A.A. RockBlog

A couple months ago I wrote a post where I  compared U2 to the Fab Four . However, U2's early music (roughly the first three albums) is interesting in and of itself as the band ws still in the process of developing their own style.  This photograph is UK cover of New Year's Day . The figure pictured is Peter Rowen, Bono's friend and neighbor growing up. Released as the lead single from their third LP, 1983's War , the song was a top 10 hit in several European countries such as the UK (In fact it was their first single issued there), and a top 20 hit in a handful of others. Sadly in the US, the highest the song charted was at #53 on the Bilboard Hot 100. It just missed the top 40 in Canada, and in U2's motherland, Ireland, it reached the highest coming in at number 2.gh It was originally concieved as a long song... Bono wrote the song in the form of a love song for his wife, but that is not the actual meaning of the song and it is not a de facto love song.

In the world of rock, there have been numerous artists who have made and released signature albums. Being Jethro Tull's Aqualung , the Fab Four's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band  and Abbey Road , and Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon  and The Wall . But on the topic of the Fab Four, there is a former Beatle who, with his then newfound band Wings, released an album that literally resolidified his career. Take a look at the photo, it is the cover of Wings' third record Band on The Run . The album was the best selling album in the UK in 1974 and is really oe of Macca's most regonized work outside the Beatles. It was made in Africa... Lagos, Nigeria to be exact. Tired of recording in the UK, Macca decided to do the unthinkable - make an album in Nigeria. The saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," fits perfectly here as McCartney envisioned Lagos as being a calm place where they could tan on the beaches in the daytime and r

We can never have a complete discussion of rock without bringing up a few of rock's notable women. Blondie's Debborah "Debbie" Harry is one of the most significant. Before all else, what's in the name? Many fans thought that the name Blondie was simply a name Stein and Harry coined together in 1974, but the truth is that the name from freight truck drivers who discovered her and started saying "Hey, Blonde!" every time they saw her. After a slow start the band achieved international attention with their third LP, Parallel Lines (1978, pictured below). The album became known for its string of singles including the worldwide number 1 hit, Heart of Glass . The album's title is the title of a discarded song written by Harry, but that song, nor the whole album, is not the subject of this post... One Way or Another The fourth and final single from the record, the song's subject was long questioned. However, in an Entertainment Weekly inter

This year, all three members of ZZ Top turned 70 (the Reverend Willie G turning 70 just last week, Dusty Hill in May, and Frank Beard in June), as well as being their 50th anniversary. The band was known for its blues rock style and lyrics full of double entendres and innuendos. They have a big history: What became ZZ Top started out in Houston in 1969 as the Moving Sidewalks formed by Billy Gibbons and bass player/multi instrumentalist Greg Lainer. The band was short-lived and issued one single. By early 1970, the Gibbons split the Moving Sidewalks and recruited two members of American Blues fame, bass player Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. Before I go on, it is interesting to say that Frank Beard, even today, is the ONLY member without a beard and with (reasonably) short hair. Take a look at the photo below. Their 1971 debut, ZZ Top's First Album , issued on the US Branch of Decca Records, London Records, was highly unnoticed. Their follow-up reord was 197

We've covered many Yugo Rock concepts so far in this blog from the  New Primitives Movement , to  punk , to even a few  covers of English songs . But regarding the latter, there's more... While the aforementioned covers are part of the English-Balkan rock connection, borrowed riffs also play a big part. Let's compare a few shall we? Bijelo Dugme We can't dig deep into Ex-Yu rock without bringing up  one of the greatest bands . While one of their early songs, Blues za Moju Bivshu Dragu  ("Blues for the my Former Dear), their other early hit Ove chu Nochi Nachi Blues  )  "Tonight I Will Find The Blues" is a better example. Its riff is borrowed from Cream's  "Born Under a Bad Sign"  Just listen to the two and you will see what I mean. But that wasn't all Brega borrowed. He borrowed the opening guitar chord from Yes Roundabout and ELP's From the Beginning for the title track for their second album - Shta bi dao da si na mom Mj

With the holiday season upon us all, there are a number of Christmas songs recorded by popular rock artists. Let's take a look at a few of those. Lennon and McCartney: While the Fab Four never recorded a Christmas tune collectively, let alone a Christmas "album," it is without a doubt, that John Lennon's 1971 smash hit, Happy Xmas (War is Over) and Macca's 1979 hit Wonderful Christmastime  have become classic holiday staples not to mention covered multiple times. Lennon composed Happy Xmas while at an NYC extended stay with Yoko Ono and the song features the Harlem Community Choir on backing vocals and the children's choir. The song was also deemed a protest against the Vietnem War and built on the success of Lennon's signature post-Beatles song, Imagine some months earlier. McCartney recorded Wonderful Christmastime in late 1979 after the Back to the Egg , the Wings' final record, sessions playing all the instruments. Regarding the other &quo

It's often times easy to say "never say never" when it comes to getting the band back together, but believe it or not, that's exactly what happened! Nikki Sixx and company are taking to the stage in the summer of 2020 with Def Leppard and Poison. This coming nearly six years after the band retired from touring in early 2014. The picture below shows Mötley Crüe at a show during their last years of touring. This particular picture is from a concert in 2012. They breached their contract As stated above, Sixx and company announced their retirement from touring at the beginning of 2014. While they did record some new music in 2018, they did not tour. However, fans began clammering for a comeback tour, and so of course the Crüe had no choice but to follow through. Did I say it's also not the first time that they toured with Poison and Def Leppard. Much earlier in the decade the bands crossed paths. Back in 2011, Mötley Crüe toured with Poison in the Glam-o-Gadd

There are many legends in pop culture that have left marks on people and so deserved to be labelled as so. Rock icons are perhaps the most remembered for their customes, styles, and lyrics; however, there is someone who is often referred amongst rock legends (more below). The photo shown above is of Timothy Leary. He was born Timothy Francis Leary on October 22, 1920 in Springfield, Mass. The one thing is most remembered for is his varied experminatation with psychadelic drugs such as LSD. Leary is known for his experinents conducted at Harvard in the early 60s. The experiments backfired, however, as Leary encouraged students to take psychadelics to be able to part-take in the experiments.  During this time, phrases like "tune in, tune out, drop out," were also coined. The experiments lead to Leary's (as well as his partner, Ram Dass's, nee Richard Alpert) in May of 1963. It was only two years later that the experiments got national attention. Leary & LSD

Truth be told, rock artists from the 50s and beyond have had some influence on pop culture in one way or another. The most artistic form of rock, progressive rock, also known as prog rock, is rather intriguing subgenres of rock. What makes it the most intriguing? Well the sheer fact that a lot of the soundtracks on early video games made in Japan, tend to take their influence from this very prog rock such as the one below. What is this "prog rock" anyway? I've hit on prog rock in several blogs already, but in short, it's practicaly a mindset allow one to be a bit more artistic. Features of prog rock songs and bands are great lengths (multi-part suites even), use of electronics (synthesizers, melotrons, etc. - although piano and organ do also get used particularly the latter), and did I mention the ever changing time signatures? Which games were influenced? Generally, I feel as though the biggest series to be influenced, is the Legend of Zelda series. I've

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has always played an important role in hosting and promoting rock artists of the day. They did it through airplay and live performances by artists from both sides of the Atlantic; however, while the BBC played many songs, there were some songs they played differently, or in some cases refused to play. The Kinks Lola This has got to be the biggest one folks. This 1971 smash hit by The Kinks (essentially about meeting a transgeder in a club) is most remembered for its opening verse: "I met her at a club down in Old Soho where you drink champagne and the taste is like Coca-Cola." In this line, "Coca-Cola," or "Coke" is often associated by the Brits with cocaine. As such, the BBC played an alternate version replacing "Coca-Cola" with "Cherry-Cola." Even here in the US, there are many classic rock stations that play the song like that and the Kinks have used "Cherry-Cola" in their liv

In a post from a few days ago, I wrote about  Supertramp's memorable Paris show  at the Pavillion de Paris. Well, lo and behold, the Pavillion de Paris (the Paris Pavillion for my non-French readers), was host to more than just Supertramp. What's the story? Until the Pavillion de Paris opened its doors in September of 1975, it was a slaughterhouse and meat packing factory. The Pavillion was built to attract more reiging musicians of the day to take their tours in France and to provide another indoor arena in Paris as the only knwon spot in the city at the time was the Palais de Sports de Paris (The Paris Sports Palace). Below you can see the stage view. As you can see, it is circular. The Pavillion de Paris had a seating capacity of 10,000. Not Just Supertramp: Yes, Supertramp were a notable performer at the Pavillion, but they were not the ONLY performer. Many other rock bands of the day performed there and many live albums were fully, or partially made there. The mo