| 24 August 2010
As we all know, Lions' head coach Jim Schwartz is a music aficionado. He's expressed his love many a time for rock music as a whole, and heavy metal in particular. Inside the clean cut, disiplined, workaholic NFL head coach is a mullet wearing, Camaro driving, Natty Lite swilling head-banger.
In many ways, The Schwartz's tastes in music are similar to my own (and many others who have passed the age of 40), though as a child of the 70's, my tastes tend to run a little more towards album oriented rock, or as what the radio programmers now call "classic" rock. Yes, I'm old. (I didn't drive a Camaro either, though I did rock a mullet, and I'll drink Natty Lite...but only in a pinch.)
With this in mind, I thought I'd take a trip through The Schwartz's Twitter stream, and see what he's been listening to over the past couple of weeks. (It's also interesting to note The Schwartz is posting to Twitter using UberTwitter, meaning he's rocking an older school smart phone, a Blackberry. No iPhone for him!)
Could The Schwartz be trying to curry favor with his Detroit Twitter followers? I don't think so, as the highlight song on History of Rock is American Badass...a badass song, if I say so to my badass self.
Next for our head bangin' head coach, it's...huh? Toby Keith?
My taste in country tends to run toward the classics (damn, there's that word again), like the twangy stuff of a Hank Williams or damn near anything with a pedal steel guitar. At least The Schwartz is not listening to the Garth Brooks/Shania Twain style pop masquerading as country music. Otherwise, we'd have to talk...
Now this is more how I had pictured The Schwartz's style. It's the Crüe!
Compared to Dr. Feelgood and Shout at the Devil, Too Fast for Love definitely is pushing Mötley Crüe's hair metal envelope. But who am I to talk about dissing the Crüe's hair metal, I owned the Shout at the Devil album on vinyl. Yes, vinyl.
Don't judge me!
It's more 80's metal for The Schwartz...
I've never been a big Queensryche kind of guy (though I have a massively huge soft spot for Jet City Woman). But Take Hold of the Flame is definitely in The Schwartz's sweet spot for 80's hair metal...and he has a LARGE f'n sweet spot.
We all know about The Schwartz's love for all things Metallica...
Aw, Hell. The Schwartz talking about seeing bands before they went mainstream. Sounds like me after a couple of Natty Lites. I tend to go off like Abe Simpson reminiscing about wearing an onion on his belt, as was the style at the time.
"Yep. Saw AC/DC in the 70's, when they were just breaking in the states...with Bon Scott singing lead, of course. Band was never the same. Good, but different...That reminds me of the time I saw Foreigner...it was on their first tour of the states in '77, you know..."
But I digress...
Master of Puppets is true head banging stuff. The pre Black album Metallica is, once again, right in The Schwartz's music wheelhouse.
We can officially confirm The Schwartz has acquired a little taste of his former city, Nashville, in his music, as he shares with us he's listening to Shooter Jennings, the son of one of the original outlaws, Waylon Jennings.
Here, The Schwartz turns into a bit of a music nerd, as he talks about the concert cred of the pride of Canada, a classic rock radio staple, the power trio known as Rush.
Moving Pictures? He's gotta be listening to Tom Sawyer! (Personally, my fave Rush album is the following one, Signals. And yes, I've seen Rush in concert too...good show, even if the somewhat self-indulgent solos tend to drag on...and on...and on...)
And no, I have not raised TWFE's warning system from "Blackwatch Plaid" to the cover of Rush's seminal album "Moving Pictures."
BLACKWATCH PLAID!
Speaking of AC/DC, as I did above, turns out The Schwartz feels the same way as I do about the band...simply, that Bon Scott rules.
Funny, I still remember exactly where I was when I heard about Scott's death...I was driving home after a class at MCCC...Monroe County Community College. That moment has stuck with me all these years.
Here's a version of one of the live songs The Schwartz mentions, Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution, which was originally off the Back in Black album...which was the soundtrack of my 1980 summer. Seriously.
I'd swear Back in Black was all we listened to on a continuous loop...on our 8-tracks.
So that's the last two plus weeks of what The Schwartz has been listening to on his iPod.
Say what you will about The Schwartz as a football coach, or if the Lions are on the right track or anything else football related.
But I can admit I like his taste in music.
As I said, I'm old...
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