Planet V12 is flooded with blogs and articles that deal about virtualization, clouds and all the other stuff we “nerds” talk about. Well I guess it’s time for something different. I’m gonna write about music. Some of you that know me for a bit longer than the 10 months that I’ve been blogging, know that I’ve always been into music. Actually before this blog started taking up all my spare time I wrote a lot of music reviews and did a lot of interviews. Those who are into hardcore-punk and or metalcore might know AsIce.net, and some of you might even remember MOW-Zine.com. I was part of both E-Zines. I started MOW-Zine back in 1997 and it became one of the most well known hardcore E-Zine’s in Europe. After 6 years of hard work I noticed that it was impossible to maintain the E-Zine with such a small team and we collaborated with BtB and Opposite and called our new website AsIce.net. AsIce.net is still around and going strong, definitely the best Hardcore-Punk E-Zine in Europe.
Anyway, that’s a bit of history… so as I said this is going to be about music. Although I used to listen mainly to hardcore-punk my taste and interest shifted a bit, this is what I’m listening to at the moment:
Anthrax – Madhouse
I think that Anthrax is one of the coolest bands around. Especially Madhouse is a song that’s really close to some of the hardcore bands I really love like for instance Leeway. Madhouse has got a great vibe, and Joey’s vocals are superb. When I started out listening to metal, Anthrax was one of the first bands that really struck me, and made me realize that I wasn’t like all the other top-40 listening kids in my school… From that moment on I started listening more and more heavy music, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, Testament and Suicidal Tendencies were my favorite bands! These bands made such a big impression on me, they will be in my top 10 list forever I guess.
Oasis – Champaign Supernova
Don’t know what it is with English bands. For some reason I just love them. Oasis, Blur but also new stuff like Arctic Monkeys(old yellow bricks), The Rifles, and the Editors … I just love these bands. Although it’s not like the usual stuff I listen to for some reason this tends to stick. I usually listen to to this to clear my mind, when I’m driving home from a tough day at a customer site and I’m still thinking about stuff I should have left behind when I left the building. Champaign Supernova is one of the best songs, in my opinion, although the lyrics don’t make much sense but for some reason I just love it. And somehow it reminds me a lot of the good times I had in high school(and still) with my friends and family(you know who you are!).
Sick Of It All – Just Look Around
Sick Of It All is one of the best hardcore bands ever in my opinion. Especially their early stuff gets the adrenalin pumping. They’ve did so many live shows and still they play every show as if it’s their first, enthusiasm, energy, outspoken… those are the keywords. Sick Of It All is probably also the band that got me into hardcore in the first place. Their music was something I never heard before, I used to listen to metal a lot but Sick Of It All crushed all these bands with their fast, loud, aggressive and energetic sound without trying to sound demonic or pretend they are tough guys. Straight up old school hardcore just the way I like it.
Machine Head – Old
Machine Head’s Burn My Eyes is probably one of the best metal albums ever. Every single song on this album sounds furious and has got such a great groove. I picked this song/video because this was taped during the legendary Dynamo Open Air of 1995. Dynamo Open Air was the coolest festival around and in 1995 over 110.000 metalheads, punks, skins and hardcore kids visited this festival. (Yeah that’s right one hundred and ten thousand!) I’ve seen so many great bands perform on the DOA stages and got to know so many cool people. It’s a shame that DOA isn’t around anymore, thanks city of Eindhoven for destroying the best festival in the world.
Pearl Jam – State of love and trust
This song isn’t on the list because it’s just the best song Pearl Jam ever wrote. In my opinion this song also represents an era, Grunge. Bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden had a unique sound and created a complete new genre. Their music was raw, rock ‘n roll and alternative… something that I was heavily interested in at that moment. Nirvana and Pearl Jam have always been my favorite bands. I think that Nirvana is the best grunge band ever, but the album “Ten” by Pearl Jam is the best album ever made. Every single song on that album strikes me, I can listen to this album over and over again. Although State Of Love And Trust isn’t on this album I do think it represents what Pearl Jam stands for… just listen to it:
For those more into hardcore and or metal, check out this Mix Tape Archive @ AsIce.Net. It contains some great stories and tracks!