Bad rap for metal

A friend of mine stopped by yesterday, and as we were chatting, he told me he found a place downtown where we could play Halo head2head on the PC. He asked if I wanted to get together next week sometime and play. The poor guy. I've always wanted to do something like that. And the obvious thing that you need if you're going to be playing First Person Shooters in a Competitive Environment is ... really good background music.

Flash back. I was a Junior in High School, and a friend of mine made a mix tape for me. The whole thing was hard rockin' bands. AC/DC, Judas Priest, Dokken, Scorpions, etc. It was lost when I went on my mission, dang it, and it makes really good background music for running around with a shotgun. (I still miss that tape... dang it.)

So I started looking around on iTunes and other places last night for really good hard rockin' music to throw on a mix cd. I re-introduced myself to AC/DC's "Who Made Who", and The Scorpions' Rhythm of Love. I found a new favorite in an older song - Warrant's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and I got a guilty pleasure to throw on the mix. Twisted Sister's classic "Burn in Hell" - a song which until last night I couldn't watch without thinking of Pee-Wee Herman biking through their video shoot. It's a sign of my upbringing that I find it difficult to enthusiastically sing along with the band during the chorus. Then last night I started actually listening to the words of the song, and I got the biggest shock. The whole song is about changing your life before it's too late, otherwise, you'll burn in hell. It's a time-honored traditional Christian message. And I'm laughing really, really hard that something I always thought was so... naughty actually turned into something that was trying so hard to be good.

For the intellectually curious, my Headshot mix consists of...
For Those About to Rock, We Salute You - AC/DC
Who Made Who - AC/DC
Burn in Hell - Twisted Sister
Revolution Calling - Queensryche (from Operation: Mindcrime)
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant
The Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
Master of Puppets - Metallica (from the S&M album)
Bang Your Head - Quiet Riot
I Want You to Want Me - The Clash (doesn't really fit, but oh well)
Until It Sleeps - Metallica (from S&M)
Eyes of a Stranger - Queensryche
Sad, Sad Kid - The Pillows (from the FLCL OST-1, Addict, a really good cd but not really metal - good guitars, though)
It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n Roll) - AC/DC

Good music for virtual deathmatching!