helterskelter.ca

SATRIANI, Joe
way more Helter Skelter.

October 15, 1987 - 2022: 35 years of: Surfing With The Alien.

The genesis of intelligent shred.

Welcome to the jungle of Sunset Strip wankers, issued from the Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads school of rebels, the war of whammy-bars was at an all time high. And when the dust settles, after his 1986's Not Of This Earth debut LP, new kid Joe Satriani brings forth six-string perfection.

Look up, searing through the sky, like lightning here he comes ..."Surfing With The Alien". Hard knock hardrock rhythm and staccato leads, our world hasn't been the same since. The boogie-bass led "Ice 9" and meat-eating "Circles" easily elevates his twang into a divine calling.

From above, more metal crunch recite with an iron hand, as "Crushing Day" dictates these new commandments in guitar-shred. The soft late-nigh FM-friendly "Always With Me, Always With You" changes the pace, while the eclectic high-voltage "Satch Boogie" fires on all cylinders. The bridge-break part is a fiesta in finger-tapping. This now signature-track has not only put Satriani on the map, but refaced the previous Yngwie J. Malmsteen-patterm exhibition type LPs.

The instantly recognizable cover-artwork is Marvel Comic's iconic Silver Surfer. From kid play to fretboard play, the Italian bred New-Yorker moved to the Bay-Area was now teacher to both METALLICA's Kirk Hammett and David Lee Roth's Steve Vai.

RIAA-certified Platinum proves that this new branch in rocknroll is a viable commercial asset and that the bluesed rocker is not another shrapnel from the Mike Varney battalion. Joe would sweep again and break more boundaries on 1989's Flying In A Blue Dream LP.

Come surf with the alien: a full-on 360º experience in modern electric guitar.

PS: On a personal-level, thanks to Satriani and Vai along many, many other players of this era. I've been an Ibanez Guitars aficionado since 1989.

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Satch Boogie = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt3ImNur5ig
Always With Me, Always With You = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI57QHL6ge0
Surfing With The Alien = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5t2kDqvoYY&list=OLAK5uy_mOOmTn_oLNuWYggLHLtwdm6tAhUhQBRDw
On MTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOkflgmI7xQ
Live and interview in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqhX2uFc0I