By Steve Newton Remember how you'd set the needle down on the opening track of a new rock album and the first tune would just blow you the funk away? Me too. "(Ain't Nothin' But a) House Party" (Bloodshot, J. Geils Band, 1973) "All the Way From Memphis" (Mott, Mott the Hoople, 1973) "Already Gone" … Continue reading The 70 greatest opening tracks of the ’70s
Tag: KISS
Mötley Crüe’s debut album gets double duty on Music to Crash Your Car To, Volume 1
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 18, 2003 By Steve Newton Eighties L.A. glam-rockers Mötley Crüe borrowed well from their ’70s New York counterparts, KISS. The Crüe took a bit of KISS’s makeup and leather outfits, and a lot of its penchant for on-stage theatrics. Both groups had a habit of recording horrible ballads … Continue reading Mötley Crüe’s debut album gets double duty on Music to Crash Your Car To, Volume 1
Pseudo Echo rock and rolls all night and turns Vancouver into Funkytown
chris cameron photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 18, 1987 By Steve Newton Like most Aussie rock 'n' roll bands, Pseudo Echo shuns the fancy costume/big hairdo approach on which many British and American acts rely. Like their countrymen AC/DC, Angel City, and Midnight Oil, Pseudo Echo lets its own particular brand of music do the … Continue reading Pseudo Echo rock and rolls all night and turns Vancouver into Funkytown
Kiss’s first-ever box set is a Kiss completist’s wet dream
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 2001 By Steve Newton Musicwise, I’ve always thought that Kiss went downhill after the release of its third album, Dressed to Kill. Of course, as rock history has proven, the band actually started to get hugely popular just after that, with the release of its 1975 double live … Continue reading Kiss’s first-ever box set is a Kiss completist’s wet dream
Remembering Kiss before the reunion tour got Gene Simmons back in diapers
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 29, 1996 By Steve Newton If you were a rock-loving teenager in the ’70s, you probably have some kind of Kiss story to tell. Maybe you made your own outfits and played in a Kiss air-guitar band (“I wanna be Ace!”), or painted a black star around one … Continue reading Remembering Kiss before the reunion tour got Gene Simmons back in diapers
Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars in 1985: “Without groupies, I probably wouldn’t have been a musician.”
mila geran photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 29, 1985 By Steve Newton Outside the hotel a huge tour bus sits, the dust on its sides inscribed with messages like "The Crue Rules", "I Love You Vince", and, strangely enough, "KISS". Inside the lobby, a gaggle of pubescent females are trying to weasel information out of … Continue reading Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars in 1985: “Without groupies, I probably wouldn’t have been a musician.”
Rob Halford says that Priest, Maiden, AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, and Slayer have all stood the test of time
By Steve Newton Back in 2015 I interviewed Rob Halford in advance of Judas Priest's doubleheader at the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver. When I asked him if there were any newer metal bands that had blown him away lately the 64-year-old "metal god" went off on a bit of a tangent. "They're all over the place, … Continue reading Rob Halford says that Priest, Maiden, AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, and Slayer have all stood the test of time
Rick Nielsen calls early to talk Cheap Trick and Vancouver’s “cannabis people”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 19, 2001 By Steve Newton Rock stars don’t always call on time. Sometimes they don’t even call at all. And it’s a rare occasion when they actually call early. So when Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen rings up from Phoenix a good 10 minutes before our scheduled interview time, I’m caught … Continue reading Rick Nielsen calls early to talk Cheap Trick and Vancouver’s “cannabis people”
Static in Stereo sets the controls for the heart of the seventies
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 5, 2001 By Steve Newton A silver Keith Richards–style skull ring catches the glare of the dressing-room lights as Todd Kerns wraps his fist around a can of Coke. The blue and red dragon etched on his right bicep, a ringer for Ozzy Osbourne’s chest tattoo, quivers slightly as … Continue reading Static in Stereo sets the controls for the heart of the seventies
Eric Carr claims he’s still a fox as Kiss recruits Mark St. John and unleashes Animalize
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 28, 1984 By Steve Newton It was a snowy and cold January afternoon in 1975 when several high school friends and I headed off to the second Vancouver appearance of an up-and-coming rock band named KISS. Almost all of us had our well-worn copy of the group's first album and tunes … Continue reading Eric Carr claims he’s still a fox as Kiss recruits Mark St. John and unleashes Animalize
Alice Cooper on KISS, Marilyn Manson, Johnny Rotten, and the Peter Pan syndrome
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 9, 1999 By Steve Newton Last month, a feature-length movie about four rabid KISS fans, Detroit Rock City, was released across North America. It was basically a Gene Simmons–bankrolled homage to his own band, which took glam metal to the extreme in the ’70s and won over legions … Continue reading Alice Cooper on KISS, Marilyn Manson, Johnny Rotten, and the Peter Pan syndrome
When Aerosmith sold its soul to Sony and flew me to Toronto to watch
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 13, 1997 By Steve Newton TORONTO—For the past quarter-century or so, Aerosmith has been doing things in a big way, as befits a band with combined worldwide sales of more than 70 million LPs, tapes, and CDs. When the time came to promote its 12th studio release, Nine … Continue reading When Aerosmith sold its soul to Sony and flew me to Toronto to watch
That wild ’70s weekend when Kiss brought the glam and the Pistols brought the punk
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 5, 1996 The Rocket really nailed it. The Seattle music paper’s latest cover sports hilarious caricatures of Kiss’s Gene Simmons and the Sex Pistols’ Johnny “Rotten” Lydon, under the headline “Geezers of Rock”. A prune-faced Lydon is depicted with bloodshot eyes, slobbering all over himself, wearing a button that … Continue reading That wild ’70s weekend when Kiss brought the glam and the Pistols brought the punk