Thursday, June 01, 2006

Food For Thought

So, I was watching Heavy: The History of Metal and The VH1 Rock Honors the other day. Yeah, I know...metal bah.

Heavy was a pretty good set of documentarys if you like the subject matter. But don't even get me going on the use of the term Glam to describe 80's "hair metal." Everybody, okay well at least Nick Hornby, knows that Glam is T-Rex, David Bowie, and the New York Dolls (Robert Palmer and Roxy Music too) and not Poison, but that is another story (you can always watch Velvet Goldmine for a fictional version). To make a long story short, I enjoyed the show, but what really capped it off for me was last night's Rock Honors. The highlight for me was Godsmack doing a Judas Priest medley. I normally hate medley's but Godsmack really adapted the music of Priest well. Their medley made a great opener for the Priest themselves.

On the weak side was the All American Rejects version of Def Leppard's "Photograph." To be honest the whole Leppard segment was pretty weak.

The irony of watching bands like Priest (Breakin' the Law and Hell Bent for Leather) hobble around on stage like geezers isn't lost on me, but Priest let the music do the talking and focused their performance on the music and it worked. The band's proficiency carried them through, they seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves, and they rocked. Leppard on the other hand seemed lathargic and lazy when performing their own music. Their notes were flat and the guitar work harried. When Brian May, of Queen, came out with Leppard for their cover of T-Rex's "Twentieth Century Boy" they did liven up and appear to enjoy themselves. Kinda sad that they are more excited about other people's music than their own, though they were still overselling it. I don't know how you oversell a Glam tune, but they managed.

Back to Priest/Godsmack. A part of the Godsmack medley was the classic Electric Eye, which regardless of where you stand in today's political climate provides food for thought.

Up here in space
Im looking down on you
My lasers trace
Everything you do

You think youve private lives
Think nothing of the kind
There is no true escape
Im watching all the time

Im made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean

Im elected electric spy
Im protected electric eye

Always in focus
You cant feel my stare
I zoom into you
You dont know Im there

I take a pride in probing all your secret moves
My tearless retina takes pictures that can prove

Im made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean

Im elected electric spy
Im protected electric eye

Electric eye, in the sky
Feel my stare, always there
Theres nothing you can do about it
Develop and expose
I feed upon your every thought
And so my power grows

Im made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean

Im elected electric spy
Im protected electric eye

Protected. detective. electric eye

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