only managed one US hit, 1983’s ‘Our House’, but inspired the American ska-punkers of the 1990s. 1979’s One Step Beyond was a cornerstone of the ska revival, but Madness soon developed a broader pop-oriented sensibility. An influence on the likes of Blur and Supergrass, their use of videos was trailblazing. Highlights include ‘Embarrassment’ (1979), ‘House Of Fun’ (1982) ...
Orlando portrays the destructive insanity of its title-hero, who ignores his destiny by pursuing the love of the unkind Angelica rather than glory in war. The climax of this madness, at the end of Act II, was brilliantly conveyed by Handel’s use of eccentric time signatures within striking accompanied recitatives, paradoxically followed by the lyrical yet slightly ...
With the exception of Judas Priest, no metal band has been more influential than Iron Maiden. And it is no coincidence that Maiden first took flight when guitarist Adrian Smith joined the band one month into recording their second album, Killers, in 1981. Adrian Frederik ‘H’ Smith was born in Hackney, East London, in February 1957. ...
1567–1643, Italian Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was born in Cremona and began his illustrious career as a choirboy in the town’s cathedral. By the time he was 20, he had already published the first of his eventual nine books of secular madrigals. He was also a skilled composer of motets. Monteverdi’s horizons expanded in 1591 when he joined the ...
crashed to a close that day and the next decade would evolve a pop culture underscored by glamour, decadence, anger and fatigue. The Stones were innocent of the madness that swirled around them, but their music was already, and brilliantly, incorporating a brutal knowledge that no other act, with the possible exception of Dylan, ...
for the influential journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik he hailed Brahms as ‘the chosen one … destined to give the highest expression to the times’. In February 1854, Schumann’s madness, suicide attempt and subsequent incarceration in an asylum left Brahms without a patron, yet he chivalrously assumed the role of protector of Clara Schumann (1819–96) and her numerous ...
and Tropical Brainstorm (2000), and had developed an interest in Latin music when she was tragically killed in a holiday accident. Styles & Forms | Eighties | Rock Personalities | Madness | Eighties | Rock ...
removed by a technical rule change. World-wide sales of Dark Side Of The Moon are now over 30 million and rising. Wish You Were Here (1975) explored similar themes of madness and alienation. The 26-minute ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ that book-ended the album was a tribute to Barrett. In between there was the acerbic ‘Welcome To The Machine’, the cynical ...
with Phil Lesh And Friends, and then with the other remaining members, now performing as The Dead. In 1993, Haynes’ first solo album, Tales Of Ordinary Madness, was produced by former Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell. In 2003 and 2004 respectively, Haynes released two solo acoustic works, The Lone EP and Live From Bonnaroo. ...
licensing deal with the major label Chrysalis, a name change to the catchier The Specials and an almost instantaneous skinhead/mod revival among Britain’s punk-and disco-fatigued youth. Tales Of Everyday Madness By the end of 1979, 2-Tone had released Top 10 singles by all the main players in the 2-Tone wave. North London septet Madness’s ‘The Prince’ was, like ...
cleverly mixed its roots in London’s ‘pub rock’ live scene with punk’s eccentricity to introduce a number of unique alternative pop icons, including Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, Madness and The Pogues. But their key discovery was Declan McManus, an Irish-Liverpudlian from a musical family who changed his name to Elvis Costello and blended angry-young-man aggression with extraordinarily ...
This enduring British cult dance scene takes its name from the post-mod discos in the north-west of England where it developed, rather than the geographical location of the music-makers. Legendary disco venues like Manchester’s Twisted Wheel, Blackpool’s Mecca and The Wigan Casino, are still spoken about in reverential tones by soul and dance connoisseurs. The reason northern soul ...
on the pop scene on both sides of the Atlantic. Beyond 10cc and The Police are the British 2-Tone bands – The Selector, The Specials, The Beat and Madness – all punkified ska revivalists, while in the US ska bands like Bim Skala Bim, Dancehall Crashers and The Toasters have taken 2-Tone as their model, removing ...
, although satirical horror-rockers Alice Cooper and Kiss forged a more overtly theatrical connection. As the 1970s moved on, Scotland’s Bay City Rollers took glam’s three-minute anthems and sartorial madness (feather cuts and tartan flares, in this case) into the early boy-band genre, causing hysteria among teenage girls on both sides of the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Freddie Mercury’s ...
Ska represents the birth of modern popular Jamaican music, and it does so with the accent on ‘Jamaican’. While this raucous, uptempo, good-times music may have had its roots in American big-band jazz and R&B, it was conceived as a celebration of Jamaican independence. Ska is the link between the virtuoso playing of Kingston’s sophisticated nightclub musicians ...
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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.