New York city born and bred singer/songwriter Lou Reed is widely considered to be the father of punk rock. His solo work along with his tenure with the Velvet Underground ran counter to the groovy sounds heard on early 70s radio. Nevertheless, Reed's distinctive spoken word vocals earned him a top 20 hit in 1973 when the classic "Walk On The Wild Side" reached #16. "Wild Side" would remain his only chart appearance, despite a resurgence in 1989 with his comeback record, "New York." Popular cuts like "Dirty Blvd," "Romeo Had Juliette," and "Busload Of Faith" received considerable airplay. One of my favorites from this LP is "There Is No Time," one of the hardest rocking tracks Reed has done, perhaps foreshadowing his ill-fated project "Lulu" with Metallica in 2011. Reed passed away at the age of 71 in 2013, two years shy of being inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame.
Arguably one of the most successful heavy metal bands to ever thrash the charts, Metallica's history goes all the way back to 1981. An unexpected hit emerged with their ballad, "One" (from the album "...And Justice For All"), which crept up to #35 in 1989 and earned the band their first Grammy. The first video Metallica ever made, "One" haunted the minds of viewers and had them all checking out the book and movie, Johnny Got His Gun. Expectations were running high for Metallica's next album, which was self-titled but is commonly referred to as "The Black Album." The band did not disappoint. The album yielded five top 100 singles - unprecedented for a heavy metal band. The best performer was "Enter Sandman," which peaked at #16 in 1991. But that would not be Metallica's best chart performance. The band delivered two albums in quick succession in 1996 and 1997 and the lead single, "Until It Sleeps" hit #10, giving Metallica their only top 10 hit to date. "Fuel" comes from the album "Reload" and is one of the finest tracks I've heard from any heavy metal band. Everything that is great about this band is encapsulated in this one amazing song. It was the third single, but didn't chart.
