The Best Music You Never Heard (Of)

It's funny how your own memories can be so strongly stirred just by reading someone's blog. Case in point, my brother Cybercoder points out Dave's blog at classicrock.about.com about classic rock bands that were huge in one part of the country, but never received national acclaim. Of course, that prompted our own search of bands that we grew up listening to in south Texas, that may not be very well known elsewhere.

We both grew up in and around San Antonio, which has always been a hard rockin' town. I was especially into the hard rock and metal scene because I worked at local rock station KISS-FM. So my brother and I would hang out with the other guys at the station and talk about music, guitars and the local scene. Joe Anthony would play entire LP sides if he liked a particular band.

One of the more popular artists we recall is Legs Diamond. The band has been called the American Deep Purple. Their official website attests to the fact they are huge in San Antonio to this day. The band is still alive, and still rocking and releasing albums, since 1977. Their latest album is Diamonds Are Forever, from 2005. Going back through their discography, the band contributed four songs to a compliation album in 1992 titled Rock On!, with Legs Diamond on one side, and The Runaways on the other side. The big album I remember was their self-titled 1977 release, with a guitar leaning up against a bullet-ridden car.

And speaking of The Runaways, we must acknowledge the passing of Sandy West, whose powerful drumming powered the beat behind this all-female hard rock band. She died of lung cancer at age 47. Sandy co-founded the Runaways in 1975 with singer guitarist Joan Jett. Along with band members Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, the Runaways charted hits like "Cherry Bomb" and "Born to be Bad."

Other bands we love from those heady days in the 70's:
AC/DC
April Wine
Budgie
Crack The Sky
Mahogany Rush
Max Webster
Leslie West & Mountain
Pat Travers Band
Point Blank
Rush
Scorpions
Ted Nugent
Tommy Bolin
Triumph
Thin Lizzy
UFO

It was the music, not the technology that drove our imagination back then. Nowadays, it seems to be the reverse, where technology drives the music. I'm all for technology, it has a real place as a valuable tool, but today's music appears to suffer from that mindset, which is a real shame. "It's gotta be (real) rock 'n roll music; if you wanna dance with me."

Related Tags: Music, Rock and Roll, Classic Rock, The Runaways, CybersMusic

Posted by: Mike