiden and Saxon remained true to their NWOBHM roots.  My favorite album (naturally, pre-sellout) is High N’Dry, but Pyromania and Hysteria probably rank higher as objectively landmark ‘Leppard discs.  We saw them on the Hysteria tour back in 1987.

Cinderella.  By far the most blues-based and musically legitimate band, but I could never get past Tom Keifer’s makeup and the band’s lame name.

Skid Row.  Bitter rivals to ‘Crue thanks to Sebastian Bach, but I do like Bach’s healthy self-deprecation.  I’m less impressed with their hits than their covers album; of their originals, “Monkey Business”, from Slave to the Grind, is my favorite.

Twisted Sister.  How could I forget them?  Nasty transvestites, I suppose:  Dee Snider and Mark Mendoza looked like cross-dressers who’d just as soon kick your ass as kiss it.  “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, and Stay Hungry, remain their top hit and album.  We saw them on the Come Out and Play tour in Paris, and the Love is For Suckers tour in DC.

Guns N’Roses.  By now Slash has eclipsed Axl as a musical force in 2013, because he manages to make albums and tour with some degree of reliability, and doesn’t play the petulant, jaded, immature, spoiled rock star like Axl.  The cursing/stumbling drunk Slash of 1988 has been replaced by a guy who looks exactly the same but actually behaves normally by rock star standards.  Axl took 14 years to give us Chinese Democracy, a mediocre album which doesn’t make up for the time spent making it.  Appetite remains their peak.  The twin Use Your Illusion albums would have been a masterpiece if they simply combined the best of both onto one album, instead of a bloated, uneven, and inconsistent double studio album – but “Estranged” is arguably their best song.  We saw GNR in July 1992 at RFK on their joint tour with Metallica.

Pantera.  I haven’t heard the earlier era Pantera (pre-Phil Anselmo) which was a glam rock version.  Dimebag Darrell was cleanshaven and had his hair all pouffed up.  Firehouse, Warrant, and Bullet Boys were also glam bands.  By the time we saw them at the Ozzfest one year, they were well into their thrash era.
 

Bon Jovi.  Clearly from New Jersey and not L.A.  This band had the sound down cold, but the lyrics were closer to Tesla’s more naïve and innocent type, at least later as they matured: “Bad Medicine” and Slippery When Wet were still “bad boy” type of material.  “Wanted Dead or Alive” was more “cowboys of peace” B.S. but still their best song.  We saw them at Donington in 1985, but I can't remember anything about their set - I was resting on the grass with a headache.

Dokken.  Definitely “hair metal”.  We had a friend, Stam, from Greece, who was convinced that George Lynch was the best guitarist ever.  My brother considered singer Don Dokken to be not quite svelte enough for this type of music.  “Alone Again” is probably their best song, from Tooth & Nail, but we also had Under Lock & Key on vinyl.  We saw them open for Accept in 1986 in Paris.

White Lion.  Mike Tramp on vocals, Vito Bratta on guitar, not particularly original or different than the rest, but no worse either.  Tramp seems to be the only consistent member; according to him, Bratta appears to be the Ritchie Blackmore of the band, a petulant, uncooperative prima donna.   Tramp insists that a White Lion reunion is not going to happen.  We saw them open for AC/DC at Madison Square Garden in 1988.

Whitesnake.  I suppose the ’87 model + Slip of the Tongue qualify as “hair metal” after they ditched the Zeppelin-clone era of Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody – back when they still played Deep Purple Mark III songs in concert.  “Still of the Night” is excellent, and they resurrected some earlier material (“Here I Go Again” and “Crying in the Rain” from Saints & Sinners).   Having Tawny Kitaen in the vids should cement them into this category regardless of the blues orientation of the prior material.  We saw them on the Slip tour in early 1988.

Tesla.  For some reason, probably sheer coincidence of time, this band gets lumped in, but I would argue they are NOT a hair metal band, although they appear resigned to accepting that label.  First off, the lyrics are far too naïve, good-natured, and introspective, and not about partying.  Second, Jeff Keith really doesn’t play the “Steven Tyler” role, and the rest of the band dress more like AC/DC than ‘Crue.  Finally, lead guitarist Frank Hannon owes more to Angus Young than Mick Mars. I've seen them a few times recently, but also back in 1987 opening for Def Leppard.

Grunge.  Recently Dave Grohl, the drummer for Nirvana, was doing a documentary (“Sound City”) on Sound City, a famous L.A. recording studio, Sound City.  Ratt recorded Out of the Cellar there, so he tried to contact the band.  He laughed, because the band were unsure why he, of all persons, would be talking to them.  The general consensus is that hair metal was “killed” by grunge, with Nirvana being the major culprit for hair metal’s demise.

Rock of Ages.  Although I never saw the Broadway musical, I did catch the film version with Tom Cruise as Staycee Jaxx.  It’s truly a celebration of hair metal at its best/worst.  I can’t comment as to whether it “captures the scene”, as I only got to L.A. and the Strip in 2010, long after the scene was dead.  It certainly catches the music and the spirit.  For anyone even vaguely interested in that type of music – or even vaguely nostalgic – by all means, watch it.