Tune Tag #70 with Ryan Mac of "Ryan's Reviews": Kiss, Pearl Jam, New York Dolls, XTC, Led Zeppelin, Stone Temple Pilots

Tune Taggin' with Ryan Mac, a guy who digs hard rock and pro wrestling! As long as he doesn't slam me into the turnbuckle, we should be OK! Speaking of buckles...do that to your seatbelt!🎢Here we go!

Hey, Ryan! TAG! You’re IT!

Tune Tag happily welcomes Ryan Mac of

Ryan's Reviews

!

“Ryan’s Reviews” focuses on deep dives into retro professional wrestling. This includes reviews and analysis of matches, storylines, promos, and behind-the-stages developments and the business side of things. My goal is to not only bask in some nostalgia, but to discover stuff I missed out on in my 33+ years of wrestling fandom. I also hope to unlock core memories for some of my readers or turn them on to matches or wrestlers that they might enjoy. I worked my way through the entire year of 1995 and through the short history of MTV’s Wrestling Society X promotion, and I am currently diving into the history of wrestling in 1990. You can find Ryan’s Reviews here!

Hello, I am Ryan Mac, and I come to you all the way from lovely, picturesque (and overtaxed) Nova Scotia. I’m known around The ‘Stack primarily for my pro wrestling content, but I’m passionate about a great many things, especially music:

My first love is heavy metal and hard rock, but my tastes encompass much more than that. Alternative, punk, hip-hop, R&B, funk, classical, soundtrack, western, and probably other genres that I forgot.

I’ve actually been writing about music for about a year or so for the CGCM Rock Radio website, an internet radio station that specializes in hard rock and heavy metal. My specialty is ranking songs on albums from best to worst, and I’m currently working through the Iron Maiden discography.

You can check out Ryan Ranks here!

Last week, we were pleased to welcome Dave Tomar of

Music Influence

to Tune Tag:

Tune Tag #69 with Dave Tomar of "Music Influence": The Beat, Monroes, Stranglers, The Jam, Phil Collins, Joe Jackson, Anita Dobson

Next week, join us as we invite Tad Callin of

All Kinds Musick

to tag tunes!

Ryan’s song #1 sent to Brad: Kiss, “I Love It Loud,” 1982

Kiss backstage, circa ‘73/’74.📸Casablanca Records

Brad’s response: I’ve never been a Kiss acolyte, but their career has certainly been fun to watch! 1982’s “I Love It Loud” (en español, “Me Encanta Ruidoso”) appears to be the point at which Kiss became, essentially, the Gene Simmons/Paul Stanley Corporation LLC, which would take them through the remainder of the 20th century, and into the next.

Gene’n’Paul, Inc. not only tag-team-produced with Michael James Jackson here, but the two Kiss players wrote this with Vinnie Vincent, the band’s guitarist from 1982 until mid-1984 “during the band’s transition out of their 1973–1983 makeup period,” as Wiki echoes a bit of my supposition.

Bugs tried valiantly at one point, but he was outnumbered 4-1 in eventually giving up makeup ala Kiss. At Maybelline HQ, that particular 1983 Thursday was one deep, dark day from which they’ve only recently recovered. 12-year-old boys in American suburbia were now on their own, with a sudden increase in matriculation into Florida’s Clown College just one of the effects of the Estée Lauder/Kiss split.

Ryan’s rationale: As I continue to take life’s downtown express to the heart of Old Man City, I started to gain more appreciation for a lot of bands, Kiss being among them. While I’m not necessarily a four-star general in the Kiss Army, I’m really digging more of their stuff, and they fit neatly within my general love of hard rock and heavy metal.

There’s a good many Kiss anthems I could be spotlighting, but this one in particular ties into the main theme of my Substack: The art of athletes in colorful costumes in predetermined combat, otherwise known as “professional wrestling.”

I actually first heard this tune when watching tapes of 1990’s Japanese wrestling. “I Love It Loud” served as the entrance music for “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, a big, beefy, belligerent Oklahoman who achieved his greatest acclaim in All-Japan Pro-Wrestling. When you hear Kiss wail away while Doc does his awesome sprinting jog to the ring, you know you’re about to witness a truly physical encounter.

What might be a "Dr. Death" to some in the ring is a pussycat to others in the weight room. Steve Williams (1960-2009) was born in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, CO, and played football at the University of Oklahoma, while amateur wrestling. Already interested in professional wrestling soon after graduation, Williams had a ready-made nickname that dated back to an incident in junior high where he had to wrestle in a hockey goalie's mask due to shattering his nose, and was jokingly labeled "Dr. Death" by a coach. Williams died from throat cancer in Denver in 2009 at age 49. He was posthumously awarded a place in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020.

Headliner head-scratcher? Flint, Michigan double-bill poster for a June 12, 1974 show. The Dolls’ debut was 11 months old, while the Kiss debut was still a swaddling vinyl babe at 4 months, hence the opening slot for the newer act! Opening for anybody would be in the Kiss rear-view soon enough.

Lest one thinks I was too harsh on Kiss and their rock-Kabuki theatre, may the record show that I, too, donned the roar of the greasepaint (if not the smell of the crowd)! From 1971 through 1973, I was lead singer of my Houston high school-based, 6-piece rock band, Brimstone, and went onstage, regularly bedecked in cape, black, stacked, knee-high boots and wearing more make-up than a Sephora sales rep!

It was a Paid-Subscriber Exclusive 2 summers ago, but there’s a lengthy free preview (you’re more than welcome to upgrade to Paid for access to all Paywalled articles!):

🏖1️⃣I Was a Teenage Lead Singer! The Early '70s Brimstone Saga (with Approximate Setlist)

Brad’s song #1 sent to Ryan: New York Dolls, “Personality Crisis,” 1973

The New York Dolls, October 30, 1972, backstage during a brief tour of England (l-r), original drummer Billy Murcia (he’d be dead a week later, with Jerry Nolan replacing him, beating out Peter Criss and 4 dozen others who auditioned; Criss found suitable employment, however), guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur ‘Killer’ Kane, guitarist Sylvain Sylvain; seated, lead singer David Johansen, the man who would be Buster Poindexter a decade-and-a-half later. Murcia was invited to a party during their British tour, where he passed out from an overdose. He was put in a bathtub and force-fed coffee in an attempt to revive him. That resulted in his asphyxiation. He was found dead on the morning of November 6, 1972, at the age of 21. 📸P. Felix/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ryan’s response: Killer track here. Like Kiss, the Dolls came up in the New York scene during the 1970s, and they both inspired shock and/or awe with their costuming, make-up, and wild stage presence. Plus, Kiss’ “Creatures of the Night,” the album containing “I Love It Loud” was at least partially recorded at the Record Plant studio. Also recorded there: The eponymous first album by the New York Dolls!

Brad’s rationale: For what seemed like 5 minutes, the Dolls and Kiss were joined at the proverbial hip at the same early-career stomping grounds in 1973: New York City.

“Kiss existed simultaneously in and outside of the burgeoning New York City scene when bands like the proto-punk androgynous New York Dolls were at the center of the city’s [ever-growing] punk scene.

“‘I think from the very beginning, we realized we were special, in that we weren’t like everyone else,’ Paul Stanley told CityBeat in 2023. ‘When Gene and I did finally see the Dolls, for example, live, they had tremendous charisma and a tremendous look, but we both realized that we were kidding ourselves if we thought we could compete with these guys whose waists were as big as my wrist. They flaunted an androgyny that we couldn’t. We looked more like linebackers in women’s clothes!’” 

The Dolls had a head start, having begun recording their Mercury Records debut in April 1973, Todd Rundgren producing. Neil Bogart’s Casablanca Records didn’t even sign Kiss until that following early November (although recording for their debut began at NYC’s Bell Sound Studios on October 10).

The Dolls’ debut was released July 27, 1973. Six weeks later, I spent two Texas weekends with them in Houston and Dallas (and, 5 years later, had drinks with their producer in Houston):

“Todd’s initial impression of The Dolls was that of a humorous live act who were technically competent only by the standards of other unsophisticated New York bands. ‘The Dolls weren’t out to expand any musical horizons,’ said Rundgren, although he enjoyed Thunders’ ‘attitude’ and Johansen’s charismatic antics onstage (per Paul Myers’ A Wizard a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio, 2010).

Living in the lap of tolerance: David (l) with Todd, relaxing backstage at Max’s Kansas City, circa 1973.📸Bob Gruen. Todd, in LouderSound: “The New York Dolls weren’t presented to me – they were just part of the milieu I was involved in at the time. I was still living in New York in an apartment that was walking distance from Max’s Kansas City, which is where everything was happening. There was no CBGB’s yet. For the most part, I went through David. I used him as a translator to get to the rest of the band. The challenge of making the [first] record was that the control room was a freaking circus: everyone wanted to know what was going on with The New York Dolls – the critics’ favorite band. I was pretty sober throughout the entire thing; my only working drug was pot. While these guys would smoke pot, they would also do everything else! The sessions involved politics, psychology and crowd control. And at a certain point I had to surrender to the process and accept that the surrounding insanity was going to be a part of the character of the record.”

“Johansen had thought of Rundgren as ‘an expert on second rate rock’n’roll,’ but also said the band was ‘kind of persona non grata, at the time, with most producers. They were afraid of us, I don’t know why, but Todd wasn’t. We all liked him from Max’s Kansas City ... Todd was cool and he was a producer.” (George Gimarc, from his Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter’s Guide To Underground Rock, 1970–1982).

Sylvain, on the other hand, felt the decision to enlist him was based on availability, time, and money: “It wasn’t a long list. Todd was in New York and seemed like he could handle the pace,” according to Myers.

Upon being hired, according to Tony Fletcher in his 2009 All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music From the Streets of New York, 1927-77, “Rundgren declared that ‘the only person who can produce a New York record is someone who lives in New York.’”

From 2009, a brief, but hilarious interview with Syl and David (both around age 60 here) by UK TV host, Jonathan Ross (Sylvain died at 69 in January 2021):

Ryan’s song #2: XTC, “Dear God,” 1987

Brad’s response: Another incredible Todd production. Here’s a deep-dive we did recently on one track from Skylarking, “Season Cycle”:

Audio Autopsy, 1986: XTC "Season Cycle" from Skylarking LP, Produced by Todd Rundgren

Ryan’s rationale: The connective tissue with the Dolls? The legendary Todd Rundgren, who produced the New York Dolls debut album and XTC’s Skylarking album, the one where the controversial single, “Dear God,” was (eventually) found.

Also, Todd Rundgren not only produced this, but actually covered it (click here for YouTube audio/video) on his (re)Production album. Rundgren also covered “Personality Crisis” on that album (click here).

Click here for a recent YouTube audio interview with Todd, as he talks about the recording of the Skylarking album, “Dear God,” and Andy Partridge.

Brad’s song #2: What Is This, “I’ll Be Around,” 1985

“Why are you called ‘What Is This’?” It’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to the reaction they usually received from first-time listeners. Sounds like they came oh-so-close to being called Whatchu Talkin’ ‘Bout Willis! From left to right: Bassist, Chris Hutchinson (who replaced Flea, who went on to play with Fear), lead singer/guitarist, Alain Johannes, drummer, Jack Irons.

Ryan’s response: Hey, it’s our good pal, Todd Rundgren again! This go-round, he acted as the producer of What Is This’s eponymous album, which contained a cover of the Spinners’ soul classic, “I’ll Be Around.”

Brad’s rationale: Todd produced (he also recorded a What Is This song, “Chasing Your Ghost”—click here)

As for The Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around,” we’ve got that, with a few covers:

Inside Tracks #10: Thom Bell & Phil Hurtt, "I'll Be Around" by Spinners, Hall & Oates, The Rippingtons feat. Jeffrey Osborne, Terri Wells, Regina Belle

Ryan’s song #3: Pearl Jam, “Do the Evolution,” 1998

Ryan’s rationale: What Is This is basically an early version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as multiple founding members were part of that band’s line-up. One of those members was drummer Jack Irons, who would leave the RHCP in 1988 and would eventually sit behind the kit for a little band called Pearl Jam.

Brad’s response: I’m not seeing a connection between the What Is This track and this Pearl Jam jam.🤷‍♂️[Now I see why: I did not know about the Chili Pepper connection!]

Brad’s song #3: Bad Radio, “Believe You Me,” 1989

Eddie Vedder (second from left), with Bad Radio, being interviewed by San Diego’s 91X Radio, circa 1989. The band had a long-term special relationship with the radio station, as they had won a 91X Battle of the Bands, and had their resultant What the Funk demo funded by the station as their prize. One of that demo’s songs was this “Believe You Me.” Bad Radio never had a proper, label-released recording. Vedder’s last show with Bad Radio was on February 11, 1990.

Ryan’s response: The link between Pearl Jam and Bad Radio? Frontman Eddie Vedder served as lead singer of both! Starting in 1988, Vedder fronted Bad Radio before moving on to yell incomprehensible lyrics into the microphone for Pearl Jam in 1990. Interestingly enough, much like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who evolved from What Is This, we’re looking at another funk-infused alternative act from California.

Brad’s rationale: Vedder, before moving to L.A. and eventually singing lead for Pearl Jam, was lead singer for San Diego-based Bad Radio.

Ryan’s song #4: Stone Temple Pilots, “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart,” 1996

Ryan’s rationale: Bad Radio was founded in San Diego. Another band that was founded in San Diego in the 1980s? The Stone Temple Pilots. Also, both Bad Radio and STP fall comfortably in the alternative rock side of things. Why this song in particular? It’s my favorite one from the Pilots.

Brad’s song #4: Led Zeppelin, “Dancing Days,” 1973

Led Zeppelin, in concert at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium, June 2, 1973, two months after their most recent album was released. Their 5th album, "Houses of the Holy" was released on March 28, 1973 in the U.S. (2 days before its UK release). "Dancing Days" began Side Two, and most likely was included in this concert's setlist. Led Zeppelin was my first live concert experience about 3 years before this California show: It was at the University of Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion for "An Evening with Led Zeppelin" (no opening act). The date was March 29, 1970, 11 days after I turned 15. Dad worked in sales at a Houston commercial radio station and got me my floor-seat tickets, gratis. Around 2000 (along with my 2,000 albums and many promo items), I sold the one-inch-square ticket stub on eBay for $100.

Ryan’s response: In 1995, Stone Temple Pilots contributed a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Dancing Days” on Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, which was, and this may shock you, a tribute album. In the 2019 remastered re-release of STP’s 1994 Purple album, the “Dancing Days” cover was included.

Brad’s rationale: STP’s “Trippin’” chorus riff seems to gently reference Led Zeppelin’s “Dancing Days,” which Scott Weiland and the band performed on Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin and here, in 1996, on The Howard Stern Show: