Riki Rachtman Discusses The Lasting Impact of Headbagers Ball

Check out this clip from our interview with Riki Rachtman! We asked whether he thought that Headbangers Ball changed the culture of the 80s or captured the culture of the 80s.

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/BPjSJxp5u4Y?si=tSEOixyk-XvV_GQ9

 

Our 10 Favorite 80's Metal Music Videos // Rock of Aging // Headbangers Ball

In this episode of Rock of Aging, we crank the volume and fire up the TV for a celebration of our favorite 1980s metal music videos. Back when MTV ruled the culture, videos weren’t just promotion—they were events. Bigger hair, louder guitars, cinematic concepts, wild performances, and enough smoke machines to fill an arena.

Dave and Erika each count down the videos that defined the era for them—from arena-ready anthems and sleaze-soaked party clips to dark, dramatic epics and pure headbanging chaos. We talk about which bands understood the power of image, which videos still hold up today, and how visual style helped turn hard rock and metal bands into larger-than-life icons.

We each picked our five favorites -- and we had only one overlap! Can you guess which video?

For Dave's (Not So) Deep Dive, he is talking about a recent box set from the 80s band, Hüsker Dü. The collection, 1985: The Miracle Year, features professionally captured live recordings from this legendary band from throughout 1985. For Erika's Atmosphere Check, she brings us back to 1980s basement culture. If you had a basement in the 80s, you were no doubt camped out down there every Saturday night for Headbanger's Ball

Rock of Aging Episode 9: Ranking the KISS Ballads: The Good, The Bad, & The Sappy (VIDEO)

Today's video is the ninth episode of Rock of Aging: the series where my co-host Erika and I explore the depths of our "hair metal" past, and try to discover what it is about the music of that era that has kept us captivated for decades. Rock of Aging is your go-to spot for 80s metal conversion and community.

This month, we're talking my all-time favorite band, KISS. We haven't done any KISS themed videos yet on this show, so we really took it to another level for this one! Knowing Erika's fondness for the 80s metal power ballad, we decided to look into KISS's contribution to the genre. Kiss has released ballads in the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. But which ones are the best?! Which ones just suck?

We attempt to answer this seemingly unanswerable question and we rank the Ten Best Ballads from KISS!

Rock of Aging Ep. 3: Unsung 80s "Hair Metal" Greats (VIDEO)

This month's video is the third episode of the "Rock of Aging" series. In this series, my co-host Erika and I will be exploring the depths of our "hair metal" past as well as trying to discover what it is about the music of that era that has kept us captivated for decades. It's your new, go-to spot for 80s metal news and conversation!

In this month's episode, we begin with a little bit of news on the solo band tour from Gene Simmons of KISS. Is this something you are planning to attend? Why? Why not?

After the news, we immediately jump - head first - into our selections for best, underappreciated or unknown 80s metal bands. These are hardly the only ones we could have chosen. I'm guessing we'll be revisiting this subject again...

In this episode, we talk about Electric Boys, Lillian Axe, Kix, Bonham, Rock City Angels, and Black 'N Blue.

Do you have any recommendations for "lost" or "unsung" 80s metal bands you'd like us to check out? Leave them in the comments!

Rock of Aging Episode 2: Our "Alternate Big 4" of Hair Metal / 80s Metal (VIDEO)

Today's video is the second episode of the "Rock of Aging" series. In this series, my co-host Erika and I will be exploring the depths of our "hair metal" past as well as trying to discover what it is about the music of that era that has kept us captivated for decades.

In this month's episode, Erika and I offer up our selections for an "alternate" Big 4 of 80s metal. Most people associate the "Big 4" to mean the biggest, most successful thrash metal bands of the 1980s: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. But that leaves a lot of amazing bands from the 80s out in the cold.

Naturally, Googe A.I. had something to say on the subject, and offered up the following as the "Big 4 of Hair Metal": Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Posion, and Ratt. But Google didn't exist in the 80s, and Erika and I did, so our opinions are clearly more relevant. So, we have made our own alternate "Big 4" of the 80s.

Before we get to our choices, we both present some news items from our 80s metal favorites.

Steel Panther LIVE at The Admiral, Omaha, NE 4/18/24 (PHOTO)

Caught the hair metal parody band, Steel Panther, last night at The Admiral. The show was okay. It was pretty funny at first, but the joke wore out pretty quickly. Besides, I actually lived through the era. It was better the first time around...

Steel Panther at The Admiral, Omaha, NE 4/18/24

Raise Your Hands To Rock: Being a Kid in the 80s Metal Scene (Part One) (VIDEO)

Hello, friends, and welcome to the latest video. This week, I continue to mine the depths of my hair metal past with a series of collaborative videos with the Youtube channel, lostmixtapes (https://www.youtube.com/@lostmixtapes). If you're familiar with either of our channels, you probably associate them more with Alternative, indie, or singer/songwriter type of music. But did you know that we both share something of a heavy metal youth?

We were both teenagers in the 1980s, and we both became transfixed with metal before we left elementary school! We wanted to do this video to try and explain how we became so fascinated with this music, and why some of those artists continue to remain fascinating to this day.

Further into the video, we discuss things like drawing band logos on your school books, who actually "killed" hair metal, bands that used to frighten us as kids, and the dividing lines drawn between glam or "hair" metal and thrash metal. This is part one of a two part video. Part Two will be linked once it is posted.

My Incomplete Collections: Blue Öyster Cult // Vinyl Community // Hard Rock // Classic Rock

 

BEST DEBUT ALBUMS: Iron Maiden 'Iron Maiden' //Heavy Metal / 80s Music / NWOBHM

 

Dumb and Dumber: Bruce Dickinson Says Something Really Stupid

Look, I actually like Iron Maiden. I do. I have at least a dozen albums, and listen to the band quite often. But that doesn't mean I won't criticize them when a member says something ridiculously dumb. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson said the following:

"The closest the 'art establishment' ever came to embracing metal was punk. The reason they embraced punk was because it was rubbish and the reason they embraced rubbish was because they could control it. They could say: 'Oh yeah, we're punk so we can sneer at everybody. We can't play our fucking instruments, but that means we can make out that this whole thing is some enormous performance art.'"

I mean...what a dumb ass. Er, sorry, dumb arse. The art establishment "controls" punk. WTF? Look, all commentary about music is opinion, but this comment is just dumb. Sorry, Bruce, you don't have any idea what you are talking about. It's like I said in a comment on Facebook, it's like criticizing classical music for having too few guitar solos.

I'll heed your advice on dungeons & dragons in song lyrics, but as for your take on music other than metal...I'll pass.

The 1980s Return To Oklahoma

For just $325 you, too, can re-live the hair metal heyday of the 1980s at the 2nd annual Rocklahoma Festival. On March 4, reality TV star and sometime lead singer of Poison, Bret Michaels, along with a reunited Warrant (Whew, glad they are back. What would a festival of washed-up butt rockers be without the guys who brought you, "Cherry Pie") will hold a press conference to announce the line-up and all of the details about the successful oldies review.

The festival, which will also feature performances from Vixen, Krokus, and Tora Tora to name a few, is scheduled for July 10-13, 2008 in Pryor, Oklahoma.

I'm not too cool to admit that there was a time when I liked much of this stuff. In my defense, I was 14 and it was 1985.

From what I remember, there were always more hot, slutty women at glam metal shows than at indie rock gigs. I wonder if this will still be the case in 2008.

A Heavy Metal Hangover?

I worked an extreme metal show last night and am feeling the after-effects of that this morning. Six bands in six hours all playing the same two chords and grunting in the exact same way. There was one exception, I guess. One of the bands was instrumental, and they were my favorite. Still, that is the nature of the concert business. You can't only work shows you like.

No real complaints about the night (other than the music). There were no fights, the show was basically on schedule, and the band members, girlfriends, and "merch guys" were all pretty nice. If I had to complain, however, I would say that when I went to heavy metal shows as a teenager, there were a lot more girls at the shows. Not just any girls -- slutty, scantily dressed, metal chicks. There were very few of them in attendance last night. It's a minor complaint, for sure, but one that I felt like registering.

This morning I plan on listening to nothing but quiet music until my ears have recovered from all of the damage they suffered last evening.