(Vocal/instrumental group, 1978–86) This controversial bunch of San Franciscans were one of the truly great punk bands. Debut 1979 single ‘California Uber Alles’ set the template, with Jello Biafra (Eric Boucher) trashing the American dream, voice quavering with menace; East Bay Ray Glasser’s guitar, Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall)’s bass and Bruce Slesinger’s drums in thunderous support. Debut ...
Rock’s most famous and celebrated hippie band, known more for its anything-goes, drug-hazed concerts and legions of ‘Deadhead’ fans than for its body of studio work, The Grateful Dead grew out of a union between singer-songwriter/lead guitarist Jerry Garcia (1942–95), songwriter/rhythm guitarist Bob Weir (born 16 October 1947) and keyboardist/singer Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan (1946–73). They were to become ...
Grunge guitarist Kim Thayil (b. 1960) was born in Seattle, Washington. He was inspired to play guitar by Kiss, subsequently backtracking to the music which inspired them – The New York Dolls, MC5, The Stooges and The Velvet Underground. He bought his first guitar, a Guild S-100, which he would use throughout his career, ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1976–present) This influential UK post-punk outfit, led by wild-haired Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) with Lol Tolhurst (drums) and Michael Dempsey (bass), debuted in 1978 on the Albert Camus-inspired ‘Killing An Arab’, followed by debut album Three Imaginary Boys (1979). Simon Gallup (bass, keyboards) replaced Dempsey and the tone got even darker with Seventeen Seconds (1980), ...
Like the majority of their British counterparts, the original American punks had been making music for years before they began to receive acknowledgement in late-1975. In common with the Brits once again, the biggest problem was that nobody had a clue what to call it. Drawing their wild, high-energy style from such Detroit-based rock acts of the late-1960s ...
Punk was pronounced dead on many occasions, as early as 1977 when The Clash signed to CBS and when The Sex Pistols split up the following year. By 1979 there was a consensus that, although the original impetus had died down, a thriving post-punk environment had arisen. Liverpool spawned the new psychedelia of Echo & The Bunnymen and ...
January Ian Dury’s Rhythm Stick Hits No.1 An unlikely punk, Ian Dury was 35 when his first solo single, the anthemic ‘Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll’, was released. A childhood polio victim, Dury had previously led pub rockers Kilburn & The High Roads. The album New Boots And Panties made him an equally unlikely star ...
February Producer Upheaval As producer and friend, Rob Cavallo had been pivotal in Dookie, Insomnia and Nimrod but the band thought change might stimulate their next album and turned to Scott Litt who had been crucial in delivering R.E.M.’s finest work. Litt saw the band perform their first acoustic-only set at Neil Young’s Bridge Street fundraiser ...
The Pistols On Film Polish-American director Lech Kowalski based his punk documentary, D.O.A: A Rite of Passage, around The Sex Pistols’ American 1978 tour, which ended in the band’s dissolution. Footage from the tour was intercut with live performances by other British punk bands, Generation X, The Dead Boys, Rich Kids, X-Ray ...
Spring The Green Day Family Grows Billie Joe and Adrienne discovered the morning after their wedding – 3 July 1994 – that she was pregnant and their first child, Joseph, was born in February 1995. A second son, Joshua, was born in September 1998. Tre Cool’s daughter was born in January 1995 and he married Lisea Lyons ...
February Talking Heads’ ‘Once In A Lifetime’ With its African-inspired rhythm conflicting with the rhythm played by the band, ‘Once In A Lifetime’ made for an unlikely hit single for Talking Heads. Although it failed to dent the American chart, the song made more impact in Britain where it reached No. 14. Much of its success was due to ...
Though art music since the war tended more often to define itself in opposition to rock and commercial pop music, signs of mutual regard were already emerging in the 1960s. While it is Stockhausen’s face that stands out from the crowd on the front cover of the Beatles’ 1967 album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, it was Berio ...
The government-enforced isolation of Native Americans in the United States has fostered cultural independence, in contrast to the marked musical acculturation between the Hispanic-speaking and Amerindian societies in South America. But in modern times, North American groups have tended to set aside tribal differences and seek a pan-tribal cultural unity. The ‘Ghost Dance’, a religious cult led by Jack ...
Gamelan is an orchestral tradition in Java and Bali, where every instrument – various gongs and drums – is a member of the percussion family. The tradition emphasizes respect for the instruments and cooperation between the players. In 1887, the Paris Conservatoire acquired a gamelan. In 1889, Debussy went to the Paris Exhibition, where he heard the ...
Keyboard percussion instruments include the western xylophone, marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel, the log xylophones and marimbas of Africa and Central America, and the barred instruments played in the Indonesian gamelan. The orchestral xylophone, marimba and glockenspiel have thin wooden or metal rectangular bars laid out like a chromatic piano keyboard. The back row of bars – ...
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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...
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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.