(Vocal/instrumental group, 1994–present) Limp Bizkit – Fred Durst (vocals), Mike Smith (guitar), DJ Lethal (turntables), Sam Rivers (bass) and John Otto (drums) – are something of a global phenomenon, and the benchmark against which all nu metal and rapcore bands are judged. Since their earliest recordings, their fusion of the direct vocal delivery of rap with the sledgehammer ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1993–present) Californians Korn – often typeset with the ‘r’ reversed, Jonathon Houseman Davis (vocals), Reginald Arvizu (bass), David Silveria (drums) and James Shaffer (guitar) – are part of the nu metal school of rock, although their music is often more horror-themed and straight-edge rock than the genre they supposedly spawned. Their eponymous 1994 debut is often ...
(Vocals, b. 1982) Lil Wayne, real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., earned the title of one of the hardest-working stars in the US during the Noughties. He collaborated with a who’s-who of hip hop artists from Eminem to Usher, while still releasing five studio albums during the decade. The New Orleans native secured a US No. 1 ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1993–present) Stars of the nu metal era at the turn of the century, Californians Papa Roach – Jacoby Shaddix (vocals), Jerry Horton (guitar), Tobin Esperance (bass) and David Buckner (drums) – had to wait until Infest (2000) to break through, alongside the likes of Limp Bizkit. 2002’s lovehatetragedy saw increased sales, but by 2003’s Getting ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1995–present) Iowa-based metallers Slipknot – Corey Taylor (vocals), James Root (guitar), Nathan Jordison (drums), Sean Crahan, Chris Fehn (both percussion), Sid Wilson (DJ), Mick Thompson (guitar), Paul Gray (bass) and Craig Jones (samples) – are literally unrecognizable. When playing or posing for photographs, this nu metal band (very much in the vein of bands like Limp ...
Once hip hop had expanded beyond apparently using the hook lines from Chic’s ‘Good Times’ as the basis for just about everything, it quickly became as diverse as any other black music genre. Its evolution in recording studios took it way beyond the scope of conventional instruments. Can’t play piano like Herbie Hancock or bass like Bootsy ? So what ...
The breakbeat is, literally, the percussion-only segment of a funk or disco track, where the dancers would cut loose. Finding that this was often the segment they most wanted to play, disco DJs would cut between two copies of the same record to create a funky drummer mélange. In the mid-1970s, too, Kool Herc invented ...
As the genre’s name so boldly implies, timing and image were both of critical importance to the realm of nu metal. In pure musical terms there was little to unite the scene’s leading exponents, save for the radical detuning of their instruments and a desire to distance themselves from such old-school hard rock favourites as Iron Maiden and Metallica. ...
The impact of rap on the rock market was everywhere to be seen in the first years of the new millennium. White artists, black artists and rock bands attempting to incorporate the style made this area the biggest musical melting pot since the 1950s. The means by which music was accessed switched from CD to downloading from the internet, ...
‘The Marriage of Figaro’ The librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote that Le nozze di Figaro offered ‘a new kind of spectacle … to a public of such assured taste and refined understanding’, and it would be fair to say that after Figaro’s premiere on 1 May 1786, opera buffa was never quite the same again. There were precedents, of ...
One of rock’n’roll’s most influential guitarists, Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota in 1938. Eddie wanted to join the school band as a drummer, but opted for trombone when he was told that he would have to learn piano before being allowed to play drums. When advised that he didn’t have the ‘lip’ for trombone ...
(A-rek’ Sa-te’) 1866–1925 French composer For a long time regarded as a mere joker because of his apparently absurd and flippant titles – ‘Genuine Limp Preludes (For a Dog)’, ‘Bureaucratic Sonatina’ – Satie is now regarded as a major figure in his own right, as well as an influence both on his contemporaries Debussy and Ravel and on many more ...
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 ...
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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.