Even though you blaspheme the holy one’s name I have to agree. Holy Diver however does stand up to the test of time.

All hail his name. \m/\m/

Dude, you haven’t been watching VH-1 late night specials recently, have you?

1) You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ sounds as brutal today as the day that it was released.
2) Rainbow in the Dark is too keyboard-heavy for longevity. The 80’s really screwed things up for the keyboard in heavy metal.
3) The Trooper sounds dated? WTF? Are you on crack? The Trooper is heavier than most of what passes for “metal” these days, has a tempo that most bands still can’t match, and has lyrics that will never get old. “He’ll take my life but I’ll take his too” is still one of the best lyrics in the history of heavy metal. Compare that to whiny crap like “My lifestyle determines my death style” and there is no comparison. Say what you want about Seventh Son... but leave The Trooper alone.
4) I have no particular opinion on Slave to the Grind. Skid Row never really moved me that much.
5) Holy Diver has lost none of its luster. Dio’s career had its peaks and valleys, but Holy Diver (the entire album) has cemented his legacy.
6) Is it me, or are Metallica’s early works - as great as they are - starting to suffer on replay simply because Metallica sucks so bad now? Damn shame, I say…
7) Beyond the Realms of Death is the most under-appreciated Priest song ever. It should be daily mandatory listening for every wussy, Chris-Hooba-Stained-Park-Stank-Nickel-think-I’m-a-rocker ballad singer. I’m just sayin’…

PS: Don’t tell anyone, but I may be looking for a couch to crash on for a couple of days. Some time in the near future. Say, in six weeks or so. Maybe. We’ll see. But don’t tell anyone…

Megadeath.  Oh, yeah.

-1 Metal point for mr. lady. It’s Megadeth.

And yes Metallica’s early works have lost their luster due to their newfound lameness.

I met Metallica in ‘86 when Cliff was alive. They were very nice. Like night and day between then and now.

+1 metal point for Mr. Lady.  She typed 3 whole words on a laptop missing 22 keys with a one year old clawing at her eyes and only misspelled by one letter.

I watched a few minutes of a VH1 special last night and that fueled a flurry of ripping old CDs to my new-ish laptop’s hard drive. All these things I hadn’t listened to in years (thank you, VH1!).

Jerry, I still love The Trooper, and it is heavier than most of the crap that passes for music these days. But something about the sound--not the music, but, literally the sound quality--makes it sound pretty old to me. That’s what I mean by dated for that song; the recording of the song sounds old. I’m not sure I can completely explain my thoughts, but it’s down that road.

I can still listen to a few Metallica albums and be happy, but not many. The new stuff is so bad that I still can’t figure out how it all came from the same band.

Now, you’ll excuse me while I go annoy my co-workers with Megadeth’s killer take on “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” followed up by Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher”.

PS- I bet we could find a nice, comfy couch for you. You know. If we need to.

Have you heard ”Numbers From The Beast”?

Lemmy sings “The Trooper.” Not too shabby.

Also, you have to check out “The Piano Tribute to Iron Maiden”.  If nothing else, just for the intro to “Wasted Years.”

Excuse me now, while I crank up, “Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying...”

Dave: Your point is well taken - and I agree with you 100%. The audio quality on some of those older metal albums is pretty poor. Even remastering doesn’t seem to help. The original master is just low-quality audio and there isn’t anything that can be done about that.

Hindsight is always 20/20; looking back, it’s still a bit fuzzy....

I am the Pope of Dioism.

Rainbow ... ???

I’m the man on the Silver Mountain!

But Dio’s okay too. Yeah, Holy Diver holds up much better than Rainbow in the Dark.

Did someone mention Tommy Bolin?

Your fondness for American Idol now makes sense.

Dio: ick, ick, ick.

Skid Row: debut albums rocks. Find “Youth Gone Wild” and crank it to 11.

Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime sounds a good as it did in 1988.