Def Leppard Favorites

My son put Def Leppard's Historia into the dvd player today. While we watched, I commented that "Animal" used to be my favorite song, and it got me thinking - what is my favorite song from each album? So I thought about it.

On Through The Night

Overture

High & Dry

Lady Strange

Pyromania

Foolin'

Hysteria

Animal

Adrenalize

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad

Retroactive

She's Too Tough

Slang

Work It Out

Euphoria

21st Century Sha-La-La-La Girl

X

Girl Like You

Yeah!

Rock On - This song wins by default. It's the only song I know, and I don't even know the original, only the Def Leppard and Michael Damian versions. And quite frankly, I hate this album.

Okay, I guess this is the original. Blech!!

Songs From The Sparkle Lounge

Cruise Control

So there you have it. It's amazing how many of my favorites don't have an official video. And in some cases, it was tough to choose a favorite.

Honorable mentions:

Hysteria

Long Long Way To Go

Demolition Man

I Wanna Touch U

Ah, the memories...

I need an intervention.

I tend to be obsessive about new things. When Ghost Hunters started airing on SyFy, I immersed myself in the paranormal. When I discovered Stargate SG-1, I read all the slash fanfiction I could find. When The X Files produced the spinoff, The Lone Gunmen, I memorized all 13 episodes and made videos. After seeing my all-time favorite band, Def Leppard, in concert, I listened to them non-stop for months. When I do something (low carb, Weight Watchers, various fitness programs, Meatless Monday), I research it to death. I'm an over-thinker, under-achiever.

For the longest time, I was stuck in an old-school, hair metal rut. Aside from the occasional Clay Aiken CD or Titanic soundtrack, I was pretty much all glam, all the time. Then we were visiting my inlaws for Christmas one year...I want to say 2007...and my step-daughter was playing Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. I. Fell. In. Love. I bought their CDs for my step-daughter (and ripped them for my mp3 player) and listened to the Black Parade album constantly. That album quickly became my #1 all-time favorite album. To this day, it still beat Def Leppard's Hysteria. I'm talking, stranded on a desert island and I can only have one album to listen to for eternity #1.

MCR quickly led me to 30 Seconds To Mars. Seeing how hot and sexy Jared Leto is slamming himself up against a wall in The Kill, I was hooked. I alternated between MCR and 30STM for the next two years, declaring that I would most definitely die for either band, and give my kidneys to both Jared and Shannon Leto or Gerard and Mikey Way. Time passed and there was nothing new from either band. Then 30STM put out This Is War and I fell in love all over again. But MCR disappointed me. There is still no new album, and it's been 4 years. There are whispers that the new album is done (as in recorded but not finished) but they've lost their drummer. No reason given, but I think he had surgery on his arm a while back and his recovery may have had complications.

But I digress. Without new stuff from the band I'd die for, I turned to radio more and more. Not looking for fresh meat...just to listen to because I was too lazy to bring my Zune everywhere. For months, 98WOBX was advertising the Shinedown concert. After eight weeks of hearing the Shinedown ad, I found myself getting excited when their songs were actually played on the radio. The Sound of Madness, in particular, made my day. And soon I learned that I have always liked Shinedown - I just didn't know who they were! So Shinedown became my new obsession.

Then, I started leaving WOBX on at night, instead of my usual BBC Radio (a habit I've had since September 11, 2001). To promote the upcoming Avenged Sevenfold album, Nightmare was played a lot. The only reason I knew of A7X is because my step-daughter had some of their stuff, and I had sent her a text when their drummer died last year. Same shit, different day. I did my research and I am currently obsessed with Avenged Sevenfold. I didn't even realize I loved them. I am particularly in lust with M. Shadows, lead singer of A7X.

Sofa King sexy!!! To hear and watch him sing, I've decided that there is absolutely no way I am a lesbian. I was wondering. M. Shadows has prevented me from switching teams. I'll play for both. I don't care. I love my eye candy. And I'm a sucker for great arms and shoulders. I told Sam he had to get more tattoos. I think I like that look. 

I live in fear that each day, I'll "discover" a "new" band. How many times will I fall in love before MCR's next album comes out? How many times will I alternate between being on top of the world because the music makes me feel young and good, and being depressed that I'm 3fucking5 years old and getting too old for this shit? I certainly do not feel old. I feel better now than I did in my 20s. I don't even have any grey hair on my head, and I do NOT color my hair. I feel like I have my whole life ahead of me, then I'm reminded that I can't just be young and carefree. I have a kid and I'm halfway to 70. By the time the kid is old enough to move out, I'll be almost 3/4 of the way to 70. And who even knows if I'll live that long? My life could be 99% over right now. 

Look, in the time it took me to write this post, I went from being on top of the world to depressed! And I didn't even get a new obsession. :(

Monday Metal Mania

I am not all that smart.

I used to be a calculus and physics whiz, but since I stopped working (in 2001) and left school (in 2005), I've become pretty darn stupid. Calc and physics would probably come back to me if I sat down and tried them (and trust me, I think about doing just that all the time). I'd wager money that, at times, my almost 6 year old can outsmart me. He certainly sees things from a different perspective. I'm not a visual person. I can't see patterns well or think three dimensionally. I learn fairly well by doing. I don't learn well by reading lots and lots of text. If there are diagrams with instructions, I can semi-do something. I'm certainly not a good listener and my retention (regardless of input format) sucks. That's why I'm not all that active on message boards and pretty self-centered in my blogs. It's not that I don't care. It's that I don't remember and I'm easily side-tracked.

Speaking of which, this post is about Memorial Day. I wanted to find a metal song that fits with the sentiment of the day. Memorial Day itself doesn't mean all that much to me. Every single day, I think of and honor/appreciate the people who have fought and died for this country - relatives, friends, strangers. I was going to say it's like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Sweetest Day, Valentine's Day, Grandparent's Day, and the utterly ridiculous Step-Parent's Day but it's not really the same. Those are bullshit holidays. I'm a mom every day of the year, and I don't need a special day for reading/listening to other moms cry and whine about how their husbands didn't do anything for them for Mother's Day. Dude, you're not his mother. Don't get him anything on Father's Day, unless you're in a very sick and twisted relationship with your actual father. So what if your kids aren't old enough. Do you really think one day a year of forced appreciation is going to change anything?

I think the intentions of Memorial Day are much better. It does mean something, something bigger than just a relationship that not everyone may be a part of. But as far as celebrating, I don't. My father-in-law comes down, takes us to dinner, and I eat crap all weekend. I bitch about the traffic, because Memorial Day kicks off Touron Season (and we can't even shoot them). I will rarely leave my house this summer. Harris Teeter will no longer have killer meat deals until after the vacationers who can't drive the speed limit leave. There are two vacationers I'm looking forward to seeing. The rest of you just get the bird from me.

A couple paragraphs ago, I said I'm easily side-tracked. I meant to start out by saying I'm not smart enough to find a really good Monday Metal Mania song for today's sentiment. So, this week's lame attempt to connect Monday Metal Mania and Memorial Day is Metallica's One. Peter Piper also picked a peck of pickled peppers while the woodchuck who could chuck wood chucked wood and Silly Sally sold seashells by the seashore.

This video always fascinated me. Based on a book, later made into a movie, Johnny Got His Gun, the song is about a disabled soldier from WWI who is limbless, with no eyes, nose, ears or mouth. He cannot communicate with those around him, but his mind is intact. Stephen Hawking (one of my heroes from my short-lived physics-obsessed days) can probably relate a little bit. I've read A Brief History of Time more times than I can count. Another book I love is Kip Thorne's Black Holes & Time Warps. I wonder how relevant these books are today. I haven't even kept up with current theories in instructional design, much less the more complicated field of physics.

So what would I do if I were trapped in my own head, with no means of communication or experiencing the outside world? I think I'm half crazy even with sensory input and output. If I had to put up with nothing but my own thoughts day in and day out, I don't know. I don't know enough about the brain to guess how it would adapt. I do know that I wouldn't want to be a burden to those caring for my body. That's the big thing. I wouldn't make a very good paperweight or door stop.

Monday Metal Mania

I'm feeling a bit down today, still crying over last night's finale of Lost. I had to ditch Celebrity Apprentice in order to watch it and I know I made the right choice. I couldn't bear to watch Bret Michaels not resting his sorry ass. Seriously. This man needs to take a vacation and let his body heal. In two months, he's had three serious medical problems. Slow down, dude!

EMI Records is douchey and doesn't allow embedding, but check out Something To Believe In. It honors Bret and lets me have a good cry for Lost.

Monday Metal Mania

Today, I honor the sexiest man in hair metal, Kip Winger. He had gorgeous hair, beautiful teeth, a naughty little smirk, and enough chest hair to lose your fingers in. I can't name any of the other guys in the band but let's face it - Winger was all about the man behind the name. And even for being a bazillion years old, he's still sexy as hell.

I have never seen his Playgirl photos, but I may have to hit up these Amazon sellers. Though, I'm not sure I want used, cum-crusted Playgirls lying around. You know men were buying this issue up! It was like when Chyna posed for Playboy. Do you know how many truck stops in Pennsylvania I had to go to to get a copy? It was for Sam. I swear. 

 I would love that body. Not the face. Or the boobs. They are a little too big. And fake. The hair is nice, though. Not as nice as Kip's!

Speaking of Kip...back to the sexy. Here's Winger, showing off their pedophile/creepy old man sides, with "Seventeen."

Monday Metal Mania

I have the best intentions, but my guess is this lasts a month. Every Monday, I will post a video from the good old days, when the music was awesome and all the hot guys looked like chicks.

Today's offering, Driftin' Back by Killer Dwarfs. It's really too bad this was never a proper single, with a video. This song always takes me back (derrrrr!!!) to the most awesomest of years.