A.A. RockBlog

  Four decades ago today, we lost an important figure in the rock scene, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham. Bonham died as a result of heavy consumption of alcohol ripe at the age of 32. So much to live for Born on May 31, 1948 in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, Bonham took a vested interest in music at five years old when he began to drum using containers and tin coffee cans as a drum kit. Bonhams idols of the day were Max Roach, Gene Krupa, and Buddy Rich - all jazz drummers. His mother got him a snare drum for his tenth birthday, and his father got him his first real drum kit, a Premier Percussion kit, at fifteen.  While a student attending Lodge Farm Modern Seondary School (now Tudor Grange Academy), Bonham's headmaster often said that Bonham would become either a dustman or a millionaire. At sixteen, Bonham joined his father as a carpenter apprentice, and on his days off, drummed for local bands. Also in 1964, Bonham joined Terry Webb and the Spiders who had a single with She&

  Exactly fifty years ago today, Black Sabbath released their second album, Paranoid , which despite rogue ciritical reaction, is considered to be one of the albums that contributed to the birth of heavy metal. They wasted no time At the beginning of summer 1970, Sabbath's original lineup - singer Ozzy Osboure, guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, and bass player Geezer Butler, hooked back up with producer Roger Bain in an attempt to build on the success of their self-titled debut released earlier in the year.  The album was to be issued under the working title of War Pigs , after the opening track which was critical of the Vietnam war, but Warner Bros. insisted on changing it last minute to the follow-up track title, possibly to avoid suggestions of violence. Interestingly folks, the US version did not drop until early 1971, as Black Sabbath , released four months before they started working on Paranoid , was still on the charts. Bad critics, good album Like their debut, Paran

  Heartland Rock has become a very important rock subgenre. The genre eschews electronics popular in the 80s, and focuses mainly on the issues of the American heartland. It also draws influences from previous decades, noteably the 60s. Artists in this category have included Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., and John Mellencamp, who is the subject of this blog. Here are some interesting facts about Mellencamp. His middle name IS NOT Cougar. In fact, his middle INITIAL is J. After being a struggling musician in the mid 70s, pitching his music along the East Coast, Mellencamp met up with Tony DeFries, leader at MusicMan management, who insisted that Mellencamp's last name would be hard to market (it's of German descent, FYI). As such, Mellencamp's 1976 debut LP, Chestnut Street Incident , was credited to Johnny Cougar. Despite DeFries' well meaning, the LP only sold just over 10,000 copies. By the mid 80s, Mellencamp added his surname for his music to be issued under t

 Many riffs in rock were created to be vaired, mostly taken from classical pieces, most noteably Beethoven's 5th Symphony. However, aside from noted riffs, there is a popular chord progression, often played arpeggiated, that has been varied and laid down the foundation for some of rock's finest tunes. Am-C-D-F-E Why is this sequence so special? Well, for me at least, it tends to convey a special emotion behind the song. Considering the songs the most popular songs it appeared in, it really helps to create a surrounding that lets you know, at an instant, that the song is about a matter that is going to be hard to take. Let's look at some examples. Animals - The House of The Rising Sun This old time blues track was a massive hit for Eric Burdon and company in 1965. Built on a "looping" sequence of Am-C-D-F-Am-E-Am-E, the song tells of one's struggle in the house, and as I've blogged before, its lyrics have been varied.  Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leav

  After making it big in the 1970s, Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull found themselves at a massive loss. Bass player John Glascock died in 1979 during the promotional tour for their previous LP, 1979's Stormwatch , which led to drummer Barrimore Barlow quitting Tull. At that point Anderson elected to make his solo debut, which resulted in Terry Ellis, manager at Chrysilis Records, firing keyboardists John Evan and David Palmer after ten and five years respectively. But it didn't become a solo album... What was to be Anderson's solo debut was cleverly titled A  - for Anderson, as was written on the tapes;  however, due to a dip in profit, Chrysilis Records approached Anderson and requested that A be released as Tull's thirteenth studio album, which reluctantly, it was. Compared to work in the 70s,  A featured a whole new lineup, and a whole new sound. The only long-timer in the band beside Anderson, was guitarist Martin Barre. Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention fame, who assis