Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band first active, in various incarnations, from 1965 to 1973. Their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although never commercially successful while together, the band is often cited by many critics as one of the most important and influential groups of their era and to many future musicians.
The Velvet Underground was a part of the subcultural New York City art collective surrounding Andy Warhol’s Factory and his Exploding Plastic Inevitable events. The band’s music and lyrics challenged conventional societal standards of the time, and broke ground for other musicians to do the same. The band favored experimentation, and also introduced a nihilistic outlook through some of their music. Their outsider attitude and experimentation has since been cited as pivotal to the rise of punk rock and, later, alternative rock.
Their 1967 debut album, titled The Velvet Underground and Nico (which featured German singer Nico, with whom the band collaborated) was named the 13th Greatest Album of All Time, and the “most prophetic rock album ever made” by Rolling Stone in 2003.

Van Halen

Van Halen is a hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1974. They enjoyed success from the release of their self titled debut album in 1978. As of 2007, Van Halen has sold more than 80 million.
albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. During the 1980s they also

Van Halen during their 2008 tour From left to right: Wolfgang Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and Eddie Van Halen.

had more Billboard Hot 100 hits than any other hard rock or heavy metal band. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is the 20th best selling band/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the USA and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the USA. In 2008 they became one of the best paid acts in the world.

In addition to being recognized for success, the band is known for the drama surrounding the exits of former members. The (multiple) exits of singers David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar were surrounded in controversy and mass press coverage with various contrasting press statements between them and the band. More recently, Michael Anthony was kicked out of the band for controversial reasons. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2006, when new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen’s place was confirmed and Roth-reunion rumors began to re-surface coinciding with the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 12, 2007. After years of speculation, Van Halen began a tour with Roth in late 2007 across North America. The tour continued into 2008. An album was proposed to follow.  Along with this, a live tour DVD was announced at their May 13, 2008 concert at the Izod Center that would contain recordings from several performances on their current tour.

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock and pop group formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became

one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music.  During their years of international stardom, the group consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar,

The Beatles in 1964. Clockwise (from top-left): John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison

vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and skiffle, the group worked with different musical genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, style and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.
Returning to Liverpool following periods of Hamburg residency during 1960, 1961 and 1962, the group appointed Brian Epstein manager, and he negotiated a record contract with EMI’s George Martin; Epstein would manage the band until his death in 1967, and Martin produced all but one of the group’s studio albums. The single “Love Me Do” achieved UK chart success in late 1962. The group attracted fervent interest, termed “Beatlemania”, during tours of the UK and Europe throughout the next year. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” found US chart success at the close of 1963, spearheading the group’s international popularity, and they toured the US and other countries over the next three years. During this period, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were each honoured with an MBE. In 1966 the group found themselves mired in controversy, including widespread antipathy in the US after a magazine published a quote from Lennon’s remarks on Christianity. They ceased to perform commercial concerts after the 1966 US tour, concentrating instead on studio work and enjoying continued international chart success, which also earned them considerable acclaim as artists. In 1967, Epstein died from an overdose of a prescription drug. The group began a three-month retreat in India, treating Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as their guru for a short time, but became disillusioned with him. Increasingly dominated by conflict, and further alienated from one another by a disagreement about the appointment of a new financial adviser, the group disintegrated in 1970. All four members embarked upon successful solo careers. Nearly four decades after the breakup, Beatles music continues to be popular, and September 2009 saw the release of a newly remastered discography as well as the video game The Beatles: Rock Band.
The Beatles sold between 600 million and one billion records internationally. In the United Kingdom they released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one, earning more number one albums (15) than any other group in UK chart history. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, they have sold more albums in the United States than any other artist.  In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number one in its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,  and four of their albums appeared in the top ten of the magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. According to that same magazine, The Beatles’ innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on
pop culture is still evident today. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of top-selling Hot 100 artists to celebrate the chart’s fiftieth anniversary, with The Beatles at number one.  The Beatles were collectively included in Time magazine’s list of The Most Important People of the

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup. Stewart, deemed

The Rolling Stones (L-R): Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards

unsuitable as a teen idol, was removed from the official lineup in 1963 but continued to work with the band as road manager and keyboardist until his death in 1985.
Early in the band’s history Fagget and Richards formed a songwriting partnership and gradually took over leadership of the band from the increasingly troubled and erratic Jones. At first the group recorded mainly covers of American blues and R&B songs, but since the 1966 album Aftermath, their releases have mainly featured Jagger/Richards songs. Mick Taylor replaced an incapacitated Jones shortly before Jones’s death in 1969. Taylor quit in 1974, and was replaced in 1975 by Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood, who has remained with the band ever since. Wyman left the Rolling Stones in 1992; bassist Darryl Jones, who is not an official band member, has worked with the group since 1994.
First popular in the UK and Europe, The Rolling Stones came to the US during the early 1960s “British Invasion”. The Rolling Stones have released 22 studio albums in the UK (24 in the US), eight concert albums (nine in the US) and numerous compilations; and have album sales estimated at more than 200 million worldwide.  Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums that charted at number one in the United States. Their latest album, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. In 1989 The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 they were ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Their image of unkempt and surly youth is one that many musicians.

Slipknot

Slipknot is an American rock band from Des Moines, Iowa, formed in 1995. Slipknot consists of nine members, the current band members are Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson, and Corey Taylor. Each member of the band wears a unique mask.
Slipknot formed in 1995 and underwent several line-up changes following the independent release of their first demo Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. in 1996. That album featured original lead vocalist, Anders Colsefini. Their self-titled, major label debut, Slipknot, was released in 1999, featuring permanent new lead vocalist, Corey Taylor, and was followed by Iowa in 2001 and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) in 2004. On August 25, 2008, the band returned to release their fourth studio album, All Hope Is Gone, which debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 charts. The band has released three DVDs, including Disasterpieces, which was certified quadruple-platinum in the United States.

Slipknot performing at 2008's Mayhem Festival.

The band’s image has started controversy over the years. A portion of the controversy comes from the band Mushroomhead, who, along with their fans, claim that Slipknot stole their image.  In 2005, another source of controversy was the band’s lawsuit against Burger King, claiming that company created the advertising based band Coq Roq to capitalize on Slipknot’s image. The band’s lawyer claimed that Burger King had contacted the band’s label to get Slipknot to take part in an “advertising campaign designed to motivate young people to vote”.  Burger King responded to the suit with a countersuit, and in that suit pointed out that many other bands, such as Mudvayne, Kiss, and Gwar have used masks as part of their image, although after private discussions the advertising campaign was dropped.

Steelheart

Steelheart is one of the last glam metal bands. Formed in 1990, the band is fronted by vocalist Michael Matijevic, and is noted for its use of Matijevic’s wide vocal range.

Steelheart started off as a rock band called Red Alert whose members included James Ward (bass), Chris Risola (guitars), Jack Wilkenson (drums) and after auditioning, Michael Matijevic on vocals. Frank DiCostanzo joined as a second guitarist and John Fowler replaced Jack Wilkenson on drums, after leaving the band Rage of Angels. Recording a four-track demo tape, Matijevic managed to meet artist manager Stan Poses. However, Poses wasn’t interested, despite this Matijevic persevered and eventually was given a scribbled address. The next day, Stan Poses had the demo tape, within an hour of hearing it, Matijevic received a phone call confirming that “Red Alert” had just been given a contract with MCA records. Realizing that the Red Alert name was already taken, the band settled on Steelheart allegedly because of their attitude after trying to get a record deal for so long.

Ramones

The Ramones were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, all of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname “Ramone”, though none of them were actually related.

The Ramones performing in Oslo on August 30, 1980

They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years.  In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell show and disbanded. A little more than eight years after the breakup, the band’s three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—were dead.
The Ramones were a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom, though they achieved only minor commercial success. Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania.   Recognition of the band’s importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time  and VH1′s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.  In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles.  On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.