Legendary drummer Mike Portnoy not too long ago joined us to speak about his favourite albums from when he was a teenager.
It was April 20, 1980 when Mike Portnoy lastly turned 13. Banging on a small drum package throughout his bar mitzvah, the younger musician already knew what he needed to be when he grew up. But though Portnoy would grow to be a legend on the earth of steel, he was a punk rocker whose favourite album on the time was the Ramones’ unique soundtrack for Rock ’N’ Roll High School.
“I would sneak in a tape recorder and tape the movie soundtrack,” Portnoy remembers. “So I used to listen not only to this album, but the actual cassette tape of the movie. Ramones would have to be the biggest thing I was listening to around 1980 when I was turning 13.”
It was the very subsequent yr when the “game changing” second occurred for Mike Portnoy — when he lastly found Rush. It was truly the album Moving Pictures that satisfied Portnoy of Rush’s greatness after not essentially getting them for a whereas.
“I lived, breathed, slept and shat Neil [Peart] and Rush,” Portnoy remembers. “The main reason I never gave Rush the time of day was I would hear Geddy’s voice on the radio and I just wrote them off as some kind of band like Supertramp or Styx — these high vocals — but I never realized the musicianship and the drumming. Then somebody played me ‘YYZ’ without the… I don’t want to use the word distraction… but it didn’t have Geddy’s vocals. It forced me to listen to the drums, bass and guitar, and when I heard ‘YYZ’ I was like, ‘Holy shit, these guys can play.’”
Check out what else Mike Portnoy was listening to from 1980-1987 within the video and gallery beneath. Make certain to seize the brand new Winery Dogs album, III, which comes out on Feb. 3.
Mike Portnoy Breaks Down His Favorite Teenage Albums
Mike Portnoy’s 10 Favorite Albums When He Was a Teenager
Legendary prog drummer Mike Portnoy takes us by way of the soundtrack to his teenage years.
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