Gibbo

I love da Coop ... although he's had more ups and downs than a whore's underwear .... 'Billion Dollar Babies' (when it was still the Alice Cooper BAND) 'Welcome To My Nightmare' (70s solo) 'Constrictor'/'Raise Your Fist And Yell'/'Trash' (80s resurrection) 'The Last Temptation'/'Brutal Planet' (90s/end of the century) 'Along Came A Spider'/'Welcome 2 My Nightmare' ... Damn! This is a hard one!

Watched 'Furry Vengeance' with my eldest daughter ... What WAS Brendan Fraser thinking??

I think I've even been in LA Guns ...

You're forgetting that they sound like shit on the album ...

So is it possible that an artist can have two peaks? and if so who would qualify? Aerosmith, Kiss and Whitesnake? I'd certainly agree that Aerosmith have peaked twice (see earlier post! ) I'd also say that Van Halen fall into this category ('Fair Warning' and 'Balance' for me, at least) I'm an 'old-school' Whitesnake fan, and not really keen on what they've done since Dave discovered MTV and the bleach bottle, but I know there are some strange people out there who like both incarnations I haven't really listened to KISS properly since the days of 'Animalize' ... apart from the odd song, here and there ...

Anthrax ... I'd go with 'Persistence Of Time' ... 'Among The Living' was good, but 'PoT' has the edge (I saw them with Iron Maiden at the time of 'PoT', and they were superb!) Slayer ... again, I'm usually swimming against the tide when I say that I think 'South Of Heaven' was their peak ... it combined the nastiness and venom of their earlier material with songs that didn't just fly by at 'however-many-bpm-Lombardo-could-manage' ...

I know I'm probably in a very small minority, but 'So Far, So Good ...' resonates with me far more than what came afterwards. Like I said, I'm a big fan of everything they did up to 'Youthanasia', but 'So Far ...' is the last album where they sounded truly snotty and belligerent ... they seemed to grow up after that I'm forever arguing with my mate James about Whitesnake - he prefers their post-1987, MTV-friendly, arena rock ... I prefer their 'bluesier' material (although the remixed version of their 'Slide It In' album, with John Sykes adding guitar, is pretty good ) I do like me some Dokken ... 'Tooth And Nail' just stands out for me - plus, it's got my absolute favourite Dokken track, 'Don't Close Your Eyes' I like 'The Crimson Idol', but it never did it for me in the same way that 'The Headless Children' did.

My kids tell me off if I call the first (1977) film 'Star Wars' ... I should be calling it 'A New Hope', apparently ... I can remember queueing around the block with my Dad to see 'Star Wars' and 'The Empire Strikes Back' ... I can't watch 'Return Of The Jedi' now that Hayden Christensen has been added at the end instead of the guy who originally played Anakin ... thanks, George!

'Dog Soldiers' ...

Whitesnake have managed something like 32 or 33 different members over the years ... Cradle Of Filth are currently up to 39 (albeit that some of them were only ever touring members) ... surprisingly, Rainbow have only had something like 25 different members ...

Okay, so ... Aerosmith - 'Rocks' (their 'Toxic Twins' peak) and 'Pump' (when they were 'clean') Motorhead - for me, creatively, it has to be 'Orgasmatron' (although, commercially, they probably peaked well before that) Megadeth - a tough one this, for me ... I love all of their albums up to 'Youthanasia' ... but if I had to pick one as my defining 'Deth album, it would be 'So Far, So Good ... So What!' Tesla - 'The Great Radio Controversy', with 'Psychotic Supper' running a very close second, creatively ... Def Leppard - 'Hysteria', no question ... I like a lot of what they've done since, but they didn't put a foot wrong on that album LA Guns - I never really bothered with Phil and the boys outside of their debut ... Scorpions - Love At First Sting Whitesnake - I think I've probably said more than enough about how I don't like anything they've done since 'Slide It In' ... their peak, for me, has to be 'Come An' Get It' Dokken - Tooth And Nail Cinderella - Long Cold Winter Great White/Harem Scarem/Kix/Slaughter/King Kobra/House Of Lords - never bothered much with any of these bands, aside from the odd track (or, in Slaughter's case, their debut ... although I saw Great White support Alice Cooper ... they were ... okay.) How about W.A.S.P.? I'd say that they never bettered 'The Headless Children' ...

I used to buy Classic Rock regularly (until, as others have pointed out, it went downhill) ... now I pick up back issues from a local market every now and then for a fraction of the cover price (and all with their cover CDs, etc.) I read Kerrang! religiously when I was in my teens (who remembers the 'controversial' Prince cover?) It's been shite for years now ... I subscribe to 'Zero Tolerance', which is aimed at the more extreme end of the musical spectrum.

That's exactly what happened to us! One of the headaches: the bloody trains were cancelled. Several times. We waited about 1 hour in bloody Luton 'cause of that. The kids were tired, the grown-ups were tired, everybody in the freaking town were tired... I'm just waiting for it to get a bit warmer, 'cause THEN the overhead wires apparently sag in the heat ... which means that the trains can't run ... You couldn't make it up! its as bad in the winter - one leaf on the line and the trains stop (although my line is pretty good now) and a sprinkle of snow and the country grinds to a halt. Which line do you use, Glen? I use the Liverpool Street line, and it's been a bit of a joke recently (especially in the evening) ... it's like they're surprised if it rains/snows or if it's hot ...

Really? Why's that? Because we (over 40) were teenagers in the golden era of great music. Hell, yeah! My cousin is considerably younger than I am, and he's ALWAYS moaning about how he never got to see (insert name of any prime 80s/90s band here) ... I never wind him up about it. Honest.

I certainly don't FEEL old - although my kids do like to tell me just how ancient I am I just remembered a couple of other songs that have made it onto various 'party' compilations over the years: Aerosmith: Dude (Looks Like A Lady) and Rag Doll Warrant: Cherry Pie AC/DC: Highway To Hell

AC/DC - I've never been a fan of Brian Johnson so for me it would be Highway To Hell Judas Priest - Painkiller Guns n' Roses - Appetite Motley Crue - Dr Feelgood? Kiss - Classic era i'd say Destroyer. The 80's kiss resurgence how about Crazy Nights. Metallica - ...And Justice For All Van Halen - It's most likely 1984 Queensryche - Has to be Operation Mindcrime When it comes to the Crue, my favourite album was, is and will always be 'Shout At The Devil' ... I know most people cite 'Feelgood' as their peak, but I think there's some serious filler on that album ... I never really liked 'Justice' - that was a real dip after the brilliance of 'Master of Puppets' ... long, rambling songs, and a lot of it blurs into one for me When it comes to DLR-era Van Halen, 'Fair Warning' always tops '1984' in Gibbo Towers - there's more 'light and shade' on the former, while the latter contains 'Girl Gone Bad', which has me reaching for the 'skip' button every time ... I think with Hagar they went out on a high with 'Balance' Queensryche? 'Mindcrime', no question. What about, say, Aerosmith? Or Motorhead? Megadeth? Tesla? Blimey, you could go on forever!

Ha! Ha! Ha! I'm not talking about their creative prime - any fool knows that was their debut (I'm just glad Axl didn't get his way and have 'November rain' included on there!)

Haha! We truly live on the upside down version of that here in Australia. The moment a drop of rain falls the trains here all explode and they can't move anymore and every single one has to be delayed or cancelled completely. Apparently trains and tracks in Australia are not waterproof. If our rail companies ever start buying up rolling stock from Down Under, this country is f***ked!

That's exactly what happened to us! One of the headaches: the bloody trains were cancelled. Several times. We waited about 1 hour in bloody Luton 'cause of that. The kids were tired, the grown-ups were tired, everybody in the freaking town were tired... I'm just waiting for it to get a bit warmer, 'cause THEN the overhead wires apparently sag in the heat ... which means that the trains can't run ... You couldn't make it up!

The Smiths? You mean hardly anyone's favourite? A bit harsh!

45 ... hurtling towards 46 ... I'm so old, I saw the original Gn'R line-up in 1988

Morons who can't bear to take their eyes off their phone - even when they're walking along the pavement. No, that's okay - I'LL get out of YOUR way!

Now this has got me thinking about other bands that I listen to a fair bit ... Iron Maiden (for me, it would have to be the late '80s - probably 'Seventh Son ...') AC/DC (they're always brilliant live, but I don't think they've released a truly great album since 'Back In Black') Judas Priest ('Painkiller') Guns n' Roses (I know most people would say that their 'Illusion' days were their peak, but I'd say they never really matched the snarling brilliance of their debut) Motley Crue? KISS? Metallica (the 'Black Album', no question - mit's all been a bit shite since then) Van Halen? (I'd be interested to know what people think) Queensryche? Um ...

For me, their peak came with 'Keep The Faith' (which I think is by far and away their best album). 'New Jersey' gets played a fair bit (although I skip the ballad), and I like 'These Days', but nothing much after that grabbed me. Once again, I'm swimming against the tide when it comes to their debut (I like 'Runaway' and 'Roulette', that's about it), and there's only one song on '7800' that I like so, hey, what do I know?

Nice! Love that Icon Its good not great. np Swedish Erotica - s/t (Another disc which has not aged well) Yeah - I used to listen to this one a LOT ... now, I find myself skipping a lot of the tracks