Ranking the 2nd Wave of US Hard Rock/Metal Albums in the '70s (w/Martin Popoff)
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- Join Pete Pardo & Martin Popoff as they rank the '70s albums of Angel, Starz, Rex, Legs Diamond, Riot, The Godz, and Derringer.
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Just want to add...that you guys come across as genuine friends...very positive...love Fridays At The Funhouse...
Thanks guys, another entertaining show. As a UK resident these bands' albums were often very hard to find especially as many of them never received a domestic release over here and were only available as high priced imports and stocked by only a few specialist shops and then only in very limited quantities. They achieved an almost mythical awe at times, over here. I have subsequently managed to collect all those you mentioned here and was fascinated to hear your views on them. As ever the views expressed, whether agreed upon were well expressed and thought out and it was like listening in to 2 friends having a conversation in a pub. Thanks again guys.
Until the next Fun house.
It would be cool to see Martin and Pete attempt to rank the best heavy Canadian classics of the 70s: April Wine, Mahogany Rush, Rush, Moxy, Trooper, Teaze, Max Webster, Triumph, and Streetheart.
Trooper was pretty underrated. I enjoyed their first 2 LP's, the debut jams, and Two For the Show is very good, and produced by Randy Bachman.
Prism. BTO. Stampeders had some good hard rock in the late 70's.
@@brookekevin07 Good choices. I don't know I'd add them in there as they weren't committedly heavy metal the way the ones I mentioned were.
Starz, Derringer, Angel all great bands and should have been huge
Angel in the 70's had the greatest live show EVER;
Riot Rock City is phenomenal. Mark Reale the best guitarist no one talks about.
You guys read my mind on this one. Definitely miss the annual tour cycles with openers like this. I am loving these countdowns. Thanks. The content of the channel has been beyond outstanding of late.
Yeah a lot of those bands were hard rock as they could get for that era not quite heavy metal
but that was as hard and heavy as they were in that time period of the 70's Thanks as always
Pete and Martin.🎵🎶🎼🎤🎸🎸🎹🥁🎼🎶🎵
I've seen Angel 3 times over the last year and a half. Despite playing to small venues, they still sound amazing, the fans are die-hard, and their setlist has all the best material from the first 3 albums, as well as their strong newer albums. Gotta hand it to them for staying true to the music after so many years, when much more successful bands are phoning it in and using prerecorded tracks on their 4th multi-million dollar "farewell tour".
Great to see the love for Angel! I drove my friends crazy back in the day raving about those first two albums. The subsequent albums were okay but it's a shame they reigned in Giuffria because his analog keys and piano work on the first two was stunning.
Martin wrote the Angel book-you need to get it!
Great show. Love these bands. Angel Hell of a band, Starz 1st album Godz debut album. Which is a classic
Sabu : first self titled album with a wonderful Boston influenced sound in songs like rock me slowly and turn back..in the song wet and wild there is a huge synth solo.
Fist : Their album In the red is an amazing hard rock album with a super vocalist
Van Zant : self titled album one of the most beautiful AOR album of all times
Aldo Nova: I know...he's canadian but his first 2 albums are absolute MASTERPIECES .
Never heard. I.will check out
Aldo!
1- ANGEL/7️⃣6️⃣ Helluva BAND. 2- ANGEL/7️⃣5️⃣. 3- STARZ/7️⃣7️⃣VIOLATION. 4- STARZ/7️⃣6️⃣. Thanks Pete & Martin. Great great series 👍💯
Great list there Gary. Love these bands just like you my friend
@@logancollins7097 / thx buddy. Have great day my friend 👍💯
@@garyjoyce2160 Same to you
Love the show thank you guys 🥃
EXCELLENT BANDS AWESOME PICKS PERFECT !!!
Love the godz. Living here in cleveland i had the chance to see them many times. RiP Eric Moore. Saw them open for Kiss also . And in 77 saw Angel/babys/ godz together at music hall
Saw them with Angel in 1978 Boston-both classic bands
Love this concept and associated episodes. Keep up the great work Martin and Pete.
As a teenager from '75 to '79, Angel, Starz, The Godz, and Runaways were some of my favorite American rockers at the time along with Kiss, of course. I would have to include the band, Bad Boy, from Wisconsin, and their first 2 LP's. They were the band that made Milwaukee famous!.. 😊
And also the band, Piper, with Billy Squier, with their only 2 albums..
Loving these multi band ranking shows !
I have one Riot album and nothing else, so I don't know this catalogue at all. I'll reserve my spot for editing for our favorite Canucklehead drinking game later. 🇨🇦
Bonus words this week: Boo-gee and Garrage-y
EDIT:
Not a controversial episode this week due to lack of any popularity for these bands, but very informational. I love the Tower and have been looking for a nice vinyl copy for awhile. I think past that one only the second one interests me. I'll also look for Narita because I do like Fire Down Under as it's the only one I have of this group. Other than that maybe the first Starz album I'll check out.
This week's tallies:
Production - 10
Right? - 38 (yikes! glad I'm not a drinker 😁)
Martinisms:
Boo-gee - 1
Guitar-y - 1
Mid-rangey - 1
Uriah Heep-y - 1
Speaking of Heep I just saw them for the first time with Saxon, they were awesome! Go see them if you can.
Have a great weekend everyone and take care of one another and no drunk driving after the Friday Funhouse! 🇨🇦🍺🥃
And if you're going to any shows this weekend the same advice. Dixie Dregs/Steve Morse Band for me tomorrow.
Everything from "Rock City" to "Privilege of Power" is great stuff, although the last two are more power metal.
Martinisms 😂😂😂
I cannot understand why people can’t accept other people’s opinion or tastes without using their own as a template to attack. So silly!
I went into this knowing nothing about Legs Diamond or REX (except the first album which I didn't like back in the day) but the rest
I am die hard fan of the rest! And I sat with those two bands this past week for my very contrarian list LOL! with that said...
21. REX
20. If I Wasn't So Romantic
19. Fire Power
18. Where Do We Go From Here
17. Attention Shoppers
16. Legs Diamond
15. A Diamond Is A Hard Rock
14. Derringer
13. Sinful
12. Colosseum Rock
11. Sweet Evil
10. Helluva Band
9. Angel
8. Violation
7. Starz
6. Nothing Is Sacred
5. White Hot
4. Rock City
3. The Godz
2. On Earth As It Is In Heaven
1. Narita
Love Angel. Never heard of them here in the UK until Butch mentioned them on a HVS episode. Quickest way for me to get their music was to download the Casablanca Years set.
Here's my crack at it:
23. Nothing Is Sacred
22. Attention Shoppers!
21. Firepower
20. On Earth As It Is in Heaven
19. Ram Jam
18. The Godz
17. If I Weren't So Romantic I'd Shoot You
16. Derringer
15. Sweet Evil
14. Where Do We Go From Here?
13. Coliseum Rock
12. Sinful
11. White Hot
10. Narita
9. Rex
8. Rock City
7. Violation
6. Starz
5. Legs Diamond
4. Portrait of the Artist As a Young Ram
3. A Diamond Is a Hard Rock
2. Angel
1. Helluva Band
I don't care at all about Nothing Is Sacred. The next few are pretty bad albums but with some redeeming tracks on them. Once we get to the Godz debut and up everything is good or great. My top 10 or so were especially agonizing to do, all of these bands were so complete musically, what a bunch of great singers that could out-sing any of the most well-known rock singers of the day.
I remember seeing legs diamond open for the baby's/styx 76 tour
Cool episode. I know I've heard the name Legs Diamond (the group) but I thought they were an 80s hair band. Didn't know they were a 70s band. I've been listening to the first album. Damn good. Big guitars, organ, vocals. There's a bit of a Styxish/Kansas ish influence. Dig it.
Popoff and Pardo are at it again with another blender show and this one includes a number of artists and/or albums not really on the personal radar. As such, this episode was another entertaining ranking of a group of albums by different artists [though similar music stylings]. Even after all this time, continually impressed with how Martin and Pete can take on what seems to be such a herculean task and make it sound as though it were just as simple as discussing the weather. Thanks again, gents.
There ya go!
Great episode. As a 70's kid, I remember reading about bands like these in Circus, but I never knew anybody who owned a Starz/Angel/Derringer album. I never even heard of Legs Diamond until the internet existed. Some good stuff here, though.
As far as actual owning CD’s I have a 2 fer of the first two Angel albums and Fire Down Down Under from Riot. The rest of us this I’ve heard once or twice through streaming or not at all. You guys gave me a nice homework assignment of bands to explore this weekend. Thanks!
Graet show, thank you gentleman! I will listen to some of them quickly.
Great chat gentlemen, about several bands I love to bits - the only one I'm less into than the others is Derringer by who I own very little - but the likes of ANGEL, LEGS DIAMOND and STARZ were introduced to me - and I've mentioned this album several times in other chats - via a compilation of US and Canadian acts of the late 70s/early 80s called Striktly For Konnoisseurs that also featured bands like Zon, Rex, Tantrum, Mayday, Trillion, Max Webster etc and I can't really argue with your ranking of the albums you've chosen.
I added a one and done album by a band called Marcus into my list..saw someone else added Ram Jam so I did that too.
1. Angel - Angel
2. Angel - Helluva Band
3. Starz - Starz
4. Angel - On Earth As It Is In Heaven
5. Starz - Violation
6. Rex - Rex
7. Angel - Sinful
8. Angel - White Hot
9. Legs Diamond - A Diamond Is A Hard Rock
10. Legs Diamond - Legs Diamond
11. Starz - Coliseum Rock
12. Rex - Where Do We Go From Here
13. Marcus - Marcus
14. Starz - Attention Shoppers
15. Riot - Narita
16. Riot - Rock City
17. Derringer - Sweet Evil
18. The Godz - The Godz
19. Ram Jam - Portrait of the Artist As A Young Ram
20. Derringer
21. The Godz - Nothing Is Sacred
22. Legs Diamond - Firepower
23. Derringer - If I Weren't So Romatic I'd Shoot You
24. Ram Jam - Ram Jam
I absolutely love Starz. I never understood why they wasn't huge. I was lucky enough to see them twice back in the day. The first time was a $3.50 concert with Starz billed as the headliner but was put in the middle slot between Krack the Sky & opening act Pat Travers. The second time they was opening for Rush.
So I have all the Starz, and I really enjoy Attention Shoppers to. I love The Third Time Is A Charm & Johnny Alone. And of course the first two are classic.
I have all the Angel & Derringer album to. But the rest I never really dove into.
Got to see the group Derringer once also. Opening for Aerosmith. But I also seen Rick as part of the Edgar Winter Group when they put out Shock Treatment & opening that show was the James Gang with Tommy Bolin, great show
Speaking of great shows, this was another one Pete & Martin.
This was such a fun show. It's great to hear you guys getting more and more excited as you reach the top 5. Lots to discover. Thanks🎉
Admittedly, I have heard very little of the material here, probably just a few songs of the stars debut, but I’ll look into them further. I’d love to hear more about Starz’issues that prevented them from being bigger.
I really like these themed rankings shows!
Great Show!!
This was awesome!All the bands I loved and my older brothers shook their head about. Lol😊
Angel & Starz ( along with Sweet) were my 3 fave groups. ( Also had everything by Kiss Queen & Aerosmith). Those Rex albums kick ass I didn't find out about Legs Diamond until 1982 On my first trip to Boston to used record stores. Those albums are amazing. Derringer blew Frampton away ( my first concert) and "Sitting by the Pool", might be one of my favorite songs of all time!! Thanks again for promoting these classics!!
Given Derringer supporting Zep at Day of the Green, I always wished Zep would have opened )2 with "Sittin' by the Pool." Sparked of course by the perfect page tribute intro.
Not trying to be a dick or anything but The Gods are from Columbus not Cleveland. I just saw the newest version of the band here in Columbus 3 or 4 months ago and they were great the guitar player is an original member
That was a slip - I knew that. Sorry!
Looking Forward to next week! 22 albums in total!
First off, you're both high about ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN (1977) at #11 This LP, to me, is great like BOC's excellent and diverse "SPECTRES" (i.e. doesn't get enough credit, and is blamed for not being heavy as the earlier records)
Nonsense! Both records are top-notch, entertaining, catchy as hell Rock n Roll LPs. Not as heavy, yes, okay neither is quite as heavy. But as albums, they're both brilliant. And they both ROCK as well.
And the production of ON EARTH... is part of it's unique "play-me-again!" charms. Eddie Kramer did a fine job, and the songs have a real KISS-like guitar draw. "She's a Mover" sounds a bit like the great "Got Love For Sale" from KISS. That churning, grinding sound that immerses the listener!
I also DO rank the s/t DEBUT ('75) and HELLUVA BAND ('76) way high as well. I just can't stand hearing people saying that ON EARTH...('77) is a lesser LP. Angel were simply proving that they were not just a prog rock band, but a damn good hard rock band that could produce catchy singles as well. In a way, a crystalized best version of the group.
For me, ANGEL started going downhill at White Hot. Still good, but totally going for the commercial thing. But Angel's first 3 LPs (all three) are excellent!
And for the record, Starz, Rex, Legs Diamond, The Godz...they're all kinda generic to me. All okay.. decent up good, but not really memorable. And all that Richie (I wish I was Blackmore) Ranno sobbing BS about not getting enough credit, is nonsense. Starz just wasn't as good as many of the major bands of the era. Maybe they could've gotten a bit more, but in the end, they got what they deserved. Legs Diamonds & Rex are both just meh...MOR bands where you hear the records and instantly (or soon) forget them. Riot, for me, is just kinda overrated. And The Godz are like a toned down Gwar, doing generic lumberjack rock.
I do like Derringer though. That said, some of those albums are also somewhat forgettable. Others, quite good.
I dunno, for me this is essentially an ANGEL rank. Plus a couple of Derringers and maybe the Starz & Rex debuts. Maybe Narita, etc.
Marc ✨
For me, RAM JAM would've been a better entry than most of those other acts!
🐏
Comprehensive review!
I bought the first Rex album at an antique store not knowing what to expect.
This is easy for me...
1. Angel- "Helluva Band" is a totally amazing record that towers over the others here...
2. "Derringer" is a fun power pop record. I agree with Martin "Guitars and Women" is the better record
3. Riot
4. Legs Diamond
5. Starz
never heard The Godz...
How about Roadmaster from the Cleveland area-sweet music/sunala jones/higher and higher-70’s
This is really interesting. There was a music journo called Geoff Barton who wrote for Sounds(UK music rag) who was about the only one of them along with Pete Makowski who covered hard rock/heavy metal and he used to cover these bands. He was a huge Kiss fan. The only bands you've mentioned I've heard are Angel and Starz. Helluva Band and Violation are mighty fine albums the latter being a concept about a young lad discovering stuff in a fascist state. I wanna rock 'n' roll, NO it's a violation! Great stuff! Keep up the good work chaps!
Martin you are always in my head
Grew up with the Godz in Ohio, we really didn't look at them as a metal band, hard driving, hard rock was how we saw them. High energy stage show.
I agree we need a Canadian one with Loverboy, Triumph etc.
I could mention status quo considering at the time nobody I knew ever heard of them. I guess I love them and still do because they seem to put an album out every year..
Not American though.
I was watching a recent video of Stryper live, They did a tribute to the lead singer of Firehouse, C.J. Snare. He died April 5th 2024 of colon cancer. He was 64. I'm surprised you didnt mention this.
Get the book-The Fortune-On the rocks with Angel-Kindle and text-Amazon-Martin is the man!!
Know Angel only from Zappa's jokes about Punky's rictus. :-D Will check out the band.
If Martin held up that "Rex" album cover one more time, I was gonna puke.
😂
Rex is the brother to the lead singer of Starz, Michael Lee Smith. And then later Rex Smith went on to host the TV show, Solid Gold, in the early 80's, gaining a lot of popularity, and acting in quite a few TV movies and shows. He'll always have those first 2 LP's, that were pretty heavy Rock, in his credits, before he went commercially mainstream.
I was managing a college radio station during this time. We had a commitment to non mainstream rock. Very difficult to find rock during this time period. We switched over to early new wave/punk and glam to find “non mainstream” sounding rock. I also worked at an AOR station and looking back was shocked to remember we completely ignored Angel. But… I wasn’t the music director. 😒
Cool show: knew some of the albums and was familiar with Riot and Angel. Not so much with the others. Definitely got some homework to do
Starz
In 1978 a hard rock band called Axis feat. Vinny Appice on drums released an lp called "It's A Circus World". The only album they made. Killer stuff. Check them out!
When's the Canadian episode coming? Rush, Triumph, Loverboy, etc.
Good stuff as always. Derringer have a really good live album as well.
The late Paul Chapman from UFO mentions Martin Popoff in a video I watched on youtube. The video is titled "Rebel Access tv interviews Paul Chapman". It's nothing insulting.
White Hot is the only Angel album I owned. Great album.
Does BANG belong in this discussion….they had some heavy catchy tunes. What kept them from getting big? Did they suck live or something?
I was a Derringer fan. Saw them several times. Beyond the Universe it a kick ass song. Derringer live is great also. They deserved more.
Martin-Yes-Angel had it all-Foxes movie-Punky-King Biscuit Flower hour-toured with the greats-American Bandstand-Casablanca records-still could not go mainstream!
Early Riot was fantastic. I don't hear any identity problems. In fact Riot in 1977 sounds in front of their time. Speedy, fast, aggressive and melodic guitar of Mark is fantastic. No wonder NWOBHM welcome them with open arms. Guy is sounding a bit like Eric Bloom, but better. Fantastic band, top of the heap in the late 70s.
Derringer is a great album. I like it better than All American Boy. I had it back in the late 70's on vinyl. Later bought it on cd and again on vinyl a few years ago.
GREAT DISCUSSION !! Completely agree about Starz - those first 2 albums are fantastic.
I love both White Hot and Sinful by Angel. ya just need to be open to pop, and you’ll realize that those are both great albums.
Great show guys....did you guys know legs diamond was a pretty well known gangster during the probationary period. Also a pretty well known movie about him done in 1960 with Warren oates
My second concert ever was Angel,then Derringer opening for Blue Oyster Cult. All for $6.50 back in 1976.
Angel w Godz-$2.50 Boston 1978
Martin please show us the cover of Legs Diamond and Rex
Great show, ranking of some great bands. However surprised 2nd wave of US hard rock didn’t include Van Halen, Cheap Trick or Sammy Hagar solo. Perhaps you’ve got plans for them on future shows🤞
Great Rankings! My ranking is so different from both Martin's and Pete's whose are different! lol!
My love for KISS aside, what I find intriguing about this exercise is that most of these bands are more technical and well-produced than the original American wave IMO, BOC, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent. What's fascinating about this second wave trend started roughly with Montrose I think. BOC, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and KISS were different because they put together back-to-back successes. A lot of these latter-70s bands had back-to-back successes stylistically but not so much in sales, but most of them blew it on the third try or thereabouts. Angel blew it on the third, Starz blew it on the third, Legs Diamond blew it on the third, Rex, the Godz, and Ram Jam called it quits after the second, and Derringer went super pop on the third (which is actually not a bad record). It all reminds me of the disaster Montrose turned out to be. Killed it on the debut-like these bands-and then started to infiltrate their classic sound with rank old timey tunes and more boring stuff on the second album and just got worse and worse on the next two records.
Of the discussed albums i only own one. I bought it last year in a used vinyl store for €5,-.
Never heard of them before SOT. It was Helluva Band by Angel. Made a good pick 👌
Great video in a great series. Being a British means I never got Angel. Really like Starz. But Legs D and Derringer are faceless Imo. Super dull.
Riot were initially a great band. First three are great. Saw them support Hagar.
Outside of his work with Johnny Winter and the song Rock N Roll Hoochie Koo, I know Rick Derringer best for penning Hulk Hogan's intro tune Real American. Classic stuff.
Best of them Legs Diamond ..I like Giuffria 1984 rather than Angel...I concur with a comment below about the first Sabu album ..great Boston sound ...also Van Zant and Aldo Nova have recorded great albums...another great band was Touch I saw them and Riot at the first monsters of rock festival in donington in Britain they were better than the main bands like saxon scorpions priest and rainbow
So mixed about Derringer. Such an incredible, talented guitar player that can play any type of music he kept trying to slip back to the McCoys pop stuff. Sammy Hagar would have been such a great addition to the Derringer band. I giggled when Pete showed the 'David Cassidy' cover of Spring Fever. I remember being so disappointed listening to DNA with Carmine Appice, it should have been so good, but it was so bad.
I do think it would be correct to omit Ram Jam from this discussion however. They did have some boogie rock to them early on, but while the rest of these bands are more derivative of Montrose, Aerosmith, Kiss, and Ted Nugent, Ram Jam is way more derivative of Judas Priest and a little Nazareth, so I wouldn't put them in here. Ram Jam was definitely the closest to metal out of all of these bands.
Nice video.😃👍
RAM JAM RULES !!!😄😄
I OWN BOTH LPS😀😀😀😀😀
ALSO - glad to see the first 2 Angel albums getting some love. I was so disappointed that the records that followed were just not as good (in my opinion
Here's a topic for you "Artists or band i really like but never seems to listening to, wonder why?"
Good show today!
I remember mentioning if I weren't so romantic.... On Facebook and I got banned. Lol
That's why UA-cam dominates.
Always enjoy you two!
Except some of the ones from the Hudson Valley, can't stand about 3
Me and my little music gang never gave Angel a chance back in the day. Surprised no mention of the Dictators in this.
Does a wave need to make a splash?
I had a look at monthly Spotify streams for these artists. The ranking is Derringer 281,175, Riot 66,819, Angel 11,383, Starz 6,499, Godz 4,060 and I could not find Rex streaming on Spotify at all. Does this indicate how popular these bands are right now? Maybe, but Godz only have one album on there and Rick Derringer a big catalogue. Also I think these albums do not not compare well with the "big 70s US artists" covered on the previous episode.
That is pretty cool - surprised on Godz... is there some weirdness going on with their name or something else to cause those numbers?
@@MartinPopoff I did notice that all the Derringer is under Rick Derringer and there are 30+ million of streams of Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo (different versions) which looks to be flattering his numbers. According to Wikipedia he wrote it but I always thought it was an Edgar Winter song. But I see he was in the EW band. None of these other artists have a hit on that scale.
For info I checked the big bands monthly streams from the other video. Aerosmith is top with 21,907,254 then Kiss 14,179,138 BOC 4,761,367, Ted Nugent 1,238,440, Amboy Dukes 64,820. Van Halen for reference is 11,567,466 and Alice Cooper 4,849,549.
@@newrockerman Nice work - thanks for that.
I had one Angel album. Do not remember which one it was, but they sounded like Kiss with keyboards. I never liked Kiss so they never impressed me. I actually loved Attention Shoppers by Starz. They never sounded that heavy to me anyway and thought they made a good power pop band. I cannot believe you guys do not mention the song Johnny All Alone from that album. It is slow and heavy and has a great reverb filled guitar solo! I think it is one of their best songs! I used to have most of Riot's albums but lost track of them. I never heard much from the rest of the bands you two mentioned.
Wonder if Cheap Trick should be included in here, and, due to his infuence from the first wave of US hard rock, the frankly baffling 70's solo Sammy Hagar catalogue. VH in a whole different universe of their own.
Under Suspicion was one of the Heaviest songs of the 1970s, but the rest of White Hot sounds like Shaun Cassidy.
Oddly, I have never heard any of these albums in their entirety. I own some later Riot's but that is it.
Its funny you said the pop reference to starz ,because they had cherry baby ,and ufo had cherry wich is very poppy and that was popular
I wouldn't say Cherry was that popular...but yeah similar path to pop songcraft for sure.
Runaways in this era? First hair metal band?
its so weird that people that im sure never met are cut from the same cloth.if they like angel you know they have strarz derringer,ufo,boc. in their collection i know people who never heard of starz and in SHOCK.
The first 2 Yesterday and Today are awesome. But VH killed all with their first few albums
Legs Diamond
Riot
Godz
Heyoka
Angel
Starz
Derringer were Heavier than anything else available. The song Sweet Evil was incredibly Heavy, but their other songs were just Boogie Rock.
Good for Martin. Disagree with him sometimes but I’m never a prick about it.
Pete, I love what you said about secretly liking Poison!!!!!!!!!! lol Now that's a poser.