Johnny Rotten Four Eyes

December 8, 2003 7:18 PM

Pictures of rock stars when they were kids. Nice hat, Ozzy.
via Neurastenia
posted by MrBaliHai (25 comments total)

It'd be funner as a guessing game.
posted by dgaicun at 8:02 PM on December 8, 2003

Poor old Ozzy, who coincidentally has a single out this week.
posted by tapeguy at 8:06 PM on December 8, 2003

Kurt Cobain was a handsome li'l towheaded tyke.
posted by alumshubby at 8:19 PM on December 8, 2003

then again, kurt cobain was no rock star.
posted by quonsar at 8:34 PM on December 8, 2003

then again, kurt cobain was no rock star.

and died to enforce it.
posted by Satapher at 8:53 PM on December 8, 2003

Don't know 'bout the rest of them, but the Queen pictures all originally appeared in "As It Began", a biography on the band. Was hoping for something of the "never before seen" variety.
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:58 PM on December 8, 2003

these are all great, although i can't stop thinking about the lost innocence. i mean, come on! it's fucking ozzy osborne, the father of heavy metal.
posted by lsd4all at 10:48 PM on December 8, 2003

Speak of the devil: The father of heavy metal just broke some serious bones.
posted by dgaicun at 12:54 AM on December 9, 2003

Or what tapeguy pointed out. oops.

Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to let ozzy on a quad bike? The man has more motor impairment than mohammed ali.
posted by dgaicun at 2:17 AM on December 9, 2003

actually, it's more accurate to say that tony iommi, he of the upside down gibson SG and the plastic fingertip prostheses, is the father of heavy metal. ozzy was just his shouter.
posted by quonsar at 3:12 AM on December 9, 2003

Perhaps I'm out of touch with these so-called 'popular musical groups' the young people talk about, but who the hell is Yngwie Malmsteen?
posted by backOfYourMind at 4:23 AM on December 9, 2003

Yngwie Malmsteen was never a popular musical group, except among the metal heads who hung out around the tech areas of high school in the 80's. He's a very talented guitarist who I think was classically trained and melded it with heavy metal guitar. As far as I can remember he only had one album that really got any air time in the Detroit area where I grew up. The guitar work was amazing, unfortunately the lyrics that accompanied the guitar work was insipid. I bought the one CD that did get airplay. Like I said, the guitar work was amazing even though I'm not that interested in that style of guitar work. He's evidently still around and thrashing. Rock on dude!
posted by substrate at 5:10 AM on December 9, 2003

{ehem}... I saw him open for Iron Maiden on the Somewhere In Time tour (1986-ish). While I'd heard of him at the time, I had never listened to any of his music. I generally like "guitar gods", but this guy sucked live. Horribly loud and distorted - I just wanted it to stop.... please, just stop. Maiden on the other hand was surprisingly fun. Say what you will about 80's metal, but those guys knew how to fill a stage full of props and silliness. Good times.
posted by Witty at 5:48 AM on December 9, 2003

Yngwie Malmsteen was about speed guitar, sheer speed. I remember hearing him on KISW 99.9 FM in Seattle years ago touting his latest release. His comment? "This album has the fastest guitar playing ever!"
posted by vito90 at 5:53 AM on December 9, 2003

Careful or you might unleash Yngwie's fury. The man thinks he's Mozart.

I'm sure the Fury story has been posted here but I can't locate it. It's well worth a look (and a listen).
posted by Songdog at 6:17 AM on December 9, 2003

A year or two ago some Toronto-area radio station did a subway ad campaign that featured childhood pictures of various musicians. They were hilarious. My favourite was one of Marilyn Manson in a high school marching band uniform.
posted by orange swan at 6:19 AM on December 9, 2003

actually, it's more accurate to say that tony iommi, he of the upside down gibson SG and the plastic fingertip prostheses, is the father of heavy metal. ozzy was just his shouter.

I love me some Sabbath, quonzarelli, but what about these gentlemen (who were pre-Sabbath)?
posted by jonmc at 6:44 AM on December 9, 2003

Speaking of nice hats, here's Flea. Theatre geek? (Disclosure: I've been one.)
posted by schmedeman at 7:22 AM on December 9, 2003

Actually, Yngwie thinks he's Paganini. I'm ashamed to say I liked a couple of the instrumental numbers from his early albums, but those were rock interpretations of classical pieces. Other than that, he's unlistenable, and comes across as a total dick in interviews : "[Leans in and whispers] Have you heard what I've done? [speaking about his collaboration with a Japanese orchestra]." Oh, and I read another interview in which he kept going on about how he just couldn't fathom why anyone would call themselves a loser (he was talking about Beck). What do you expect from someone who pens songs with titles such as I am a Viking ::makes universal jerk off motion:: Last I heard he was living in Florida and making instructional tapes " I call this one...arpeggio from hell!"
posted by Devils Slide at 7:37 AM on December 9, 2003

Yeah, Yngwie's a choad. But the fucker could play back in the day. His stuff with Steeler and Alcatrazz was good. Although in 'trazz, he was paired with Graham Bonnett, who in his days with Rainbow crooned the tender love ballad "All Night Long"*. The two of them combined must have been enough testosterone poisoning to level a small city.

*still a great song, though
posted by jonmc at 7:57 AM on December 9, 2003

One of the guitarists for Europe had a pretty cool version of "Flight of the Bumblebee"--I have no idea if he ripped it off from Yngwie or if there were all sorts of Swedish guitarists in the 80's doing electric guitar interpretations of classical pieces.
posted by eilatan at 8:26 AM on December 9, 2003

Yngwie's cool but he's no Randy Rhodes...
posted by birdsong at 8:30 AM on December 9, 2003

Has anyone ever seen the Yngwie Malmstein signature strat? It's got this bizarre scalloped fretboard, with like a half-inch dip between each fret. I tried one out and it was unplayable unless you just wanted to sit down and play Scandanavian hammer-ons.
posted by COBRA! at 8:45 AM on December 9, 2003

On his early albums, Yngwie Malmsteen used his middle initial, "Yngwie J. Malmsteen". I remember an interview with the guys of Spinal Tap saying something like "I'm glad he uses the 'J', so I won't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens out there."
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:27 AM on December 9, 2003

The man has more motor impairment than mohammed ali.
It was just revealed he was popping iirc 14 different "drug" pills a day, he recently fired the doctor too. So what you saw was not bad motor skills but him high. His show on MTV was also picked up for next season sure they will reveal more.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:41 AM on December 9, 2003