Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck was an experimental guitarist born in 1944 in Surry England.  He was first noticed when he joined the Yardbirds in 1965 replacing Eric Clapton.  Most of Jeff Beck recorded output has been instrumental with genres spanning blues, heavy rock and jazz-rock.

Jeff Beck's was a rebellious character and was sacked after a year and he embarked on a solo career.  Jeff Beck's first hit was "Hi Ho Silver Lining" in 1967 on which he actually sang.  He released the albums "Truth" and "Beckola" and established himself as one of the major performers.  The Jeff Beck Groups first lineup included Rod Stewart and Ron Wood but there were personal problems and they left to form the Faces.  Jeff Beck was reputed to be a perfectionist with a quick temper being taken out on the equipment.

In 1975 after various misaps Jeff Beck formed a power-house trio with Tim Bogert and Carmine Apprice and recorded a couple of albums of which one was released.

In 1975 Jeff Beck release the album "Blow by Blow" which was a mixture of jazz-rcok, funk and soul and it was a massive commercial success.  Jeff Beck had evolved as a guitarist and moved further into the Jazz-rock territory.  "Wired" was released next influenced by the keyboard and synthesizer skill of Jan Hammer Group.  This record was very much into jazz rock

In the 1980's Jeff Beck release 3 highly rated albums

• "There and Back" in 1981 with Jan Hammer again
• "Flash" which had a hit "people get ready"
  
  
• "Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas" for which he received a Grammy award

Jeff Beck was often a session musician on other peoples records showing the level of respect he commanded.  For example Stevie Wonder's "Talking Book" and Mick Jaggers album "She's the boss"

Hey Joe

Hey Joe is probably a traditional American song but the first known copyright of it was by an song writer called Billy Roberts from South Carolina in 1962.  The inspiration for Hey Joe possibly came from 3 sources:

• Billy Robert's girlfriend sand a song called "baby, please don't go to town" which uses similar chord progression
• Carl Smiths country hit "hey joe" in 1953 which has the same question and answer format
• The folk song "little Sadie" which tells the same story as Hey joe.  Little Sadie has been sung under many titles and by many artists

Hey Joe tells the story of a man fleeing to Mexico after shooting his wife whilst under the influence of drink and drugs.

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand 

Hey Joe, I said where you goin' with that gun in your hand 

I'm going down to shoot my old lady 

You know, I've caught her messin' around with another man 

I'm going down to shoot my old lady 

You know, I've caught her messin' around with another man 

And that ain't too cool 

Hey Joe, I've heard you shot your woman down, 

shot her down, now 

I said I've heard you shot your old lady down, 

You shot her down to the ground 

Yes I did, I shot her 

You know, I caught her messin' round, messin' round town 

Yes I did, I shot her 

You know, I caught my old lady messin' around town 

And I gave her the gun 

I SHOT HER! 

Hey Joe, alright 

Shoot her one more time, baby 

Hey Joe, said now 

Where you gonna run to now? 

Where you gonna run to? 

Hey Joe, I said where you gonna run to now? 

Where you, where you gonna go? 

Well, dig it 

I'm goin' way down south, 

Way down to Mexico way 

Alright! 

I'm goin' way down south, 

Way down where I can be free 

Ain't no one gonna find me 

Ain't no hangman gonna, 

He ain't gonna put a rope around me 

You better believe it right now 

I gotta go now 

Hey Joe, you better run on down 

Good by everybody 

Hey Joe, uhh 

Run on down 

It was a hit in the mid 1960 with various  rock bands  including

• The Leaves who reached number 40 in the Billborad charts, 
• The Music Machine whose version was slow and fuzzy and probably influenced the Jimi Hendrix version 
• The Standwells 
• The Byrds. 

• Tim Rose

Hey Joe was the first hit single for Jimi Hendrix in 1966 after Chas Chandler of the animals saw Tim Rose performing the slower version  in New York.  The song became the making of Jimi Hendrix

The song has been recorded many times after by artists including :

• Deep Purple
• Frank Zappa released a version of the song called "Flower Punk"
• Patti Smith
• The Who sometimes played a version of the song
• Soft Cell in 1983 on 
• Body Count and Eddy Murphy  in 1993
• Robert Plant in 2002
• Guitar Shorty in 2006 (Jimi Hendrix brother-in-law)

The Jimi Hendrix version of Hey Joe has also been played in the movies including

• Forest Gump
• Waynes World 2

 

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was a singer songwriter and inspired guitarist born in 1942.  He is one of the most influencial electric guitarist across a wide range of music genres.  One of Jimi Hendrixes favourite singers was Elvis Presley.

His father was in the army in world war II but after his honarable discharge he could not find full time work and so Jimi Hendrix's youth was impoverished.  His mother died from alchol when Jimi Hendrix was 15 and around this time Jimy Hendrix bought his first acoustic guitar which he taught himself to play.  The following year his father bought him his first electric guitar, a white Supro Osark and he learnt most of  stage moves from local bands.  Jimi Hendrix started playing in local bands such as The Velvetones and Rocking Kings and when his guitarr got stolen after a show it was replaceed with a white Silvertone Danelectro.  He painted this red and wrote "Betty Jean" on it after a girlfriend.

Jimi Hendrix enrolled in the army in 1961 because he got in trouble for riding in stolen cars.  He did not like the army and did not show much apptitude for it and was discharged after serving 1 year of a 2 year stint.  He did meet Billy Cox, a bassist there and they formed a lasting friendship and performed many times together.

After the army Jimi Hendrix and Billy Cox moved to Clarksville, Tennessee and started to make a living from music.  It has here that Hendrix learnt to play with his teeth because it was a very common trick in Tennessee.  The band then moved to Nashville, the home of rhythm and blues and called themselves "King Casuals".  For the next couple of year Jimi Hendrix toured the south playing to mainly black audiences and the audiences were very demanding which meant Hendrix refined his style.  He also performed in various soul and R&B groups on backing vocals.

In 1964 Jimi Hendrix decided it was time to tackle New York and he moved to Harlem and started going out with Lithofayne Pridgeon (Faye) who had many connections in the music industry. Eventually Jimi Hendrix was offered a guitarist position with the Isley Brothers backup band.  His first studio recording was with the Isley Brothers on "Testify" which did not reach the charts.  He toured for a while with the Isley Brothers but soon grew bored and left.  He was now calling himselft Maurice James and he began recording with Little Richard and he was later to say "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."  He flitted around from band to band including Buddy and Stacy, Ike and Tina Turner, Curtis Knight, Joey Dee and the Starliters.  In 1965 he signed a 3 year deal with Ed Chalpin receiving 1% of royalties and this caused alot of problems later on in his career with royalties.

Jimi Hendrix played and toured with various R&B, jazz and rockabilly acts until in 1966 he was introduced to Chas Chandler who liked the song "Hey Joe"  and thought Jimi Hendrix's version could be a hit.  The Jimi Hendrix Experiance was formed and his popularity started to spread throughout London.  His showmanship made him popular with Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and Jeff Beck.  His first hit was with "Hey Joe"  which  is an American traditional or folk song made into a rock anthem by various groups.  He made the song quite slow and added a female backing group.  Jimi Hendrix songs were often build around the 7#9 chord and this sound contributes to the dirty and raw sound of many of Jimi Hendrix's songs.  The earliest recording of this sound is in the Isley Brothers song "testify".  By 1967 he had had top 10 hits with Purple Haze and "The Wind Cries Mary" and Jimi Hendrix was catapulted into the limelight.

What caught peoples attention most was his flash guitar playing which had an arsenal of devices including wah-wah pedals, buzzing feedback solos, distorted riffs and lightening scales.  Jimi Hendrix wrote his own songs and sang them with passion.

Jimi Hendrix's only albums were "Are you Experienced", "Axis: Bold as Love", "Electric Ladybird"

Jimi Hendrix pioneered the studio as a recording instrument by manipulating electronics and devising overdub techniques.  His influence on rock, popular and funk music is immense as he took a sonically heavy but technically perfect guitar sound to a whole new level.

He is ranked at number 3 in the VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock behind Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

Jimi Hendrix died on the 18th September 1970 from an overdose of sleeping tablets.  He is one of the 27 Club whose members are iconic rock stars from the 1960's who died at 27 from drug related deaths.  Other members are Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses was form in LA in 1985 by the merger of two bands name Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns.  Their style of music is a mixture of punk, rock and blues and one of the main influences is Hanoi Rocks
The current members were:

• Axl Rose - vocals
• Slash - lead guitar
• Duff Mckagan - bass
• Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar
• Steven Adler -drums

Some of the members were replaced and the band came to consist of:

• Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano 
• Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, synthesizer 
• Tommy Stinson – bass guitar, backing vocals 
• Chris Pitman – keyboards, programming, backing vocals 
• Richard Fortus – rhythm & lead guitars, backing vocals
• Frank Ferrer – drums
• Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal – lead & rhythm guitars 
• DJ Ashba – lead & rhythm guitars

The band started out on the club scene and release an EP called Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide which has become a collectors piece.

The bands first major album was Appetite for Destruction in 1987 with Welcome to the Jungle as the first single.  The song did not do well initially but Geffen Records founder persuaded MTV to play it after hours.  Rock fans soon started requesting it and the band initially became popular in Japan.  Welcome to the Jungle was played in the Clint Eastwood Film, The Dead Pool.

The second single Sweet child of mine was written as a poem for Axl Roses girlfriend was a smash hit in 1988.


Guns N' Roses performed at Monsters of Rock, Donnington along with Iron Maiden and Kiss and despite Axl Roses plea for calm two members of the crowd were trampled to death.  This and some of the band members drink problems lead the band to be labelled dangerous.


The band released G N' R lies in 1988 which had conversational songs on namely One in a Million:

Guess I needed

Sometime to get away 

I needed some peace of mind 

Some peace of mind that'll stay 

So I thumbed it 

Down to sixth and L.A.

Maybe your greyhound 

Could be my way 

Police and niggers

That's right 

Get out of my way

Don't need to buy none of your 

Goldchains today 

I don't need no bracelets 

Clamped in front of my back 

Just need my ticket till then 

Won't you cut me some slack 

Chorus: 

You're one in a million 

Yeah, that's what you are 

You're one in a million, babe 

You are a shooting star 

Maybe someday we'll see you 

Before you make us cry 

You know we tried to reach you 

But you were much to high 

Much to high 

Much to high 

Much to high 

Immigrants and faggots 

They make no sense to me 

They come to our country 

And think they'll do as they please

Like start some mini Iran 

Or spread some fucking disease

They talk so many goddamn ways 

It's all greek to me 

Well some say I'm lazy 

And others say that's just me

Some say I'm crazy 

I guess I'll always be 

But it's been such a long time

Since I knew right from wrong 

It's all the means to an end, I,

I keep on movin' along

Chorus

Radicals and racists

Don't point your finger at me

I'm a small town white boy

Just tryin' to make ends meet

Don't need your religion

Don't watch that much TV 

Just makin' my livin', baby,

Well that's enough for me 

Axl denied this saying the song was from a protagonist point of view and that Slash was half black.  He said he admired bands like Body Count and Queen.


The band nearly disbanded because of the drug problems of Slash Adler but they returned to the studio to record the Use your Illusions albums.  Adler was replace by Matt Sorum from the Cult and Dizzy Reed joined the band on keyboards.  When the albums released the debuted at 1 and 2 and stayed there for over 100 weeks.  The band made very expensive videos with November Rain and Estranged.  The music on these albums evolved to keyboard and horn sections in the songs.  They then started on the longest tour in rock history of 28 weeks which had incidents of riots, late arrivals and rants by Axl who was very outspoken against critics and rivals.









The punk and rock album "Spaghetti incident" was released in 1993 which featured some contraversal songs which were thought to be pro Charles Mason.


The band then was in turmoil but finally after nearly 15 years whilst they recorded Chinese Democracy.  Before its release most of the songs were leaked and available for download for intervals before they were removed from the sites.   Chinese Democracy was not as elaborate as the Use your Illusions albums but nevertheless it still has keyboards and horns in some of the songs.


The band has attracted much controversy during there time but they were also highly spoken of by other musicians and the music industry

AC/DC

AC/DC are an Australia band which was formed in 1973 by Angus and Malcolm Young.  The brothers were originally from Glasgow in the UK but they moved to Sydney, Australia.

The current band members are:

• Brian Johnson – lead vocals 
• Angus Young – lead guitar 
• Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Cliff Williams – bass, backing vocals 
• Phil Rudd – drums, percussion 

The bands name is an electrical term and the band felt it symbolized their raw energy.  They are one of the biggest influences on heavy metal but they have always called themselves rock & roll  They started out with Bon Scott as the vocalist and he help promote the band in Australia by getting them on the national rock radio station and thus being signed by record label.  Bon Scott died in 1980 from alcohol and was replace by Brian Johnson

In 1975 the first album High Voltage was recorded.  The music was written by Malcolm and Angus and the lyrics were done by Bon Scott.  The album took 10 days to record.  The next album was T.N.T.  Both these albums were only released in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1976 the band toured internationally and supported bands like Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Kiss.

In 1976 the first international album was released called High Voltage which was a compilations of their first two albums in Australia and it gained them a strong following
The next album was Dirty deeds done cheap and this was released in Australia and internationally but not in the USA until 1981
In 1977 Let there be rock was released followed by Powerage in 1978. There was a new bassist, Cliff Williams and the sound was much harder riffs.  Successful songs were Rock n' Roll Damnation, Highway to Hell and Whole lotta Rosie. A live album called If you want blood you got it was released

See AC/DC on youTube

AC/DC were a defining influence on British bands like Iron Maiden and Saxon

Highway to Hell was released in 1979 and was the first AC/DC album to break into the top 100 in the USA. The vocals are more rock based with emphasis on backing vocals.  AC/DC's sound started to form as simple, loud with backbeats.

AC/DC began to work on Back in Black in 1980 but Bon Scott died from alcohol in the middle of recording this album.  He was replaced by Brian Johnson on a past recommend from Bon Scott.  Bon Scott thought Brian Johnson sounded like Little Richard, one of Scott's heroes.  Brian Johnson sang on the album which became a rock landmark with such songs as Back in Black, Hells Bells and You shook me all night long.  It became one of the highest selling albums in the world.

In 1981 For those about to Rock was released and included songs For those about to Rock, Lets get it up.

The band was suffering internal quarrelling when the released Flick of the Switch.  This album was considered under produced and not very remember-able

The band returned to commercial success with the albums Blow up your Video and The Razors Edge.  The songs included Are you Ready, Moneytalks, Heatseeker and Thunderstruck

There was another album 'Live' recorder in 1992 which was one of the best live albums of the 90's.  They headlined the Monster's of Rock festival this year which was featured on DVD as Live at Donnington.
They recorded the soundtrack for the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero entitled which became the bands first number 1 in the US mainstream rock singles charts.

The band continued to release albums, Ballbreaker, a boxset with 4 albums , Stiff upper lip, AC/DC remastered and a DVD plug me in.  They also release a video game called Rock Band 2.

The band has gained international recognition and has even had a street named after them in Madrid and MelbourneThe band entered the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 2003.

Black ice was released in 2008 and it was the bands first studio album in 15 years.  It went straight in at number 1 in 29 countries.  With over 6.5 million copies of Black Ice sold worldwide and over 5.5 million catalog sales, AC/DC have replaced The Beatles as the #1 selling catalog artist in the US for 2008.
Rock Band stores have been created in New York and LA and they were the top entertainment earners in Australia

AC/DC are 3rd in record sales behind The Beatles and Pink Floyd

Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath formed in 1968 in the UK.  The original memebers were

Ozzy Osbourne - vocals
Tony Iommi - guitar
Geezer Butler - bass guitar
Bill Ward - drums

They were originally called Earth but as they became more influenced by the Occult they changed their name to Black Sabbath.  They have also sung about political and social issues like war.  They were a contrast to the bands of the time which were influenced by folk and the hippie movement.  Geezer Butler noticed that people spent money to watch horror movies so they decided to make the musical equivalent of scary movies.

The bands first commercial exposure came with the album 'Black Sabbath' in 1970.  The album was criticized as discordant jams because it was a new sound but it sold widely.

The next album was paranoid and has the strong anti-war song, 'war pigs'.  This song is a protest of the Vietnam war.  The song Paranoid was completed in less than 30 minutes as a filler song for the album.  The album reached  number 12 in the US charts with virtually no airplay.  Its sound was criticized widely but it is recognised today as a defining influence of  the sound of heavy metal today.



The third album was 'Master of Reality'.  This album had "Children of the Grave" and "Sweet leaf" on

The band was heavily into drugs by now and took a break for a few years before recording Black Sabbath volume 4.  The album was originally entitled 'Snowblind' after the song which deals with cocaine abuse.
'Tomorrows dream' was released as a single.

'Sabbath bloody Sabbath' was the first album to receive favourable reviews.  The writing was done in the dungeons Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean which is said to have helped with creativity.  The band bought in synthesiser and string sounds on this album making it more compex.
In April 1974 the band played to an audience of 200,000 along with Deep Purple and others at the California Jam Festival and parts of the show were shown on ABC TV.

Sabotage was release in 1975 and it moved away from the technical sound of Sabbath bloody Sabbath back towards the sound of Paranoid.  The album sold 2 million copies in the USA.

Technical Ecstasy was released in 1976 and included more synthesizer sound from Gerry Woodruffe who played keyboard.  The album was more an up-tempo rock album.  The album included the song "Dirty Woman"

In 1977 Ozzy Osbourene quit the band because he found the last albums depressing and he was just doing it for the money now but had a change of heart and they recorded "Never say Die".  The band was struggling with alcohol and drugs and the band look tired.  The band decided to fire Ozzy in 1979 and he was replaced by Ronnie James Dio

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 and were from London, England with their origin in the Yardbirds.  The members of the band were:


Robert Plant - vocals
Jimmy Page - guitar
John Bonham - drums
John Paul Jones - Bass guitar, mandolin and keyboard


They are one of the best selling music artists of all time.  The band did not have any political or social message like some of bands but they became one of the biggest audience bands.

They had a heavy guitar bluesy sound and are sited as the start of the heavy rock sound.  They liked to produce concept albums more than singles.  The band did not like to do television appearances say that the fans had a better experience if they heard and saw them at live concerts.


There first album was called Led Zeppelin. The album's blend of blues, folk and eastern influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the creation of  heavy rock music.  It is reputed the album took 36 hours to record and cost £1750.  It grossed £7000000 by 1975.
Led Zeppelin toured America and England extensively during their first year and their concerts lasted around 4 hours
Led Zeppelin III was recorded in Wales and was a more acoustic album strongly influenced by folk and Celtic music


Led Zeppelin II was recorded on the road at various North American studios and was an even greater success.  Immigrant song was released as a single off the album against the bands wishes.


In the 1970 the band started to wear extravagant costumes on stage and lead a rock and roll life style having their own private jet.  They had wild hotel parties and were reported as throwing TV sets out of windows.  They were banned from the Tokyo Hilton for life.





Led Zeppelin IV was released with no name or indication who the band was because the band did not want to be hyped or labeled.  The album was a mixture of blues, rock and acoustic sounds.  The album was one of the best selling albums in history and included the classic track "stairway to heaven".  Robert Plant said it was a cynical song about a lady wanting her own way all the time and not giving anything back.


House of the Holy was the next album and was banned in some religious countries because of the nude children on the front.  However the album topped the charts.


The band expanded into other areas and formed their own record label called swan song.  They used the label to promote their own songs and also signed up other bands including Bad Company.


The band launched a double album on their own label called 'Physical Graffiti' which was an enormous success.  They went on tour to sell out audiences.  They were now one of the biggest bands in the world along with Rolling Stones and The Who.


Robert Plant and his wife had a car accident in 1975 which forced the band to take a break and it was during this period that the created 'Presence'.  This album received a mixed response as the music was move guitar based jams an not acoustic ballads.


In 1976 the band concentrated on the concert film 'The song remains the same' which again received a luke warn response.  The band was in tax exile from the UK and they had an uphill battle with the fans.


In 1977 Led Zeppelin went on a record sell out tour of North America.  The concert at Pontiac Silverdome on 30 April entered the Guinness book of records for the largest crowd of  76,229.  This tour was however marked by gatecrashers and riots.  On July 30 Plants 5 year old son died of a stomach virus and the tour was cancelled.

The band recoverd 'Through the out door' in 1978 and the complete catalog of Led Zeppelins entered the Billboard Top 200 in October and November.  John Bonham started to show signs of excess alcohol and drugs and on the 24 September 1980 he died.  The band decided not to continue without John Bonham and disbanded on the 4 December 1980.  The statement they issued said


'We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were'
This was signed Led Zeppelin