Unabashedly crude, intensely emotional, and calculated to exhilarate and offend, the Sex Pistols' music and stance were in direct opposition to the star trappings and complacency that, by the mid-Seventies, had rendered much of rock & roll stagnant. Over the course of their short, turbulent existence, the group released a single studio album that changed the course of popular music. While the Sex Pistols were not the first punk rockers (that distinction probably goes to the Stooges), they were the most widely identified with the genre — and, to appearances, the most threatening. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols unquestionably ranks as one of the most important rock & roll records ever, its sound a raw, snarling, yet mesmerizing rejection of and challenge to not only rock & roll music and culture but a modern world that offered, as Rotten sang in "God Save the Queen," "no future."
The Sex Pistols were the brainchild of young entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren. The owner of a London clothes boutique, Sex, which specialized in "anti-fashion," McLaren had conceived the idea of a rock & roll act that would challenge every established notion of propriety when, in 1975, he found himself managing the New York Dolls in their final months as a group. A part-time employee of Sex, Glen Matlock, played bass with Paul Cook and Steve Jones; he let McLaren know they were looking for a singer. McLaren approached 19-year-old John Lydon, whom he had seen hanging around the jukebox at Sex and who was known mainly for his rudeness.
Lydon had never sung before, but he accepted the invitation and thoroughly impressed the others with his scabrous charisma. McLaren had found his act, which he named the Sex Pistols. Allegedly, Lydon's disregard for personal hygiene prompted Jones to dub him Johnny Rotten. Ten minutes into their first gig at a suburban art school dance on November 6, 1975, the school's social programmer literally pulled the plug. In the early months of 1976, McLaren's carefully cultivated word-of-mouth about the Sex Pistols made the band the leader of the nascent punk movement. Their gigs inspired the formation of the Clash, Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and countless other rebel groups in the second half of the Seventies.
The press and the record industry ignored the Sex Pistols at first, but by the end of the summer the uproar — both acclamatory and denunciatory — was too loud to be ignored. In November EMI outbid Polydor with a recording contract worth £40,000. The Sex Pistols' first single, "Anarchy in the U.K.," was released in December. That month the band used the word "fucker" in a nationally televised interview. The consequent outrage led promoters and local authorities to cancel all but five of the dates scheduled on the group's national tour and EMI to withdraw "Anarchy in the U.K." (Number 38 on the U.K. chart in January 1977) from circulation and terminate its contract with the Sex Pistols.
In March, Matlock left to form the Rich Kids and was replaced by John Richie, a previously nonmusical friend of Rotten, who named him Sid Vicious. That same month A&M signed the Pistols for £150,000; just a week later the company fired them for a balance payment of £75,000. In May Virgin signed the Pistols and released their second single, "God Save the Queen," timed to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee that June. The song was immediately banned from airplay in England. Nonetheless it was a top-selling single (cited as a blank at the Number Two position on official charts, listed as Number One on independent charts).
In late 1977, the band released Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, which was full of angry anthems ("Pretty Vacant," "No Feelings") ragged guitar ¬riffs, and Rotten's mocking, scornful vocals. When no British hall would book the Pistols, the group went abroad — to the continental Europe in July and to the U.S. in December. In America the band were mostly met with curiosity, which turned to hostility when the group made only halfhearted attempts to live up to its reputation for savagery. Rotten was characteristically critical of the sensationalism and opportunism that had been attached to the Pistols (for which he blamed McLaren), and on January 14, 1978, immediately after a concert in San Francisco, he announced the breakup of the group.
Jones and Cook remained active in the punk movement and formed the Professionals; Jones materialized in the mid-Eighties in the hard rock band Chequered Past, featuring former Blondie rhythm section Nigel Harrison and Clem Burke, ex-Iggy Pop sideman Tony Sales, and veteran glam singer Michael des Barres. Vicious initiated a haphazard solo career, which ended when he was imprisoned in New York on charges of stabbing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death in their Chelsea Hotel room. He died of a heroin overdose while out on bail before he could be tried.
Dismissing the Sex Pistols as "a farce" and reverting to his given name, Lydon went on to form Public Image, Ltd, which went on to score six albums in the U.K. Top Forty. In 1986 the surviving members of the Sex Pistols, along with Vicious' mother, won a lawsuit against McLaren, charging he had tied up their royalties in two management companies. The plaintiffs were later awarded approximately $1.44 million. That same year, the critically acclaimed Alex Cox film Sid and Nancy was released.
In 1996 all four original members reunited to embark on a world tour, including Europe, North and South America, Japan, and Australia, dubbed the Filthy Lucre Tour. The Sex Pistols, uncharacteristically "professional" onstage, nonetheless attacked the old repertoire with a fury. Filthy Lucre Live, which documented the re-formed band's London performance, was released in the States in time for the tour's U.S. arrival. In 2000 Julien Temple's The Filth and the Fury documentary on the Pistols included some of the footage originally released as The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle in 1980.
Jones debuted Jonesy's Jukebox, a successful L.A. radio show, in 2004; Rotten, meanwhile, appeared on a British reality show as well as his own Discovery Channel nature series. Though the group still reforms for the occasional short-lived tour, one live gig they didn't make was the 2006 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony: Before the Sex Pistols could be inducted, the band members posted a message on their website, saying "were [sic] not your monkeys." The band reunited again to play a handful of shows in late 2007 and in 2008 embarked on a European summer festival tour called the "Sex Pistols: Combine Harvester Tour."
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Robert Plant - Special Biography
Robert Plant was the shrieking, swaggering golden god at the center of Led Zeppelin's titanic hard-rock sound. An archetypal frontman with razor-sharp phrasing and world-class pipes, he also co-wrote many of Zeppelin's greatest songs, including "Stairway to Heaven" and "Good Time Bad Times." Plant's post-Zep career hasn't always been filled with commercial success. But artistically he's held his own, making interesting choices in repertoire and coming up with several cool collaborations, and his work with country singer Allison Krauss made 2007's Raising Sand an out-of-the-blue smash.
Born in 1948, as a child Plant would hide behind the curtains of his living room and sing Elvis Presley songs. It was in high school that he fell for American blues singers such Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson. He started singing with local blues groups in the Midlands section of Britain and met up with drummer John Bonham. When ex-Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page was putting together a new band, he was rebuffed by singer Terry Reid. Plant was there to step in, and he brought Bonham with him. Bassist John Paul Jones rounded out the band, deemed Led Zeppelin. In short, they basically lorded over the hard rock world from 1969 to 1980.
After Zep's demise (due to Bonham's death in 1980), Plant produced a series of progressive albums that have been critical and commercial successes. In the 1980s and 1990s, he has been more interested in hip-hop, punk and world music than the heavy metal or classic rock of Zeppelin imitators. He just didn't want to look back.
But when he did look back, he went all the way. One of his first post-Zep musical adventures was a series of jam sessions that featured swing and rockabilly with a bunch of pals who worked under the name the Honeydrippers. Plant has a knack for bringing the 1950s rock & roll dialect to life, and although it took until 1984 for the band to release an EP, the band brought the pleasure of that sound to foreground. "Sea of Love" was a ballad that reached Number 3 on the charts. The old school approach was a far cry from his more formal work of the era; his first two solo discs Pictures at 11 (Number 5, 1982) and The Principle of Moments (Number 8, 1983) were modern in their attack. With lithe guitars and a huge drum sound, they spun away from the Zep vernacular without entirely refuting it. Indeed, the Zep sound has never been too far away from the singer. The old crew (Page, Plant, and Zep bassist John Paul Jones) made an appearance together at 1985's Live Aid benefit show.
Synths met grooves on that year's Shaken 'n' Stirred (Number 20), which found Little Feat's funky drummer Richie Hayward assisting. Plant's material was moving away from the mainstream, but the trajectory was intriguing. Another collaboration, one that would remain strong for years, was with keyboardist Phil Johnstone. Together they constructed the bulk of Now and Zen (Number 6, 1988) featuring the impressive "Tall Cool One," a track that boasted a guitar solo from Page and samples of Zep songs. It was later used in a Coca-Cola commercial. Manic Nirvana (Number 13, 1990) was similar in feel to its predecessor.
It was on Fate Of Nations (1993) that Plant returned to some of the more folksy and cosmic music that had always been the mellow side of Zep's thunder. He spoke of being inspired by the rediscovery of 1960s West Coast groups, such as Moby Grape (in 1998 Plant worked with the Flaming Lips on a track for a tribute disc to the Grape's Skip Spence). Celtic singer Maire Brennan and guitarist Richard Thompson were noted guests. Tim Hardin's folkie jewel "If I Were a Carpenter" was the lead track.
In 1994 Page and Plant put their intermittent differences aside to record No Quarter in Wales, Morocco, and London, where Unledded, the MTV Unplugged special, was taped. With a mix of Zep classics ("The Battle of Evermore") and new songs, the album featured musicians from Marrakech, India, and Egypt. Page and Plant embarked on a 1995 tour to promote the album.
In 1998 Page and Plant released Walking Into Clarksdale, the first album of new material they had recorded together in two decades. "Most High" recalled Zep's hypnotic "Kashmir," but the album (its title an allusion to the cradle of the Delta blues) was more wistful than fierce.
In the same way that he sounded utterly convincing singing the ancient blues tunes on the first Zep disc, Plant was remarkably at home in the cover songs of his next disc, Dreamland. Forward-thinking, his spins on tunes by the Youngbloods, Tim Buckley, and Bob Dylan were powerful and evocative. It's follow-up, 2005's Mighty Rearranger was a cosmopolitan affair, flecked with drama, spirituality and an array of beats and textures that stretched from New Orleans to North Africa. Plant was in an ambitious mood, and he pulled it off nicely.
Led Zeppelin reunited on December 10th, 2007, at a London concert in honor of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegün. With Jason Bonham on drums, the band performed 16 songs. The performance sparked speculation that more reunion shows—and possibly even a worldwide tour—might be in the works, but Plant's support of his successful Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand may have gotten in the way; Jones and Page did get together with drummer Taylor Hawkins and the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, however, to perform a few Zeppelin songs live in London in 2008. Persistent subsequent rumors suggested that Jones, Page, and Jason Bonham might be on the verge of recording with a new singer, but no such group ever materialized.
Raising Sand (Number 2, 2007), meanwhile, turned out to be a major album for Plant. A program of folk, twang, and R&B produced by T-Bone Burnett, it made a case for Plant and Krauss as expert interpreters of American vernacular music. They spent a good chunk of 2008 touring the material around the world, and at the 2009 Grammy Awards, Raising Sand grabbed its fair share of nods, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Country Collaboration with Vocals, and Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. Its success gave Plant the most mainstream visibility he's had in ages, including an interview with Charlie Rose, and the album went platinum.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Born in 1948, as a child Plant would hide behind the curtains of his living room and sing Elvis Presley songs. It was in high school that he fell for American blues singers such Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson. He started singing with local blues groups in the Midlands section of Britain and met up with drummer John Bonham. When ex-Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page was putting together a new band, he was rebuffed by singer Terry Reid. Plant was there to step in, and he brought Bonham with him. Bassist John Paul Jones rounded out the band, deemed Led Zeppelin. In short, they basically lorded over the hard rock world from 1969 to 1980.
After Zep's demise (due to Bonham's death in 1980), Plant produced a series of progressive albums that have been critical and commercial successes. In the 1980s and 1990s, he has been more interested in hip-hop, punk and world music than the heavy metal or classic rock of Zeppelin imitators. He just didn't want to look back.
But when he did look back, he went all the way. One of his first post-Zep musical adventures was a series of jam sessions that featured swing and rockabilly with a bunch of pals who worked under the name the Honeydrippers. Plant has a knack for bringing the 1950s rock & roll dialect to life, and although it took until 1984 for the band to release an EP, the band brought the pleasure of that sound to foreground. "Sea of Love" was a ballad that reached Number 3 on the charts. The old school approach was a far cry from his more formal work of the era; his first two solo discs Pictures at 11 (Number 5, 1982) and The Principle of Moments (Number 8, 1983) were modern in their attack. With lithe guitars and a huge drum sound, they spun away from the Zep vernacular without entirely refuting it. Indeed, the Zep sound has never been too far away from the singer. The old crew (Page, Plant, and Zep bassist John Paul Jones) made an appearance together at 1985's Live Aid benefit show.
Synths met grooves on that year's Shaken 'n' Stirred (Number 20), which found Little Feat's funky drummer Richie Hayward assisting. Plant's material was moving away from the mainstream, but the trajectory was intriguing. Another collaboration, one that would remain strong for years, was with keyboardist Phil Johnstone. Together they constructed the bulk of Now and Zen (Number 6, 1988) featuring the impressive "Tall Cool One," a track that boasted a guitar solo from Page and samples of Zep songs. It was later used in a Coca-Cola commercial. Manic Nirvana (Number 13, 1990) was similar in feel to its predecessor.
It was on Fate Of Nations (1993) that Plant returned to some of the more folksy and cosmic music that had always been the mellow side of Zep's thunder. He spoke of being inspired by the rediscovery of 1960s West Coast groups, such as Moby Grape (in 1998 Plant worked with the Flaming Lips on a track for a tribute disc to the Grape's Skip Spence). Celtic singer Maire Brennan and guitarist Richard Thompson were noted guests. Tim Hardin's folkie jewel "If I Were a Carpenter" was the lead track.
In 1994 Page and Plant put their intermittent differences aside to record No Quarter in Wales, Morocco, and London, where Unledded, the MTV Unplugged special, was taped. With a mix of Zep classics ("The Battle of Evermore") and new songs, the album featured musicians from Marrakech, India, and Egypt. Page and Plant embarked on a 1995 tour to promote the album.
In 1998 Page and Plant released Walking Into Clarksdale, the first album of new material they had recorded together in two decades. "Most High" recalled Zep's hypnotic "Kashmir," but the album (its title an allusion to the cradle of the Delta blues) was more wistful than fierce.
In the same way that he sounded utterly convincing singing the ancient blues tunes on the first Zep disc, Plant was remarkably at home in the cover songs of his next disc, Dreamland. Forward-thinking, his spins on tunes by the Youngbloods, Tim Buckley, and Bob Dylan were powerful and evocative. It's follow-up, 2005's Mighty Rearranger was a cosmopolitan affair, flecked with drama, spirituality and an array of beats and textures that stretched from New Orleans to North Africa. Plant was in an ambitious mood, and he pulled it off nicely.
Led Zeppelin reunited on December 10th, 2007, at a London concert in honor of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegün. With Jason Bonham on drums, the band performed 16 songs. The performance sparked speculation that more reunion shows—and possibly even a worldwide tour—might be in the works, but Plant's support of his successful Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand may have gotten in the way; Jones and Page did get together with drummer Taylor Hawkins and the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, however, to perform a few Zeppelin songs live in London in 2008. Persistent subsequent rumors suggested that Jones, Page, and Jason Bonham might be on the verge of recording with a new singer, but no such group ever materialized.
Raising Sand (Number 2, 2007), meanwhile, turned out to be a major album for Plant. A program of folk, twang, and R&B produced by T-Bone Burnett, it made a case for Plant and Krauss as expert interpreters of American vernacular music. They spent a good chunk of 2008 touring the material around the world, and at the 2009 Grammy Awards, Raising Sand grabbed its fair share of nods, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Country Collaboration with Vocals, and Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. Its success gave Plant the most mainstream visibility he's had in ages, including an interview with Charlie Rose, and the album went platinum.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Rush - Special Biography
With an unmistakable sound melding Geddy Lee's freakishly high-pitched vocals, Alex Lifeson's high-cholesterol guitar heroics and Neil Peart's ultra-complex drumming, this Canadian power trio are one of the most beloved progressive rock bands ever. In Rush songs, instruments wrap themselves around intricate, often epic-length musical structures that carry Peart's often mythological and philosophical lyrics. Once dismissed by critics out of hand (one Seventies writer said Lee sings "like a cross between Donald Duck and Robert Plant"), the band have since become respected rock elder statesman.
Rush's initial success was based on diligent touring, as the group established itself first in Canada and then the northern U.S., then gradually expanded its following despite limited airplay. The futuristic concept album 2112 (Number 61, 1976) made Rush a late-Seventies force to be reckoned with.
But a tentative accommodation with new wave pop structures, beginning with Permanent Waves (Number Four, 1980) caused the trio's popularity to soar. The album, Rush's eighth, marked a departure with its shorter compositions, which characterized the band's work into the Nineties.
The platinum Signals (Number Ten, 1982) introduced a refined sound: shimmering guitar similar to the Police's Andy Summers', warm synthesizer backdrops and, most notably, relatively subdued vocals from Lee, who by then sang in a lower register. That remained the blueprint for Rush's music throughout the Eighties and early Nineties.
Each of Rush's five albums through 1985's Power Windows sold at least one million copies, with Moving Pictures (Number Three, 1981) moving more than four million. While Rush remained the antithesis of a singles band, Signals produced an actual hit, "New World Man" (Number 21, 1982).
The group lowered its profile somewhat later in the decade, scaling back on touring. Yet the albums, from 1987's Hold Your FireDifferent Stages—Live (Number 35) still sold steadily. Counterparts (Number Two, 1993) recalled Rush's earlier, earthier sound, with Lifeson once again the instrumental focus.
The band then went on an eighteen-month hiatus. Peart worked on a tribute album to drummer Buddy Rich. With guest help from Primus' Les Claypool, Lifeson made an album under the name Victor. Nevertheless, Rush's next studio offering, Test for Echo, leaped to Number Five in 1996.
In 1998 the trio went on sabbatical again. Peart had lost his 19-year-old daughter in an automobile accident and wife to cancer, both within a year. The drummer coped with his grief by riding his motorcycle from Canada to Mexico. During that period, Lee recorded his solo debut, 2000's My Favorite Headache.
In 2001 the trio reconvened to begin work on Vapor Trails (Number Six, 2002). Rush followed with a tour and the live album Rush in Rio (Number 33, 2003), recorded in Brazil, where the trio is massively popular. In 2007 the band released Snakes & Arrows, which rocketed to Number Three, capped once again by an extensive tour and another concert album, Snakes & Arrows Live (Number 18, 2008).
Rush have altered more than just music over the years. Once perceived as a rather dour bunch (due largely to Peart's often weighty lyrics), Rush has long since revealed a sly sense of humor. In 1982 Lee sang on the Top Twenty hit "Take Off," by Bob and Doug McKenzie, the Canadian-bumpkin satire roles of Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis of the Canadian-based comedy show SCTV. Another SCTV character, Joe Flaherty's Count Floyd, introduced Rush via video during the trio's 1984 tour.
In 2007, Rush introduced its most famous song, "Tom Sawyer," with a South Park parody on huge screens; a year later, Stephen Colbert interviewed the band on The Colbert Report. The band often takes the stage to such pre-recorded self-deprecating bits as the Three Stooges theme or Pavement's "Stereo," which pokes fun at Lee's high-pitched vocals. And in 2009, Rush even showed up at an event promoting the Hollywood bromance I Love You Man, about two guys who find friendship thanks to their shared love of — who else? — Rush.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Rush's initial success was based on diligent touring, as the group established itself first in Canada and then the northern U.S., then gradually expanded its following despite limited airplay. The futuristic concept album 2112 (Number 61, 1976) made Rush a late-Seventies force to be reckoned with.
But a tentative accommodation with new wave pop structures, beginning with Permanent Waves (Number Four, 1980) caused the trio's popularity to soar. The album, Rush's eighth, marked a departure with its shorter compositions, which characterized the band's work into the Nineties.
The platinum Signals (Number Ten, 1982) introduced a refined sound: shimmering guitar similar to the Police's Andy Summers', warm synthesizer backdrops and, most notably, relatively subdued vocals from Lee, who by then sang in a lower register. That remained the blueprint for Rush's music throughout the Eighties and early Nineties.
Each of Rush's five albums through 1985's Power Windows sold at least one million copies, with Moving Pictures (Number Three, 1981) moving more than four million. While Rush remained the antithesis of a singles band, Signals produced an actual hit, "New World Man" (Number 21, 1982).
The group lowered its profile somewhat later in the decade, scaling back on touring. Yet the albums, from 1987's Hold Your FireDifferent Stages—Live (Number 35) still sold steadily. Counterparts (Number Two, 1993) recalled Rush's earlier, earthier sound, with Lifeson once again the instrumental focus.
The band then went on an eighteen-month hiatus. Peart worked on a tribute album to drummer Buddy Rich. With guest help from Primus' Les Claypool, Lifeson made an album under the name Victor. Nevertheless, Rush's next studio offering, Test for Echo, leaped to Number Five in 1996.
In 1998 the trio went on sabbatical again. Peart had lost his 19-year-old daughter in an automobile accident and wife to cancer, both within a year. The drummer coped with his grief by riding his motorcycle from Canada to Mexico. During that period, Lee recorded his solo debut, 2000's My Favorite Headache.
In 2001 the trio reconvened to begin work on Vapor Trails (Number Six, 2002). Rush followed with a tour and the live album Rush in Rio (Number 33, 2003), recorded in Brazil, where the trio is massively popular. In 2007 the band released Snakes & Arrows, which rocketed to Number Three, capped once again by an extensive tour and another concert album, Snakes & Arrows Live (Number 18, 2008).
Rush have altered more than just music over the years. Once perceived as a rather dour bunch (due largely to Peart's often weighty lyrics), Rush has long since revealed a sly sense of humor. In 1982 Lee sang on the Top Twenty hit "Take Off," by Bob and Doug McKenzie, the Canadian-bumpkin satire roles of Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis of the Canadian-based comedy show SCTV. Another SCTV character, Joe Flaherty's Count Floyd, introduced Rush via video during the trio's 1984 tour.
In 2007, Rush introduced its most famous song, "Tom Sawyer," with a South Park parody on huge screens; a year later, Stephen Colbert interviewed the band on The Colbert Report. The band often takes the stage to such pre-recorded self-deprecating bits as the Three Stooges theme or Pavement's "Stereo," which pokes fun at Lee's high-pitched vocals. And in 2009, Rush even showed up at an event promoting the Hollywood bromance I Love You Man, about two guys who find friendship thanks to their shared love of — who else? — Rush.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Rainbow - Special Biography
The brainchild of former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, Rainbow quickly developed into one of the '70s most successful heavy metal bands behind charismatic front man Ronnie James Dio. Together, the duo would produce a string of acclaimed albums which are still considered classics of the genre. But the group would change their musical approach numerous times following the singer's departure, eventually confusing and alienating much of their audience.
Releasing eight albums during it's decade long run, the band finally came to an end when Blackmore departed to rejoin his old Deep Purple comrades in a full-fledged reunion in 1984. And while the impact of Rainbow's influence has faded with the intervening decades, theirs was a crucial chapter in the development of heavy metal and hard rock. Disillusioned and fed up with the chaotic state of Deep Purple in the mid-'70s, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore made the stunning announcement in May of 1975 that he was quitting the group he had founded and led for over seven years in order to start from scratch.
Teaming up with up-and-coming American vocalist Ronnie James Dio, Blackmore built Rainbow around the singer's former band Elf, minus their guitarist David Feinstein. Featuring bassist Craig Gruber, keyboard player Mickey Lee Soule, and drummer Gary Driscoll, the group's 1975 debut Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was quickly embraced by European fans and yielded their first hit single, "Man on the Silver Mountain." Blackmore and Dio were dissatisfied with the album's sound, however, and decided to re-vamp Rainbow (by then sufficiently established to do without Blackmore's name) by drafting bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboard player Tony Carey, and former Jeff Beck Group drummer Cozy Powell.
It was with this lineup that they entered Musicland studios in February 1976 to record the landmark Rising opus -- once voted the greatest heavy metal album of all time in a 1981 Kerrang! magazine readers' poll. Capturing Blackmore and Dio at the peak of their creative powers, Rising chronicled both the guitarist's neo-classical metal compositions at their most ambitious, and the singer's growing fixation with fantasy lyrical themes -- a blueprint he would adopt for his entire career thereafter. Following its release, the band embarked upon a successful world tour, culminating in a sold out European jaunt which spawned a best-selling live album entitled On Stage, released in 1977.
By the time they returned with the equally acclaimed Long Live Rock'n'Roll album in 1978 (featuring bassist Bob Daisley and keyboard player David Stone), Rainbow had established themselves as one of Europe's best-selling groups and top concert draws. But the volatile relationship between Blackmore and Dio had already begun to deteriorate, as the American-born singer became increasingly frustrated of standing in the guitarist's shadow -- even in his own country, where the group was now fully committed to breaking big. To make matters worse, Blackmore had been so impressed with "Long Live Rock'n'Roll"'s success as a single, that he began to consider altering the band's sound in order to pursue a more mainstream hard rock approach (a direction which Dio wanted no part of).
A chance meeting with Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath (only recently divorced for good from unreliable front man Ozzy Osbourne) helped the singer make up his mind, and Dio officially quit Rainbow in early 1979 to join the Sabs. Finding a suitable replacement for the charismatic singer proved a serious dilemma, and when Blackmore eventually recruited former Marbles vocalist Graham Bonnett, his decision came with an all-around re-tooling of Rainbow's sound, not to mention, once again, the band's membership, which now included former Deep Purple cohort Roger Glover and keyboard player Don Airey.
With the release of 1979's Down to Earth, gone were the mystical themes and epic metal compositions, replaced by a more streamlined commercial hard rock style. But despite containing two of Rainbow's biggest singles, "All Night Long" and "Since You've been Gone" (the second, written by former Argent singer Russ Ballard), the album sputtered in stores, selling far less than the group's previous, Dio-fronted efforts. Bonnett also failed to meet Blackmore's lofty expectations on stage, and after a single, disastrously drunken performance at the inaugural Castle Donington Monsters of Rock Festival in the summer of 1980, the singer was unceremoniously given the boot.
Once again strapped for a vocalist, Blackmore found his man in American singer Joe Lynn Turner, who along with new drummer Bobby Rondinelli signaled a true career rebirth for Rainbow. Wishing to shed the group's overblown, Dio-associated Euro-metal sound of days past once and for all, the new Rainbow lineup was made to order for another bid at widespread acceptance in America. The first product of this new direction, 1981's well received Difficult to Cure helped the group regain some of their momentum and yielded their highest-charting single ever, another Russ Ballard-penned track entitled "I Surrender."
In fact, the record's title track -- a sprawling, ten-minute metallic blitzkrieg through Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 -- was the only throwback to Rainbow's highbrow metal origins. Released in 1982, Straight Between the Eyes failed to chart any successful singles, however, and the band's appeal began to nose-dive, along with Blackmore's increasingly uninventive, risk-free song writing. 1983's Bent out of Shape (featuring new members in keyboard player David Rosenthal and drummer Chuck Burgi) fared no better, and after accepting the fact that Rainbow's best days were behind them, Blackmore finally relented to take part in the long-rumored and hoped for re-formation of Deep Purple's classic Mark II lineup.
Typically, the guitarist refused to go out quietly, and Rainbow were backed by a full symphony orchestra for their final March 1984 performance in Japan. A posthumous live release, entitled Finyl Vinyl, was compiled in 1986, and though he would briefly resurrect the Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow moniker after quitting Purple for the second time in 1994 (even recording an album called Stranger in Us All"), this incarnation would be short-lived.
Blackmore was last heard from performing with his purported fiancé Candice Night in the medieval folk duo Blackmore's Night.
by Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Releasing eight albums during it's decade long run, the band finally came to an end when Blackmore departed to rejoin his old Deep Purple comrades in a full-fledged reunion in 1984. And while the impact of Rainbow's influence has faded with the intervening decades, theirs was a crucial chapter in the development of heavy metal and hard rock. Disillusioned and fed up with the chaotic state of Deep Purple in the mid-'70s, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore made the stunning announcement in May of 1975 that he was quitting the group he had founded and led for over seven years in order to start from scratch.
Teaming up with up-and-coming American vocalist Ronnie James Dio, Blackmore built Rainbow around the singer's former band Elf, minus their guitarist David Feinstein. Featuring bassist Craig Gruber, keyboard player Mickey Lee Soule, and drummer Gary Driscoll, the group's 1975 debut Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was quickly embraced by European fans and yielded their first hit single, "Man on the Silver Mountain." Blackmore and Dio were dissatisfied with the album's sound, however, and decided to re-vamp Rainbow (by then sufficiently established to do without Blackmore's name) by drafting bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboard player Tony Carey, and former Jeff Beck Group drummer Cozy Powell.
It was with this lineup that they entered Musicland studios in February 1976 to record the landmark Rising opus -- once voted the greatest heavy metal album of all time in a 1981 Kerrang! magazine readers' poll. Capturing Blackmore and Dio at the peak of their creative powers, Rising chronicled both the guitarist's neo-classical metal compositions at their most ambitious, and the singer's growing fixation with fantasy lyrical themes -- a blueprint he would adopt for his entire career thereafter. Following its release, the band embarked upon a successful world tour, culminating in a sold out European jaunt which spawned a best-selling live album entitled On Stage, released in 1977.
By the time they returned with the equally acclaimed Long Live Rock'n'Roll album in 1978 (featuring bassist Bob Daisley and keyboard player David Stone), Rainbow had established themselves as one of Europe's best-selling groups and top concert draws. But the volatile relationship between Blackmore and Dio had already begun to deteriorate, as the American-born singer became increasingly frustrated of standing in the guitarist's shadow -- even in his own country, where the group was now fully committed to breaking big. To make matters worse, Blackmore had been so impressed with "Long Live Rock'n'Roll"'s success as a single, that he began to consider altering the band's sound in order to pursue a more mainstream hard rock approach (a direction which Dio wanted no part of).
A chance meeting with Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath (only recently divorced for good from unreliable front man Ozzy Osbourne) helped the singer make up his mind, and Dio officially quit Rainbow in early 1979 to join the Sabs. Finding a suitable replacement for the charismatic singer proved a serious dilemma, and when Blackmore eventually recruited former Marbles vocalist Graham Bonnett, his decision came with an all-around re-tooling of Rainbow's sound, not to mention, once again, the band's membership, which now included former Deep Purple cohort Roger Glover and keyboard player Don Airey.
With the release of 1979's Down to Earth, gone were the mystical themes and epic metal compositions, replaced by a more streamlined commercial hard rock style. But despite containing two of Rainbow's biggest singles, "All Night Long" and "Since You've been Gone" (the second, written by former Argent singer Russ Ballard), the album sputtered in stores, selling far less than the group's previous, Dio-fronted efforts. Bonnett also failed to meet Blackmore's lofty expectations on stage, and after a single, disastrously drunken performance at the inaugural Castle Donington Monsters of Rock Festival in the summer of 1980, the singer was unceremoniously given the boot.
Once again strapped for a vocalist, Blackmore found his man in American singer Joe Lynn Turner, who along with new drummer Bobby Rondinelli signaled a true career rebirth for Rainbow. Wishing to shed the group's overblown, Dio-associated Euro-metal sound of days past once and for all, the new Rainbow lineup was made to order for another bid at widespread acceptance in America. The first product of this new direction, 1981's well received Difficult to Cure helped the group regain some of their momentum and yielded their highest-charting single ever, another Russ Ballard-penned track entitled "I Surrender."
In fact, the record's title track -- a sprawling, ten-minute metallic blitzkrieg through Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 -- was the only throwback to Rainbow's highbrow metal origins. Released in 1982, Straight Between the Eyes failed to chart any successful singles, however, and the band's appeal began to nose-dive, along with Blackmore's increasingly uninventive, risk-free song writing. 1983's Bent out of Shape (featuring new members in keyboard player David Rosenthal and drummer Chuck Burgi) fared no better, and after accepting the fact that Rainbow's best days were behind them, Blackmore finally relented to take part in the long-rumored and hoped for re-formation of Deep Purple's classic Mark II lineup.
Typically, the guitarist refused to go out quietly, and Rainbow were backed by a full symphony orchestra for their final March 1984 performance in Japan. A posthumous live release, entitled Finyl Vinyl, was compiled in 1986, and though he would briefly resurrect the Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow moniker after quitting Purple for the second time in 1994 (even recording an album called Stranger in Us All"), this incarnation would be short-lived.
Blackmore was last heard from performing with his purported fiancé Candice Night in the medieval folk duo Blackmore's Night.
by Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Ramones - Special Biography
A group of "brothers" from Forest Hills, Queens, the Ramones helped invent punk rock by mastering a simple but extremely effective sound — a combination of speedy grooves, sing-along tunes and deadpan lyrics that achieved a kind of boneheaded genius. The sound influenced thousands of bands, and proved so durable that the Ramones more or less stuck to it for their entire career.
The Ramones formed in 1974 after the foursome graduated or left high school in Forest Hills, New York. The original lineup featured Joey on drums, Dee Dee sharing guitar with Johnny, and Tommy as manager, but they soon settled on their recording setup. Their name and pseudonym came via Paul McCartney, who had briefly called himself Paul Ramon back when the Beatles were the Silver Beatles. The Ramones gravitated toward the burgeoning scene at CBGB, where their brief sets of rapid-fire, under-two-and-a-half-minute songs earned them a recording contract before any of their contemporaries except Patti Smith.
In 1976 Ramones is a definitive punk statement, with songs like "Beat on the Brat," "Blitzkrieg Bop," and "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue"— 14 of them, clocking in at under 30 minutes. The group traveled to England in 1976, giving the nascent British punk scene the same boost they had provided to New Yorkers. Before the year was out, Ramones Leave Home had been released. As throughout its career, the band toured almost incessantly.
With their next two singles, the group began to soften their sound slightly. "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach" made explicit their debt to Sixties AM hit styles such as bubblegum and surf music, and both made the lower reaches of the Top 100. They were included on Rocket to Russia, which also contained their first ballad, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow." At this point Tommy quit the group, preferring his behind-the-scenes activity as coproducer, "disguised" as T. Erdelyi (his real name).
His replacement was Marc Bell, henceforth dubbed Marky Ramone. He was formerly one of Richard Hell's Voidoids and before that a member of Dust, who recorded a pair of albums during the 1960s. His first LP with the Ramones, Road to Ruin, was their first to contain only 12 songs and their first to last longer than half an hour. Despite their glossiest production yet, featuring acoustic guitars and real solos, its two singles, "Don't Come Close" and a version of the Searchers' "Needles and Pins," failed to capture a mass audience. Neither did their starring role in Roger Corman's 1979 movie Rock 'n' Roll High School.
As the 1980s began, the Ramones tried working with noted pop producers Phil Spector (End of the Century) and 10cc's Graham Gouldman (Pleasant Dreams), but commercial success remained elusive. After Subterranean Jungle, Marky Ramone departed. He was replaced by ex-Velveteens Richard Beau (Richie Ramone), who played on four albums before Marky returned in 1987. Too Tough to Die, with Eurythmic Dave Stewart producing the pop single "Howling at the Moon," recaptured some of their Seventies energy, and "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" off Animal Boy offered cutting political satire. However, the remainder of the decade too often found them parodying their earlier strengths.
In 1989 the Ramones gained their widest exposure with the title track to the soundtrack for Stephen King's Pet Sematary, but also underwent their most significant internal shift. Dee Dee departed, first to record, as Dee Dee King, a rap album, Standing in the Spotlight, and then to form the rock group Chinese Dragons. His post-Ramones career included publishing the autobiography Poisoned Heart: Surviving the Ramones and, in the late Nineties, playing with his wife, Barbara, and Marky Ramone in the Ramones spinoff unit, the Ramainz. A heroin addict and substance abuser for 14 years, Dee Dee had been the Ramones' truest punk (going solo, he also joined AA); his departure signaled the end of an era, if not a style. AWOL from the marines at the time he enlisted in the band, C.J. Ramone infused youthful energy — he was 14 years younger than Joey and Johnny — but the band's sound remained the same.
Mondo Bizarro ushered the band into the Nineties, including a guest appearance by Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and songs that attacked both drugs and the PMRC's Tipper Gore. In 1994 they persevered with Acid Eaters, a tribute to Sixties idols like the Animals and Rolling Stones. With Joey sober since the start of the decade and Marky in recovery from alcoholism, they continued their relentless touring for two more years until their final show in August 1996 — an all-star bash featuring Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Lemmy and Dee Dee. Marky formed Marky Ramone and the Intruders and has released two albums to date. Joey went on to manage the Independents, a horror-punk-ska band, to act in the indie film Final Rinse, and, in 1999, to coproduce a Ronnie Spector EP, She Talks to Rainbows. In 2001 he announced he had been diagnosed with lymphoma six years earlier and was undergoing treatment for the disease. He died that year. He was mourned all around the world, and Little Steven Van Zandt presided over an all-star party on what would have been Joey's 50th birthday, a month after his death. The U.S. Congress proclaimed May 19, 2001, Joey Ramone Day.
In March of 2002 the surviving members of the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dee Dee jokingly thanked only himself, while Johnny said "God bless America, and God bless George W. Bush." Dee Dee died of a heroin overdose just three months later, while Johnny succumbed to prostate cancer in 2004. Marky and C.J. continue to tour, playing sets heavy on Ramones songs. Tommy, the sole surviving original member, keeps a low profile but performs occasionally with his bluegrass group Uncle Monk.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
The Ramones formed in 1974 after the foursome graduated or left high school in Forest Hills, New York. The original lineup featured Joey on drums, Dee Dee sharing guitar with Johnny, and Tommy as manager, but they soon settled on their recording setup. Their name and pseudonym came via Paul McCartney, who had briefly called himself Paul Ramon back when the Beatles were the Silver Beatles. The Ramones gravitated toward the burgeoning scene at CBGB, where their brief sets of rapid-fire, under-two-and-a-half-minute songs earned them a recording contract before any of their contemporaries except Patti Smith.
In 1976 Ramones is a definitive punk statement, with songs like "Beat on the Brat," "Blitzkrieg Bop," and "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue"— 14 of them, clocking in at under 30 minutes. The group traveled to England in 1976, giving the nascent British punk scene the same boost they had provided to New Yorkers. Before the year was out, Ramones Leave Home had been released. As throughout its career, the band toured almost incessantly.
With their next two singles, the group began to soften their sound slightly. "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach" made explicit their debt to Sixties AM hit styles such as bubblegum and surf music, and both made the lower reaches of the Top 100. They were included on Rocket to Russia, which also contained their first ballad, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow." At this point Tommy quit the group, preferring his behind-the-scenes activity as coproducer, "disguised" as T. Erdelyi (his real name).
His replacement was Marc Bell, henceforth dubbed Marky Ramone. He was formerly one of Richard Hell's Voidoids and before that a member of Dust, who recorded a pair of albums during the 1960s. His first LP with the Ramones, Road to Ruin, was their first to contain only 12 songs and their first to last longer than half an hour. Despite their glossiest production yet, featuring acoustic guitars and real solos, its two singles, "Don't Come Close" and a version of the Searchers' "Needles and Pins," failed to capture a mass audience. Neither did their starring role in Roger Corman's 1979 movie Rock 'n' Roll High School.
As the 1980s began, the Ramones tried working with noted pop producers Phil Spector (End of the Century) and 10cc's Graham Gouldman (Pleasant Dreams), but commercial success remained elusive. After Subterranean Jungle, Marky Ramone departed. He was replaced by ex-Velveteens Richard Beau (Richie Ramone), who played on four albums before Marky returned in 1987. Too Tough to Die, with Eurythmic Dave Stewart producing the pop single "Howling at the Moon," recaptured some of their Seventies energy, and "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" off Animal Boy offered cutting political satire. However, the remainder of the decade too often found them parodying their earlier strengths.
In 1989 the Ramones gained their widest exposure with the title track to the soundtrack for Stephen King's Pet Sematary, but also underwent their most significant internal shift. Dee Dee departed, first to record, as Dee Dee King, a rap album, Standing in the Spotlight, and then to form the rock group Chinese Dragons. His post-Ramones career included publishing the autobiography Poisoned Heart: Surviving the Ramones and, in the late Nineties, playing with his wife, Barbara, and Marky Ramone in the Ramones spinoff unit, the Ramainz. A heroin addict and substance abuser for 14 years, Dee Dee had been the Ramones' truest punk (going solo, he also joined AA); his departure signaled the end of an era, if not a style. AWOL from the marines at the time he enlisted in the band, C.J. Ramone infused youthful energy — he was 14 years younger than Joey and Johnny — but the band's sound remained the same.
Mondo Bizarro ushered the band into the Nineties, including a guest appearance by Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and songs that attacked both drugs and the PMRC's Tipper Gore. In 1994 they persevered with Acid Eaters, a tribute to Sixties idols like the Animals and Rolling Stones. With Joey sober since the start of the decade and Marky in recovery from alcoholism, they continued their relentless touring for two more years until their final show in August 1996 — an all-star bash featuring Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Lemmy and Dee Dee. Marky formed Marky Ramone and the Intruders and has released two albums to date. Joey went on to manage the Independents, a horror-punk-ska band, to act in the indie film Final Rinse, and, in 1999, to coproduce a Ronnie Spector EP, She Talks to Rainbows. In 2001 he announced he had been diagnosed with lymphoma six years earlier and was undergoing treatment for the disease. He died that year. He was mourned all around the world, and Little Steven Van Zandt presided over an all-star party on what would have been Joey's 50th birthday, a month after his death. The U.S. Congress proclaimed May 19, 2001, Joey Ramone Day.
In March of 2002 the surviving members of the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dee Dee jokingly thanked only himself, while Johnny said "God bless America, and God bless George W. Bush." Dee Dee died of a heroin overdose just three months later, while Johnny succumbed to prostate cancer in 2004. Marky and C.J. continue to tour, playing sets heavy on Ramones songs. Tommy, the sole surviving original member, keeps a low profile but performs occasionally with his bluegrass group Uncle Monk.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
R.E.M. - Special Biography
One of the best bands the American underground kicked up in the Eighties, R.E.M. were a group of arty Athens, Georgia guys who invented college rock and went on to huge mainstream success. They brought a cagey mix of attitude and poetry to an idiosyncratic sound built around jangling guitars and hazy vocals of frontman Michael Stipe. Relentlessly touring clubs around the country for the first few years, R.E.M. consistently refined their sound: They could be dreamy, abrasive, circumspect, mischievous, and eggheaded. Their 1988 signing with Warner. Bros. netted them $10 million dollars for five records. Fortunately for the band and their fans, the same kind of creative gambits that marked their early days were still in place during the 1990s.
Born in 1960, Michael Stipe was an introverted child who spent much of his time hanging out with sisters Lynda and Cyndy. By 1975, he had begun reading articles about Patti Smith and the burgeoning New York punk scene, and while in high school in St. Louis, he joined a short-lived punk rock cover band. In 1978 Stipe enrolled at the University of Georgia at Athens, where he majored in painting and photography. While shopping at the local record store, he met its manager Peter Buck, a native Californian and avid pop fan who shared Stipe's interest in adventurous music. They decided to form a band, and within a year had connected with fellow students Bill Berry and Mike Mills, childhood friends from nearby Macon who had played together in various Southern rock groups. In April 1980 the four formed R.E.M. (named for the dream state "rapid eye movement") and began rehearsing in a converted church. In July the group played their first out-of-state gig in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where they met future manager Jefferson Holt.
Though influenced by punk and the DIY aesthetic, R.E.M. began to develop their own energetic folk-rock style. Their signature sound was a blend of Buck's chiming guitar and Stipe's cryptic vocals. In 1981 the group recorded a demo tape of original music at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Two songs from those sessions, "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still," were released as a 7-inch single in July on the homegrown Hib-Tone label. The driving "Radio Free Europe" earned positive notices, and in October the band returned to Easter's studio to record its first EP. R.E.M. signed with the I.R.S. label in 1982 and released the Chronic Town EP to overwhelming critical praise.
The band's first full-length album, Murmur (Number 36, 1983), was an instant classic, containing everything its supporters had hoped for: more layers of ringing guitar, more passionate and vague vocals, more atmospheric melodies and more seductive pop hooks. It also included a new, tighter version of "Radio Free Europe." The follow-up, Reckoning, failed to break new ground but managed to reach Number 27 on the charts, spawning the minor hit "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and garnering favorable reviews. The group enlisted London-based folk producer Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake) for Fables of the Reconstruction (Number 28, 1985), which featured a mildly psychedelic setting. Life's Rich Pageant (Number 21, 1986) took that experiment further, but with more of a sheen, courtesy of producer Don Gehman (John Mellencamp), who encouraged Stipe to sing more clearly; its single was "Fall on Me," whose video was directed by Stipe. R.E.M.'s first major hit, "The One I Love" (Number Nine, 1987), from the band's first Top Ten album, Document (Number 10, 1987), was a song of betrayal that was almost universally misinterpreted as a tribute to romance. The band then signed to Warner Bros. and their debut for the imprint, Green (Number 12, 1988), yielded a hit single, "Stand" (Number Six, 1988), that was the simplest, most hummable song of their career; the album's other single, "Pop Song 89" (Number 86, 1988), was a minor hit that made fun of the music business. Dead Letter Office (Number 52, 1987) is a collection of B-sides and outtakes, and Eponymous (Number 44, 1988) is a greatest-hits album. Following Green, R.E.M. went on a touring hiatus.
It took three years for the band to return with the highly anticipated Out of Time, which rocketed to Number One, went quadruple platinum and included both "Losing My Religion" (Number Four, 1991) and "Shiny Happy People" (Number 10, 1991). The video for the former was banned in Ireland for allegedly homoerotic imagery; the latter was a duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52's. Out of Time also featured an expanded instrumental palette of horns and mandolins. The album and its songs won three Grammys that year. The somber Automatic for the People (Number Two, 1992) featured string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Its hits were "Drive" (Number 28, 1992), "Man on the Moon" (Number 30, 1993), a tribute to the comedian Andy Kaufman, and the mega lament "Everybody Hurts" (Number 29, 1993).
During the latter part of the Eighties, R.E.M. became activists, inviting Greenpeace to set up booths at their concerts and becoming involved in local Athens politics. On his own, Stipe spoke out on such issues as the environment, animal rights and the plight of the homeless. He also ushered other artists into the public eye, including folk painter the Rev. Howard Finster, filmmaker Jim McKay (with whom he set up the film company C-Hundred, noted for its series of public-service announcements), and edgy artist Vic Chesnutt. Stipe also worked with rapper KRS-ONE of Boogie Down Productions and Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs. Meanwhile, Buck produced music by such artists as Kevn Kinney of Drivin' N' Cryin' and Charlie Pickett. In 1990 Buck, Berry, Mills, and singer-songwriter Warren Zevon formed a side band, the Hindu Love Gods, which released a self-titled album on Giant-Reprise.
R.E.M. returned with Monster (Number One, 1994), which combined fierce rock songs featuring guitars with heavy reverb (including that of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore on one track) and distorted vocals, as well as the band's more traditional-sounding fare. Its first single, "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" reached Number 21, while "Bang and Blame" reached Number 19. Soon after, the band commenced its first world tour in five years. Within two months, Berry suffered a double brain aneurysm onstage in Switzerland and underwent emergency surgery. He recovered, and the shows resumed two months later, but more medical emergencies interrupted the tour when Mills needed abdominal surgery and Stipe had surgery for a hernia. Two weeks after the tour ended, Buck came down with pneumonia.
In 1996 New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Number Two) was released and R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported $80 million. But the new album, recorded largely on the road during sound checks, was considered a commercial disappointment. In 1997 Berry left the band after 17 years. R.E.M. chose to continue and released the moody Up (Number Three, 1998), recorded with drummers Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees) and Joey Waronker (Beck), along with drum machines, sequencers and tape loops.
By now Stipe was working as a filmmaker, having already appeared as a 1940s hermit in the 1996 film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day. He then formed a production company, Single Cell Pictures, which enjoyed a critical success in 1999 with the surreal Being John Malkovich. He also released a book of photographs taken of Patti Smith on tour, while Buck began recording with an improvisational side project called Tuatara. In 1999 R.E.M. recorded the score to the Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, a title taken from the band's own tribute song to the late comedian. The movie soundtrack included a sequel to the original song, "The Great Beyond." The next year R.E.M. traveled to Vancouver to begin work on a new album, Reveal, which debuted at Number Six in 2001.
R.E.M. toured and recorded over the next three years, releasing the compilation In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003, which included two new songs, "Animal" and "Bad Day." In 2004, the band released Around the Sun (Number 13) to mixed reviews, and toured with former Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin. Later that year, the band joined Bright Eyes, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen on the Vote for Change tour. The band continued performing throughout 2005. The following year, EMI released two collections of the band's pre-Warner Bros. material: the CD And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 and DVD When the Light Is Mine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987. In 2007, the band released its first performance album, the muscular R.E.M. Live, recorded in Dublin, Ireland. It shows exactly how powerful they can be on stage.
In March 2007, R.E.M. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Berry returned to play four songs with the band at the ceremony in New York. The band's fourteenth album, Accelerate, was heralded as a return to form when it came out in 2008, and debuted at Number Two.
Their latest set is yet another performance date, Live At The Olympia. A DVD of the show accompanies the two CDs.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Born in 1960, Michael Stipe was an introverted child who spent much of his time hanging out with sisters Lynda and Cyndy. By 1975, he had begun reading articles about Patti Smith and the burgeoning New York punk scene, and while in high school in St. Louis, he joined a short-lived punk rock cover band. In 1978 Stipe enrolled at the University of Georgia at Athens, where he majored in painting and photography. While shopping at the local record store, he met its manager Peter Buck, a native Californian and avid pop fan who shared Stipe's interest in adventurous music. They decided to form a band, and within a year had connected with fellow students Bill Berry and Mike Mills, childhood friends from nearby Macon who had played together in various Southern rock groups. In April 1980 the four formed R.E.M. (named for the dream state "rapid eye movement") and began rehearsing in a converted church. In July the group played their first out-of-state gig in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where they met future manager Jefferson Holt.
Though influenced by punk and the DIY aesthetic, R.E.M. began to develop their own energetic folk-rock style. Their signature sound was a blend of Buck's chiming guitar and Stipe's cryptic vocals. In 1981 the group recorded a demo tape of original music at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Two songs from those sessions, "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still," were released as a 7-inch single in July on the homegrown Hib-Tone label. The driving "Radio Free Europe" earned positive notices, and in October the band returned to Easter's studio to record its first EP. R.E.M. signed with the I.R.S. label in 1982 and released the Chronic Town EP to overwhelming critical praise.
The band's first full-length album, Murmur (Number 36, 1983), was an instant classic, containing everything its supporters had hoped for: more layers of ringing guitar, more passionate and vague vocals, more atmospheric melodies and more seductive pop hooks. It also included a new, tighter version of "Radio Free Europe." The follow-up, Reckoning, failed to break new ground but managed to reach Number 27 on the charts, spawning the minor hit "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and garnering favorable reviews. The group enlisted London-based folk producer Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake) for Fables of the Reconstruction (Number 28, 1985), which featured a mildly psychedelic setting. Life's Rich Pageant (Number 21, 1986) took that experiment further, but with more of a sheen, courtesy of producer Don Gehman (John Mellencamp), who encouraged Stipe to sing more clearly; its single was "Fall on Me," whose video was directed by Stipe. R.E.M.'s first major hit, "The One I Love" (Number Nine, 1987), from the band's first Top Ten album, Document (Number 10, 1987), was a song of betrayal that was almost universally misinterpreted as a tribute to romance. The band then signed to Warner Bros. and their debut for the imprint, Green (Number 12, 1988), yielded a hit single, "Stand" (Number Six, 1988), that was the simplest, most hummable song of their career; the album's other single, "Pop Song 89" (Number 86, 1988), was a minor hit that made fun of the music business. Dead Letter Office (Number 52, 1987) is a collection of B-sides and outtakes, and Eponymous (Number 44, 1988) is a greatest-hits album. Following Green, R.E.M. went on a touring hiatus.
It took three years for the band to return with the highly anticipated Out of Time, which rocketed to Number One, went quadruple platinum and included both "Losing My Religion" (Number Four, 1991) and "Shiny Happy People" (Number 10, 1991). The video for the former was banned in Ireland for allegedly homoerotic imagery; the latter was a duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52's. Out of Time also featured an expanded instrumental palette of horns and mandolins. The album and its songs won three Grammys that year. The somber Automatic for the People (Number Two, 1992) featured string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Its hits were "Drive" (Number 28, 1992), "Man on the Moon" (Number 30, 1993), a tribute to the comedian Andy Kaufman, and the mega lament "Everybody Hurts" (Number 29, 1993).
During the latter part of the Eighties, R.E.M. became activists, inviting Greenpeace to set up booths at their concerts and becoming involved in local Athens politics. On his own, Stipe spoke out on such issues as the environment, animal rights and the plight of the homeless. He also ushered other artists into the public eye, including folk painter the Rev. Howard Finster, filmmaker Jim McKay (with whom he set up the film company C-Hundred, noted for its series of public-service announcements), and edgy artist Vic Chesnutt. Stipe also worked with rapper KRS-ONE of Boogie Down Productions and Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs. Meanwhile, Buck produced music by such artists as Kevn Kinney of Drivin' N' Cryin' and Charlie Pickett. In 1990 Buck, Berry, Mills, and singer-songwriter Warren Zevon formed a side band, the Hindu Love Gods, which released a self-titled album on Giant-Reprise.
R.E.M. returned with Monster (Number One, 1994), which combined fierce rock songs featuring guitars with heavy reverb (including that of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore on one track) and distorted vocals, as well as the band's more traditional-sounding fare. Its first single, "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" reached Number 21, while "Bang and Blame" reached Number 19. Soon after, the band commenced its first world tour in five years. Within two months, Berry suffered a double brain aneurysm onstage in Switzerland and underwent emergency surgery. He recovered, and the shows resumed two months later, but more medical emergencies interrupted the tour when Mills needed abdominal surgery and Stipe had surgery for a hernia. Two weeks after the tour ended, Buck came down with pneumonia.
In 1996 New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Number Two) was released and R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported $80 million. But the new album, recorded largely on the road during sound checks, was considered a commercial disappointment. In 1997 Berry left the band after 17 years. R.E.M. chose to continue and released the moody Up (Number Three, 1998), recorded with drummers Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees) and Joey Waronker (Beck), along with drum machines, sequencers and tape loops.
By now Stipe was working as a filmmaker, having already appeared as a 1940s hermit in the 1996 film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day. He then formed a production company, Single Cell Pictures, which enjoyed a critical success in 1999 with the surreal Being John Malkovich. He also released a book of photographs taken of Patti Smith on tour, while Buck began recording with an improvisational side project called Tuatara. In 1999 R.E.M. recorded the score to the Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, a title taken from the band's own tribute song to the late comedian. The movie soundtrack included a sequel to the original song, "The Great Beyond." The next year R.E.M. traveled to Vancouver to begin work on a new album, Reveal, which debuted at Number Six in 2001.
R.E.M. toured and recorded over the next three years, releasing the compilation In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003, which included two new songs, "Animal" and "Bad Day." In 2004, the band released Around the Sun (Number 13) to mixed reviews, and toured with former Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin. Later that year, the band joined Bright Eyes, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen on the Vote for Change tour. The band continued performing throughout 2005. The following year, EMI released two collections of the band's pre-Warner Bros. material: the CD And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 and DVD When the Light Is Mine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987. In 2007, the band released its first performance album, the muscular R.E.M. Live, recorded in Dublin, Ireland. It shows exactly how powerful they can be on stage.
In March 2007, R.E.M. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Berry returned to play four songs with the band at the ceremony in New York. The band's fourteenth album, Accelerate, was heralded as a return to form when it came out in 2008, and debuted at Number Two.
Their latest set is yet another performance date, Live At The Olympia. A DVD of the show accompanies the two CDs.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Pearl Jam - Special Biography
Along with Nirvana, Pearl Jam were initially known for popularizing grunge, the Seattle sound that exploded nationwide in the early Nineties. But the band became an American rock institution by broadening their heavy, Led Zeppelin-influenced sound while maintaining the emotional depth that made their songs so resonant in the first place. Leaping from obscurity to superstardom, the band sold more than 15 million copies of its first two albums, and after a couple of years during which they got mired in high-profile controversies, Pearl Jam recovered and were still filling arenas at the close of the 2000s.
Pearl Jam's roots in the Seattle scene go deep: In the mid-Eighties, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were members of the seminal Seattle band Green River, which split in 1987. Half the band formed Mudhoney, while Gossard and Ament joined singer Andrew Wood in Mother Love Bone. One of the earliest Seattle bands to sign with a major label, Mother Love Bone seemed on the verge of breaking big when Wood died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Mercury Records wanted Gossard and Ament (with Bruce Fairweather on guitar and drummer Greg Gilmore) to record with a new singer, but the band declined.
Afterward, Gossard and Ament, along with Seattle veteran Mike McCready, started work on a demo tape in late 1990. They asked former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons to join, giving him a copy of the tape. Irons was involved with his own band, Eleven, but passed the demo on to a singer he knew in San Diego, Eddie Vedder, who immediately wrote lyrics to the songs and mailed back a tape that included his vocals; he was invited up to Seattle and the rest was history.
Concurrently, Gossard, Ament, and McCready, along with Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron, recorded Temple of the Dog (Number Five, 1992), a memorial to Wood, in 1990, with Vedder trading verses with Cornell on the rock radio smash "Hunger Strike."
With the addition of Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen, the new band was complete. They called themselves Mookie Blaylock, in honor of the basketball player, but changed the name to Pearl Jam, purportedly after a psychedelic confection made by Vedder's half-Native American great-grandmother, Pearl. (Vedder finally admitted the story was bogus in 2006.)
The band did not forget Blaylock: Their debut album, Ten [Number Two, 1992], was named for his uniform number. On the strength of its Mother Love Bone connections and a growing national interest in the Seattle scene, Pearl Jam was signed by Epic Records in early 1991. Krusen left the band after the sessions for Ten; he was replaced by Matt Chamberlain on tour, with Dave Abbruzzese filling the drum chair in the fall of 1991.
The band toured extensively, headlining small halls and opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young and U2. They headlined the 1992 Lollapalooza Tour and opened for Keith Richards on New Year's Eve 1992. Vedder, Gossard and Ament took time out to play Matt Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick, in the 1992 Seattle-based movie Singles. By the end of 1992, Pearl Jam was among the biggest bands in the world. Vedder's intense, clenched-teeth delivery gave life to his personal travails ("Alive," "Black"), while songs like "Jeremy" and "Why Go" were easy rallying cries for teenagers seeking music they could call their own.
Although Pearl Jam was originally marketed as an "alternative" band, their connection to classic rock of the Sixties and Seventies soon became apparent. Vedder filled in for Jim Morrison at the Doors reunion for the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies; he also took part in concerts honoring Bob Dylan and Pete Townshend around this time. The band also backed Neil Young on "Rockin' in the Free World" at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards and developed an enduring father-son relationship with him.
It was apparent, though, that Vedder was having trouble coping with the demands of stardom: He would show up for photo sessions wearing a mask, and he was surly and uncommunicative in interviews. There were reports that he performed drunk, and in 1993 he was arrested in New Orleans for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace after a barroom brawl. None of this detracted from the band's popularity — Vs. (Number One, 1993), its second album, sold a record-setting 1.3 million copies in its first 13 days of release.
Rattled to the core by its sudden fame as well as the suicide of Kurt Cobain, Pearl Jam canceled its 1994 summer tour when, in a public dispute over service charges against Ticketmaster, they couldn't keep admission prices as low as they wanted; band members also testified against Ticketmaster before Congress. That fight ultimately ended in retreat for Pearl Jam. The band did not make any videos to promote Vs., which built on the sound of the debut with more nuanced songwriting and acoustic detours ("Daughter," "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town").
Instead, Pearl Jam went back into the studio and recorded its third album, Vitalogy. The vinyl version was released two weeks before the CD and cassette, debuting on the charts at Number 55 — the first album to appear on Billboard's album chart solely on the basis of vinyl sales since the proliferation of the CD in the mid-Nineties. Once the CD arrived in stores, Vitalogy, packed with future staples such as "Better Man" and "Corduroy," zoomed to Number One.
The following year, Pearl Jam backed Young on his Mirror Ball album and released two of its own songs recorded during those sessions as the Merkin Ball EP. The band also appeared for the second time at Young's Bridge School Benefit concert as part of its increasing involvement in political activism and various charities. Indeed, over the years, Pearl Jam has supported such causes as abortion rights, Kosovar refugees, women's self-defense, opposition to the death penalty and Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign.
Though Pearl Jam was at the peak of their popularity in the mid-Nineties, they also went through some rocky times. In late 1994, the holder of the drumming seat changed again as Abbruzzese was replaced by Jack Irons. The band's attempt to experiment with its sound, 1996's No Code (Number One, 1996), threw many fans for a loop. Despite its initial success, the album dropped out of the Top 20 within two months.
The band retreated to safer ground on Yield (Number Two, 1998), an album of straightforward hard rock that was accompanied by an animated clip for "Do the Evolution," Pearl Jam's first music video since Ten's "Jeremy." The band also returned to playing mainstream arenas (many of them selling their tickets through Ticketmaster); Cameron became a permanent addition on drums that summer as well.
Pearl Jam's members even started to look as if they were finally becoming comfortable with their status as rock stars. This was especially true for Vedder, who showed up unannounced on "The Late Show With David Letterman" to sing "Black," played small venue shows with Townshend and rocked out obscure covers with a pickup solo band as his whims dictated.
The group had also become strong enough to overcome a tragic accident — nine fans were crushed and suffocated during Pearl Jam's set at the Roskilde, Denmark, festival on June 30th, 2000. Initially held "morally responsible" by the Danish police, the group was later cleared of all blame. Pearl Jam also began playing exclusive shows for fan-club members, who also receive limited-edition Christmas singles — one of them turning into the surprise pop hit "Last Kiss" (Number Two, 1999) when it got a wider release.
On their first studio release with Cameron, Binaural (Number Two, 2000) was another dose of scruffy rock in an era that found the MTV audience listening to either rap-metal or teen pop. In September, Pearl Jam made history by self-releasing 25 live albums in one week, and by having five of them enter the Billboard 200 simultaneously. Pearl Jam continued to release documents of their 2000 tour, reaching a total of 72 sets by mid-2001. The one triple-CD, 11/6/00: Seattle, Washington, was the most popular, entering the chart at Number 98.
After Vedder and McCready performed with Neil Young at the post-9/11 benefit concert America: A Tribute to Heroes, Pearl Jam returned to the studio for the more experimental Riot Act (Number 5, 2002), which included the Anti-George W. Bush track "Bu$hleaguer." During the band's Riot Act tour in 2003, Vedder would perform the song wearing a rubber mask of the president, resulting in more than a fair share of boos from fans who wanted Pearl Jam to just focus on the music.
Pearl Jam announced that year that they would not be renewing their contract with Epic Records after fulfilling it with the long-awaited archival release Lost Dogs (Number 15, 2003) and the retrospective Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003 (Number 16, 2004). The band then recorded a one-off self-released ingle, "Man of the Hour," which ran over the end credits of Tim Burton's 2003 film Big Fish. The band spent much of 2005 on the road, headlining shows and opening a couple of dates for the Rolling Stones. In 2006, Pearl Jam tested the indie waters again with Live at Easy Street, recorded the previous year at Seattle's Easy Street Records, and sold exclusively to independent record stores.
Though Vedder earlier had announced that Pearl Jam was not interested in signing with another major label, the band did just that in early 2006 when it struck a deal with Clive Davis' new J Records, part of the same Sony BMG music group that controls Epic. The band's first release for J was a self-titled album that year which dropped the artiness of the prior two releases in favor of revitalized, melodic rock and roll. The single "World Wide Suicide" became the group's first Number One Modern Rock single in a decade.
Pearl Jam made good on its DIY ambitions with 2009's Backspacer, which it self-released in the States with the help of Target. The album scored the band its first chart-topper in 13 years.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Pearl Jam's roots in the Seattle scene go deep: In the mid-Eighties, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were members of the seminal Seattle band Green River, which split in 1987. Half the band formed Mudhoney, while Gossard and Ament joined singer Andrew Wood in Mother Love Bone. One of the earliest Seattle bands to sign with a major label, Mother Love Bone seemed on the verge of breaking big when Wood died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Mercury Records wanted Gossard and Ament (with Bruce Fairweather on guitar and drummer Greg Gilmore) to record with a new singer, but the band declined.
Afterward, Gossard and Ament, along with Seattle veteran Mike McCready, started work on a demo tape in late 1990. They asked former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons to join, giving him a copy of the tape. Irons was involved with his own band, Eleven, but passed the demo on to a singer he knew in San Diego, Eddie Vedder, who immediately wrote lyrics to the songs and mailed back a tape that included his vocals; he was invited up to Seattle and the rest was history.
Concurrently, Gossard, Ament, and McCready, along with Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron, recorded Temple of the Dog (Number Five, 1992), a memorial to Wood, in 1990, with Vedder trading verses with Cornell on the rock radio smash "Hunger Strike."
With the addition of Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen, the new band was complete. They called themselves Mookie Blaylock, in honor of the basketball player, but changed the name to Pearl Jam, purportedly after a psychedelic confection made by Vedder's half-Native American great-grandmother, Pearl. (Vedder finally admitted the story was bogus in 2006.)
The band did not forget Blaylock: Their debut album, Ten [Number Two, 1992], was named for his uniform number. On the strength of its Mother Love Bone connections and a growing national interest in the Seattle scene, Pearl Jam was signed by Epic Records in early 1991. Krusen left the band after the sessions for Ten; he was replaced by Matt Chamberlain on tour, with Dave Abbruzzese filling the drum chair in the fall of 1991.
The band toured extensively, headlining small halls and opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young and U2. They headlined the 1992 Lollapalooza Tour and opened for Keith Richards on New Year's Eve 1992. Vedder, Gossard and Ament took time out to play Matt Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick, in the 1992 Seattle-based movie Singles. By the end of 1992, Pearl Jam was among the biggest bands in the world. Vedder's intense, clenched-teeth delivery gave life to his personal travails ("Alive," "Black"), while songs like "Jeremy" and "Why Go" were easy rallying cries for teenagers seeking music they could call their own.
Although Pearl Jam was originally marketed as an "alternative" band, their connection to classic rock of the Sixties and Seventies soon became apparent. Vedder filled in for Jim Morrison at the Doors reunion for the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies; he also took part in concerts honoring Bob Dylan and Pete Townshend around this time. The band also backed Neil Young on "Rockin' in the Free World" at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards and developed an enduring father-son relationship with him.
It was apparent, though, that Vedder was having trouble coping with the demands of stardom: He would show up for photo sessions wearing a mask, and he was surly and uncommunicative in interviews. There were reports that he performed drunk, and in 1993 he was arrested in New Orleans for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace after a barroom brawl. None of this detracted from the band's popularity — Vs. (Number One, 1993), its second album, sold a record-setting 1.3 million copies in its first 13 days of release.
Rattled to the core by its sudden fame as well as the suicide of Kurt Cobain, Pearl Jam canceled its 1994 summer tour when, in a public dispute over service charges against Ticketmaster, they couldn't keep admission prices as low as they wanted; band members also testified against Ticketmaster before Congress. That fight ultimately ended in retreat for Pearl Jam. The band did not make any videos to promote Vs., which built on the sound of the debut with more nuanced songwriting and acoustic detours ("Daughter," "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town").
Instead, Pearl Jam went back into the studio and recorded its third album, Vitalogy. The vinyl version was released two weeks before the CD and cassette, debuting on the charts at Number 55 — the first album to appear on Billboard's album chart solely on the basis of vinyl sales since the proliferation of the CD in the mid-Nineties. Once the CD arrived in stores, Vitalogy, packed with future staples such as "Better Man" and "Corduroy," zoomed to Number One.
The following year, Pearl Jam backed Young on his Mirror Ball album and released two of its own songs recorded during those sessions as the Merkin Ball EP. The band also appeared for the second time at Young's Bridge School Benefit concert as part of its increasing involvement in political activism and various charities. Indeed, over the years, Pearl Jam has supported such causes as abortion rights, Kosovar refugees, women's self-defense, opposition to the death penalty and Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign.
Though Pearl Jam was at the peak of their popularity in the mid-Nineties, they also went through some rocky times. In late 1994, the holder of the drumming seat changed again as Abbruzzese was replaced by Jack Irons. The band's attempt to experiment with its sound, 1996's No Code (Number One, 1996), threw many fans for a loop. Despite its initial success, the album dropped out of the Top 20 within two months.
The band retreated to safer ground on Yield (Number Two, 1998), an album of straightforward hard rock that was accompanied by an animated clip for "Do the Evolution," Pearl Jam's first music video since Ten's "Jeremy." The band also returned to playing mainstream arenas (many of them selling their tickets through Ticketmaster); Cameron became a permanent addition on drums that summer as well.
Pearl Jam's members even started to look as if they were finally becoming comfortable with their status as rock stars. This was especially true for Vedder, who showed up unannounced on "The Late Show With David Letterman" to sing "Black," played small venue shows with Townshend and rocked out obscure covers with a pickup solo band as his whims dictated.
The group had also become strong enough to overcome a tragic accident — nine fans were crushed and suffocated during Pearl Jam's set at the Roskilde, Denmark, festival on June 30th, 2000. Initially held "morally responsible" by the Danish police, the group was later cleared of all blame. Pearl Jam also began playing exclusive shows for fan-club members, who also receive limited-edition Christmas singles — one of them turning into the surprise pop hit "Last Kiss" (Number Two, 1999) when it got a wider release.
On their first studio release with Cameron, Binaural (Number Two, 2000) was another dose of scruffy rock in an era that found the MTV audience listening to either rap-metal or teen pop. In September, Pearl Jam made history by self-releasing 25 live albums in one week, and by having five of them enter the Billboard 200 simultaneously. Pearl Jam continued to release documents of their 2000 tour, reaching a total of 72 sets by mid-2001. The one triple-CD, 11/6/00: Seattle, Washington, was the most popular, entering the chart at Number 98.
After Vedder and McCready performed with Neil Young at the post-9/11 benefit concert America: A Tribute to Heroes, Pearl Jam returned to the studio for the more experimental Riot Act (Number 5, 2002), which included the Anti-George W. Bush track "Bu$hleaguer." During the band's Riot Act tour in 2003, Vedder would perform the song wearing a rubber mask of the president, resulting in more than a fair share of boos from fans who wanted Pearl Jam to just focus on the music.
Pearl Jam announced that year that they would not be renewing their contract with Epic Records after fulfilling it with the long-awaited archival release Lost Dogs (Number 15, 2003) and the retrospective Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003 (Number 16, 2004). The band then recorded a one-off self-released ingle, "Man of the Hour," which ran over the end credits of Tim Burton's 2003 film Big Fish. The band spent much of 2005 on the road, headlining shows and opening a couple of dates for the Rolling Stones. In 2006, Pearl Jam tested the indie waters again with Live at Easy Street, recorded the previous year at Seattle's Easy Street Records, and sold exclusively to independent record stores.
Though Vedder earlier had announced that Pearl Jam was not interested in signing with another major label, the band did just that in early 2006 when it struck a deal with Clive Davis' new J Records, part of the same Sony BMG music group that controls Epic. The band's first release for J was a self-titled album that year which dropped the artiness of the prior two releases in favor of revitalized, melodic rock and roll. The single "World Wide Suicide" became the group's first Number One Modern Rock single in a decade.
Pearl Jam made good on its DIY ambitions with 2009's Backspacer, which it self-released in the States with the help of Target. The album scored the band its first chart-topper in 13 years.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Paul McCartney - Special Biography
Out of all the former Beatles, Paul McCartney by far had the most successful solo career, maintaining a constant presence in the British and American charts during the '70s and '80s. In America alone, he had nine number one singles and seven number one albums during the first 12 years of his solo career. Although he sold records, McCartney never attained much critical respect, especially when compared to his former partner John Lennon. Then again, he pursued a different path than Lennon, deciding early on that he wanted to be in a rock band. Little more than a year after the Beatles' breakup, McCartney had formed Wings with his wife, Linda, and the group remained active for the next ten years, racking up a string of hit albums, singles, and tours in the meantime.
By the late '70s, many critics were taking potshots at McCartney's effortlessly melodic songcraft, but that didn't stop the public from buying his records. His sales didn't slow considerably until the late '80s, and he retaliated with his first full-scale tour since the '70s, which was a considerable success. During the '90s, McCartney recorded less frequently, concentrating on projects like his first classical recording, a techno album, and the Beatles' Anthology. Like Lennon and George Harrison, Paul McCartney began exploring creative avenues outside the Beatles during the late '60s, but where his bandmates released their own experimental records, McCartney confined himself to writing and production for other artists, with the exception of his 1966 soundtrack to The Family Way.
Following his marriage to Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, McCartney began working at his home studio on his first solo album. He released the record, McCartney, in April 1970, two weeks before the Beatles' Let It Be was scheduled to hit the stores. Prior to the album's release, he announced that the Beatles were breaking up, which was against the wishes of the other members. As a result, the tensions between him and the other three members, particularly Harrison and Lennon, increased and he earned the ill will of many critics. Nevertheless, McCartney became a hit, spending three weeks at the top of the American charts. Early in 1971, he returned with "Another Day," which became his first hit single as a solo artist. It was followed several months later by Ram, another homemade collection, this time featuring the contributions of his wife, Linda.
By the end of 1971, the McCartneys had formed Wings, which was intended to be a full-fledged recording and touring band. Former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell became the group's other members, and Wings released their first album, Wild Life, in December 1971. Wild Life was greeted with poor reviews and was a relative flop. McCartney and Wings, which now featured former Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough, spent 1972 as a working band, releasing three singles -- the protest "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," the reggae-fied "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and the rocking "Hi Hi Hi." Red Rose Speedway followed in the spring of 1973, and while it received weak reviews, it became his second American number one album.
Later in 1973, Wings embarked on their first British tour, at the conclusion of which McCullough and Seiwell left the band. Prior to their departure, McCartney's theme to the James Bond movie Live and Let Die became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and U.K. That summer, the remaining Wings proceeded to record a new album in Nigeria. Released late in 1973, Band on the Run was simultaneously McCartney's best-reviewed album and his most successful, spending four weeks at the top of the U.S. charts and eventually going triple platinum. Following the success of Band on the Run, McCartney formed a new version of Wings with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. The new lineup was showcased on the 1974 British single "Junior's Farm" and the 1975 hit album Venus and Mars.
At the Speed of Sound followed in 1976, and it was the first Wings record to feature songwriting contributions by the other bandmembers. Nevertheless, the album became a monster success on the basis of two McCartney songs, "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In." Wings supported the album with their first international tour, which broke many attendance records and was captured on the live triple album Wings Over America (1976). After the tour was completed, Wings rested a bit during 1977, as McCartney released an instrumental version of Ram under the name Thrillington and produced Denny Laine's solo album Holly Days. Later that year, Wings released "Mull of Kintyre," which became the biggest-selling British single of all time, selling over two million copies. Wings followed "Mull of Kintyre" with London Town in 1978, which became another platinum record.
After its release, McCulloch left the band to join the re-formed Small Faces and Wings released Back to the Egg in 1979. Though the record went platinum, it failed to produce any big hits. Early in 1980, McCartney was arrested for marijuana possession at the beginning of a Japanese tour; he was imprisoned for ten days and then released, without any charges being pressed. Wings effectively broke up in the wake of McCartney's Japanese bust, although its official dissolution was not announced until April 27, 1981, when Denny Laine left the band. Back in England, McCartney recorded McCartney II, which was a one-man band effort like his solo debut.
Ironically, the hit single associated with the album was a live take of the song "Coming Up" that had been recorded in Glasgow with Wings in December 1979 and was intended to be the B-side of the 45, with the solo studio recording as the A-side. DJs preferred the live version, however, and it went on to hit number one. Later in 1980, McCartney entered the studio with Beatles producer George Martin to make Tug of War. Released in the spring of 1982, Tug of War received the best reviews of any McCartney record since Band on the Run and spawned the number one single "Ebony and Ivory," a duet with Stevie Wonder that became McCartney's biggest American hit. In 1983, McCartney sang on "The Girl Is Mine," the first single from Michael Jackson's blockbuster album Thriller.
In return, Jackson dueted with McCartney on "Say Say Say," the first single from Paul's 1983 album Pipes of Peace and the last number one single of his career. The relationship between Jackson and McCartney soured considerably when Jackson bought the publishing rights to the Beatles songs from underneath McCartney in 1985. McCartney directed his first feature film in 1984 with Give My Regards to Broad Street. While the soundtrack, which featured new songs and re-recorded Beatles tunes, was a hit, generating the hit single "No More Lonely Nights," the film was a flop, earning terrible reviews.
The following year he had his last American Top Ten with the theme to the Chevy Chase/Dan Aykroyd comedy Spies Like Us. Press to Play (1986) received some strong reviews but the album was a flop. In 1988, he recorded a collection of rock & roll oldies called Choba B CCCP for release in the U.S.S.R.; it was given official release in the U.S. and U.K. in 1991. For 1989's Flowers in the Dirt, McCartney co-wrote several songs with Elvis Costello; the pair also wrote songs for Costello's Spike, including the hit "Veronica." Flowers in the Dirt received the strongest reviews of any McCartney release since Tug of War and was supported by an extensive international tour, which was captured on the live double album Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990).
For the tour, McCartney hired guitarist Robbie McIntosh and bassist Hamish Stuart, who would form the core of his band through the remainder of the '90s. Early in 1991, McCartney released another live album in the form of Unplugged, which was taken from his appearance on MTV's acoustic concert program of the same name; it was the first Unplugged album to be released. Later that year, he unveiled Liverpool Oratorio, his first classical work. Another pop album, Off the Ground, followed in 1993, but the album failed to generate any big hits, despite McCartney's successful supporting tour. Following the completion of the New World tour, he released another live album, Paul Is Live, in December 1993.
In 1994, he released an ambient techno album under the pseudonym the Fireman. McCartney premiered his second classical piece, "The Leaf," early in 1995 and then began hosting a Westwood One radio series called Oobu Joobu. But his primary activity in 1995, as well as 1996, was the Beatles' Anthology, which encompassed a lengthy video documentary of the band and the multi-volume release of Beatles outtakes and rarities. After Anthology was completed, he released Flaming Pie in summer 1997. A low-key, largely acoustic affair that had the some of the same charm of his debut, Flaming Pie was given the strongest reviews McCartney had received in years and was a modest commercial success, debuting at number two on the U.S. and U.K. charts; it was his highest American chart placing since he left the Beatles.
Flaming Pie certainly benefited from the success of Anthology, as did McCartney himself -- only a few months before the release of the album in 1997, he received a Knightship. On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney died after a three-year struggle with breast cancer. A grieving Paul kept a low profile in the months to follow, but finally returned in fall 1999 with Run Devil Run, a collection primarily including cover songs. The electronica-based Liverpool Sound Collage followed a year later, and the pop album Driving Rain -- a successor, of sorts, to Flaming Pie -- came a year after that. The live album Back in the U.S. appeared in America in 2002 with the slightly different international edition, Back in the World, following soon after.
McCartney's next studio project included sessions with super-producer Nigel Godrich, the results of which appeared on the mellow Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard, released in late 2005. McCartney performed every instrument (not including the strings) on 2007's David Kahne-produced Memory Almost Full, a bold but whimsical collection of new songs, some of which were recorded before the Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard sessions. A live CD/DVD set, Good Evening New York City, appeared in 2009.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
By the late '70s, many critics were taking potshots at McCartney's effortlessly melodic songcraft, but that didn't stop the public from buying his records. His sales didn't slow considerably until the late '80s, and he retaliated with his first full-scale tour since the '70s, which was a considerable success. During the '90s, McCartney recorded less frequently, concentrating on projects like his first classical recording, a techno album, and the Beatles' Anthology. Like Lennon and George Harrison, Paul McCartney began exploring creative avenues outside the Beatles during the late '60s, but where his bandmates released their own experimental records, McCartney confined himself to writing and production for other artists, with the exception of his 1966 soundtrack to The Family Way.
Following his marriage to Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, McCartney began working at his home studio on his first solo album. He released the record, McCartney, in April 1970, two weeks before the Beatles' Let It Be was scheduled to hit the stores. Prior to the album's release, he announced that the Beatles were breaking up, which was against the wishes of the other members. As a result, the tensions between him and the other three members, particularly Harrison and Lennon, increased and he earned the ill will of many critics. Nevertheless, McCartney became a hit, spending three weeks at the top of the American charts. Early in 1971, he returned with "Another Day," which became his first hit single as a solo artist. It was followed several months later by Ram, another homemade collection, this time featuring the contributions of his wife, Linda.
By the end of 1971, the McCartneys had formed Wings, which was intended to be a full-fledged recording and touring band. Former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell became the group's other members, and Wings released their first album, Wild Life, in December 1971. Wild Life was greeted with poor reviews and was a relative flop. McCartney and Wings, which now featured former Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough, spent 1972 as a working band, releasing three singles -- the protest "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," the reggae-fied "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and the rocking "Hi Hi Hi." Red Rose Speedway followed in the spring of 1973, and while it received weak reviews, it became his second American number one album.
Later in 1973, Wings embarked on their first British tour, at the conclusion of which McCullough and Seiwell left the band. Prior to their departure, McCartney's theme to the James Bond movie Live and Let Die became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and U.K. That summer, the remaining Wings proceeded to record a new album in Nigeria. Released late in 1973, Band on the Run was simultaneously McCartney's best-reviewed album and his most successful, spending four weeks at the top of the U.S. charts and eventually going triple platinum. Following the success of Band on the Run, McCartney formed a new version of Wings with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. The new lineup was showcased on the 1974 British single "Junior's Farm" and the 1975 hit album Venus and Mars.
At the Speed of Sound followed in 1976, and it was the first Wings record to feature songwriting contributions by the other bandmembers. Nevertheless, the album became a monster success on the basis of two McCartney songs, "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In." Wings supported the album with their first international tour, which broke many attendance records and was captured on the live triple album Wings Over America (1976). After the tour was completed, Wings rested a bit during 1977, as McCartney released an instrumental version of Ram under the name Thrillington and produced Denny Laine's solo album Holly Days. Later that year, Wings released "Mull of Kintyre," which became the biggest-selling British single of all time, selling over two million copies. Wings followed "Mull of Kintyre" with London Town in 1978, which became another platinum record.
After its release, McCulloch left the band to join the re-formed Small Faces and Wings released Back to the Egg in 1979. Though the record went platinum, it failed to produce any big hits. Early in 1980, McCartney was arrested for marijuana possession at the beginning of a Japanese tour; he was imprisoned for ten days and then released, without any charges being pressed. Wings effectively broke up in the wake of McCartney's Japanese bust, although its official dissolution was not announced until April 27, 1981, when Denny Laine left the band. Back in England, McCartney recorded McCartney II, which was a one-man band effort like his solo debut.
Ironically, the hit single associated with the album was a live take of the song "Coming Up" that had been recorded in Glasgow with Wings in December 1979 and was intended to be the B-side of the 45, with the solo studio recording as the A-side. DJs preferred the live version, however, and it went on to hit number one. Later in 1980, McCartney entered the studio with Beatles producer George Martin to make Tug of War. Released in the spring of 1982, Tug of War received the best reviews of any McCartney record since Band on the Run and spawned the number one single "Ebony and Ivory," a duet with Stevie Wonder that became McCartney's biggest American hit. In 1983, McCartney sang on "The Girl Is Mine," the first single from Michael Jackson's blockbuster album Thriller.
In return, Jackson dueted with McCartney on "Say Say Say," the first single from Paul's 1983 album Pipes of Peace and the last number one single of his career. The relationship between Jackson and McCartney soured considerably when Jackson bought the publishing rights to the Beatles songs from underneath McCartney in 1985. McCartney directed his first feature film in 1984 with Give My Regards to Broad Street. While the soundtrack, which featured new songs and re-recorded Beatles tunes, was a hit, generating the hit single "No More Lonely Nights," the film was a flop, earning terrible reviews.
The following year he had his last American Top Ten with the theme to the Chevy Chase/Dan Aykroyd comedy Spies Like Us. Press to Play (1986) received some strong reviews but the album was a flop. In 1988, he recorded a collection of rock & roll oldies called Choba B CCCP for release in the U.S.S.R.; it was given official release in the U.S. and U.K. in 1991. For 1989's Flowers in the Dirt, McCartney co-wrote several songs with Elvis Costello; the pair also wrote songs for Costello's Spike, including the hit "Veronica." Flowers in the Dirt received the strongest reviews of any McCartney release since Tug of War and was supported by an extensive international tour, which was captured on the live double album Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990).
For the tour, McCartney hired guitarist Robbie McIntosh and bassist Hamish Stuart, who would form the core of his band through the remainder of the '90s. Early in 1991, McCartney released another live album in the form of Unplugged, which was taken from his appearance on MTV's acoustic concert program of the same name; it was the first Unplugged album to be released. Later that year, he unveiled Liverpool Oratorio, his first classical work. Another pop album, Off the Ground, followed in 1993, but the album failed to generate any big hits, despite McCartney's successful supporting tour. Following the completion of the New World tour, he released another live album, Paul Is Live, in December 1993.
In 1994, he released an ambient techno album under the pseudonym the Fireman. McCartney premiered his second classical piece, "The Leaf," early in 1995 and then began hosting a Westwood One radio series called Oobu Joobu. But his primary activity in 1995, as well as 1996, was the Beatles' Anthology, which encompassed a lengthy video documentary of the band and the multi-volume release of Beatles outtakes and rarities. After Anthology was completed, he released Flaming Pie in summer 1997. A low-key, largely acoustic affair that had the some of the same charm of his debut, Flaming Pie was given the strongest reviews McCartney had received in years and was a modest commercial success, debuting at number two on the U.S. and U.K. charts; it was his highest American chart placing since he left the Beatles.
Flaming Pie certainly benefited from the success of Anthology, as did McCartney himself -- only a few months before the release of the album in 1997, he received a Knightship. On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney died after a three-year struggle with breast cancer. A grieving Paul kept a low profile in the months to follow, but finally returned in fall 1999 with Run Devil Run, a collection primarily including cover songs. The electronica-based Liverpool Sound Collage followed a year later, and the pop album Driving Rain -- a successor, of sorts, to Flaming Pie -- came a year after that. The live album Back in the U.S. appeared in America in 2002 with the slightly different international edition, Back in the World, following soon after.
McCartney's next studio project included sessions with super-producer Nigel Godrich, the results of which appeared on the mellow Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard, released in late 2005. McCartney performed every instrument (not including the strings) on 2007's David Kahne-produced Memory Almost Full, a bold but whimsical collection of new songs, some of which were recorded before the Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard sessions. A live CD/DVD set, Good Evening New York City, appeared in 2009.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Paul Rodgers - Special Biography
In a career that now spans four decades, vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Paul Rodgers and his various groups have sold in excess of 125 million records around the world. Best known for his expressive vocals on songs that have become rock & roll staples, like "All Right Now," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Can't Get Enough," and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy," Rodgers has been cited by dozens of 1970s and '80s rock groups and musicians as a major influence. U.S. groups like the Black Crowes and Guns N' Roses have cited Rodgers and his various groups -- Free, Bad Company, the Firm, the Law -- as an influence on their styles. As a vocalist and songwriter, Rodgers had great admiration and respect for the classic African-American blues and R&B vocalists.
Rodgers credits his father for buying him a guitar in his youth, but he later taught himself bass and piano as well. He began writing songs when he was in his early teens, before he had mastered any instrument. Rodgers began playing out in clubs around Middlesborough, in northern England, when he was 13, taking singers like Rod Stewart as his role models. Right after he left school, he set out for London in a van with a band called the Roadrunners. The van broke down en route, and while the other members hitchhiked back north, Rodgers went south to London. After a short time he returned home to his parents, who were supportive of his musical endeavors. But having seen the club scene in London, he became determined to go back and make his mark there.
Returning to London, he formed the blues band Brown Sugar, deciding to see how far he could go as a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. In the mid- and late '60s, London was in the midst of a huge blues revival, and Rodgers had the opportunity to see Muddy Waters and dozens of other American blues musicians perform at London's Marquee Club and other blues and R&B venues. Seeing Waters live had a lasting effect on Rodgers, and his early experiments, Brown Sugar and Free, started out as blues bands. Rodgers was working with Brown Sugar when guitarist Paul Kossoff heard him sing.
Kossoff was so impressed with Rodgers' voice that the two decided to create a new band, joined by Simon Kirke on drums and bassist Andy Fraser. After seeing them at the Nags Head Pub in Battersea, Britain's godfather of blues, Alexis Korner, suggested they call themselves Free. A song Rodgers co-wrote with Fraser, "All Right Now," hit number one in 20 territories around the world in 1970. The song remains a rock staple, having been entered into ASCAP's "One Million" airplay singles club.
By the early '70s, Free was one of the biggest-selling British blues-rock groups; by the time the band dissolved in 1973, they had achieved an uncanny level of superstar success: they had sold more than 20 million albums around the world and had played more than 700 arena and festival concerts. In 1973, Rodgers formed Bad Company, then a prototype "supergroup," with King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, and Free drummer Simon Kirke. But this time, Rodgers learned from the mistakes he'd made with Free; he was determined to have bandmates who shared his musical vision -- the overnight success that Free experienced put undue pressures on the personalities in the band.
Rodgers contacted Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin's notorious manager, who was fortuitously starting Swan Song Records, the group's vanity label. By the close of the 1970s, Bad Company had recorded six multi-platinum albums, which spurred classic blues-rock and rock staples like "Can't Get Enough," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Shooting Star," and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." By the time Bad Company called it quits, they had played to over ten million people around the world and sold 30 million albums. Other highlights of Rodgers' career include a showstopping version of Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" at Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden in 1988, and his formation of a new group with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, the Firm, in the mid-'80s.
Following that band's two albums, Rodgers formed the Law with former Small Faces/Who drummer Kenny Jones. Since the early '80s, Rodgers has also released a number of solo albums. They include Cut Loose (1983) and The Morning After the Night Before/Northwind (1984), both for Atlantic Records. His 1990s output includes Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters (1993, Victory Records) and The Hendrix Set, a mini-CD released that same year. Muddy Water Blues was nominated for a Grammy and features guest performances by Slash, Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
Rodgers then put together a backing band featuring guitarist Geoff Whitehorn, bassist Jaz Lochrie, and drummer Jim Copley, recording Paul Rodgers Live (1996) and Paul Rodgers Now (1997) for the New York-based Velvel Records. After a Bad Company reunion in 1999, Rodgers switched over to CMC International, issuing the album Electric in 2000. Taking a break from his solo career in the middle of the decade, Rodgers joined Brian May and Roger Taylor in a version of Queen for some live shows, one of which was documented on 2005's Return of the Champions, a double disc on the Hollywood label.
In 2007 Eagle Rock Entertainment released a new solo album, Live in Glasgow, taken from a October 13, 2006, concert at Clyde Auditorium in Scotland. Released on both CD and DVD, it highlighted both Bad Company and Free material, some of which Rodgers hadn't performed in 35 years.
by Richard Skelly, All Music Guide
Rodgers credits his father for buying him a guitar in his youth, but he later taught himself bass and piano as well. He began writing songs when he was in his early teens, before he had mastered any instrument. Rodgers began playing out in clubs around Middlesborough, in northern England, when he was 13, taking singers like Rod Stewart as his role models. Right after he left school, he set out for London in a van with a band called the Roadrunners. The van broke down en route, and while the other members hitchhiked back north, Rodgers went south to London. After a short time he returned home to his parents, who were supportive of his musical endeavors. But having seen the club scene in London, he became determined to go back and make his mark there.
Returning to London, he formed the blues band Brown Sugar, deciding to see how far he could go as a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. In the mid- and late '60s, London was in the midst of a huge blues revival, and Rodgers had the opportunity to see Muddy Waters and dozens of other American blues musicians perform at London's Marquee Club and other blues and R&B venues. Seeing Waters live had a lasting effect on Rodgers, and his early experiments, Brown Sugar and Free, started out as blues bands. Rodgers was working with Brown Sugar when guitarist Paul Kossoff heard him sing.
Kossoff was so impressed with Rodgers' voice that the two decided to create a new band, joined by Simon Kirke on drums and bassist Andy Fraser. After seeing them at the Nags Head Pub in Battersea, Britain's godfather of blues, Alexis Korner, suggested they call themselves Free. A song Rodgers co-wrote with Fraser, "All Right Now," hit number one in 20 territories around the world in 1970. The song remains a rock staple, having been entered into ASCAP's "One Million" airplay singles club.
By the early '70s, Free was one of the biggest-selling British blues-rock groups; by the time the band dissolved in 1973, they had achieved an uncanny level of superstar success: they had sold more than 20 million albums around the world and had played more than 700 arena and festival concerts. In 1973, Rodgers formed Bad Company, then a prototype "supergroup," with King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, and Free drummer Simon Kirke. But this time, Rodgers learned from the mistakes he'd made with Free; he was determined to have bandmates who shared his musical vision -- the overnight success that Free experienced put undue pressures on the personalities in the band.
Rodgers contacted Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin's notorious manager, who was fortuitously starting Swan Song Records, the group's vanity label. By the close of the 1970s, Bad Company had recorded six multi-platinum albums, which spurred classic blues-rock and rock staples like "Can't Get Enough," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Shooting Star," and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." By the time Bad Company called it quits, they had played to over ten million people around the world and sold 30 million albums. Other highlights of Rodgers' career include a showstopping version of Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" at Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden in 1988, and his formation of a new group with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, the Firm, in the mid-'80s.
Following that band's two albums, Rodgers formed the Law with former Small Faces/Who drummer Kenny Jones. Since the early '80s, Rodgers has also released a number of solo albums. They include Cut Loose (1983) and The Morning After the Night Before/Northwind (1984), both for Atlantic Records. His 1990s output includes Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters (1993, Victory Records) and The Hendrix Set, a mini-CD released that same year. Muddy Water Blues was nominated for a Grammy and features guest performances by Slash, Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
Rodgers then put together a backing band featuring guitarist Geoff Whitehorn, bassist Jaz Lochrie, and drummer Jim Copley, recording Paul Rodgers Live (1996) and Paul Rodgers Now (1997) for the New York-based Velvel Records. After a Bad Company reunion in 1999, Rodgers switched over to CMC International, issuing the album Electric in 2000. Taking a break from his solo career in the middle of the decade, Rodgers joined Brian May and Roger Taylor in a version of Queen for some live shows, one of which was documented on 2005's Return of the Champions, a double disc on the Hollywood label.
In 2007 Eagle Rock Entertainment released a new solo album, Live in Glasgow, taken from a October 13, 2006, concert at Clyde Auditorium in Scotland. Released on both CD and DVD, it highlighted both Bad Company and Free material, some of which Rodgers hadn't performed in 35 years.
by Richard Skelly, All Music Guide
Neil Young - Special Biography
Some artists make it seem utterly courageous to follow their own muse. Neil Young makes it seem like there's no other choice. For the last 45 years, Young has glanced at his options, shrugged for a moment, and lit off for the place that seemed right. Young has always kept his fans guessing, turning an array of stylistic corners — country twang here, poignant picking there, and a whole lot of blaring guitar rock everywhere between. It doesn't matter if the songs are personal confessions, allusive tales, or bouncy throwaways — since the mid-1960s Young has filled each with immediacy and passion, two hallmarks of a career that has been utterly influential and wildly fun to follow. He's like your weird old uncle — if your uncle were a rock & roll genius.
Young was born in 1945. As a child he moved with his mother Rassy Ragland to Winnipeg, Canada, after she divorced his father Scott Young, a well-known sports journalist and author. Neil played in several high school rock hands, including the Esquires and the Stardusters. He also began hanging out in local folk clubs, where he met musicians Stephen Stills and Joni Mitchell. Mitchell wrote "The Circle Game" after hearing "Sugar Mountain," Young's paean to youth. In the mid-1960s he moved to Toronto, where he began performing solo. In 1966 he and bassist Bruce Palmer joined the Mynah Birds (which included Rick James and had a deal with Motown Records); after that fizzled, he and Palmer drove to L.A. in Young's Pontiac hearse (it was nicknamed "Mort"). There Young and Palmer ran into Stills and another mutual friend, Richie Furay, and formed Buffalo Springfield, one of the most important folk-rock bands of the 1960s, who love of country music helped shape their overall sound. The Springfield recorded Young's "Broken Arrow," "I Am a Child," "Mr. Soul," and "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" — key titles of Young's early catalogue. But friction developed: the moody Young quit the band, only to rejoin and quit again, and in May 1968, after recording three albums, the band split-up for good.
Young connected with Joni Mitchell's manager, Elliot Roberts, and released his self-titled debut in January 1969; it was co-produced by Jack Nitzsche. Around the same time Young began jamming with a band called the Rockets made up of drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot, and guitarist Danny Whitten. He renamed them Crazy Horse, and they backed him on the killer guitar album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Number 34, 1969), which contains three of Young's most famous songs: "Cinnamon Girl," "Down by the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand." The singer once told a journalist that they were all written in one day while he was stricken with a fever from the flu. The album went gold (and much later, platinum), and Young found that he had a backing group who he could rely on for decades. In 1970 he accepted an invitation to join Crosby, Stills & Nash. In the spring of that year, CSN&Y released the much-acclaimed Déjá Vu.
All of a sudden, Young work was ubiquitous. His third solo album, the masterful After the Gold Rush (Number 8, 1970), included Crazy Horse and 17-year-old guitarist Nils Lofgren. The album went gold and yielded the single "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (Number 33, 1970). Déjà Vu was still a strong seller, and it was becoming obvious that Neil Young was one of rock's most fertile artists. Harvest (Number One, 1972) was written largely while Young was recuperating from a slipped disc and recorded with an assemblage of studio musicians dubbed the Stray Gators; it featured the Number One single "Heart of Gold" and made the hippie singer-songwriter a superstar.
By the release of their double-disc live album, Four Way Street, in the spring 1971, CSN&Y had broken up. In 1972 Young made a cinema vérité film, Journey Through the Past, directing under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey; the movie and its soundtrack were panned by critics. Young confused fans further with Time Fades Away (Number 22, 1973), a rough-hewn live album recorded with the Stray Gators, including Nitzsche (keyboards), Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar), Tim Drummond (bass), and John Barbata (drums).
In June 1975 Young released a bleak, ragged album recorded two years earlier, Tonight's the Night (Number 25). Its dark tone reflected Young's emotional upheaval following the drug deaths of Crazy Horse's Danny Whitten in 1972 and CSN&Y roadie Bruce Berry in 1973. It's often cited as one of Young's most harrowing albums.
In November 1975 Young released the harder-rocking Zuma (Number 25), with Crazy Horse, an emotionally intense work that included the sweeping "Cortez the Killer." Crazy Horse now included Talbot, Molina, and Frank "Poncho" Sampedro (rhythm guitar). In 1976 Young recorded Long May You Run (Number 26) with Stills. The album went gold, and the two old friends launched a tour. But Young bowed out with only half the dates done, informing Stills of his parting via telegram.
In June 1977 Young was back on his own with the gold American Stars 'n Bars (Number 21), again a more accessible effort, with Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson supplying backing vocals. Compiled by Young, the three-LP Decade was a carefully chosen, not entirely hit-centered compilation. Comes a Time (Number 7, 1978) had country echoes and went gold.
In fall 1978 Young did an arena tour entitled Rust Never Sleeps, performing half the show on solo piano or guitar and the other half (which was pointedly loud) with Crazy Horse, amid a stage set that featured oversized mock-ups of mics, amps, and speakers. In June 1979 he released Rust Never Sleeps (Number Eight) with songs previewed on the tour, including "My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)," which conflated the worlds of Elvis Presley and Johnny Rotten. (The same song was reprised at the end, as "Hey Hey My My [Into the Black].") The album also featured "Sedan Delivery" and "Powderfinger," two titles Young had offered Lynyrd Skynyrd, though the band didn't record them. (Back in 1974 Skynyrd had written proud "Sweet Home Alabama" as an answer to Young's cranky "Southern Man.") In November 1979 Young came the inevitable Live Rust (Number 15), a double-LP culled from the previous shows and the soundtrack to a film of the tour, entitled Rust Never Sleeps. All of the Rust activity was some of the most potent music Young ever made.
The 1980s were a particularly strange and erratic decade for the singer, even by his own unpredictable standards. Ultimately, it seemed he was going on a genre-hopping spree. Right before the presidential election in 1980, he issued Hawks and Doves (Number 30), an enigmatic state-of-the-union address, with one side of odd acoustic pieces and the other of rickety country songs. A year later he released Re*ac*tor (Number 27), a bruising hard-rock LP. In 1982 he moved to the Geffen label and released Trans (Number 19), which introduced his audience to what he called "Neil 2"; the singer fed his voice through a computerized Vocoder and sang songs with compu-speak titles such as "Sample and Hold." It was adventurous, and he explained that he was trying to put himself in the place where he could communicate with his speech-impaired son Ben who was born with cerebral palsy (as was his old brother Zeke). He toured arenas as a solo performer when the album was released, singing his most-requested songs, covering "backstage" action on a large video screen, and singing along with his Vocoderized video image on songs from Trans.
Young's wanderlust got more extreme with Everybody's Rockin', a rockabilly album recorded and performed with a group he dubbed the Shocking Pinks. Despite an amusing video for the song "Wonderin'," all this stylistic swerving started to irritate longtime fans, and the records began sliding down the charts. Old Ways was a country album with guest spots by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Landing on Water used synthesizers on standard rock songs. Life reunited him with Crazy Horse in lackluster performances. The lack of commercial success created a disastrous relationship with Geffen — ultimately the imprint slapped him with a $3 million lawsuit for making "unrepresentative" music —.
Young kept jumping genres, returning to his former label Reprise for This Note's For You, a horn-based blues/R&B album. The video for the title song attacked artists who allowed their music to be licensed for TV ads; MTV avoided airing it, although it earned the network's Music Video Award for Best Video of the Year.
In 1987, after appearing with his old cohorts in CSN at a Greenpeace benefit, Young briefly rejoined the group for the 1988 CSN&Y album American Dream (Number 16). None of Young's 1980s albums was particularly well received beyond the artist's loyal core audience, though some — such as Trans— had captured critics' interest. Many wrote off the bulk of this era's work as typical Neil Young flakiness.
Young's extra-musical activities during the 1980s were bountiful. He participated in the 1985 Live Aid benefit and helped John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson organized the subsequent Farm Aid concerts. He and his wife Pegi started the Bridge School in San Francisco in 1986, a learning center for disabled children. In 1989 a group of alternative rockers, including Sonic Youth, the Pixies, and Dinosaur Jr., contributed to The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young, whose proceeds went to the school. Young also organized an annual benefit concerts for the school.
Because of his renegade spirit and unruly music, Young was hailed by a new generation of post-punk musicians as "the Godfather of Grunge." He had a major comeback beginning in 1989 with Freedom (Number 35), his biggest chart success since Trans, as well as his biggest critical hit in a decade. He introduced its single, "Rockin' in the Free World," in an unbridled, transcendent 1989 performance on Saturday Night Live — one of the greatest moments in all of rock television.
Young then regrouped Crazy Horse for Ragged Glory (Number 31, 1990), a raucous, lauded album. With distortion-drenched garage rock, the album verified Young's influence on younger alternative-rock bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and Pearl Jam. In 1991 he embraced this new generation by taking noise-rockers Sonic Youth and Social Distortion on the road; the tour was documented on Weld (a disc whose 35-minute instrumental companion Arc featured extended feedback jams). Young also began praising rap, particularly the music of Ice-T.
Reuniting him with members of the Stray Gators, Harvest Moon (Number 16, 1992) once again found Young performing sentimental acoustic songs. A sequel to Harvest, it was his biggest seller in 13 years. In 1992 he appeared at the 50th birthday celebration for Bob Dylan, covering "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "All Along the Watchtower." Released in 1993, Lucky Thirteen compiles Young's Geffen material, and Unplugged documents his live acoustic performances following the release of Harvest Moon.
In 1994 Young contributed the haunting title song to Jonathan Demme's film Philadelphia, which was nominated for an Oscar. (Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia," also from the film, won.) Next up was Sleeps with Angels (Number 9, 1994), a moody set of tunes inspired by the death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, whose suicide note included the line from "Hey Hey, My My," that says "it's better to burn out, than to fade away."
Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, who thanked Young for teaching his band a lot about "dignity, commitment, and playing in the moment." The mutual admiration between the artists resulted in the collaboration Mirror Ball (Number 5, 1995), with the Seattle superstars backing Young on his highest-charting album since 1972. The next year he was back with Crazy Horse for Broken Arrow (Number 31, 1996).
Young recorded a haunting electric-guitar score for New York independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch's 1996 film Dead Man. Jarmusch then made a documentary of Young, Year of the Horse, released in 1997. Footage from Young and Crazy Horse's 1996 tour was spliced together with older stock from 1976 and 1986; interviews with Young, band members, crew, and associates run throughout. A soundtrack album was also released. Young headlined the H.O.R.D.E. summer festival tour in 1997.
In the late-1990s, Young, a lifelong model train enthusiast, bought the Lionel Toy Train company, reportedly to delight his son Ben.
In 2000 Young released Silver & Gold, a pensive, largely acoustic album featuring drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, Ben Keith on pedal steel and dobro, and keyboardist Spooner Oldham. Also that year, writer Jimmy McDonough filed a $1.8 million suit against Young alleging that the singer refused to allow publication of a biography written by McDonough that Young originally authorized; the book, entitled Shakey came out in 2002 to widespread praise. In November 2000, Young released Road Rock (Number 169), a live set featuring a duet with Chrissie Hynde on "All Along the Watchtower." In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, Young recorded a single, "Let's Roll," in tribute to the passengers and crew of Flight 93, and he performed a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" during a telecast benefitting victims of the attacks. "Let's Roll" appeared on 2002's Are You Passionate?, a low-key album with Booker T. & the MG's backing Young.
In 2003 he released Greendale, a concept album recorded with two-thirds of Crazy Horse (Sampedro sat out); he also made a film based on the album, and mounted a stage version that toured North America, Japan, and Australia.
In March 2005, Young suffered a brain aneurysm and underwent a successful surgery. Around the same time, he wrote and began to record what became Prairie Wind, released late in September. The following year, Jonathan Demme's film of Young at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Heart of Gold, premiered.
In a move that paralleled the quick turnaround of "Ohio," (a response to the student killings by National Guard soldiers on the Kent State campus in 1970), in April 2006, Young weighed in on the Iraq debacle on Living with War, a blunt protest album. The music was available on the Web before the actual CD was issued in early May; its songs included the point-blank "Let's Impeach the President." He also reunited with Crosby, Stills & Nash for a U.S. tour, during which Living with War was showcased in concert.
Young has long been at work on the release of his much-anticipated "Archives" series — which spans his entire recording career, highlighting the many albums and live recordings he made but never released — has been mooted for so long it's become a joke to fans. But in late 2006 he finally began to make good on the promise, releasing Live at the Fillmore East, a much-bootlegged show recorded in 1970; in March 2007, he released Live from Massey Hall 1971, an acoustic set at a theater in Toronto, and Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 in 2008 from an even more intimate venue. Don't forget Dreamin' Man, a 2009 live disc of songs from Harvest Moon, issued so fans could have another perspective on that era. Heard together they provide a much better view into creative process of his early days.
Speaking of unreleased Neil Young albums, October 2007's – Chrome Dreams II not only featured a handful of songs Young had scrapped years earlier (notably "Ordinary People," an 18-minute monster from the late 1980s), it was also titled as a sequel to a 1977 album Young had never finished. In tandem with the thrown together but oddly profound Fork In the Road, which is basically his soundtrack to the green car biz he initiated. Young had his 1959 Lincoln Continental retrofitted to make it a 100-mpg bio-diesel vehicle, a project he went on David Letterman and Jay Leno's late night shows to promote.
In 2009, Young finally released of Neil Young Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1973, the multi disc box set available in Blu-Ray that traces his evolution through 129 songs. Loaded with easter eggs that lead to odd video footage and hidden tracks, the first edition of his audio autobiography is a completist's dream.
Never winning a Grammy under his own name as a solo artist, Young received a special honor at the 2010 presentations. He was named the MusiCares "Person of the Year," a designation that accounts for artistic achievement and philanthropic work.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Young was born in 1945. As a child he moved with his mother Rassy Ragland to Winnipeg, Canada, after she divorced his father Scott Young, a well-known sports journalist and author. Neil played in several high school rock hands, including the Esquires and the Stardusters. He also began hanging out in local folk clubs, where he met musicians Stephen Stills and Joni Mitchell. Mitchell wrote "The Circle Game" after hearing "Sugar Mountain," Young's paean to youth. In the mid-1960s he moved to Toronto, where he began performing solo. In 1966 he and bassist Bruce Palmer joined the Mynah Birds (which included Rick James and had a deal with Motown Records); after that fizzled, he and Palmer drove to L.A. in Young's Pontiac hearse (it was nicknamed "Mort"). There Young and Palmer ran into Stills and another mutual friend, Richie Furay, and formed Buffalo Springfield, one of the most important folk-rock bands of the 1960s, who love of country music helped shape their overall sound. The Springfield recorded Young's "Broken Arrow," "I Am a Child," "Mr. Soul," and "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" — key titles of Young's early catalogue. But friction developed: the moody Young quit the band, only to rejoin and quit again, and in May 1968, after recording three albums, the band split-up for good.
Young connected with Joni Mitchell's manager, Elliot Roberts, and released his self-titled debut in January 1969; it was co-produced by Jack Nitzsche. Around the same time Young began jamming with a band called the Rockets made up of drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot, and guitarist Danny Whitten. He renamed them Crazy Horse, and they backed him on the killer guitar album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Number 34, 1969), which contains three of Young's most famous songs: "Cinnamon Girl," "Down by the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand." The singer once told a journalist that they were all written in one day while he was stricken with a fever from the flu. The album went gold (and much later, platinum), and Young found that he had a backing group who he could rely on for decades. In 1970 he accepted an invitation to join Crosby, Stills & Nash. In the spring of that year, CSN&Y released the much-acclaimed Déjá Vu.
All of a sudden, Young work was ubiquitous. His third solo album, the masterful After the Gold Rush (Number 8, 1970), included Crazy Horse and 17-year-old guitarist Nils Lofgren. The album went gold and yielded the single "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (Number 33, 1970). Déjà Vu was still a strong seller, and it was becoming obvious that Neil Young was one of rock's most fertile artists. Harvest (Number One, 1972) was written largely while Young was recuperating from a slipped disc and recorded with an assemblage of studio musicians dubbed the Stray Gators; it featured the Number One single "Heart of Gold" and made the hippie singer-songwriter a superstar.
By the release of their double-disc live album, Four Way Street, in the spring 1971, CSN&Y had broken up. In 1972 Young made a cinema vérité film, Journey Through the Past, directing under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey; the movie and its soundtrack were panned by critics. Young confused fans further with Time Fades Away (Number 22, 1973), a rough-hewn live album recorded with the Stray Gators, including Nitzsche (keyboards), Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar), Tim Drummond (bass), and John Barbata (drums).
In June 1975 Young released a bleak, ragged album recorded two years earlier, Tonight's the Night (Number 25). Its dark tone reflected Young's emotional upheaval following the drug deaths of Crazy Horse's Danny Whitten in 1972 and CSN&Y roadie Bruce Berry in 1973. It's often cited as one of Young's most harrowing albums.
In November 1975 Young released the harder-rocking Zuma (Number 25), with Crazy Horse, an emotionally intense work that included the sweeping "Cortez the Killer." Crazy Horse now included Talbot, Molina, and Frank "Poncho" Sampedro (rhythm guitar). In 1976 Young recorded Long May You Run (Number 26) with Stills. The album went gold, and the two old friends launched a tour. But Young bowed out with only half the dates done, informing Stills of his parting via telegram.
In June 1977 Young was back on his own with the gold American Stars 'n Bars (Number 21), again a more accessible effort, with Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson supplying backing vocals. Compiled by Young, the three-LP Decade was a carefully chosen, not entirely hit-centered compilation. Comes a Time (Number 7, 1978) had country echoes and went gold.
In fall 1978 Young did an arena tour entitled Rust Never Sleeps, performing half the show on solo piano or guitar and the other half (which was pointedly loud) with Crazy Horse, amid a stage set that featured oversized mock-ups of mics, amps, and speakers. In June 1979 he released Rust Never Sleeps (Number Eight) with songs previewed on the tour, including "My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)," which conflated the worlds of Elvis Presley and Johnny Rotten. (The same song was reprised at the end, as "Hey Hey My My [Into the Black].") The album also featured "Sedan Delivery" and "Powderfinger," two titles Young had offered Lynyrd Skynyrd, though the band didn't record them. (Back in 1974 Skynyrd had written proud "Sweet Home Alabama" as an answer to Young's cranky "Southern Man.") In November 1979 Young came the inevitable Live Rust (Number 15), a double-LP culled from the previous shows and the soundtrack to a film of the tour, entitled Rust Never Sleeps. All of the Rust activity was some of the most potent music Young ever made.
The 1980s were a particularly strange and erratic decade for the singer, even by his own unpredictable standards. Ultimately, it seemed he was going on a genre-hopping spree. Right before the presidential election in 1980, he issued Hawks and Doves (Number 30), an enigmatic state-of-the-union address, with one side of odd acoustic pieces and the other of rickety country songs. A year later he released Re*ac*tor (Number 27), a bruising hard-rock LP. In 1982 he moved to the Geffen label and released Trans (Number 19), which introduced his audience to what he called "Neil 2"; the singer fed his voice through a computerized Vocoder and sang songs with compu-speak titles such as "Sample and Hold." It was adventurous, and he explained that he was trying to put himself in the place where he could communicate with his speech-impaired son Ben who was born with cerebral palsy (as was his old brother Zeke). He toured arenas as a solo performer when the album was released, singing his most-requested songs, covering "backstage" action on a large video screen, and singing along with his Vocoderized video image on songs from Trans.
Young's wanderlust got more extreme with Everybody's Rockin', a rockabilly album recorded and performed with a group he dubbed the Shocking Pinks. Despite an amusing video for the song "Wonderin'," all this stylistic swerving started to irritate longtime fans, and the records began sliding down the charts. Old Ways was a country album with guest spots by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Landing on Water used synthesizers on standard rock songs. Life reunited him with Crazy Horse in lackluster performances. The lack of commercial success created a disastrous relationship with Geffen — ultimately the imprint slapped him with a $3 million lawsuit for making "unrepresentative" music —.
Young kept jumping genres, returning to his former label Reprise for This Note's For You, a horn-based blues/R&B album. The video for the title song attacked artists who allowed their music to be licensed for TV ads; MTV avoided airing it, although it earned the network's Music Video Award for Best Video of the Year.
In 1987, after appearing with his old cohorts in CSN at a Greenpeace benefit, Young briefly rejoined the group for the 1988 CSN&Y album American Dream (Number 16). None of Young's 1980s albums was particularly well received beyond the artist's loyal core audience, though some — such as Trans— had captured critics' interest. Many wrote off the bulk of this era's work as typical Neil Young flakiness.
Young's extra-musical activities during the 1980s were bountiful. He participated in the 1985 Live Aid benefit and helped John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson organized the subsequent Farm Aid concerts. He and his wife Pegi started the Bridge School in San Francisco in 1986, a learning center for disabled children. In 1989 a group of alternative rockers, including Sonic Youth, the Pixies, and Dinosaur Jr., contributed to The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young, whose proceeds went to the school. Young also organized an annual benefit concerts for the school.
Because of his renegade spirit and unruly music, Young was hailed by a new generation of post-punk musicians as "the Godfather of Grunge." He had a major comeback beginning in 1989 with Freedom (Number 35), his biggest chart success since Trans, as well as his biggest critical hit in a decade. He introduced its single, "Rockin' in the Free World," in an unbridled, transcendent 1989 performance on Saturday Night Live — one of the greatest moments in all of rock television.
Young then regrouped Crazy Horse for Ragged Glory (Number 31, 1990), a raucous, lauded album. With distortion-drenched garage rock, the album verified Young's influence on younger alternative-rock bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and Pearl Jam. In 1991 he embraced this new generation by taking noise-rockers Sonic Youth and Social Distortion on the road; the tour was documented on Weld (a disc whose 35-minute instrumental companion Arc featured extended feedback jams). Young also began praising rap, particularly the music of Ice-T.
Reuniting him with members of the Stray Gators, Harvest Moon (Number 16, 1992) once again found Young performing sentimental acoustic songs. A sequel to Harvest, it was his biggest seller in 13 years. In 1992 he appeared at the 50th birthday celebration for Bob Dylan, covering "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "All Along the Watchtower." Released in 1993, Lucky Thirteen compiles Young's Geffen material, and Unplugged documents his live acoustic performances following the release of Harvest Moon.
In 1994 Young contributed the haunting title song to Jonathan Demme's film Philadelphia, which was nominated for an Oscar. (Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia," also from the film, won.) Next up was Sleeps with Angels (Number 9, 1994), a moody set of tunes inspired by the death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, whose suicide note included the line from "Hey Hey, My My," that says "it's better to burn out, than to fade away."
Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, who thanked Young for teaching his band a lot about "dignity, commitment, and playing in the moment." The mutual admiration between the artists resulted in the collaboration Mirror Ball (Number 5, 1995), with the Seattle superstars backing Young on his highest-charting album since 1972. The next year he was back with Crazy Horse for Broken Arrow (Number 31, 1996).
Young recorded a haunting electric-guitar score for New York independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch's 1996 film Dead Man. Jarmusch then made a documentary of Young, Year of the Horse, released in 1997. Footage from Young and Crazy Horse's 1996 tour was spliced together with older stock from 1976 and 1986; interviews with Young, band members, crew, and associates run throughout. A soundtrack album was also released. Young headlined the H.O.R.D.E. summer festival tour in 1997.
In the late-1990s, Young, a lifelong model train enthusiast, bought the Lionel Toy Train company, reportedly to delight his son Ben.
In 2000 Young released Silver & Gold, a pensive, largely acoustic album featuring drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, Ben Keith on pedal steel and dobro, and keyboardist Spooner Oldham. Also that year, writer Jimmy McDonough filed a $1.8 million suit against Young alleging that the singer refused to allow publication of a biography written by McDonough that Young originally authorized; the book, entitled Shakey came out in 2002 to widespread praise. In November 2000, Young released Road Rock (Number 169), a live set featuring a duet with Chrissie Hynde on "All Along the Watchtower." In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, Young recorded a single, "Let's Roll," in tribute to the passengers and crew of Flight 93, and he performed a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" during a telecast benefitting victims of the attacks. "Let's Roll" appeared on 2002's Are You Passionate?, a low-key album with Booker T. & the MG's backing Young.
In 2003 he released Greendale, a concept album recorded with two-thirds of Crazy Horse (Sampedro sat out); he also made a film based on the album, and mounted a stage version that toured North America, Japan, and Australia.
In March 2005, Young suffered a brain aneurysm and underwent a successful surgery. Around the same time, he wrote and began to record what became Prairie Wind, released late in September. The following year, Jonathan Demme's film of Young at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Heart of Gold, premiered.
In a move that paralleled the quick turnaround of "Ohio," (a response to the student killings by National Guard soldiers on the Kent State campus in 1970), in April 2006, Young weighed in on the Iraq debacle on Living with War, a blunt protest album. The music was available on the Web before the actual CD was issued in early May; its songs included the point-blank "Let's Impeach the President." He also reunited with Crosby, Stills & Nash for a U.S. tour, during which Living with War was showcased in concert.
Young has long been at work on the release of his much-anticipated "Archives" series — which spans his entire recording career, highlighting the many albums and live recordings he made but never released — has been mooted for so long it's become a joke to fans. But in late 2006 he finally began to make good on the promise, releasing Live at the Fillmore East, a much-bootlegged show recorded in 1970; in March 2007, he released Live from Massey Hall 1971, an acoustic set at a theater in Toronto, and Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 in 2008 from an even more intimate venue. Don't forget Dreamin' Man, a 2009 live disc of songs from Harvest Moon, issued so fans could have another perspective on that era. Heard together they provide a much better view into creative process of his early days.
Speaking of unreleased Neil Young albums, October 2007's – Chrome Dreams II not only featured a handful of songs Young had scrapped years earlier (notably "Ordinary People," an 18-minute monster from the late 1980s), it was also titled as a sequel to a 1977 album Young had never finished. In tandem with the thrown together but oddly profound Fork In the Road, which is basically his soundtrack to the green car biz he initiated. Young had his 1959 Lincoln Continental retrofitted to make it a 100-mpg bio-diesel vehicle, a project he went on David Letterman and Jay Leno's late night shows to promote.
In 2009, Young finally released of Neil Young Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1973, the multi disc box set available in Blu-Ray that traces his evolution through 129 songs. Loaded with easter eggs that lead to odd video footage and hidden tracks, the first edition of his audio autobiography is a completist's dream.
Never winning a Grammy under his own name as a solo artist, Young received a special honor at the 2010 presentations. He was named the MusiCares "Person of the Year," a designation that accounts for artistic achievement and philanthropic work.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
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