Yellow & Black Attack

My eyes have finally adjusted after watching the Steelers swarm around in those ridiculous looking uniforms on Sunday night. But I have to admit, I was really worried for a while. After the game ended, I watched virtual bumblebees crawl across my bedroom ceiling until a heavy dose of Zzz-Quil finally put me out of my misery. By Monday morning, the hallucinations had subsided but my left eye seemed to be a little off-center. I looked like Marty Feldman after a a few rounds of Jose Cuervo.

Moving on......

The yellow and black striped uniforms brought back memories of Stryper, the old 80's rock band. For those who have never heard of Stryper, they were a Christian hard rock band known for their 3-part harmonies and melodic guitar solos. I caught these guys in concert a couple of times back in the day and they were quite entertaining. At one point of the show, they would throw out these miniature bibles out to the crowd. I really don't think the majority of the crowd was into "the message", but nonetheless, it was always a good time.

With with the yellow and black colors still somewhat burned into by memory and out of a bit of nostalgia  I picked up the latest Stryper CD. This one is called "The Covering" and is basically a collection of cover tunes by the band. Preparing to drive to work this morning, I popped the CD into my car stereo and prepared to hit the button on the way-back machine. I have to tell you, I was pleasantly surprised by how good these guys sounded. Some of the tunes they cover:

• Scorpion's "Blackout"
• Black Sabbath's "Heaven & Hell"
• UFO's "Lights Out"
• Deep Purple's "Highway Star"
• Van Halen's "I'm On Fire"
• Iron Maiden's "The Trooper"
• Ozzy Ozbourne's "Over The Mountain"
• Kiss' "Shout It Out Loud"

Along with these tunes, they also do a kick-ass version of  "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas as well as Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". And in an ironic twist, the Christian band does a pretty decent version of the Judas Priest classic "Breaking The Law".

I cranked the radio up and jammed out to the entire CD on my way to work. And then I did it all over again on the way home. I felt like I was back in high school. So, although the week started with an excruciating "throw-back" visual assault courtesy of the Steelers, it transitioned into pleasant old-school audio blast from one of my favorite bands of the 80s. It's funny how we get from point A to point B sometimes.....

kw