When I think of the term, "musical genius", three names usually pop into my head. Steve Harris, David Mustaine and last but not least, Kai Hansen. I remember in the mid 80's as young teenager, I used to get together with a few friends of mine and we would usually spend a better part of the day sitting around and listening to music. One day Pat, my best friend at the time, bought a new cassette from a band called, Helloween. After listening to this band we all agreed that it was the fastest band that we have ever heard that actually had some talent, damn, we must have worn out 3 copies of Walls of Jericho during one summer.
Throughout the 80's, Helloween filled us with dreams and hopes. We dreamed one day that we too would be able to play as they did and their music inspired us with hope that you really don't have to be from the United States of America or Britain to break through. We found out along the way that our dreams were indeed just dreams, none of us actually even came close to making it in music. I look back at what we all wanted to be and smile at what we all actually achieved.. Police officers, security guards, computer technicians, students and most importantly we are friends. A few of them I haven't seen in years, a few others are still very good friends of mine.
You see, what I am trying to get at is the following. In my opinion the term, musical genius does not just have to include the fact that a musician is so filled with talent that listening to his or her music leaves one shaking his or her head wondering just how that was achieved. Although the latter does of course count for something it is not always the case; the prime example that I can give you is Ywngwie Malmsteen (Or however the hell you spell his name.) I can admit that this boy has talent but besides Marching out and Trilogy, frankly I am not all that impressed. To be honest with you I haven't listened to him since the end of the 80's. However, albums like Walls of Jericho, Powerslave, Keeper of the Seven Keys, (both part one and two) are constantly entertaining me. (Not to mention my neighbors.) These albums bring back fond memories when I listen to them and not to mention the fact that they still kick ass by today's standards. See, to me a genius is also someone who's works I can listen too over and over again and bring out certain emotions while listening to it.
This page is dedicated to one of the person's who provided me with hours of entertainment throughout my youth to present day. I could easily have done a page on Iron Maiden, Megadeth or even Helloween, however, I feel that there are already enough pages on the net devoted to these bands and their stories have been told over and over again. Being from Canada I find it a shame that Kai Hansen's band, Gamma Ray is not as well know as I feel it should be. If I can get one person to stumble across this page and make him or her curious enough to give Gamma Ray a listen then I feel it is well worth the effort.
Enjoy
Myke.
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