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Did Billy Joel Start The Blast Beat?

attila

I'm always fascinated by origin stories, especially ones pertaining to parts of music that are so ubiquitous we rarely take the time to stop and think where it came from. Recently Chris D. at Decibel Magazine decided to tackle the age old question in metal, who started the blast beat?

Although I'm not the least bit surprised the blast beat can be found before metal began, I was shocked to see Decibel's brutal discovery in the most unlikely of places. If you're a Billy Joel fan then you've probably heard his side project Atilla, featuring drummer Jon Small, at some point in your life. What you probably haven't picked up on was what drummers today refer to as the "Bomb Blast" at the 2:00 mark of the song Brain Invasion. (more…)

Reviews

CD review: ATTILA, Rage

By Ben Apatoff

Music enthusiasts may know ATTILA as a terrible psychedelic rock band from the late '60s. They're deservedly absent from most people's minds, and remembered only (if at all) because their organ player was BILLY JOEL. Allmusic.com describes the band's one record as "undoubtedly is the worst album released in the history of rock & roll — hell, the history of recorded music itself." Maybe so, but I can't imagine that it's worse than Rage, the new album by an Atlanta metal act that shares the name of Mr. Joel's old band. (more…)