God Hates Record Store Day

Record Store Day has taken to releasing a Dio picture disc single with each drop. They are pretty pointless, other than being a nice looking collectible, but it is Dio so I'm basically required to buy it no matter how useless they are. Plus, at this point I was five releases deep so I couldn't back out now and needed to pick up the latest.

This time around, the RSD single is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Dio album Angry Machines. It seems like that album gets brushed aside by a lot of Dio fans, but I love the dark and heavy vibe from that record. It is a bit different for Dio, so I understand why some fans might not enjoy it, but I think it is great.

This single has the song God Hates Heavy Metal on the a-side, which is a rare track that was only available on the Japanese CD pressing of the album. Not the most creative song title, but I still dig it. Over on the b-side we get This Is Your Life from the Angry Machines album, plus a live version of Hunter Of The Heart (which is such a killer song).

Awww hell, might as well pull all six out for a photo. I wonder how long the Dio camp will keep this picture disc single series rolling.

Tied Down RSDemo

One of the few records that some of my old blogger friends had showed any interest in for Record Store Day was the colored vinyl pressing of the Tied Down demo from Negative Approach. I was planning on just ignoring it... I mean, spending $24 for demo versions of songs that I was already familiar with seemed a bit dumb. Then, while I was in the store with two other records in my hands, I figured "fuck it" and I grabbed the one from Negative Approach and headed to the counter to check out.

I'm not sure if I necessarily NEEDED this record in my collection, but it was certainly fun to drop the needle and give it a spin. Negative Approach just pummel you, and these songs are just vicious from start to finish. I feel like I haven't really spent much time with this band over recent years, but this record makes me want to bring them out more often.

This is a typical TAANG! release and they don't really offer much in the way of packaging. No insert with any additional photos or commentary from the band. Kind of weak for the price tag this carries.

The Record Store Day sticker is a nice touch, although I always remove mine from the cellophane wrapper and apply it to my poly sleeve. This one proved to be more difficult to remove than most and I ended up mangling it pretty good.

Through The Mists Of RSD

I've been obsessing over AC/DC records for the last few years, so when I saw that they were releasing a 12 inch single for Record Store Day this year, I knew that I'd at least be picking up that one record for the day. If it wasn't for this one single, I might not have even bothered to get out to the store.

I wasn't excited that this latest single was pressed as a picture disc, but I'm not too bothered about it. I mean, it isn't like I'll probably ever play this record again since both of these songs were on the Power Up album that was released last year. Still, as another record for the AC/DC collection, I'll gladly take it.

Packaging is pretty minimal here, with just an OBI style strip that lists the song names. 5,000 pressed.

I saw that someone posted the other day on Instagram, checking in to see if people are still spinning the Power Up album, or if the hype had died down and it had been shelved. Me? You bet that I'm still playing that thing regularly.

RSD Leppard

There really wasn't anything that I was excited about for this year's Record Store Day, but I still figured that I'd swing by the Bull Moose store around the corner from me to see what was shakin'. Due to COVID restrictions, only one person at a time was allowed to flip through the bins of RSD releases, so I had to stand in line as the clown in front of me took his time to pull out and examine every other record. From the sidelines I could see a live Def Leppard record in the bin so as soon as it was my turn that was the first one that I grabbed.

I can only hang with the first three Def Leppard albums, so when I saw the 1980 date of the show on the front cover, I figured that I'd take a chance and buy it. I'm so glad that I picked this one up, because this live album fucking rips.

The songs here only cover the first EP and the On Through The Night album, as well as early versions of a couple of other songs. The whole thing is electric as the songs jump off the vinyl. I could have easily passed on picking up this live record, but I'm so glad that I didn't. This record sounds great.

The look and layout of this package is fantastic.