OK so I'm starting my list off with #10, a possibly controversial choice (given recent events), but here it goes.

#10: Guns n' Roses (Yes, even taking into account the fact that the band is now just Axl Rose and Chinese Democracy might just be the most self indulgent album of all time. I still have great memories of listening to these guys dating back to my childhood. Hell, Appetite for Destruction came out the same year I was born. These guys reinvigorated the rock scene in the Late 1980's and deserve credit for bringing back some of the same fire that the Stones and Aerosmith had in their hey days. So I present to you my #10 Band: Guns N F***ing Roses!)

Top Albums

5) Lies (Yes this is a controversial album, but what GnR album wasn't? Of course everyone will probably point out One in a Million as Axl's manifesto of hate. All I have to say is that although I don't approve of Axl's word choice and attitudes expressed in the song, he is not targeting entire groups but rather individuals who have caused him problems. Anyways, Patience is a great ballad and Used to Love Her is hilarious. The rest of the album is covers and old stuff. Some good, some just OK).

4) "The Spaghetti Incident?" (Again, a controversial GnR album. No original material. But some really outstanding guitar work from Slash. The results are mixed on this album but there are a few outstanding moments. Since I Don't Have You is kind of slow and an unusual choice for GnR, but Slash's guitar definitely carries it. Hair of the Dog is probably superior to the Nazareth original (it's pure 70's hard rock). Raw Power is fast and furious, although probably lacking the authenticity of the Stooges. My personal favorite song on the album is their cover of Ain't It Fun. Although originally written as a punk song, the metal edge it receives here makes it a great rocker and sort of foreshadows the complete collapse of the band that would come soon after. Take it for what it is.)

3)Use Your Illusion II (Ok, now we're getting closer to the great GnR albums. Both Illusion albums were epic (arguably bloated) but of the two, II was slightly weaker than I. That's not say that it was bad. Far from it. Civil War, the album opener, is an epic antiwar ballad. 14 years is a great piano driven rocker sung by Izzy. The stadium rock version of Dylan's Knockin on Heaven's Door is probably my favorite cover version of the song. Estranged is probably the most epic GnR song ever with some unusually fragile sounding solos from Slash. You Could be Mine is a decent rocker, one of the harder songs on the album. Just avoid My World.)

2) Use your Illusion I (The better of the two Illusions. A more cohesive collection of songs. Right Next Door to Hell starts the album in typical GnR fashion. Dust N' Bones has a great swagger to it and one of my favorite Izzy songs. Don't Cry is a great power ballad with an awesome solo by Slash. The Garden is an interesting collaboration with Alice Cooper. Coma is a 10 minute+ trip that has some great riffs and funny sound FX. But of course the real gem of this album is November Rain. Although it is one of GnR's softest songs, it is also one of their best. Slash's solos are beautiful. And the last 2.5 minutes of this song are the highlight of this album. Check out the music video for this one.)

1) Chinese Democracy (Best. Album. Ever.)

Just Kidding!

Real #1: Appetite for Destruction (The album that started it all. Even if this were the only album GnR had released, they would still have earned their legendary status. Slash's best guitar album. The intro to Welcome to the Jungle is like a punch in the face, but in a good way. It's So Easy has a great groove to it. Nightrain builds up until it explodes. Mr. Brownstone is a fun tale of the effects of drugs. Paradise City is a behemoth of a party song that talks about moral decay and the death of the American Dream (with a sad allusion to Captain America). Sweet Child O' Mine has one of the greatest solos of all time, Slash's signature piece. And, Rocket Queen is a great album closer that starts off sleazy but shifts into something more sentimental. Essential Record for all rock fans.)

Well that's their Discography. Now onto the songs.

10 ) It's So Easy (I was going to say Estranged, but I can't get this one out of my head.

9 ) Don't Cry (Their best power ballad.)

8 ) Dust N' Bones (Izzy's best.)

7) Paradise City (oh won't you please take me home?)

6 ) November Rain (Epic. Elegant. Essential.)

5 ) Sympathy For the Devil (Sure this is a Stones cover, but Slash makes it his own. It may even be worth the break-up of the original line up.)

4 ) Ain't It Fun (I discovered this cover recently and it's still stuck in my head. Great stuff.)

3 ) Nightrain (Such a fun song. And the ending is killer!)

2 ) Sweet Child O Mine (The solo, man. As a guitarist, I have to give a lot of credit to Slash for this great F***ing solo!)

1 ) Welcome to the Jungle (My first encounter with GnR. It may have single handedly started my love of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal)

Ok, I'm going to start doing some Top 10-style lists of things that I like. I think I'll start off with Bands and their discographies. Each entry will list one of my top 10 bands and for each band I'll rank my top 5-10 albums by them as well as top 10 songs by them. Plus some comments on each item.

So an example would be:

#11 Mike's F'd Up Journey (a decent modern band, the lead guy is kinda weird though.)

Top Albums:

6) Self Titled (Essential Listening. Great riffs, but the solos sound like a cheese grater being repeatedly hit by an oscillating fan)

5) II (too much electronica for my taste)

4) The Walrus Chronicles (The imagery is too postmodern)

3) I Said 'Good Day!!' (Too Short, even for an E.P. It's only 25 seconds long, and two thirds of it is silence)

2) The Last of the Good Ones: the Very Best of MFUJ (a decent 3 disc retrospective. That Dance remix of Slate's Theme was a bad idea. That was an early sign of the band selling out)

1) My Love of Pie is Always Trumped by my Hatred of Soup (A timeless masterpiece. Equivalent of Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Nevermind all rolled up into one).

Top Songs:

10) Her Theme (intriguing, with shades of second wave feminism leaking through the guitar licks.)

9) I Told You (The vocals remind me of the time Cookie Monster was put through a garbage disposal.)

8) Cockroach Colored Wings (That guitar solo, wow, it was like hearing the voice of...Jerry Springer!)

7) Banished? (Too industrial. But those bass lines are to die for.)

6) Brick's Theme (The closest thing to an aneurysm captured in digital code)

5) Walrus Intro (The best opening number to an album. Ever. Take that SLTS!)

4) Byzantium Part 2: Brick in the City of Byzantium (I was always confused as to whether this was a religious allusion or talking about a long trip to 7/11)

3) I Don't Wanna Be the Same (Totally overplayed on the radio, but I still love it.)

2) Juiced Walrus (Grabs you by the balls and then quickly lets you go as the song continues.)

1) Byzantium (Perfection.)

I'll start tomorrow.

I beat the game 4 years ago (more or less). Now I'm finally that level. Long live Big Boss!

Also, I'm in a production of Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape" this semester.

I can't wait for Columbus day. I've been waiting for some free time to record a new track or two. I'm going to finally record the track for the song that i posted a while ago as "untitled guitar solo" as well as one or two more.

peace!

Yesterday I went to see Motörhead perform at the Roseland Ballroom.

The evening started at 7:30 with three opening acts. The first two were kind of generic so I'm not going to talk about them much.

Then there was Valiant Thorr. The best of the three opening acts. The lead singer was hilarious. His little mini speeches between songs were the best part of the band's set. The music was cool too.

Then it was time for the main event. None other than Triple H showed up to introduce the band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je8R3Ai0YjI

They started off with hits "Doctor Rock" and "Stay Clean".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4FbyHFe9NE

They played a mix of old and new songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lht_9GQsE04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiPgg_TJWwg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A3D0HYGZAo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S91WQAyDJ6U (actually Killed by Death)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsB0RoFbxrI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBBPowtJjp0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hx2-af3R6o

They even played a Thin Lizzy Cover, Rosalie, as a tribute to Phil Lynott.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPU1TL7-uAw

I've included the videos that I was able to find but they played for over an hour and a half (including both a drum and extended guitar solo)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYBfK16uz4 (Drum Solo)

Then came the moment everyone was waiting for: Ace of Spades!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adsL04u0LdE

Then came the awesome show closer: OVERKILL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62uUmUodRH8

The show was amazing (and exhausting). The pit was crazy. I got beer spilled over me. People all around me were smoking various things. People were pushing and shoving. There were some surprisingly hot women in the crowd, a definite plus. I was close to the front so the bass was really strong. My ears are still ringing! but it was totally worth every minute of it.

Overall: Motörhead gets an A. The Gods of Heavy Metal!

The keyboardist for legendary rock band Pink Floyd died at the age of 65 today. Without his work on the keyboards, Pink Floyd would have been incomplete. Even though Syd Barret and especially Roger Waters and David Gilmour got the most credit, Rick's contributions were fundamental to developing the sound of the Floyd. His immense creativity and talent will be missed. Please enjoy him performing one of Floyd's best compositions: Echoes.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kQNFyEI2rs

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sein6WnbY0

OK.

1) I go back to college for my senior year on September 2nd.

2) My band is now on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mikesfdupjourney Please add me to your friends list if you're on the site.

3) I'm on Last FM (as a user). brickmanfalcon is my Last FM ID...easy to remember, right?

4) I find it weird that Last Fm listed Jimi Hendrix as being On Tour. He's been dead for almost 38 years. Let me guess, he's touring with Elvis.

5) Can i borrow 5 bucks? I'm good for it.

6) The meaning of life is 42. If Bruce Dickinson said it, it must be true.

7) "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"

8) My life is a progressive rock double LP.

*fade out*

I realize that my previous post may have been too heavy for an entertainment based site. But it was relevant to me...so i did post it. I just felt betrayed by American and European news outlets who are continuing in a tradition of ignorance and misinformation when it comes to their coverage of Russia. I got it out of my system, more or less, and would like to thank everyone for allowing me to do so.

i want to return back to normal now, business as usual.

I began to ponder "how do i cheer myself up?" I figured it out and i would like to share it with you now.

Please enjoy the video...it is relevant to what I've discussed and it also ROCKS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmW8bNvxv0

In case you haven't heard, hundreds, if not thousands of innocent civilians (and United Nations appointed peace keepers) living in the Southern Ossetia region of Georgia were slaughtered in cold blood by Georgian military troops. The attacks coincided with the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing. Following the attacks, Russia sent in troops to stop the Georgians from completely wiping out the Ossetian population. Since then, Russia has come under criticism from the western press in a case which only demonstrates how extreme of a double standard exists in the press.

Southern Ossetia lies directly between the nation of Georgia and the Russian Federation. During the soviet era, the whole region of Ossetia, and its people was united and families lived freely within both the northern and southern regions of Ossetia. With the collapse of the soviet union, the region got divided. Northern Ossetia went to Russia and Southern Ossetia "belonged" to Georgia. If you can imagine, the Ossetian people did not like being divided. Many Southern Ossetians have obtained Russian citizenship and have maintained close ties with Russia.

The relations between Ossetia and Georgia have not been as good. This recent attack marks the third attempt by Georgia to get rid of the Ossetians in order to get the land away from them. Their previous attack in 1994 was the reason why UN peace keepers were stationed in the region in the first place. The use of aggressive, lethal force marred the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

But if you watch the news in the west, all you'll hear are the viewpoints of Georgians, who are seeking NATO membership. What this presents is a completely lopsided, inaccurate vilification of Russia by both the Georgian leadership and the western press. A brilliant plan by the way. Georgia goes into Ossetia, kills entire villages of their own people, provokes Russia to come to the defense of the Russian citizens living there out of moral concerns, and then Georgia spins the whole thing as Russia's fault. Brilliant, if genocide and media manipulation is your idea of brilliant.

Bravo Georgia! Thanks for playing into the artificially induced fear, hatred and distrust of Russia that western Europe developed and America perfected.

I'm sure now we'll see more Russian bad guys now in our movies (Red Dawn 2 anyone?), video-games (Freedom fighters 2) and other media. Thank you Georgia for stopping the healing process that followed the cold war and reopening the wounds that everyone who grew up during that time still have and dumping salt into them. Thank you for increasing the probability of having an aneurysm in people who love both America and Russia who now have to suffer from the complete misrepresentation of the events happening in Ossetia in the western media. Thanks for taking humanity in general two steps backwards.

In closing I would just like to say: All i wish is for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and an end to the misrepresentation of Russia in the media (perhaps the latter request is too lofty, unfortunately). I have nothing against the Georgian people. Russians and Georgians are brothers. That will never change. It's unfortunate that certain Georgians choose to stab their brothers in the back. What I want is for humanity to move beyond choosing sides and begin to mend old wounds and secure a more prosperous future for everyone.