[Album] The Rock thread

Well, there's VGM rock, which is probably what I listen to most, but thanks to my recent 80's kick, I actually have names 99% of the world's population might actually recognize.

Ones I generally listen to:

VGM - Guilty Gear series, Dynasty Warriors series, the Konami Perfect Selections, Jun Senoue (the recent Sonic composer), SSH, Falcom/Sound Team JDK/JDK Band, Motoi Sakuraba and many doujin acts (Akineko, Mintjam, Ymaru, Toshinori Hiramatsu, Lukar).

Mainstream - Iron Maiden, Guns'N'Roses (though reading about their history and instability is more interesting than their actual music), Bryan Adams, The Go-Go's, The Bangles, Pat Benetar, Aerosmith, Journey, Twisted Sister, Van Halen (Roth-era...I'm half-and-half on the Hager stuff so far), Cacophony (Speed Metal Symphony), some Pink Floyd (the Wall) and David Lee Roth's solo acts.

Current: DLR's Skyscraper/A Little Ain't Enough and Essential Journey (literally just got this one).
Ones I don't get: I tend to like the more upbeat, melodic and flashy rock, so a lot of alternative rock that touches on more "emo" themes annoy the hell out of me. Never liked overly-distorted vocals (death metal, etc) or too much thrash (Slayer, Metallica) either.

And I guess for a question...Would New Wave be considered rock, whether or not it used guitars. The Go-Go's are generally split between both genres, despite being primarily a rock band.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So you were a foreigner who took a journey to Boston, Chicage and Asia?

I agree...I'm very much for the use of keyboards/piano to complement the standard lead/bass/drums set-up. I've seen the consensus is that adding keyboards automatically equals "sellout" or too much of a "pop" sound for a lot of people (I'm amazed how many people I talk to who absolutely hate VH's "Jump" compared to their earlier works), but I don't really buy into that. Then again, I wholeheartedly support chiptunes, so of course I would.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hmm, bit of a revival...

What do people think of the whole grunge/alternative rock movement in the early 90's? I've heard some Nirvana and while I think they were talented and made some good music (yeah, I gotta admit "Teen Spirit" is damn catchy), I don't really see them as good enough for any kind of movement. I don't really hate them (since they always kind of did what they did and just happened to get "discovered"), but I don't really see the whole movement away from the so-called hair metal bands as a good thing either. It kind of took away from the hedonistic feel of a lot of rock. I just remember that whole period being sort of uneventful, even though I wasn't paying much attention to the charts (I still got to listen to stuff at people's houses, radio, etc) and even now, most of the 90's rock bands I look up are primarily grunge/post-grunge. So the only recent mainstream stuff I really like are the groups that have gotten back together since the 80's/early 90's (Iron Maiden included...The Blaze years weren't kind to them) and stuff like Velvet Revolver (Slash = God).

And just curious: Any Van Halen III fans? I've heard nothing but hate for this CD, but I really liked a lot of it. Cherone's no DLR, but I liked him more than Sammy at least.

@Will: Don't forget "Geek Rock", wiki's classification for "They Might Be Giants". I about fell out of my chair when I saw that.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, Eddie's in rehab for alcoholism right now...Or at least he's supposed to be. Really sad...Either he wants to get himself right again or he REALLY wants to get out of working with Roth again (since DLR is technically a part of Van Halen again). I wonder where Wolfgang (his son and the band's new bass player) fits into all of this..."Hey, everyone! My dad's Eddie Van Halen, the famous guitar player and I'm VH's bass player. But...uh, he's in rehab and we don't know if we're ever going to ever go on tour or release anything...So, uh...Yeah."

Yeah, III was the most recent one they released, but it was way back in...1998. I just started following them a few months ago, so it doesn't exactly feel like it came out 9 years ago, but still.

I've got a way to go yet...I don't recognize any of the names on the ACL page. But I know the feeling about people reuniting. The group Vixen, while technically reunited, has 1 returning member from their original lineup with three all new performers. Or Guns and Roses...The band is roughly 10 members now and Axl is the only original one (and they haven't put out an original album since...1991). Oh well, it's kinda good the memories are being kept alive, since I can't name any modern bands I'm into yet (Velvet Revolver is growing on me...I think Slash is probably my favorite guitar player, but I'm lukewarm on the vocalist).

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?