Dan's Metal Memory of the Month: 3/07

Either Geoff Tate and the boys of Queensryche watched too much early Judas Priest videos or not enough Spinal Tap in their formative years as a metal band. I'm not even sure I remember this tremendous music video, Queen of the Reich, from 1983, but it's a prime example of the band's first incarnation as a full-on fantasy enterprise. In five years, QR would find their true identity as the "concept metal" band of the '80s with Operation: Mindcrime - heavy metal's answer to Pink Floyd's The Wall. Drenched with a grab-bag of bizarre shock imagery (sexy Catholic nuns) and generic anti-establishment themes ("Got no love for politicians or that crazy scene in DC, it's just a power-mad town!"), Mindcrime gave the band its fans. Later, singer Geoff Tate developed a unique coiffure - a cross between Silvio Dante's doo and a bad Midwestern mullet - and the band's themes evolved from silly to creepy. On the road to obscurity and debt, QR recently attempted to revive their status with the release of Operation: Mindcrime II, a non-awaited sequel to the original. (They did manage to rope Ronnie James into playing the role of Dr. X though... that was a savvy business move.) I must admit though, despite one of the most tragically lame acting attempts in music video history, Tate maintains one of metal's finest voices, in line with Dio, Dickinson and Halford.