BBA: My Other Collections - Part 1

Bo started this topic, and Trevor promoted it to a full Bat Around.  They both showed their Collections of Other Things.

As a few of you might guess, I've got a couple different entries for this idea.  I'll start with the minor ones first.  Bo showed his fledgling accumulation of vintage brand name items and some political buttons.  Kinda like this:

I see a lot of older presidential buttons like this in the flea markets and antique malls.  If I didn't collect cards, I might be inclined to gather these.  I like the historical value, but I'd probably end up collecting space program patches instead.

I do have one significant sports button - this Redskins Super Bowl matchup against Elway and the Broncos.  Of course, the 'Skins came out on top.  Oh, to see those glory days again soon....

But the main thrust of this little collection is rock bands.  Mostly metal, as are my tastes, even today.  There are a few mellower artists in the mix as well.  Check the links for some of their good tunes.  Warning - lots of cheesy 80's music videos.

These buttons were sold at the mall stores that carried t-shirts and posters of the current pop culture - in this case, the mid- to late 1980's.  It was a cheap way to represent who you like to listen to.  I did NOT, however, own a stereotypical jean jacket to put these on.  I keep them in a tin can on a bookshelf.

The Super Bowl button makes a convenient lid.

While not an exhaustive catalog of all my favorite bands, the basics are covered well.  Dokken was my first favorite hard rock act.  And Judas Priest was not far behind.  Their album art is the best for graphic representation (as you saw in the video in this post).  I like Ozzy a lot, though I have never seen him live.  Deep Purple was in the middle somewhere, though Perfect Strangers is a great album.  You may not know Vandenberg, they were more of a fringe band.  Their lead guiarist and namesake went on to join David Coverdale and Whitesnake for most of the Tawny Kitaen period at least.

I found a LOT of Ratt buttons.  Think I might have the whole lineup individually, and then twice as many group shots.  I got the t-shirts back in the day for the middle one in the middle row (plus the poster that I had hanging in my college dorm), and another shirt that had the "robot rat" on the back.  Everyone knows them for their videos with Milton Berle (and a younger Tawny).  Here's one that's just pure performance. 

Too bad it ended badly for the original lineup.  The drummer got mad and made his own version of the band (that failed), and the blonde guitarist died.

Next up, the band that originally turned me on to guitar solos and long-haired musicians in general - KISS.  But it wasn't back in the early days with the makeup and live albums, it was their first album with NO makeup.
Also shown here - Mötley Crüe and Krokus (crank these up)
There's no video for this song, but here's the album track:

Next up, Twisted Sister and Bon Jovi.  TS wasn't the most polished band, but they were good honest rock and roll.  Plus, Dee Snider's testimony at the PMRC hearings was epic.

I liked Bon Jovi's first few albums, but always thought their songwriting was chock full of clichés. Later on, they got way more popular, but my fandom kinda waned.

A couple oddballs here.  Loudness was a totally Japanese metal band with a phenomenal guitarist.  Guiffria was another more obscure one that I liked.  Just happened to find buttons of theirs.

And rounding out the mix, a few of the mellower bands that I liked before I discovered metal.  Huey Lewis & the News were one of only two bands that I saw live more than once.  I think they played for a long time after the 80's but I didn't keep up.  Survivor had a great sound way beyond "Eye Of The Tiger", but changed singers a few times.  Night Ranger was popular later during the metal period, and was played along with that type of music, eventually contributing members to a few other harder acts.

There were several other bands that were favorites of mine, I just never found buttons of theirs.  Queensrÿche, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Cinderella, among others.

Thank you! -- Good night!