Bands That I Like

 141 Iron Maiden Iron Maiden Iron Maiden may have surfed in on the "new wave of British heavy metal"- the early-'80s movement that inspired Metallica and laid the foundations for death metal and thrash- bur the band never made any claims to rock & roll revisionism. Indeed, rather than spurn the excesses of '70s metal, Maiden's early output embraces them, and though Iron Maiden and Killers are full of hyperdriven blues riffs and wank-a-rific guitar solos, they're offered with such unabashed passion that even the bands most obvious moves somehow avoid sounding cliched. No wonder Maiden were the most influential English hard rockers of their generation.  After recording Killers , singer Paul Di'anno (whose work was hobbled by too much drinking) was replaced by former Samson vocalist Bruce Dickinson. Even though bassist and founder Steve Harris continued to write most of the band's material, Dinkinson's powerful, dramatic voice opened the door t...

 140 Iggy Pop & The Stooges   Iggy Pop & The Stooges  Lies, legends, half-truths, tales of drug-fueled lunacy, and wax-museum amounts of after-the-fact nostalgia will never be able to mute the stunning, violent, visceral recorded legacy of a band that made jaws drop in both horror. The difference is striking from the get-go between The Stooges and almost everybody else at the time. " 1969 ," the opening track, isn't a call to arms or a vision of an idyllic psychedelic future. It's about being bored. " I Wanna Be Your Dog " invents punk and then destroys it in three minutes by being both dumber and smarter than any punk could ever hope to be. Of the million-plus bands inspired by The Stooges later, the ones who were most successful realized that simplicity, volume, repetition, and primitivism could be a shortcut to transcendence, but that it also takes brains to get it just right. " No Fun " is so perfect it's breathtaking: Scott Ashet...

 139 Iceage Iceage I first became aware of this Danish punk band with their sophomore release, 2013's You're Nothing . I've been following their path unfold since then. I'll be straight-up: this music is not for everyone; It's chaotic, sludgy, messy, yet, somehow, still beautiful. The beauty comes in the honesty which comes with being in a punk band. It's not for glamour, it's not for the image, it's not for fashion, it's not for popularity- it's for that singular punk attitude & that punk attitude alone- and if that doesn't make sense to you- then you will definitely hate this band. But alas, all punk bands must grow from their teenage angst and finally spread their wings and find their footing as they age. Frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt expressed this growth best when he told Pitchfork, "...ideally, Iceage should not only cover the emotions that come with a clenched fist, but everything that comes with living our lives....