The most commercially successful pop band of the 1970s, ABBA rose again in the 1990s when ABBA Gold (1992) revived their peerless singles’ legacy, which has carried on ever since. ABBA were formed in 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden, by Benny Andersson (born Goran Bror Benny Andersson, 16 December 1946), Bjorn Ulvaeus (born 25 April 1945) and ...
the 1970s, Wham! and New Kids On The Block in the 1980s and Hanson and The Spice Girls in the 1990s, to the catchy Europop sounds of ABBA, the homogenous, production-line-type output of British songwriting/production team Stock, Aitken & Waterman, the slick recordings of new romantics such as Duran Duran, and the even ...
The biggest heavy metal band of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin left an indelible mark that is still felt a quarter of a century later. The band was put together in London in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page (born James Patrick Page, 9 January 1944), singer Robert Plant (born 20 August 1948), bassist John Paul Jones (born John Baldwin, ...
(Vocal duo, 1984–present) As Sweden spawned ABBA, it should come as no surprise that the country’s biggest pop export of the 1990s were also masters of melodic, hook-laden pop songs. Per Gessle and the striking-looking Marie Fredriksson announced themselves with Look Sharp! (1989), which spawned hit singles like the aptly named ‘Dressed For Success’. Over the next ...
near No. 1 in the US again, with commensurate sales for a final album, Odessey And Oracle [sic] (1968). Styles & Forms | Sixties | Rock Personalities | ABBA | Seventies | Rock ...
The term ‘manufactured pop’ is, in many ways, a red herring. Despite the changes in our perception of pop talent brought about by The Beatles, much mainstream pop has been based on the ‘Tin Pan Alley’ tradition, in which teams of producers, composers and music-business moguls find young, attractive performers (mainly singers) to front potential ...
the song, while the other pioneered a new sound. All subsequent Europop blended the two on some level, but never with such artistry and impact. Swede Soul Music ABBA formed in 1971, after the four members had already become folk-pop stars in their native Sweden. It was 1974 before songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and lead ...
Born out of a reaction to both punk and 2-Tone’s politics and anti-star stance, the British synth-pop wave of the early 1980s brought almost instant change to the UK pop scene. Moreover, the US success of the principal protagonists signalled the biggest ‘British Invasion’ since The Beatles and The Rolling Stones transformed American pop in the 1960s. Mixing a ...
January The Sex Pistols Get The Bullet On 6 January 1977 EMI Records terminated its contract with The Sex Pistols, saying it was unable to promote the group’s records ‘in view of the adverse publicity generated over the past two months’. The media furore over the Pistols’ TV appearance six weeks earlier had barely abated and now politicians were weighing ...
rougher-hewn home-grown acts like The Bay City Rollers and David Essex. They may have proved culturally unimportant but the intelligent, original and wholly irresistible pop of Swedish singing quartet ABBA left an indelible mark on the pop scene with a string of catchy, finely crafted tunes such as 1974’s Eurovision-winning ‘Waterloo’. The decade was seen out with acts embracing ...
Waters and Nick Mason travelled to Sweden to receive the Polar Music Prize awarded to Pink Floyd for their exceptional contribution to music. The Polar Prize had been founded by ABBA manager and lyricist Stig Anderson in 1989; previous winners include Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles and Paul McCartney. Not only was the award handed out by the King of Sweden ...
Mighty ReArranger revealed Plant to be every bit the creative force that his old musical partner was. November Polar Music Prize The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by ABBA manager Stig Anderson and named after Anderson’s own Polar Records label. Each year the winners are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy Of Music and given one million Swedish crowns ...
Computer music can be defined as music that is generated by, or composed and produced by means of, a computer. The idea that computers might have a role to play in the production of music actually goes back a lot further than one might think. As early as 1843, Lady Ada Lovelace suggested in a published article that ...
Berlioz’s characteristic ‘instrument’ was the orchestra. While makers had sought to improve different woodwind instruments, Berlioz set himself the task of advancing the orchestra as his favourite instrument. He was always keen to know about the latest developments in instrument-making and performance technique, and made last-minute changes to his Traite général d’instrumentation (‘General Treatise on Instrumentation’) in response to ...
Dancing is as old as time, and its one constant is music that you can do it to. And while not all music is designed for dancing, some revolutionary dance music has been produced since records began. Some of it is intentionally disposable, but it is surprising just how much of the dance music made in the last ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.