Eddie Trunk

I have a pretty polarizing opinion of Eddie Trunk. I think what he does for the hard rock and metal is great. He makes a great ambassador for helping new fans, young and old, discover the pure magic that is heavy metal music.

That's about where my positive opinion of him ends. He is billed as an expert, but is ignorant to a lot of consensually held views on metal music. He overplays his status in the industry a bit too. Any chance he gets, he mentions that so-and-so from such-and-such famous rock band is texting him secret information, then tweets it or plugs it on his radio show. He does a poor job of promoting new revolutions in the genre. In the last 10 years, there have been a handful of musically inspiring movements that have continued to evolve and pay homage to the genre. Heavy metal in general has been amidst a renaissance, with dozens of new bands firing up their own torches, and the legends of old days flying their flags higher than ever. In regards to that matter, I'll give him credit for recognizing that classic bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC and Megadeth have released some of their finest material in the last decade and continue to remain relevant.

Lastly, and this is more of a personal gripe and has no bearing on his professional career, but he almost entirely neglects the death and black metal genres, despite them forming during the same time period as the classic, more traditional heavy metal genres. I can easily connect the dots between bands like Alice Cooper and Bathory. I can appreciate the styles and influences of both, and would have no problem if "Under My Wheels" followed up "One Rode to Asa Bay" on my iPod. Trunk either doesn't agree or recognize the concept that extreme metal is no less important to the biography and history of hard rock and heavy metal than the traditional classics many fans grew up with.

Here are my top albums of 2011. Hope you guys check out this stuff if you have not already and support new music!
Anthrax: Worship Music Easily album of the year and maybe the best album they ever made. Top to bottom amazing material, production, vocals, power. Just awesome. "In The End" is an instant all time classic.

Black Country Communion: 2 Two albums in a year from this new supergroup and both are great. Glenn Hughes is truly ageless and sings incredibly, along with Joe B who unleashes his heavy rock side and great signing of his own. This is the best new music and band for fans of classic 70's sounding hard rock. Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian are felt even more strongly here than on the equally great debut.

Whitesnake: Forevermore The best new Whitesnake album and lineup since the Sykes era. Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach in top form and new drummer Brian Tichy the real difference maker. Just a monster and one of the best in rock. DC sounds great here as well.

Michael Monroe: Sensory Overdrive Loud, raw and rude hard rock. GnR meets Aerosmith, meets NY Dolls. 35 minutes of in your face hard rock. Produced by Jack Douglas of Aersomith fame, lets hope they heard this record and get back to their roots. Monroe crushes here and the guest appearance from Lemmy cool as well.

Sebastian Bach: Kicking & Screaming Bas really found a comfort zone on this solo album which is an equal amount hard rock and metal, and his voice is in top form.

Chickenfoot: 3 Solid second album, more song based than first album. Would have liked a bit more Satch.

Slash: Made In Stoke Don't usually include live albums but this is a great band and cross section of Slash material and Myles Kennedy nails it.

Mr Big: What If Best Album since their debut.

Who Cares Tony Iommi & Ian Gillan reunited for two charity songs

Megadeth: 13 Welcome back Ellefson. Great Cryptic Writings sounding stuff

Saxon: Call To Arms Always nice to have solid new music from Biff and Co.

Adrenaline Mob: EP Look forward to the debut album

Warrant: Rockaholic Really great melodic hard rock album featuring the amazing Robert Mason on vocals and great production.

Rival Sons: Pressure & Time Great new LA based hard rock band

Quote :

Lastly, and this is more of a personal gripe and has no bearing on his professional career, but he almost entirely neglects the death and black metal genres, despite them forming during the same time period as the classic, more traditional heavy metal genres.

That's because he's not a fan of those genres, so he doesn't pay attention.

Eddie Trunk is knowledgeable in a "mainstream" kind of way. Look at his Top Albums of 2011 in Manny's post above. They are all related, in some way, to a well-known classic band with the exception of Rival Sons. He doesn't dig too deep and probably doesn't feel a need to.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Quote :

Lastly, and this is more of a personal gripe and has no bearing on his professional career, but he almost entirely neglects the death and black metal genres, despite them forming during the same time period as the classic, more traditional heavy metal genres.

That's because he's not a fan of those genres, so he doesn't pay attention.

Eddie Trunk is knowledgeable in a "mainstream" kind of way. Look at his Top Albums of 2011 in Manny's post above. They are all related, in some way, to a well-known classic band with the exception of Rival Sons. He doesn't dig too deep and probably doesn't feel a need to.

He is very open to the fact that he is a fan of classic hard rock/metal bands, and does not venture too much outside that field.

Knowledgeable? Dudes from New York and acted like he'd never heard of Whiplash!!

Boris2008 wrote:

Knowledgeable? Dudes from New York and acted like he'd never heard of Whiplash!!

But he knows the dudes from Overkill, and he's a close personal friend of Ace Frehley, dooooooood!!! 

I like Eddie. He's certainly one of my influences in life. But I think this board, even at the individual level, has a greater knowledge of rock and metal than he does. They should just stop marketing him off as mr. encyclopedia. What he does best is promote older bands during their comeback eras. He fails as a trivia machine.

As a side note, he's a terrible writer--even though his book was kind of fun--and has a pretty shallow sense of humor.

I don't mind Eddie. And I don't have a problem with him not knowing or caring about different things. But I've always had a problem with the general attitude that because he doesn't know/care about an act or scene that there is something wrong with those who do. Pretty sure I may have written this before in this very thread. Eddie should like what he likes and wave the banner for it - but does he need to have an attitude toward those who maybe are more into the underground stuff.

I'll also say he probably hears a lot of annoying things from people on a daily basis. So that gets old quick too.

Does he still do a radio show?

jstate wrote:

I don't mind Eddie.  And I don't have a problem with him not knowing or caring about different things.  But I've always had a problem with the general attitude that because he doesn't know/care about an act or scene that there is something wrong with those who do.  Pretty sure I may have written this before in this very thread.  Eddie should like what he likes and wave the banner for it - but does he need to have an attitude toward those who maybe are more into the underground stuff.

I'll also say he probably hears a lot of annoying things from people on a daily basis.  So that gets old quick too.

Does he still do a radio show?

He does have a radio show that is also in syndication. I don't mind him but I do find him annoying, on his radio show he is good interviewer when he is not spouting off his own opinion.

I certainly agreed with his "Rant" about hating the term "Hair Bands".
I'm sure I have a few posts in throughout the cyber wars that pretty much
say the same thing he said......Like, hey Ratt for example is considered by many
as a one hit wonder Hair Band, so when we play them on the radio, it has to be on
"The House of Hair" or "Friday Night Hair" etc.

I've only just found out that the original Miss Box of Junk died! (I don't really follow the show but I certainly noticed her)  

I don't mind Eddie Trunk too much. It's funny, though, I cannot picture that dude headbanging. Or throwing up the horns. Or getting stoked/excited in any manner, other than sweating.

So what does he do when he listens to metal?

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I don't mind Eddie Trunk too much. It's funny, though, I cannot picture that dude headbanging. Or throwing up the horns. Or getting stoked/excited in any manner, other than sweating.

So what does he do when he listens to metal?

Sweat?

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I don't mind Eddie Trunk too much. It's funny, though, I cannot picture that dude headbanging. Or throwing up the horns. Or getting stoked/excited in any manner, other than sweating.

So what does he do when he listens to metal?

Circle Jerk with Don and Jim from That Metal Show.......

thejokeriv wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I don't mind Eddie Trunk too much. It's funny, though, I cannot picture that dude headbanging. Or throwing up the horns. Or getting stoked/excited in any manner, other than sweating.

So what does he do when he listens to metal?

Circle Jerk with Don and Jim from That Metal Show.......

Thanks for that mental image!!!! 

And we have Trunk's 2013 top ten, posted today. Ugh. What a f*cking mess.

1: The Winery Dogs
Easily my favorite of the year, and NOT because they are friends and I had something to do with their formation! Stands to reason as a fan of all three members I would like the album, but even I couldn’t have anticipated an album of songs this strong when I suggested Richie Kotzen to Portnoy and Sheehan when their attempted band with John Sykes fell apart. I knew what Kotzen was capable of for sure as a massive fan of his solo work the last 10 years, but even I had no idea this could gel so well and so quickly. The playing is of course all top notch with three virtuosos in the band, but that can also turn an album into a wank off fest and lose songs. This album creates the perfect balance of amazing playing but never at the expense of great SONGS. Production top notch and mixed by brilliantly by Jay Ruston, one of my favorites in that end of the business. I have always known Kotzen was an amazing singer and player, many only knew his as a player. So it was great to see so many let in on the secret of his vocal ability through this album. Richie was the least known guy in this band but that all changed with this albums release and he became somewhat of a 25 year overnight sensation. Just had lunch with him last week and he told me how his solo albums have increased in sales which is great to hear as people finally find out more about this incredible all around talent. By no means do I want to overshadow the amazing contributions from Portnoy and Sheehan. This would not be the masterpiece it is without all three of these guys singing, playing and writing! It’s just that Kotzen as singer, guitarist and writer was the wildcard in this whole thing and he delivered Ace’s all the way in every way. Not a bad song on the album. I’d also suggest if you have the US version to seek out a bonus track from the Japanese edition called “Criminal”. Great song and it was criminal it was left off the US version. Many skeptics wonder if this band has legs. All indications are they do, with more tour dates on sale now next year. After that it’s anyone’s guess and I hope for many more albums. But whatever happens in the future they made an amazing debut that was easily my favorite release of 2013. And that would still be the case if they weren’t friends and if I had nothing to do with it!

2: Alter Bridge: Fortress
Band gets better and heavier with every album. Mark Tremonti’s solo debut was one of my top 10 of 2012. This album has those same amazing riffs and playing coupled with equally amazing playing and singing by Myles Kennedy. The rhythm section of Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips driving everything perfectly. Great production as well from Elvis Baskette that is crushing but not at the expense of dynamics. An epic incredible 4th album from Alter Bridge who I can not wait to see live and let’s hope America embraces them like Europe has already where they can headline arenas.

3: Black Star Riders: All Hell Breaks Loose
What was Thin Lizzy wisely changed their name to BSR when they decided to make new music. New music that channels the greatness of Lizzy with a fresh coat of paint. Ricky Warwick shows his love and influence of Lynott while still very much bringing his own approach to the band. Damon Johnson and classic era Lizzy member Scott Gorham deliver those classic dual solos all over the album. Reagrdless if you are a classic Lizzy fan or just a fan of great well played hard rock that channels all that was great about Thin Lizzy while still being fresh and new, this album was a very impressive debut for sure.

4: Buckcherry: Confessions
An ambitious concept album and one very personal to singer Josh Todd. Also turned out to be the best Buckcherry album since the comeback 15. If you missed this revisit, really impressive piece of work from a band more known for party hard rock anthems going a bit deeper.

5: Queensryche: Queensryche
The first “Tate-less” release from Ryche and they delivered a solid album that merges elements of their early days with Empire era period sounding stuff as well. To lose such a key member and voice like Tate and still make an album this strong is pretty amazing. By the way, I also thought Tate’s Frequency Unknown was solid, but to me it was more of a Tate and friends record while this album retained more of a classic Queensryche band vibe featuring 3/5 of the original members.

6: Scorpion Child
New band from Austin Texas that sounds like they could have come from the 70′s. Killer guitar riff based hard rock that at times reminds me of Fastway. “Liquor” my favorite track on it. Promising new band and hope to see them live.

7: Stryper: No More Hell To Pay
Michael Sweet wrote the bulk of the album and produced it as well. The best new music from this band in a while with great guitar sounds and those incredible lead and harmony vocals all over the place. Regardless of your religious beliefs, if you believe in well played hard rock with amazing vocals listen and enjoy.

8: Motorhead: Aftershock
With recent health scares surrounding Lemmy and various ailments catching up to the iconic front man you would expect maybe a tired sounding album after all these years? To the contrary it’s the best album from the band in several years. Motorhead is always going to sound like Motorhead, but by their standards there is a bit more variety here which makes it stand out a bit more.

9: Michael Monroe: Horns & Halos
His album last year Sensory Overdrive was also a top 10 for me. This album isn’t quite as good as that one but it’s close. The former leader of Hanoi Rocks is on a roll. Only hope the American audience takes notice. “The Ballad Of The Lower E Side” my favorite track. Killer snotty hard rock!

10: Megadeth: Supercollider
Many thought this was Risk all over again when the title track was released as a single, but that wasn’t a sign of the direction of the rest of the album (plus I like the song!). Lot’s of classic Megadeth metal on this and a great cover of Thin Lizzy’s Cold Sweat to end the album. Can’t argue with that!

Other stuff to check out that I liked:
Anthrax: Anthems (covers EP otherwise would have been in the top 10 easily. But they always do great covers.
Skid Row: United World Rebellion (again only an EP, but direction wise back to where Skids should be.
Avenged Sevenfold: Hail To The King
More groove and song oriented than other stuff I heard from them.
Tom Keifer: The Way Life Goes
Lot’s of directions but great to finally have new music from the leader of Cinderella.
Saxon: Sacrifice
One of British metal’s best but still slightly under the radar bands.
Kill Devil Hill: Revolution Rise
Album 2 and a great continuation of what they started on debut.

And not a word about Metal Church.

corplhicks wrote:

And not a word about Metal Church.

With all due respect to Metal Church, not a word about Black Sabbath or Deep Purple!!!!!!   

Boris2008 wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

And not a word about Metal Church.

With all due respect to Metal Church, not a word about Black Sabbath or Deep Purple!!!!!!   

Damn. You are so right. I got so caught up with his snubbing of MC that I neglected to see the most important aspect is that he's snubbing the parental unit of heavy metal. That's awful.

I used to like the guy, but now? F*ck him. Methinks he got caught up with the PR work and the limelight that it's all become an act of insincerity.

I mean, of course Winery Dogs is #1 because "he got them together," even if that statement is accurate. He's kissing ass.

My top 10 for this year wouldn't include Metal Church, Sabbath, or Purple either. F*ck me too I guess.

mc666 wrote:

My top 10 for this year wouldn't include Metal Church, Sabbath, or Purple either. F*ck me too I guess.

I'm not sure that they will make mine either but I will at least give them an honorable  mention if they don't.

Sadly I don't think Sperm for your Face will make the cut either!  

Actually, Eddie did a pretty decent list this year. This is no where near a mess. Obviously Winery Dogs was going to be # 1, ET the Extra Testicle helped put them together.... and the guy can't ever shut up about Richie K. Good to see him include Queensryche, but then he has to kiss The Geoff's ass in his write up.... Good calls on Stryper, Motorhead and Scorpion Child. I do like the new Megadeth too.

I've never even heard the Winery Dogs. I'm sure they're a talented bunch but the mere fact that Eddie Trunk had something to do with their formation has kept me away. Yeah, I'm shallow like that.

Sabbath wouldn't be near top 10 unless those songs were something more than little shreds of classic Ozzy tracks cut up and spliced together to make something 'new', except without Bill Ward..