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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1978–93, 2009–present) To the surprise of many, Johnny Rotten reinvented himself after The Sex Pistols as John Lydon. He enlisted Keith Levene (guitar, drums), Jah Wobble (b. John Wardle, bass) and a variety of other transient contributors. The punky thunder of PiL stormed the UK Top 10 and a good self-titled debut album followed ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Rap group, 1982–present) Although Public Enemy began trading pioneering hip hop in the late 1980s the resonance of their music and message of black empowerment resonated through the entire 1990s. Chuck D, Hank Shocklee, Flavor Flav and the informational Professor Griff delivered seminal third and fourth albums Fear Of A Black Planet (1990) and Apocalypse 91 … The ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Alternative-rock guitarist Dave Navarro (b. 1967) was born in Santa Monica, California. After hearing Jimi Hendrix, Navarro began playing guitar at the age of seven and was in various bands in school. In 1986, he joined Jane’s Addiction on the recommendation of drummer Stephen Perkins, a childhood friend. Inspired by The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

The most innovative, mercurial and controversial black rock star since Jimi Hendrix, Prince is also one of the most mysterious. He was born Prince Rogers Nelson, 7 June 1958. His father was the leader of a local jazz band, his mother was a singer. He formed his first band at 14 and signed a self-production deal with ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Guitar, b. 1960) After learning many of his chops from Joe Satriani, New Yorker Vai became Frank Zappa’s ‘stunt guitarist’ on his albums between 1981 and 1986. He was also a hired axe for John Lydon’s PiL, Dave Lee Roth and Whitesnake. His own work shows a compositional maturity. Rather than just ‘shredding’ on Passion And Warfare (1990), ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Although they existed for just over two years and released only two albums, The Sex Pistols had more impact on the British music scene than any band since the 1960s. To the public they represented the face of punk. The Sex Pistols came together in London in 1975 under the aegis of Malcolm McLaren (born 22 January 1946) who was ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Perverse as it may seem, Europe is an important centre for world music. All the prerequisites exist: large populations in a small area, transport, proximity to other continents, affluent consumers, communications … As rural migrants moved to urban areas and immigrants arrived, Europeans were leaving for the New World (making New York the best place ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

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 ...

Source: Punk: The Brutal Truth, by Hugh Fielder and Mike Gent

Krautrock, which emanated from West Germany during the late-1960s, fused The Velvet Underground’s white noise experiments and Pink Floyd’s psychedelic rock with the free-form jazz aesthetic and funk-based rhythms. Avoiding the dull virtuosity of progressive rock and the sanitised R&B pop of the late-1960s, Krautrock’s grand vision of reinventing the rock guitar as well as exploring the untapped possibilities ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

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 ...

Source: Punk: The Brutal Truth, by Hugh Fielder and Mike Gent

January The Sex Pistols Head South At the beginning of January 1978 The Sex Pistols flew out to Atlanta, Georgia, for a series of dates in the American South. It all unravelled at Randy’s Rodeo in San Antonio on 8 January in front of 2,000 rowdy Texans: Sid Vicious was suffering from heroin withdrawal and behaving aggressively; Rotten’s ...

Source: Punk: The Brutal Truth, by Hugh Fielder and Mike Gent

The Enlightenment was a natural, if late, consequence of the sixteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation. Also known as the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment advanced to be recognized in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and brought with it new, controversial beliefs that upended the absolutisms on which European society had long been based. Absolute monarchy, ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Contemporary music whose ancestry lies in the Western classical tradition finds itself in a curious position. Nothing illustrates this better than the fact that we are not entirely sure what to call it. The label ‘classical’ seems anachronistic, especially when applied to composers who have challenged some of the fundamental assumptions of the classical tradition. ‘Concert music’ is similarly problematic ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, opera was established in some form in most major European centres. The basic types of serious and comic opera in both Italian and French traditions shared similarities, although the content and style of an operatic entertainment could vary according to whether it was intended to flatter a private patron, resound with ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

There is no escaping the crucial importance of World War I (1914–18) in the formation of the Modern Age (as the first half of the twentieth century has come to be known). The war changed irrevocably the development and directions of almost all pre-war innovations in politics, society, the arts and ideas in general. Declining economic conditions also altered ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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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.

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