Multi-Station Bands: Bon Jovi, KISS, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Co.

You did have a few older bands that got radio play on both stations. Bon Jovi and KISS are two bands that come to mind with 2000’s Crush and 1998’s Psycho Circus, respectively. They’re both bands from roughly a decade or two prior to the late-90s and had hits or singles you could hear on either format.

Of course, the hard rock station played the most known songs. Even at night, you weren’t getting the cuts that fans would love nor were we getting bands outside of the well-known ones—at least in my market. It’s to be expected with the influence some bands have or had on broadcast radio even when old songs are the focus.

A band that existed in an interest spot is Red Hot Chili Peppers. My hard rock station was odd in that you could hear RHCP songs from the 90s which seemed to be the cutoff for everyone but Metallica and Megadeth—but more so Metallica. For Red Hot Chili Peppers, the starting album for tunes on both stations is 1991’s  Blood Sugar Sex Magik which was loaded with hits—pretty much like Californication in 1999.

On mainstream radio, it’s as if the first four albums—seven years of music—didn’t exist. For someone who likes to dive into a band’s early stuff, it was like Evil Dead or Friday the 13^th and the first films in both franchises. Yeah, you could watch them but if you didn’t, you weren’t missing a ton.

The Xtreme Block

A bit of detour before we get in the most memorable block on our hard rock station: the Xtreme block. Over on the alternative rock station called the X—truly creative—there was an evening block called “Xtreme X”. This block usually ran on Saturdays starting at 9PM and featured mostly nu metal and modern—at the time—hard rock acts. So we’re talking Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, KoRn, Linkin Park,  Mudvayne—with Slayer, Fear Factory, and Hatebreed thrown in the mix.

Fear Factory always stood out to me because they were always a featured band on shows here around Halloween time. I’d say it just isn’t a Halloween advertisement without Fear Factory and Sloss Fright Furnace being mentioned. In the case of the contemporary bands on the station, you could hear their most recent songs during the day and throughout the week, but on “Xtreme X” the DJ would give you something else off an album—and even off older albums!

If a lot of that sounds dated, you’re not the only one who thinks so as the station changed formats several times over the years. Then you have the Eagle which held its format.

Time to Get the Led Out

The block you could always count on over on the hard rock station was the Led Zeppelin marathon. The voice tag would proclaim “It’s time to get Led out!” every day at 5 PM Central. It was always with an echo and one of two songs would fade in: “Immigrant Song” or “When the Levee Breaks”. You’d think they would mix it up but nah. Mind you, you wouldn’t know which of the two you were getting but it was just those two songs to kick things off during 5 o’clock traffic.

I guess you couldn’t be too picky if you on your Led Zeppelin options pre-streaming, pre-mp3 players, and while you’re stuck in some sluggish traffic. If you were unfortunate enough to be stuck in traffic the whole hour, you likely heard “Stairway to Heaven” close out the Led block.

While we’re in a time where radio isn’t the main method of enjoying music, what memories do you have of rock radio? Was it the broadcast blocks? Marathons? Winning tickets? Requesting songs? Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; James “Metal” Swift Jr.

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I always found that interesting as both genres were formed around the same time—later 1970s—in different regions. You had The Cramps in New York forging what would be psychobilly and Misfits in New Jersey doing their thing with horror punk. You’ll notice a lot of that in rock music with subgenres being influenced or coming out of a genre that formed less than a decade prior and sometimes in the same decade.

My favorite example of this has always been thrash and power metal coming along in the early 1980s out of speed metal which came about later in the 1970s. However, we’re getting into what is horror punk.

What is Horror Punk?

The short, layperson’s definition is “horror-themed punk rock.” That’s incredibly simple but that’s what it is. The genre came formed right alongside hardcore punk at the tail end of the 1970s with both genres having roots in punk. It’s the lyrical content other formative genres that separate them. In addition to punk rock, and horror punk has roots in 50s doo-wop and rockabilly.

A way to look at it is similar to the metalcore debates of the 2000s where the question was if the band’s sound was more hardcore punk or metal in nature. Psychobilly is definitely has more of the rockabilly sound in it than horror punk which has more of a hardcore punk sound.

Remember, it formed at the same as hardcore and the pioneering band—Misfits—often player on shows with hardcore punk acts early on. At that time, the make distinguishing feature of the music was the horror lyrics. Of course, in later releases, the doo-wop sound would be mixed in and even be the main genre of their 1999 release Project 1950, a cover album of 1950s hits.

Acts to Check Out

As always, we’ll definitely get into individual albums but first, a few bands to get the ball rolling and tune your ears if this isn’t a genre you’re familiar with. At the top is Misfits, not checking them out while diving into this genre is similar to not checking out Judas Priest or Black Sabbath if you’re getting into heavy metal from the beginning.

Some listeners might recommend Samhain and I was hesitant because I didn’t want to mention two Glenn Danzig acts but this band has significance to one of the genre’s pioneers. Samhain was formed after Danzig—vocalist of Danzig—left Misfits in 1983 after the band broke up the first time.

The significance comes from being the not-so-missing link between the punk stylings of Misfits and the heavy metal/doom metal approach of early Danzig as it featured both a horror punk and a metal sound. It’s an approach that Misifts would take in their non-cover projects once the band reformed in 1995.

Another to check out is California’s 45 Grave, formed just as the 1970s came to a close. Like Misfits and the offshoot Samhain—as well as Doyle—you’ll get some extra sounds because they perform a strain of horror punk called death rock in addition to goth rock. It’s not a jarring change in genres either. If you’ve checked out our pieces on Blind Guardian and Running Wild, those are bands that started as speed metal and within the same decade began forging power metal.

There’s little difference from the speed metal that brought those bands to the dance and the very early power metal outside of a change in lyrical content for Running Wild. In the case of 45 Grave, goth rock mixes in well with its punk offerings as the content is within the same bag.

For a somewhat more recent sound, 1999’s Black Sails in the Sunset by California act AFI features the band moving from a purely hardcore punk sound to a horror punk/death rock sound.

To those who enjoy horror punk and death rock or play in such bands, give us and other readers some recommendations and let us know some of your favorite albums and bands.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

First of All: What Is Occult Rock?

I will say that it’s also that we’re in the middle of a revival for the quasi-genre. Occult rock is similar in phrasing to glam metal.

Like the 80s glam metal bands, today’s occult rock bands come from different genres—mostly progressive rock, doom metal, and heavy metal—but it’s the lyrical content that puts them under the “occult rock” label.

Looking at 80s glam, most of the bands involved were either heavy metal bands that weren’t the heaviest out or hard rock bands that were heavy metal adjacent.

In the case of occult rock, the lyrical content is more on darkness, systems of magic, horror tales, and old religions and ceremonies. Occult rock’s roots are in the late 1960s progressive rock and psychedelic rock movements.

During this time in music, you have a ton of rock bands that were heavily inspired by blues and folk music. The political climate of the time saw more left wing-leaning tunes about peace, love, life, and just getting along with each other.

In the background you had the slow wheels of the U.S government turning to make changes, riots because things weren’t moving fast enough, and war–there were still noticeable problems.

The summer of love was impacting society and the end of it would impact things further.

As with any period in music, you also have bands that adapt to the sounds being developed in that decade that aim to push it further. This push could come in the form of complexity, atmosphere, or lyrical content.

Like, sure, there were tons of anti-war folk songs and some early hard rock was on tap but what if someone made folk songs about witchcraft? Or progressive rock songs about dark rites? What if psychedelic rock could sound heavier throughout an album?

What if a band did something different? Something completely outside of the usual for the times. What if there was album that sounded like its contemporaries but ran in a completely different direction.

Coven – Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reap Souls

Coven is a band near and dear to my heart. With only one notable full-length album to its name, it had a strong impact on today’s occult rock acts. While the lyrical approach is the same as it ever was, a major contribution of Coven came in the form of lead singer Jinx Dawson.

Women singing folk rock or psychedelic rock wasn’t an abnormality in 60s rock. As a matter of fact, good female vocalists have this power to their voice that can how a song sounds compared to if a male vocalist sang the same song.

To put an image in your head, imagine if Meat Loaf sang “Holding Out for a Hero” instead of fellow Jim Steinman collaborator Bonnie Tyler. Who knows, it might still be a great song or it could’ve been a B-side track that was missing something.

With Jinx Dawson, we had a female singer not only doing psychedelic rock but particularly dark psychedelic rock. This was very different for the scene and it was awesome. Also, it seemed pretty appropriate considering the violent, dangerous end of the Summer of Love with the Manson Family murders and the assassinations of JFK earlier in the decade and MLK Jr towards the end of it.

Coven’s debut a 46-minute listen featuring horror tales, dark history, witchcraft, and even part of a black mass as the band was at one time the house band for the original Church of Satan. It’s pretty much a late 1960s psychedelic outing. If the lyrics had been different and the black mass dropped, this would’ve been similar to other rock albums released during the 1960s.

The imagery and lyrics moved Coven outside of that box—although they would go in a more commercial approach with their 1970s releases.

Even in listening to Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reap Souls over 50 years later, it holds up. You could see a modern band taking the same approach from music direction to production just to create a vibe or atmosphere for the listener.

While production is much slicker today—even for amateur producers with a barebones homemade studio—the aesthetic stuck around. It adds to the atmosphere of occult rock.

Mind you, the lyrics lack the power and elaborateness of today’s song writers. Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reap Souls is an album that gets it done as a whole project.

Those lyrics might seem mediocre when pulled from the singing, production, and instrumentals but as a total package, this album is an entertaining listen. It’s groundbreaking without being the best example of the genre.

Normally for reviews I will rate the strength of the tracks on the A-side and B-side and give you the strongest songs on both. However, this album has some very good songs on both sides. It’s pretty consistent throughout, so here are the tracks to whet your palette.

Stand Out Tracks: White Witch of Rose Hall, Coven in Charing Cross, Dignitaries of Hell

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

My mother passed in January 2021 and decided to look more into bands she enjoyed such as Journey, Blondie, and yes, Heart. The first album I heard from the band was their third release Little Queen from 1977 which features a hit song we’re all probably familiar with by now.

Heart – Little Queen (1977)

Little Queen features ten tracks—twelve if you get the reissue which features a cover of “Stairway to Heaven”. The album leans towards folk rock but there are flashes of hard rock.

It’s important to note that in listening to 1970s Heart, you’ll notice that they weren’t the heaviest or hardest band in the land. A lot of the stuff from this period lean towards a lighter side but all of their songs on these releases have emotion to them.

They’re albums you have to sit with and actually take in. On each album there is some hard rock, so you’ll get that fix of music you can just enjoy and not have to really reflect on but that’s not Heart’s bag.

Which I always thought was a shame because Heart rocks out, they really rock out. The best example of the band putting these two sounds together was “Magic Man” from Dreamboat Annie.

I don’t know what it is but there’s just something about female lead singers and folk rock that just clicks. Now, I won’t say it’s hard for a female singer to mess up with folk rock but regardless of vocal range or vocal power, they just tend to gel well with the genre.

It’s no different here. Even though it’s far from my preferred genre, I dig vocalists first then guitarists. Both sisters delivered on Little Queen as they did in the two previous albums and as they would in the 1980s.

Heart was just ridiculously consistent and talented. I tend to use “vibe” a lot when discussing hip-hop but this album is very much a vibe with some harder, rocking songs sprinkled in.

You have something like “Love Alive” and “Cry to Me” right next to “Barracuda” and “Little Queen” on this release and it’s a nice mix that just works. It helps that the songs are good as well, obviously.

While I’m going to get into “Barracuda”, I applaud the placing of “Kick It Out” and “Little Queen”. It’s this double whammy of just hard rock and that gets a thumbs up from me!

Standout Tracks: Barracuda*, Kick It Out, Little Queen*, Cry to Me

The Star: Barracuda

Interesting known fact: the album cover for Dreamboat Annie resulted in one of the band’s most well-known hits. Their original label Mushroom Records released a sleazy tagline that alluded that the sisters were in an incestuous relationship.

Angry, Ann and Nancy began writing “Barracuda” which is their most known song. Trust me: if you’re an adult, you’ve run into “Barracuda” more than three times in your life. It’s like “Ace of Spades” and “Breaking the Law”.

What I really love about this particular song is that it’s the opener. When half or the bulk of your album is lighter, a heavier song like “Barracuda” is a double-edged knife.

On one hand, it’s good to get the blood pumping with a hard song. However, you kind of have to keep that tempo up. That harder song might end up being the selling point of the album or the lead single.

That creates an impression of what kind of party it is when your band might have a wild mix or were just trying something to see what sticks. Hell, your band probably thought “This is a really good song! Let’s make it the single!”

Yet the rest of album isn’t exactly in that same area or it might be another state or two over from that sound. It’s weird but “Barracuda” is such a great song. I would’ve loved an album heavy on this or the sound of “Magic Man”, honestly.

Album Verdict

It took some listens over the years for me to appreciate the album. This just wasn’t my sound for the most part. Once you appreciate an album, you might even get to enjoy it.

Right now, I’m still at the appreciation stage. While “Barracuda” and “Little Queen” are in my hard rock playlist—as is “Magic Man” and a few others—the album as a whole isn’t something that get revisited regularly.

The musicianship here is extremely tight and they use their inspirations extremely well to make some good tunes but as an entire project, I’m just in the middle on it.

As I said, this album has more of a chill vibe than what was usually on the radio at the time. Folk rock still had some skin in the rock game in the late 70s but Heart brought just enough hard rock that mainstream fans would give it a purchase.

I’ll say overall, this was a solid album. Great musicianship by all involved, Ann is a favorite of mine as far as singers go but the vibe or just how the tracks are arranged keeps Little Queen from being a strong album.

Grade: Solid Album

Staff Writer; James Swift, Jr.

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The Metal Gods had six full-length albums in the 80s and we’re saving the best for last. It’s time to see what was the Best of the Decade.

Judas Priest – Point of Entry (1981)

After seven albums and eleven years as a band, studio pressure and a desire to grow its legion of metal maniacs crept in. The result was an album that had crispy production and a more commercial sound.

To be honest, I felt it was a decent enough Judas Priest album. It was far from the near endless headbanging and strained karaoke-inducing albums it falls between.

It was a decent metal album and a good hard rock release. Despite the album, Halford brought 100-percent in the studio.

The singles selected for the album pointed to two standouts. “Thunder Road” should’ve been on the album proper to make it three standouts. Oh, we can’t forget about “Solar Angels”.

Standout Tracks: Heading Out to the Highway, Desert Plains*, Solar Angels, Thunder Road*

Turbo (1986)

When it comes to the 1980s, the above album and this one gets a lot of flak from Priest fans. For the most part, it’s the same reason: a more commercial direction impacts the music overall.

The sound, the lyrical content—a hit was taken but I wouldn’t say it was a hit to quality. As an entire album, it’s far from awful. If you look at it as a hard rock album made in the 80s, it’s just like Point of Entry in being a good release.

However, looking at it as a metal album and points rapidly get deducted. As with even the most maligned Judas Priest albums, there is some good stuff here. It’s just a drastically different sound and a familiar approach that didn’t go over well with hardcore fans the first time.

Standout Tracks: Turbo Lover*, Locked In, Out in the Cold, Wild Nights (Hot & Crazy Days), Reckless*

Ram It Down (1988)

Fourth and third place honors were difficult but not as difficult as the next two. Ram It Down came after Judas Priest’s second attempt at a commercial album with Turbo.

It’s weird because British Steel really opened things up for them and it was still very rooted in heavy metal and speed metal. They didn’t necessarily need to add more catchy hard rock but they did.

Even your all-time favorite acts stumble sometimes. Ram It Down got things back on track and would be the book end on an eventful, strong decade for the band. It also comes before my favorite Judas Priest album of all time.

As for the album’s sound, I’d throw it back to a heavier British Steel, far lighter than Screaming for Vengeance, and lighter than Defenders of the Faith. That’s foreshadowing for our top two entries.

I’d put Ram It Down as a solid introduction to the Judas Priest in the 1980s before ramping it up. However, British Steel is the better introductory album.

Standout Tracks: Ram It Down*, Come and Get It, Hard as Iron*, Blood Red Skies*,

British Steel (1980)

This was a smash hit for the band internationally. While a large amount of hit songs and catchy tunes doesn’t equal a classic, it does up the chance of a smash hit dramatically. Also, this was a lot of the world’s introduction to the band.

While Point of Entry and Turbo took a “metal for the masses” approach, British Steel was very much “metal for metalheads”. However, it still had some catchy tunes such as the band’s most known song “Breaking the Law”.  “Living After Midnight” is another hit in attendance.

Is British Steel overly introductory? Yes, but this was one hell of an introduction.

Standout Tracks: Rapid Fire*, Metal Gods, Breaking the Law*, Grinder, Living After Midnight, The Rage*

Defenders of the Faith (1984)

If one song off of this album was a silver bullet to the number one placeholder, it would be “The Sentinel”. It’s the most Judas Priest song and another in the “Metal Gods Mythology”.

However, our first entry—Screaming for Vengeance—is an entirely different beast of a metal album. It holds a first-time distinction that might not be matched for a while, folks.

Defenders of the Faith is no slouch. It features several of my favorite Judas Priest tunes and is a beast of an album in its own right. The thing here is that Defenders of the Faith has songs that really hit in that moment and there are many headbanging tracks here.

Then you have Screaming for Vengeance which sticks the landing where Defenders missed it: the ending. SFV slaps from start to finish and never lets you forget that it utterly slaps.

Meanwhile, once you get “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”, Defenders calls it a day and clocks out. It just lacked that staying power to finish strong and that could’ve been solved by using “Night Comes Down” and “Heavy Duty” to cool the listener down between the first seven hot and heavy tunes.

Standout Tracks: Freewheel Burning**, Jawbreaker**, Rock Hard Ride Free, The Sentinel**, Love Bites*, Some Heads Are Gonna Roll

Screaming for Vengeance (1982)

The band’s ninth album and part of a strong 80s trifecta with 1981’s Point of Entry stopping a three-peat. Screaming for Vengeance has a scary number of great songs.

The majority are unstoppable headbangers and the rest are still strong tunes. It’s simply a beastly album with some of lead singer Rob Halford’s best vocal performances.

We’ve got speed metal, heavy metal, and a little hard rock all in one place and none of it drags the album down. Even the mid-tempo tracks are either heavy or they just rock.

What really sells this album is the speed metal that just rides. “Electric Eye” with the “Hellion” as an intro is the best example of this but “Riding on the Wind” rips as well.

Then you have stuff with a mid-tempo but with a weight to them such as “Bloodstone” and “(Take These) Chains”.  Priest put on a first-place trophy performance with this album.

This was just an enjoyable album from start to finish and one of the band’s classics and probably the best Judas Priest album—depending on what you love from the band.

Standout Tracks: Flawless Album

Staff Writer; James Swift, Jr.

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The Return of Hirax

Why the wait between the return of the band and their fourth album? The band had been retired since 1989. That’s eleven years with not even tours in that time.

Plus, Katon was busy with life after performing as he took to working in a record store. He didn’t get stage rust and continued performing with up-and-coming and veteran bands.

Just by sticking around music, he was able to keep abreast of developments at the root level. Being in at the ground floor was an encouraging factor to reform Hirax and the band has been a cult legend since its return.

Actually, the band’s second wind has been stronger than its first run as Katon was seasoned as a musician, embraced the New Wave of Thrash Metal, and modernized the band’s sound right of the gate.

Of course, he kept the blistering speed of 1980s Hirax since that and his vocals were what brought the band to the dance in the first place. Enough with the history lesson, let’s get into 37 minutes of high-speed thrash metal with The New Age of Terror!

A-Side of The New Age of Terror

Fortunately, this album was released with a vinyl version as well. I like to split albums into A-side and B-side for these reviews. It’s just more digestible that way. Here are the A-side tracks for the 2004 offering.

-Kill Switch
-Hostile Territory
-The New Age of Terror
-Swords of Steel
-Into the Ruins
-Massacre of the Innocent (instrumental)
-Hell on Earth

The good thing about the A-side is that the majority of the songs keep the spirit of Hirax and are classic, shorter songs with a ton of power to them.

If you have heard the band’s debut and sophomore releases just know that fast, intense instrument craft, soaring vocals, and rapid but aggressive lyrics are a Hirax trademark.

What isn’t a trademark is the concentration of lengthy songs. At times, Hirax’s approach can be a bit much once the song passes the three-minute mark. It can get relentless but that’s also part of the band’s appeal.

Shorter, punishing songs will prompt you to headbang but the longer tunes—flowing into other long tracks—makes for quite the listen. Hirax shows mercy by breaking up one or two back-to-back lengthy tracks with their trademark burst tracks.

Thanks a ton for that, guys. Mind you it’s a burst track, so it’s still punishing but you can’t be choosy.

Standout Tracks: “Hostile Territory” *, “The New Age of Terror”, “Into the Ruins”, “Hell on Earth” *

B-Side

On the B-side, we have fewer tunes—four to be exact—with denser concentration of lengthier tracks. The A-side had its lengthy tracks but they were broken up by shorter, faster tracks and an instrumental.

-Suffer
-El dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) (instrumental)
-El Diablo Negro
-Unleash the Dogs of War

Now, I’ve always been a fan of short, fast track Hirax. Raging Violence is the perfect Hirax album because the longest song is a little over 3-minutes with the majority of the album’s fourteen tracks being at minimum, a little over a minute or just shy of three minutes.

Yes, we’re talking one or two-minute songs but the formula was perfect for the band’s brand of thrash metal. It made every song punchier than something meant to really showcase technical ability or to just bludgeon the listener.

You turned on the album, got ripped by raw speed, and before you knew it the next song was already here. Also, the two-minute and change average is now the norm for popular songs. That’s the window labels want artists to hit now.

Hirax has something else in its chamber before this album that is even faster than Raging Violence but we’ll look at that next time. As for the songs, they’re all good on this side.

I’m not a big fan of instrumentals, I love lyrics and singing ability but the instrumental on this side is also good. The songs that you really want to dive into are “El Diablo Negro” and “Unleash the Dogs of War”.

Standout Tracks: “El Diablo Negro” and “Unleash the Dogs of War”

Album Verdict

This was a great listen start to finish. As much as I talked about the new direction of lengthier songs, the speed and aggression never let up and that’s the stuff I love in an acts sound whether it’s rock, metal, or hip-hop.

I love music with energy and a pulse and The New Age of Terror brought that. That said, the A-side was the stronger of the two and honestly that’s only because it had more tracks on that side.

It’s recommended that you check out the band’s 80s stuff—especially Raging Violence—before getting into this album just to hear the mix of production and sound progression and keeping with the sonic assault that brought them to the dance two decades earlier.

Grade: B (Strong Album)

Staff Writer; James Swift, Jr.

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.