June 30th, 1980 Queen Release The Game - by Scott Carr

 

Queen began the 1980's on a high note with their eighth studio album The Game released on June 30th, 1980.

 

Like all their previous albums, Queen explored different musical styles but in the end made them all sound like Queen. The Game produced two of the bands biggest pop hits with the funky "Another One Bites The Dust" and the rockabilly flavored "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." The success of both singles pushed The Game to the number one position on the Billboard album charts, making it Queen's only US chart topper. The album sold 4 million copies, which tied sales figures of their 1977 release New of the World.

The album opens with the very majestic and classic Queen-sounding track "Play The Game." Written by Freddie Mercury, "Play The Game" is as good as anything Mercury had written on previous Queen records and I would say is a very underrated song in their catalog. "Dragon Attack" follows and is one of Brian May's funkiest guitar riffs ever. Amazing guitar work from Brian is all over this track. Next up, two contributions from bassist John Deacon and they couldn't be more different from each other. "Another One Bites The Dust" is a funky disco- infused romp that became a worldwide success and the band's first number one single in America. "Need Your Loving Tonight" is Queen's attempt at power pop, maybe one of their catchiest tunes ever. John Deacon's importance in Queen is often overshadowed by the other three songwriters in the band but he wrote some amazing songs that have stood the test of time. Side one closes with a song that Mercury claimed to have written in five minutes, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." This rockabilly tip of the hat to Elvis Presley would become the albums second number one single.

Side two of The Game does not feature any hits but has some shining moments. The best song on side two would have to be Brian May's "Sail Away Sweet Sister." Brian takes lead vocals on this one and it sounds like something right off Queen's 1975 masterpiece A Night At The Opera. Mercury's "Don't Try Suicide" is another highlight on side two and probably one of the cheeriest anti-suicide songs ever recorded.

"Don't try suicide, Nobody's worth it, Don't try suicide, Nobody cares

Don't try suicide, You're just gonna hate it, Don't try suicide, Nobody gives a damn"

Drummer Roger Taylor delivers two strong tracks with "Rock It (Prime Jive)" and "Coming Soon," the latter sounding like  a New Wave Beach Boys. Brian May's "Save Me" closes out the album and is a true Queen classic.

If I were ranking the Queen catalog, The Game would be very close to the top. Mercury and company never really made a bad record from their 1973 debut through to The Game. They covered a lot of ground during those years and always came out sounding like Queen. The Game is probably the last classic Queen record as a whole. While they definitely had some great material after The Game, the records became much less consistent. 

Queen were a band in the truest sense of the word, every member vital to the sound that made them so unique and The Game finds them at their peak.

If anyone is interested, here are my Top Five Queen records......

1. A Night At The Opera

2. The Game

3. News of the World 

4. Queen 

5. Sheer Heart Attack

Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH  bands Radio Tramps andReturning April.  Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.

Click here to buy the Queen Collection Boxset - https://queenofficial.lnk.to/studio-collection Subscribe to the Official Queen Channel Here http://bit.ly/Subscribe2Queen Taken from The Game, and Forever, 2014. Queen - 'Play The Game' Click here to buy the DVD with this video at the Official Queen Store: http://www.queenonlinestore.com The official 'Play The Game' music video.

Click here to buy the Queen Collection Boxset - https://queenofficial.lnk.to/studio-collection Subscribe to the Official Queen Channel Here http://bit.ly/Subscribe2Queen Taken from The Game, 1980 and Forever, 2014. Queen - 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' Click here to buy the DVD with this video at the Official Queen Store: http://www.queenonlinestore.com The official 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' music video.

Fan made video :) Enjoy :) //http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljcR85z1WE&feature=channel - here's better quality

Subscribe to the Official Queen Channel Here http://bit.ly/Subscribe2Queen Queen - Sail Away Sweet Sister (Official Lyric Video) Taken from The Game, 1980 and Forever, 2014. Sing along to 'Sail Away Sweet Sister' with this official karaoke style Queen lyric video. Welcome to the official Queen channel.

Click here to buy the Queen Collection Boxset - https://queenofficial.lnk.to/studio-collection Subscribe to the Official Queen Channel Here http://bit.ly/Subscribe2Queen Taken from The Game, 1980 and Forever, 2014. Queen - 'Save Me' Click here to buy the DVD with this video at the Official Queen Store: http://www.queenonlinestore.com The official 'Save Me' music video.

Subscribe to the Official Queen Channel Here http://bit.ly/Subscribe2Queen Queen - Dragon Attack (Official Lyric Video) Taken from The Game, 1980. Sing along to 'Dragon Attack' with this official karaoke style Queen lyric video. Welcome to the official Queen channel. Subscribe today for exclusive Queen videos, including live shows, interviews, music videos & much more.

Subscribe to the Official Queen Channel Here http://bit.ly/Subscribe2Queen Queen - Don't Try Suicide (Official Lyric Video) Taken from The Game, 1980. Sing along to 'Don't Try Suicide' with this official karaoke style Queen lyric video. Welcome to the official Queen channel. Subscribe today for exclusive Queen videos, including live shows, interviews, music videos & much more.

Attention Watershed Superfans: It's the Return of The League Bowlers, Sunday, June 26th, Noon @ Comfest

If you have read Joe Oestreich's acclaimed Watershed memoir, "Hitless Wonder", you know attaining status of a "Superfan" isn't easy. It requires deep pockets, a reliable mode of transportation, the lack of any sort of peer group and a healthy liver. It also requires you to know everything Watershed has ever released. Did you hear Todd Baker on the NPR story requesting the song "Freedom"? See, Todd KNOWS his Watershed history. If you missed the story on Weekend Edition, click here to check it out. 

The League Bowlers "Some Balls" is the lost Watershed Alt-Country CD

Watershed has had only one official side project, The League Bowlers. Formed in 1994 by Joe, Herb, myself and Paul Lansford Beltz III, the Bowlers were a way for us to play Georgia Satellites covers and take more than the regular amount of stimulants & depressants without soiling the good name of Watershed. Our debut gig was at Bernie's Distillery and our flier claimed that original RUSH drummer John Rutsey would be performing with the band. It never crossed our minds that anybody would believe this until 200 RUSH fans showed up carrying the debut RUSH album hoping to get it signed by John himself. Whoops. Man, did they HATE the Bowlers after that....anyhoo-- 

 The band eventually "evolved" into the classic Bowler line-up of myself, legendary drummer Jim Johnson (Willie Phoenix), current Bones bassist and 4 String Brew-master Dan Cochran (Big Back 40), and guitar virtuoso Mike Parks (The Godz). We would don our Bowling shirts and play local hot spots such as Bernie's, The Dolphin Lounge, The Library Bar, Route 33, and an occasional SCI-FI-BI-MON convention or tent festival in Wapakoneta. We spent many a Thanksgiving Eve performing at Andyman's Treehouse as Andy himself would usually close the night singing a tequila-fueled version of "Suspicious Minds" as an honorary Bowler.

At the same time all this was happening, Watershed was chugging right along recording and writing WAY too many songs. The songs on Some Balls were mostly written for Watershed but eventually deemed too "po-dunk" for inclusion on a Watershed release. This island of misfit Alt-country songs were eventually recorded by the League Bowlers and produced by Rick Kinsinger, Jim Johnson and myself in Rick's small, sweaty basement studio. Mixed by Joe Viers in one 6 hour session, the CD is not flashy but has a personality and more than a handful of memorable tunes: "Pretty in a Slutty Way," "Kids Down South," and "Half of Me" to name a few. Scrawl vocalist Marci Mays even contributes vocals to "Here I Am."

While I am proud of the music, Mike "Biggie" Mc Dermott really out did himself with the artwork. One reviewer even claimed people should buy the CD just for the cover. Click here to read the review.

Not much footage of the Bowlers exists as nobody came to our shows and the ones that did were too broke to own anything more that a $1.00 draft beer, let alone a camera, video or otherwise. Somehow Eric Broz managed to film a little bit of the League Bowlers last show, Friday August 1st, 2008, at the old Thirsty Ear. In the tradition of all great rock bands, we broke up onstage. Too bad he didn't film that. 

Much has changed since that fateful night all those years ago. The Thirsty Ear became Woodland's Tavern. With Watershed on a hiatus, I formed The Lonely Bones and recently released a compilation of all that music. Click here to check it out.

With Bones members Herb Schupp and Rick Kinsinger currently also playing in Watershed, the time seemed right for a League Bowlers reunion at Comfest, and maybe a few songs and some new music beyond that. Stay tuned at Pencilstorm.com 

"Lonely Bones" by The League Bowlers. Recorded August 1, 2008 at the Thirsty Ear Cafe in Grandview, Ohio

 

 

 

My Days & Nights as a Pinboy for The League Bowlers - by Ricki C.

(editor’s note: For our younger readers who have no idea what a pinboy is, ask your aged grandad in the nursing home, or Netflix & Chill with that 1984 Nicholas Cage/Sean Penn flick Racing With The Moon. Good movie.) 


I guess I would have first witnessed the rock & roll assemblage that is The League Bowlers back in the 1990’s at The Library Bar just north of Lane Avenue on High Street.  Colin may have to correct my faulty memory, but it seems to me they only used to play once a year – like maybe the night before Thanksgiving – and then later it seems I remember them opening for themselves at Watershed shows.  That was back when Colin & Joe Oestreich both played guitar, Herb Schupp was on drums and Paul Beltz III on bass.  

I can’t quite recall the first time I saw the “modern incarnation” of the band – the one that recorded Some Balls – that featured Colin, Dan Cochran, Mike Parks and Jim Johnson, but it might have been at a bar at Easton that also featured video games for the kiddies.  I later became the de facto "road manager” of that band, and detailed the night they broke up onstage at the old Thirsty Ear on Third Avenue in Grandview.  (You can read all about that night – one of the Top Ten Best in my career of being a roadie, by the way – here at my old blog, Growing Old With Rock & Roll: The Friday Night Massacre: The League Bowlers Roll a Gutterball and Break Up Onstage.)

A couple of weeks after that blog first appeared back in 2012, I was handling guitars & merch sales for Joe Peppercorn’s band The Whiles at a gig at the old Kobo on High Street.  While we we were loading out gear at the end of the night Joe’s brother Matt and the other Whiles’ guitarist, Jake Remley, started asking me why I used Colin’s – and other people’s – real names in the League Bowlers blog, when it was obviously a fictional story.

“That wasn’t a fictional story, all of that happened just like I said,” I replied.  “The band ACTUALLY BROKE UP ONSTAGE?!?” Matt asked incredulously.  “Yes, I didn’t make up one word of that piece.  It may have actually been WORSE than I wrote it.”  Jake and Matt just looked at me in the dark, dumbfounded; I could tell they were trying to comprehend just HOW BAD things would have to get to have that happen to them.  Those Whiles boys are WAY too nice to each other; deep down they really aren’t rockers, they’re folk-rock guys.  (Although I did once witness a pretty good blow-up between the Peppercorn brothers just before a Comfest gig one Sunday afternoon in the 2000’s.  It was hardly an Oasis level/Gallagher brothers or Kinks/Davies brothers slugfest, but it was an impressive sibling dust-up nonetheless.)

My other favorite League Bowlers memory was during a happy hour show at the Rumba Café.  I was onstage handing Mike Parks a guitar when a discussion ensued about whether to debut the Bowler’s then brand-new cover of The Faces' “Maggie May” as the closer of the second set, or to save it for sometime in the third set.  (It should be noted at this point that "Maggie May" was probably the most, let's say, challenging tune in the Bowler's repertoire.)  That was when the future founder of Four String Brew – Mr. Dan Cochran – spoke up between swigs of the beer in his hand and said/slurred, “If we’re gonna play “Maggie May,” we better play it RIGHT NOW, because in two more songs’ time I am not gonna BE ABLE to play it.”    

I don’t think I have ever seen a more honest – or more self-aware – moment from a musician onstage.  Drink on, League Bowlers, drink on. – Ricki C. / 6/13/2016   


The League Bowlers will be reuniting onstage at Comfest, at noon on Sunday, June 26th, on the Off Ramp Stage.  I look for them to break up again right afterwards, so you might wanna catch the show, and the band, while you can.

League Bowlers Review by Stephen Slaybaugh

Before Stephen Slaybaugh moved on from Columbus to write for The Agit Reader, CMJ, The Village Voice. Paste magazine and many more, he was kind enough to write about The League Bowlers during his time at the Columbus Alive. Story below. League Bowlers reunion at Comfest, Off Ramp Stage, Sunday, June 26th, Noon.

Click here for League Bowlers story archive on Watershedcentral

Click here for League Bowlers on Facebook.

THE LEAGUE BOWLERS
SKULLY'S MUSIC DINER
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26
by Stephen Slaybaugh
The Columbus Alive, November 20, 2003

Following in a long Columbus tradition, the League Bowlers have concocted enough tall-tales (connections to Axl Rose, stories about hitchhiking, fake Rolling Stone articles, etc.) surrounding the band that it's hard to distinguish the bull from the shit. Be that as it may, some things are known: The band is comprised of Colin Gawel, also of Watershed, on guitar and vocals; Jim Johnson, of Willie Phoenix's band, on drums; Mike Parks, of Godz fame, on guitars; and Dan Cochran, formerly of Big Back 40 and Feversmile, among others, on bass; and will be releasing its first CD, which this show celebrates.

The album, Some Balls (B Minus), following in another Columbus tradition, relates tales of drinkin' ("Been Thinkin'"), girls ("Pretty in a Slutty Way," "The New Girl") and, well, more drinkin' ("Saturday Night There's a Party"). The Bowlers match such timeless themes with a particularly impressive deluge of Midwestern-soiled rock that's at once casual and off-the-cuff as well as well-played, and it's worthy of the bandmates' lineages.

Things start early so everyone will have plenty of time to sleep off their hangovers before heading out for the holiday the next day.

Great Band, Worst Song: Van Halen's "Jump"

Van Halen – the greatest rock band of the 80's.  The original line-up will go down in history as one of the amazing hard-rock bands ever. When their songs came on the radio, you automatically turned it up.

Their drummer, Alex Van Halen, merged traditional rock beats with mind-blowing drum fills that you couldn't help but pound along on your steering wheel to. He was the first to effectively use a double bass drum, demonstrated here in Hot For Teacher.

Add in a front man, David Lee Roth, with such bravado and presence, plus a twist of humor. His ego was so huge he needed three names. This guy didn’t really care at all but knew how to sing a hook, tell a story, and make you want to come back for more. Just watch this video of Panama to truly understand this guy’s talent.

Not to mention, the world’s most underrated bass player, Michael Anthony, who was an amazing vocalist in his own right and laid down heavy righteous low-end rhythm.  Just listen to the raw bass line in Ain’t Talking About Love and the backup vocals in Beautiful Girls.

But Van Halen wouldn’t have been Van Halen without the best rock guitarist in history, Eddie Van Halen: the virtuoso who owned rock guitar in the 80's. Everyone wanted to play just like him. He came up with distorted grooves, rip-roaring bluesy solos, and perfected the tapping technique which became his signature move. He’s probably one of the most influential rock guitarists. He tops lists that include Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Jimmy Page. Heck, even Michael Jackson asked him to guest solo on Beat It (start at 3:10). Check out the solo on Ice Cream Man.

Van Halen was an awesome band.  Even their covers were kick ass.  You Really Got Me, Dancing In The Street, Pretty Woman.

You want to hear something that rocks? Listen to any Van Halen song… any song with the original line-up and you’ll crank it up and relive what it’s like to be surrounded by 80's hard rock.

Except for one.

Jump.

This song stands out like a sore thumb on their album 1984. It had so many killer Van Halen songs… Panama… Hot For Teacher… Top Jimmy… Drop Dead Legs.

But what do you do when you have the world’s greatest guitar player?  You do a heavy synth song like "Jump"?  I’m not knocking the tune… it’s a great song.  But it belongs on Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet - not 1984.

If Poison would have recorded this song, it would be by far the best Poison song.  But it’s the worst Van Halen song.  It’s too poppy. Too synthy. Lacks a powerful bass line. Lacks any strong guitar riff. Lacks any killer drums. And lacks powerful vocals.  It’s like they took all their energy and put it into Panama and Hot For Teacher and then said, “Hey… let’s do something really cheesy. Let's do Jump.”

Unfortunately, this song opened up the era of keyboard-heavy Van Hagar… with songs as Dreams, Why Can’t This Be Love, Love Walks In, and When It’s Love.  All good tunes, but each overshadows the guitar virtuoso and hard-rockin’ band Van Halen was during the late 70's and early 80's.

The good news is, it left a void to fill from guitarists like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Nuno Bettencourt, and others: all of whom brought their own skills and talent to create some of the best hard-rock music we've heard.

 

Wal Ozello, a child of the 80s, is the former singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's the author of the science fiction time travel books Assignment 1989, Revolution 1990 and Sacrifice 2086 and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.