America is the eponymous debut album released by America in 1971. The album was initially released without "A Horse With No Name," which had not yet been recorded. When "Horse" became a worldwide hit in early 1972, the album was re-released with that track.
The album went to number 1 on the Billboard album chart in the US and stayed there for 5 weeks. It produced two hit singles, "A Horse With No Name" spent three weeks at number 1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1972 (it peaked at number 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart), and "I Need You" hit number 9 on the Billboard singles chart and number 7 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Several other songs received radio airplay on FM stations playing album tracks, including "Sandman" and "Three Roses". The album was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of 1 million units in the US.
The Kinks are an English pop and rock group formed in 1963, and categorised in the US as a British Invasion band. The Kinks have been cited as one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time.
The Kinks first gained prominence in 1964 with their third single, the hit "You Really Got Me", written by Ray Davies. The band's name came from their "kinky" dress sense of leather capes and boots worn on stage.
Face to Face is an album released by The Kinks in 1966 on Pye Records in the United Kingdom and on Reprise Records in the United States. A major artistic breakthrough for Kinks' songwriter Ray Davies, the LP represents the first full flowering of Davies' use of narrative, observation, and wry social commentary in his songs. It heralded The Kinks' move away from the hard-driving rock and roll style of 1964-65, which had catapulted the group to international stardom. It was the first Kinks album consisting entirely of Ray Davies compositions, and was their first album recorded over several months, rather than in one concentrated session.
Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles, known for their 1967 hit "Incense and Peppermints". They are often thought of as a "one-hit wonder", although they charted two Top 40 songs, and five Top 100 songs.
From Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1977, the Headboys released an album of power pop in 1979 on Robert Stigwood's RSO label. The LP was produced by Peter Ker (Motors, Bram Tchaikovsky). The first single, "The Shape of Things to Come" coupled with "The Mood I'm In" was a minor hit and the band planned a U.S. tour to support the album and join the New Wave craze that they reluctantly became a part of. But they decided not to tour the States and retreated to the Scottish countryside to record another album. The second album, however, was never released.
Scandal is a New York City rock band from the 1980s fronted by lead singer Patty Smyth. The band scored a hit in the US with the song "The Warrior", which peaked at #7 in 1984. Other minor hits included "Goodbye to You" (1982 - #65 US), "Love's Got A Line On You" (1983 - #59 US), and "Hands Tied" (1984 - #41 US)
Although Pat Benatar isn't as hot as Patty Smyth, she's just as good a singer and overall her music rocks harder.
Pat Benatar, from Brooklyn, wanted to be a pop singer, but her husband, who is her guitar player, made her do rock. But she gravitated towards pop after a few albums.
Here's a classic from her hard melodic rock era:
Crimes of Passion is the second album by Pat Benatar, released in 1980.
It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and produced the classic hits "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" (US #9), "You Better Run" (US #42), "Treat Me Right" (US #18), plus a cover of Kate Bush's international hit, "Wuthering Heights". "Hell Is for Children," which was not released as an A-side single, was also a hit on album-rock stations.
Here's another that couldn't necessarily be called "classic rock", although it was a #1 song on pop charts...
"Ballad of the Green Berets" is a patriotic song in the ballad style about the Green Berets, an elite special force in the U.S. Army. It is one of the very few songs of the 1960s to cast the military in a positive light and yet it became a major hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Charts for five weeks in 1966. It was also a multi-market smash, reaching #1 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart, and #2 on Billboard's Country survey.
The song was written by Robin Moore and Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, while the latter was recuperating from a leg wound suffered as a medic in the Vietnam War. Moore also wrote a non-fiction book, The Green Berets, about the force.
The recording of the song was the number one hit in the United States for five weeks in 1966 and was the number twenty-one song of 1960s, despite the later unpopularity of the Vietnam War. Refer to United States Army Special Forces in popular culture
It has sold over nine million singles and albums. It was the top single of a year in which the British Invasion, led by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, dominated the U.S. charts.
It is currently used as one of the four primary marching tunes of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band.
The Ramones were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, in 1974, all of the band members adopted stage names ending with "Ramone", though none of them were actually related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played their final show and then disbanded. A little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—were dead.
The Ramones were a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and Great Britain, though they achieved only minor commercial success. Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. Recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now regularly represented in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and 25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojo's 100 Greatest Albums. In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band ever in Spin, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones. It was released on September 22, 1978. It was recorded in May and June of 1978 at Media Sound in New York. The album also contains the track "I Wanna Be Sedated", one of the band's most popular and beloved tunes.
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
The War of the Worlds stars Richard Burton as the narrator-protagonist, Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues), Phil Lynott, Julie Covington, David Essex and Chris Thompson. "Forever Autumn", "The Eve of the War", "Thunder Child", and "The Spirit of Man" are the most recognised individual songs on the album. "Forever Autumn" was a UK Top 5 single, sung by Justin Hayward. The album itself spent 290 weeks in the UK album charts. It was in the top 10 in 22 countries and reached #1 in 11 countries.
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards); Demis Roussos (bass guitar and vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals), and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris (guitar). Papathanassiou and Roussos had already been successful in Greece (playing in the bands Formynx and Idols respectively) while they got together with Sideras and Koulouris to form a new band. Their first recording as a band was for George Romanos album In concert and in Studio where they played on four songs and were credited as "Vangelis and his orchestra". In the same year they recorded a two song demo and submitted it to Philips Records.
666 (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18) is a double album by the group. It is one of the early cult albums in rock history, and is still popular among fans today. It was published in 1972, and was the primary vehicle/effort for the Vangelis project. It had a minor Album Oriented Radio hit in "The Four Horsemen," and a nearly pop hit with "Break." The album was ostensibly an adaptation of Biblical passages from the book of the same name, but was also very experimental in lyrics and composition, including a curious piece of performance art in which Greek actress Irene Papas is struggling to chant a mantra while in the throes of hysteria and climax.
Trilogy is the third studio album by British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, originally released in 1972. The interior of the original gatefold sleeve features a photomontage showing multiple images of the band in Epping Forest carpeted with autumn leaves.
The band had already released two very carefully performed studio albums, Emerson, Lake and Palmer (1970) and Tarkus (1971), the former being dominated by virtuoso keyboards and drumming; the latter being as bombastic as it was ambitious. Trilogy, their third studio album, increased ELP's worldwide popularity, and included "Hoedown", which was one of their most popular songs when performing live.
Nine Lives (1979) was the ninth album by REO Speedwagon and featured nine songs (hence the title Nine Lives). It was their eighth studio release and the last REO album to prominently feature a more hard rock sound. The band would turn to more pop-oriented material with 1980's Hi Infidelity.
Here are two of my favorite Foreigner cuts: Starrider from their 1977 debut album, and Blue Morning, Blue Day from their follow-up album, Double Vision (1978). And, just for s***s & giggles, I have included Long, Log Way From Home from the debut album, and the title cut from Double Vision as well.
Caress of Steel is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1975. The album shows more of Rush's adherence to the heavy metal and progressive rock styles of the band's first two albums. Long pieces, pieces broken up into parts, and solo passages of speed and agility are all included. The album is often considered notable for the inclusion of the band's first epic piece, "The Fountain Of Lamneth", which runs to nearly 20 minutes and comprised the whole of side two of the original vinyl release. Intended to be Rush's breakthrough album, it sold fewer copies than their previous record and was considered a disappointment by their record company, with the tour becoming known as the "Down The Tubes Tour".
Despite its relatively poor sales, the album charted higher in the US than Rush's previous release Fly by Night (as stated in the liner notes to Rush's The Spirit of Radio Greatest Hits 1974-87 album). The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1993. The next year's follow-up album, 2112 would pave the way for Rush's commercial success with its own 21-minute epic.
Originally, the album cover was supposed to be in silver hue to give it a "steel" appearance. A printing error resulted in a copper color for the album cover.
And here is Lakeside Park from the album:
Naturally is the fifth album by American rock band Three Dog Night, released in 1970. The album produced two Top 10 hits: "Joy to the World" (#1 in February) and "Liar" (#7). "One Man Band" reached the Top 20 (#19)
David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He has been cited as an influence by many musicians. Bowie is also known for his distinctive baritone voice.
Although he released an album and numerous singles earlier, David Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in the autumn of 1969, when the Apollo program-inspired "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK singles chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era as the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona epitomised a career often marked by musical innovation, reinvention and striking visual presentation.
In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer identified as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low – the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. Arguably his most experimental works to date, the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK Top Five.
After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" and its parent album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topper "Under Pressure", but consolidated his commercial – and, until then, most profitable – sound in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love".
In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie ranked 29. Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums, and ranks among the ten best-selling acts in UK pop history. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time.
"The Jean Genie" is a single by David Bowie, released in November 1972. One of Bowie’s most famous songs, it was the lead single for the album Aladdin Sane (1973).
The Band was a rock group active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. The original group (1967-1976) consisted of four Canadians: Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano, vocals); Richard Manuel (piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone, organ, vocals); Garth Hudson (organ, piano, clavinet, accordion, synthesizer, saxophone); and Rick Danko (bass guitar, violin, trombone, vocals), and one American, Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, vocals).
The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins' backing group, The Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963. Upon leaving Hawkins in 1964 they were known as The Levon Helm Sextet (the sixth member being sax player Jerry Penfound), then Levon and the Hawks (without Penfound). In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name the Canadian Squires, but returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session for Atco later in 1965. At about the same time, Bob Dylan recruited Helm and Robertson for two concerts, then the entire group for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. They also joined him on the informal recordings that later became The Basement Tapes.
Dubbed "The Band" by their record company (a name believed to be derived from how they were referred to during their tenure with Dylan), the group left Saugerties, New York, to begin recording their own material. They recorded two of the most acclaimed albums of the late 1960s: their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink (featuring the single "The Weight") and 1969's The Band. They broke up in 1976, but reformed in 1983 without founding guitarist Robbie Robertson.
Although the Band was always more popular with music journalists and fellow musicians than with the general public, they have remained an admired and influential group. The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them #50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in 2008, they received the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.
I prefer posting studio songs, but here is an exception. This sounds like the studio version, and if it is, they certainly did a good job of matching it up with the movements of the musicians.
It's cool actually seeing them play the music.
Here's Fly By Night from Rush's second album of the same name, released in 1975.
I prefer posting studio songs, but here is an exception. This sounds like the studio version, and if it is, they certainly did a good job of matching it up with the movements of the musicians.
I do believe that is the studio version. Looks like the same video shoot that they filmed Anthem. It is included on the Rock in Rio DVD.
Is there a cooler Sabbath song than Heaven and Hell? I don't think so.
This is from their 1980 album of the same name. This was the first album after singer Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the band and replaced with Ronnie James Dio. Ronnie James Dio himself cites it as his over-all personal favorite song of his career, the one that he feels most proud of. Dio stated that the song is about the ability of each human being's ability to choose between doing good and doing evil, essentially that each person has "heaven and hell" inside themselves.
Meddle is an album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was recorded at various studios in between the band's live touring commitments from January to August 1971.
Originally released in the U.S. on 30 October 1971 by Harvest/Capitol and in the UK on 5 November by Harvest/EMI, the album was later remastered three times.
Though the tracks have a variety of moods, Meddle is generally considered more cohesive than its 1970 predecessor Atom Heart Mother, and is thought by many fans to be Pink Floyd's first truly great album recorded without Syd Barrett. It enjoyed some commercial success in the United Kingdom (reaching #3 on the charts), but lacklustre publicity on the part of Capitol Records led to weak sales in the U.S. However, Meddle was later certified gold by the RIAA in October 1973 and then double platinum on 11 March 1994 following the added attention garnered by the band's later successes in America.
Crank up the drums
Crank up the bass
Crank up the LES PAUL
in your face
Standing Hampton (1981) is a Sammy Hagar solo album, his first after moving from Capitol Records to Geffen. Five of its singles charted in either the mainstream rock or pop singles charts.
Sammy has said that he was originally going to title this album "One Way To Rock". It was a British fan who told him of the term that came to be the title. In c***ney rhyming slang, a "Hampton" is a term for a penis. One that is "Standing", of course, would be a reference to an erection. This led to the cover art that shows a gentleman greeting a woman in various states of undress.
Is there a cooler Sabbath song than Heaven and Hell? I don't think so.
This is from their 1980 album of the same name. This was the first album after singer Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the band and replaced with Ronnie James Dio. Ronnie James Dio himself cites it as his over-all personal favorite song of his career, the one that he feels most proud of. Dio stated that the song is about the ability of each human being's ability to choose between doing good and doing evil, essentially that each person has "heaven and hell" inside themselves.
But I'd have to say that Iron Man > Heaven & Hell.
I saw Sabbath on the H&H tour and was in the front row.. one of the best concerts I've ever been to.
__________________ 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula - A4 - Bright Purple Metallic (1 of 26 built) 2003 Honda Element EX 4WD - A4 - Sunset Orange Pearl (1 of 10 zillion built) Pics and specs
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Jung
Do your first 2 years at community college. That's what I'd do if I had to do it again.
Can I contribute to the official classic rock thread by saying classic rock officially sucks?
This Song > Classic Rock
It would have been better for you to remain silent and let people think you are an individual of low quality and poor taste than to make that post and remove all doubt.
I just felt like listening to some GFR. So here it is.
Grand Funk Railroad (also known as Grand Funk) is an American rock band. The Grand Funk Railroad lineup was highly popular during the 1970s, selling over 25 million records, near constant touring, selling out arenas worldwide and being awarded four RIAA gold albums in 1970, the most for any American group that year. The current Grand Funk Railroad lineup uses the nickname "The American Band", from their hit song "We're an American Band". A popular take on the band during their heyday was that the critics hated them, but audiences loved them. The band's name is a pun on "Grand Trunk Railroad," a railroad that went through the band's home town of Flint, Michigan.
"I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)" is an epic 1970 song written by American musician Mark Farner and recorded by Grand Funk Railroad as the closing track to their album Closer to Home. Ten minutes in duration, it is the band's longest studio recording. One of the group's best-known songs, it is composed as two distinct but closely related movements. Accordingly, its title has been rendered in various ways across many different Grand Funk albums, including "I'm Your Captain", "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home", "Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain", "Closer to Home (I'm Your Captain)", and "Closer to Home".[1]
The song conveys the pleas of a captain on a troubled sea voyage and facing a mutiny from his crew. Its use of an orchestra during the long repeated refrains of the closing movement served to differentiate it from much of Grand Funk's work. Several interpretations of the song have been given, with most revolving around the Vietnam War; it is popular among veterans of that conflict. The song was a modest hit single when first released, but achieved greater airplay on progressive rock radio stations. It has since gone on to become a classic rock staple and has appeared on several audience-selected lists as one of the best rock songs of all time.
It seems like many blue-collar rock & roll heroes of the 1970s and '80s got their start as folkies, and Cleveland legend Michael Stanley is one of them. His self-titled debut album was released in 1972, and it is a wildly mixed bag of introspective, acoustic folk-rock (a la James Taylor and others of that sensitive singer-songwriter ilk) and simple rock & roll. "Rosewood Bitters" opens the album, and it's still revered among Stanley fans. This relaxed, easygoing tune is based on acoustic guitar strumming and a sweet, gentle melody. Joe Walsh plays slide guitar and Todd Rundgren adds clavinet.
Released in 1979, Your Face or Mine? is the second release by North Carolina music group, Nantucket. Although the overall quality of work is better, it didn't do as good in sales as their previous album Nantucket. Featured songs include "Gimme Your Love" and "California".
Group: Spys
Album: Spys (1982)
Song: Don't Run My Life
These guys are relatively unknown, but had a couple decent songs on this album. This is one of them. The other is "She Can't Wait", but I can't find it.
Group: REO Speedwagon
Album: Nine Lives (1979) was the ninth album by REO Speedwagon and featured nine songs (hence the title Nine Lives). It was their eighth studio release and the last REO album to prominently feature a more hard rock sound. The band would turn to more pop-oriented material with 1980's Hi Infidelity.
Song: Easy Money
This song has a cool beat, a cool story, and cool guitar playing.
I love Gary Richrath's guitar playing. And nothing, absolutely nothing, sounds as cool as a jammin' Les Paul when played right.
Group: Charlie Daniels band
Album: Full Moon is a studio album by The Charlie Daniels Band released in 1980. It produced two hit singles for the band, In America and The Legend of Wooley Swamp. The group dedicated the album to Tommy Caldwell, who had died on 28 April 1980.
Song: In America was a reaction to the 1979-1981 Iran Hostage Crisis; it described a patriotic, united America where "we'll all stick together and you can take that to the bank / That's the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks." The song experienced a revival following the September 11 attacks, when it was floated around the internet as "f*** Bin Laden."
Sammy Hagar is the second solo album, released in 1977. It is also often referred to as The Red Album, as it features Sammy's first anthem, "Red", which is also the basis for his nickname "The Red Rocker".
Danger Zone is a Sammy Hagar solo album released in 1980, his last new studio album during his tenure with Capitol records. The album features appearances by Journey singer Steve Perry and Journey guitarist Neal Schon.
"Run For Your Life" is a cover of a song off of the self-titled debut album from the band Runner. The version here, features former Journey singer Steve Perry on back-up vocals. It was also (co-)produced by Boston'sTom Scholz, who had originally signed to produce the entire album but was ordered by his own record label to pull out.