|
|
|
C O L U M N S
|
The Necrofile
|
|
The Necrofile – Issue 13
Welcome to a special Year End issue of The Necrofile! The Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
scene was certainly charged up and electrified in 2003! From old bands to fresh bands to
glam bands to Nu metal bands. Metal is probably as diverse as it's ever been. By no means
do I intend to be all-inclusive. Here is what I thought were some of the highlights
and lowlives of the previous year. If you want news on your favorite bands, be sure to use
our search feature.
The Good, the Bad and the Noteworthy
---------------------------------------
At least 100 people are dead after a Great White concert's pyrotechnics apparently ignited
highly flammable packing insulation into a massive fire that destroyed Providence, Rhode
Island-area nightclub The Station. Guitarist, Ty Longley, also died in the fire. The grand
jury investigating the Feb. 20 disaster indicted Russell's tour manager, Dan Biechele, and
club owners Jeff and Michael Derderian on 200 counts each of involuntary manslaughter. All
three men pleaded innocent.
The war on file sharing continued with the RIAA filing copyright lawsuits against computer
users its says are illegally distributing songs over the Internet. Some embarrassing
subpeonas included a twelve-year old and a retiree. People laughed off an "amnesty
offer" and downloading remained high. Over priced CDs with few good songs was usually
cited as the personal excuse, but alternative pay-for-use applications have sprung up.
Ironically, Metallica, who helped bring down Napster, may have fueled more file-trading by
fans who bought into the hype of "St. Anger" and now want to sample songs before
they buy.
2003 Grammy Winners:
Hard Rock Performance: All My Life, Foo Fighters
Metal Performance: Here to Stay, Korn.
Ozzy and wife Sharon Osbourne, stars of MTV's reality series "The Osbournes",
raked in about $60 million last year. Much more on them later.
AC\DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Black Sabbath were once again been
snubbed by the voting members.
Black Metal band Cradle of Filth cracked the Billboard Top 200. "Damnation and a
Day", landed at #140 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart in its first week in release.
Metallica was honored on mtvICON by such varied, yet odd performers including Avril
Lavigne, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Snoop Dogg, and Sum 41.
Appearently still kickin ass on the wild side, a lawyer for MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince
Neil entered a no contest plea to misdemeanor battery in an assault involving a record
producer outside a Sunset Strip nightclub last year. Vince also faces charges of striking
prostitute, Trixxxie Blue, at the infamous Bunny Ranch.
ROB ZOMBIE's "House Of 1,000 Corpses" opened with a weekend gross of earning an
estimated $3.4 million. Look for a sequel from Rob.
A jury Thursday rejected a wrongful-death claim against rock drummer Tommy Lee for the
drowning of a little boy during a children's birthday party at his home. The Superior
Court jury took less than three hours before returning the unanimous verdict in the
lawsuit over the 2001 death of 4-year-old Daniel Karven-Veres at Lee's Malibu home.
Headbanger's Ball was resurrected for MTV2 with Metallica as the debut guest host.
Stone Temple Pilot's singer Scott Weiland was released on $10,000 bail after police
arrested him for investigation of cocaine and heroin possession. He would later join up
with ex-Guns 'N Roses members in Velvet Revolver and spend plenty of time in rehab. He
also filed for divorce from his wife and was arrested on charges of driving under the
influence of alcohol and misdemeanor hit-and-run following a traffic collision that
occurred in Hollywood in Oct. Pretty chaotic year for Scott if you ask me.
The term "Headbanger" was added To Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
defined as both a hard rock musician and a fan.
After more than 12 years apart, Judas Priest and original lead vocalist Rob Halford have
reunited for a global live concert tour in 2004 which will also celebrate the band's 30th
anniversary. Previous singer Ripper Owens jumped over to Iced Earth.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, the "hard music" sector, which encompasses heavy
metal and aggressive-leaning rock, showed a staggering upswing. Sales soared 232% over the
first half of 2002.
Two members of black metal band Sol Evil whose lyrics call for the murder of all
Christians were sentenced to a total of 40 years in state prison for firing seven shots at
a building from a moving car — without causing a single death or injury. Because the
target of the attack was an evangelical Christian drug rehabilitation center, the incident
was labeled a bona-fide hate crime, which automatically doubled the prison sentence in
question. Forty years for a drive-by that missed...OUCH!
Cops say they still have no motive or suspect in the killing of Dee Snider's
brother-in-law, Vincent Gargiulo, who was shot execution style with one bullet in the face
shortly before 7 a.m. on West 30th Street as he walked to work at a Con Ed construction
site.
Rolling Stone magazize got a few folks to arch their backs up a little with their
"Greatest Guitarists of All Time list that had Jimi Hedrix at #1, Kurt Cobain of
Nirvana at #12 and Eddie Van Halen at #70.
An elaborate Guns N' Roses concert hoax resulted in the sale of 3,000 "tickets"
to a fictitious show by Axl Rose and Co. in Budapest, Hungary. The alleged scam began
several days ago when large posters began popping up around the city inviting the public
to attend the only Hungarian show on GNR's "Chinese Democracy Tour".
Legendary hard rockers MOTÖRHEAD were inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk Monday Sept. 1
during a ceremony at the Whisky A Go Go on Sunset Blvd. Lemmy characteristically gave the
blocks of cement the finger. He did not set his moles in the cement though."
Industrial hard rock band Hell On Earth gained world-wide press by claiming that a fan
would kill himself on stage as an act of euthanasia. It never happened and the band found
out how metalheads really dislike having their chains yanked.
The Smoking Gun reports that Limp Bizkit were sued Wednesday (October 8) in Chicago by 172
concertgoers who claim they were ripped off when the rap/rock group ended a July
performance after only 17 scintillating minutes. The breach-of-contract suit seeks a $25
refund for each attendee at the July 26 show, which also featured Linkin Park and
headliner Metallica.
Veteran death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE recently reached the one-million mark for combined
sales of all their albums. There are also noted as being the highest selling death metal
band of the Soundscan era.
Heavy Metal actually got some cable exposuse on a non-music based show when Suicidal
Tendencies vocalist Mike Muir recently allowed cameras into his house for the filming of
the 13th episode of the new Discovery Channel show called "Monster House". I
don't recall much metal being played, but it is press and Mike didn't do anything to
embarass the metal community. Of note, his house had Asian/African/Aboriginal influences,
not Satanic.
In August, Osbourne was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during
the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field in Chicago. He slurred his way through the
song, mangling the familiar lyrics. Prescription records show that Dr. David A. Kipper had
Osbourne on an array of potent drugs — opiates, tranquilizers, amphetamines,
antidepressants, even an antipsychotic, according to the report. Kipper charged the couple
$650,000 for his services from June 2002 until they fired him. Dr. Allan H. Ropper, chief
of neurology at Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston weaned him off Kipper's
medications and wrote him prescriptions for three drugs, primarily to treat what the
singer described as a hereditary tremor.
A day after he failed to return to prison as scheduled following a short leave, Varg
Vikernes was captured by the Norwegian police on a highway outside the country's capital.
Varg "Greven" Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnack) is serving a 21-year sentence
for the August 1993 murder of Mayhem guitarist Oystein Aarseth (a.k.a. Euronymous), the
burning of three churches, and the resulting death of a fireman.
Stratovarius inked a brand-new three-album deal with Sanctuary Records which is said to be
worth approx. $3.5 million. Guitarist Timo Tolkki then shook up the band line up by
removing 3 members including the vocalist.
The Osbourne camp went into overdrive with a new book, Ozzy commenting on childhood sexual
abuse, Sharon's revelation that she slept with late guitarist Randy Rhodes and Ozzy's ATV
crash which sent him into intensive care.
Major Tours/Shows
-------------------
Summer Stadium Tour (Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones, Mudvayne)
Ozzfest
Lollapalooza
KISS/Aerosmith
Godsmack
Iron Maiden, Dio, Motorhead
Poison, Vince Neil, Skid Row
Blackest of The Black (Danzig)
Metal Gods Tour (cancelled)
Relapse North American Contamination Tour
Rock Never Stops (Whitesnake, Warrent, Slaughter, Kip Winger
Wacken Open Air
Maryland Death Fest
Download Festival
Metal Mania Fest
Sweden Rock Festival
BW&BK 6-Pack Weekend
Milwaukee Metalfest XVII
toronto SARS concert
Bloodstock 2003
Bang Your Head Fest
G3 '03 (JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI, and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN)
Official Band Endings
-----------------------
Coal Chamber
Pantera
Quiet Riot
Mr. Bungle
Immortal
Reverend
Zonata
Ironfire
Septic Flesh
Farewell
---------
Ty Longley - Great White
Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta - Impaled Nazarene
John Ridge - EF Band
Bruce Waibel - Firehouse
Myk Taylor - Angel Witch
J.D. Kimball - Omen
Guy Speranza - Riot
Sign on the Dotted Line, Please
--------------------------------
Adrenaline Records - Silencer
Amputated Vein Records: All Shall Perish
Arise: Highlord
Capital: Jane's Addiction
Century Media: Nightrage, Watch Them Die, Turisas
Crash Music: Soulless, Hypnosis
Diamond Productions: Golem, Disinfect
Earache - Blood Red Throne
Escape Music - Midnight Club
Forever Underground Records: Decrypt
Generation Records: Seven of Nine
Hammerheart - Arthemesia
InsideOut Music America: Magellan
Lion Music - House of Shakira
Massacre Records: Duke
Metal Blade: Disillusion, Rival, Shining Fury
Mystic Prophecy: Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast: Secret Sphere, Mystic Prophecy, Fireball Ministry, Cathedral, Deathstars
Imperanon, Sonata Arctica
Peaceville: Charger
Prosthetic: Byzantine
Reality Entertainment - Requiem
Regain Records - Danzig
Relapse - Suffocation
Roadrunner Records - Cradle of Filth
Sanctuary: Anthrax, Stratovarius, Brides of Destruction
Scarlet Records: Rosae Crucis, Blinded Colony, Agent Steel
Spitfire Records: Therapy?
SVP: Iced Earth, Life of Agony, Rhapsody, Nuclear Assault, Skid Row, Sepultura
Z Records: Enzign, Black N' Blue, Steelheart
--Nailer
Other Maximum Metal Columns
<< back >>
|
|
|
|
SITE FEATURES
|
|
|
|
|
Links to Visit