Songs That Rocked (My World) Pt. II
Friday, May 11, 2007 at 8:48AM The year was 1994. The place was Pilani, India. Cue to a musically disattisfied young man. A somewhat handsome young man whom everybody mistook for Akshay Khanna, but whose last name was Anand.
(That's me.)
Yes, although my love affair with Guns 'N' Roses was ongoing, I was on the lookout for fresher sonic pastures. The prowess of GNR seemed somewhat faded in The Spaghetti Incident? - lets face it, it was essentially a covers album. Try as one might to portray a different story, a cover album is a sure sign of flagging creativity unless one has had at least 6 or 7 albums under one's belt. Moreover, Axl's vocals were beginning to grate on my nerves, and the music didn't have the same punch as it did when I first discovered it.
I was then lent a mix tape that would forever alter the course of evolution ... of my musical tastes. A TDK 90 minute tape with a (just about legible) handwritten scrawl covering it. I went back to my room, slotted the tape in, hit play ... and was treated to Nicko's intro drum roll to ... Where Eagles Dare.
Where Eagles Dare was - and still is - one of the top Maiden songs in my book. The subject matter - an adaptation of the Alistair McClean book (or the movie, I suppose) - was perfectly captured in the music. The drums rolled in mimicry of airplane engines and machine gun fire; the guitars swooped and howled like the bitter winds on the Bavarian Alps; the galloping bass giving the story its intense urgency of purpose. And the story itself sung by the most awsome set of pipes on a Metal vocalist, bar none.
The song was my introduction to the world of melodic heavy metal. I associated most heavy metal - and still do - with the throaty screaming shred fests of most bands ... Pantera, Sepultura, Judas Priest (post-Painkiller), and so on. Iron Maiden was the first band that actually made the music sound good.
Music 
Reader Comments (2)
HUH?!?!
I believe he is attempted to belittle the likes of Pantera and Sepultura.
You have no class, axe.