The Random Alter Bridge Thread

News and discussion about Alter Bridge. Get the latest updates here!
User avatar
anguyen92
Expert Comma Negotiator
Posts: 10359
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:31 pm
Location: California

Re: There's just 45 years of the best metal ever to cover, so...

Post by anguyen92 »

gbruin wrote:
Inconquerable wrote:Is he main eventing?!

The Trooper! Don't know much about this song to be honest (or Iron Maiden), but this sounds great so far.
Well, Inky, it's time to learn about Iron Maiden.
If anyone wants to learn a lot about the history of Iron Maiden, I suggest this thread. This thread discusses not just the studio albums, but the live releases as well, as well as the tours, and it took a small detour as well talking about Bruce Dickinson's solo career in between.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boar ... ic=50220.0

User avatar
Inconquerable
Rise Today
Posts: 3917
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:21 pm
Location: Shady Oak Dr.

Re: Just a simple courtesy really!

Post by Inconquerable »

anguyen92 wrote:
gbruin wrote:
Inconquerable wrote:Is he main eventing?!

The Trooper! Don't know much about this song to be honest (or Iron Maiden), but this sounds great so far.
Well, Inky, it's time to learn about Iron Maiden.
If anyone wants to learn a lot about the history of Iron Maiden, I suggest this thread. This thread discusses not just the studio albums, but the live releases as well, as well as the tours, and it took a small detour as well talking about Bruce Dickinson's solo career in between.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boar ... ic=50220.0
51 pages?! Man that's a lootttttt of homework. But I mean... Greg is reading the Mafia thread as it's going on with my wall posts, I imagine this is the least I can do to return the favour.
Image

The Dissident
White Knuckled
Posts: 230
Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2017 4:13 pm

Re: Just a simple courtesy really!

Post by The Dissident »

Inconquerable wrote:
anguyen92 wrote:
gbruin wrote:
Inconquerable wrote:Is he main eventing?!

The Trooper! Don't know much about this song to be honest (or Iron Maiden), but this sounds great so far.
Well, Inky, it's time to learn about Iron Maiden.
If anyone wants to learn a lot about the history of Iron Maiden, I suggest this thread. This thread discusses not just the studio albums, but the live releases as well, as well as the tours, and it took a small detour as well talking about Bruce Dickinson's solo career in between.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boar ... ic=50220.0
51 pages?! Man that's a lootttttt of homework. But I mean... Greg is reading the Mafia thread as it's going on with my wall posts, I imagine this is the least I can do to return the favour.
For Maiden:

Essential Albums: [Ordered by release]
The Number Of The Beast
Powerslave
Live After Death
Somewhere In Time
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Rock In Rio 2001
A Matter Of Life And Death

Pretty Darn Strong
Iron Maiden
Piece Of Mind [I'm not a huge fan but this is a album that many hardcore fans rank in their top 3]
Brave New World
The Book Of Souls

Maiden is incredible, all of their albums are pretty good. Some less so than others but the ones I have under essential are all albums I'd rank at a 4.5/5 or higher.

User avatar
Inconquerable
Rise Today
Posts: 3917
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:21 pm
Location: Shady Oak Dr.

Re: And Number of the Beast of course, who doesn't know that one?

Post by Inconquerable »

Ah this is much more doable, thank you! I actually bought a few of those for my stepdad who's a big fan, so the names are familiar.
Image

Andy92
You Waste Your Time
Posts: 14001
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:52 pm

Being at any summer concert would be awesome this year...

Post by Andy92 »

I saw Maiden in North Carolina last summer and it was awesome.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

The Dissident
White Knuckled
Posts: 230
Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2017 4:13 pm

Re: And Number of the Beast of course, who doesn't know that one?

Post by The Dissident »

Inconquerable wrote:Ah this is much more doable, thank you! I actually bought a few of those for my stepdad who's a big fan, so the names are familiar.
My personal favourites are: Somewhere In Time and A Matter Of Life And Death. Rock In Rio is the better of the two Live Albums.

User avatar
gbruin
MEGLADONG
Posts: 7872
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:27 pm
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO

Metal University Course Catalog, Summer 2000

Post by gbruin »

Inconquerable wrote:51 pages?! Man that's a lootttttt of homework. But I mean... Greg is reading the Mafia thread as it's going on with my wall posts, I imagine this is the least I can do to return the favour.
And I have read every one of those mafia posts, too!

Alter Bridge was to be opening for these guys at various shows across Europe right now. Sigh...

Here is your syllabus for Up the Irons 101: Intro To Iron Maiden 6.66 credit hours

Midterms and final exam are optional. Independent study encouraged.

Given their longevity, their sustained and virtually unparalleled excellence through much of that longevity, their lengthy influence on metal and adjacent genres, and their iconic imagery, Iron Maiden is viewed by many as the biggest metal band in history, and mathematical models support this. It is beyond the scope of this intro course to fully explore all aspects of the band, but Maiden history/discography can be loosely broken up into sections to get a reasonable overview of the band's career. This course covers their most successful and influential periods by reviewing almost half of their 16 studio albums and one live album, Live After Death, because of its singular importance in the band's rising status.

The Early years: Iron Maiden and Killers (1980-1981)
Sound based more on 70s rock with a touch of punk. Paul Di'Anno was the singer. As you begin your Maiden studies, it is ok to skip these to get straight to the more relevant classic era.

The Classic years: The Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Live After Death (1982-1985)
This is when Maiden became a worldwide metal power with Bruce as the unmistakable vocal sound of the band and spawned tons of "hits" that established the classic Maiden sound and massive stage productions. Essentially zero filler songs during this time. The band began selling out multiple night engagements at large arenas during this time.

Classic Years With A Bit of Prog: Somewhere In Time, Seventh Son of A Seventh Son (1986-1988)
These two albums can be seen as a continuation of the classic years, but these notably added more guitar synths and prog type arrangements and are unique within the classic era, but are still very Maiden sounding. This also included their one very interesting concept album (7th Son). All songs remain fantastic. The band was selling out stadiums and headlining festivals.

A bit of stagnation: No Prayer For the Dying, Fear of the Dark (1990-1992)
Bassist Steve Harris wanted to get back to basics and guitarist Adrian Smith, who pushed much of the prog sound, left. He was replaced by the guitarist from Bruce's solo early albums, Jannick Gers. These two albums have some good moments but also have more than their share of average songs by Maiden standards and are a step back from their classic/prog era. The band maintained their status in terms of concert draw.

The Blayze Years: The X Factor, Virtual XI (1995-1998)
Bruce Dickinson left to pursue his solo career full time and without Dickinson's or Smith's contribution to songwriting, the band's songs lacked variety, and with new singer Blayze Bailey, the sound was different from "Maiden", too. There are a few good songs here but they still sound far better when they play them live nowadays. Ok to skip these albums for now, too. During this era, I saw Maiden play a bar in Houston TX in front of maybe 750 people.

Reunion: Brave New World, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death, The Final Frontier, The Book of Souls (2000-current)
Bruce and Adrian rejoined the band and Iron Maiden returned to their top form with 5 albums that are reminiscent of their classic days, but now with 3 guitarists in the band, as Janick Gets remained, they were able to record and play live with 3 guitar parts and the songs became fuller and typically longer. This era also saw a return to the great songwriting and much more dynamic and diverse albums. Once again the band headlined major festivals and sold out arenas. There are rumors that the band recorded a 17th album in Paris last Jan/Feb.

I would consider any combination of albums from the classic era, the prog stuff, and the reunion as essential, though one can argue about specific albums within those groupings. This course recommends listening to the following albums to start with to get a big picture of the band's development.

The Number Of The Beast
Piece of Mind
Powerslave
Live After Death
Seventh Son of A Seventh Son
Fear Of The Dark
Brave New World
A Matter Of Life and Death
or The Final Frontier
The Book Of Souls


Take in 1 album every 1-2 days and this content can be digested over about a week and a half to two weeks. We can discuss specific albums or songs individually along the way or at selected intervals. While I always encourage supporting the artists by purchasing their work, all albums/songs are available for academic study around the net in a variety of free formats.

This class is a prerequisite for the advanced course, Up The Irons 201, Becoming Eddie, 6.66 credit hours where we can examine the complete history of the band and go into specific songs from Iron Maiden and Killers, take in all of Somewhere In Time (which is a truly excellent album on its own), look at selected songs from No Prayer For The Dying, breeze through the Blayze years, and then dive deeply into the remaining albums since the reunion that were not covered in UTI 101, including selected B-sides. We will analyze the comparative writing styles of Harris, Dickinson, Smith, Murray, Gers (and McBrain, once) and compare guitar styles of Murray, Smith, and Gers. We will examine two of their multitude of live recordings, particularly Live At Donnington and Rock In Rio, as well as review the documentary Flight 666 and the aircraft which have flown as Ed Force One. We will also track the evolution of Eddie through album art and singles artwork in chronological order and analyze how imagery supported the band's growth. We will look into the events that led to personnel changes throughout the band's history, the most important being the departure and return of Bruce Dickinson, followed by the departure and return of Adrian Smith, and the underrated role of the replacement of drummer Clive Burr with Nicko McBrain for Piece Of Mind. For extra credit, we can look at the solo careers of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, and their reunion in the solo world before their joint return to Maiden, and the football career of Steve Harris. And almost as importantly, we can enjoy a tasting of the various Iron Maiden themed beers from Robinson's Brewery.

There are many important segments in human history - Early Man, The Stone Age, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and MesoAmerican civilizations, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance, The Industrial Revolution, Modern History...I would argue none of those are remotely as cool or interesting as the Maiden Ages.

Enjoy the course and Up The Irons!

Professor gbruin, MD (Maiden Doctorate)
Another photobucket casualty... :(
As your courage crashes down before your eyes, don't lay down and die

User avatar
anguyen92
Expert Comma Negotiator
Posts: 10359
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:31 pm
Location: California

Re: The Random Alter Bridge Thread

Post by anguyen92 »

I would highly suggest the live DVD, Rock in Rio. There's something about hundreds of thousands South American fans going crazy for almost anything and it has something in all eras (pre-Bruce, classic, Blaze era, and a good amount of stuff from their album they were touring at the time, Brave New World).

Heck, 11 of the 16 songs, that they have been playing in the tour they were doing last year, was on that DVD.

User avatar
Inconquerable
Rise Today
Posts: 3917
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:21 pm
Location: Shady Oak Dr.

Re: Free tuition to the School of Greg too? Amazing!

Post by Inconquerable »

Greg, you're amazing. I read every word of that post and feel like a better person because of it. I will admit (eek) that what I have heard from Iron Maiden hasn't been necessarily my cup of tea, but I'm willing to give it a real go. Also the early albums with the 70s/punk sound could be right up my alley oddly.
Image

User avatar
Mr. Slash
On The Rail
Posts: 1758
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:40 am
Location: Germany

Re: The Random Alter Bridge Thread

Post by Mr. Slash »

Here ya go

I love this guy :D

User avatar
gbruin
MEGLADONG
Posts: 7872
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:27 pm
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO

Currently being offered online due to covid-19

Post by gbruin »

Inconquerable wrote:Greg, you're amazing. I read every word of that post and feel like a better person because of it. I will admit (eek) that what I have heard from Iron Maiden hasn't been necessarily my cup of tea, but I'm willing to give it a real go. Also the early albums with the 70s/punk sound could be right up my alley oddly.
Check out the What Are You Listening To Right Now? thread. There is a quick primer there with a couple early songs and a few early classics.
Another photobucket casualty... :(
As your courage crashes down before your eyes, don't lay down and die

User avatar
zazthespaz
Kumar
Posts: 13795
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:12 am

Re: I'm bumping the AB section after 11 days?!

Post by zazthespaz »

Poison in Your Veins is a severely underrated song IMO. Mark's video on Instagram today of him playing the solo confirms that. This is not open to discussion, only agreement ;) :lol
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

User avatar
Mr. Slash
On The Rail
Posts: 1758
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:40 am
Location: Germany

Re: The Random Alter Bridge Thread

Post by Mr. Slash »

The website of FRET12 was relaunched today btw. Sadly they don't offer too much interesting stuff right now.

User avatar
zazthespaz
Kumar
Posts: 13795
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:12 am

Re: Tim, I’m willing to model.

Post by zazthespaz »

Mr. Slash wrote:The website of FRET12 was relaunched today btw. Sadly they don't offer too much interesting stuff right now.
I saw that. New logo has a retro feel to it which I like. Tempted to grab a shirt with it. Designs are pretty much the same otherwise.
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

User avatar
gbruin
MEGLADONG
Posts: 7872
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:27 pm
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO

Fortressy and Mainstreamy are my words. The others are Tim's.

Post by gbruin »

A couple of interesting nuggets from TT on FB today...

"We refocused and made something new for the fans to help keep folks entertained during all this craziness. More news on that in a bit."

"Wheels are already turning for new music from both Mark and Myles but I heard some new AB ideas - it's back to the prog epics."

In my opinion...That second comment was in response to some earlier comments that AB created Walk The Sky with an ear toward building radio airplay. They got a #1 Billboard album out of it, and now the guys seem to have pivoted back toward more classic AB Fortressy styles stuff instead of the more mainstreamy WTS songs.

In my hope...the first comment means we may get some new material from the boys very soon! :rockon
Another photobucket casualty... :(
As your courage crashes down before your eyes, don't lay down and die

User avatar
Ubik
Bachelor Daddy
Posts: 4527
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:12 pm

Re: Fortressy and Mainstreamy are my words. The others are Tim's.

Post by Ubik »

gbruin wrote:A couple of interesting nuggets from TT on FB today...

"We refocused and made something new for the fans to help keep folks entertained during all this craziness. More news on that in a bit."

"Wheels are already turning for new music from both Mark and Myles but I heard some new AB ideas - it's back to the prog epics."

In my opinion...That second comment was in response to some earlier comments that AB created Walk The Sky with an ear toward building radio airplay. They got a #1 Billboard album out of it, and now the guys seem to have pivoted back toward more classic AB Fortressy styles stuff instead of the more mainstreamy WTS songs.

In my hope...the first comment means we may get some new material from the boys very soon! :rockon
Love Walk the Sky, but still want to hook this news to my bloodstream.
For all of the hope that it brings...

User avatar
SHEAKENBAKEN
BACON
Posts: 9402
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:27 pm
Location: TABN

Re: Fortressy and Mainstreamy are my words. The others are Tim's.

Post by SHEAKENBAKEN »

gbruin wrote:A couple of interesting nuggets from TT on FB today...

"We refocused and made something new for the fans to help keep folks entertained during all this craziness. More news on that in a bit."

"Wheels are already turning for new music from both Mark and Myles but I heard some new AB ideas - it's back to the prog epics."
I tried browsing FB to verify these for my own eyes but cant seem to find them :/ :eek

User avatar
zazthespaz
Kumar
Posts: 13795
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:12 am

Re: If I've learned anything from Trump, it's don't trust what doctors say.

Post by zazthespaz »

SHEAKENBAKEN wrote:
gbruin wrote:A couple of interesting nuggets from TT on FB today...

"We refocused and made something new for the fans to help keep folks entertained during all this craziness. More news on that in a bit."

"Wheels are already turning for new music from both Mark and Myles but I heard some new AB ideas - it's back to the prog epics."
I tried browsing FB to verify these for my own eyes but cant seem to find them :/ :eek
Yeah, don't trust Greg. Notoriously unreliable character :lol
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

User avatar
SHEAKENBAKEN
BACON
Posts: 9402
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:27 pm
Location: TABN

Re: Especially dont trust what Greg says.

Post by SHEAKENBAKEN »

zazthespaz wrote:
SHEAKENBAKEN wrote:
gbruin wrote:A couple of interesting nuggets from TT on FB today...

"We refocused and made something new for the fans to help keep folks entertained during all this craziness. More news on that in a bit."

"Wheels are already turning for new music from both Mark and Myles but I heard some new AB ideas - it's back to the prog epics."
I tried browsing FB to verify these for my own eyes but cant seem to find them :/ :eek
Yeah, don't trust Greg. Notoriously unreliable character :lol
Noted. :)

User avatar
gbruin
MEGLADONG
Posts: 7872
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:27 pm
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO

And we have data to back up our claims.

Post by gbruin »

SHEAKENBAKEN wrote:
gbruin wrote:A couple of interesting nuggets from TT on FB today...

"We refocused and made something new for the fans to help keep folks entertained during all this craziness. More news on that in a bit."

"Wheels are already turning for new music from both Mark and Myles but I heard some new AB ideas - it's back to the prog epics."
I tried browsing FB to verify these for my own eyes but cant seem to find them :/ :eek
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArmyOf1 ... 1823603577

It's down in the comments.
Another photobucket casualty... :(
As your courage crashes down before your eyes, don't lay down and die

Post Reply