Monthly newsletter 2023
#5

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INTRODUCTION
HIGHLIGHTS
A very definite highlight this month was on S6E14 where we revisited Extreme’s ‘Get the Funk Out’. The song has one of Nuno Bettencourt’s most amazing solo’s.
Other than the technical wizardry his tone is brilliant. Don’t take it from me, check out what Brian May had to say about it.
Nuno was featured a lot this month and we discuss how on-form he and Extreme are as evidenced by the 3 tracks released off the forthcoming album called Six.
Another highlight was the TSORR podcast moving up a position on the Feedspot 35 Best Rock and Roll Podcasts. We are now sitting at No 11. Listenership for 2023 is looking like the Bitcoin graph, please spread the word to fellow lovers of rock and metal.


ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
Each week we look at four albums from a particular year, the game is you are only allowed to have one. Typically, it is very, very difficult to choose, most people find they have made a choice and then as we start to hear a song off each album, they change their mind. But the Ultimate Challenge is “gun to the head” stuff, you can only pick one. In April we looked at 1997, 1985, 1976, and 2014.
1997

I’ll Get Even (Megadeth), Du Hast (Rammstein), Everlong (Foo fighters), and Ten Ton Hammer (Machine Head). Megadeth took the honours.
1985

Sink the Pink (ACDC), Planet of women (ZZ Top), Small Town (John Mellencamp), and Rattlehead (Megadeth). Megadeth took it again.
1976

Tarot Woman (Rainbow), The Ripper – (Judas Priest), 2112 (Rush), Detroit Rock City Kiss), Don’t look Back (Boston), Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy). Thin Lizzy by popular vote
1976 was an absolute monster, as well as the four that were chosen for the challenge it was a year that gave us Frampton Comes Alive, Station 2 Station, A Day at the Races, High Voltage, and Hotel California. It was impossible to get it down to four so for the first time ever we ended up with six. Destroyer and Sad Wings of Destiny are very special to me personally and I probably listen to 2112 more than any of the others these days but Jailbreak took it on the popular vote.
2014

American Dream Plan B (tom Petty), Same Damn Life (Seether), In The Clear (Foo Fighters), From The Ashes We rise (Accept). Accept squeezed in by a last-minute vote.
THE IMMORTALS
The month kick off with Metallica’s ‘One’ off …And Justice For all. This is a phenomenal track and Kirk Hammett shines throughout. James Hetfield wrote it about a soldier who lost his legs, face and arms and is consequently a blind, deaf, mute who cannot write and has no way to communicate to anyone. The lyric was based on Dalton Trumbo’s book “Johnny Got His Gun’. It is horrifying just thinking about it. Metallica released a video for the track using clips from the movie and the anti-war theme was clear to all. Up until this point Metallica had largely shunned video, believing it distracted from the music. ‘One’ changed this and marked a turning point whereafter they had very successful video releases.
In S6E15 The Immortals track was Kiss with ‘Cold Gin’, I took a bit of flack for that, some saying it is not an Immortal track at all. I guess it depends on whether Kiss were a band that got you into Rock Music in the first place, those who know will know. What Cold Gin has on display is that swagger and flair that Ace and Peter bought to the band. It was a magical point in time.
S6E16 featured Creedence Clearwater Revival and their incredibly contagious classic ‘Keep on Chooglin’. It led to a flurry of people googlin’ chooglin’ only to find out it is apparently a made-up word that is generally considered to mean keep on going or keep on keeping on.
We wrapped up the months Immortals on S6E17 with all 9 min of Rory Gallagher’s ‘A Million Miles Away’. This version came off Irish Tour ’74. Gerry McAvoy shines on bass throughout.
NEW RELEASES
Buckcherry dropped another track off the soon to be released Volume 10 album, and we took a listen to it on S6E15.

On the same episode we listened to a brand-new track of the forthcoming Ian Hunter album Defiant pt 1. You got to love Ian Hunters optimism; the dude is 83 so Pt 2 needs to be done pretty quick. He has a huge array of guests; Todd Rundgren, Mike Campbell, Slash, Jeff Beck, Johnny Depp, Duff McKagan, Joe Elliot, Rob Trujillo, Billy Gibbons, Waddy Wachtel and, on the track, we played, Stone Temple Pilots Eric Kretz, and Dean and Robert De Leo. The album dropped in full on 21 April and it is fantastic.


The big news was the release of Metallica’s 72 Seasons, it popped out on 14 April and made it to TSORR S6E16. As always it is love and hate with Metallica, mixed reviews all over the place. I am in the love camp and do not understand the hate at all. None of the world’s biggest bands are going to come out with something they haven’t done before, not The Rolling Stones, not ACDC, not Iron Maiden, and not Metallica. And if any of these bands did something radically different (like say, Lulu) the haters would say they sold out anyway. The official TSORR viewpoint is that it is a solid Metallica album, it gets 8/10 and they remain one of the greatest Metal bands of all time.

The new Overkill, titled Scorched is really strong and we featured that throughout the month, the last few Overkill albums are to my ears the best releases they have ever done, Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth and the lads are like fine wine.
Dave Hause (I recently learnt that its pronounced like pause not like house) dropped another track off the forthcoming Drive It Like it’s stolen called ‘Tarnish’ and its goosebumpingly good.

He is easily one of the most talented lyricists around. The full album dropped on Friday 29 April so it will feature heavily I the May episodes. I gave it a 10/10 and we will see if Dave responds 😉
IT’S WHAT YOU SAY THAT COUNTS
On TSORR we love lyrics as the credits below.
ONE LAST TIME
Life’s been a losing game
Every day the same
An impossible dream
A cog in the machine
If I don’t make it now
Don’t think I ever will
So, what now?
Patience is running out
It’s wearing thin
Feels like I’m slipping
Losing ground.
Arch Enemy, 2022 (S6E15; [02:32:28])
I love the way she sings the last bit, like she is speaking to herself and everything around her is falling apart.
TARNISH
I found a silver bracelet that I bought for my first wife
Found it tossed into that box from when I lived another life
I found a silver tooth that got punched out when I was drunk
Back when every night was wild before I lived here like a monk
I found a silver bullet I had stashed here in my safe
Behind 16 grand in cash in a box marked just in case
I found your silver train between the cushions of the couch
And my knees gave out
It’s coming and it’s gonna be a long night
When you find tarnish on the relics from my past lives
I hope it doesn’t pull the glimmer out of your eyes
Take it easy on me
Dave Hause, 2023 (S6E16)
SAME DAMN LIFE
Come smoke a cigarette and let your hair down
Then pray for the rain to go away
I’m trying to forget I let us both down
Then pray for the sun to come again
I never thought I could feel so small
But you’re the one that can’t live without attention
I never thought I would lose this all
But you’re the one who needs the fucking intervention
Seether, 2014 (S6E17)
SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE
In April we got to talk again to Jessy Switchblade of Deadline. The next single Vitriol off the Vitriol Inc album was released, and we spoke to him about it. As always with Jessy, the short 5 min chat turned into 8 minutes ad could have gone on for an hour. It’s because Jessy is so full of energy and ideas we get on a roll. I will have to do a full-length interview when the album drops. Check out the videos below for ‘Vitriol’ and a track we played last month called ‘My Sweet apocalypse’. They are super entertaining, and the music brings it all to life. I have been asked to review the album so I will keep you posted on that.
I had a good chat to Tyler Duggan and Maroney Todkill of the band Marene. We spoke about their brand new single ‘Thrills in the Night’ and then we took a listen to the track. If you like your ‘80s type guitar driven rock, then you will dig this band. Their live show is by all accounts spectacular. You can catch that interview and the track on S6E17.
CHEERS @#$%’s
The April shows discussed in this month’s newsletter can be heard on S6E10 – S6E17. Feel free to drop me a message on The Story of Rock and Roll Facebook page or via email at thestoryofrockandroll1@gmail.com.
For those of you who are new to TSORR here are the quick references to find The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show:
THURSDAY’s Live on Rebel Rock Radio from 19h00 – 22h00 South African time. www.rrr.cat
FRIDAY’s on Bulldogs Radio [6:00]-[7:00] PM catch TSORR Turbo https://bulldogs-radio.com/, respectively.


PODCAST: The three-hour show is available as a podcast on most popular podcast sites, including Apple, Overcast, Castbox, and Google, or get it here at the host site https://www.buzzsprout.com/273305.
TSORR PLAYLIST: For Spotify junkies you can get TSORR Best of the Month playlists at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6dfJz2DNDh6z5UswxTpmSZ
We also heard the first track released off Greta Van Fleet’s Starchaser. The track is called ‘Meet the Master’ and its great. I think Greta Van Fleet are now embracing their inner Led Zep and so they should, you can’t fight it if you happen to sound like Robert Plant, all power to you. It’s like being told you can’t run the 100 metres if you happen to be as fast as Usain Bolt. With GVF nowadays it’s more than just the voice though, it’s also the amazing acoustic guitar work which is also reminiscent of Jimmy Page’s work on Led Zep III.
