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.