Mike McPadden | VH1 Music

“Heavy” and “metal.” In a physical sense, those words apply quite literally to pinball machines and video games, but there’s also no denying the spiritual, maybe even cosmic connection between headbanging music, quarter-pumping classic arcade fun, and crashing on the couch in front of the latest home-gaming system with hard rock blasting and maybe some certain other kind of substance blazing.

On occasion, amusement manufacturers have combined hard rock aesthetics with coin-op hardware and/or at-home video games—sometimes to kickass effect, and other times to such goofy results that even those kick ass in terms of supplying metalheads with a good time.

Power up now for some continuous play with the Top 15 hard rock and heavy metal pinball machines and video games.

Kiss (1978)

The same year that Kiss inundated fans with four simultaneously released solo albums along with bubblegum cards, dolls, and do-it-yourself makeup kits, the band also released a signature pinball machine.

While the other ephemera may have faded through the years (except for Ace Frehley’s solo LP; that will always rule), Kiss pinball remains one of the all-time arcade greats. For four decades now, the machine has also served as a crucial “tell” when it comes rock-and-roll bars and clubs: when you see Kiss pinball in the corner, you can rest assured you’re in a cool place.

In fact, Kiss pinball is so perfect that, despite mind-blowing forward-leaps in coin-up technology and Gene and Paul’s famous passion for cash-ins, the group has never updated the original machine, except as a PlayStation video game in 2001. That, for sure, was not quite the same.

Promising “hot licks,” “gonzo guitar,” “awesome stacks,” and overall “metal mayhem,” Heavy Metal Meltdown perfectly captures and conveys headbanger overkill circa ’87.

The back-glass depicts three wailing axe-masters—fake Jimmy Page on the left, fake Ted Nugent on the right, and fake Eddie Van Halen looming largest and loudest in the middle—while miniature fake Marshall amps piled on top blare out riffs, licks, solos, and general bombast. Ace ball manipulation lights up the letters H-E-A-V-Y and M-E-T-A-L in glorious Flying-V formation.

Heavy Metal Meltdown is the one pinball machine above all others that should be played by flipping the bumpers while keeping one’s fingers in perpetual devil-horn salute.

No force in rock-and-roll has done more for pinball than the Who, specifically by way of their landmark rock opera Tommy and its enduring anthem “Pinball Wizard”—the famous chronicle of how a “deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball!”

The 1975 movie version of Tommy inspired an unofficial machine called Wizard, the ads for which featured the movie’s female lead, Ann-Margret. More directly, Tommy spawned the 1976 Captain Fantastic pinball game, which showcased Elton John dressed in costume as the Pinball Wizard character he plays in the film.

Leaping ahead a couple of decades, the Who mounted a huge, lavish Broadway production of Tommy in 1993. A dynamic stage hit worldwide, the show also launched The Who’s Tommy: Pinball Wizard machine.

Like the theatrical production, Pinball Wizard dazzles and rocks with lights, sounds, graphics, and explosive tabletop action that’s so intense it may well leave you deaf, dumb, and blind for a spell after playing.

Joe Polo

Blabbermouth

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recently selected GUNS N’ ROSES‘ debut album, 1987’s “Appetite For Destruction”, as one of his thirteen favorite LPs of all time. Speaking to The Quietus about the effort, Gene said: “The thing about that record is that it had an honesty that rock and roll had been missing. The ’80s were a terrible time when guitars didn’t sound like guitars and there were drum machines, but then all of a sudden here comes this group, GUNS N’ ROSES, who plug in their guitars and just didn’t mess around with any fancy stuff. And the songs were undeniable!”

He continued: “‘Welcome To The Jungle’ is an undeniable song in the same way that [THE ROLLINGS STONES‘] ‘Satisfaction’ has that great riff with the lyrics on top of it. Great lyrics, great imagery, and as soon as you heard that high-pitched voice that harkened back to a Robert Plant-ish approach to singing, which hadn’t been heard in quite a while… Well, it still works today. That’s got to be coming up to 30 years old, but you put that on today if it was a brand new band, I would say, ‘Who’s that?’ That intro is almost symphonic, and it just defined the band. You hear that song, and then the rest of the album follows through. ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ is head, hands and feet above the other material.”

Gene added: “Bands have a few songs that just stand up, you know? You think THIN LIZZY, you think ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’. You think THE STONES, you think ‘Satisfaction’. You think LED ZEPPELIN, you think ‘Stairway To Heaven’. There are just certain songs that, either because of the melody or lyric or the sound of the song, intrinsically say, ‘This is what that is.’ The only band who doesn’t have that thing, just because they have so many god damn good songs, is THE BEATLES.”

Andrew lee | Japan Times

The Kiss show at Tokyo Dome on March 3 was the third time I’ve seen the band play live.

The first time was in Sydney in 1980 — my first-ever live concert. At 13, I was a massive Kiss fan, dressed to the nines and all made up like the group’s original drummer Peter Chris, “the Cat,” much to the amusement of my father, who chaperoned.

I lost interest in Kiss around 1983 when the members took off the makeup. However, I decided to go see them for a laugh in Ottawa in 1996, when the original lineup put the costumes back on. I was living in Canada at the time, and my mates and I couldn’t help but chuckle when guitarist Paul Stanley shouted to the crowd, “We played Montreal last night, but they didn’t rock as hard as you do Ottawa!”

So, when I saw Kiss was coming to Japan I simply had to go once more, especially because the band announced it would be playing its Tokyo Dome gig with idol group Momoiro Clover Z — Momokuro to their fans. It was an appropriately kitsch move for a band of old dudes whose masked onstage personas have become so iconic that even Hello Kitty can be found wearing the masks of the Lover, the Demon, the Spaceman and (most appropriately, I guess) the Cat.

The hordes of fans that gathered to see the show were a curious blend of idol superfans and classic-rock aficionados — the multicolored outfits of those there to see Momokuro floated among the black T-shirts and denim uniforms of the Kiss Army, like oil on dark water. Those two sets of fans would have been an impossible mix had it not been for the curious fact that both groups were mostly made up of middle-aged men.

To say Momokuro fans are maniacally loyal is an understatement, so I’d been curious as to how Kiss’ management could ensure that a stadium full of them would stay to watch the aging rockers once the girls’ set had finished. However, in a stroke of sheer marketing genius, prior to the tour Kiss and Momokuro released a joint single titled “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina” — which guaranteed that the two would play together on the night of the show.

As the lights in Tokyo Dome went down and the Momokuro fans lit their glow sticks, I was really surprised to see Kiss come on. I thought Momokuro was going to be the supporting act and therefore play first. It seemed the answer to getting Momokuro fans to stick around was for Kiss to open.

Kiss began with “Detroit Rock City” and pushed through a set list of both old and new songs. But when Paul Stanley asked, about seven songs in, “Do you love me Tokyo?” I’m not sure the love was there, many in the crowd were just politely waiting for the megahits and Momokuro to show up.

Kiss has toured Japan 11 times over the past 40 years and I suspect the band has stuck with the same shtick for most of those shows. Gene Simmons spat fire during “War Machine,” blood when he flew on wires above the stage during “God of Thunder.” Tommy Thayer launched rockets from his guitar and Paul Stanley charmed the locals by singing a verse, in Japanese, of the Kyu Sakamoto classic “Sukiyaki.” The antics delighted the Kiss Army, but it may not have been quite enough to convert the Momokuro fans.

Perhaps the show was too quiet? The sound didn’t seem that loud for the most part, which was especially noticeable during “I Love It Loud” and “Shout it Out Loud,” and Stanley’s interaction with the crowd seemed strained at first — perhaps because he needed to win over the Momokuro fans.

The inclusion of the idol group may have actually worked to Kiss’ disadvantage, previous shows across Japan saw the band performing by themselves and those audiences would’ve likely all been card-carrying soldiers in the Kiss Army. At Tokyo Dome there was a good chance that half the audience didn’t even know who Kiss were.

However, the highlight of the night was without a doubt the encore. Momoiro Clover Z finally came out on stage and their fans let loose with their glow sticks. Backed by taiko drummers, the two groups united to perform “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina” and “Rock and Roll All Nite.” I suspect the legion of Momokuro fans were disappointed the girls only played two songs, but for the Kiss Army it was more than enough. And of course, Tokyo rocked harder than Osaka.