5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #156

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. I Can't Play the Blues, by Bumblefoot

Personally I've always been amused by this song. For those of you who don't know who Bumblefoot is, he is an INCREDIBLY skilled technical guitar player who did a nearly decade stint in Guns N' Roses, but has a solo career as well. This particular song is him singing about how he can't play the blues, but then right at the tail end of the song, he plays one of the most awesome bluesy solos of all time - thus proving that he can in fact play the blues.

2. Way Down We Go, by Kaleo

I'm not generally that big into the whole alternative radio station stuff, but I can definitely get behind the vibe of this song in particular. It just has this soulful groove to it that somehow gets to me. I mistook this for a Black Keys song the first time or two I heard it, but then I quickly sorted that out. Regardless, I love the way the rhythm just slams while the more melodic parts have this softer and introspective vibe about them.

3. Little Black Submarines, by The Black Keys

Speaking of The Black Keys, here is one of their most popular hits to date. I do like this song quite a bit, but I have a VERY serious gripe with it. It shares a lot of similarities with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". It's in the same key, follows the same chord progression, starts off acoustically and transitions into full plugged in band, etc. That said, it's still a good jam to throw on when you want something a bit more soul driven to listen to.

4. Midnight Rider, by Saxon

Saxon while being a heavy, driving metal band could also have some ever so slightly more melodic moments as well. This tune has a catchy chorus melody and this chord progression that somehow just keeps you mentally flowing and moving. It's definitely noticeably different from tunes like "Princess of the Night" or "Denim and Leather", but it definitely has earned a space on the shelf with the rest of the iconic material in the Saxon catalog.

5. Beast Nation, by The Temperance Movement

It feels like a lot of the newer material from The Temperance Movement has gotten kind of soft and eh. Not really the hard driving, bluesy rock n' roll band that I fell in love with. All that said, this song still has some nice guitar work in the verses. Makes me feel a little homesick for their self-titled debut album, but this is still a great tune if you can approach it without the preconceived notions about what the band should be.

Throwback Thursday: "Led Zeppelin III", by Led Zeppelin

By late 1970, British hard rock legends Led Zeppelin had already in the space of a year changed the entire game in rock n' roll forever. With two ginormous blues tinged wall rattling albums to their name, they had already made themselves a force to be reckoned with. With their third release Led Zeppelin III they showed that not only could they rock, but there was a more creative and dynamic side to them as well.

Led Zeppelin III was a transitional album of sorts for Led Zeppelin. Where their previous two albums had been primarily loud stomping bluesy rock n' roll, this album was more focused on straight up rock as well as European and American folk music. Some of its best known tunes are "Immigrant Song", "Since I've Been Loving You", "Tangerine", and more, all of which showcase a different side of the band's musical personality and what was to come from them in the future.

Who in their right mind doesn't absolutely LOVE "Immigrant Song"? That song is the definition of headbanging, chair throwing, air punching rock n' roll. That Jimmy Page guitar riff is iconic and Robert Plant's howling into the wind vocals are one of the most memorable things in the entire Led Zeppelin catalog. It is definitely an essential part of any classic rock or even regular hard rock playlist. Plus, this is where tunes about vikings became popular in main stream.

Led Zeppelin III did not get rid of the blues in the Zeppelin sound altogether. In fact, it has one of the best blues songs in the band's whole repertoire: "Since I've Been Loving You". The guitar playing is sparse in some areas, but that only makes a much bigger impact when it comes pounding in during the choruses and makes for some of the most emotionally powerful stuff you will ever hear in your entire life. There is some immense passion that you will find few other places.

If you're the kind of person that likes variety on a record, then Led Zeppelin III is right up your alley. Odds are there will be something on there for you. Personally I am fond of almost the entire thing, but I suppose I am kind of biased due to the fact that I am such a big fan of Led Zeppelin. Regardless, it has some essential listening on it for people just getting into the band or just love rock n' roll in general. Definitely worth checking out at least once.

Led Zeppelin III, by Led Zeppelin receives 4 out of 5 stars.

Track List:

1. Immigrant Song
2. Friends
3. Celebration Day
4. Since I've Been Loving You
5. Out on the Tiles
6. Gallows Pole
7. Tangerine
8. That's the Way
9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
10. Hats Off (to Roy Harper)

Buy the album on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Led-Zeppelin-III-Deluxe-CD/dp/B00IXHBZF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520581346&sr=8-1&keywords=Led+Zeppelin+III

Op-Ed Piece: Greta Van Fleet Too Much Like Led Zeppelin?

So like many of you who love some good old fashioned hard rocking music, lately I have been hearing a lot about this new band Greta Van Fleet. For months I have been hearing the name left and right, but never bothered to have a listen until not too long ago.

When I did finally give them a listen, I understood immediately why they have been getting such high acclaim from fans and critics alike. They sound almost EXACTLY like Led Zeppelin.

I realize that this has already been talked about by many people, but I wanted to give my own personal thoughts on it.

Everything from the Jimmy Page-like big brown and dirty bluesy guitar riffs, the passionate soloing, the rumbling rhythm section, to the vocals that are almost indistinguishable from Robert Plant would make you think you would actually be listening to the real thing if you didn't know it was another band ahead of time.

From what I've heard, these kids (yes, kids. they're still teens if I remember correctly.) grew up listening to a lot of stuff like Zeppelin, The Doors, as well as stuff that influenced Zeppelin way back when so it isn't surprising that this would be the direction they go.

I guess the issue that I and many other people have is that what is the point in sounding exactly like another band?

Led Zeppelin already existed. They already did this kind of thing. They did it better than anyone else ever has or ever will. Why repeat and rehash the past to such an extent?

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this kind of sound. I love that this kind of music is getting as popular as it is again. It's just I wish that it was being done in such a way that you could hear the Zeppelin influence, but not mistake it for unreleased Zeppelin material.

I do realize though that these guys being as young as they are have not had enough time to really find who they truly are as individual musicians and an individual group. They have grown up imitating their heroes and haven't thought about what they actually have to say as musicians.

That is a perfectly fine and ok way to start, but my hope for them is that over time they do start to develop a sound that is more original and their own. The Zeppelin influence doesn't have to go away altogether, but they do need to stop copycatting.

If they don't do this, then they might be able to last another year or two as they currently are but then the Led Zeppelin novelty will wear off and people will move on and forget about them. They won't have any real staying power and I don't think that's what they want.

That said, I know it sounds like I'm beating up on Greta Van Fleet and that I hate them. Honestly, that could not be further from the truth. I LOVE that there are kids a good 10+ years younger than me loving and playing this kind of music. It gives me at least an inkling of hope for the future of music.

Plus, I'll admit when I need something to rock out to I might put on "Highway Tune" or "Safari Song".

Even Plant himself has given these guys the thumbs up, so for that reason I also can't dislike them completely either.

I wish nothing but the best for these boys and hope they can keep on getting better and better all the time.

Highway Tune, by Greta Van Fleet

Safari Song, by Greta Van Fleet

An Important Announcement

Dear Readers,

I am penning this open letter to you all today to inform you of something that I have thought long and hard about. As of today I will be cutting back on the amount of posting I do. There are multiple reasons for this.

First and foremost, I got a job a few months ago. I was hired as a music writer at Salute Magazine, which has kept me pretty busy. As of about a week ago, I was promoted to assistant editor, so I was given even more responsibility.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing and researching stuff about music but when I spend 8+ hours a day doing it it's kind of the last thing I want to do at night when I'm trying to have some relaxation time before bed.

The whole purpose behind Young Ears, Fresh Perspective for me was to have something that would bolster my resume, keep my skills sharp, and give me something to do while I was still desperately searching for a job.

However, now I have a job in the field I set out to obtain one in. This blog helped me do just that. It made me look like a good enough candidate to the right publication and they took me on. At this point this blog has now served its intended purpose.

That said, this is what is going to be happening with Young Ears, Fresh Perspective:

First, I will not be writing any more news stories unless it is something I find particularly interesting and want to talk about it. It gets exhausting to night after night try to find something new to write about and say something interesting about it when I'm wiped out from a full day of work and other parts of my life.

I WILL however be continuing the weekly features like 5 Songs to Get You Through the Week and Throwback Thursday. Those have never been all THAT difficult to do and they require a rather minimal amount of time, research, and effort. Plus, they are a good bit of fun.

I will also still be reviewing new albums as they come out. Whenever one that piques my interest comes out that my work will not run I will gladly do a write up for it and post it here.

I will still once in a while do Op-Ed pieces. Some times I have thoughts on a topic and I would be more than happy to talk about it here.

I will still do the Top 10 Albums of the Year posts at the end of the year. It's always fun to see what was worth listening to this year.

I want to thank ALL of you who have been with me since day one or have at least been following me for a prolonged period of time. Hell, even if you have only ever read one post I would still like to metaphorically shake your hand and say thank you. It means the world to me.

Without you all I would not have been able to get to where I am today and I could not be more grateful.

I hope you all will understand why I am doing this and still continue to read the posts I do make when they come out.

One final time, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

With most utter sincerity and gratitude,

Josh Leep

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #155

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. Aces High, by Iron Maiden

If you're going to have a Monday, at least start it off with a bang. Iron Maiden is a pretty good way to do just that. I've always liked the dual harmonized guitar melodies as well as the harmonized vocals in the chorus on this one. Plus, it really does give you the feels of being a fighter pilot and having to scramble to the planes because of an unexpected air raid happening. Plus, aside from that this song just rocks.

2. Diamond Dogs, by David Bowie

Bowie himself played the all the guitar parts on this track as well as the entire Diamond Dogs album. You can tell he was kind of nervous about doing it, but honestly it added this sense of dirty, raw, passionate energy that just coats the whole thing. Even with that however, it still manages to maintain that gleam and shimmer that all David Bowie songs seem to have in some way or another. Too bad he quit glam rock after this album.

3. Dee, by Ozzy Osbourne

The Blizzard of Ozz was such an incredible piece of art in so many ways. One of the main reasons for it being so was a young unknown at the time guitarist by the name of Randy Rhoads. His phenomenal guitar work and writing are what gave Ozzy's solo career the kick from the ground it desperately needed. This track is one of just Rhoads playing entirely by himself on acoustic for about a minute in dedication to his mother Dee Rhoads.

4. Emerald, by Thin Lizzy

Considering Thin Lizzy was from the emerald isle of Ireland, I am not surprised in the slightest that they would have a song in their repertoire called "Emerald". This is one of their heavier rocking and less radio friendly pop sounding tunes. I first heard it through one of their live albums and thought it cool enough to check out what it sounded like in a studio environment. I like the live version better, but check this out so then the live version can blow you away.

5. Bad Rain, by Slash

2012's Apocalyptic Love in my opinion was one of the best things Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver lead guitarist Slash has ever done. It's down low and gritty in all the best ways and has this drive to it that will kick your ass while at the same time knowing when to pull back and give some suspense in order to make the choruses that much more powerful. The video is rather cheesy, but the song is awesome as all hell.

Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Grammy Didn't Say 'Metallica'

Anyone who has paid even the least bit of attention to the heavy metal scene in the past 30+ years is well aware of the infamous rivalry and animosity between Megadeth and Metallica. Megadeth front man Dave Mustaine was lead guitarist in Metallica when they formed and wrote most of their first album, but was kicked out and replaced with Kirk Hammett.

Now that Megadeth has finally won their first Grammy for their latest album Dystopia Mustaine had some amusing remarks regarding the award and the error the award people made of playing a Metallica song during their walk to the stage.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone (which can also be seen in the video above), Mustaine says:

"We've been nominated a lot of times, which is great — it's very flattering. But there's only so many times you can say, 'Oh, I'm really happy I was just nominated.' [Chuckles] Yeah, right! So I remember it when we actually did win, the way that they announced it, it was kind of backwards.

Margaret Cho was the presenter, and she said, 'And the winner is 'Dystopia',' and it was supposed to have been the winner was MEGADETH, because it was about the band, not about the song. It took a second to sink in, and then we got up there.

And then, on the way down there, the music is playing in the background, and I didn't even care. We got up there and we did our thing. And somebody goes, 'Did you hear the song they played when you got your award?'

And I was, like, 'No.' Evidently, they played a METALLICA song. And I said, 'I don't feel bad for 'em, 'cause they did a really, really bad job of it.' Good thing is it didn't say 'METALLICA' on the freakin' Grammy!"

Honestly, I can't say I blame Mustaine for his relief at finally winning the award and for being grateful for despite the musical flub at the ceremony the award at least had the proper band name on it. If I were in his shoes I would be kind of pissed too if my hard earned award had the name of the band I loathed the most.

Throwback Thursday: "Diamond Dogs", by David Bowie

By 1974 pop rock icon David Bowie had considered himself pretty much done with his backing band The Spiders From Mars. However, he was not quite ready to be fully done with the Ziggy Stardust character and glam rock altogether. As his glam swan song, he made one more album in that style that became one of his most beloved albums out of his entire catalog known as Diamond Dogs.

Diamond Dogs is an interesting album in that Bowie himself played all of the guitar parts and had new studio musicians backing him despite the arrangements for the songs having been written by the old band. This had never happened up to that point. In later years he admitted to having been nervous about the whole thing, but honestly that nervous energy turned into something raw, powerful, and unique. It essentially gave the album its sound.

Who doesn't know, love, and jam out to "Rebel Rebel" from time to time? That riff is incredibly earwormish. It cycles over and over again through most of the song, yet it somehow works and doesn't at any point become boring. It sort of has this New York Dolls meets The Rolling Stones kind of vibe to it. That is no surprise though considering how popular both bands were at the time.

The title track "Diamond Dogs" is another memorable tune. This one is less raw, but what it lacks in grit it makes up for in big grand sound. The horn section definitely helped with that. The song is also made to sound like it is being recorded live with an audience and all, which in some ways helps give it more excitement and energy. This song too has a catchy guitar riff, although it does not cycle throughout the majority of the song.

Diamond Dogs was one hell of a way for Bowie to end one of if not the absolute best musical periods in his career. It's chocked full of some real bangers that are guaranteed to get you rocking and rolling. If nothing else, it will have something on it for anyone who loves an electric guitar and a thumping sound. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is new to David Bowie and wants to know which albums to pick up.

Diamond Dogs, by David Bowie receives 3.8 out of 5 stars.

Track List:

1. Future Legend
2. Diamond Dogs
3. Sweet Thing
4. Candidate
5. Sweet Thing (Reprise)
6. Rebel Rebel
7. Rock 'n' Roll With Me
8. We Are the Dead
9. 1984
10. Big Brother
11. Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family

Buy the album on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Dogs-2016-Remastered-Version/dp/B01MUBTP2E/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb?ie=UTF8&qid=1519970247&sr=8-1&keywords=Diamond+Dogs