Revolver Magazine Golden Gods Award Show

Revolver Magazine Golden Gods Award Show and The re-re-resurrection of traditional hard rock and heavy metal!!!!

My reason for attending this awards show was strictly self serving, as the original Alice Cooper Band was playing, which was the first time in Los Angeles in almost 40 years (although they had previously done it at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, at which they were inducted, finally)!! There was no way I was going to miss seeing this legendary line up, as the record “Killers“ was the first music that I can remember ever hearing as a little kid. My brothers used to blast “Dead Babies“ and “Under My Wheels“ and “Desperado“, as well as my personal favorite “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah“, and that is the first music I can remember moving me in any sort of way.

The cool thing about living in Los Angeles is that you get to see your childhood heroes from music, film or literature, up close and personal, at some point! You either run into them at some restaurant, club, the movies, on the street or at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, or in the case of living in Santa Clarita ,at the gym (LA Fitness), Hello Carmine Appice, George Lynch, Bobby Blotzer, etc, wanna start a band? You get to see most bands that reform for one last comeback, and this was my ultimate opportunity to see the original Alice Cooper Band, the last from my ultimate list of seeing original member bands: KISS, Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, Ramones, The Stooges and Alice Cooper Band.

The awards show was offering the usual for this type of fan/reader picked winners: Comeback of the Year-Murderdolls, Golden God Award-Alice Cooper, Lifetime Achievement-Motley Crue and Best New Band-Black Veil Brides, Etc. I was hoping I would not have to sit through a bunch of crappy heavy metal new school bands before my heroes came out. First up was Fozzy, featuring Pro wrestler Chris Jericho, and most recently of "Dancing With The Stars", doing some good heavy metal covers (they started out doing metal covers and calling themselves Fozzy Osborne), and then to my pleasure, The Original Alice Cooper Band fired up the Fender amps and kicked into “I’m eighteen”, “Under My Wheels“, “Billion Dollar Babies“, and “School’s Out”, complete with Alice throwing out Alice Dollar Bills from the tip of his sword and glitter filled balloons that were bounced back and forth from the audience to the stage, until Alice popped them with his sword, just like in the 70’s! Michael Bruce on guitars, Dennis Dunaway on bass, Alice on vocals and Neil Smith on drums (who was so tall, I thought he was standing up throughout the set), and filling in for the missing Glen Buxton (RIP) was later date guitar player Dick Wagner! I was glad I was there and it was the most rock and roll moment in Los Angeles in all of 2011.

The remainder of the show featured new metal kids Asking Alexandria jamming “Youth Gone Wild“, with Sebastian Bach, Devil Driver doing a Black Flag cover, and Duff Macagan's Loaded with Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols and the singer of Slipknot doing “Electric Eye“ by Judas Priest, and Avenged Sevenfold showcasing their new drummer. But none of it even comes close to matching the excitement of seeing the original Alice Cooper Band play some of their classic tunes, maybe for the last time ever, and I was there to see it!

With all that being said, nothing matches up to the classic heavy metal and hard rock bands that started it all, way way way back in the day. The death of classic hard rock and heavy metal has been greatly exaggerated over the years, and this is very evident by the lasting power of various forces in the heavy rock world. Judas Priest are gearing up for their last tour this year, after forty years of steady releases and tours. The Scorpions are wrapping up their 40 year career by going on a farewell tour that will last several years, putting them to rest at the top of their game. Motorhead are still going strong after releasing their most well known record “Ace Of Spades” in the early 1980’s, with the release of a new album and a DVD/movie documentary celebrating leader Lemmy’s hard knock life. KISS are still able to sell out large arenas and have a profile that is greater now than when they were in their infancy in the mid to late 1970’s, at the height of their merchandising dynasty! Ozzy Osborne is more mainstream than Obama at this point, and he continues to release new music and tour regularly.

Also keeping things moving in the heavy rock world are the various media outlets, such as That Metal Show on VH1, which usually features old school rock legends like members of Anthrax, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, and Kiss. Movies such as The Wrestler and The Fighter showcasing classic hard rock and heavy metal songs from bands such as Ratt and Whitesnake, and various satellite and internet radio stations that pay tribute to the heavy rock world, featuring all the previously mentioned bands! Heavy metal has never went away, regardless of the demise of most of the record companies, the crumbling economy and the indifference of aging hipsters. Long live the metal kings!

By Teddy Heavens