(Vocal group, 1977–80) A rabble-rousing punk group from Hersham, Surrey, led by the garrulous singer Jimmy Pursey with Dave Parsons (guitar), Dave Treganna (bass) and Rick Goldstein (drums). The terrace-chant choruses and suburban lyrics of singles like ‘If The Kids Are United’ and ‘Hurry Up Harry’ made Sham 69 popular but attracted a thuggish right-wing element to their ...
The end of The Beatles was a complex, messy affair, not surprisingly for a band that for the previous five years had been the biggest group in the world and encouraged to believe that they were divine. The blame for their demise was cast in many directions: Yoko Ono’s presence in the studio destroyed the Lennon and McCartney songwriting ...
January The Let It Be Sessions After inconclusive discussions about playing a concert, The Beatles agreed instead to film rehearsals for a ‘back-to-basics’ album, with Michael Lindsay-Hogg who had directed their singles’ promos. But the tensions that had dogged The White Album quickly resurfaced and the atmosphere was as cold as the sound stage at the Twickenham Film Studios. ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2004–present) In every way a vehicle for ex-Libertine Pete Doherty (vocals), Babyshambles – Adam Ficek (drums) and Drew McConnell (bass) – continually teeter on the edge of greatness but more often than not fail dismally, often as a result of their singer’s criminal misdemeanours. A shame, as debut Down In Albion (2005) had some fine moments ...
January Rolling Stone Slates Led Zeppelin Despite great radio airplay, the US print media were lukewarm towards Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut. In an advance review, Rolling Stone magazine regarded Led Zeppelin as little more than ‘an excellent guitarist … a competent rhythm section and a pretty soul belter who can do a good spade imitation’. Perhaps most galling for ...
If Pink Floyd had disbanded in the wake of Syd Barrett’s mental unravelling, they would be remembered today alongside Tomorrow and July as cult bands thrown up by the psychedelic era, releasing one fantastic album and a clutch of singles before fading from the light. With Dave Gilmour on guitar, however, A Saucerful Of Secrets revealed a ...
April The Massed Gadgets Of Auximenes Concert Floyd’s fascination with the quality of sound reproduction saw them invest money in equipment. At the Games For May concert in 1966 they pioneered a rudimentary quadraphonic sound with speakers placed at the back of the concert hall. By early 1969 they had a system constructed called ‘The Azimuth co-ordinator’, which received its own ...
June Brian Jones And Mick Taylor On a hot summer’s night, Mick, Keith and Charlie drove to Brian’s recently purchased Cotchford Farm home and sacked him from the band. For years he’d been letting his paranoia, ego and drug addictions get the better of him, to the point where he barely played in the studio and wasn’t ...
Tommy proved to be The Who’s salvation. Whilst it did not make an immediate impact, subsequent performances – including headline slots at the Woodstock and Isle Of Wight festivals – catapulted the group into superstardom. They rewrote the rule book when it came to live shows, and raised the rock bar so high that few could follow. The intended ...
March ‘Pinball Wizard’ After all the talk about Tommy, the first recording, ‘Pinball Wizard’, was released on 7 March 1969 in the UK. Reaching No. 4 in the charts, it failed to topple Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?’. In the US, the single was released in a picture-cover sleeve that stated ‘from the ...
Punk rock is about attitude more than music. It’s not about how well you can play, it’s about how well you can communicate. Its roots go back to the beginning of rock’n’roll in the 1950s. The rebellious spirit of MC5 and The Stooges in the 1960s helped to define the punk attitude, while Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed and ...
February MC5 Kick Out The Jams Often credited as the first intentionally punk band, MC5’s live debut album detonated in 1969. Forming at their Michigan High School, singer Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson were mentored by political activist John Sinclair of The White Panthers. They were ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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.