(Vocal/instrumental group, 1975–present) The seemingly indestructible Lemmy Kilmister (vocals, bass) was a former member of Hawkwind, and a vicar’s son. Motörhead are named after a Hawkwind song he penned. The line-up settled in the late 1970s with ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke (guitar) and Phil ‘Filthy Animal’ Taylor (drums). The title track of 1980’s Ace Of Spades was a UK ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1980–present) Vince Neil (vocals), Mick Mars (guitar), Nikki Sixx (bass) and Tommy Lee (drums) became the world’s most notorious heavy metal band, as much for their off-record excesses as for their music. They released their crude but effective glam metal debut Too Fast For Love in 1981. Over the years, they became technically more adept, ...
The term ‘heavy metal’ came from the controversial US Beat Movement novel, Naked Lunch, in which the author, William Burroughs, talked about ‘heavy metal thunder’. This phrase was used in Steppenwolf’s 1968 single ‘Born To Be Wild’, and helped christen an emerging sub-genre of hard rock. The origins of heavy metal are heard in the hard rock ...
In our heads we can all imagine a noise called punk rock. It’s nasty, brutish and short. It’s played on cheap guitars at high speed. In fact it’s possibly played on cheap speed. The songs are basic to the point of wilful stupidity. If they have any message, it will probably be negative. The general effect will not be ...
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 ...
This was a decade when the impact of dance culture on rock and vice versa sometimes led to exciting results: it opened with ‘Thriller’ and closed with the Madchester scene of Happy Mondays. Punk had subsided to become the less threatening new wave movement, which, along with the new romantics, dominated the early days of the decade. As ...
(Guitar, piano, vocals, 1935–96) The self-proclaimed ‘Gangster Of Love’, Watson learned piano from his father in Houston, Texas but became known for his terse, stinging guitar, which influenced Frank Zappa and has been sampled by rappers. Etta James patterned her early singing after Watson’s declarative vocals, best immortalized along with his wicked instrumental prowess ...
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...
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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.