http://www.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&category=genre&genreId=45&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rssTop Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody OnlineBlues & Boogie Rocken720Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:29:40 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://www.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&category=genre&genreId=45&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43238&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Garage Rock Revival Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:42 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.43238 art.43238 Kings Of Leon art.43238 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43238&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43238&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.978&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:20 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.978 art.978 The Rolling Stones art.978 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.978&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.978&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss
In the 1964 British Invasion they were promoted as bad boys, but what began as a gimmick has stuck as an indelible image, and not just because of incidents like Brian Jones’ mysterious death in 1969 and a violent murder during their set at Altamont later that year. In their music, the Stones pioneered British rock’s tone of ironic detachment and wrote about offhand brutality, sex as power, and other taboos. In those days, Mick Jagger was branded a “Lucifer” figure, thanks to songs like “Sympathy for the Devil.” In the ’80s the Stones lost their dangerous aura while still seeming “bad” — they’ve become icons of an elegantly debauched, world-weary decadence. But Jagger remains the most self-consciously assured appropriator of black performers’ up-front sexuality; Keith Richards’ Chuck Berry–derived riffing defines rock rhythm guitar (not to mention rock guitar rhythm); the stalwart rhythm section of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts holds its own; and Jagger and Richards continue to add to what is arguably one of the most significant oeuvres in rock history.

Jagger and Richards first met at Dartford Maypole County Primary School. When they ran into each other 10 years later in 1960, they were both avid fans of blues and American R&B, and they found they had a mutual friend in guitarist Dick Taylor, a fellow student of Richards’ at Sidcup Art School. Jagger was attending the London School of Economics and playing in Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Taylor. Richards joined the band as second guitarist; soon afterward, he was expelled from Dartford Technical College for truancy.

Meanwhile, Brian Jones had begun skipping school in Cheltenham to practice bebop alto sax and clarinet. By the time he was 16, he had fathered two illegitimate children and run off briefly to Scandinavia, where he began playing guitar. Back in Cheltenham he joined the Ramrods, then drifted to London with his girlfriend and one of his children. He began playing with Alexis Korner’s Blues, Inc., then decided to start his own band; a want ad attracted pianist Ian Stewart (b. 1938; d. December 12, 1985).

As Elmo Lewis, Jones began working at the Ealing Blues Club, where he ran into a later, loosely knit version of Blues, Inc., which at the time included drummer Charlie Watts. Jagger and Richards began jamming with Blues, Inc., and while Jagger, Richards, and Jones began to practice on their own, Jagger became the featured singer with Blues, Inc.

Jones, Jagger, and Richards shared a tiny, cheap London apartment, and with drummer Tony Chapman they cut a demo tape, which was rejected by EMI. Taylor left to attend the Royal College of Art; he eventually formed the Pretty Things. Ian Stewart’s job with a chemical company kept the rest of the group from starving. By the time Taylor left, they began to call themselves the Rolling Stones, after a Muddy Waters song.

On July 12, 1962, the Rolling Stones — Jagger, Richards, Jones, a returned Dick Taylor on bass, and Mick Avory, later of the Kinks, on drums — played their first show at the Marquee. Avory and Taylor were replaced by Tony Chapman and Bill Wyman, from the Cliftons. Chapman didn’t work out, and the band spent months recruiting a cautious Charlie Watts, who worked for an advertising agency and had left Blues, Inc. when its schedule got too busy. In January 1963 Watts completed the band.

Local entrepreneur Giorgio Gomelsky booked the Stones at his Crawdaddy Club for an eight-month, highly successful residency. He was also their unofficial manager until Andrew Loog Oldham, with financing from Eric Easton, signed them as clients. By then the Beatles were a British sensation, and Oldham decided to promote the Stones as their nasty opposites. He eased out the mild-mannered Stewart, who subsequently became a Stones roadie and frequent session and tour pianist.

In June 1963 the Stones released their first single, Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” After the band played on the British TV rock show Thank Your Lucky Stars, its producer reportedly told Oldham to get rid of “that vile-looking singer with the tire-tread lips.” The single reached Number 21 on the British chart. The Stones also appeared at the first annual National Jazz and Blues Festival in London’s borough of Richmond and in September were part of a package tour with the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard. In December 1963 the Stones’ second single, “I Wanna Be Your Man” (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney), made the British Top 15. In January 1964 the Stones did their first headlining British tour, with the Ronettes, and released a version of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” which made Number Three.

“Not Fade Away” also made the U.S. singles chart (Number 48). By this time the band had become a sensation in Britain, with the press gleefully reporting that band members had been seen urinating in public. In April 1964 their first album was released in the U.K., and two months later they made their first American tour. Their cover of the Bobby Womack/Valentinos song “It’s All Over Now” was a British Number One, their first. Their June American tour was a smashing success; in Chicago, where they’d stopped off to record the Five by Five EP at the Chess Records studio, riots broke out when the band tried to give a press conference. The Stones’ version of the blues standard “Little Red Rooster,” which had become another U.K. Number One, was banned in the U.S. because of its “objectionable” lyrics.

Jagger and Richards had now begun composing their own tunes (at first using the “Nanker Phelge” pseudonym for group compositions). Their “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back to Me)” was the group’s first U.S. Top 40 hit, in August. The followup, a nonoriginal, “Time Is on My Side,” made Number Six in November. From that point on, all but a handful of Stones hits were Jagger-Richards compositions.

In January 1965 their “The Last Time” became another U.K. Number One and cracked the U.S. Top 10 in the spring. The band’s next single, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” reigned at Number One for four weeks that summer and remains perhaps the most famous song in its remarkable canon. Jagger and Richards continued to write hits with increasingly sophisticated lyrics: “Get Off My Cloud” (Number One, 1965), “As Tears Go By” (Number Six, 1965), “19th Nervous Breakdown” (Number Two, 1966), “Mother’s Little Helper” (Number Eight, 1966), “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” (Number Nine, 1966).

Aftermath, the first Stones LP of all original material, came out in 1966, though its impact was minimized by the simultaneous release of the Beatles’ Revolver and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. The Middle Eastern–tinged “Paint It, Black” (1966) and the ballad “Ruby Tuesday” (1967), were both U.S. Number One hits.

In January 1967 the Stones caused another sensation when they performed “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (“Ruby Tuesday”’s B side) on The Ed Sullivan Show. Jagger mumbled the title lines after threats of censorship (some claimed that the line was censored; others that Jagger actually sang “Let’s spend some time together”; Jagger later said, “When it came to that line, I sang mumble”). In February Jagger and Richards were arrested on drug-possession charges in Britain; in May, Brian Jones, too, was arrested. The heavy jail sentences they received were eventually suspended on appeal. The Stones temporarily withdrew from public appearances; Jagger and his girlfriend, singer Marianne Faithfull, went to India with the Beatles to meet the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Stones’ next single release didn’t appear until the fall: the Number 14 “Dandelion.” Its B side, “We Love You” (Number 50), on which John Lennon and Paul McCartney sang backup vocals, was intended as a thank-you to fans.

In December came Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Stones’ psychedelic answer record to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper — and an ambitious mess. By the time the album’s lone single, “She’s a Rainbow” had become a Number 25 hit, Allen Klein had become the group’s manager.

May 1968 saw the release of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a Number Three hit, and a return to basic rock & roll. After five months of delay provoked by controversial album-sleeve photos, the eclectic Beggars Banquet was released and was hailed by critics as the band’s finest achievement. On June 9, 1969, Brian Jones, the Stones’ most musically adventurous member, who had lent sitar, dulcimer, and, on “Under My Thumb,” marimba to the band’s sound, and who had been in Morocco recording nomadic Joujouka musicians, left the band with this explanation: “I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting.” Within a week he was replaced by ex–John Mayall guitarist Mick Taylor. Jones announced that he would form his own band, but on July 3, 1969, he was found dead in his swimming pool; the coroner’s report cited “death by misadventure.” Jones, beset by drug problems — and the realization that the band now belonged squarely to Jagger and Richards — had barely participated in the Beggars Banquet sessions.

At an outdoor concert in London’s Hyde Park a few days after Jones’ death, Jagger read an excerpt from the poet Shelley and released thousands of butterflies over the park. On July 11, the day after Jones was buried, the Stones released “Honky Tonk Women,” another Number One, and another Stones classic. By this time, every Stones album went gold in short order, and Let It Bleed (a sardonic reply to the Beatles’ soon-to-be-released Let It Be) was no exception. “Gimme Shelter” received constant airplay. Jones appeared on most of the album’s tracks, though Taylor also made his first on-disc appearances.

After going to Australia to star in the film Ned Kelly, Jagger rejoined the band for the start of its hugely successful 1969 American tour, the band’s first U.S. trip in three years. But the Stones’ Satanic image came to haunt them at a free thank-you-America concert at California’s Altamont Speedway. In the darkness just in front of the stage, a young black man, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed to death by members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, whom the Stones — on advice of the Grateful Dead — had hired to provide security for the event. The incident was captured on film by the Maysles brothers in their feature-length documentary Gimme Shelter. Public outcry that “Sympathy for the Devil” (which they had performed earlier in the show; they were playing “Under My Thumb” when the murder occurred) had in some way incited the violence led the Stones to drop the tune from their stage shows for the next six years.

After another spell of inactivity, the Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! live album was released in the fall of 1970 and went platinum. That same year the Stones formed their own Rolling Stones Records, an Atlantic subsidiary. The band’s first album for its own label, Sticky Fingers (Number One, 1971) — which introduced their Andy Warhol — designed lips-and-lolling-tongue logo — yielded hits in “Brown Sugar” (Number One, 1971) and “Wild Horses” (Number 28, 1971). Jagger, who had starred in Nicolas Roeg’s 1970 Performance (the soundtrack of which contained “Memo From Turner”), married Nicaraguan fashion model Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, and the pair became international jet-set favorites. Though many interpreted Jagger’s acceptance into high society as yet another sign that rock was dead, or that at least the Stones had lost their spark, Exile on Main Street (Number One, 1972), a double album, was another critically acclaimed hit, yielding “Tumbling Dice” (Number Seven) and “Happy” (Number 22). By this time the Stones were touring the U.S. once every three years; their 1972 extravaganza, like those in 1975, 1978, and 1981, was a sold-out affair.

Goats Head Soup (Number One, 1973) was termed the band’s worst effort since Satanic Majesties by critics, yet it contained hits in “Angie” (Number One, 1973) and “(Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker” (Number 15, 1974). It’s Only Rock n’ Roll (Number One, 1974) yielded Top 20 hits in the title tune and a cover of the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” Mick Taylor left the band after that album; and after trying out scores of sessionmen (many of whom showed up on the next LP, 1976’s Black and Blue), the Stones settled on Ron Wood, then still nominally committed to Rod Stewart and the Faces (who disbanded soon after Wood joined the Stones officially in 1976). In 1979 Richards and Wood, with Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste and fusion bassist Stanley Clarke, toured as the New Barbarians.

Black and Blue was the Stones’ fifth consecutive LP of new material to top the album chart, though it contained only one hit single, the Number 10 “Fool to Cry.” Wyman, who had released a 1974 solo album, Monkey Grip (the first Stone to do so), recorded another, Stone Alone. Jagger guested on “I Can Feel the Fire” on Wood’s solo first LP, I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Wood has since recorded several more albums, and while none were commercial hits (Gimme Some Neck peaked at Number 45 in 1979), his work was generally well received.

The ethnic-stereotype lyrics of the title song from Some Girls (Number One, 1978) provoked public protest (the last outcry had been in 1976 over Black and Blue’s battered-woman advertising campaign). Aside from the disco crossover “Miss You” (Number One), the music was bare-bones rock & roll — in response, some speculated, to the punk movement’s claims that the band was too old and too affluent to rock anymore.

Richards and his longtime common-law wife, Anita Pallenburg, were arrested in March 1977 in Canada for heroin possession — jeopardizing the band’s future — but he subsequently kicked his habit and in 1978 was given a suspended sentence.

In 1981 Tattoo You was Number One for nine weeks (1980’s Emotional Rescue also went to Number One) and produced the hits “Start Me Up” (Number Two, 1981) and “Waiting on a Friend” (Number 13, 1981), the latter featuring jazz great Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone. The 1981 tour spawned an album, Still Life, and a movie, Let’s Spend the Night Together (directed by Hal Ashby), which grossed $50 million.

Through the ’80s the group became more an institution than an influential force. Nevertheless, both Undercover (Number Four, 1983) and Dirty Work (Number Four, 1986) were certifiable hits despite not topping the chart, as every new studio album had done in the decade before. Each album produced only one Top 20 hit, “Undercover of the Night” (Number Nine, 1983) and “Harlem Shuffle” (Number Five, 1986), the latter a remake of a minor 1964 hit by Bob and Earl.

Jagger and Richards grew estranged from each other, and the band would not record for three years. Jagger released his first solo album, the platinum She’s the Boss, in 1984. His second, 1987’s Primitive Cool, didn’t even break the Top 40. Richards, who’d long declared he would never undertake a solo album (and who resented Jagger’s making music outside the band), countered in 1988 with the gold Talk Is Cheap, backed up by the X-Pensive Winos: guitarist Waddy Wachtel and the rhythm section of Steve Jordan and Charley Drayton.

The two Stones sniped at each other in the press and in song: Richards’ album track “You Don’t Move Me” was directed at his longtime partner. Nevertheless, shortly before the Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in January 1989 the two traveled to Barbados to begin writing songs for a new Stones album. Steel Wheels (Number Three, 1989) showed the group spinning its wheels musically, and were it not for the band’s first American tour in eight years, it is doubtful the LP would have sold anywhere near its 2 million copies. But the 50-date tour, which reportedly grossed $140 million, was an artistic triumph. As the group’s fifth live album, Flashpoint (Number 16, 1991), demonstrated, never had the Stones sounded so cohesive onstage.

Bill Wyman announced his long-rumored decision to leave the group after 30 years, in late 1992. “I was quite happy to stop after that,” the 56-year-old bassist told a British TV show. The announcement helped deflect attention from Wyman’s love life: In 1989 he married model Mandy Smith, who was just 131⁄2 when the two began dating. The couple divorced in 1990, the same year that Mick Jagger finally married his longtime lover, Jerry Hall. (Jagger and Hall would later split up.)

The early ’90s were a time for solo albums from Richards — Live at the Hollywood Palladium and Main Offender (Number 99, 1992)and Jagger’s Wandering Spirit (Number 11, 1993). Neither sold spectacularly; apparently fans are most interested in Jagger and Richards when they work together. Wood released Slide on This, his first solo album in over a decade, and Watts pursued his real love, jazz, with the Charlie Watts Orchestra.

In 1994 Jagger, Richards, Watts, and Wood, along with bassist Darryl Jones (whose credits include working with Miles Davis and Sting) released the critically well-received Voodoo Lounge (Number Two, 1994) and embarked on a major tour that proved one of the highest-grossing of the year, earning a reported $295 million. Voodoo Lounge brought the Stones their first competitive Grammy, 1994’s Best Rock Album award. Voodoo Lounge was also the group’s first release under its new multimillion-dollar, three-album deal with Virgin Records, which included granting Virgin the rights to some choice albums from the Stones’ back catalogue, including Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers, and Some Girls. After having languished in storage for nearly three decades, the Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus concert film and soundtrack was released in 1996, which featured the Stones in the era of Beggars Banquet, and other rock luminaries — the Who, Jethro Tull, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, and more — as well as various acrobats, fire-eaters, and other circus artists who performed routines between songs.

Meanwhile, back to their standard time lapse of three years between tours, the Stones released Bridges to Babylon (Number Three, 1997, their 19th platinum LP) and launched yet another lavish, sold-out worldwide tour, where they played two-hour concerts consisting of only a few songs off the new album and lots of hits. Corporate sponsorship was particularly intense: long-distance carrier Sprint, for example, paying $4 million to print its company logo on tickets and stage banners. In 1998 the Stones released the obligatory tour album, No Security.

In 1997 Richards coproduced and played on Wingless Angels, an album of Rastafarian spirituals; guested, with Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore, on All the King’s Men, a tribute to Presley; and with the rest of the Stones, played on B.B. King’s Deuces Wild. Assembling the roots-rock band the Rhythm Kings, with Peter Frampton and Georgie Fame sitting in, Bill Wyman put out three albums in the late ’90s. Watts continued his jazz excursions with 1996’s orchestral offering, Long Ago and Far Away, and then forayed into world beat with a 2000 collaboration with veteran session drummer Jim Keltner. Mick Taylor’s recording career revived, as the ex-Stone put out Stonesy releases with Carla Olson.

In 2000 "Satisfaction" topped a VH1 Poll of 100 Greatest Rock Songs. Jagger gained more attention in the social columns. In 1999 29-year-old Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez Morad claimed that she was pregnant with his child; Jagger disagreed. Jerry Hall filed for divorce. Jagger, despite the couple’s four children, maintained that their Hindu nuptials did not constitute a legal marriage. When Morad’s child was born, DNA tests concluded that Jagger was indeed the boy’s father. In 2001 he released his fourth solo album, Goddess in the Doorway (Number 39). At the post-9-11 "Concert for New York City," held at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 21, 2001, Jagger, Richards and a backing band performed "Salt of the Earth" and "Miss You."

In 2002, the Stones released Forty Licks, a greatest hits package including four new songs, and embarked on yet another tour, including two—one in Toronto and another in Hong Kong—to benefit victims of the SARS epidemic. In November 2003, the band inked a deal allowing the Best Buy chain to be the exclusive seller of their 4-DVD tour document Four Flicks. Some music retailers in the U.S. and Canada, including Best Buy competitor Circuit City and the 100-store HMV Canada, responded by pulling Stones merchandise from their shelves. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Stones No. 4 in its "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," just below the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley.

On Jagger’s 62nd birthday, July 26, 2005, the Stones announced they were releasing a new album, A Bigger Bang (Number 3), followed by a tour. The album included a rare political song from Jagger, "Sweet Neo Con," which was stingingly critical of the Bush Administration’s post Iraq War tactics and included the line, "You say you are a patriot/I think that you’re a crock of shit." The Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour began in August 2005 and by year’s end had already set the year’s record at $162 million in gross receipts. The tour took the band from North and South America to Europe, Asia and even the 2006 Super Bowl. The tour ended two years later in London. Overall, the Bigger Bang tour earned a staggering $558 million, the highest-grossing tour of all time. The tour was not without its setbacks. During the New Zealand stretch, in May 2006, Richards was hospitalized for brain surgery after reportedly falling from a coconut tree in Fiji. In June, Wood went into rehab for alcohol problems.

The Stones released another 4-CD box set, The Biggest Bang, in June 2007; it also was sold exclusively through Best Buy. The Very Best Of Mick Jagger, a collection of the singer’s solo works, came out in October 2007. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese's April 2008 documentary Shine a Light intimately captured the Stones' 2006 Bigger Bang live performance at New York City's Beacon Theater from sixteen different camera angles and included guest performances by Christina Aguilera, Jack White, and Buddy Guy.

Updated from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43228&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:42 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.43228 art.43228 Eric Clapton art.43228 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43228&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43228&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.22714272&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Americana Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:19 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.22714272 art.22714272 Zac Brown Band art.22714272 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.22714272&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.22714272&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Home Grown, was released at the end of 2005, and the live effort Live From the Rock Bus Tour followed in 2007. The Foundation was released in 2008, producing the Southern celebratory single "Chicken Fried," which made its way to the country charts. - Linda Ryan]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61027&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Jam Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:50 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.61027 art.61027 The Grateful Dead art.61027 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61027&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61027&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Workingman's Dead and American Beauty LPs will be pleased to know that there is an overwhelming amount of well-recorded and downloadable live jams from that era when Jerry was younger, the songs were fresh, and the guitars sounded especially warm.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5944&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:20 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5944 art.5944 Creedence Clearwater Revival art.5944 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5944&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5944&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44078&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Hard Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:12 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44078 art.44078 Aerosmith art.44078 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44078&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44078&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44156&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Acid Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:21 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44156 art.44156 Jimi Hendrix art.44156 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44156&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44156&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss
Hendrix's studio craft and his virtuosity with both conventional and unconventional guitar sounds have been widely imitated, and his image as the psychedelic voodoo child conjuring uncontrollable forces is a rock archetype. His songs have inspired several tribute albums, and have been recorded by a jazz group (1989's Hendrix Project), the Kronos String Quartet, and avant-garde flutist Robert Dick. Hendrix's musical vision had a profound effect on everybody from Sly Stone to George Clinton to Miles Davis to Prince to OutKast. Hendrix's theatrical performing style--full of unmistakably sexual undulations, and such tricks as playing the guitar behind his back (a tradition that went back at least to bluesman T-Bone Walker) and picking it with his teeth--has never quite been equaled. In the decades since Hendrix's death, pop stars from Rick James and Prince to Lenny Kravitz and Erykah Badu have evoked his look and style.

As a teenager growing up in Seattle, Hendrix taught himself to play guitar by listening to records by blues guitarists Muddy Waters and B.B. King and rockers such as Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran. He played in high school bands before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1959. Discharged in 1961, Hendrix began working under the pseudonym Jimmy James as a pickup guitarist. By 1964, when he moved to New York, he had played behind Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Ike and Tina Turner, and Wilson Pickett. In New York he played the club circuit with King Curtis, the Isley Brothers, John Paul Hammond, and Curtis Knight.

In 1965 Hendrix formed his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, to play Greenwich Village coffeehouses. Chas Chandler of the Animals took him to London in the autumn of 1966 and arranged for the creation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with Englishmen Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums.

The Experience's first single, "Hey Joe," reached Number Six on the U.K. chart in early 1967, followed shortly by "Purple Haze" and its double-platinum debut album, Are You Experienced? (Number Five, 1967). Hendrix fast became the rage of London's pop society. Though word of the Hendrix phenomenon spread through the U.S., he was not seen in America (and no records were released) until June 1967, when, at Paul McCartney's insistence, the Experience appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival. The performance, which Hendrix climaxed by burning his guitar, was filmed by D.A. Pennebaker for the documentary Monterey Pop.

Hendrix's next albums were major hits (Axis: Bold as Love [Number Three, 1968], Electric Ladyland [Number One, 1968]) and he quickly became a superstar. Stories such as one reporting that the Experience was dropped from the bill of a Monkees tour at the insistence of the Daughters of the American Revolution became part of the Hendrix myth, but he considered himself a musician more than a star. Soon after the start of his second American tour, early in 1968, he renounced the extravagances of his stage act and simply performed his music. A hostile reception led him to conclude that his best music came out in the informal settings of studios and clubs, and he began construction of Electric Lady, his own studio in New York.

Hendrix was eager to experiment with musical ideas, and he jammed with John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, and members of Traffic, among others. Miles Davis admired his instinctiveness (and, in fact, planned to record with him), and Bob Dylan--whose "Like a Rolling Stone," "All Along the Watchtower," and "Drifter's Escape" Hendrix performed and recorded--later returned the tribute by performing "Watchtower" in the Hendrix mode.

As 1968 came to a close, disagreements arose between manager Chas Chandler and co-manager Michael Jeffrey; Jeffrey, who opposed Hendrix's avant-garde leanings, got the upper hand. Hendrix was also under pressure from Black Power advocates to form an all-black group and play to black audiences. These problems exacerbated already existing tensions within the Experience, and early in 1969 Redding left the group to form Fat Mattress. Hendrix replaced him with an army buddy, Billy Cox. Mitchell stayed on briefly, but by August the Experience was defunct. In summer 1969 the double-platinum Smash Hits (Number Six) was released.

In August 1969, Hendrix appeared at the Woodstock Festival with a large, informal ensemble called the Electric Sky Church, and later that year he put together the all-black Band of Gypsys--with Cox and drummer Buddy Miles (Electric Flag), with whom he had played behind Wilson Pickett. The Band of Gypsys' debut concert at New York's Fillmore East on New Year's Eve 1969 provided the recordings for the group's only album during its existence, Band of Gypsys (Number Five, 1970). (A second album of vintage tracks was released in 1986.) Hendrix walked offstage in the middle of their Madison Square Garden gig; when he performed again some months later it was with Mitchell and Cox, the group that recorded The Cry of Love (Number Three, 1971), Hendrix's last self-authorized album. With them he played at the Isle of Wight Festival, his last concert, in August 1970, a recording of which would see release in 2002. A month later he was dead. The cause of death was given in a coroner's report as inhalation of vomit following barbiturate intoxication. Suicide was not ruled out, but evidence pointed to an accident.

In the years since his death, the Hendrix legend has lived on through various media. Randi Hansen (who appeared in the video for Devo's 1984 cover of "Are You Experienced?") became the best known of a bunch of full-time Hendrix impersonators, even re-forming the Band of Gypsys with bassist Tony Saunders and Buddy Miles--who, briefly in the late '80s, was replaced by Mitch Mitchell.

Well over a dozen books have been written about Hendrix, including tones by both Redding and Mitchell; the most authoritative bio was generally considered to be David Henderson's 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, while Charles R. Cross's Room Full of Mirrors delves deepest into Hendrix's early years in Seattle. And virtually every note Hendrix ever allowed to be recorded has been marketed on over 100 albums, some of which mine his years as a pickup guitarist, various bootlegs and legitimate live concerts and jam sessions, and even taped interviews and conversations. A controversial series produced by Alan Douglas, who recorded over 1,000 hours of Hendrix alone at the Electric Lady studio in the last year of his life, garnered attention through the mid-'90s. With the consent of the Hendrix estate, Douglas edited the tapes, erased some tracks, and dubbed in others, with mixed results. Radio One collected energetic live-in-the-studio performances by Hendrix and the Experience recorded for British radio in 1967; the later BBC Sessions mined the same material more thoroughly.

In 1990 the first of several Hendrix tribute albums, If Six Was Nine, was released. Former Free/Bad Company/Firm vocalist Paul Rodgers released another tribute (The Hendrix Set, 1993) and appeared on the all-star Stone Free, which featured Hendrix covers from musicians ranging from Eric Clapton to Buddy Guy to the Cure to Ice-T to classical violinist Nigel Kennedy.

In 1991 Hendrix's ex-girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, along with Mitch Mitchell and his wife Dee, began prodding Scotland Yard to reopen an investigation into their friend's death. England's attorney general finally agreed to the request in 1993; in early 1994 Scotland Yard announced it had found no evidence to bother pursuing the case any further. In 1993 an audio-visual exhibit of Hendrix's work called "JimI Hendrix: On the Road Again" toured college campuses and art galleries in the U.S., to enthusiastic--and predominately young--audiences.

In 1994 a 24-year-old Swede named James Henrik Daniel Sundquist claimed to have been conceived by the guitarist and Eva Sundquist during a 1969 Stockholm sojourn. Sundquist legally challenged Hendrix's father, James "Al" Hendrix, as the sole heir to the Jimi Hendrix estate, which was estimated to be worth at least $30 million. A year earlier, Al Hendrix, who in the mid-'70s had signed away the rights to portions of his son's work to various international conglomerates, had claimed that he'd been misled. With the financial aid of Paul Allen, the billionaire Hendrix fan who'd cofounded Microsoft with Bill Gates, he filed a federal lawsuit against those conglomerates and against the holding companies and lawyers connected to the estate. In 1995 he regained complete control of his son's estate, which included Jimi Hendrix's finished and unreleased recordings, as well as his musical compositions. This evolved into a series of CD reissues that were remastered from the original tapes. Having re-released CDs of the guitarist's entire catalogue, the Hendrix estate, under the Experience Hendrix imprint of MCA, also issued the album on which Hendrix was working at the time of his death, First Rays of the New Rising Sun (Number 49, 1997). South Saturn Delta (Number 51, 1997) delved further into the archives. Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix (Number 133, 1998) followed, as did the double-CD BBC Sessions (Number 50, 1998), the Band of Gypsys-era Live at the Fillmore East (Number 65, 1999), Live at Woodstock (Number 90, 1999), and, in 2000, the four-CD/eight-LP Jimi Hendrix Experience box set. (Several other live discs were made available through an online imprint, Dagger Records.) Meanwhile Paul Allen amassed his cash to fund a modest Jimi Hendrix museum, which eventually blossomed into the $100 million Experience Music Project. Eight years in the making, the high-tech, interactive rock & roll museum - complete with a Jimi Hendrix Gallery - opened at the Seattle Center in 2000. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61525&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:19 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.61525 art.61525 Lynyrd Skynyrd art.61525 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61525&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61525&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss
The nucleus of what would become Lynyrd Skynyrd first met in high school in their hometown, Jacksonville, Florida. Van Zant, Allen Collins, and Gary Rossington formed the band My Backyard in 1965, eventually joined by Leon Wilkeson and Billy Powell. Their later name immortalized a gym teacher, Leonard Skinner, who was known to punish students who had long hair.

The band, with original drummer Bob Burns, was playing in Atlanta at a bar called Funocchio's in 1972, when they were spotted by Al Kooper, who was on a tour with Badfinger and also scouting bands for MCA's new Sounds of the South label. Kooper signed Skynyrd and produced its 1973 debut, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, adding session guitarist Ed King (late of Strawberry Alarm Clock). The group's initial hook was its three-guitar attack, topping the Allmans' trademark two-guitar leads. Skynyrd first got radio airplay with the lengthy "Freebird." What had been written as a tribute to Duane Allman eventually became an anthem for Skynyrd fans and — when revived, without lyrics, by the Rossington Collins Band in 1980 — a tribute to Van Zant.

The band hooked up with the Who's Quadrophenia Tour in 1973 and acquired a reputation as a live act. Its 1974 followup LP, the multi-platinum Second Helping, also produced by Kooper, reached Number 12. It included another instant Southern standard, "Sweet Home Alabama" (Number Eight, 1974), a reply to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man." But Van Zant often wore a Neil Young T-shirt, and Young later offered the band several songs to record, though they never made it to vinyl.

In December 1974 Artimus Pyle joined as a replacement for Burns; King quit a month later. The band's third record went to Number Nine, but 1976's Gimme Back My Bullets, produced by Tom Dowd, sold somewhat less. Skynyrd regrouped in October 1976 with the double live One More From the Road (recorded at Atlanta's Fox Theater), which went to Number Nine, sold triple platinum, and featured new third guitarist Steve Gaines, plus a trio of female backup singers, including Gaines' sister Cassie. The band became one of the biggest U.S. concert draws.

Street Survivors, its sixth LP, was released three days before the plane crash of October 20, 1977. Skynyrd was traveling in a privately chartered plane between shows in Greenville, South Carolina, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when it crashed just outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing three members. The rest escaped with injuries. Ironically, the cover of the band's last LP pictured the members standing in flames and included an order form for a "Lynyrd Skynyrd survival kit." There was also a Van Zant composition about death called "That Smell." The LP cover was changed shortly after the accident, and the album (Number Five, 1977) went on to become one of Skynyrd's biggest sellers.

The next year Skynyrd's First...and Last was released, consisting of previously unavailable early band recordings from 1970 to 1972 (the band had planned on releasing it before the accident). It went platinum, and in 1980 MCA released a best-of called Gold and Platinum.

That same year a new band emerged from Lynyrd Skynyrd's ashes. The Rossington-Collins Band [see entry] featured three of the surviving members plus female lead singer Dale Krantz. Artimus Pyle, meanwhile, began touring with his Artimus Pyle Band in 1982. In 1986 tragedy struck again when Allen Collins crashed his car, killing his girlfriend and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Four years later he died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at age 37.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the fatal plane crash, in 1987 Rossington, Powell, Wilkeson, and King put Lynyrd Skynyrd back together, along with guitarist Randall Hall and Johnny Van-Zant (the only one of the brothers who hyphenates his surname) on lead vocals. The younger brother of Ronnie and Donnie (.38 Special) was a marginally successful solo artist, releasing five albums from 1980 through 1990. Dale Krantz, by then Dale Krantz Rossington, sang backup for a 32-date Skynyrd reunion tour, which was chronicled on the following year's double live album, Southern by the Grace of God/Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour — 1987.

In 1991 the same group (minus Pyle, and with "Custer" on drums) released a new LP, Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991. Both it and 1993's The Last Rebel carried on Skynyrd's musical tradition and were reasonably well received. The band signed with Southern-rock stronghold Capricorn Records and released the one-off acoustic Endangered Species in 1994. Guitarist King left the band shortly after, and new guitarists Rickey Medlocke (formerly of Blackfoot) and Hughie Thomasson (formerly of the Outlaws) were hired as full-time members.

The 1996 concert documentary Freebird...The Movie captured the original band in its prime, on celluloid and an MCA soundtrack. The group's next albums were released on North Carolina–based CMC International, a label that established a solid market niche reviving the careers of slumping arena-rock acts. Sure enough, a 1997 Behind the Music special on VH1 aired while the band was in midtour supporting the album Twenty (Number 97, 1997), which marked the 20th anniversary of the fatal, fateful plane crash. Wilkeson died of natural causes in July 2001.

The band soldiered on with new bassist Ean Evans, released a new album, Vicious Cycle, in 2003, and hit the road with only original members Rossington and Powell remaining. In 2004, this version of Lynyrd Skynyrd released Lyve: the Vicious Cycle Tour and performed with country music duo Montgomery Gentry on CMT's Crossroads show. In 2004, Thomasson left the band to reform The Outlaws. That year, Skynyrd was being mentioned by younger acts ranging from rap-rocker Kid Rock to country newcomer Gretchen Wilson. In February 2005, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed a Super Bowl party with the young southern rock band 3 Doors Down, country singer Jo Dee Messina and veterans Charlie Daniels and .38 Special. The smee year the band performed the Hurricane Katrina Music Relief Concert with Kid Rock fronting the band as Van Zant recovered from throat surgery. Later that month, the group performed a Southern rock medley at the Grammy Awards with country stars Wilson, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. In 2006 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In September 2007, Thomasson died of a heart attack at his Florida home. The band continues touring as Lynyrd Skynyrd. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.615&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Boogie Rock Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:41 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.615 art.615 ZZ Top art.615 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.615&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.615&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss
ZZ Top was built around guitarist Billy Gibbons, whose career began with the popular Southwestern band Moving Sidewalks, whose "99th Floor" was a regional mid-'60s hit. They opened one night for Jimi Hendrix, and he later mentioned Gibbons on The Tonight Show as one of America's best young guitarists. After Moving Sidewalks broke up, Gibbons and manager/producer Bill Ham recruited Frank Beard and Dusty Hill from a Dallas band, American Blues.

Beginning with the release of First Album in 1970, ZZ Top has toured constantly, building a national following that has made all the band's albums gold or platinum. A year-long tour in 1976, "The Worldwide Texas Tour," was one of the largest-grossing road trips in rock at the time. Onstage with the band were snakes, longhorn cattle, buffalo, cactus, and other Southwestern paraphernalia. The group sold over a million tickets. They didn't record for the next three years, until 1979's Deguello. Though ZZ Top's only major hit singles had been Tres Hombres' "La Grange" (Number 41, 1973) and Fandango!'s "Tush" (Number 20, 1975), their albums consistently made the Top 40.

With 1983's Eliminator, ZZ Top made a quantum leap from best-kept secret to massive stardom. Thanks to smartly directed video clips for such songs as "Gimme All Your Lovin'" (Number 37, 1983), "Sharp Dressed Man" (Number 56, 1983), "Legs" (Number 8, 1983), and "TV Dinners," Gibbons and Hill, with their long beards (ironically Frank Beard usually wore only a moustache), became MTV icons, as did the cherry red 1933 Ford coupe (restored by Gibbons) that gave the album its name, and which the band drove in the videos. Thanks to this exposure, a whole new audience began buying the band's albums, and Eliminator (Number Nine, 1983) eventually sold some 10 million copies, remaining on the chart for over three and a half years. "Legs" introduced a pulsating synthesizer beat into ZZ Top's crunching blues-rock riffs.

The trend continued with Afterburner (Number Four, 1985), which contained such video hits as "Rough Boy" (Number 22, 1985), "Sleeping Bag" (Number Eight, 1985), "Velcro Fly" (Number 35, 1986), and "Stages" (Number 21, 1986). The album sold over 3 million copies. After another long world tour, ZZ Top — which had long been based in Houston — announced that, through NASA, it had booked passage as the first lounge band on the space shuttle (though the band has yet to actually fly a mission).

At the peak of its success, ZZ Top still remembered its roots, and launched a fundraising drive to erect a Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. At a special ceremony the band unveiled the "Muddywood" guitar, made from a beam taken from the sharecropper's shack in which blues giant Muddy Waters had been raised, and which Gibbons donated to the museum.

ZZ Top appeared to have finally tapped out the motherlode with Recycler (Number Six, 1990), which sold a relatively disappointing 1 million units, and yielded only minor hits in "Doubleback" (Number 50, 1990) and "Give It Up" (Number 79, 1990). After Warner Bros. released Greatest Hits, ZZ Top left the label and signed a $30 million deal with RCA. The band's first album for the new label, Antenna, was named in tribute to rock radio — especially the Mexican border stations of the 1950s and 1960s that influenced the band. The album entered the chart at Number 14 but dropped rapidly and failed to yield a hit single. Still, Antenna went platinum, proving the band still had a considerable fan base.

But while ZZ Top remains a popular touring attraction, its late-'90s albums have fared poorly on the chart. Rhythmeen (Number 29, 1996) did well enough, but XXX (Number 100, 1999), a mix of live and studio recordings, had dropped out of the Billboard Top 200 three months after its release. The band performed at President George W. Bush's inaugural ceremonies in January 2001. In 2003, ZZ Top released Mescalero (Number 57, 2003) followed by a four-disc, comprehensive box set Chrome, Smoke & BBQ. Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top (Number 77, 2004) came a year later. In 2004, Keith Richards inducted ZZ Top into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their first live DVD, Live from Texas, was released in 2008 the same year ZZ Top signed to American Recordings and began recording a new album with producer Rick Rubin.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43266&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:50:55 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.43266 art.43266 The Doors art.43266 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43266&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.43266&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.42649&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Texas Blues Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:50:52 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.42649 art.42649 Stevie Ray Vaughan art.42649 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.42649&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.42649&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.60982&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:38:10 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.60982 art.60982 The Allman Brothers Band art.60982 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.60982&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.60982&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Live at Fillmore East being one of those epochal documents (like Johnny Cash's penitentiary performances or MC5's Kick Out the Jams) that captures a certain music at that certain time when it's as near perfect as it ever will be. The live version of "Mountain Jam" featured on Eat a Peach (1972) is still one of the best ways to stretch a jukebox quarter into a half an hour of pure happiness. - Chad Driscoll]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4062&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:54 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4062 art.4062 Steve Miller Band art.4062 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4062&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4062&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Live at the Fillmore Auditorium. While not exactly experimental, Miller's early work was far more spacey and strange than the music he's most known for. In 1973 Miller put out The Joker, a smash hit that made him a household name and yielded the goofy title cut that has since become a perverse mantra for Ray Ban-wearing, pangenerational jerk-offs across the world. Fly Like an Eagle followed in 1976, and Book of Dreams in '77, records that ensured him a spot on FM radio playlists for years to come. But Miller's music hasn't always been strictly commercial, and his obvious respect for his forefathers often lends the songs credibility. From the pumped-up Chuck Berry/Brian Wilson sound of "Rock'n Me" to the sheer cocaine buzz of his '82 comeback single "Abracadabra," Miller's influences are never hard to identify, and they're good, too. It doesn't matter whether you consider his music fake blues or if you get off on the bedrock riffs and trippy falsetto; Steve Miller still sells out open-air arenas, and his best songs have more to offer than any of the jam rock bands his music spawned. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3953&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Mon, 5 Oct 2009 10:16:47 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3953 art.3953 Dire Straits art.3953 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3953&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3953&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Making Movies, from 1980, was universally applauded by critics. In 1982 Love Over Gold went to No. 1 in the U.K. without the aid of a big single, but it was Brothers in Arms, from 1985, that fixed Dire Straits in the firmament on the strength of the huge hits "Money for Nothing" and "Walk of Life." The album's release coincided with the advent of the compact disc; it became the format's first million-seller and won two Grammys and two BRIT awards. During the next 10 years, the band, whose original lineup included Mark's brother David Knopfler on rhythm guitar, John Illsley on bass and Ed Bicknell on drums, took extended leaves while Mark Knopfler concentrated on solo and soundtrack work, and they finally disbanded in 1995. But not before they produced one more No. 1 record in the U.K., 1991's On Every Street. - Nate Baker]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2481&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:54 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2481 art.2481 Joe Cocker art.2481 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2481&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2481&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss
Cocker attended Sheffield Central Technical School and worked as a gas fitter for the East Midlands Gas Board. In 1959 he joined his first group, the Cavaliers, playing drums and harmonica. He moved to lead vocals in 1961, and the band changed its name to Vance Arnold (Cocker) and the Avengers. They released regional singles and toured locally with the Hollies and the Rolling Stones. Decca offered Cocker a contract in 1964, and he took a six-month leave of absence from the gas company. Cocker's version of the Beatles' "I'll Cry Instead" (which he hated so much that he refused to sing it onstage) and an English tour opening for Manfred Mann were ignored, and he went back to his day job.

The following year Cocker and keyboardist Chris Stainton assembled the Grease Band with guitarists Henry McCullough and Alan Spenner and two other musicians. They played Motown covers in northern England pubs until 1967, when producer Denny Cordell became Cocker's manager and persuaded him and the band to move to London. A Cocker-Stainton song, "Marjorine," became a minor British hit, and after some exposure in London, Cocker and the Grease Band recorded With a Little Help From My Friends in 1968 with guests Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, and others. The title track, one of many cover versions Cocker would record over his career, went to Number One in En¬gland and Number 68 in the U.S. His explosive performance of the song at Woodstock was a festival highlight, and his habit of wildly flailing his arms as he sang became as much a rock archetype as Pete Townshend's windmill. When Cocker sang Traffic's "Feelin' Alright" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, the program's producer hid him behind a group of dancers—shades of Elvis Presley and his wiggling hips.

During the U.S. tour, Cocker met Leon Russell, who wrote "Delta Lady" and coproduced Joe Cocker!, the Grease Band's swan song. Russell also pulled together the assemblage of musicians, hangers-on, and animals for the boisterous Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour Cocker made in 1970, resulting in a Number Two live double album that yielded a pair of hits — "The Letter" (Number Seven, 1970) and "Cry Me a River" (Number 11, 1970) — and a film. But the tour left Cocker broke and ill. On a 1972 tour, with Stainton again leading the band, Cocker was often too drunk to remember lyrics and to hold down food, although material from that tour was released in 1976 as Live in L.A. Cocker toured Britain and then Australia, where he was arrested for possession of marijuana.

At the height of his troubles, Cocker had one of the biggest hits of his career, the achingly tender modern standard "You Are So Beautiful" (Number Five, 1975), written by Billy Preston. He recorded regularly throughout the '70s, but without much success. In 1976 he sang on TV's Saturday Night Live, with comedian John Belushi doing a deadly accurate parody behind him. Given Cocker's state at the time, it seemed more cruel than funny.

Cocker's career turned around in 1982. A duet with Jennifer Warnes, "Up Where We Belong," from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, hit Number One. Since then, several other Cocker songs have graced films, including his version of Randy Newman's "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (9 1⁄2 Weeks, 1986) and "When the Night Comes" (An Innocent Man, 1990). The latter, a dramatic hard-rock ballad cowritten by Bryan Adams, hit Number 11 in 1990.

Cocker, who moved to Colorado in 1991, continues to record and tour — sometimes accompanied by old friend Chris Stainton — and remains a popular live attraction in Europe. His 1994 album, Have a Little Faith, hit the U.K. Top 10, and at the request of his German label he revisited several songs from his own catalogue, including "You Are So Beautiful" and "Delta Lady," on 1996's Don Was–produced Organic.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1531&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Boogie Rock Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:03:39 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1531 art.1531 The Black Crowes art.1531 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1531&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1531&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Three Snakes & One Charm in 1996). Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson formed the band in Georgia around 1984. Chris' Terry Reid cum Rod Stewartesque raspy singing blended with his brother's tone-heavy guitar leads in a familiar setting that had critics hailing them the bastard sons of the Faces. They added to these comparisons by going multi-platinum with a near-perfect cover of the late, great Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle." Over the course of four albums, the Black Crowes experimented with blues, country music, and festival jams only to return to what they do best -- nitty, gritty rock 'n' roll. Despite lineup changes and ambitious pit-stops in different genres, they have enough impressive material for listeners to glean that, at the end of the day, the Black Crowes are just a talented band who wake up each afternoon to chase down another song (before disbanding in 2002). Chris now sings in a project named New Earth Mud with his old guitar player Mark Ford and ex Beachwood Sparks drummer Aaron Sperske. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3945&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:21 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3945 art.3945 Bonnie Raitt art.3945 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3945&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3945&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Nick of Time and 1991's Luck of the Draw that Raitt achieved the enormous commercial success fans and critics had been predicting for decades.

The daughter of Broadway star John Raitt, Bonnie Raitt began playing guitar at age 12 and was immediately attracted to the blues. In 1967 she left her L.A. home to enter Radcliffe, but dropped out after two years and began playing the local folk and blues clubs. Dick Waterman, longtime blues aficionado and manager, signed her, and soon she was performing with Howlin' Wolf, Sippie Wallace, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other blues legends. Her reputation in Boston and Philadelphia led to a record contract with Warner Brothers.

Raitt's early albums were critically lauded for her singing and guitar playing (she is one of the few women who play bottleneck) as well as her choice of material, which often included blues as well as pop and folk songs. Most of Raitt's repertoire consists of covers, and she has gone out of her way to credit her sources, often touring with them as opening acts. Her sixth album, Sweet Forgiveness (Number 25, 1977), went gold and yielded a hit cover version of Del Shannon's "Runaway" (Number 57, 1977). The Glow (featuring her first original tunes since three on Give It Up) (Number 30, 1979) was produced by Peter Asher, but it did not sell as well as its predecessor.

A Quaker, Raitt has played literally hundreds of benefits over the course of her career. She was a founder of M.U.S.E. (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which in September 1979 held a massive concert at Madison Square Garden, with other stars such as Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and the Doobie Brothers. It was later commemorated on a three-LP set. In 1982 she released her eighth LP, Green Light (Number 38, 1982), a harder-rocking effort aided by her backup band, the Bump Band, which included veteran keyboardist Ian MacLagan (of the Faces and the Stones) and Raitt's longtime bassist and tuba-player, Freebo, remained a constant sideman through her various backup bands. They toured with Raitt in mid-1982, greeted by the usual critical acclaim. Her work also appeared on the platinum 1980 Urban Cowboy soundtrack, with the country song "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance."

When Nine Lives (Number 115, 1986) flopped, Raitt lost her deal with Warner Bros. Prince reportedly produced an album's worth of tracks with her, but they were never released. Instead, Raitt reemerged in 1989 on Capitol with her Don Was–produced breakthrough album Nick of Time, which smoothed out her rough bluesy edges yet avoided crass commercialism. It topped the charts, sold 4 million copies, and won an Album of the Year Grammy (one of four awards won by a thunderstruck Raitt at the 1990 gala; one was for her duet with Delbert McClinton, "Good Man, Good Woman").

The pattern held with Luck of the Draw (Number 2, 1991), another Was production, which included the hit singles "Something to Talk About" (Number 5, 1991) and "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Number 18, 1991). It sold over 4 million copies and netted three more Grammys, for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal, and Best Pop Vocal Performance. Raitt earned another in 1990, for Best Traditional Blues Recording, for "In the Mood," a duet with John Lee Hooker on his album The Healer. Her former label Warner Bros. capitalized on Raitt's high profile by releasing The Bonnie Raitt Collection (Number 61, 1990), which included live duets with Sippie Wallace and John Prine.

In April 1991 Raitt married actor Michael O'Keefe (they divorced in 1999). Raitt also cofounded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and money for influential musical pioneers left impoverished in their old age by unfair record deals and lack of health insurance. Raitt once again found success working with producer Don Was, as 1994's Longing in Their Hearts topped the chart and went platinum shortly after its release; it sold over 2 million copies. It included "Love Sneakin' Up on You" (Number 19, 1994) and "You" (Number 92, 1994). Around this time, Raitt had a hit with "You Got It" (Number 33, 1995) from the film Boys on the Side, and a minor hit with "Rock Steady"(Number 73, 1995), a duet with Bryan Adams. Road Tested (Number 44, 1995) is a live album.

In 1995 Raitt became the first woman guitarist to have a guitar named for her. All royalties from the sale of Fender's Bonnie Raitt Signature Series Stratocaster go to programs to teach inner-city girls to play guitar.

Her next effort, Fundamental (Number 17, 1998), produced by Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, was a less polished collection that some viewed as a return to the fine roots- and blues-based work of her earlier, hitless days. Raitt called 1982's Green Light the album's "true predecessor." Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Raitt continues to perform for and speak out on a wide range of issues, including nuclear power, reproductive freedom, and the environment. In 2002, Raitt issued Silver Lining (Number 13, 2002) followed by a greatest hits compilation, The Best of Bonnie Raitt on Capitol 1989-2003 in 2003. The self-produced (with Tchad Blake) Souls Alike (Number 19, 2005) followed in 2005. In 2006, Bonnie collaborated with Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, Keb' Mo', and Ben Harper on the DVD/CD project Bonnie Raitt and Friends. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44311&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Garage Rock Revival Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:34 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44311 art.44311 Black Keys art.44311 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44311&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44311&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss The Big Come Up. Almost instantly, the Keys were inundated with comparisons to the White Stripes, but their leaning toward traditional blues and Hendrix-ish psychedelia resulted in a less pop-oriented following. They went on to release Thickfreakness in 2003, Rubber Factory the following year and Magic Potion in 2006. Opting to finally ditch the basement for a professional studio in 2008, the two completed Attack & Release, a more polished yet experimentally enhanced album with the help of producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse. - Stephanie Benson]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68464&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Outlaw Country Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:42 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.68464 art.68464 Hank Williams, Jr. art.68464 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68464&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68464&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.38144&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:17 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.38144 art.38144 Janis Joplin art.38144 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.38144&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.38144&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss
A fifth generation Texan, born in the deep water anchorage town of Port Arthur, Joplin always had one of her tiny high-heels firmly placed on the open road. A noisy and wildly talented harbinger of the burgeoning cultural revolution, she turned her back on small town life and hitchhiked to San Francisco with the equally atavistic impresario Chet Helms. With Helms' help, she hooked up with bluesy folk rock combo Big Brother and the Holding Company, sharpening their rather soft psychedelic edges and transforming the group into a firebrand outfit that would make a huge mark on the 1960s' musical landscape.

Joplin took her cues from the blues greats, grafting the sensual rhythms of Bessie Smith and the defiance of Willie Mae Thornton to a pulsating rock beat. The world noticed what the wild-haired chanteuse was up to when Big Brother performed at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival, bringing her rare and bombastic talent to that infamous stage and holding her own with Jimi Hendrix and The Who. Big Brother's second album, 1968's Cheap Thrills, found Joplin helping to midwife a new mode of musical expression for "chick" singers. Being a refined looker who could actually carry a tune (think Mary Hopkin, Marianne Faithfull) was no longer enough once Janis started belting with authority from her heart and deepest soul.

Unfortunately, her massive talent did not bring the peace and self-acceptance she craved. She used to bemoan her sense of isolation, remarking sadly, "Every night I make love to 25,000, but I go home alone." Ironically, she was adored by millions but had apparently lost her capacity to recognize real love when it was offered. She tried to fill the void with drugs and alcohol, and ultimately died of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970. She looms as large in death as she did in life, encouraging subsequent generations to feel without holding back. Joplin left behind a small but tremendous legacy, including two albums with Big Brother, and two solo albums (I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Bules Again, Mama!, recorded with the Kozmic Blues Band, and Pearl, with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, which came out a month after her death). - Jaan Uhelszki]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5476&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Americana Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:55:34 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5476 art.5476 Levon Helm art.5476 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5476&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5476&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Music From Big Pink, a record on which Helm's drumming, singing and (often uncredited) songwriting was essential. After the group disbanded in 1976, Helm cultivated an acting career, earning his biggest role in Cole Miner's Daughter, and continued playing with sundry Band-related projects. Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in the '90s, though he continued performing with his daughter, Amy, and hosting a famous "Midnight Ramble" series of concerts in his Woodstock barn. After struggling with cancer for a number of years, Helm was able to sing again in the early '00s. He released Dirt Farmer, his first solo record in some 25 years, in 2007. - Nate Cavalieri]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39656&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:38:15 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.39656 art.39656 Cream art.39656 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39656&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39656&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3250&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3250 art.3250 Charlie Daniels art.3250 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3250&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3250&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait, New Morning, and Dylan. Charlie Daniels was known as the long haired country boy with adroit musical skills that were a true gift from the gods of music. In his heyday, Daniels surrounded himself with an ever changing team of exquisitely talented musicians that contributed to his trademark sound: strict country music with an edgy injection of Southern Rock, blues shuffles and Boogie Rock overtones. Aside from making music that would soon pump from the speakers of Bo and Luke's General Lee, Daniels wrote songs that Elvis Presley covered; he played with Leonard Cohen's touring band in the 1960s, and even produced the Youngbloods' album Elephant Memory. Daniels managed to install a set of ethics for his fan-base-turned-subculture when he penned its anthem, "Long Haired Country Boy" with: "People say I'm no good and crazy as a loon / Cause I get stoned in the morning, get drunk in the afternoon. / Kinda like my old blue tick hound I like to lay around in the shade / I ain't got no money but I've damn sure got it made.../ I don't want much of nothing at all but I will take another toke." - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2593&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Jazz Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:18 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2593 art.2593 Jeff Beck art.2593 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2593&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2593&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blow By Blow. - Tom Heyman]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59123&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Pop Metal Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:29 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.59123 art.59123 Cinderella art.59123 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59123&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59123&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4680&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Jam Rock Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:02 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4680 art.4680 Widespread Panic art.4680 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4680&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4680&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Coconut Image was cut in 1986, the origins of the band go back four years prior to that when singer John Bell met up with six-string sultan Mike Houser while studying in Athens, Georgia. The duo was soon rounded out by bass man Dave Schools, keyboard player JoJo Hermann, drummer Todd Nance and percussionist Sunny Ortiz. Their debut album Space Wrangler came out two years later following Coconut Image. Although it was released on a little indie label out of Athens (Landslide Records), the production and performance sounds as rich as anything ever cut by Dire Straits. More relentless touring and a healthy, grass roots buzz got Widespread Panic a much-deserved major label deal on Capricorn Records, who released their self-titled sophomore album in 1991. Although playing on the touring H.O.R.D.E. Festival stage for two years in a row is what really thrust Widespread Panic into the limelight. Eight albums under their belt and Houser was forced to leave the band to battle pancreatic cancer. Sadly, it was a battle he lost, passing away in 2002 at the young age of 40. Guitar player and longtime friend of the band George McConnell moved in to play guitar (at Houser's request). McConnell's mid-tour departure in August '06 made way for hired-axeman extraordinaire, Jimmy Herring to finally find a home with Panic. The band continue to tour, record and grow musically, sonically following in the footsteps of the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band while nurturing their own unique signature sound that reflects a strong love of elemental music, authentic rootsy rock and innovative arrangements. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6926&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Country Rock Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:13:12 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6926 art.6926 Drive-By Truckers art.6926 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6926&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6926&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.408&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.408 art.408 .38 Special art.408 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.408&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.408&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2852&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:36 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2852 art.2852 Little Feat art.2852 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2852&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2852&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4344&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4344 art.4344 The Marshall Tucker Band art.4344 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4344&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4344&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3010&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:52 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3010 art.3010 J. Geils Band art.3010 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3010&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3010&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss The Morning After, was shot in a Virginia Beach motel room.)

Road warriors to the highest degree, the Geils Band spent the 1970s missing as much as hitting (although their chart successes included "Give It to Me," "Must of Got Lost" and a breakneck cover of Bobby Womack's "Lookin' for a Love"), but always putting asses in the seats: their discography includes three live albums. Moving to break out of a sometimes confining artistic stance, they stretched themselves on admired if commercially failed LPs such as Ladies Invite and Monkey Island (credited simply to "Geils," the 1977 disc would be their last for Atlantic).

A new pact with EMI America saw the J. Geils Band slowly turning their fortunes around. Their second album for the label, 1980's Love Stinks, partook of a New Wave-influenced sound and attitude; it marked the first time two consecutive Geils 45s ("Come Back" and the deathless title cut) hit the Billboard Top 40. Sanctuary (1978) and Love Stinks both went gold, but the decade-plus veterans had an unexpected career record up their sleeves.

Freeze Frame appeared in 1981, and was soon a phenomenon. Its first single, "Centerfold," was an insanely catchy ode to a high-school crush with a new occupation, and wound up spending six weeks at No. 1. With the album certified platinum, its title track hit the Top 5, and its electro-funkin' B-side, "Flamethrower," went to No. 25 on the R&B charts. But even as the J. Geils Band triumphantly headlined arenas, they were falling apart. Freeze Frame proved to be their last studio release with Wolf. As he went on to solo fame with "Lights Out" and "Come As You Are," a hobbled Geils Band issued a flop LP, You're Getting' Even While I'm Gettin' Odd. Wolf continues to make well-received discs, while "Jay Geils" and harp master Magic Dick worked together again in the '90s. Geils' first solo album, Jay Geils Plays Jazz, came out in 2004. - Jaan Uhelszki]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61555&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:54 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.61555 art.61555 George Thorogood art.61555 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61555&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61555&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6300&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss British Invasion Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:18 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6300 art.6300 The Animals art.6300 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6300&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6300&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61561&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:54 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.61561 art.61561 JJ Cale art.61561 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61561&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61561&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.36938&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Modern Blues Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:50:50 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.36938 art.36938 Joe Bonamassa art.36938 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.36938&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.36938&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss A New Day Yesterday, came out when he was just 23 years old, in 2000. Subsequently Bonamassa steadily toured and released records, with eight under his belt thus far, Live From No Place In Particular being the most recent.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44112&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:13:44 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44112 art.44112 Joe Walsh art.44112 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44112&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44112&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Hotel California and providing some much needed muscle while simultaneously recording his own solo projects. In 1978 he hit with "Life's Been Good," arguably the song he's best known for. It's got all the Joe Walsh trademarks: a stumbling, mid-tempo groove marked by bedrock guitar riffs, too many synthesizers and that yelping, confused delivery. Granted Walsh's solo material is fast food, but it is among the very best fast food the FM dial has to offer. He continues to put out records today, but the last really interesting one was The Confessor (1985), which is worth picking up for the title song alone. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.54374&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Roots Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:55:57 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.54374 art.54374 Cross Canadian Ragweed art.54374 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.54374&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.54374&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7017&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:06:56 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.7017 art.7017 Derek and the Dominos art.7017 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7017&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7017&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Georgia-born guitar prophet Duane Allman sat in on the sessions. The assemblage of excellent musicians coupled with Clapton's state of intense personal turmoil led to a collection of songs and performances generally considered to stand as his greatest achievement as an artist. One listen to "Bell Bottom Blues" should convince any listener, as the traditionally aloof superstar performs with openly wounded sincerity. Allman's contribution cannot be overstated: the slide guitars that sing throughout "Layla" are some of his best work. Sadly, Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident less than a year after the album came out. As for Derek & the Dominos, Clapton's period of personal upheaval continued as he disbanded the group and became a recluse until the release of 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974. In the interim, the great but admittedly uneven Derek and the Dominos In Concert was released, offering listeners a glimpse of the group's only tour -- specifically their dates at the Fillmore Auditorium in December of 1970. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4783&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Americana Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:55:09 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4783 art.4783 Delbert McClinton art.4783 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4783&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4783&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5647&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:37:26 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5647 art.5647 Foghat art.5647 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5647&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5647&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Dazed and Confused, Foghat were an American rock 'n' roll band from the United Kingdom. Their unpretentious, simplistic Boogie Rock won them stadium-filling fans, two platinum albums, and five gold ones. Some of Foghat's 1-4-5 arranged brown-shoe shuffle-rock included hits such as "Slow Ride," "Fool For The City" and an up-tempo, groove-heavy cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You." Foghat broke up in 1983 after Disco actually made a difference, but they have been known to rise like the phoenix on occasion. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4402&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Modern Blues Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:36 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4402 art.4402 Susan Tedeschi art.4402 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4402&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4402&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Billboard Magazine has called Susan Tedeschi "honest-to-God great." She spins out steaming, cinematic blues with her smoking hot guitar. Think of a passionate and sultry mix of Etta James and Bonnie Raitt. - Nick Dedina]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6774685&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss '00s Alternative Sat, 3 Oct 2009 10:44:47 -0700 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6774685 art.6774685 Heartless Bastards art.6774685 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6774685&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6774685&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Stairs and Elevators and All This Time, are more or less studio interpretations of the band's killer live show. In contrast, 2009's The Mountain is a gutsy stab at evolution. Made after Wennerstrom relocated to Austin, Tex., where she put together a new lineup, the album finds her adding touches of British folk and country rock to the band's hard rock sound. - Justin Farrar]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62066&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss British Invasion Sun, 1 Nov 2009 12:39:36 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.62066 art.62066 The Yardbirds art.62066 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62066&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62066&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1587&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:24:10 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1587 art.1587 Molly Hatchet art.1587 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1587&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1587&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Flirtin' with Disaster really burned the barn down, delivering one shoot-out-the-lights, good ol' boy anthem after another. With the replacement of Danny Joe Brown by bearish Jimmy Farrar in 1980, Hatchet undeniably started to lose their drive. Brown later returned, but by then the dust had already settled on the band's name. They assumed their current status as hirsute has-beens by sporadically recapturing their glory days on outdoor concert stages across the South. - Chad Driscoll]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4217&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:54 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4217 art.4217 Canned Heat art.4217 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4217&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4217&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Hooker 'N' Heat. Founding members Al Wilson, Bob Hite, and Henry Vestine have all died, but the band carries on with bassist Larry Taylor and drummer Fito De La Parra. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2245&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Blues & Boogie Rock Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:23 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2245 art.2245 Johnny Winter art.2245 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2245&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2245&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4166&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Southern Rock Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:37:25 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4166 art.4166 Blackfoot art.4166 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4166&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4166&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.10256&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Lite Rock Mon, 9 Nov 2009 11:46:45 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.10256 art.10256 Dave Mason art.10256 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.10256&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.10256&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Alone Together, which did well on the strength of the modest hit "Only You Know And I Know," a song previously performed by Delaney & Bonnie. Mason continued to release records into the '70s, moving in a lite rock direction all the while, but he did not hit it big until 1977's Let It Flow, which featured the aforementioned "We Just Disagree." Anyone born in the '70s is likely to know this song by heart, thanks to it having one of the catchiest choruses ever written and its success on AM and FM radio. But Mason's career flagged from this point, and he never scored another hit again. Nevertheless, he has always been respected as a talented, if minor, songwriter. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1672&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Boogie Rock Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:37:26 -0800 Top Blues & Boogie Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1672 art.1672 Ten Years After art.1672 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1672&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1672&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fblues-boogie-rock%2Fartist-chart.rss Guitar Center retail outlet, you have most likely heard names dropped like Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani and maybe Alvin Lee, who was the legendary guitarrorist of the longhaired and denim clad Ten Years After. The heavy blues rock band formed in the late '60s but didn't attract much attention until their performance at Woodstock. After the smell of success lead them to the poor decision of going mainstream, the band flounderd creatively and financially and they broke up in 1974, only to reunite a couple times in the late '80s. - Eric Shea]]>