Bill Hicks Tattoo

I never posted this at the time but I finally got my Bill Hicks tattoo in September 2012. It was done at Dark Poetry Tattoo in Ramsbottom by fellow Bill Hicks fan Sween. Here is the finished article, it took nearly five hours and I was walking with a limp for a week and a half:

So for those interested I took a few pictures as the tattoo developed to show the evolution of the portrait. Here is two hours in with the original picture.

I think this shows the level of work required to develop the portrait from the outline of the transfer.

Getting close to finishing here. After starting from the bottom and working up for four hours Sween went back over the areas that were tattooed four hours previously. There is no shame in saying this hurt like a bastard.

Remember Guys and Gals, it's just a (painful) ride!

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #4 Iron Maiden - Killers

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #4 Iron Maiden - Killers

Iron Maiden were the British heavy metal band that dominated the 1980's in the UK and half the world. Although they were absolutely huge they were probably not as well recognised as their mascot Eddie the Ed whose evolution from spiky -haired zombie to menacing mascot was complete on the cover of Killers in 1981. 


They had come on the scene with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal or NWOBHM as it was catchily called then. Other bands breaking through on this wave were Samson and Def Leppard. In 1981 Bruce Dickinson of Samson would take over vocal duties in late 1981 and the band would record their no 1 Number of the Beast album. World domination would follow.
Before the bombastic vocals of Dickinson, mainstream success and the spandex of the Powerslave tour. Iron Maiden would record two spiky, low budget sounding albums. Their eponymous début and Killers. The latter is my favourite Iron Maiden album and one that I still return to today. I always found Paul Di'Anno's vocals more edgy than Dickinsons and although in my teenage years this would have not got as much turntable time as live after death, looking back this is the controversial favourite.

The opening track is an instrumental(the first of two) followed by the familiar bass lines of Wrathcild. a live favourite that I think they still play today. An early version of this was recorded for the NWOBHM (remember your acronyms kids) seminal compilation Metal for Muthas.

Twilight Zone, Metal For Muthas and Purgatory Record Sleeves

The single Twilight zone wasn't on the album, a source of never ending annoyance on my part that was rectified on the 1998 remastered CD. The second single purgatory was a track that never really should have been released. If the title track or Wrathchild had been in its place it may have been a different story and Iron Maidens commercial break would have come sooner.

The following Killers world tour would introduce 'Maiden' to the world including Japan and the USA but would unfortunately spell the end of Di'Anno's stint as front man for the band. Cocaine and alcohol had left Di'Anno unreliable for gigs and a liability for the band, as the tours and commitments mounted up he was sacked and Dickinson brought in.

The final tracks recorded with Di'Anno would be released in the UK as the 4 track  Mini Album/12"  Maiden Japan. A full setlist of this concert is available in Japan and the available on the internet and features the originally discarded cover of Eddy the Ed holding the severed head of Di'Anno. 

Maiden Japan cover featuring the severed head of sacked singer Paul Di'Anno

As the 1980's progressed, the tours would get bigger and bigger. By the time I was old enough to go and see them in 1988 they had huge pyrotechnic explosions and animatronics the size of your house featuring Eddy the Ed. One thing that this next video of them on the BBC's Jim'll fix it in 1987 (which I remember watching at the time) was that they were genuinely nice guys who had a lot of time for the fans. 

Paul Di Anno went on to front bands Battlezone, Praying Matis and Killers with some success.

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #5 Anthrax - Among the Living

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #5 Anthrax - Among the Living (1987)

Anthrax released their third album in 1987, catipulting them into the big four of Thrash of the 1980's (the other four being  Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth). They had already had an underground hit album with their previous effort - Spreading the disease and expectations were high for this by the New York outfit. We were not disapointed. It was preceded by the single I am the law, an ode to Judge Dredd from 2000AD, music didn't get any better than this and to top it off you could get 7" picture discs like this:

The sound on this is clean and straight up avoiding all the eighties production clichés, probably why it has aged so well. The singles (I am the Law and Indians) sound great and the opening title track still sounds epic. Caught in the Mosh captures the intensity of what it was like in those mosh pits when those thrash bands were playing. What Anthrax had that the other bands of the time didn't was a sense of melody. They could swing sharply from a hardcore shouty scream to quite a melodic chorus and back again and still sound sincere in their delivery. A real hard trick to pull off.

They would be accused of selling out the metal fraternity with how they looked, dressed and championed hip hop acts, they wore Bermuda shorts, def jam t-shirts and baseball caps no studs or bullet belts. They would invent Rap-rock on the throw away in-joke  B side of I'm the Man (later released on its own merit) and go on to set the standard with their collaboration with Public enemy on Bring the Noise. Leading the young and impressionable away from the metal road and into new areas of music.

Anthrax and Public Enemy