USA Production Series Appreciation Thread

[Flatpicker]

but since Coverdale fired Sykes

Thus the answer to your question from before.

Coverdale usually marks the moment when something jumps the shark.
Deep Purple, the entire Power Metal (pop metal) genre, Tawney Kitaen,etc etc..

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy Whitesnake's 80's work but still think Dave is a wanker.

[AndyK]

Sweet candy blue SD-1. Does it look as blue in person or more purplish? I like the way those candy blue Charvels look in photos but have been fooled before by flash photos that make something look blue only to see it's purplish under normal lighting.

Thanks. It looks like that in person, unless it's slightly dark in the room, then it turns a little more purple/blue. Still a nice not-white (I already have a pearl white Soloist) blue!

[DHardmanJr]

Back on topic, here is my SD-1 - haven't seen many candy blue guitars lately!

Sweet candy blue SD-1. Does it look as blue in person or more purplish? I like the way those candy blue Charvels look in photos but have been fooled before by flash photos that make something look blue only to see it's purplish under normal lighting.

[AndyK]

I'm with Flatpicker on this....the way I remember it the masturbating was pretty much over by '86. Only the bands that were destined for immediate failure were still doing it. Van Halen had softened, Bon Jovis "Slippery When Wet" was the biggest album of the year. In '87 we got Whitesnake which turned big chords and Les Pauls back on (but since Coverdale fired Sykes it was Slash that took advantage of it(hero-wise). By mid-88 we were doing Guns, Acoustic power ballads, the Zep Copies (Lenny Wolf), Cinderella-type stuff, Slaughter, Metallica's "One", Aerosmiths "permanent vacation", etc. The happy smiling shredder was already gone. '89 was Tesla, Black Crowes, etc. and the bottom of the barrel (Kix, etc.) 1990 was Aerosmiths 'Pump". It had gone back toward blues by 88 as reaction to 1984-5. Only the hangers on were still trying to "hang on".......except Vai and Yngwie(the ultimate hangers on). A lot of mediocre crap in 89 and 90. Remember 'Don't close your eyes" by Kix. definition of mediocre. But it was a hit!
I think really Dee Snider has it right...when "metal" and hard rock stopped blowing your asses back in the seat and started trying to play 'unplugged", and veering away from what those bands did well ,etc. then the word was "boring", and it was ready to be taken apart. And then it was...first by Guns, then metallica, then Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Alice In Chains

I'm leaving out a lot of names but that's the way I remember it.

Amen! Like any period in music history, there comes a period where cutting-edge becomes pop, the floodgates open, and the copy-cats dilute what was once great. What is sad is that instead of the copy-cats vanishing into history, the entire genre was axed (no pun intended).

Back on topic, here is my SD-1 - haven't seen many candy blue guitars lately!

[85 San Dimas]

I'm not too sure I agree.
There were groups that created good melodic music that were dropped too.
It's like the flood wiped out everybody.

I'm with Flatpicker on this....the way I remember it the masturbating was pretty much over by '86. Only the bands that were destined for immediate failure were still doing it. Van Halen had softened, Bon Jovis "Slippery When Wet" was the biggest album of the year. In '87 we got Whitesnake which turned big chords and Les Pauls back on (but since Coverdale fired Sykes it was Slash that took advantage of it(hero-wise). By mid-88 we were doing Guns, Acoustic power ballads, the Zep Copies (Lenny Wolf), Cinderella-type stuff, Slaughter, Metallica's "One", Aerosmiths "permanent vacation", etc. The happy smiling shredder was already gone. '89 was Tesla, Black Crowes, etc. and the bottom of the barrel (Kix, etc.) 1990 was Aerosmiths 'Pump". It had gone back toward blues by 88 as reaction to 1984-5. Only the hangers on were still trying to "hang on".......except Vai and Yngwie(the ultimate hangers on). A lot of mediocre crap in 89 and 90. Remember 'Don't close your eyes" by Kix. definition of mediocre. But it was a hit!
I think really Dee Snider has it right...when "metal" and hard rock stopped blowing your asses back in the seat and started trying to play 'unplugged", and veering away from what those bands did well ,etc. then the word was "boring", and it was ready to be taken apart. And then it was...first by Guns, then metallica, then Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Alice In Chains

I'm leaving out a lot of names but that's the way I remember it.

[DHardmanJr]

I'm not too sure I agree.
There were groups that created good melodic music that were dropped too.
It's like the flood wiped out everybody.

I agree with most all of these points ... grunge being an antidote for the excesses of the late 80s metal but it sucked that a lot of good bands with good music that I will call "sincere" for the lack of a better term were caught in the backlash against the over the top, insensere, "let me show you how fast I can move my fingers and how big my hair can be" bands.

There were a lot of good rock bands in the early 90s that just got wiped out from the backlash.

[Flatpicker]

Nope. It killed itself, or at least set itself up to be pushed under the bus.

You weren't "good" unless you could keep up with the shredding. Your band sucked if you didn't have a guitarist who could blaze scalar patterns and arpeggios at 200BPM while carrying on a conversation.

You had to be able to impress other guitarists with your fretboard skills.

Nevermind the fact you can write a melody that stuck with the general CD-buying populace or a song that more than guitarists would be interested in, you had to be able to masturbate musically to the exclusion of all else.

Ergo, the "music" killed itself.

I'm not too sure I agree.
There were groups that created good melodic music that were dropped too.
It's like the flood wiped out everybody.

[zakky_venom]

More importantly, grunge killed the "dirtbag" look, or at least slapped a label on it. As a kid, I wore jeans, work boots and a flannel shirt. When Pearl Jam's Ten hit, I still wore jeans, work boots and a flannel shirt - somewhere along the way I went from hopeless loser, to righteous hipster without changing my clothes.





I did cut my hair though. Probably around the time Chris Cornell did - so Metallic bit my style.

you should sell the movie rights

[Grandturk]

More importantly, grunge killed the "dirtbag" look, or at least slapped a label on it. As a kid, I wore jeans, work boots and a flannel shirt. When Pearl Jam's Ten hit, I still wore jeans, work boots and a flannel shirt - somewhere along the way I went from hopeless loser, to righteous hipster without changing my clothes.





I did cut my hair though. Probably around the time Chris Cornell did - so Metallic bit my style.

[jet66]

Nope. It killed itself, or at least set itself up to be pushed under the bus.

You weren't "good" unless you could keep up with the shredding. Your band sucked if you didn't have a guitarist who could blaze scalar patterns and arpeggios at 200BPM while carrying on a conversation.

You had to be able to impress other guitarists with your fretboard skills.

Nevermind the fact you can write a melody that stuck with the general CD-buying populace or a song that more than guitarists would be interested in, you had to be able to masturbate musically to the exclusion of all else.

Ergo, the "music" killed itself.

My thoughts exactly. Somewhere around '90-'91, it wasn't about 'the song' anymore, it was about showcasing the latest whiz-bang hotshot's chops. I love hotshot chops as much as the next player from the 80's, but I was so over it at that point.

Every new/good style seems to do that, though. Even grunge and hip-hop became more of a marketing scheme than an 'art form.' Sure, the point of the music business is to make money, but once a style becomes more of a business plan, it just turns in to a business plan.

[Mr.Shreddy]

^^^^^ Awesome comment man.

[Newc]

Fuggin Grunge killed the music.

Nope. It killed itself, or at least set itself up to be pushed under the bus.

You weren't "good" unless you could keep up with the shredding. Your band sucked if you didn't have a guitarist who could blaze scalar patterns and arpeggios at 200BPM while carrying on a conversation.

You had to be able to impress other guitarists with your fretboard skills.

Nevermind the fact you can write a melody that stuck with the general CD-buying populace or a song that more than guitarists would be interested in, you had to be able to masturbate musically to the exclusion of all else.

Ergo, the "music" killed itself.

[MusicManJP6]

I played my buddy's So Cal last weekend and I'm GASing like crazy for one of these guitars now!!

[Mr.Shreddy]

Fuggin Grunge killed the music.

Exactly

[Flatpicker]

Nothing short of a time machine can recreate the magic that was the 80's charvels.

By the same token, nothing short of a time machine can recreate the period of time where those Charvel players came from.

Back then the bar on playing skills was raised so high. The players made the magic, the guitars were tools.

Lynch proved that, no matter what was on the headstock that day, he still played godlike. It was just the era where being good was recognized and applauded.

Fuggin Grunge killed the music.