BY EDDIE TRUNK (VH1, XM RADIO ETC.)
“The Right To Rock” is 25 years old? Where does the time go?? Seems like just yesterday I was doing my first metal radio show at my local rock station in NJ (WDHA) and I was sent an album by a band called KEEL. Since this was 1985, when I say album, I mean a good old slab of vinyl on a big colorful jacket! I had been somewhat aware of the band from working in a record store and selling their debut “Lay Down The Law” as an indie release. I was also a fan of Ron Keel's first band Steeler, so needless to say I was excited to see they had scored a major deal and, being a huge KISS fan, the services of Gene Simmons as producer! The song “The Right To Rock” had immediate reaction the first time I played it for my audience. The song and album were raw, loud, and in your face, the way all great metal should be. Ron's opening banshee wail said it all, and the message of the song could not have been more timely or relevant to the metal audience. You see, metal fans have always been somewhat marginalized by the main stream and considered outcasts. But “The Right To Rock” became the ultimate anthem for all those that were made fun of for being metal fans. I also remember the video making an impact in the early days of MTV. I have always been a fan of dual guitar work and Marc Ferrari and Bryan Jay made for a great duo. This album as a whole was loaded with all the things I loved about the bands I was a fan of: great twin guitar, thunderous bass and drums, catchy tunes with huge choruses, and powerful vocals. The album pounded from start to finish and really made a statement to the masses that KEEL was a force to be reckoned with on the 80's thriving metal scene. I remember spending a good amount of money to get “The Right To Rock” on CD as a Japanese import, one of my first ever CD purchases at the time! Nowhere was the power of KEEL more apparent, however, than the live stage - that is where they did their best work. I saw the band many times in the early days, taking two hour car rides from my home in NJ to clubs in Brooklyn and Queens like Lamour and Lamour East. But it was truly worth it because a hot, packed, sweaty club with a few beers was without question the best way to see KEEL! The live show crushed. Flash forward 24 years, and it was great to get a call from my old friend Marc that Keel was reuniting and would be performing at Rocklahoma in 2009, a festival I host every year. It was great to see the guys, bring them on stage, and see them still deliver that afternoon in Pryor Oklahoma in the scorching heat. It's also cool that you are holding in your hands this landmark album on CD, finally getting a proper international release. I still include some of KEEL's material in my two national radio shows every week, and still get requests for this album’s title track on a regular basis. Welcome back KEEL, on behalf of all metal fans that grew up in the 80's, it's nice to know that no matter what, we’ve always got the RIGHT TO ROCK!
Eddie Trunk
|
