I think…

I should have done my L&OA term paper on a topic like “The Iliad in Metal”. Damn. Now I want to write something like this. 😦

Music and Myself.

Saturday I came home.

Today was Monday.

For past two days, I’ve been listening to music and watching TV.

It’s now that I appreciate my PMP. It is really great.

And also VH1.

VH1 has a couple of great programmes now. There’s one called Sunday Brunch on Sunday from 11:00 AM. It features a different artist every week. So far they’ve had Sting, Steven Tyler, Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. This Sunday it’s gonna be Madonna so I’m happy to miss it. They talk about the artist, to the artist and show concerts and videos. Quite cool

They’re having a series called “Gods of Guitar” this month. They talk about great guitarists and play videos and concerts. They’ve had David Gilmour, Pink Floyd, John mayer and Eric Clapton. The Pink Floyd episode was cool because they showed a documentary on the making of The Dark Side of the Moon. They showed how they used synthesizers, multi-tracking, adt, flanging and other sound effects on it. I wish Big Al had set that in our course instead of Quadrophenia.

Quadrophenia is good, no denying that but still, The Dark Side of the Moon was released in March 1973 and Quadrophenia in October 1973. The Dark Side of the Moon was recorded at Abbey Road Studios just like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Dark Side of the Moon would have been perfect to show the progression of sonic experimentation that he showed us with The Beatles. The lyrics of both are cool, but The Dark Side of the Moon is a shade better in my opinion.

This week they’re going to show Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Mark Knopfler and someone else whose name I forget. The whole of this week, I think plus Saturday the whole show.

CNN has a show on Iron Maiden on Saturday at 2:00 PM, I think.Check your local listings. It’s called Behind the scenes with Iron Maiden and features backstage footage, concert videos and interviews.

Nat Geo’s Air Crash Investigations are great. The way they examine everything is so professional.

Animal Planet still rocks and so does Discovery.

The History Channel has this cool series called Biography. Today they showed Al Gore. Their Jumbo Movies are also nice.

Meow FM(104.08 FM) may call itself “India’s first just-for-women radio station” but Friday to Tuesday, after 10:00 PM they play cool english songs. Friday they play Old Classics, Saturday Hip-Hop Monday Soft rock and Tuesday Pop. Sunday, they play listener requests. Friday nights they also have a band playing unplugged. One of these played a song by Susheela Raman. Nice songs. A little bird(which is big and bald) informs me that her albums are there on rapidshare and other such sites. I did not tell you anything about where to get them, understand?

Coldplay released their latest single “Violet Hill” from their new album Vida la Vida or Death and All His Friends for free. It was free till May 6th. I have the song. I’ll pass it on, if you want it.

I have to read the Iliad, The Orestia, Book Six of the Aenid, A bunch of Horace’s Odes and two books(Genesis and The Gospel of St.Matthew) and a chapter(Chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel) from The Bible. I’m leaving out The Aenid.

I wonder if I would get marks if I handed in a CD with Manowar’s song Achilles,Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts, Blind Guardian’s song And then there was Silence and Led Zeppelin’s song Achilles’ Last Stand. Probably not. BTW, listen to the songs. Quite cool, if you like that sort of thing.

Also managed to find a video of Avial’s Nada Nada

That’s all for now. Chow

Update: Google search informs me that this week, the fourth is Led Zeppelin. Hendrix and Led Zep are going to be Video Shuffle shows. Knopfler and Deep Purple are gonna be Concerts(A Night in London – Knopler, Live in California ’74 – Deep Purple). Saturday 11:00 AM onwards.

Oh Well, wherever, wherever you are….

Iron Maiden’s gonna get you

Yes. Iron Maiden shall get you, no matter where you are. 😈

If you have just crawled out from under a rock, or are one of those who think Justin Timberlake is a rock star 🙄 Then Know that Iron Maiden is a Metal God. One of the most influential and successful Heavy Metal bands in history, Iron Maiden have contributed to the rise of Heavy Metal in a way that very few can match. Part of the NWOBHM, Iron Maiden have gone on to become one of the Ubergroups of Metal and Rock.

Why this sudden outpouring of praise? No reason, Just that since the Honours papers are over, I have been blowing my eardrums out by listening to Iron Maiden and Dloading their songs.

Iron Maiden’s songs are not your typical Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll songs. They take their history and literature seriously. I mean, Just look at some of the themes that their songs deal with…

• The Iron Maiden ( a 17th century torture device)
• The Phantom of the Opera (A gothic novel)
• The Prodigal Son (The New Testament guy)
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (An Edgar Allen Poe story)
• Hallowed be thy name (dealing with the feelings of a man about to be executed)
• Number of the beast (Against Satanic Rituals)
• The Flight of Icarus (From Greek Mythology)
• The Trooper (about the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War)
• Quest for fire ( based on mankind’s discovery of fire)
• Where Eagles dare ( Based on the Clint Eastwood movie)
• 2 Minutes to midnight (based on the Doomsday clock)
• The Duellists (Bruce Dickinson is a fencer)
• Alexander the great (based on the great conqueror)
• Fear of the dark (supposed to be based on Steve Harris’s fear of the dark as a child)

and of course…
Rime of the ancient mariner. The entire poem told in a 14 minutes heavy metal song. Head-banging poetry. So cool, I love it. Harris managed to get the poem into a heavy metal song.

Of course, All of Iron Maiden’s songs have some theme or other, These are just some of the songs I’ve heard or have. Not an extensive list I know.

And it’s not just the themes…the innovative riffs, beautiful guitar solos, the structuring of the songs, I could go on and on.

Of these my Faves are Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Hallowed be thy name and Number of the beast.

Could someone get me Iron Maiden’s song “Iron Maiden” from their album “Iron Maiden”? I can’t find it anywhere except on sites which only let me listen to it, not DLoad it. 😥

PS: Anyone who disagrees with my opinion of Iron Maiden shall be eaten alive by me. You have been warned.

PPS: If you don’t know about the themes in the song, use Wikipedia.