December 1 - La Villa Strangiato

It's December, the last month of the year. I have 31 days left to meet my challenge to myself of writing one post per day, which I should be able to do. I have a plan for the next few days - it will be my musical advent calendar with a new question every single day until Christmas - a little bit of trivia hasn't hurt anyone yet... The answers can be posted in the comments here or on my Facebook page. I have a scoreboard page here (check right hand margin) where I will be keeping track of the score. The blog will be updated with a new post at midnight EST every day, while Facebook updates are manual and will typically happen a little bit later. The rules are pretty simple. I am looking for a connection between the artist of the day and another artist. It will usually result in a song, with some additional information required.

But before I get to the question for today, let me just say that I am very happy to play yet another favorite instrumental of mine. This time we are going to the album Hemispheres by Rush, which is one I picked up without having heard much from it when I found it at one of the few used vinyl stores in Trondheim in the 80s. This one was hidden behind EPA, which was a great department store that also sold my favorite soft serve ice cream growing up, because you could get a twist of vanilla and strawberry, and that, to me, was just spectacular. The song of the day is an exercise in self indulgence (that's actually the subtitle for the song), it is La Villa Strangiato by Rush.

Now, since I mention Rush, there is a link between them and a New Wave of British Heavy Metal band. That link is a 18th and 19th century British poet who inspired songs for both bands with poems written at the end of the 18th century. What I am looking for is the name of the poet, the name of the band, the name of the new band's song, the album it first appeared on, and what year that happened. Like I said, I will take the answers here or on my Facebook page. It shouldn't be difficult if you know your 80s heavy metal bands, but if you don't, please don't worry. There will be questions for you coming as well... But please enjoy La Villa Strangiato while you ponder away...