Tagged: album
Top 10 Rock Album Covers by Comic Book Artists?!
There are some epic comic book artists out there in the world, true legends who produced some of the most iconic artwork of all time. I’ve always wondered if any big name comic book artists were employed by rock bands to make album covers? Let’s face it, one of the most important things as a musician is having an unforgettable album cover. So I did a little research of my own to see who, if any, throughout time had actually enlisted these talents! Here’s what I found!
Mark Texiera: Public Enemy, Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994)
Texiera takes a break from the pages of comic books to spice up Public Enemy’s 1994 release with an awesome LP cover. This is a great example of how wise it is to hire a comic book artist to craft a freakin’ masterpiece cover for your band.
Barry Windsor Smith: The Byrds, Preflyte (1973)
Barry is easily one of the greatest comic book artists of all time, who the hell wouldn’t ask the guy to do the art work for their record? This one though was a real surprise I had no idea he dabbled in the music genre with his skills!
Bob Camp: Newcleus Jam On Revenge (1984)
Bob Camp did some great work with Marvel Comics in the eighties on titles like The ‘Nam, Conan the Barbarian and G.I. Joe. But what a lot of people forget is that he actually did this iconic cover art for rap supergroup Newcleus!
John Byrne: Joe Satriani, Surfing With The Alien (1987)
Superstar comic book artist John Byrne’s rendering of the Silver Surfer was used for Joe Satriani’s most famous guitar rock album. Apparently no one talked to him about using the artwork and apparently he remains uncredited in the album liner notes!
Todd Mcfarlane: Korn, Follow the Leader (1998)
I’ve gotta say I’ve never liked Korn, at all. In fact I can admit that I actually hate their music. But when I found out they hired Todd McFarlane to do the cover art for their album they won me over just a little bit..
Bill Sienkiewicz: RZA, Bobby Digital in Stereo (1998)
Getting Bill to do your cover artwork Is probably about the wisest thing you could do for your damn musical career. The guy is a living legend and one of the best cover artists in all comic book history! He nails it for RZA!
Richard Corben: Meatloaf, Bat Out of Hell (1977)
Corben is responsible for some of the grittiest comic book art out there! He hits a home run here with Meatloaf’s ‘Bat Out of Hell’. Recently I had to come to my own conclusion about Meatloaf, and I find myself in the same frame of mind as I did with Korn. NOT A FAN! But still Meatloaf wins me over employing Corben to make this iconic album cover…
Vincent Locke: Cannibal Corpse, Butchered at Birth (1991)
Legendary gore artist extraordinaire, Vincent Locke is best know for his crazy artwork for 80s horror comic Deadworld. With his unforgettable awesome LP cover for Cannibal Corpse he essentially just drew a cover for Deadworld and slapped on their logo and somehow created a truly gore-tas-tic metal massacre masterpiece!
Alex Ross: Anthrax, We’ve Come for You All (2003)
Mr. Ross is a true legend and Anthrax made an excellent choice in getting him on deck to craft this beautifully mysterious album cover. Ross is in league of his own and this adds more proof of that bold claim.
Jamie Hewlett: Senseless Things, The First of Too Many (1991)
An amazing power pop punk album from the Senseless Things! This one was in heavy rotation for me when I was in high school. I didn’t make the connection until recently that this artist went on to produce the iconic Tank Girl comic book series!
Brian Bolland: Beautiful Happiness (1988)
Who’d have ever thought that Brian Boland, comic book artist extraordinaire, most well known for Batman: The Killing Joke, was a punk at heart? Easily one of my favorite comic book artists/cover artists of all time, this shows his true skill in crafting the ultimate punk rock compilation cover!
The Glorious 1980’s MOTHER’S DAY Rap Song from MR.T!!!
So it’s Mother’s Day today! We’re all looking for something to send to our sweet moms and if you’re at a loss I’ve got the PERFECT remedy for the situation!
Back in the 1980’s everyone’s favorite bad ass with a heart of gold, Mr. T thankfully released a rap album and luckily for us it also inspired him to record and release a video for ‘Treat Your Mother Right’. Check this out and send it to your own mom today, but most important listen to Mr. T’s advice when it comes to that special lady today!
New Music & Comic Book Adventures from…..The Monkees?!
I’ve always been a huge fan of The Monkees and now they’ve released a brand new song that will be on their upcoming album “Good Times”. Of course I’m still sad about the passing of Davy Jones, my personal favorite Monkee, but the good news is this new album WILL feature and old unreleased track that Neil Diamond wrote for the band in the 1960’s with Davy Jones on lead Vocals. It’ll feature some new instrumentation and harmonies by Micky Dolenz & Tork. Also the album cover too is a good sign that we’ll be getting some classic vintage style songs from the boys.
The album will also feature a brand new song by Michael Nesmith! So all four of the original Monkees will be present in some way shape or form. In the mean time here’s a cool new track, written by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, I’m pleased to hear that this new album will recreating their classic 60’s sound. This little video is cool as well as it follows an old classic comic book adventure of the band!
If that’s not good enough they’ve released another song from the album written by Andy Partridge from XTC!!
Metallica’s “And Justice for All” With Audible Newsted Basslines!?
Word came out in the last day finally from Steve Thompson, the man responsible for mixing Metallica’s classic 1988 masterpiece “And Justice for All”. Finally addressing the elephant in the room- the fact that the album has no bass in it’s final mix! For years us Metallica fans were downright perplexed as to why it sounded as if Jason Newsted was absent from the record.
Was it a hazing he got for replacing legendary bassmaster Cliff Burton? Or was it just a bad decision by the mixer himself? Well the man had this to say about Lars Ulrich:
“We had to get the drum sound up the way he(Lars) had it,” Thompson says. “I wasn’t a fan of it. So now he goes, ‘See the bass guitar?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, great part, man. He killed it.’ He said, ‘I want you to bring down the bass where you can barely, audibly hear it in the mix.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding. Right?’ He said, ‘No. Bring it down.’ I bring it down to that level and he says, ‘Now drop it down another 5 dB.’ I turned around and looked at [Metallica guitarist James] Hetfield and said, ‘He’s serious?’ It just blew me away.”
“My only regret is that we didn’t have enough time to at least mix it the way we heard it,” he says. “I wanted to take Master Of Puppets and blow that away. That was my sonic direction for … And Justice For All. It was all there but I think they were looking for more garagey-type sound without bass. And the bass was great; it was perfect.”
Damn that Lars, always fucking some shit up, My question is why not re-release the album today with a new mix and remastering? They must have all the tracks still, it’s one of the most legendary metal album of all time. They’d make a ton of money and the fans would eat it up. Officially remix this shit! In the meantime there’s an awesome video on youtube where Newsted’s bass IS actually enhanced check this shit out, it give the album a whole new vibe!
A Band Called DEATH: The Founding Fathers of Punk Rock!
I just saw the recently released documentary “A Band Called Death” documentary on VOD. Let me guess, you have no idea who Death is? Well that’s not a surprise as the band is only recently getting the recognition they most rightfully deserve and it only took about 40 years! So just who the hell are these guys? Well without spoiling too much of this excellent documentary I’ll say this, they were punk before punk was punk. Yeah Death formed way back in 1971 and they were an all black punk band long long before The Bad Brains. Yep before The Ramones these guys were kicking some serious ass.
Three brothers all who had the passion for bands like The Who and Alice Cooper got together to make some of the most ass kickin’ punk rock songs of all time. To say these guys were ahead of their time is an understatement as they were turning up loud and fast during a time when the Motown scene was booming. Not a label would touch them with a name like Death but they never faltered for nearly ten years these guys went virtually unheard and only released a 45 record to the public yet had an amazing full album that never saw the light of day until recently. They eventually disbanded and that’s where the story gets real interesting.
This is easily one of my favorite rockumentaries I’ve ever seen it ranks right of there with ‘The Story of Anvil’ in terms of portraying the true fight of an underdog band. It’s a truly heart warming movie full of some amazing rock and roll and a load of great stories. If you’re a fan of music in general you have gotta check this out. If you thought you knew everything there was to know about punk rock and it’s origins the you need to see this. The unlikely rise of a band called Death who formed over forty years ago proves that dreams really can and do come true…
Saruman Delivers Some Power Metal for X-mas!!
Damn Christopher Lee is a bad ass. He’s played so many great roles in so many great movies and what some people don’t know is that he also makes metal albums! Yeah believe it. He has two out now I believe and his latest efforst is a power metal Christmas album! So everyone out there complaining about lame Christmas songs can shut the fuck up and blast this record as Lee gives us his brilliant take on classic Holiday songs gone metal-check this shit out!
The Descendents Get a Rad New Trailer for Their Documentary!
So this is a website dedicated Dorks, Nerds & Geeks so naturally it’s the perfect place to hype up the upcoming Descendents / ALL documentary, “Filmage”. To those of you who may live deep in a deep dark dungeon, The Descendents are hands down the BEST pop punk band of all time. Pop punk you ask? No folks I am not talking about Blink 182, Good Charolotte, Sum 41 or Yellowcard I am talking the good stuff because The Descendents started it all as the godfathers of the genre. They started way back in 1978, their lead singer Milo is a punk rock icon and a huge nerd.
artwork: Gary Musgrave
Well finally these guys are getting the respect they have long since deserved as they reunited a couple years ago and started headlining festivals and one off shows all over the globe. That’s when Filmage began filming and soon we’ll finally be able to get the real story on the band and their struggles. We’re getting some great new punk rock films as I believe a Bad Brains documentary is in the works as well and the recent SNFU film about Chi Pig and Color Me Obsessed about The Replacements.
Now this might also bring fans to wonder if the Dents are planning on recording a new record? I am going to have to say yes to that question, I have already been given confirmation by two inside sources that Milo has indeed been hanging around The Blasting Room recording demos! Don’t believe me? Well wait and see. The question now though is what are they planning? There is a full album of material that was recorded by the original line up before original guitarist Frank Navetta passed away in 2008. This material was an album that was never released and preceded their classic “Milo Goes to College” album regarded by many as one of the best punk rock albums of all time. All it lacked was Milo’s vocals. However we may be lucky and get two albums perhaps an album of all new material as well. For the meantime I will be watching closely for a theatrical release of Filmage! Check out the newest trailer!
Iron Man The Pop Singer?!
Weird, today I stumbles across Avenger’s star Robert Downey Jr’s solo album he put out in 2004 called “The Futurist”. Strange stuff-I had no idea he was an adult contemporary singer! Ahhh yes my least favorite genre of music!
It seems that I’m not the only one who’s head this info skipped over. The album pretty much tanked when he released it and he went on to state that he probably wouldn’t ever attempt another one. Hey I think it was a good thing he dropped the music career personally-I’m not sure what you think but I could live with out hearing this song again…
Truly STRANGE Celebrity Comic Book Appearances!! Part 1!
I am going to do a little research here to find out the most bizarre celebrity appearances in comic books over the years-believe me there are some weird ones! This first week will focus on the legendary comic book appearance of Alice Cooper that took place in 1979 in Marvel Premiere #50!!
This is a pretty fun comic book altogether with some great artwork and zany story that follows our hero Alice as he tries to escape from the mental ward where he’s basically abused by “The Doctor” the story’s villain. It seems ol’ Alice just can’t catch a break here as he’s foiled again and again.
The comic book adventure is titled “From the Inside” and is based on the album of the same name. This wasn’t the last appearance of Alice in a Marvel Comic book he actually returned again in 1994 for a 3 part mini series written by Neil Gaiman called The Last Temptation which accompanied his album of the same name. So Alice is a certified Marvel character! Check them out!
Still Trying to Forget The “New Monkees” of 1987!!
Well I have had The Monkees on the brain since hearing of Davy Jones passing yesterday. It got me thinking of the Monkees when I was a kid and how much I loved them. It also got me thinking of something else I wish I could forget-do any of you remember The New Monkees?!!
If not that’s probably a good thing! If you do then you know what a crap-tas-tic idea and show this was. The year was 1987 and in 1986 the Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork released the hit song “That Was Then, This is Now” remember that? Well it brought on a sort of Monkees revival and someone over at Columbia Pictures thought the answer to this new rise in popularity was….The New Monkees.
These idiots had zero to do with the old group but somehow they got a tv show, an album and the band name The Monkees! Not a bad deal huh!? Well what happened was nobody gave a shit about the NEW Monkees, their show or their music-because well, people loved the REAL Monkees!!! I know as a kid this shit didn’t compare and it actually made me angry when this show would suddenly appear on my tv screen! Geez…anyway they made some really bad 80’s music and 13 really incredibly unfunny tv episodes….so live it up New Monkees today you get another 5 seconds of fame from me here….Enjoy!!
Universal Dork 