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 ...
Massenet delighted in the nineteenth-century penchant for the oriental more than any other operatic composer. Following Meyerbeer in L’africaine, Berlioz in Les Troyens and the little-known Ferdinand David, who plundered Eastern techniques and themes in several of his works, Massenet first began to use pastiches of oriental musical techniques by imitating the inflections of North African and Arabic ...
During the mid-1960s, America’s military action in Vietnam was escalating out of control; students around the world were becoming more politically involved, civil rights and feminism were hot issues and the burgeoning youth movement was turning onto the effects of mind-bending drugs. Accordingly, certain strains of popular music melded attitude, experimentation and a social conscience, and ...
New-wave guitarist Bernard Sumner (b. 1956) was born in Salford, Manchester. Seeing the Sex Pistols in Manchester in June 1976 inspired Sumner and Peter Hook to acquire their first instruments, guitar and bass respectively. Originally called Warsaw, later Joy Division, they recruited drummer Stephen Morris and singer Ian Curtis for their band, making some self-produced records ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1944) The smooth, sophisticated pop of the enormously successful 1976 album Silk Degrees remains William ‘Boz’ Scaggs’ best-known work. Previously a member of The Steve Miller Band, Scaggs first recorded solo in 1965, but it was his seventh album which brought him widespread acclaim and spawned three hit singles, plus a cover ...
One of the founding fathers of rock’n’roll, Charles Edward (Chuck) Berry was born in 1926 in St Louis, Missouri, to a middle-class family. His interest in the blues began in high school, where he gave his first public performance. In 1944, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to three years in an Intermediate Reformatory ...
In March 2011 the New Musical Express published a list of the Top 100 gigs that music fans ‘should have been at’. Green Day were at No. 68 and the gig in question was their famed performance at The Den in Wigan on 21 December 1991 where they not only performed tracks from their debut LP 39/Smooth and upcoming album Kerplunk ...
I’m having lunch in a Chelsea restaurant with a sprightly gent of 60-plus. His wits are quick and he’s a fabulous source of softly spoken gossip. He reflects a moment on one especially key evening in his life, early in 1963. ‘If you’re not sure who rock’n’roll belongs to,’ says Andrew Loog Oldham, ‘then it surely isn’t you ...
(Vocal group, 1976–80) One of the UK’s most important post-punk bands, Joy Division’s often bleak and claustrophobic music continues to inspire and influence. Enthused by The Sex Pistols’ legendary first Manchester gig in 1976, school friends Bernard Sumner (guitar) and Peter Hook (bass) formed Stiff Kittens, quickly renamed Warsaw. Recruiting Ian Curtis (vocals) and Steven Morris (drums), ...
Arguably the most important alternative guitarist of the 1990s, Kurt Cobain (1967–94) was born in Aberdeen, Washington. His parents divorced when he was seven, which had a traumatic effect on Cobain, tainting the remainder of his life. From an early age, he showed a keen interest in music, singing along to Beatles’ songs on the ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1971–77, 2004–present) A trailblazing quintet whose energetic, shambolic style has been an enduring influence, the New York Dolls were formed in 1971 by David Johansen (vocals) and Johnny Thunders (guitar, died 1991), adding Sylvain Sylvain (guitar), Arthur Kane (bass, died 2004) and Billy Murcia (drums, died 1972 and replaced by Jerry Nolan ...
Britpop guitarist Noel Gallagher (b. 1967) was born in Manchester, England. He began teaching himself guitar at the age of 13, later adopting Johnny Marr as his role model. His other inspirations were primarily British guitar bands: the Kinks, the Who, Slade, the Jam and the Stone Roses. After unsuccessfully auditioning for the role of lead ...
The enduring and iconic guitarist and songwriter Paul Weller (b. 1958) was born John William Weller in Woking, Surrey. He was a boyhood Beatles fanatic before discovering The Who and, through them, the mod movement. His father, who managed him for the majority of his career, bought his 12-year-old son an electric guitar for Christmas; at ...
(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 ...
If The Sex Pistols were the face of UK punk, The Clash were the soul. The band was formed in the summer of 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones (born Michael Geoffrey Jones, 26 June 1955) and bassist Paul Simonon (born 15 December 1955) after their proto-punk band, London SS, broke up. They Fought The Law They recruited ...
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