…and now, for a more progressive rock band.  As one of my personal favorites bands of all time, there is no way I could leave my blog without having mentioned them.  STYX has been touring since the ’70′s with only two short breaks intermixed.

Just as with any great band, they had a lot of turnover and tumultuous relationships within the band.  Members leave, come back, leave again, health issues…after writing these blogs the last few months these factors seem to be an inevitable part of being rock heroes.   Another great American rock band, they formed in Chicago, their founding members being a set of brothers and their neig

hbor, although none of them are still with the band currently.  Nonetheless, what was created cannot be stopped and after 40 years in the music business, their hits are perhaps some of the best known in rock and roll history.

Need a refresher?  Lets see if any of these tunes ring a bell: Mr. Roboto, Crystal Ball, Come Sail Away, The Grand Illusion, Lady, Blue Collar Man, Show Me the Way, Renegade, Babe, The Best of Times, and Lorelei.

How anyone could live there life without having known AT LEAST one of those songs is utterly beyond me.  I know all of them and then some.  Of course, STYX has always held a special place for me as they are one of my Mom’s all time favorite bands and without music that good and heard throughout the course of my life, there was no way it couldn’t be passed on to her children.  And it didn’t just stop at home.  When I was in high school

we performed Renegade and Come Sail Away in show choir and at invitationals I know I saw Mr. Roboto performed more than once.  When you can listen to a rock band with your mom and then perform it at school,

you know you’ve found something amazing and STYX was definitely that.

40 Years in the music business and you get to have a greatest hits album too.

Although the blunt of my music has been focused on a variety of classic rock bands, I feel the need to include at least one, very influential metal band.  Metallica hit the music scene circa 1981 and brought with it a heavier side to the rock scene.  It was dark and spoke to a voice that we often lock away and that is what makes them different, but just as important as all the other groups I have mentioned thus far.

Metallica has been active for almost 30 years now, having released nine studio albums, two live albums, 24 music videos, and forty five- count ‘em- forty five singles.  Lead singer James Hetfield’s voice is deep and menacing but can be equally as lulling and soothing in their ballads.  The guitars are laid on heavy and all of the instruments are played with impeccable skill and speed.  I am by no means a “metal-head” but there are a few bands that I am willing to make exceptions for, Metallica is absolutely one of them.  I can understand their lyrics and find the poetry in them that is often lost or completely overdone in so many other bands songs.  Metallica speaks to an angrier, pent up angst side of myself and allows me to vent that frustration by becoming lost in their music.  Songs like Fuel, Master of Puppets, Enter the Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Sad but True, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and King Nothing were, and still are, staples in metal and rock and roll history.

I grew up with my brothers listening to this music and, as a child, I hated it.  It was angry and loud and I thought it was obnoxious.  After experiencing a bit of life, I rediscovered their music and it suddenly held a lot more sway for me.  I could relate to it.  If not the words than the way the music made me feel.  So what did Metallica teach the culture?  That they were not alone.  That there were others out that there that were angry too, the pent up frustrations, the injustice, the sadness…Metallica allowed you to relate with those parts of ourselves that it has not always been socially excepted to talk about.  It is true that there are those who took it too far and wallow in their more negative feelings but for many, they were simply rock gods that allowed us to experience the most human parts of ourselves.

One word: Aerosmith.  Actually, I’m pretty sure that it’s just a name but it could probably be put in the dictionary just the same.  This band is THAT identifiable.  Long hair, tight pants, Steven Tyler’s scarf decorated microphone stand.  Aerosmith made their start in the ’70′s, originating in Boston but soon made their way across the U.S. and eventually the world.  The Bad Boys From Boston incorporated a variety of elements into their music and their presentation and throughout the years they have remained true to their style while still updating and evolving when the music sometimes calls for it.  Like any great rock band, they had their internal trials and bouts with drugs and alcohol eventually leading to the parting of founding guitarist Joe Perry and another guitarist Brad Whitford in 1979.  During that time, the band hit a recession, but the two members returned a few years later.  It wasn’t until they sobered up though that they were able to regain their former popularity. To date they are the greatest American Rock Band in history with 150 million albums sold worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

So what makes this group stand out?  How about the any one of the 21 Top 40 Hits?  These guys have been releasing music for LITERALLY 40 years.  That’s a lot of time to lay down and perfect your craft.  Here’s just a few tracks you may have heard…or rocked out to in your car at least 1,000 times:  Dude Looks Like a Lady, Janie’s Got a Gun, Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, Ragdoll, or Dream On.  Need a few more?  How about I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, Angel, Love in an Elevator, Cryin, Crazy, or Livin’ on the Edge.  Do I need to keep going?  I didn’t think so.

The music of this band has spanned decades and just keeps coming.  It gave the people something different more than just singing about life, on top of songs about love, women, and strife, they sang about what they knew best:  being rockstars.  They allowed their followers into their elite world.  Their music was catchy and upbeat.  Every time I hear Steven Tyler’s unmistakable screech I can see his squinted eyes and massive mouth gaping.  I feel the music and can’t help but nod my head and sing along.  Going to class and working six days a week, I’m sure as hell not living on the edge but for the four minutes and thirty seven seconds you better believe I’m pretending I am. You know you do the same thing.  Aerosmith is great because they aren’t just rockstars… they let us be rockstars too.

Although it is debated by some as to whether KISS is classified as classical rock or glam rock, there is no dispute that they rock.  Their music may blend into the rock scenery background, but there is one department where they clearly stood out from the rest:  Holy hella stage presence!!!  Even if one doesn’t automatically know which songs are theirs, NO ONE is ever confused by their image.  When you hear the name of the band there is already an immediate connection to big hair, black and white makeup, crazy costumes, and platform boots, making them without a doubt the most identifiable band in the United States…maybe even the world.

The KISS  stage presence was their staple, costumes, pyrotechnics, and so on, but hits like Detroit Rock City and Dr. Love didn’t hurt their reputation either.  They had dolls, posters, action figures, fans that would paint their faces to look like the band.  I know for a fact my stepdad has KISS action figures in a box home and I have another friend who’s obsessed with the band.  KISS was a love them or hate them sort of band but the only people that hated them were typically the people that couldn’t handle such an intense band, especially more religious sorts.  They weren’t too fond of the extreme sexuality and vulgarity KISS oozes out. *COUGH* Gene Simmons tongue *COUGH*  For me, KISS was absolutely and 100% themselves.  I appreciate individuality and that they most certainly were.  They were shameless and didn’t apologize for who they were.  I’m not necessarily as OUT there as KISS but rock music has always been the home for people who are out there to live.  Work hard, play hard, no regrets.

KISS in all their rocker glory

Just do it.  You know you want to.  “Whoooo are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?” Just guess which band I’ve moved to now. Haha, sorry…silly little joke there.

Yes.  The Who.  Who are they? The Who, that’s who.  Alright, I’m done now, I promise…but not really.

This British band popped up in the mid 60′s but continues to tour with one of their biggest gigs at the Superbowl XLIV this last January.  They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 (when I was just 3 yrs old).  They have influenced bands from Green Day to Iron Maiden and everything in between.  Their music was edgy and rebellious.  They rocked out and didn’t care what you thought.  They yelled, they swore, and they broke a LOT of stuff.  It should come as no surprise then that The Who have even been credited as the “Godfathers of Punk.”  One of their greatest hits was Baba O Riley or, as many know it, Teenage Wasteland, but with over 50 years on the stage under their belt you’d better believe they’ve got a laundry list full of hits.  My Generation, Who Are You, Won’t Get Fooled Again, Squeeze Box, & Pinball Wizard (which I danced to in high school show choir), just to name a few.  In particular, Baba O Riley has always struck a chord with me.  Pun intended.  The line, ” I don’t need to fight to prove I’m right, I don’t need to be forgiven” captures all of the reactance I had felt in my own teenage years and even beyond.  I can look at people and say this is what I think and I don’t have to prove it to anyone but me.  I love that edginess, the “bring it on” factor it possesses.

So what did the culture learn from The Who?  They learned to rebel, to break away, be loud, and feel whatever it was they wanted to feel.  The Who had perfect timing.  Entering the scene mid sixties, when America’s youth was already in the midst of a great change, The Who was the voice of the people.  Even now, 54 years later, I can listen to their music and feel the tension that had been thickening the air of it’s time.  It’s angry and in your face, it won’t take your shit, and it’ll do whatever it wants to do.  It’s got a confidence that not many have but everyone wants to and listening to that music, even if just for a moment, alone in your bedroom, you feel that confident too.

So now that you know who they are, who are you?  Tell me, who are you?

Journey.  Need I say more?  This band has been cranking out of my ipod on a daily basis.  Another band with awesome tunes, crazy clothes, and a vocalist that can hit the high notes with the best of them.  Power ballads were there staple.  Open Arms, Faithfully, Don’t Stop Believin, Wheel in the Sky… the list of their hits goes on and on.  Journey rolled onto the scene in 1973 out of California, another great American rock band.  They blended with the bands of the time, like Queen and Boston, and just like these other great bands it was the impact of their music that made them legends.

Love songs.  Journey knew how to bring them to life in a way that was sappy and sweet but rocked out at the same time.  We’ve all heard the uber-gooey, sweet as molasses love songs pop stars sing and their highly hyperbolized lyrics.  Super sweet, but not at all realistic.  Great for teenagers who are just starting to fall in love, but fall short for the rest of us.  Journey however takes love songs to a new level because Journey’s love song lyrics are believable.   They’re honest.  They’re awesome.  In Open Arms they sing, “living without you, living alone, this empty house seems so cold, wanting to hold you, wanting you near, how much I wanted you home, and now that you’re here, I want you to stay.” I listen to that song and can feel the pain and the honesty of love that is starting to drift apart while still wanting belt out the lyrics with all the passion of a rockstar.  I love this band because I believe this band.

They’re not just some group singing their songs.  They’re a band that’s lived their songs and had the talent to completely capture and verbalize them in a way that hits me more deeply than so many other bands.  “ I want to get back to my city by the bay” (When the Lights Go Down on the City… meaning their hometown in CA), “lovin’ a music man ain’t always what its supposed to be” (Faithfully…talking about relationships while being on tour).  Journey’s lyrics are taken right from life to the record.  I’ve never been on tour but I spent four years in a long distance relationship and I know that pain.  I’ve been there.

Then, of course, there’s Don’t Stop Believin.  I almost don’t feel the need to have to explain this.  EVERYONE knows this song.  It is sung in every bar, in every Japanese karaoke contest, every single time it is heard anywhere and everywhere.  It’s been on TV, movies, it’s referenced in pop culture, been graffitied on stop signs.  It is a universal phenomenon unto itself. Sweeping statement?  Possibly.  But it’s not far from the truth even if it is.  People have been listening to this song for decades and it still hasn’t gotten old.  I am a small town girl living in a lonely world and I probably would take a train going anywhere… probably wouldn’t hook up with a city boy from south Detroit.  BUT THE FEELING!  The song is about hope and getting out there and never giving in.  For me, this is the root of who I am.  It’s a never say die, always the optimist, holding on when you feel like letting go.  The instruments only emphasize the force of the vocals.  You believe this song.

Don’t stop believin?  No worries, Journey.  I’ll hold onto that feelin…

Although not everyone knows their name, they know their songs.  The great American rock band Boston, characterized by the incredible vocal range of singer Brad Delp, struggled for a long time to realize their dreams but finally came to national attention in 1976 with their self titled CD.  Hits like “More Than a Feeling” and “Peace of Mind” are just a few of the monster tracks to come from that album.  Although still together in 2010, the 1970′s and 80′s produced the music that they continue to be remembered for. The tunes were catchy, the music was light and energetic, and the overall effect was upbeat rock.  Their lyrics were to the point and true to life but were able to avoid being weighted down by too heavy topics.

One notable things about the band is in the very first sentence of this blog.  At a time when many of the best rock bands were coming from Britain (the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, & Queen), Boston was born in the USA.  The name of the band was representative of the city that influenced their music and style.  There was some concern that it would be seen as copying the band Chicago and their namesake but it was overruled and they ran with it.  It’s always nice to have a little home-country pride.

The song that represents this band, for me, is the aforementioned “More Than a Feeling.”  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that song and just had to sing along, squinting my eyes and belting out the lyrics when the vocals falsetto. The song runs in my veins and I can feel it under my skin.  It’s particularly special for me because it is also forever tied to a good friend of mine who used to sing it when we’d hang out between classes.  It’s his song and I can’t help but smile every time I hear it. More than a feeling?  Maybe.  More than a song.  Definitely.

All they want is to find that peace of mind. Photo source: bandboston.com

Bon Jovi formed in 1983 but it was not until 1986 with the release of Slippery When Wet that they shot to super-stardom.  On that album are a number of Bon Jovi classics but the song that would unofficially become their legacy was “Livin’ on a Prayer.”  The story of Tommy and Gina struck a chord with anyone that has ever had to struggle to survive.  Tommy’s love for music put to the side to work at the docks and Gina waitressing all day to try and make ends meet rang true for millions of people when it was released and over the years it still rings true for millions more, when love is all you have and there is nothing but to pray that you can make it through the day.  The honesty of the lyrics and the earnestness with which it was sung vocalized the thoughts of a nation.

Being a 22 year old college student who doesn’t live at home, I know all to well what it is like to work hard and still not know how you’re going to pay your bills.  So many couples can’t hold on and succumb to the stress of problems.   But “Livin’ on a Prayer” provides that beacon of hope that says “take my hand and we’ll make it, I swear.”  When it was released in the ’80′s many were struggling during the Reagan administration and the feeling is the same with today’s current economy.  Music is the blood that flows through Americans veins.  It can pull us away from feelings of isolation and give hope that we’ll be able to overcome the troubles that haunt us from the shadows.  When I hear this song, I can see my life, my mothers, my brothers, my friends…it’s a song of the working class and has earned it’s place in the rock and roll hall of fame and in the hearts of millions.

The album that brought us the anthem

A tame moment of a not-so-tame band

Queen: the quintessential staple of dramatic rock music.   They’ve been credited by some as having the greatest live show of all time.   For those of you who can’t place a song to the band, Queen is the group that brought you such rock legends as “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,”  “Bohemian Rhapsody,”" Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and “Fat Bottomed Girls.”  Although their music had a slightly different tone to standard rock for their day, there is no denying their place in Rock and Roll history.  What makes this group significant is not only what they sang about but how they presented it.  The late Freddy Mercury was the original and irreplaceable vocalist that fronted the band and who sang his lyrics with gusto and flair.  In fact, the same could be said about the entire band.  Now mind you when I say flair, I do not mean emphasis… a lot of bands carried their weight in that category.  No, when I say flair I mean utterly dramatic.  Overemphasis.  Flamboyant. The kind one would see in musicals or theater. OKLAHOMA! has nothing on this band.  They were high energy, glammed out, balls to the wall out there.

It follows simply that there hasn’t been a band before or since that has come close to covering the  aura of that which was Queen.  Culturally, they took the world by storm.  They gave the world a band that was tongue in cheek and unashamed. Their band was also one of the first to use synthesizers, bringing a new element to the music scene.  They would often use vocal harmonies that allowed the songs to sound as though there was a whole choir behind them and while in concert Freddie always incited heavy crowd involvement.  As I said, dramatic.  Originating in the UK, the band released 15 studio albums and 5 live albums.  The death of Freddie Mercury in 1991 due to complications with the AIDS virus was a heavy loss although they later decided to continue on with their music as Queen + Paul Rodgers (not to replace their beloved vocalist).   Still, forty years after hitting the scene their music is alive and well in the culture and can be heard everywhere from movies, to the club scene, to sports arenas around the world.  Once Queen hit the scene, there was no going back.

Why hello there and welcome to my world. Mwahaha!  This blog is going to be centering around the theme of music, classic rock to be more specific, and how the music effected not just me but the culture in general to be even more specific.  I have always had a passion for it but there’s just something about the music coming from the ’70′s and ’80′s that captured my heart, which is fantastic because I wasn’t even born until 1987.  The music of Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Queen, and Journey, among many others, were the voice of the nation and what they brought to the culture was an irreversible change.  Society, as a whole and its pieces, would never be the same.

As for me, I’m Alyssa.  I like to laugh, smile, dance, read, write, draw, and (of course) listen to music. I’m someone who loves to sit and listen and sit and talk.  In school, you would know me as a Psych major and English minor.   I used to be an English major and it’s still my passion, so don’t let it’s current title fool you.  I am not afraid to throw down the grammar hammer (as my brother calls it) if I notice you’re spelling the wrong form of “there” or putting punctuation outside of quotation marks.  It’s a quirk.  As a senior at UW-Whitewater, the real world is knocking at my door and I find myself both hesitant and excited to answer it.  I love the learning environment that college creates even if I don’t always love the homework that comes with it.  But the world will not wait for me to make up my mind and I feel I like I’m ready to go out there and take it on equipped with my trademark smirk, witty sarcasm, never-say-die attitude, and a fully charged ipod loaded to the gills with my favorite classic rock tunes.  So feel free to comment, question, and respond to anything.  I’d love to hear what you have to say.

"...and how does that make you feel?"