27 Club II

The last member of the 27 Club (before Winehouse) was Jim Morrisson, the singer of The Doors. Born in Melbourne, Florida, the 8th of Desember in 1943, left home when he was 19. He attended to the University of Florida and afterwards he studied cinema at the UCLA, belonging to the same generation as Francis Ford Coppola. But then he devoted to poetry when he started to do drugs like LSD or marihuana. It was said that he had a IQ of 149, but it's true that he used to read complex texts by Nietzsche or Huxley.

Then, in 1965 he casually met Ray Manzarek, a musician and when Manzarek found out his talent, he asked Morrisson to form a band with him and founded The Doors with Robby Krieger (guitarrist) and John Densmore (drums). The name of the band comes from an essay by Huxley that says: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite". 

After giving several gigs around Los Angeles, they finally released their first album in 1967, called The Doors. However, Morrisson suffered from stage fright and he even sang backwards the audience. 

His attitude was so provocative that some cities of the USA. When he was about to be brought to trial he moved to Paris, where he died. He was found dead the 3th of July in 1971. It's said that the cause of his death was a heart attack, but there're other versions like suicide, murder or overdose.

R.I.P Jim Morrisson

God bless music

27 Club I

Have you ever heard about the 27 Club? If not, the 27 Club is formed by some of the most influent musicians of history that died at the age of 27. There was a first list including Robert Johnson (regarded as the first member of the Club), Brian Jones  (guitarrist of the Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. Then a second list was formed with other people that died at the same age as Alan Wilson (Canned Heat), Mia Zapata (The Gits, who I have already talked about).

So, I wanna start with the last member of this group, Amy Winehouse (who I like soooo much).

Amy Jade Winehouse was born on the 14th of September in 1983 in London,  in a jew family who liked jazz. His first contact with music was with his father, who sang songs by Fran Sinatra all day long and so she did. She attended a few schools of theatre, when she was 13 she was given her first guitar and started to write music. A little while then, she began to work performing in some pubs of Camden Town. A friend of her, Tyler James give a demo of her to a producer and signed a contract with the discography Island/Universal with only 16 years old.

In 2003 she released her first album, Frank. She was nominated to the Mercury Music Prize and the BRIT Awards.
But she reached the top when released Back to black, in 2006. The critics she received were totally favorable and won dozens of awards, including BRIT Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and 5 Grammys.

But her career was seriously damaged when she started doing drugs.She was said to take cocaine, heroine, alcohol, cannabis...The media strongly focused on her and her addictions. She did gigs drunk, was seen smoking crack and she was hospitalized several times. She finally died on the 23 of July in 2011. She was found in her apartment in Camden, London. The reason why she died is unknown, but it's said because of the abstinence syndrome. 

Amy sang a mix of genres like jazz, soul, R&B or Ska. Her unique voice was often confused with the afroamerican style. It's a huge loss for the musical world. She was the sould diva of the moment. 

R.I.P Amy Winehouse

God bless music.

The White Couple.

Once upon a time, there was a musician called Jack Anthony Gillis (later known as Jack White) maried Meg White in 1996. He was a professional musician and she started to play the drums. So they formed The White Stripes. They began to play in the Michigan underground garage rock scene playing with other local bands. Afterwards, they signed to a small independent label, Italy Records, owned by Dave Buick. He asked them in a bar, if they would like to record a single with the label. They denied at first but then accepted. They recorded Let's shake hands, Lafayette Blues and The Big three killed my baby, all of them released on vinyl only. During the beggining of their career, they insisted on being bother and sister, but then came out that they were husband and wife. 

In 1999 they released their debut album The White Stripes with the label Sympathy For The Record Industry and in 2000 they released De Stjil (The Style in Ducth). Unfortunately, in the same year, their marriage finished. 

They reach the success with their third album White Blood Cells. The single "Fell in love with a girl" won the 2002 MTV Video Music Award.

Two years later, they released Elefant their most successful album.The fisrt album "Seven Nation Army" was their most successful. It won a Grammy for Best Rock Song. Also, Elephant won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. Meanwhile, Jack White was placed at #17 on the list of "100 Greatest Guitarrists of All Time". 

Then produced two more albums before breaking up, in 2011. 

Their music is a mix of blues rock, punk and country. Some of their influences are, Son House, The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan.

God bless music.

Seattle horses.

Carissa's Weird was a group that broke up in 2004. And this lead to the formation of a new group called Band Of Horses. It was formed by Ben Bridwell, Tim Meining, Chris Early and Mat Brooke. The label Sub Pop was pretty interested in the band, so they produced the Tour Ep. It was only sold at show and Sub Pop's website. One year later, they released their first full-length album called Everything All The Time.


It was a minor hit in Scandinavia, entering the lower reaches of the Sweden and Norway album charts. But there wasn't personality match between Meining and Early and Bridwell, so Meining and Early left the band. Everything all the time's first album was "The Funeral". It has been used in several films, television series, video games and adverts.

Before recording their first album, Bridwell wanted to relocate the band's place from Seattle to his native South Carolina. Then they toured Europe in 2007. Their second album was called Ceased To Begin. It was a hit un the USA and Denmark. 

In 2010, they released their third album Infinite Arms and toured Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.




They are a really interesting mix between indie pop and rock. They write lyrics a bit difficult to understant but with a absorbing meaning.






God bless music.

The Riot Grrrrlz

Maybe, you never heard about this band, and it's a pity 'cause they probably were one of the best punk bands ever. They belonged to a movement called Riol Grrrl. They were bands of girls that sung feminist songs, and sometimes agressive. They wanted to show that they were the same good as men were. And personally, I like more girls' rock than men's rock.

Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail formed the band. They worked together in a fanzine ( an unofficial magazine made by fans) called Bikini Kill. So they formed the band with the same name and Billy Karren joined them. They encouraged woman at they shows. Their wrote feminine-centric songs.

Tobi Vail, Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox

They released a demo cassette called Revolution Girl Style Now but their debut album was Bikini Kill EP with the indie label Kill Rock Stars. They established themselves an audience. In 1993 they made a tour in the UK and it was the subject of a documentary be Lucy Thane called It changed my life: Bikini Kill in the UK.
The Riot Grrl movement was rising, and Bikini Kill was said to lead it. They came back to the USA, they collaborated with Joan Jett and in 1996 they released Reject all the americans. These was their last album, they broke up in 1998. They started working on their own.

Bikini Kill has been an influence for many bands such as The Gossip or Jack Off Jill.

Bikini Kill rocks!


God bless music.

The savior

Let's change a little bit the music style and the age. This girl is only 23 and is known all around the world. She was born the 5th of May of 1988 and her name is Adele.

She first get interested in music when she sang a song in a school perfirmance. Then, in 2006 entered the same arts school as Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua or Kate Nash and one month later she wrote two songs and publish them in the arts school's web page and then went on tour with other musicians. In 2007 she released her first single Hometown Glory. She get so much fame in My Space, that the media focused on her, and she was contracted by an independent label, XL Racordings. With this label, she released the second single, Chasing Pavements. Her song started to sound in the radio and she won two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Feminine Pop Performance.

In total she has sold 6 million CDs.

I titled this message "The Savior" because I think that nowadays the new artists that appear are all the same and sing the same music. And they even not write their songs. It's a shame! But she has changed this streak of bad singers, she is a REAL singer has is a new soul icon. She can still save the music, so we must trust her.

Dedicated to my friend Laura:)


God bless music.

Rockin' against the world.

Zack de la Rocha and Tim Commerford met at school and they became friends because Zack taught Tim to steal food. Tim started to play the bass and Zack to play the guitar. Meanwhile, Tom Morello was learning to play the guitar too and one day he met Zack rapping in a club, and when he listened to the lyrics, he got astonished by the message. Tom already know Brad Wilk, a drumer. So they formed Rage Against The Machine. The name means "fight against the system".

Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Zack de la Rocha and Tom Commerford.

They first played at a garage, while they started to write songs. Then, they performed in several clubs around Los Ángeles. And in 1992 they got a contract with Epic Records and released their first album, Rage against the machine.

Their fame started to spread all over the USA and they were frequently on tour, but it didn't let them to know each other and work together, so they separated for a while but finally they decided to go on. In 1995 they produced the CD Evil Empire. 

Afterwards, they started to make collaborations with other bands like Bruce Springsteen, Red Hot Chilli Pepper or The Prodigy.

After the release of their third album Battle of Los Ángeles, Zack announced they he would left the band to start a solo career. However, they released a cover-album called Renegades. 

  

They did a gig to say goodbye officially and in 2000 they broke up. But 7 years after, they re-joined and nowadays they're still together.

But what makes RATM special is that they play metal rap, there's only a few known bands that play it.

And all their lyrics are controversial and critizie the capitalism, globalization and war. They have a  radical left-side ideology and they have taken part of several events against the society.

God bless music.

In the shadow of Nirvana.

25 years ago, in 1986, there was an liberal arts school called Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where four students met. Mia Zapata, Joe Spleen, Mett Dresner and Steve Moriarty formed Snivelling Little Rat Faced Gits (the name of the 21 episode of Monty Phyton's show). But then changed their name to The Gits. 

Mia Zapata, Steve Moriarty, Joe Spleen and Matt Dresner

Two years later, they produced and self-released their "unofficial" album called Private Lubs. These recording didn't see a widespread release until 1996 when they re-released the album as Kings and Queens.

When they finished school, they moved to Seattle, in1989 to find new oportunities.

Once there, they made lots of friends and earned a following. In1990 they released their first official released, the Precious Blood single. It was quickly followed by two more singles Second Skin and Spear & Magic Helmet, as well as Bobbing For Pavement in 1991. 

From that time, they were considered one of Seattle's best punk rock bands. They produced two albums more Frenching the Bully and Enter: The Conquering Chicken. 

But on the night of July 7, 1993, the group's charismatic singer and songwriter Mia Zapata was brutally raped and murdered while walking home from a bar. 

Seattle Police Department investigated very hard and at the end found out that a fisher man called Jesus Mezquia was de murderer and was convicted for 36 years.

Well it's a pity that Mia died, because she owned a amazing voice (compared sometimes with Janis Joplin).

I hope that with this message, I make you know this great band because they were eclipsed by Nirvana, as they both were from Seattle.

R.I.P Mia Zapata.

God bless music.

Stones with squishy heart.

In Massachussets, USA, Gary Cherone and the drumer Paul Geary were in a band, The Dream, while the guitarrist Nuno Bettencourt and the bassist Pat Badger were in another, Sinful.  These two band met one day, and Gary asked Nuno, without even listening to him, to join them. He accepted and Gary, Nuno, Paul and Pat formed Extreme.

Gary and Nuno started to write lots of songs and when they had  aproximately 55, the director of the label A&R contracted them and produced their first album Extreme in 1989. Their first single was Kid Ego.

Their success was enough to produce their second CD, Extreme II: Pornografitti in 1990. There was when they reached the top with songs like Get the funk out, Hole Hearted and of course the balad More than words.

When they released their third CD, III Sides To Every Story, people expected another balad like More than words, but the band denied to because they were searching for a new sound. The sells weren't good despite that album was their best.

In 1994, Paul Geary left the band and Mike Mangini replaced him and released their forth CD, Waiting for the Punchline. The sells were bad as ever due to the aparition of a new genre, grunge, leaded for Kurt Cobain's Nirvana. The new album sounded a little like them, so fans turn their back upon them and this brought to their friendly break up.
However, in 2004, their re-joined again and released one more album, Saudades del Rock.


God bless music.

Not the English one.

From left to right: John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Tylor.

In 1970, a  British band called Smile broke up. Among the members, there were Brian May and Roger Tylor and when they met Faroukh Bulsara (better known as Freddie Mercury) they decided to work together and formed Queen. Then the bassist John Deacon joined them.

In 1973 they publish their first CD, named Queen. In 22 years they released 15 albums. Some of the most popular singles by Queen are I want to brak free, I want it all, Somebody to love...(There are many more but I can't write all of them.). But it was in 1988 when Mercury deciced to sang with Montserrat Caballé due to the Olympic games in Barcelona in 1992, when rumors about Mercury having AIDS grew up. The media started to attack Freddie and the band. Finally, Freddie Mercury died the 24th of November in 1991, when she was 45. This was a huge pain for the music world because it had lost one of the most powerful voices in the world (he could sing three and a half octaves).

Queen has been the most popular band in the 80s and their music has been listened always and their songs are known for people of all ages. Even if you don't know them, their song will sound familiar to you.

Now let's play music.

The girl who didn't give a damn about her reputation.

52 years ago, a girl was born in Philadelphia, Pensylvania. She was named Joan Marie Lankin. Afterwards, she moved to Wheaton, village in Maryland and there, when she was only 15, she formed the group The Runaways with Sandy West, Lita Ford, Jackie Fox and Cherie Currie. They recorded 5 LP's. They were really famous around the world except in the USA surprisingly, because they weren't used to a all-girl-formed band in that time. Because of Currie and Fox left the band, they disjoined in 1979 with 5 albums in their back.

From left to right: Lita Ford, Jackie Fox,  Cherie Currie, Sandy West and Joan Jett.

But Joan didn't have enough. She started her solo carrer in England. There she met Kenny Laguna, who took her to fame. She is the first woman that created her own music label. In 1980 she formed The Blackhearts.

Some fo their most famous singles are: I Love Rock & Roll, I Hate Myself For Loving You, Crimson and Clover, Bad Reputation.


Well, it's clear that Joan Jett has shaken the world with her guitar (she's one of the only two women named to be one of the best guitar players of all times). She's an inspiration for many people.

Finally, I show you one of her songs for you to enjoy.

God bless music.

Welcome

Well, given that the society has allowed some linnets to enter to the sacred world of music, I feel copelled to give out my knowdlege about music. So, from now on, I'll write about the greatest bands and musicians of all times.

So, hit it!