The notion that Aerosmith has more musical variety than the Rolling Stones, couldn't disagree more with that take. Great content as always

Popoff and Pardo are at it again with the first part of a planned three-fer series using the Steroids analogy. As always, enjoy these episodes and listening to Martin and Pete discuss their choices with the whys and wherefores. But personally, the quote of Martin's which may be used the most remembered over the long term is his description of Canada and the US in preparing an analogy -particularly since Martin has the Canadian view. Brilliant observation. Thanks for that, Martin. Thanks also to both gents for another fine time In The Funhouse. There ya go!

This show is like “thesis” material for a contemporary music class! Nicely done guys!

Great show gents! Looking forward to part 2 and 3.

I met Lemmy in the early eighties and he was raving about a band who played louder and faster than Motorhead. He said they would be massive. I wonder what happened to Metallica:) Always thought Blackfoot were Lynyrd Skynyrd on steroids

Great topic and episode. Bound to lead to loads of pub debates.

Moody Blues and King Crimson is a great example. Two songs come to mind especially and they are Nights In White Satin and Epitaph, they are quite similar but Epitaph is Nights In White Satin on Steroids.

Any simililarities between the mighty Zep and Queen are only superficial imo. Zeppelin is a groove band thanks to John Bonham, and no disrespect, but I don't hear that in Roger Taylor's drumming. Also Page/Plant were both heavily blues inspired in their phrasing, whereas I don't hear a lot of that in either Mercury/May. I love Martin and Pete's friday shows, but sometimes I seriously have to question Martin's ears.

Martin is Pete on steroids :) And I really enjoy both of you equally.

Couldn't quite get how Queen resembles (even remotely ) Led Zeppelin ? Totally different bands imho

Ending each episode by letting Martin give an update on what´s happening on his end is a nice touch. Prior to finding this channel four years ago, I was always struggling to find worthwhile books on music. Besides classics like Hammer Of The Gods by Stephen Davis, as well as the occasional autobiography, there really wasn´t much to choose from. Then Mr. Popoff entered the picture, and a whole new world opened up. At the moment I have book no.14 of his coming my way.

Martin---I luv ya, but I have to take issue with your comment about Zep's Presence sounding like Aerosmith demos. I love both bands, but Aerosmith could NEVER write anything as complex as Achilles Last Stand or Tea for One (it's blues, but listen to how Page holds back and gives the guitar solo such feeling).

Excellent show guys I really enjoyed this - Martin looking forward to the no bass sides

Great show and good choices. Weirdly, I only heard The Rival Sons recently and one of the things I noticed was how the singer sounded like Paul Rodgers.

And The Stones continue to be the most underrated classic Band of all time, when it comes to sheer variety. It still blows my mind that Martin considers them to be on the versatility level of an AC/DC lol. Great show as always though!

This is a really fun and contentious episode! Makes me want to form a metal band called... Usurper! 🤔

Very interesting show. Unfortunately, I could not find the other two parts...

A little bit off topic, but regarding Pete's comment on UK thrash bands: True, they were always considered second row, but there are (were) some great ones: Onslaught, Acid Reign, Sabbat, Slammer, Re-Animator, Xentrix. Worth checking out!

IMHO, this could be an eight-part Netflix miniseries 🤣 thanks guys! 🍺🤘

I usually agree with Martin, but I don't on the Zeppelin/queen comparison maybe I don't get the concept of the idea would you say alice cooper and kiss or skynyrd and blackfoot?

Thanks Pete.... for acknowledging my Bros. in Symphony X. Amazing Band, Beautiful People.

Here's a relatively obscure one - prog trio GERARD from Japan is ELP on steroids. Toshio Egawa on banks of vintage keyboards... Atsushi Hasegawa on turbo-charged bass, fingers flying all over the fretboard... Masuhiro Goto frantically drumming like he has 8 arms... a run of 5-6 albums heavy on prog, very few vocals, lots of contrast between manic passages and more atmospheric sections. Earlier versions of the band were more pop with American vocals. Gerard also did a cover album of ELP, King Crimson and UK tunes. Egawa does a lot of keyboard "swells" which are reminiscent of Eddie Jobson in UK.

Great idea.I enjoyed it,as usual.🤘

I've been wanting to check out Rival Sons ever since a previous Sea of Tranquility episode about favorite post 2000s bands or something like that. But I don't know where to start, so I'll research them a bit more!

The Yngwie to Symphony X was interesting. I note that both will be playing a show within less than a week from each other at the same venue near me in June. I plan to go see Symphony X.

In terms of more extreme music, I've always thought that Morbid Angel, particularly "Altars of Madness" was just Slayer on steroids. Remember hearing Altars a bit after I heard Reign in Blood and was floored at how much heavier Morbid Angel sounded.

What a great topic! Keep up the good work

Queen never really did it for me. I like the hits but, I'm not really into them and I never was. I probably like more than twenty songs by them but, I don't love more than two or three of them. Led Zeppelin? I freaking love most of their songs from their entire catalog! No one running circles around them Martin lol! Presence is a fantastic album with amazing songs on it (All of them aren't amazing). Rocks is a ten out of ten masterpiece that blows away most albums and is certainly in my top twenty, possibly top ten albums of all time. Rocks blows away every Queen album ever produced (IMHO). Zeppelin has a magic and mystique that Queen never had. To be fair, not many bands get a sniff of that level of genius. I'd also say that, while I've been a huge fan of Judas Priest for over forty years, I never thought they were genius-level music. I can appreciate your opinion of them and even Queen. They were both very creative for their time and very diverse by their genre's standards but, they don't reach that standard to my ears. There are so many genius-level bands out there creatively and talent-wise that there are bands to suit everyone's tastes. So, I'll give you a little push back on that but, no hate for you Martin. I love that you give your honest opinions regardless of the backlash it may provoke. I'm a huge fan of the Contrarians series and find myself agreeing with you a majority of the time. Thanks for your dedication to the music and for sharing your knowledge. As always, Thank You Pete for SOT and your tenacious work ethic! You're the man!

Jimi Hendrix was everyone who came before him on Steroids. And acid. Lots of acid. AC/DC with Bon was Chuck Berry on Steroids. Basic rock, Chucks riffs, and a fuckton more amplification. Led Zeppelin was Iron Butterfly on steroids. They took the light and heavy and kicked both up several notches with both loud crunch and delicate folk.

The band Riot by themselves can be Y band is X band on steroids. Riot's 6th studio album Thundersteel is way more aggressive than their first 5 studio albums. They went from Hard Rock music to Heavy Metal from their 1983 Born In America album to their 1988 Thundersteel album. They had taken a hiatus for a few years, and by the time they reformed with almost a new lineup in 1988 the industry really changed.

Another great show from the Friday funhouse. I was listening to Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty and I thought of a show idea excuse me if this has already been suggested but pop I would like to hear the top five or 10 pop songs with killer guitar solos

Stalk the stage instead of Stomp the stage. Great analogy by Martin. 👍

I have the Rival Sons Feral Roots album. Very good album. The last track, Shooting Stars, is very reminiscent of Moby's Natural Blues, which happens to be my favorite song on the album. They must dig Moby like I do. Rest of the album is heavy tho.

I definitely agree with Dream Theater, especially as an extension of the '70s era Rush, ACOS through to Hemispheres (maybe PWaves and MPictures too...). I don't think Dream Theater have the truly holistically diverse discography that Rush have. DT have nothing like Grace Under Pressure, Hold Your Fire, Presto or Vapor Tails, imo. On the Marillion point, I would obviously agree, and I'd take it further. During the Hogarth era, that band explored much of the territory which Collins' era Genesis had explored (more prog, art pop, sombre ballads, protest anthems), but with an added punch, seriousness, and even sincerity. It certainly wouldn't have been as deliberate as the Fish era's intentions; actually it probably wasn't a *deliberate* attempt to mimic Collins' Genesis whatsoever, but it inevitably (ironically?) resembled Genesis (and Gabriel as a solo artist?) tiring of traditional pastoral prog bombast whimsy and exploring other genres on top of their traditional sound. Possibly an odd extension, but it just occurred to me...

Grand Funk Railroad and Bad Company have been the House bands for almost every Classic Rock Radio Stations. They generally wear out the same 3 or 4 songs from each band every hour upon hour until people never want to hear either of those bands again. Must have heard I'm Your Captain ( Closer to Home) , and Feel like Making Love a million times against my will. Usually exposed to the Radio Stations while working for a living

Great show guys. Spot on regarding Marillion and Dream Theater.

Another great show, & interesting concept. There are many instances where the 2nd band takes their inspirations to the next level. Here's the ones that automatically sprang to mind: Kiss were Slade on steroids with bigger platforms, even more glam, heavier on record. AC/DC are Chuck Berry on steroids. Took CB's music, guitar style & duck walk and turned it up to 11. Van Halen's debut album is Montrose's debut on Steroids. Love Montrose but VH had even better songs & production. Blackfoot were Lynyrd Skynyrd on steroids as they faster & heavier, particularly live. Ironic when Ricky Matlock has become a main stay of Skynyrd. Iron Maiden debut is Priest on steroids, with that punk attitude & heavier sound. Inspired JP to get heavier in the 80s.

An excellent topic superbly presented, however I could only agree with Martins Zep/Queen and Pete's Moodies/Crimson comparisons the rest where a bit tenuous for me especially Martins Maiden/Helloween description but of course this is all about the individuals opinion.

I think I'd sooner describe Queen as T. Rex on steroids, but that's a really interesting, convincing take, fascinating!

As Iron Maiden is my alltime fav band, i naturally compare a lot of bands to them. And i always thought of The Lord Weird Slough Feg to be a more aggressive and crunchier version of Maiden. They also play that twin axe style of power metal with nice breaks and proggy elements.

Great show!

Hello Popoff and Pardo, I would like to put a super-group together called 'Progressive Rock™', featuring Steve Hackett on guitar, Jon Anderson on vocals, Dave Stewart on keyboards, Geddy Lee on bass and Carl Palmer on drums. These are some of the few prog rock legends still left alive, and I think it would be just dandy if they all went around touring playing prog classics and the like (maybe some new jams as well even!). I don't know or have contacts with any of these people, but I assume at least Martin has contact with Geddy, maybe Pete with Steve Hackett (unsure...), so I'm putting on both of you to get the ball rolling on this. Let's make this happen! Together, we can finally bring about a dawn to the Age of the Abyss, ushering in a new age of lucidity, fulfilment, laughter and fire... Also listen to This Heat, share thoughts!

System of a down is basically the King for a Day album of Faith No More on steroids. Mr Bungle self titled is RHCP on steroids (and I like RHCP). Weezer could be seen as The Cars on steroids in some ways. Dartkthrone's first albums are the Bathory's black metal period albums but even more dark and extreme. The Dillinger Escape Plan's first album reminds me of Black Flag on steroids. Even more angry and agressive. (I like/love all those bands by the way)

Great to see Rival Sons mentioned

Marillion/Genesis kinda gave me an idea for a topic: "carry the torch". Marillion continued what Genesis was doing, when Genesis was no longer playing prog. What other bands have done a thing like that?

You could also do this topic with Punk and early New Wave music. I would like to see how the Ramones, The Clash and The Sex Pistols are connected with Blondie, The Police and Elvis Costello.

Duran Duran was heavily influenced by the sound of Japan, with David Sylvian and Mick Karn - and Duran Duran made that style much more accessible for the US audience.

Really cool concept! It's a lot harder than I thought. This would be my picks (by no way I mean one is better than the other, just more extreme versions) Animal collective is beatles on steroids especially on strawberry jams Current between the buried and me is dream theater on steroids Ghost is kiss on steroids Wilderun is opeth on steroids Primal fear is Judas priest on steroids

I remember a friend asking me about my Motorhead cd collection and wanted to know what they sounded like. I told him when I first heard them they reminded me of a beefed up version of Acdc or Zztop.

Kind of Like Martin's analogy on the April 1 program. ACDC is the poor man's Rose Tattoo.😂😂😂

Let’s get Zep. Presence seriously underrated

Just my opinion, but the title of this series really does make it sound like "Y Band" is supposed to be considered better. That said, this is a really cool episode. Good points by Martin on Queen. Excellent points by Pete as well. I wouldn't have thought of connecting The Moody Blues and King Crimson but your points really made sense.

Pete and Martin My friends and I thought the same thing about The Tragically Hip They are a pumped up version of Creedence Clearwater Revival

Is it appropriate to say that Bathory are Venom on steroids?

The first band that immediately came to mind when I saw this topic was Anglagard. And that they are Genesis on steroids. The sound is quite similar: guitar, bass, drums, keyboards (especially hammond organ, piano and lots of mellotron) and flute. But the arrangements are bigger and more intricate and crazier, they rock more. And the drums are even more amazing (and I love Phil Collin's playing, but Mattias Olsson is really incredible, and was only 17 on their first album; crazy!). The only comparison missing is the singing which Anglagard were never very good at and only used sparingly on their first album Hybris, and after that became a fully instrumental band.

I've always said that Celtic Frost is Venom on horse steroids. Great subject!

Parliament Funkadelic is James Brown on steroids (and some LSD). Some members of P-Funk were even in James Brown's band prior to joining P-Funk. Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker for example.

Damn. I thought you were going to finally feature the band X. John Doe, Exene.......Album ranking would be a good one.. C'mon Martin. Make it happen. If not, how about an album ranking for The Damned?

A thought: Sleep is Black Sabbath on steroids. I feel if one isolated the core of, say, "Into the Void" or "Sweet Leaf" and magnified them, expanded them, indulged them, stretched them, pushed them to the limits of sanity or taste, etc., the result would resemble what one hears on Jerusalem/Dopesmoker or The Sciences.

Great observations by many on this subject. After reading through the comments, one of the ultimate examples is that Led Zeppelin is the Jeff Beck Group and Yardbirds on steroids.

Rammstein is Kiss with steroids. Great show guys, as always.

1. Queen and Rainbow 2. Rush and Dream Theater 3. Edge of sanity and Opeth 4. Genesis and Marillion 5. Slayer and Morbid angel 6. Metallica and later Pantera 7. King Crimson and Gentle Giant 8. AC/DC and Guns N' roses 9. Ludwig Van Beethoven and Yngwie Malmsteen 10. A7X and Between the buried and me (think about it for a minute...)

i saw aerosmith in 1973 at the tower theater in upper darby pa . they were great and i did think i was seeing the rolling stones on stage!

Not a sure thing, but I get CCR vibes from UFO, Accept vibes from Overkill and Venom vibes from Slayer if anything... I often see bands that seem like a combination of two other bands, but extreme versions are a little tougher for me to think of... Presumably because of the aforementioned aspect that it doesn't necessarily make them better. Bands gotta try yoga instead of taking steroids

Okay, Martin, here we go again w/Led Zeppelin. Someone said in a documentary that Queen were a cross between Led Zeppelin and Ziggy Stardust. I'm guessing Freddie is Ziggy?! And Brian May is Jimmy Page?! So, yep, you're spot-on about that one. I'd also say Rush is the Y to Led Zeppelin's X because they were mistaken for them when they released their debut album. Aerosmith is also another good comparison but, I'll get to them in a minute. You could also say Van Halen is a Y to Led Zeppelin's X. The same could also be said for Whitesnake because people say deep down David Coverdale wanted to be Robert Plant. But there's only one, sorry Dave 😊 When it comes to Aerosmith being the Y to The Rolling Stone's X, that's also true. I also think Steven Tyler looks like Mick Jagger's ugly sister so, that's two for you. I'd even go further and say GNR is the Y to Aerosmith's X which would make them the Z to The Rolling Stones' X. Or, in my opinion, GNR is a third-rate version of The Rolling Stones. I'll also say The Beatles, though I'm not a huge fan, is the X to The Stones, Kinks, The Who and all the bands that followed them in the 60s. I'll also say Led Zeppelin is the X to Queen, Rush, Aerosmith, Van Halen and all the other bands that followed them in the 70s. So, in my estimation, the two most influential rock bands from the past 50+ years have been The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

Not seeing the Moody Blues / King Crimson connection. Radically different parts of the prog spectrum, barring the mellotron.

The first one that came to mind...ELO took what the Beatles did and amped it up too a totally different level. Still think the Beatles are a little better just because they were more ground breaking but ELO mastered it.

You might not initially see it but Blind Guardian is Queen on steroids, LSD, and cocaine altogether. The vocal harmonies, complexity, operatic arrangements and guitar vocalizing.

Very entertaining lads! I love 80s Helloween but NOW WAY they surpassed Maiden at any point on any level. They were like the young brother (Judas Priest being the father?)

Isn't that the point of rock'n'roll at any given time: being louder, faster, more outrageous than what came before? I think the steroids concept is the nature of r'n'r itself. Great show. Cheers.

We need a Frank Zappa guitar solo show, maybe a ranking or just for awareness/fun. Most of them would be from live albums, most probably.

Watch nektar live 1973 swiss video ! I think rush took ques from nektar as far as scifi heavy prog entries go!

May and Plant both heavily into layering guitars. Guitar orchestrations.

Pantera became a ramped up version of themselves. They started out just another glam metal band who would have been forgotten had they stayed that route.

Tori Amos is Kate Bush on hysteroids. Steve Vai is Frank Zappa on histrionics. TooL is Danzig on Frippertroids (and vegan transcendental diet). Latter day Metallica is Corrosion of Conformity on... well, something. Beck is urban Bob Dylan on laughing gas and Samuel Beckett. Thank you, drive through. :-P

I always considered Spock's Beard being like Yes on steroids!

Sorry do not see the Zepplin /Queen comparison at all ... now a Queen/Mott the Hoople makes sense....different style players but songs , hard rockin , pop ditties, slow/fast, loads of piano, stage show and in your face live medley and Queen opened for Mott in 73/74 and May has talked about the influences they had on a young Queen .. even tipping their hat in the Lyrics to Now I'm Here .. both had charismatic lead singers/writers who engaged the audience while the other members just played ....but way different in range and style .....I think Queen took the Mott blueprint and definitely injected steroids to take it where Mott never could nor imagined ....Over all Queen took the Glam rock formula ( Bowie, T Rex, Slade etc) that disappeared by 75 and kept the theatrical but improved the song quality and complexity ... So we are sayin Free

Another great episode of S.O.T., but I must wholeheartedly disagree with Martin’s Led Zep/Queen comparison. Besides both being 4 piece Hard Rock bands from England, those 2 bands are very different. Otherwise great topic though!!!!🤟🏻

I still love those first 4 Metallica albums better than anything Pantera ever did BUT I love me some Pantera! Martin is right, they saved metal in the 90's, whilst all the grunge and alternative bands started to take over, they were carrying the thrash and heavy metal flag! They were pretty damn successful at it too. \m/ \m/

I'm guessing that the 64 oz. "Peter" container is full of Bourbon?

I was thinking the Black Crowes and Stones fit this description.

MARILLION 😀Hell Yeah I absofrigginluyly love those 4 LP's😀😀 I listen to them one after another 😀It's like a drug.

When I saw this topic, the first example that immediately came to mind is how Muse is a harder, heavier vesrion of Radiohead.

Martin is on point as usual.Hellhammer IS the Venom on steroid!!

I dunno. I have to say Genesis is more Moody’s on steroids over Crimson. Just think of “The Musical Box” as the opener on Nursery Crimes!

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is basically taking the drugged out music of the 1960s & 1970s and a little of the college rock of the 80's, adding a ton of musicianship to it, and then adding the muscle.

I would have said that Watchtower are more Rush on steroids than Dream Theater are, especially on Control & Resistence

Kai Hansen himself had said exactly the same thing around 34 years ago - “Helloween are Iron Maiden on steroids”

The first one that always comes to mind for me is Venom is Motörhead on steroids. The other big one that comes to mind is ELO and The Beatles.

Led Zepplin invented steroids. You can listen to them all the time and never hear it all. Now I like Queen also but this is like a April Fools day. Led Zepplin will never look old.

I've always thought Lynyrd Skynyrd took from the Allmans to form the blueprint for Southern Rock.

Haven't watched the episode yet, but I remember telling my sister back in 1991 that I found a group kinda like the Replacements, but with balls. Nirvana is like the Replacements on steroids.

I'm having difficulty comparing Queen to Led.

Muse is Radiohead on steroids.

a couple you might have missed, Cheap Trick becomes Big Star on steroids and Black Crowes are The Faces on steroids.

I think a closer listen will show that Queen didn't play in more different styles than Led Zeppelin. It's just harder to categorize the various styles of Led Zeppelin because there aren't different names for them.

Martin is ever the contrarian..Zeppelin's Prescence is bloody amazing!!..better then Rocks to my ears...and i love both. Interesting programme though and goes to show how our views vary so much..

Sorry, but Queen is not at all like Zeppelin who were far more blues riffed based. If anything, Queen is Uriah Heep on steroids. Heep were the first "big vocal" heavy band and Queen took that to another level. I also don't see Crimson as being influenced by The Moody Blues, other than they both used Mellotron. Crimson was more an amalgam of psychedelic, jazz and the evolving heaviness of hard rock. I think that MUSE is an extension of Radiohead. KISS started out as four Alice Coopers. Maiden took a lot from Tull in regard of composition and arrangement but obviously without the same "sound." Metallica is the natural extension Sabbath -- or trying to be. Symphony X taking Malmsteen to the next level is a good comparison. Helloween isn't Maiden on steroids. They're a weaker copy-cat version. Rush is a combination of Zep and every prog band that preceded them, and they simply evolved into something better. Dream Theater is similar in approach and the "next level" technically but without the songwriting skill of RUSH.

The Pogues - Flogging Molly

Kinda see what Martin's saying on the Stones to a degree. When I was 10 I thought yeah Aerosmith is way cooler than the Stones. Now in my 50's no way. That 4 album run from Beggars Banquet through Exile on Main Street...come on man. Nothing Aerosmith ever did even touches those 4!!!! I grew up and dumped the likes of Kiss and Aerosmith.