Blogcritics

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Sunday Morning Playlist: Tribute to Los Angeles - The Top 25 Songs About L.A.

uao — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:33:32 EDT

Some cities inspire songs. New York City has always been lyric material. Boston, Detroit, Dallas, New Orleans, San Francisco, Memphis, Chicago; they've all inspired a lot of music in many different genres of music.None, however, seem to capture the imagination of songwriters like Los Angeles. Perhaps it's because so many aspiring songwriters spend time in L.A. Maybe it's because of the city itself; a city of contradictions, as city that's both very self-reflective and in love with its own artifice.Today, Sunday Morning Playlist does something a little different. Rather than explore another musical genre, we'll go on a little social anthropology excursion, and see what clues about the City of Angels we can divine from the last fifty years of popular music.25 great songs about Los Angeles (there are many more) include:1. X: Los Angeles X were integral to the L.A. punk scene in the early 80's. Their 1980 debut, Los Angeles, was produced by Ray Manzerak of the Doors in a sort of generational torch passing. However, aside from a cover of "Soul Kitchen" on the debut, there wasn't much in their music that resembled the Doors beyond a palpable sense of chaos and dread. Song titles like "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline" and "The Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not" pretty much tell the story of the band's early outlook, which was nihilistic and somewhat disturbed. Over the years, they'd add more psychobilly and roots rock influence to their music, but on "Los Angeles" they are a full tilt punk band, whose dual vocals from Exene Cervenka and John Doe gave them a sonic texture more resonant than many of their competitors. "Los Angeles" is portrait of the city as frightening place, where people are driven mad and the days turn to nights, they change in an instant...2. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band: Hollywood Nights This was Seger's message to the faithful back home in Michigan. Sure, he may have gone Hollywood, but he was still a simple old midwestern boy at heart. The 1980 album Stranger In Town marked the end of his mega-platinum peak, although he'd ride momentum through the first half of the 1980's to notch a few more hits before the fade set in. Like spiritual cousin Bruce Springsteen, Seger took a lot of flack for abandoning his root constituency by moving west, although one can hardly blame him. "Hollywood Nights" paints L.A. (or L.A. women) as corrupter of innocents who are razzledazzled by the view of the lights from the hills. It's cliched as a B-actress' memoirs, but Seger manages to convey enough working-class sweat to make the tale believable. Still a radio staple to this day.3. Arlo Guthrie: Coming Into Los Angeles Arlo Guthrie, son of Woodie, sang "Coming Into Los Angeles" at Woodstock, and enjoyed a few years of modest sales and even a couple of hits in the late 60's-early 70's. "Coming Into Los Angeles" portrays Los Angeles as destination point for smuggled drugs; his almost naive "Don't touch my bags if you please, mister customs man" portrays a world no longer existent in the post 9-11 age; who is going to smuggle in a couple of keys (with which he rhymes 'Angeles') in their carry on these days? Still, Los Angeles continues to love its drugs, and they've got to be coming from somewhere. So while "Coming Into Los Angeles" may be hippie relic, its sentiments still are serviceable today. A studio version of the song appears on Guthrie's 1969 album Running Down The Road, but it's the Woodstock version he's most well-known for.4. The Doors: L.A. Woman For many, the Doors were the quintessential Los Angeles band, formed in Venice, full of theater, cinematic songs, melodrama, booze and drugs, and a muddleheaded peace ethic. Long after the band was derided by the rock intelligentsia as "overrated" at best, and ridiculous at worst, Los Angeles has always had a special place in its heart for them. So it makes sense that in 1971, the band would dedicate an album to the city that embraced them. The title cut, "L.A. Woman" captures all anyone needs to know about the Doors in 2071; except for the bass player they hired especially for the sessions, all the typical Doors moves are present; long keyboard parts, convoluted poetry, a wildeyed earnest romanticism coupled with a vaguely sleazy worldview, and a hummability despite itself. The album continued a comeback of sorts that had begun with Morrison Motel in 1970, but Morrison wouldn't live to see his love letter to Los Angeles become a perennial; L.A. Woman was completed weeks before his death. Morrison's message: cops in cars, topless bars, never saw a woman so alone...5. Mamas and the Papas: 12:30 (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon) The Mamas and Papas, transplanted from the East Coast, had already established their West Coast credentials with "California Dreamin'", which mentions L.A., their first hit. However, their biggest L.A. specific hit was "12:30 (Young Girls are Coming to the Canyon)" a 1967 Summer of Love hit that took the dreamin' into actual migration; it's a lush harmony number that conjures up images of flower girls all looking like Michelle Phillips, traipsing through Topanga with love in their hearts and smiles on their faces in contrast to "dark and dirty" New York City, which gets dissed big time by these DC-area folkies. Californians who complain about the massive youth influx in the 60's, which helped ruin L.A. and S.F. when they were overrun, can lay a lot of blame at the Mamas and Papas' doorstep; they romanticized L.A. in "Calfirnia Dreamin'" and "12:30", and John Phillips wrote "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)" which misled thousands of naive kids. That said, "12:30" is still an awfully pretty track, a distorted snapshot of one summer in L.A. history that will never be repeated.6. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under The Bridge Los Angeles was in a bad way in 1992. It had become one of the most violent cities in the nation, with drive-by shootings running amok, racial tensions that erupted in the Rodney King riots, a deterioration of city services. "Under the Bridge", a memoir of Anthony Keidis' heroin days was almost touching at the time in the love it expressed for the city, which was as humiliated and degraded as any junkie. It paints a portrait of the city as omnipresent companion, who sees good deeds and by implication, bad ones too. Even the most alienated find some comfort in the existence of the city, and see it on their own terms, as it witnesses the life each carves out without judgment. You're on your own here, but you're never alone even when you're alone. As a veteran junkie journeyman band, little known outside of L.A. until "Under the Bridge" broke them in a huge way, these sentiments, which are not unlike Jim Morrison's romanticism of "L.A. Woman" in some respects, come easily and honestly. They'd revisit L.A. as theme many times, including on their 1999 album Californication.7. Randy Newman: I Love L.A. Can't leave this off the list. A wiseguy take on L.A. from wiseguy singer/songwriter Newman, who used to make the "artist most likely to get punched in the nose" lists regularly in the late 70's and early 80's. Smug, rich, with lots of movie connections, Newman is a particularly Angeleno sort of wiseguy, and Angelenos still generally love him for it, even if his shtick has long ago stopped charming people east of the 110 Freeway. "I Love L.A." appeared on his 1982 album Trouble in Paradise and remained the city anthem through the 1980's, especially during 1984, when L.A. hosted the Summer Olympics. "I Love L.A." cranks up the smugness to cartoon levels and takes the requisite swipe at New York and Chicago as it draws a picture of street after street under gloriously sunny skies, "Looks like another perfect day; I love L.A.", while noting the beauty of L.A. women as well as the bum on his knees. Smug sure; but despite its overboard irony, it actually does a good job of taking a thumbnail sketch of 1980's Los Angeles.8. Sheryl Crow: All I Wanna Do Sheryl Crow's woozy 1993 debut smash "All I Wanna Do" did a good job of capturing the hungover, morning-after L.A. of the post-riot 90's; while on the surface it appears to be a party song, and it is, it is an oddly non-joyous sounding one. Instead, it's jaded and cooler-than-thou. Yet it also conveys a rally-the-troops sense of let's shake off this malaise, which was an appreciated enough sentiment in 1993 that the song became something of a rallying cry despite (or because of) its laid-back, still-drinking-at-sunrise sentiment. Crow herself was already a veteran of the L.A. music scene by the time she got to record her debut; this adds a patina of believability to the song. She never did really revisit the oddball viewpoint she expressed on this song; her later work has been much more conventional. But this remains an L.A. favorite to this day.9. Guns 'n' Roses: Paradise City I could just as easily mention the notorious "One In A Million" here, which is as much about L.A. as the Michael Douglas flick Falling Down, expressing the same xenophobic pre-riot mindset: can't these lousy foreigners go back to Africa, or Mexico, or China, or wherever they come from? In truth, "One In A Million" as abhorrent is it is, is probably a more accurate portrayal of L.A. than "Paradise City", which could only have been written by the biggest hair band on Sunset Strip. Essentially the message here is: I love the babes in L.A., can't wait to get off the road, where the babes aren't as hot. Guns 'n' Roses, of course, never capitalized on what seemed certain to become an enormous level of stardom; after more than a decade of inaction interrupted only by fuck-ups, Chinese Democracy has yet to see the light of day. Posers since day one, G 'n' R will always be remembered for their Sunset Strip heroics in the 1980's, but Angelenos seemed to have moved on.10. U2: Desire (Hollywood Remix) U2 debuted "Where the Streets Have No Name" by playing on a downtown L.A. rooftop without a permit and were busted just like the Beatles were when they tried it in London. The band had spent the better part of the year touring America, developing a romantic fondness for and sociologist's curiosity about the desert ("Joshua Tree") and points west. For their next album, Rattle and Hum from 1988, "Desire" was chosen as a single, and a special "Hollywood Remix" accompanied it. A relic of L.A.'s violent late 80's, it opens with the sound of either a car alarm or a siren, followed by news reports of a Hollywood shooting, and sounds of gunfire, and a sampled snippet labeling it "Voodoo Economics", a buzzword from the '88 election. While the song in its original form doesn't mention L.A. specifically, its themes of drugs, guns, and reckless ambition resonated perfectly with the then-current metropolitan milieu. Hollywood now has undergone a remarkable and successful facelift and gentrification; the shoot 'em up Hollywood of 1988 that this single reflects is largely swept clean.11. 10,000 Maniacs: City of Angels Earnest and concerned 80's college radio favorites 10,000 Maniacs confront the obvious contradictions between the "Paradise" image so often invoked (see Guns 'n' Roses, the Eagles, Randy Newman) and the largest homeless population in the United States, largely centered around 6th Street (where Axl growled at the foreigners in "One In A Million, and Randy Newman loves in "I Love L.A.") The song is a lush romantic waltz with lilting chorus and delicate touches throughout as befits a city of angels, while Natalie Merchant supplies one of her loveliest vocals; the lyrics, a little on the goody-goody side and offering nothing but a tsk tsk about the situation, basically say "Hey I expected paradise, and all I got were these homeless, what's up with that?" As it wasn't a single, it never really makes lists such as this one, but it makes a valid point about 1987 Los Angeles that still hasn't been fixed nearly 20 years later.12. Frank Sinatra: L.A. Is My Lady "L.A. Is My Lady" was Sinatra's attempt to cash in on Olympic fever in 1984, and perhaps come up with a classic along the lines of "New York, New York". Sinatra was 69 at the time, and sounds decrepit; it and the album that shares its title would be the last serious recordings of his career. The results aren't pretty; Quincy Jones' vaguely discofied synthetic-jazz production job doesn't suit Sinatra at all, and despite a nice showbizzy finale, Sinatra's vocal just doesn't muster enough energy to make it a worthwhile anthem. The single tanked, and aside from Duets I & II in 1990, Sinatra was done. Its sentiments are nice though; it's another personalization of the city itself (see L.A. Woman, Under the Bridge) but from the viewpoint of a lifelong winner. That view: L.A. never lets me down; no other place like it.13. Missing Persons: Walking In L.A. While Missing Persons ("Words", "Destination Unknown"), an early 80's new wave unit with a decidedly space-age campiness to it, aren't well remembered by the world at large, "Walking in L.A." will always be on the L.A. song pantheon. Things have changed a lot since 1983, when this song peaked at #70 nationally. Now L.A. has a new (small, inadequate) subway system, and has become a much denser city, so you do see people walking in places they didn't walk 23 years ago. But for the most part, the song still holds true; while the verses that end "nobody walks in L.A." aren't entirely true anymore, the last verse that says "only a nobody walks in L.A." is probably still accurate. The song also namedrops a couple of local landmarks, which no longer exist. One thing that always set L.A. apart from other major urban areas was its long blocks of deserted sidewalks and slow, dense traffic. The sidewalks see a little action now, but the traffic is slower and denser.14. Tom Petty: Free Fallin' And let us not forget the frequently forgotten San Fernando Valley, the butt of many a joke south of the Hollywood Hills, mile after mile of stripmalls and surburban tract housing; often ridiculed as the most boring place on earth. While most of the Valley is part of the city of Los Angeles (having lost a referendum to leave the city in 2002), it might as well be on Mars; in 1989, when "Free Fallin'" was released, it was still a mostly working-to-middle class suburb that was remarkably self contained, in much the same way Long Island is to New York City. Petty's take is a little goofy in places "the bad boys are standing in the shadows, and the good girls are home with broken hearts", but he does a good job of morphing the notions of "free and free falling". The ultimate message? "I'm kind of a jerk for leaving that nice girl from Reseda"15. Patti Smith: Redondo Beach Redondo Beach is one of the more sleazier beach areas in the South Bay area, or at least it was in 1975, when New York-based Smith included this odd little reggae on her debut album, Horses. A tale of either murder or suicide, with a protagonist who is or isn't a lesbian, "Redondo Beach" doesn't capture much about the place itself except in the most nebulous sense; it has always been a place with its fair share of loser and drifter types, and occasionally has had to sensational murder. It gets the nod simply because so few New Yorkers bother to acknowledge L.A. beyond stereotypes, let alone bother to learn the names of its outlying communities. Plus a reggae by a New Yorker about Redondo ought to appeal to the typically eclectic Los Angeleno's palette.16. Frank Zappa: Valley Girl Back to the Valley again, this time for the song that put the Valley on the map, so to speak, Frank Zappa's 1981 hit "Valley Girl". While Zappa and his band provide some meaty guitar and laconic vocals, the star of the show is really Zappa's 13-year old daughter, Valley native Moon Unit, who essentially goes through a rundown of idiomatic Valley English as a primer of sorts for the nation at large. "Gag me with a spoon" has been part of the lexicon ever since. Plus we get "totally bitchin'", "Barf me out", "like, oh my god" and much much more. The song is mainly Moon's monologue, with Frank supplying angular guitar and general noise. It was requested constantly in L.A. when it was new; whether or not you need to hear it now depends on whether you're from the Valley and/or you are a Zappa fan. 17. The Eagles: The Last Resort "Hotel California" from the same album would have been a more obvious choice, but I've always been more partial to the stately weeper "The Last Resort" which closes the Hotel California album, from 1976. In many respects, Hotel California is a concept album about L.A., or at least a thematically unified album with L.A. as its focus; "New Kid In Town" and "Life In The Fast Lane" are L.A.-centric sentiments, even if not explicitly about the city. "The Last Resort" mourns the loss of the mythical El Dorado-esque Los Angeles, offering up the poignant adage "Call some place paradise, you can kiss it goodbye". The essential message is "too many people are coming here, and it's starting to suck". Thirty years later, you still hear the same refrain, although most of the newcomers aren't suckered into believing they're coming to paradise anymore.18. The Kinks: Celluloid Heroes From the Kinks' early 70's show-biz phase, when their albums were mini-operas, "Celluloid Heroes" is an admirably self contained ode to Hollyood legends long passed, as seen as stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The song itself is a soft ballad, full of wistfulness and nostalgia, with a particularly mellow lead guitar solo; the lyrics name drop everyone from Rudoph Valentino to Bela Lugosi to Betty Grable. It's a lovely song, with one of Ray Davies' most tender vocals; and it is a fittingly kitschy tribute to a kitschy landmark. Sentimental as a black and white movie, but that's the point. It's also one of the Kinks' best cuts from their largely disparaged 70's output. The studio version contains an extra verse left out on the version that appears on the 1980 live album One For The Road, which more people are familiar with.19. Tupac Shakur: To Live and Die in L.A. This opens with what sounds like a snippet of a radio program that pokes a dangerous stick in the direction of the East and West rivalry, which indirectly cost TuPac his life. It'd be easy to accuse TuPac of fatalism if he hadn't ultimately met his fatal end; as such "To Live and Die In L.A." is like a 4-minute synopsis for Boyz N The Hood. Yet it isn't fatalistic, despite its acknowledgement of the dangers of L.A. ghetto existence; it offers an olive branch to the Mexicans, and like "Under The Bridge" or "L.A. Woman" it's a love letter to the city more than anything else, ironic given the circumstances of TuPac's short existence. The song itself is from The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory rush released as a cash-in a mere 8 weeks after TuPac's shooting death in Las Vegas. Credited to Makaveli, instead of TuPac, it gave rise to the legend that TuPac wasn't dead, just hiding out. 20. Grateful Dead: West L.A. Fadeaway "West L.A. Fadeaway" appeared on the Dead's 1987 commercial breakthrough In The Dark, the biggest album of their long career. The song is a sinister one, suggesting drug intrigue, organized crime, and violence; it's about hiding out, which is another of L.A.'s traditional pastimes, used by crooks on the lam and losers on the down-low ever since the city began attracting citizens willing to leave it all behind at the turn of the 20th century. Like most of the In The Dark album, which was written over the space of nearly 7 years, the song's lyrical detail is a little richer than usual for a Dead tune, which makes it one of the better latter-day numbers. It also earns extra points for working in the slang term "copacetic", a word I've never encountered east of the Sierra Nevadas.21. Lightning Hopkins: Los Angeles Blues This opens with a spoken dedication to Los Angeles, before launching into a very slow, piano-based blues. The song appeared on the unfortunately named 1969 album California Mudslide (And Earthquake) In it, Hopkins thinks of relocating, just like the Eagles feared: "People all told me if you go to Los Angeles, Lightnin', you makin' a sad mistake, but I holler 'hello Los Angeles', I believe I'll be on my way". Like with so many other songs, Hopkins here identifies Los Angeles as "a friend"; two other songs on the album also specifically mention L.A. Hopkins was 57 when he recorded this, and although it is past his peak, he's in excellent form, with a stong unwavering voice and he gets in a great piano solo. Blues was largely a Chicago, Southern, and East Coast phenomenon; Los Angeles never had an indiginous blues scene to compete with the others. Still, as long as the city has been here, there has always been blues to sing. Hopkins, like so many others, here sings of Los Angeles as a place to escape his blues.22. Distillers: City of Angels The Distillers may have had an Australian member and one from Detroit when they formed in 1998, but they've been based largely in L.A. and recorded for Epitaph records. "City of Angels" is from their third album, Sing Sing Death House, from 2003. One of the few punk bands of the early 00's to actually sound convincingly "punk", their take on L.A. is suitably raucous and damaged in an X sort of way, perhaps crossed with Courtney Love. "City of Angels" has a great anthemic quality to it, and the band plays in a revved-up fashion without sacrificing an inherent tunefulness to their narrow range of chords. Like many before them, they celebrate the very irony of the city itself; it's both celebratory and condemning at the same time, which is like many Los Angles songs. The Distillers haven't followed up this album, and their lineup has had some key changes made. But even if they never follow it up, "City of Angels" makes a worthy addition to the L.A. canon.23. Wang Chung: To Live and Die In L.A. Wang Chung were the moderately popular U.K. synth-pop band that gave the world two moderately good synth-pop hits in the mid 1980's, "Dance Hall Days" and "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". Their third biggest hit was "To Live and Die In L.A.", which was written on commission for William Friedkin's 1985 film of the same title, a seedy cop story set in the City of Angels. For a couple of Brits, they do a good job of capturing the city milieu; the synthetic rhythm suggests a freeway in motion, the lyrics paint a suitably alienated and jaundiced view of life, colored by the disillusion that often sets in among those who come here for the thrills. Wang Chung were a better band than they're often given credit for; "To Live and Die In L.A." is arguably their deepest and best single.24. Elliott Smith: Angeles "Angeles" is from Smith's 1997 album Either/Or, which stands as the best of his short career; the song was also featured in the movie Good Will Hunting. A nice acoustic-based number, it displays all the offhanded charm that made Smith seem to be destined for greatness in the late 90's, before his untimely death. Introspective and eerie, with a little electronic ambiance added for color, it comes across as almost a prayer and promise to the city itself; one could even be convinced "Angeles" refers to a woman and not the city, were Smith not a native Angleno himself. It's confused, but touching which pretty much sums up Smith himself. There is no shortage of sad, confused persons like Smith in the city.25. Shawn Mullins: Lullaby Atlanta-borm Mullins had been trying to break into music ever since he released a cassette in 1989 while a member of the Army Airborne Infantry Division; it took until 1997, when he finally had a hit with "Lullaby" before he finally made it. "Lullaby", from the album Soul's Core, is a slow singer/songwriter number dressed up with late 90's electronica touches; it namedrops Fairfax Avenue, the Hollywood Hills, and a few dead celebrities while offering reassurance to yet another lonely denizen of the city of heartbreak. The moral? Money isn't everything, and there are devils in this angel town. "Lullaby" may remain Mullins' definitive statement; he has yet to crack the Hot 100 again.Be sure to visit Freeway JamImage Shack hosts my images.

uao isn't my real name.

Sunday Morning Playlist: Heavy Metal

uao — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 13:02:39 EST

Heavy Metal needs no introduction. Everybody knows what it is; the most aggressive form of rock music (in competition with its erstwhile greatest enemy, punk), the loudest, the druggiest, the most doom laden, the most cartoonish, the most sinister, the favorite music of tortured teens the world over; the music people are most likely to "outgrow".Its drawing points are simple and obvious; beyond the sheer central nervous system stimulation of the bone crushing riffs, heavy metal's lyrics are pure escapism -into a world of fantasy or a world of Satanism and death-, its image is staunchly in-your-face-mom variety teen rebellion (and twenty-something angst), it is generally pro-sex (although some bands never even went near sex), pro-dope, anti-religion, death-obsessed, anti-authoritarian, vaguely fascist, aggressively anti-war (in many cases) and all manner of other "taboo" subjects. At its most heroic, heavy metal is indeed legitimate art and legitimate thrills. Led Zeppelin still tower over all who approach for their intensely musicianly approach to pure wallop; bass-drum heavy skin pounding, spine-tingling powerful guitar riffing that plundered the blues shamelessly, a definitively capable front man, whose voice could win over males and females with its range, soars, galvanizations, pomp, and even sensitivity. Lyrics that bore no relation to the world at large; a Led Zeppelin album was just as much an escape into fantasy land as Pink Floyd or Yes; bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Pantera still serve this same essential function of escape, no matter how the older metal heads might not dig the newer bands. After all, heavy metal never was made for old people; it was for the young. At its crassest, heavy metal is the sum of all the ridicule and scorn that has been heaped upon it for decades, famously spoofed in the film This Is Spinal Tap. It can be musically ignorant, gratuitously dumb in its lyrics, stupid and irresponsible in its worldview, noisy and irritating, and appallingly hypocritical as it laughs all the way to the bank.Born in 1969, its history is colorful, with all sorts of characters and tales of on-the-road debauchery and decadence. It is a history rife with drug abuse and early death, gold records and limousines, ridiculous pomposity and moments of menacing inspiration. It is the genre that has retained its popularity the longest; aside from a brief lull in the late 70's-early 80's (and a slight one currently) it has never managed to lose its popularity with the teen market.Heavy metal's genesis is truly organic; it is its honest beginnings that make it a music worthy of respect. Simply stated, heavy metal is massively amplified blues-rock and psychedelic acid-rock with an emphasis on what was called the power chord.Tracing the history of the power chord backwards from a first-generation heavy metal band like Black Sabbath, one turns to the power trios of 1965-1968; Blue Cheer, Cream, The Who. The Yardbirds' blend of blues, psychedelic, and guitar pyrotechnics deserves special mention. Taking the power chord back further, the 1964 riff-driven "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks was a landmark. One can trace it back even further to the late 50's; Link Wray is most likely its inventor. A favorite among juvenile delinquents, Wray's 1958 hit "Rumble" is an instrumental based all around an elementary, loudly amplified riff. Tracing the blues rock influence from Black Sabbath on backwards, one again turns to Blue Cheer and Cream; before them, John Mayall and Alexis Korner's bands helped define blues-rock in England while Paul Butterfield Blues Band were probably the biggest American blues-rock band. They generally got the blues from the source, which was usually 50's Chicago Blues or 30's Delta Blues.On the acid-rock side, post-Cream west coast bands like Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, and Black Pearl and east coasters like Vanilla Fudge can be considered on the cusp of heavy metal; favoring power chords and bluesy progressions, and amplification most of all, these bands form a basic template. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, which had evolved from the Yardbirds, represented the original front man prototype of fantasy-based metal, while Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath was the doom-band front man prototype. One other key element of heavy metal was the prominence given to the bass guitar; bass-and-guitar interplay was integral to the sound; on some recordings the bass was the lead instrument, new to rock music.The first wave of English heavy metal bands (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple) tended to lean towards the blues end of acid-rock and Cream; some (Heep, Purple, some Zep) featured organ augmenting a power trio plus frontman, others eschewed it completely. In America, heavy metal tended to evoke the boogie element of acid rock more than the blues element; it tended to be faster in tempo and working-class in its presentation. While the British bands went for spectacle, the American bands tended to keep a lower profile. Among the first wave of sweaty boogie-flavored American heavy metal bands were Grand Funk Railroad and Cactus. American's weren't without spectacle completely however; Alice Cooper (originally a band name before coming to mean just the lead singer) featured a shock-and-horror stage show, complete with blood and beheadings. In the 90's, Marilyn Manson's stage act borrowed much from Alice Cooper.All of these bands, including Led Zeppelin, were greeted with almost unanimously bad reviews from the rock critic "establishment" (serious rock criticism had only existed for about 3 years at this point); favored were the crop of singer/songwriters who were appearing simultaneously, and whose literate lyrics appealed to critical egghead tendencies. Despite this, the kids and incipient college hipsters saw what was obvious; these bands were huge fun. It would take a generation before heavy metal gained any serious critical respect, aside from some heroic efforts by Lester Bangs of Creem in the early 70's.By 1972, heavy metal was the biggest thing in the musical universe; Led Zeppelin IV, Black Sabbath Vol. 4, Machine Head, Demons And Wizards, School's Out, We're An American Band were all titanic sellers. Newer American and British bands joined the heavy metal ranks in the early-mid 70's, including the grandiose Queen, the loud Black Oak Arkansas, the heavy Budgie, the cartoony Kiss, the sinister Blue Oyster Cult, the arena rock of Aerosmith and Van Halen.The punk revolt and new wave movement of the late 70's spelled what many assumed would be the end of metal in the late 70's. The punks set metal, and its distant cousin progressive rock, squarely in their sights; both were examples of how overblown, irrelevant, pompous, and bloated rock had become. By the late 70's heavy metal's chart dominance was over in America; all of the heavy metal bands, including Zeppelin, saw erosion in sales. In many cases sales seemingly dried up overnight; most of the first wave of metal groups broke up, or underwent dramatic lineup changes. In England, the situation was somewhat rosier; metal never really vanished from the charts as it did in America. A vital second wave appeared in England that played a faster and tougher metal; taking dark satanic or necrophiliac imagery from Black Sabbath, or playing up boogie metal's bikers-and-leather image. Motorhead, formed by bassist Lemmy of British acid-rock heroes Hawkwind were the quintessential British Metal biker band of the late 70's; Judas Priest was another. Iron Maiden played up the satanic/death iconography.Ozzy Osbourne's renaissance as a solo act in 1981 spelled the return of metal as a major commercial force in America. Osbourne's resurgence owes tremendous debt to his guitarist Randy Rhodes (ex-Quiet Riot), who played in the speed-metal style of the new wave British Metal groups, although Ozzy's own pedigree helped win over the slower metal fans.These developments led to speed metal, the predominant 1980's form of heavy metal. Quite removed from the lumbering monoliths of the early 70's, speed metal was all about fast, and was consciously non-radio-friendly. This gave it an underground appeal that resulted in robust sales; chief architects among the 80's speed metal bands were Metallica and Megadeth. The 1980's also saw the fragmentation of the metal market into a wide variety of sub-genres and niches. In most cases, only a metal devotee would know the distinctions; a non-metal-head would file all under "noise". However, the distinctions are important to the metalhead; death metal, thrash, progressive metal, hair metal and others in the 1980's; doom-metal, stoner metal, sludge metal, Scandinavian metal, and rap metal in the 1990's.A key occurrence in the heavy metal time line was the emergence of grunge in the early 1990's. Grunge was a crucial development because it bridged the always-unbridgeable gulf between metal and punk. Metal bands took punk's DIY ethic, and rawness of performance, and applied it to their power riffs, often slowing the music back down to Black Sabbath tempo. Alice In Chains and Soundgarden are prime examples of grunge-metal, which became a staple on alternative rock radio through the mid-90's.Heavy metal remains today a massively fragmented market, but if all the fragments are taken together, it is still huge. Its future seems relatively assured; there will always be a market for volume and escape, as long as there are teenagers. Heavy metal's highest points are as worthy of listen as any other genre; its low points help keep rock music interesting.Some important/influential heavy metal artists/songs include:1. Led Zeppelin: Dazed And Confused "Dazed And Confused", the genre-defining crazed amplified blues from Led Zeppelin's self-titled 1969 debut, actually had been part of the New Yardbirds' stage show in 1968. The genesis of Led Zeppelin had its roots in the Yardbirds, whom Jimmy Page joined in 1966. Their 1967 album, Little Games, featured Page and had strings arranged by John Paul Jones. Page and Jones also played on "Hurdy Gurdy Man", a Donovan single released in 1968. The Yardbirds disbanded in 1968 when Keith Relf and Jim McCarty left the band; Page was left with bassist Chris Dreja and the rights to the Yardbirds' name. Page planned to hire Terry Reid as vocalist, but Reid was unavailable and suggested Robert Plant instead. Dreja left to pursue other projects, and John Paul Jones came in on bass. John Bonham came aboard at Plant's suggestion; he had drummed for Plant in the past. In September 1968, the Page-Plant-Jones-Bonham lineup played a series of gigs as the New Yardbirds; they recorded an album together in 30 hours in October. Their name was Led Zeppelin when they signed with Atlantic, and their debut became the biggest seller in Atlantic history in 1969 (eclipsing former record holder Iron Butterfly). "Dazed and Confused" is surely one of their greatest moments; each band member gets a chance to shine, and the song's guitar and vocal blasts are what heavy metal is all about.2. Black Sabbath: War Pigs Critically reviled for the very reasons their fans loved them, Black Sabbath became hugely popular on the basis of a sludgy hyper-amped blues-rock they had developed through previous incarnations as The Polka Tulk Blues Band and Earth. Ozzy Osbourne's forlorn wail rode atop Tony Iommi's leaden, dinosaur-like low-register riffing, which gave the music a gigantic wall of sound. Geezer Butler's lyrics dealt with murky Christian/satanic/death/black magic/anti-war themes (and never sex) and he contributed a heavy bass that often took lead. Bill Ward's drums were busy and retained a sometimes jazzy, swinging sound in between hardcore thumps. "War Pigs" is from their second, and probably best album, Paranoid, from late 1970. The epitome of heavy, it features Osbourne's Jack Bruce influenced blues vocal and Iommi's gargantuan riffing, with an extended prog-rock coda. 3. Deep Purple: Smoke On The Water Formed in 1968 at a session set up by Chris Curtis of the Searchers, whom they quickly abandoned, Deep Purple's debut, Shades of Deep Purple, was recorded by Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Jon Lord on organ, drummer Ian Paice, bassist Nick Simper, and vocalist Rod Evans. The debut produced the organ-and-bass driven "Hush" and found the band straddling a fence between heavy metal and progressive rock. Two more albums followed, The Book Of Taliesyn and Deep Purple, both 1969 and both displayed a marked leaning towards progressive rock; Simper and Evans were both subsequently replaced by Roger Glover and Ian Gillan from the pop group Episode 6. A full-fledged excursion into classical-oriented progressive rock followed, Concerto for Group and Orchestra, which featured the London Symphony Orchestra. This album was poorly received, and the band re-thought its approach, Blackmore steered them towards a stripped down, no-frills direction that is now remembered as their classic sound. "Smoke On The Water" is from their peak album, Machine Head, from 1972. Featuring a monster of a basic riff amplified beyond comprehension plus Gillan's bluesy, histrionic vocal, and Lord's big organ, this song perhaps illustrates heavy metal better than any other. The lyrics came about when the band's plans to record at Montreaux in 1971 were scuttled when the venue burned down during a Mothers of Invention appearance.4. Grand Funk Railroad: Gimme Shelter Grand Funk Railroad demonstrated just how critically reviled heavy metal was, and just how little the audience cared; if anything, the critics' constant sniping gave the band an underground appeal. Formed in Detroit in 1968 by Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Terry Knight & The Pack, they recruited bassist Mel Shacher from Detroit garage legends? and the Mysterians, with Knight assuming duties as manager. They made their debut at a key rock festival, the 1969 Atlanta Pop festival, which got them signed to Capitol. They played in a sweaty Detroit-rock boogie style as a power trio, sometimes augmented by organ. By 1971 they were huge, despite the reviews. "Gimme Shelter" is a pounding heavy metal version of the Rolling Stones' classic, from what is very arguably their best album, Survival. Their star would continue to rise, as they reached #1 with "We're An American Band" in 1972 (with new member, keyboardist Craig Frost), and a version of Little Eva's "The Locomotion" in 1974. Their commercial fortunes declined precipitously after that, although they hung on long enough to record an album with Frank Zappa producing in 1976. A brief revival in 1981-1983 produced two more albums; Brewer and Frost later joined Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band while Mark Farner has a career as a Christian Contemporary artist.5. Judas Priest: Victim of Changes Originally formed in 1970, Judas Priest's recording career began in 1974 after lineup changes brought vocalist Rob Halford, guitarist Glenn Tipton, and drummer John Hinch to the core of guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill. They were well received at the 1975 Reading festival, but it wasn't until their third album, Sad Wings of Destiny in 1976 (with Simon Phillips on drums) that they scored big-time. "Victim of Changes" leads off the album with a real kick; the rest of the album establishes what made Judas Priest the flagship band of the new wave of British Metal: unrelentingly bleak and doom laden atmospherics and lyrics, tight, menacing grooves that come in torrents, speed, a hint of goth, and a deceptive complexity. Sad Wings of Destiny's complexity in arrangements also make it a forerunner of the progressive metal subgenre. The band reached its commercial peak in the mid-1980's; their 90's released fared comparatively poorly, although 2005's reunion Angel of Retribution returned them to the higher reaches of the charts.6. AC/DC: Highway To Hell Australia's AC/DC won hearts by avoiding heavy metal's worst tendencies; they weren't sluggish and slow, they weren't grandiose and pompous, they weren't quasi-progressive or flailing in sludge. AC/DC specialized in a jaunty, uptempo, riffs-and-drums propelled music that bore its own very unique sound, and on occasion was lively enough to even dance to. Malcom Young formed the band in 1973 with his younger (then-15 years old) brother Angus on lead guitar. Both were brothers of George Young, from the seminal garage band The Easybeats, and the Easybeats' singer Dale Evans sang lead on their first recording. Angus was encouraged to wear his high school uniform onstage, a practice that he continues to this day. After relocating from Sydney to Melbourne, the band underwent a surprise transformation when Evans refused to take the stage at a 1974 gig; the band's driver Bon Scott was pulled into action in the emergency and became the band's lead singer. Scott was a wildman, known for his prodigious drinking capabilities; his boozy, bluesy wail meshed well with Angus' riffs, which alternated between let's party good times, and doomy gloom. "Highway To Hell" is the highpoint of the Bon Scott era, which ended with Scott's alcohol-related death in 1980. The band soldiered on with Brian Johnson's screaming vocals and entered their greatest commercial period in the 1980's, scoring repeatedly with riff-fests like "You Shook Me All Night Long", "For Those About To Rock", and "Who Made Who".7. Metallica: Master of Puppets Heavy Metal's great comeback, put into motion with the new wave British Metal bands and Ozzy Osbourne's rebirth, was solidified by the first bona-fide metal titans of the 1980's, Metallica. For many, Metallica saved heavy metal. They were thankfully unpretentious, dressing in street clothes instead of rock star plumage. They brought complexity and dimension to speed metal, turning it from a noisy teenage subgenre to a bona-fide musical style. They showed real progression from album to album without being "progressive"; each time out they zeroed in closer on an elusive perfect speed metal groove. Guitarist Kirk Hammett has influenced an entire generation of metal guitarists, while James Hetfield's rhythm guitar was just as integral, moving the band away from the typical power-trio core. Hetfield's vocals ranged from snarl to growl to roar, and Lard Urlich's drums were intricate and enormous. Cliff Burton complimented Urlich's drums on bass; unfortunately, Burton was killed when the band's tour bus crashed in 1986, shortly after their masterpiece Master of Puppets was released. The title track captures it all in its thunderous glory; lyrically it is anti-authoritarian without getting trashy. After Burton's death, the band continued on with Jason Newsted taking his place; the band had three #1 albums in the 1990's, Metallica, Load, and Reload, despite virtually zero radioplay.8. Aerosmith: Sweet Emotion Aerosmith's long history stretches back to Boston in 1970, when vocalist Steven Tyler met guitarist Joe Perry while they were working in an ice-cream parlor. The band released its debut album in 1973 for Columbia and scored immediately with "Dream On". Their image was different from the British and Midwestern metal groups; neither doomsters nor hardcore boogiers, they represented a heavy Rolling Stones-meets-the-New York Dolls approach, with Tyler himself landing somewhere between Mick Jagger and David Johanssen in his front man persona. 1974 was spent solidifying their early success, as they opened for The Kinks, Mott The Hoople, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Sha Na Na on tour; by 1975 their audience had grown to massive proportions, and they hit #11 in 1975 with Toys In The Attic, which included "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way", both top-40 hits. The band famously almost blew their career by the late-70's and early-80's, heavy drug usage resulted in blown and missed gigs, and a lot of bad word in the recording industry. Given a second chance few bands ever get, the band began a comeback in 1985 that has become their most successful era; by the early 90's the band was routinely at the top of the charts.9. Slayer: Raining Blood If Black Sabbath represented rock's extreme edge in 1970, Slayer represented it in the 1980's. Graphic and disturbing, their lyrics dealt unremittingly with all kinds of violent imagry, from death and torture to war and hell. Accompanying these themes were a manic speed and thrash, with chaotic guitars, rapid-fire bass and drums, technical assurance, and roaring vocals that produced a blood-drenched nightmare version of speed metal that scored big among antisocials around the world. Formed in Huntington Beach, CA in 1982 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, plus bassist/vocalist Jim Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo, they graduated from a metal-covers band to purveyors of their own threatening music on Metal Blade records. Their 1985 album Hell Awaits was the first to gain them national attention; Rick Ruben then signed them to his label and produced their highpoint, Reign In Blood in 1986, which includes the terrifying "Raining Blood", brought into sharp reliefr by Rubin's clear production. Reign In Blood, while full of mayhem that might be too much for many listeners, stands as a watershed speed metal album; only Metallica and Megadeth produced work as realized and influential. The band's subsequent output has never approached this landmark, and their audience has declined, although the band continued releasing albums through 2001.10. Uriah Heep: The Wizard Uriah Heep's history is one of the inanest, most convoluted, and strangest of nearly any band in history of any genre; if Spinal Tap were a real band, they might be Uriah Heep. Their 1970 debut was greeted with open hostility from music critics; one threatened suicide if the band made it, while Rolling Stone called them the worst band ever to earn a gold record (think of the competition!). Undeterred, Uriah Heep worked hard and gained a cult audience larger in America than their own native England, big enough to propel their biggest and best album, Demons And Wizards to #23 in 1972, and their next four albums into the top-40. Centered around a core of vocalist David Byron, Hammond organist Ken Hensley, and guitarist Mick Box, Uriah Heep specialized in a Deep Purple-like attack, often with Dungeons and Dragons-style lyrics, of which "The Wizard" is maybe their best. By 1976, the band had seemingly run its course, but despite an ever changing lineup that left Box the only original member, the band continued to release albums for the faithful, and enjoyed a big renaissance with Abominog in 1982, which earned them some long-overdue appreciation from the music press. Uriah Heep, its lineup stable since 1986, continues to tour and record to this day; in the 1980's they became the first major Western band to tour the Soviet Union.11. Motorhead: Ace Of Spades Bassist Lemmy Kilminster was the veteran of many little-known bands dating all the way back to 1964, although he first gained attention as member of England's guitar-oriented space-rock outfit Hawkwind in the early 1970's. Kicked out of Hawkwind in 1975 after being jailed on drug charges, Lemmy formed Motorhead in 1976, and named it after his final Hawkwind song. The band's classic era, 1977-1983, was as a trio of Lemmy, "Fast" Eddie Clarke on guitar, and Philthy Animal (Philip Taylor) on drums. "Ace Of Spades", from 1980, is their greatest hit; an almost punky, speed metal workout that meshed metal with a hint of rockabilly, it goes stright for the jugular, and became a biker anthem. Along with Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, Motorhead helped define the new wave British Metal sound of the late 70's/early 80's, and found a devoted cult audience on both sides of the Atlantic. Lemmy continues to lead Motorhead to this day; their albums have become virtually uncountable.12. Queensryche: Silent Lucidity Queensryche was often incorrectly lumped in with the emerging pop-metal/hair-metal bands of the late 1980's, but in fact, Queensryche owed far more debt to 70's progressive rock outfits Pink Floyd and Can, with some Queen bombast thrown in. Their two biggest albums, Operation: Mindcrime (1988) and Empire (1991) are cornerstones of the progressive metal subgenre, which took conventional arena metal from Van Halen and meshed it with grandiose 70's style concept-album rock, complete with sound effects, strings, plotlines, and larger-than-life stage shows. "Silent Lucidity" from Empire is arguably their masterpiece; a top-10 hit, it strongly recalls Pink Floyd in its ominous acoustic base, its fluid lead guitar, and its enormous sound effect laden production. Formed in Seattle in 1981 by guitarists Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton, the pair added high school friend's vocalist Geoff Tate and bassist Eddie Jackson to the lineup, and hired Scott Rockenfield on drums. Their early work was in a Judas Priest vein until they hooked up with orchestral arranger Michael Kamen, who changed their sound. The band didn't follow up Empire until 1994, by which time grunge and alternative rock had sapped their audience. They continue to this day, following significant lineup changes, with a much more stripped down approach.13. Blue Oyster Cult: Cities On Flame With Rock 'N' Roll Blue Oyster Cult, from Long Island, took things a step further than most early 70's hard-rock/metal bands. Instead of simply producing concept albums, the entire band was conceptual in nature, an invention of college students (and future rock critics) Sandy Pearlman and Richard Meltzer, who put together the earliest version of the band, Soft White Underbelly, in 1967. The band, which consisted of most of the band that became BOC, recorded two albums for Elektra, with neither getting released. A second chance came in 1971 when they were signed to Columbia; the band was re-named Blue Oyster Cult, and the line-up was set with Eric Bloom on vocals/guitar, Al Lanier on keyboards, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on guitar, Al Bouchard on drums, and Joe Bouchard on bass; Meltzer and Pearlman contributed to the songwriting, and Pearlman managed. Blue Oyster Cult was released in January 1972, and made many critics' best-of lists for the year. Sinister and creepy, with a Velvet Undergound vibe in addition to guitar muscle, Blue Oyster Cult remains a classic. "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" is the most conventional heavy metal number on the album, but VU-style perversion as "She's As Beautiful As A Foot", bizarre frightshow riffing as "Transmaniacon MC", and an odd obsession with astronomy on "Stairway To The Stars" and "Workshop Of The Telescopes" come closer to defining their sound. The band scored a surprise #12 hit with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" in 1976; they remained album rock favorites through the early 1980's.14. Alice In Chains: Rooster Alice In Chains emerged from Seattle at the same time grunge did, and are therefore often lumped in with the grunge groups, although they are far more firmly in the metal tradition than most of their peers. Bleak, nihilistic, slow, doom-riff laden, with obvious influences in Black Sabbath and Van Halen, they had less in common with grunge acts like Nirvana and Soundgarden than they did with their 70's forebears. They also recorded for major label Columbia, instead of Seattle scene setters Sub Pop, which set them apart. Their existence was always tumultuous; guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley had different approaches to the band's sound, and Staley's increasingly burdensome drug habit tore at the fabric of the band as well. Still, their first three albums are classics, particularly Dirt, from 1992. "Rooster" is the highlight of Dirt, and sounds like the reincarnation of classic Black Sabbath, right down to Staley's Ozzy Osbourne/Jack Bruce vocal and Cantrell's humongous sludge-riffing. "Rooster" is harrowing; written by Cantrell, it draws from his father's experience in the Vietnam War, while Staley finds the junky connection in its imagery, giving it a haunted, bellowing performance. Staley's drug abuse grew worse over the years, rendering the band inoperative by 1998; in 2002 he was dead of an overdose. Alice In Chains was quite influential, informing the sound of bands like Godsmack, Creed, and Puddle of Mudd.15. Pantera: Mouth For War If Metallica saved metal in the 1980's by throwing out its stagnant old formulas and reinventing a new one, Pantera deserves credit for doing the very same thing in the 1990's. Out was the speed metal Metallica helped invent; in was slower, sludgier tempos and heavier atmospherics. However, Pantera was far from a return to metal's lumbering 70's heyday; the tempos were slow, but they were busy and unpredictable; Phil Anselmo's vocals took on a militaristic bark, Dimebag Darrell Abbott (earlier known as Diamond Darrell), son of a country music singer/producer, specialized in brutal, pummeling riffs that could change direction in an instant. The band's first recording, influenced by Judas Priest and Motley Crue, appeared in 1983; it, and the subsequent two, were later disowned by the band. All three featured Terry Glaze on vocals; when Glaze was replaced by Anselmo, the band's classic sound began to develop rapidly, moving away from the pop-metal sounds of their early work into a dark, aggressive, confrontational sound. Their high point was Vulgar Display of Power from 1992. "Mouth For War" leads it off captures the band at their roaring best; the later work of Korn and Tool borrow some cues here. Their next album, Far Beyond Driven, from 1994, reached #1 on the charts (perhaps the edgiest album ever to do so), but internal tensions began to damage the band; their final release came in 2000 and they broke up for good. In a bizarre and tragic postscript, Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed, along with several others, by an enraged fan who leapt onstage and started shooting at a show by Darrell's new band, Damageplan, in 2004.16. Van Halen: Runnin' With The Devil Van Halen deserves a little more credit than they usually get for contributing to the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal. Their tremendous chart successes and arena-oriented stage shows earned them some scorn from the metal underground, but Eddie Van Halen did indeed help rewrite heavy metal guitar in a faster, slicker, speedier image. David Lee Roth put a new spin on front man by borrowing Robert Plant conventions and meshing them with a purposely obnoxious lounge-lizard persona. Brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen were born in the Netherlands, but came to Pasadena, CA in 1967 when they were in middle school. Originally, Alex played guitar and younger brother Eddie played drums; Alex soon could outplay Eddie on drums, and the brothers switched instruments. They encountered Roth a few years later, and formed a band called Mammoth; in 1974, it was renamed Van Halen. The band paid dues in bars, clubs, and hotels throughout Southern California before Gene Simmons of Kiss caught their act and financed a demo session; Simmons pitched them to Warners, where they landed a deal. "Runnin' With The Devil" is from their 1978 debut Van Halen, which was one of the best metal debuts ever. It captures all that was best about the band's original lineup, from Eddie's lightning guitar to Roth's cocky, self-assured vocals. Personality clashes led to Roth's departure in 1984; his replacement was veteran hard rocker Sammy Hagar with whom the band continued to have hits through 1995. Since then, the band has been in something of a shambles; an album with Gary Cherone replacing Hagar did poorly in 1998; rumored reunions with Roth never really came true, and in 2001 Eddie Van Halen was diagnosed with cancer, although he has been in remission. No studio album of new material has appeared since the Cherone-fronted Van Halen III in 1998.17. Megadeth: Symphony Of Destruction Thrash metal heroes Megadeth were formed when Metallica's founding guitarist Dave Mustaine was kicked out in 1983 (reportedly for his drug usage) and formed his own group with bassist Dave Ellefson; an early version of the band included Slayer guitarist Kerry King. Chris Poland on guitar and Gar Samuelson on drums eventually rounded out the Mustaine/Ellefson core. Megadeth shared Metallica's essential speed-metal approach with considerable success, differing from the original group by speeding up the tempoes even more, tossing most progressive elements, and emphasizing a harsher, more violent instrumental attack. Megadeth's first major-label album Peace Sells...But Who's Buying went platinum in 1986, despite no radioplay, but Mustaine's drug abuse was resulting in erratic behavior, perhaps typified by his sudden firing of Poland and Samuelson following this success. Jeff Young and Chuck Behler replaced them, and the band released So Far, So Good...So What! in 1988, which featured a notorious version of the Sex Pistol's "Anarchy In The U.K.". Mustaine ultimately landed in rehab in 1990; when he emerged, he fired Young and Behler and brought in guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. This heralded Megadeth's most successful era, Countdown to Extinction entered the charts at #2 and contains their most well-known track "Symphony of Destruction" which actually made #71 on the Billboard singles charts. Continued success carried them through the 1990's (with more lineup adjustments), but in 2002 Mustaine was diagnosed with nerve damage that prevented him from playing guitar, causing a breakup. However, Mustaine recovered enough for a new Megadeth album in 2004 which reteamed him with the fired Dave Poland.18. Ozzy Osbourne: Crazy Train Ozzy Osbourne was a mess when he left Black Sabbath in 1978; drug addled, without a hit album in years (in the U.S.; Sabbath albums still sold fairly well in the U.K.), seemingly with no direction or prospects, he was a sure bet for has-been. Fortunately for Osbourne, his future wife Sharon took over his managerial duties, and helped get him together enough to release his solo debut in 1980. He was joined by young Quiet Riot veteran Randy Rhodes on guitar, who helped invent the new speed metal of the 80's, and a pair of Uriah Heep members, Lee Kerslake on drums and Bob Daisley on bass. The debut, Blizzard Of Ozz, relied on old Sabbath formulas of occult, insanity, and witchcraft themes, but was far more varied and flexible in their attack, thanks primarily to Rhodes' virtuosity. The album, which included the single "Crazy Train", was a huge comeback, peaking at #7 in the U.K. and #21 in the States; a follow-up Diary of a Madman was rush released in 1981 to consolidate this success and hit even bigger. A wild tour followed, culminating in Ozzy's famous bat-biting incident; and Ozzy has never had to worry about paying the rent since. In 2001, The Osbournes made him one of the most unlikely TV stars in recent memory.19. Budgie: Breadfan Budgie was an important first-wave Welch metal band that hasn't quite gotten its fair share of glory in the States, despite Metallica's version of "Breadfan", and Alice In Chains and Soundgarden pointing to them as influences. Formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1967 as a classic power trio consisting of bassist/vocalist Burke Shelley, guitarist Tony Bourge, and drummer Raymond Phillips, their sound can best be likened to a cross between a sped-up Black Sabbath and a less-progressive Rush. This lineup recorded the band's first three albums in 1971-1973, which stand as their best. In 1974, Phillips left, and the drummer and guitarist slots ultimately became revolving doors; Shelly helmed various versions of the band until their final album in 1982. "Breadfan" led off Never Turn Your Back on a Friend from 1973, which remains the band's peak; it is a high-octane slab of embryonic speed metal that undoubtedly left an impression on Metallica. 20. Guns 'n' Roses: Paradise City And then there's Guns 'n' Roses. Somewhere between hard rock and metal lay Guns 'n' Roses in the late 1980's at a time when both were suffering from declining sales; Guns 'n' Roses became the mega platinum saviors of hard rock for jaded MTV viewers sick of pop groups. Formed in Los Angeles in 1985 and familiar on Sunset Strip when hair metal was taking over the scene, Guns 'n' Roses had the extra something needed to set them apart from the others. Part of it came from Axl Roses almost psychotic rage at everything and anything; part of it was the twin chainsaw riffs of Slash and Izzy Stradlin. Duff McKagen and Steven Adler were a propulsive rhythm section. The band's full-length debut Appetite For Destruction was a monster hit around the world, "Paradise City" is arguably the best cut from the album. The band's subsequent history is mind-boggling in its wastefulness. G 'n' R Lies, a double-EP arrived in 1988 and stirred up a hornet's nest with its xenophobic and homophobic "One In A Million". The band made the ill-advised decision to release two albums simultaneously in 1991, Use Your Illusion I & II; both went platinum but overexposed the band. A punk covers album The Spaghetti Incident? was released in 1993, and then...nothing. Over the years, the members drifted away or quit, until only Axl remained, yet no new product appeared. In 2001, a Axl led a new Guns 'n' Roses on his first tour since 1993; after a few dates, the tour was cancelled. An album, Chinese Democracy has been planned for release for years; it has yet to see the light of day. Slash and McKagen teamed up with Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots in a new band, Velvet Revolver, in 2002. Axl remains in seclusion, the years ticking by, having seemingly turned his back on one of the biggest shows on earth.Honorable mention: Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, Anthrax, Masters of Reality, Iron Maiden, Rage Against The Machine, Accept, Danzig, Dio, Motley Crue, Scorpions, Ratt, Faith No More, Mercyful Fate...Be sure to visit Freeway JamImageshack hosts my images.

uao isn't my real name.

Sunday Morning Playlist: Farewell Early 00's-- A retrospective top-20 of 2001-2005

uao — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 09:18:35 EST

Farewell early 00's! We still haven't even agreed on a name for you, yet.The less said about the events spanning from January 2001 through December 2005, the better. Not a lot of beauty, and more than a lot of ugliness. It's not an era too many people are liable to feel much nostalgia for, unless it is possible to become nostalgic for bad news.So on to the music. What are the sounds of the early 00's you will be taking with you across the threshold into the late 00's, in a little over a week?I'm going to have to stick with what I think was the best.You're welcome to load up on what you like.And somehow, we'll make it through.My criteria: I have to love the song, the artist must be vaguely relevant in some way, all genres were open, although my tastes generally run toward rock. I allow myself one shamelessly guilty pleasure. Any song qualifies, didn't matter if it was a single or not; a few favorite album cuts made the list (in most cases, that is an indication that the whole album is pretty good) Here's what sat best with me; I'm sure I didn't hear a lot of good stuff...Readers are encouraged to nominate their own favorites of the half-decade.The best single year of the 00's for music? 2002, by far.A top-20 playlist of the best tunes of the first half of the 00's: 2001-20051. Neko Case: Things That Scare Me Neko Case is also among the finalists for artist of the first half decade; she's managed two vital careers, solo and with the New Pornographers. She's one of the most convincing alt-country artists, unconventional and smart with an indie rock epic. "Things That Scare Me" is spooky, scary, atmospheric, and earthy in its realism; its production gives it an epic quality that doesn't intrude; her vocal is rich and assured. From her 2002 disc Blacklisted, an excellent album; Furnace Room Lullaby from 2000 and The Tigers Have Spoken from 2004 are also very good albums. All right, I'm smitten, I'll admit it.2. Death In Vegas: Scorpio Rising "Scorpio Rising" gets props here, even if Death In Vegas' 00's output doesn't come close to The Contino Sessions from 1999. "Scorpio Rising", the title track from their 2002 album is a jagged and jaunty psychedelic rock number, sung by guest vocalist Liam Gallagher. Chock full of backwards guitars, sinewy bass, guitar crunch, ominous lyrics, a druggy haze, real propulsion, and spit and snot, it's one of the best psychedelic rock songs in many a moon. Unfortunately, that distinction may have hurt Death In Vegas; critical response of the day was lukewarm, suggesting the underground electronica masters had taken a overground rock turn. Maybe they did; but "Scorpio Rising" can also qualify as the best Oasis-related song in nearly a decade, too.3. Bardo Pond: Inside "Inside" is an 12-minute epic that relies on a bed of lower register staccato guitars, and the detached, filtered vocals of Isobel Sollenberger, which are double tracked and subjected to disorienting stereo separation; the tense drone of the music gradually builds to a smashing extended space rock hypno-freakout crescendo, full of sunburst splashes of feedback and crashing percussion. Bardo Pond, from Philadelphia, have been America's best space rock architects since 1996; Dilate, from 2002 was a giant leap forward for the band, and includes "Inside".4. Eddie Vedder/Neil Young: Long Road [live] This is the version that was performed Sept. 21, 2001 for the "America: A Tribute to Heroes" benefit. Vedder and Young had performed together before, but on that poignant night, the two of them together really seemed significant; like a bridge between the generations at a very sad time. Vedder's solemn vocal was a miracle; it may be his single greatest vocal performance, Young's familiar ragged guitar and presence seemed a tremendous reassurance. The song was originally done with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking, it gained a whole new meaning on that night.5. Sonic Youth: The Empty Page Sonic Youth may be ancient history, but Murray Street was one of the best releases of 2002, and the band is pretty much the last interesting band of their generation. "The Empty Page" is a Thurston Moore song which takes the strange tunings, staccato rhythms, and outsider-psychodramatic lyrics, and reconfigures them into what may be the catchiest pop song of their career, without it ever coming even close to sounding like pop, a real achievement. The weird, discordant, swirl of a jam in the middle brings out their wall of noise and dissolves for an edgy low-volume, jangly, raga-rock-like guitar solo.6. Jurassic 5: Sum of Us In some ways, Los Angeles-based Jurassic 5 is a continuation of some of the classic sonic ideas Public Enemy explored, but with a post-Million Man March political sensibility. "Sum of Us" is a statement of purpose and a worthy credo that works its way into your head and stays there. The recording is both spare, but rich; the vocals are miked close, an upfront drum accentuates the breakbeat, and a simplistic, three-blind-mice style sample is what the song is hung on; the production walks a fine line between hip-hop and electronica. From Power In Numbers, released in 2002.7. Zero 7: Somersault "Somersault" is an irresistible confection; Sia Furler's alluring vocal sounds not unlike Minnie Riperton, and the warm instrumentation of electric piano, acoustic guitar, and chillroom drums 'n' bass gives the song a real lilt to it; the electronic strings flourishes on the chorus give the song an epic, cinematic sweep. At seven minutes, the song sways through several textures and tempos, but never wanders. It has also been tested out as makeout music; it works. Many Zero 7 fans prefer Simple Things from 2001, but the underappreciated When It Falls, from 2004, is a sultry good listen.8. Wilco: Spiders (Kidsmoke) You've got to hand it to Jeff Tweedy. There is absolutely no reason why he should have a career; he's done nearly everything wrong from the start. He broke up a great band, Uncle Tupelo. He pulled a Radiohead on his fans by largely abandoning the sound they loved him for, in favor of following his muse into uncharted territories. He told Warner Brothers to screw off, gave away music for free on the internet, fired his guitarist. And here he is, riding high, with one of the most interesting bodies of work in rock history at this point, and seemingly just coming into his peak, fifteen years after his debut. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" would never make anyone guess they're listening to one of the architects of alternative country rock; utterly devoid of country, it's an 11-minute epic with an electronica sensibility to its long, extended, droning verses, and hard guitar-rock choruses.9. The White Stripes: Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) The White Stripes bassless barebones sound didn't leave a whole lot to hang a song on, and they always stood in danger of failing to live up to the intense hype that's been heaved at them, including the dreaded "saviors of rock" title. However, there have been precious few bands dealing in what is undeniably heavy, experimental rock of late; and album by album they've managed to amass one of the most consistently compelling, if not quite uniformly excellent, bodies of work in the 00's. Get Behind Me Satan manages to up the texture quotient without betraying their barebones structure; as a result, it was their most varied and satisfying effort. "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)" isn't the best cut on the album (I give that nod to "Nurse", or maybe "My Doorbell"), but its foggy Exile On Main Street vibe coupled with fuzzy keyboards that almost sounds like a steel drum, wins me over for its primitive inventiveness.10. Beck: E-Pro Guero is easily Beck's best record since Odelay, taking much more advantage of his eclectic talents. "E-Pro" is like an updated "Devil's Haircut" sonically, with heavy lo-fi guitars and vocal filters; he delivers the vocal with a swing over a hip-hop breakbeat and an almost glam-rock wall of distorted sound; despite its myriad of musical references, not minor among them Odelay, it avoids sounding like a retread. Beck doesn't exactly break new ground on Guero, but he does refine his essential sound, giving it added depth. He also has a rare talent for being funny without being corny or smartass.11. Death Cab For Cutie: The New Year Thank God for Death Cab For Cutie. The opening chords come crashing out, and you know rock isn't dead yet; there's real meat on the bones. Between choruses, the song breaks into a more loping tempo that is awash in ambient feedback; the lyrics and vocals shine. Death Cab For Cutie's mix of grunge, indie rock, and an almost Britpop approach to song structure, blends into hooks that are never gratuitous; you can replay their albums without getting sick of them too fast. They may still fall victim to the hype machine, which has slowly been inching towards White Stripes proportions. But the music is genuine, at least so far.12. The New Pornographers: All For Swinging You Around The New Pornographers have a real way with a song, coming up with wildly fresh joyous pop hooks embedded in a crisp, crunchy, fuzzy, harmonic indie rock that borrows cues from history but almost never uses them as intended; their albums are filled with pop classics that have been turned inside out, flipped backwards, dismantled and reassembled, and twisted into knots. The result is power pop for sophisticates; it's hard to single out a best song for them, but "All For Swinging You Around", from Electric Version, has got to be one of the most instantly winning; the chorus is as catchy as any 60's song ever written. Or 80's song.13. Mercury Rev: Secret For A Song This has a nice epic construction that features prominent keyboards, dreamy harmonic vocals, noise-pop feedback textures, a busy and bouncy bass, and a grandiose build-up that is full of tension and release and an almost jazzy complexity. Mercury Rev are oldtimers at this point, but The Secret Migration is one of the best sounding albums of 2005, with a majesty to it few bands achieve, one of the few 90's noise-pop/dream-pop bands to still sound vital and fresh. All Is Dream, released on Sept. 11, 2001 and kind of lost amid the confusion of the era, was also an excellent early-00's release.14. Soundtrack Of Our Lives: Ten Years Ahead Soundtrack Of Our Lives is a veteran Swedish band that borrows deeply from 60's and 70's musical cues, especially psychedelic, progressive, garage rock, and heavy metal and reimagines them in entirely new configurations that seem at once familiar and alien, but are also almost instantly winning. "Ten Years Ahead" is a shimmering psychedelic pop song, built upon a bed of acoustic guitars with a latticework of tuneful electric on top; it's hooky, pretty, elegiac. Perhaps its symptomatic of rock in the 00's that so much of it references the past, but Soundtrack Of Our Lives puts a good contemporary spin on them.15. The Polyphonic Spree: Hold Me Now It's tempting to dismiss Polyphonic Spree as an easy listening band in disguise; they set out for lushness at the outset; it's what they're all about. However, there's a certain humor in what they do that is ultimately subversive; the over-the-top arrangements aren't without irony, but deliver the goods nonetheless. "Hold Me Now" recalls some of the majesty of orchestral Beatles, with its arpeggios, tempo shifts and third-person account. Another good one is the Polyphonic Spree Remix of Death In Vegas' "Scorpio Rising". "Hold Me Now" is from Together We're Heavy, released in 2004.16. Cat Power: Good Woman It's surprising to think that Cat Power has been around for over a decade now; only recently has Chan Marshall's vehicle gained any kind of mainstream notice. During all those years, she hasn't drifted far from her lo-fi sadcore roots, but she has gained resonance and strength in her songwriting and voice; You Are Free was perhaps her first really excellent album, and "Good Woman" is a jaw-droppingly sad song that relishes its own feedback from Marshall's lone guitar as her vocal conveys convincing hurt in an alternative country rock voice. Those who haven't heard Cat power may want to wait until the forthcoming release of The Greatest in January 2006.17. Radiohead: 2+2=5 It's unclear if Radiohead is on its way up or down at this late stage in the game; Hail To The Thief, from 2003, seemed to suggest both at the same time. It was a much more conventional album than they've come up with lately, even if it still hovered on the fringes; however, it also brought back a lot of the guitar textures they had phased out or muted on OK Computer and Kid A. 2+2=5 gets some of its emotional depth from its insistent minor key, its strange mutedness was an odd way to open an album, but it nonetheless carries an almost operatic low-key grandeur during the first half, which recalls Jeff Buckley to a degree, before launching into a noise-rock section that sounds like a cross between Sonic Youth and Public Image Limited.18. Courtney Love: Sunset Strip I know some people will think I'm crazy, but I'm not willing to give up on Courtney Love just yet. Not when she can still come up with songs like "Sunset Strip" which shows her just as she's always been, a spitfire with a roar that compensates for a fragile, naked femininity she's always had. While this may well be symptomatic of deeper personal issues that play out on tabloid pages, she's never put on any airs, or claimed to be anything she's not. "Sunset Strip" delivers the same thrills "Malibu" and "Violet" did; a mellow, California-ized melody underneath a surprisingly tuneful raw-throated and shouted vocal; lyrics seemingly as honest than John Lennon's (or Kurt Cobain's) ever were. I sure do hope she pulls things together. She's still 100% rock 'n' roll. America's Sweetheart has plenty of good songs; "All The Drugs" is a pretty frank slab of real rock, too.19. Juana Molina: No es tan Cierto This is my guilty pleasure inclusion. Juana Molina is an Argentine comedienne-turned-electronica artist. Despite that suspect resume, her music is innovative, mysterious, sultry, sexy, strange. She writes, produces, and performs, demonstrating she's for real. "No es tan Cierto" features a lovely otherworldly melody that sounds like a walk through a garden of deadly nightshade; its chorus is of peculiar melodic construction but is an instant grabber; her vocals have a siren-like fatale quality, a plus. From Tres Cosas, her 2004 album, which was her third.20. Eels: Trouble With Dreams Leaving Dreamworks did E (Mark Oliver Everett) a lot of good. For one thing, it cut his budget; he couldn't clutter up the production like he used to. This means that his second release after his return to indie-land, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, has to go farther with less; E proves to be just the man for the job. "Trouble With Dreams" sounds something like a cross between Beck and Folk Implosion; it has a lo-fi drums 'n' bass sensibility and plenty of electronica textures, including a great organ. The song's simple descending-chord structure gives it the instant catchiness of a garage rocker, the production manages to get all the weird sounds in there, from a ticking alarm clock to ghostly synth washes, but the song keeps an agreeable simplicity as well. Tuneful, with good self-depreciating lyrics.What surprised me when I compiled this was how little, apparently, I've been taken with the rock music of the last five years, and I don't think it's because I suddenly turned fogey. I was also surprised how many women made the list; I'm not sure what that means. Hard rock is notably absent, and not because I didn't want to hear some. Peer-to-peer sharing, CD prices, record industry consolidation, radio format changes, cross marketing... All have been major factors in the past half-decade, and have left their mark on the industry and the music. There just weren't very many quality releases in the first half of the 00's, and a remarkably tiny number of "must-have's". To the late 00's!Sunday Morning Playlist is a weekly feature.Be sure to visit Freeway JamImage Shack hosts my images.

uao isn't my real name.

Sunday Morning Playlist: Top Twenty Record Producers of the Rock Era

uao — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 11:58:48 EST

A salute to the record producer, who frequently goes unnoticed by the public, and who is often the primary creative force behind a record (along with the engineer, but that's a separate article).I tried to find a list on the internet of greatest producers, a top-10 or top-100 and found none; top guitarist lists are a dime a dozen.But think of some of rock's most well-known records; Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds, "Be My Baby", Nevermind, Remain In Light, Licensed to Ill, Dark Side of the Moon, et. al. In each case, the production is as much of the story as the performance, in some cases a lot more so.In the nutshell, a producer's job is to get the best performances out of his musicians as possible, to oversee the mixing and ensure integrity of sound, to augment the recording with additional musicians, sound effects, special effects, and vocals as needed. Many good producers were also good musicians, and could serve as an additional bandmember, as Brian Eno did with Talking Heads, or Jim O'Rourke with Sonic Youth. Others, like Phil Spector, Jimmy Miller, Rick Rubin, and Chris Thomas have generally stayed behind the controls instead of in front of them.Sometimes, examining the roster of talent a producer works with can be enlightening about the music. This playlist will attempt to credit the 20 most important/influential/interesting producers in rock history, and recommend a sample tune from their portfolio.Some of the most important/influential producers of the rock era include (in no strict order):1. Sam Phillips Credits: Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison Song: Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats: Rocket 88Before we begin, we have to acknowledge Sam Phillips' role in all this, as first rock 'n' roll producer ever. Without Sam Phillips, there would have probably been no rock 'n' roll, at least as we know it. Phillips opened Sun Studio in 1950; "Rocket 88", recorded at Sun and released on Chess in 1951, is generally considered by most musicologists as the very first rock 'n' roll song ever (featuring the pounding jump-blues piano of Ike Turner, then Chuck Berry's chief hometown rival, and ahead of Berry at this point in history). What makes it rock 'n' roll was an idea by Phillips. Guitarist Willie Kizart's amp was smashed when it fell off the roof of a car, breaking the speaker cone. It made Kizart's guitar sound like a saxophone. Phillips decided to use the amp, overamplify it, and use it as a rhythm track; the song had transformed itself from raunchy jump blues to rock 'n' roll. His work with Presley, Perkins, and the others was the very invention of rock too. He was equally at home with blues, r&b, and country; the central ingredients of rock 'n' roll.2. Rick Rubin Credits: The Beastie Boys, The Black Crowes, Johnny Cash, Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy Song: The Beastie Boys: Fight For Your RightFor sheer provocation, Rubin deserves mention. As a producer, he's one of the most distinctive, managing to bring out the heaviest metal sounds which he's always bridged with a dynamic rap/hip-hop sensibility. As a sideline, he rescues fading veterans with a "cut the crap" approach, usually taking a back-to-basics approach, and highlighting an upfront drum or the rhythm inherent in acoustic guitars. For overall influence, he's right up at the top of the list with anyone. "Fight For Your Right" was one of Rubin's first successes; he's listed as co-writer on it and all the tracks on the album. He was at the cutting edge into the 90's, and also revived Johnny Cash and Tom Petty's fortunes (and just rescued Neil Diamond from uncool obscurity). Since the 90's, he's been more hit-and-miss, but he's usually interesting; his recent metal work is better than his recent hip hop work.3. Brian Eno Credits: Talking Heads, U2, Devo, Ultravox, James Song: Talking Heads: Once In A LifetimeBrian Eno might not be the greatest rock producer, but his credits include some pretty notable albums, and his years as a musician, with Roxy Music, Robert Fripp, and solo, have given him a very distinctive approach to the music. His distinctive marks include keyboard textures that give albums like The Unforgettable Fire and Remain In Light their unifying character; he usually highlights percussion, favoring the polyrhythmic, and he's a firm believer in ambience; electronic or otherwise. His work with Daniel Lanois on U2's The Joshua Tree is probably what is most sonically appealing about that album, as integral as the band (with whom he also played keyboards). He has always kept within distance of the musical cutting edge, as a producer, performer, and intellect. "Once In A Lifetime" is one of the greatest singles ever; the production seemed to come from Mars when it was new. 25 years later, it still sounds fresh and vital.4. Butch VigCredits: Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Soul Asylum, Sonic Youth, Garbage Song: Nirvana: Come As You Are Drummer Butch Vig forever changed the face of rock with his production job on Nevermind, which took a relatively obscure, rough-sounding, punky-hillbilly sounding indie group and turned them into a gigantic, riff-heavy, heavy and jagged meteorite of hard rock encapsulated in pure crystal. Purists, like Nirvana themselves, claimed after the fact that Vig wasn't true to Nirvana's sound, but why should he have been? Nevermind is a great sounding record, and Siamese Dream was an equally good affirmation of his essential style. He favors mountains of loud, layered guitar texture and an almost clinical clarity of sound, in which every nuance is noticeable, regardless of the volume. Vig, after these early production successes, started performing as well, as drummer for Garbage.5. Daniel Lanois Credits: Brian Eno, U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, Martha and the Muffins Song: U2: A Sort of HomecomingLanois came up via Martha and the Muffins, a Canadian band his sister played bass in. Brian Eno discovered him and invited him to co-produce U2's The Unforgettable Fire in 1985; the two have frequently collaborated since. Lanois is also an accomplished guitarist, pedal steel player, and dobro player; he's released a number of interesting solo albums. As a producer, he's not dissimilar to Eno, except that he makes a point of employing more organic sounding instrumentation on many of his recordings in the service of a vaguely dreamscape-like sound. He most recently worked with Dashboard Confessional. 6. Jerry Wexler Credits: Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Ray Charles, The Drifters Song: Sam & Dave: Soul ManIf greatest producer can be chosen on the concept of best sounding records, Jerry Wexler has to be right up there. Wexler is perhaps best known in younger circles for his years at Stax, where he largely was responsible, along with Isaac Hayes, for the gritty, horn based Stax soul sound of the late 1960's. However, his influence dates all the way back to the mid 1950's at Atlantic Records, when he worked with Ray Charles and the Drifters. As a producer, he liked grit; he encouraged Charles to raunch it up a little, and his recordings at Stax emphasized the soul of the horns and vocals without overloading the productions with Spector or Motown style walls of sound.7. George Martin Credits: The Beatles, Paul McCartney, America Song: The Beatles: Being For The Benefit of Mr. KiteOften called the fifth Beatle, the title isn't too far off the mark. What made the Beatles great was the complexity of their music; given the fact that none of them could read music, this was a real achievement. Martin was the difference; he explained to the lads what could and couldn't be done on records, he carried out some of their more whimsical ideas, and came up with a few of his own. "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite" is one of many wild experiments. A Lennon song, its intensely psychedelic swirly sounds in the instruemental break is a tape of a circus calliope, sliced into pieces, tossed into the air, and spliced together however they fell, including backwards and upside-down. He didn't do much after the Beatles (California pop group America provided income, and the work wasn't very challenging); Paul McCartney brought him in to produce a couple of early 80's albums.8. Phil Spector Credits: The Ronettes, The Shirelles, The Angels, The Beatles, the Ramones Song: The Ronettes: Be My BabyGiven his biography and current events, there's not much one can do with Spector but shake their heads with regret. He had a hit as member of the Teddy Bears in 1957 with "To Know Him Is To Love Him" and was a millionaire producer before he turned twenty. His patented Wall of Sound involved using dozens of musicians and singers on a recording, filling every nanosecond with layers of sound, including instruments meant to be "felt, not heard". As a sound, it is truly grandiose, as any of the early 60's pop hits he produced will attest, perhaps the greatest is the Ronettes' "Be My Baby". The sound was out of style by 1966; kids wanted rock. His last great wall of sound production was on Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep Mountain High", a hair-raisingly stunning masterpiece that flopped, sending Spector into self-imposed seclusion. Spector's work was erratic ever since; his contribution to the Beatles' Let It Be (1970), John Lennon's Imagine (1971), and The Ramones' End Of The Century (1979) were his only significant credits since. Spector famously hated stereo, as did Brian Wilson, and mixed things for mono. A lifelong gun enthusiast who had a habit of pulling guns on people (including the Ramones, who didn't like it), he currently awaits trial for murder.9. Brian Wilson Credits: The Beach Boys Song: The Beach Boys: God Only KnowsWhile the passage of time makes it seem unlikely now, Brian Wilson was once at the cutting edge of music, and was in direct competition with the Beatles in defining state-of-the-art production technique in the 1960's, after Phil Spector's sound went out of fashion. Deaf in one ear, Wilson produced things in mono, which gives the Beach Boys' mid-60's records a surprisingly rich sound when compared to some of their contemporaries (including the Beatles in the U.S.), who were mixed for fake "processed" stereo. Wilson was a painstaking overdubber, and would find music in anything, from wind chimes to an old shoe. Pet Sounds will stand as the purest testament to his genius; the tapes to his orchestral, overdubbed, sound-effect laden follow-up, Smile, were famously destroyed in 1967 when Sgt. Pepper beat him to the punch; he descended into a decades-long battle with mental instability in its wake. He re-emerged several times since then, seeming a pitiable shadow of his former self; although in the 90's, he seemed to improve considerably. In 2004, amid a flurry of activity, he finally completed Smile and toured with it; he seemed functional, capable, and content. Smile reached #13 on the charts.10. Jimmy Miller Credits: The Rolling Stones, Traffic, Spencer Davis Group, The Plasmatics, Motorhead Song: The Rolling Stones: You Can't Always Get What You WantMiller was also a percussionist, and often played drums himself on his recordings; with the Rolling Stones he drums on "Honky Tonk Women" and provides the oomph to the drums on "You Can't Always Get What You Want". As such, his productions always highlighted the drums and percussion, and he'd add more when needed. He encouraged jamming; Traffic (and the Stones, with Mick Taylor) began to stretch out at his suggestion, and he insisted on good playing. Unfortunately a heroin addiction got him fired after Goat's Head Soup. He worked little after that; The Plasmatics and Motorhead were among his only significant credits, a long way down from the Stones; his addiction claimed his life in 1994. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" which even name drops him, is his masterpiece.11. Chris Thomas Credits: Sex Pistols, Procol Harum, Badfinger, The Pretenders, Roxy Music Song: Sex Pistols: Pretty VacantChris Thomas got his first taste of production working as an engineer on the Beatles' White Album, in 1968. From that great resume-starter he eventually had as much of a hand in creating new wave and punk as anyone. He produced art-rockers Roxy Music in the 70's as well as power-pop legends Badfinger, and then wound up at the controls for Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. Given the explosive nature of the group, it is remarkable how well he recorded them; the album stands as testimony to the band's greatness, largely via Thomas' efforts to make sure things were recorded right, and knowing what needed to be there and what didn't. Simplicity is the word best associated with Thomas, even during the art-rock years; his work with the Pretenders showed the Sex Pistols was no fluke.12. Steve Albini Credits: The Pixies, The Breeders, Tad, Nirvana, Helmet Song: The Pixies: GiganticBig Black guitarist Albini doesn't like to be called a "producer", he prefers the term "engineer" which usually refers to the sound guy who's in charge of making sure the equipment is functioning; the producer's right hand man. He makes this distinction because he dislikes the concept of producers leaving their mark; to Albini, recordings should be technically pure, capturing the band as it is, not as a producer hears it. As such, he's the polar opposite of a Butch Vig, which is why Nirvana went with Albini for In Utero. Albini certainly thinks like an engineer; his technique is to have the band play as he places mikes in all directions, capturing them from all angles. He doesn't like separate audio tracks for each instrument; which is contrary to conventional production technique. All of this contributes to the live ambience of "Gigantic", with its sqealing guitar feedback, crisp rhythm playing, and nuanced vocal from Kim Deal, who rarely took lead with the Pixies.13. Lee "Scratch" Perry Credits: Bob Marley, The Wailers, The Clash Song: Bob Marley & The Wailers: Punky Reggae PartyLee "Scratch" Perry, the 4 foot 11 inch titan of reggae and dub, belongs on this list for both the influence of his production, which along with the father of dub King Tubby, helped redefine reggae and create dub, and also his reputation as an absolute madman, one he shares with many names on this list. He manned the controls for the Wailers' best recordings, and released a countless amount of albums on which he produces and performs. Naturally, reggae beats, and the bass, are given emphasis, and turntable, stereo separation, echo, and other studio tricks are employed to give the music its dense, hallucinatory qualities. The Clash were big fans, and brought him in to produce, but his tracks ultimately weren't used in their produced form; the Clash remixed them to suit their own sound. "Punky Reggae Party" is a Perry/Marley nod to punk rock; one that helped cement The Clash's brief flirtation with Perry.14. George Clinton Credits: Funkadelic, Parliament Song: Funkadelic: The Wars of ArmageddonClinton's P-Funk empire had more influence on funk than almost any other artist has ever had in their own genre. Creating albums with vast amounts of cast members, Clinton put emphasis on the theatrical implications of music; bizarre sound effects were used, instruments were filtered and distorted, vocals borrowed from Gospel and doo wop and soul; lyrics worthy of the sleaziest underground comic were used, virtuoso playing was encouraged, and above all, the integrity of the funk was maintained; heavy oppressive beats that could get the unfunkiest listener shaking their ass. "The Wars of Armageddon" is notable for its wild production, which throws in soundbytes of arguments, screaming babies, flight annoucements, and echo techniques that make Eddie Hazel sound like he's playing guitar in a damp sewer, all in the service of a funky slab of misique concrete, he's gotta be up there on any list.15. Shel Talmy Credits: The Who, The Kinks, David Bowie, Pentangle, Small Faces Song: The Who: I Can't ExplainAmerican-born Shel Talmy was one of the best producers of the British Invasion, responsible for the signature sounds of the Who and the Kinks. Talmy was another character; he arrived in London pitching acetates of the Beach Boys, claiming to have produced them; he hadn't. As an American, Talmy's production ideas were a lot bolder and more primitive than those of his British contemporaries like George Martin; he favored raw sounds considered too untamed by most producers; as a result, those early Kinks and Who records still sound electric and vibrant today because of their raw, unairbrushed qualities; in some ways, he was the Steve Albini of his day. "I Can't Explain" is the Who at their raw, early best; with raunchy lead and richly-timbered power riffing. The drums and bass are kept more forward in the mix than the British were comfortable with, giving Keith Moon and John Entwistle as much spotlight as Townshend's guitar.16. Holland Dozier Holland Credits: The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, Junior Walker & The All-Stars Song: Martha and the Vandells: Nowhere To RunMotown's chief production and songwriting crew, Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier were assembled by label owner Berry Gordy in the early 60's after Eddie Holland's career as a performer failed to ignite. As songwriters, they wrote the lion's share of Motown classics in the 1960's by the top names on the roster. Their sound is synonymous with mid-60's Detroit soul sound; their chief competitor was Jerry Wexler over at Memphis-based Stax, and Atlantic records, with whom Stax merged; Stax pulled ahead of Motown in popularity at the end of the 60's. As producers they were very cutting edge, employing a Phil Spector style wall of sound and souping it up, playing with all kinds of studio devices. They generally worked with singers and musicians separately; as with most soul records, a crack in-house band was brought in to play behind the talent.17. Trevor Horn Credits: The Buggles, Yes, Seal, Paul McCartney, The Art of Noise Song: Yes: Owner Of A Lonely HeartTrevor Horn's first work of renown was the quirky 1978 novelty "Video Killed The Radio Star" an infectious piece of futuristic pop that employed electronics and peculiar vocal filters in the service of a radio-friendly sound (ironic, given its message) that also sounded like art-pop; its video was the first video ever shown on MTV, in 1982. He joined Yes for Drama in 1980, and moved to the producer's booth for the next two Yes albums, while also performing in and producing proto-electronica club-pop The Art of Noise. Horn, who is classically trained, likes cinematic bombast, but keeps it sleek; his work on "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" resulted in one of the most unlikely #1 hits ever in 1983, yet didn't betray Yes' essential prog-rock sound.18. John Cale Credits: The Stooges, Patti Smith, Sham 69, Squeeze, The Modern Lovers Song: Patti Smith: HorsesWelsh avant-garde and classical musician and viola player John Cale was a founding member of the Velvet Underground, which was the first serious deconstruction and subversion of rock music, which had essentially been party music for teens until 1966. He's kept up a well regarded but controversial and fiercely experimental solo career ever since, sometimes reuniting with Lou Reed. Along with his work as a performer, he also was a key figure behind the controls in the 1970's, and produced many of the seminal proto-punk acts of the day, including The Stooges and Patti Smith; his work with U.K. first-wave punk act Sham 69 gave him a foot in both punk universes. Minimalist is his way of life; clutter should be avoided, and pop structure can go out the window. Patti Smith's Horses, which has the spareness of garage rock and ignores all convention, is perhaps his best work as producer.19. Dave Edmunds Credits: The Fabulous Thunderbirds, k.d. lang, Stray Cats, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash Song: Stray Cats: Rock This TownSince his debut as part of Love Sculpture in 1967, Dave Edmunds has been rock's great traditionalist; generally avoiding all trends and fads and sticking with a roots-rock approach that has its roots in rockabilly, and rarely straying from there. While this approach has never made him a superstar, it has always kept him working, and his resume is lengthier than many others on this list. "Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats, which Edmunds co-wrote and produced, is an honest, by-the-numbers rockabilly with minimal concessions to modern tastes; it was a huge hit. Almost any record with Edmunds' name on it will be a consistently enjoyable listening experience; at his best, with the right musicians, he helps reinforce the very pillars of rock 'n' roll itself.20. Eddie Kramer Credits: Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Whitesnake, KISS, Anthrax Song: Kiss: Rock and Roll All NiteKramer, like Glyn Johns and Chris Thomas and many others, came to the producer's controls via a career as one of the best recording engineers in the business, engineering "Are You Experienced" by Jimi Hendrix and "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin, both works famous for their rich sonic play, which is largely the work of Kramer. There's no way to get all of his credits into a paragraph; if Kramer hasn't written a book, he ought to. As producer and engineer, he worked at the hot Electric Lady studios in Manhattan, where all of the cream of 70's rock came to record at some point in their careers. His engineering credits are much more remarkable than his production credits, but he produced some of the biggest albums in the 70's, helping to define the arena rock sound. His work on Alive and Love Gun brought Kiss' glammy hard rock out of the murk into sharper relief as arena rock overlords. Given what he had to work with, that alone is an achievement. His engineering skills came in handy on Frampton Comes Alive, too. Sunday Morning Playlist is a weekly featureListen to this playlist at FIQL.comBe sure to visit Freeway JamImage Shack hosts my images.

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