A massive year as previously stated. And not nearly enough comments here to sum any part of it up. But it's May right? So...a few random thoughts as they come to me:
ClassicRock Magazine launched their AOR side magazine, which started off really fresh, but soon got caught up in the reality of operating in the very insular scene that is AOR/melodic rock. Motley Crue got thrown on the cover of Issue 5 (to a huge uproar) and by Issue 6 the decision was made to cut it back to an Annual special. Too bad. Opportunity lost there.
James Christian successfully battled through a cancer scare and one hopes he can regain full health for many years to come. Same with Tony Iommi, who shocked the world with the announcement he was also fighting the disease. Jon Lord remains in treatment also. I hate this disease.
Legendary producer Keith Olsen was rewarded for his efforts with a Hollywood Fan Lifetime Achievement Award.
Journey received a 'Legends Of Live' Award from the very prestigious Billboard Magazine on top of their Eclipse and Greatest Hits 2 CDs.
I finally scored my elusive Steve Perry interview – it went as well as hoped. It was great talking to the legendary vocalist. All that I need now is a chat with Eddie Van Halen, Joe Elliott and Mutt Lange and I'll be done!
Mike Reno lost 50 pounds – good on him! Rumor has it he can now fit back into those red leather pants. I loved the band's Heartbreaker single. No sign of the second track they recorded yet though. Apparently it still hasn't been mastered.
John Sykes left Thin Lizzy finally, hooked up with a new power trio and then went on to leave said power trio to record a new solo album. I'll expect that in about 2017.
It was the year of the biography, with Sammy Hagar spilling more beans than he probably should have; plus biogs from Keith Richards, Belinda Carlisle, Duff McKagen, Stephen Addler, Glenn Hughes and Ozzy Osbourne.
The quality of CD artwork continued to decline, but realistically, it ain't going to get any better. At least some new Photoshop filters are due out soon.
A lot of complaints from fans also about cheap promo film clips. YouTube has such a huge influence on modern media, these are finally being considered important again for the first time since eMpTV sold its soul to reality shows a decade back. But with limited budgets and little chance of these clips being played anywhere else but on YouTube, it shouldn't be any surprise that they aren't overly impressive. But they do the job and that's about it. Still, creativity is not dead, there are still some get clips made on a budget out there. And you know what I like best - actually being able to see these bands in action - seeing the faces behind the music instead of a lame promo picture.
On a personal note, nothing to grand to speak of really. A positively terrible year for business and the whole problem of bringing a brand new website to life from the ground up has proved to be too much for one company and I'm still working with the new developer getting Take 2 finished. But....it's coming.
The fact that ClassicRock magazine couldn't bring itself to continue dealing with the insular AOR scene with it's AOR magazine is a major wakeup call, but I don't see anything changing. There is so little money in this small scene, but I am continually amazed at how many releases there are out there to choose from. No wonder sales are struggling. The minute a release comes out it's done, publicity is over and we're all waiting for the next one.
Site stats:
It may be a financially crumbling scene, but the users and visitors to this site hasn't changed. There are still plenty of folks that want to read about MelodicRock and thank God for that!
2011 Visitor Stats:
Total unique users: 1,665,138 // Total Visits: 5,822,245 // Number Of Pages Read: 32,489,067 // Total "Hits": 371,063,042 // Total Data Used (Outbound): 12,940 GigaBytes.
Best Months for traffic: May, October & November.
Slowest Day: Sunday. Best Days: Tues/Wed/Thur/Fri.
Top Countries (in order): United States, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, France, Spain, Norway, Finland, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, Brazil, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Austria, New Zealand, China, Indonesia.
xx
