Yngwie Johan Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In 2009, Time magazine rated Malmsteen as number 9 among the 11 greatest electric guitar players of all time.
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Their current lineup consists of Petrucci, Myung, vocalist James LaBrie, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini.
The Nippon Budokan, often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts contests, the arena has gained additional fame as one of the world's most outstanding musical performance venues. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wrestling for a time, and it has hosted numerous other sporting events such as the 1967 Women's Volleyball World Championship. Most recently, the arena hosted the Olympic debut of karate in the 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as the judo competition at both the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Stormtroopers of Death was an American crossover thrash band formed in New York City in 1985. They are credited as being among the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal into a style sometimes referred to as crossover thrash. The band is also known for reuniting Anthrax members Scott Ian (guitars) and Charlie Benante (drums) with their former bassist Dan Lilker. Their instrumental song "March of the SOD" from their 1985 debut album, Speak English or Die, was the Headbangers Ball intro anthem for many years. Another song from the same album, "Chromatic Death", was also used during the show as a segue between ads and videos.
Loudness is a Japanese heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi. They were the first Japanese metal act signed to a major label in the United States. Loudness subsequently released 26 studio albums and nine live albums by 2014 and reached the Billboard Top 100 during their heyday as well as charting on Oricon dozens of times. Despite numerous changes in its line-up, with Takasaki the sole constant member, the band continued their activities throughout the 1990s, finally reuniting the original line-up in 2001. This incarnation released a further seven albums until November 30, 2008, when original drummer Munetaka Higuchi died from liver cancer at a hospital in Osaka at age 49. He was replaced with Masayuki Suzuki.
Warrant is an American glam metal band formed in 1984 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that experienced success from 1989 to 1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. The band first came into the national spotlight with their double platinum debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich and one of its singles, "Heaven", which reached No. 1 in Rolling Stone and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band's success continued in the early 1990s with the double platinum album Cherry Pie, which provided the hit song of the same name.
Keri Kelli is an American hard rock guitarist who has played with artists and groups including Alice Cooper, Slash, Jani Lane, Vince Neil and John Waite. In March 2013 he formed Project Rock together with James Kottak from the Scorpions. Project Rock consisted of Keri Kelli, James Kottak, Tim 'Ripper' Owens, Rudy Sarzo & Teddy Zig-Zag. Kelli is currently in the band Night Ranger.
Live at Budokan is a CD/DVD combination released by heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne on 25 June 2002. It was recorded at the Nippon Budokan on 15 February 2002 in Tokyo, Japan.
Sleepless Nights is a posthumous compilation album by Gram Parsons. Though credited to Parsons and his former band The Flying Burrito Brothers, the band appear on only nine of the album's twelve tracks. The album features no original songs; the majority are covers of vintage country songs with the exception of The Rolling Stones' song "Honky Tonk Women".
Soldier of Fortune is the eighth studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness, and their first with American vocalist Mike Vescera. It is the band's third album produced by Max Norman after Thunder in the East in 1985 and Lightning Strikes in 1986. The album is co-produced by Fates Warning's producer Roger Probert. Despite the good critical reception and the strong support given by the label, the album failed to chart in the US. The CD contains heavy and fast tracks like "Soldier of Fortune", "You Shook Me", "Red Light Shooter", "Running for Cover", "Faces in the Fire" and "Demon Disease".
On the Prowl is the ninth studio album released by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It is also their second and last album with American vocalist Mike Vescera, before his leaving to join Yngwie Malmsteen's band. On the Prowl is mainly a compilation of self-covers of songs from early Loudness' albums, containing only three new songs written by the band (♠). However, Mike Vescera translated and adapted the lyrics of the old songs written by former vocalist Minoru Niihara, to be sung in English.
The Neil Young Archives is a longtime project by singer-songwriter Neil Young. It started as a series of archival releases featuring previously released as well as unreleased studio and live recordings. It eventually developed into a website featuring almost the whole of Young's recording output throughout his career, available for streaming in high resolution audio format. The project has been long in the making – work began in the late 1980s. Throughout its development, Young himself has made several statements about the material included, release dates, and marketing that have proven false as the project was modified for new multimedia formats and expanded upon to accommodate new releases or other relevant material. Young has said that there will be five volumes covering approximately 50 years.
Michael Vescera is an American heavy metal singer for various bands and projects like Loudness, Obsession (Marshall Law, Scarred for Life, Methods of Madness, Carnival of Lies, Order of Chaos), Yngwie Malmsteen, Dr. Sin, Roland Grapow (Kaleidoscope) or his own band MVP.
"Metal" Mike Chlasciak is a Polish-American musician, best known as the guitarist for heavy metal band Halford, led by Rob Halford.
Christopher Lee McCarvill is an American musician best known as the touring and/or recording bass guitarist and backing vocalist with arena rock bands Dokken and House of Lords. He is well known for his energetic and technical virtuosity on the bass and his heartfelt vocal performances.
Live-Loud-Alive: Loudness in Tokyo is the first live album by the Japanese band Loudness. It was recorded and released in 1983. The instrumental track "Tusk of Jaguar" appears on Akira Takasaki's first solo album with the same name. The opening theme is taken from "The Planets" by Gustav Holst, performed by the Orchestre National de l'Opera de Montecarlo, conducted by Antonio de Almeida. The home video release of another concert of the same tour was released as the band's first live VHS/Beta and Laserdisc at almost the same time of the double LP and with the same title. The video was remastered and re-released in DVD in 2005.
Loud 'n' Raw is the fourth live album by the Japanese band Loudness. It was released in 1995 only in Japan. "Speed King" is a cover of the Deep Purple's song from the album Deep Purple in Rock.
Loudness Live 2002 is the seventh live album by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was recorded in 2002 and released in 2003 as a double multimedia CD.
Prime Circle is a South African rock band, based in Johannesburg. The band has released 7 studio albums and achieved either gold or platinum status in South Africa. The band has expanded its audience to England and Europe where they are represented by a German agent and have signed an international recording deal, performing at festivals and their own shows in Germany.
Live at Budokan: Red Night & Black Night Apocalypse is the third live video release by the Japanese heavy metal band Babymetal. It contains two concerts performed at Nippon Budokan shortly after the release of the band's eponymous debut album, and was released on January 7, 2015 in a standard edition and a limited-edition box set exclusively for "The One" fanclub members.
