Top Glam Artists on Rhapsody Online

David Bowie

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:21 -0800

A consummate musical chameleon, David Bowie created a career in the '60s and '70s that featured his many guises: folksinger, androgyne, alien, decadent, blue-eyed soul man, modern rock star — each one spawning a league of imitators. David Bowie's late-'70s collaborations with Brian Eno made Bowie one of the few older stars to be taken seriously by the new wave. In the '80s, Let's Dance (Number One, 1983), his entrée into the mainstream, was followed by attempts to keep up with current trends. In the '90s, this meant embracing grunge, industrial rock, rap and dance music. While these experiments were greeted with varying degrees of artistic and commercial success, Bowie remains one of the more restless and venturesome classic rock survivors.

Bowie — born David Jones on January 8th, 1947 in London — took up the saxophone at age 13, and when he left Bromley Technical High School (where a friend permanently paralyzed Jones' left pupil in a fight) to work as a commercial artist three years later, he had started playing in bands (the Konrads, the King Bees, David Jones and the Buzz). Three of Jones' early bands — the King Bees, the Manish Boys (featuring session guitarist Jimmy Page) and Davey Jones and the Lower Third — each recorded a single. In 1966, after changing his name to David Bowie (after the knife) to avoid confusion with the Monkees' Davy Jones, he recorded three singles for Pye Records, then signed in 1967 with Deram, issuing several singles and The World of David Bowie (most of the songs from that album, and others from that time, were also collected on Images 1966-67).

  On these early records, Bowie appears in the singer-songwriter mold; rock star seemed to be just another role for him. In 1967 he spent a few weeks at a Buddhist monastery in Scotland, then apprenticed in Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe. He started his own troupe, Feathers, in 1968. American-born Angela Barnett met Bowie in London's Speakeasy and married him on March 20th, 1970. Son Zowie (now Joey) was born in June 1971; the couple divorced acrimoniously in 1980. After Feathers broke up, Bowie helped start the experimental Beckenham Arts Lab in 1969. To finance the project, he signed with Mercury. Man of Words, Man of Music included "Space Oddity," which it would later be re-titled after; the single's release was timed for the U.S. moon landing. It became a European hit that year but did not make the U.S. charts until its rerelease in 1973, when it reached Number 15.  

Marc Bolan, an old friend, was beginning his rise as a glitter-rocker in T. Rex and introduced Bowie to his producer, Tony Visconti. Bowie mimed at some T. Rex concerts, and Bolan played guitar on Bowie's "Karma Man" and "The Prettiest Star." Bowie, Visconti, guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge toured briefly as Hype. Ronson eventually recruited drummer Michael "Woody" Woodmansey, and with Visconti on bass they recorded The Man Who Sold the World, which included "All the Madmen," inspired by Bowie's institutionalized brother, Terry. Hunky Dory (Number 93, 1972), Bowie's tribute to the New York City of Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan, included his ostensible theme song, "Changes" (Number 66, 1972, rereleased 1974, Number 41).  

Bowie started changing his image in late 1971. He told Melody Maker he was gay in January 1972 and started work on a new theatrical production. Enter Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's projection of a doomed messianic rock star. Bowie became Ziggy; Ronson, Woodmansey and bassist Trevor Bolder became Ziggy's band, the Spiders From Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (Number 75, 1972) and the rerelease of Man of Words as Space Oddity (Number 16, 1972) made Bowie the star he was portraying. The live show, with Bowie wearing futuristic costumes, makeup and bright orange hair (at a time when the rock-star uniform was jeans), was a sensation in London and New York. It took Aladdin Sane (Number 17, 1973) to break Bowie in the U.S. Bolan and other British glitter-rock performers barely made the Atlantic crossing, but Bowie emerged a star. He produced albums for Lou Reed (Transformer and its hit "Walk on the Wild Side") and Iggy and the Stooges (Raw Power) and wrote and produced Mott the Hoople's glitter anthem "All the Young Dudes."

  In 1973 Bowie announced his retirement from live performing, disbanded the Spiders and sailed to Paris to record Pin Ups (Number 23, 1973), a collection of covers of mid-'60s British rock. That same year, the 1980 Floor Show, an invitation-only concert with Bowie and guests Marianne Faithfull and the Troggs, was taped for broadcast on the TV program The Midnight Special. Meanwhile, Bowie worked on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 but was denied the rights by Orwell's widow. He rewrote the material as Diamond Dogs (Number Five, 1974) and returned to the stage with an extravagant American tour. Midway though the tour, Bowie entered Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios (then the capital of black music) and recorded the tracks that would become Young Americans (Number Nine, 1975). The session had a major effect on Bowie, as his sound and show were revised. Bowie scrapped the dancers, sets and costumes for a spare stage and baggy Oxford trousers; he cut his hair and colored it a more natural blond. His new band, led by former James Brown sideman Carlos Alomar, added soul standards (like Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood") to his repertoire. David Live (Number Eight, 1974), also recorded in Philadelphia, chronicles this incarnation.  

"Fame," cowritten by Bowie, Almoar and John Lennon, was Bowie's first American Number One single (1975). Bowie moved to L.A. and became a fixture of American pop culture. He played the title role in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976; the same year, he released Station to Station (Number Three, 1976), another album of "plastic soul" recorded with the Young Americans band, portrayed Bowie as the Thin White Duke (also the title of his unpublished autobiography). His highest charting album, Station to Station contained his second Top 10 single, "Golden Years" (Number 10, 1975). Bowie complained life had become predictable and left L.A. He returned to the U.K. for the first time in three years before settling in Berlin, where he lived in semiseclusion, painting, studying art and recording with Brian Eno.

Bowie's work with Eno — Low (Number 11, 1977), "Heroes" (Number 35, 1977) and Lodger (Number 20, 1979) — was distinguished by its appropriation of avant-garde electronic music and the "cut-up" technique made famous by author William Burroughs. (Composer Philip Glass wrote a symphony incorporating music from Low in 1993.  ) Bowie revitalized Iggy Pop's career by producing The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977) and toured Europe and America unannounced as Pop's pianist. He narrated Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra's recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and spent the rest of 1977 acting with Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak in Just a Gigolo. The next year, he embarked on a massive world tour. A second live album, Stage (Number 44, 1978), was recorded on the U.S. leg of the tour. Work on Lodger was begun in New York, continued in Switzerland and completed in Berlin.

Bowie settled in New York to record the paranoiac Scary Monsters (Number 12, 1980), updating "Space Oddity" in "Ashes to Ashes." One of the first stars to understand the potential of video, he produced some innovative clips for songs from Lodger and Scary Monsters. After Scary Monsters, Bowie turned his attention away from his recording career. In 1980 he played the title role in The Elephant Man, appearing in Denver, in Chicago and on Broadway. He collaborated with Queen on 1981's "Under Pressure" and provided lyrics and vocals for "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (Number 67, 1982), Giorgio Moroder's title tune for the soundtrack of Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. His music was used on the soundtrack of Christiane F (1982) (he also appeared in the film). Also that year, Bowie starred in the BBC-TV production of Brecht's Baal, and as a 150-year-old vampire in the movie The Hunger.

In 1983 Bowie signed one of the most lucrative contracts in history and moved from RCA to EMI. Let's Dance (Number Four, 1983), his first album in three years, returned him to the top of the charts. Produced by Nile Rodgers with Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, the album was a slick revision of Bowie's soul-man posture. It contained three Top 20 singles — "Let's Dance" (Number One, 1983), "China Girl" (Number 10, 1983) and "Modern Love" (Number 14, 1983) — which were supported with another set of innovative videos; the sold-out Serious Moonlight Tour followed. Bowie's career seemed to be revitalized.

But what first seemed like a return to form actually ushered in a period of mediocrity. Without Nile Rodgers' production savvy, Bowie's material sounded increasingly forced and hollow; his attention alternated between albums and film roles. Tonight (Number 11, 1984) had only one hit, "Blue Jean" (Number Eight, 1984). Bowie and Mick Jagger dueted on a lame cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" (Number Seven, 1985) for Live Aid. Although Never Let Me Down (Number 34, 1987), with Peter Frampton on guitar, was roundly criticized, it made the charts with "Day In, Day Out" (Number 21, 1987) and the title song (Number 27, 1987). Bowie hit the road with another stadium extravaganza, the Glass Spiders Tour; it was recorded for an ABC-TV special. Bowie had scarcely better luck in his acting career: Into the Night (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986) — a Julien Temple musical featuring some Bowie songs — Labyrinth (1986), The Linguini Incident (1992) and Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me (1992) were neither critical nor commercial successes.  

Bowie set about reissuing his earlier albums on CD. Sound + Vision (Number 97, 1989), a box-set overview (ChangesBowie, from 1990, condensed his hits into a single disc), revived interest in Bowie's career; the set list for the accompanying tour was partially based on fan response to special phone lines requesting favorite Bowie songs. Bowie claimed it would be the last time he performed those songs live. Later reissues, with previously unreleased bonus tracks, brought the Ziggy-era Bowie back into popularity.

Bowie formed Tin Machine in 1989. The band included Bowie discovery Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Hunt and Tony Sales, who had worked with Bowie on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life album and tour in the '70s. Although Bowie claimed that the band was a democracy, Tin Machine was perceived as Bowie's next project. The group debuted with a series of club dates in New York and L.A. Tin Machine's eponymous album (Number 28, 1989) was a rougher, more guitar-oriented collection than any of Bowie's previous albums. Tin Machine II (Number 126, 1991), lacked the novelty of the debut and was quickly forgotten.

  In 1992 Bowie married Somalian supermodel Iman. Black Tie White Noise (Number 39, 1993), which Bowie called his wedding present to his wife, received decent reviews but failed to excite the public. For a follow-up, Bowie reunited with Brian Eno to create Outside - The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle, a concept album of sorts that did not create much in the way of sales, although Bowie did tour the States with Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails opening. The Buddha in Suburbia is the music from the British television show of the same name; Lenny Kravitz appears on guitar.   Bowie celebrated his 50th birthday in January 1997 with a sold-out gig at Madison Square Garden, where he was joined onstage by Lou Reed, the Cure's Robert Smith, Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Frank Black, the Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth.  

In early 1997 Bowie was again on the cutting edge — this time in the financial world. In a complicated transaction that was definitely a first, something called Bowie Bonds were offered for sale. These asset-backed bonds (in this case the assets are the royalties on Bowie's songs recorded prior to 1990) allowed Bowie to collect $55 million. The sale of the bonds came on the eve of the release of Earthling, which incorporated drum-and-bass into a basically rock sound. By the end of the year a Reznor remix of the last song on the CD, "I'm Afraid of Americans," was receiving video and radio airplay. Into the edgy song (cowritten with Eno) Reznor inserted some keyboard and guitar textures and a rap by Ice Cube. Hours . . . (1999) was not a particularly well-received album but was notable for expanding Bowie's early and enthusiastic advocacy of the Internet. The entire album was available for download weeks before its official release and contained a song available only online. That year Bowie also appeared in, and contributed a soundtrack to, the videogame "Omikron: The Nomad Soul."

In 2002, Bowie reunited with Tony Visconti to record Heathen, featuring a cover of the Pixies' "Cactus." He also put together an annual edition of London's Meltdown Festival, at which Bowie performed 1977's Low in its entirety. A year later, he released Reality, and while touring behind it he had a minor heart attack onstage in Germany, brought on by heavy smoking; Bowie fully recuperated. His songs appeared on the soundtrack for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in 2004, both in his original versions and in new renditions by Seu Jorge, who translated the lyrics to Portuguese. Bowie also curried favor with the new generation of indie rockers by appearing onstage with the Arcade Fire and singing on TV on the Radio's Return to Cookie Mountain.

KISS

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:32:48 -0800

Scene: interior of house. Dad reading newspaper on recliner. Mother crocheting on couch. Television is on, Mary Tyler Moore is heard dimly in the background. A young man of about fifteen walks through front door carrying a plastic bag. He says nothing to his parents, walks down the hall into his bedroom. Posters of rock stars like KISS, Alice Cooper and Queen are on his wall. He shuts the door, sits on his bed, takes a record out of the bag. It is KISS Alive!. He removes vinyl from the sleeve, puts record on turntable and stares in awe at the maniacal, rapturous, cartoonish hard rockers on the cover. "Deuce" blasts out of the speakers, and the boy is transported to an arena where it's all happening.

Scene: Concert stage. Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter are there, bashing away at their instruments, the crowd is screaming with delight, smoke is pouring from the stage, explosions are going off. The boy finds himself with a guitar around his neck and in makeup similar to the others; he is called the Hawk. He finds he can play his guitar like a champ, and is soon beating out those bar chords while Paul sings, Ace plays lead, and Gene and Peter hold down the rhythm section. The teenager feels warm liquid hit his torso; he realizes that Gene has just spit blood on him. They smile at each other.

Scene: the boy is back in his room, eyes closed, playing air guitar while "Hotter Than Hell" blares from his stereo. His mother is banging on the door. We hear her shout, "Turn it down, godammit!!!" The boy doesn't hear her. He's in hard rock paradise. - Will Lerner

Alice Cooper

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:32:47 -0800

Between 1950s showman Screamin' Jay Hawkins emerging from a coffin and Kiss' Gene Simmons spitting "blood" in the 1970s, no one defined shock rock like Alice Cooper. Cooper used violent (and vile) theatrics — simulated executions, the chopping up of baby dolls, and draping himself with a live boa constrictor - and explicit lyrics to become a controversial yet hugely popular figure in the early-and-mid 1970s. After a decade of fluctuating record sales, Cooper returned to platinum with the Number 20 1989 LP Trash. Though respected by a new generation of hard-rock fans, he never reached that kind of popularity again.

Vincent Furnier, son of a preacher, assembled his hard-rocking band in Phoenix. They were first known as the Earwigs, then the Spiders, and finally the Nazz (not to be confused with Todd Rundgren's band). They moved en masse to L.A. in 1968. Billing themselves as Alice Cooper (who, according to a Ouija board, was a 17th-century witch reincarnated as Furnier), they established themselves on the Southern California bar circuit with a bizarre stage show and a reputation as the worst band in L.A. Frank Zappa's Straight Records released their first two albums, which sold poorly and, with tour costs, left them $100,000 in debt.

The band members moved to Detroit, where they lived for several months in a single hotel room before the release of their major-label debut and breakthrough album, Love It to Death. Joining Cooper's taboo-defying lyrics to powerful hard rock, the album became the first in a string of gold and platinum releases and included "Eighteen" (Number 21, 1971). Subsequent hit singles included "School's Out" (Number Seven, 1972), "Elected" (Number 26, 1972), "Hello Hooray" (Number 35, 1973), and "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (Number 25, 1973).

In 1973 Surrealist master Salvador Dalí filmed the singer, wearing diamond necklaces and tiara, as he bit the head off a small replica of the Venus de Milo for a holographic work. With such widespread success, even amid the gruesome stage sets and macabre makeup, Cooper seemed less threatening.

The band broke up in 1974 and Cooper began using such musicians as ex–Lou Reed guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter. (In 1977 former band members Bruce, Dunaway, and Smith formed Billion Dollar Babies and recorded one unsuccessful album.) "Alice Cooper - The Nightmare," an April 1975 prime time TV special, seemed to indicate Cooper's acceptance as a mainstream entertainer, as did a handful of appearances on The Hollywood Squares. His then-current hit, "Only Women Bleed" (Number 12, 1975), was a ballad, as were two subsequent hits: "I Never Cry" (Number 12, 1976) and "You and Me" (Number Nine, 1977).

In 1978 Cooper committed himself to a psychiatric hospital for treatment of alcoholism, an experience chronicled on From the Inside, which includes some lyrics by Elton John's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin and the hit "How You Gonna See Me Now" (Number 12, 1978). Neither the hard-rocking Flush the Fashion nor Special Forces was especially successful, and Cooper took a hiatus. He returned in 1986 with Constrictor, followed by Raise Your Fist and Yell, both deep in the heavy-metal vein. The Nightmare Returns Tour and MTV Halloween special brought Cooper's violent, twisted onstage fantasies to a new generation, and he closed the 1980s with the platinum Trash and "Poison (Number Seven, 1989), his first Top 20 single in more than a decade.

Cooper, for whom Alice is such a character that he speaks of him in the third person in interviews, has also appeared in several films: Prince of Darkness (1988), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and most notably Wayne's World (1992). For The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years, he rerecorded "Under My Wheels" with Guns n' Roses' Axl Rose, Slash, and Izzy Stradlin. Prominent among Cooper's legion of second-generation fans are Steve Vai, Nikki Sixx, Joe Satriani, and Slash, all of whom guested on Hey Stoopid; Soundgarden's singer, Chris Cornell, was on The Last Temptation, while Sammy Hagar and Rob Zombie appeared on the live recording A Fistful of Alice.

His career flagging in the late-1990s, Cooper moved away from the power ballads that had marked his 1980s records and reunited with producer Bob Ezrin (who had worked on Love It to Death, Killer, and School's Out, among others) on the indie release Brutal Planet, a science-fiction concept album. But despite the return of a guillotine (a mainstay of his 1970s shows) as an accessory on the Live From the Brutal Planet Tour, Cooper seems mild compared to the likes of Slipknot or Marilyn Manson, who arguably were directly inspired by him.

In 2001, Cooper released Dragontown (Number 197) and former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer guest-starred on the follow-up, The Eyes of Alice Cooper (Number 184, 2003).

These days not only does Alice Cooper play family-friendly places such as state fairs but he also opened a restaurant, Alice Cooper'stown, in Phoenix. Cooper increasingly seems to take delight in subverting his long-running (and somewhat overstated) horror-rock reputation: He's an avid golfer, as well as an occasional supporter of George H.W. Bush. That said, he still has some surprises left in him: His Dirty Diamonds (Number 169, 2005) album included a cameo from rapper Xzibit. In 2008, at the age of 60, Cooper released Along Came a Spider a concept album written from the perspective of a serial killer.

Lou Reed

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:41 -0800

As the lead singer and songwriter of the Velvet Underground in the late Sixties, Lou Reed was responsible for a body of work that was alienated from the prevailing optimism of the day and was passionately bleak, and which remains highly influential today. He is often referred to as the godfather of punk. His solo recording career, beginning in 1972, has been more idiosyncratic and iconoclastic marked by sudden turnabouts in image and sound, from self-consciously commercial product to white noise to unpredictable folk rock.

Before the formation of the Velvet Underground (see entry), in 1965, Reed (b. Lewis Alan Reed, Mar. 2, 1942, Brooklyn, NY) grew up in Freeport, Long Island, then attended Syracuse University, studying poetry (under Delmore Swartz, to whom Reed dedicated a song on the first Velvet Underground album) and journalism. Reed's poems were published in Fusion magazine. (In 1977 he earned an award from the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines for his poem "The Slide" and in 1992 was awarded France's Order of Arts and Letters.) After leaving Syracuse, Reed returned to New York City and worked for Pickwick Records, taking part in the studio group that recorded various Reed-penned songs, released by the Beachnuts and Roughnecks. During this period he met the musicians with whom he would subsequently form the Velvet Underground. With two of them he formed a band called the Primitives, which became the Warlocks and made one record.

Reed's 1970 departure from the Velvet Underground was bitter; he did not even stay to complete their fourth album, Loaded, though songs from that project ("Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll") would become permanent fixtures of his live show and reputation. He became a virtual recluse for nearly two years, until moving to England and beginning a solo career in 1971. Transformer (Number 29, 1972) was his pop breakthrough. Produced by Velvet Underground fan David Bowie, it yielded Reed's only Top Twenty hit to date, "Walk on the Wild Side" (Number 16, 1973), an ode to the denizens of Andy Warhol's Sixties films. With Bowie's aid, Reed made the transition to the glitter rock of the period, camping up his presumed homosexuality with bleached-blond hair and black fingernail polish. Typically, the next record, 1973's Berlin, was as grim in tone as Transformer had been playful.

Reed's recordings have continued to be unpredictable. A pair of live albums drawn from the same set of concerts (including the gold-selling Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Number 45, 1974) featured streamlined heavy-metal versions of Velvet Underground, while a later tour would pander to theatrics: Reed, for example, pretended to shoot up while performing the song "Heroin." The critically panned Sally Can't Dance (Number Ten, 1974) was repudiated by Reed almost on release. After another live album, he followed with Metal Machine Music, four vinyl record sides of grating instrumental noise, alternately considered high art worthy of RCA's classical division and a gambit to get off the label.

After a final RCA album, Coney Island Baby (Number 41, 1976), Reed moved to Arista where he made impeccably produced, harrowing music like the title cut of Street Hassle (Number 89, 1978), as well as relatively peaceful outings typified by album titles like Rock and Roll Heart (Number 64, 1976), The Bells (1979) and Growing Up in Public (1980). He married Sylvia Morales on Valentine's Day 1980, and his songs about the seamy side of life began to appear alongside paeons to suburban life — "I'm an average guy," he sang on his critically acclaimed 1982 album The Blue Mask.

In the mid-Eighties Reed gained more of the spotlight when a number of postpunk bands, including R.E.M., U2 and Sonic Youth, began singing his praises and vocally claiming inspiration by the Velvet Underground. The second creative wind that began with the alternately hopeful and frightening Blue Mask continued with the more accessible New Sensations (Number 56, 1984) and Mistrial (Number 47, 1986). Reed then moved to Sire Records, where he hit an artistic plateau with New York (Number 40, 1989), Songs for Drella (1990), and Magic & Loss (1992). A brutal song cycle about urban decay, New York was his first Top Forty album since Sally Can't Dance, and it produced the Number One Modern Rock hit "Dirty Blvd."

In 1989 Reed played guitar on former Velvet Underground drummer Maureen "Moe" Tucker's solo album Life in Exile After Abdication. The same year, he reunited with another UV mate, John Cale, for a work-in-progress performance of Songs for Drella, a pop requiem the two wrote for their late friend and mentor, Andy Warhol, who had died three years earlier; in 1990 an album and video were released. The Velvet Underground reunited in 1993 for some well-received European dates, but again broke up bitterly before their planned U.S. performances (reportedly because Reed insisted on producing the album of the band's upcoming MTV Unplugged appearance, which was subsequently canceled.) The band reunited once more in 1996, after the death of member Sterling Morrison, to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and perform a tribute to the late guitarist.

Reed's 1992 album Magic & Loss (Number 80, 1992), a somber meditation on the process and pain of aging and death, inspired by the cancer deaths of two friends (including songwriter Doc Pomus), was considered his most inspired work since The Blue Mask. The same year, RCA released a boxed set of Reed's music, Between Thought and Expression, which followed a 1991 book of selected Reed lyrics of the same name.

Throughout the Eighties and into the Nineties, Reed showed a newfound political-activist side, appearing at the 1985 Farm Aid benefit concert, the 1986 Amnesty International Tour, and contributing to the Artists United Against Aparteid Sun City record. In 1993 he performed at an inaugural event honoring the home state of former Vice President Al Gore. Reed had also moved into acting, and has appeared in the 1980 movie One Trick Pony, 1993's Faraway, So Close, and 2001's Prozac Nation, as well as in advertisements for Honda scooters, which used "Walk on the Wild Side" as a theme.

Over the years Reed has found affinity with some of rock & roll's romantics and mythologists: Bruce Springsteen appeared uncredited on 1978's Street Hassle, and Reed inducted Dion into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; he also cowrote songs for Kiss and Nils Lofgren. Reed's sidemen have included Jack Bruce (ex-Cream) and jazz trumpeter Don Cherry; for The Blue Mask and Legendary Hearts he toured with an acclaimed band that included ex-Voidoids guitarist Robert Quine and drummer Fred Maher, as well as former Jean-Luc Ponty bassist Fernandoi Saunders; and for New York and the Magic & Loss tour, he brought along R&B crooner Little Jimmy Scott as a backup vocalist. Split from his wife Sylvia by 1994, Reed was frequently seen in the company of avant-garde performance artist Laurie Anderson, with whom he began improvising instrumental pieces at home.

Anderson served as an emotional influence on 1996's Set the Twilight Reeling (Number 110, Top 200), an album that mixed romance and nostalgia amid Reed's darker interests. That same year, reed collaborated with theatrical director Robert Wilson on the production of Time Rocker; they collaborated again in 2000 on Poe-try, based on the works of Edgar Alan Poe.

After another wait of four years between studio albums, Reed returned in 2000 with Ecstasy, which continued his commitment to minimalist rock & roll with thoughtful, if sometimes confrontational lyrics on dreams, desire and despair. Anderson performed electric violin on two tracks. Reed also published Pass Thru Fire – The Collected Lyrics. In 2003 he released his Poe-try work as a two-CD set, The Raven. After the live Animal Serenade in 2004, Reed lay low for three years. He returned with an all-electronics album that's a sort of anti-Metal Machine Music. The sounds he and producer Hal Wilner created for Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007) are more in line with new age music or the ambient works of Brian Eno. Also in 2007 artist/director Julian Schnabel released a live performance of Reed playing the entirety of his 1973 "lost" masterpiece Berlin at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn — the first time in 33 years the music had been performed.

Roxy Music

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:30:57 -0800

With albums that reek of cigarettes, absinthe, and sex, Roxy Music helped shape the artier side of 1970s and '80s Punk with their incredibly rich (yet deliciously subversive) early albums. Their first four records, released between 1972-1974, are filled with intensely passionate, undeniably beautiful, and downright groundbreaking moments. The voice, face, and stylistic force behind Roxy was Bryan Ferry, chief songwriter and dapper vampire-about-town. Megaproducer and ambient pioneer Brian Eno was an original member. He appeared on the first two records, adding bubbly, noisy, and sometimes decidedly non-musical synth effects. With strange usage of keyboards, sax lines that ranged from atonal skronking to soulful R&B, and supple guitar playing that rivaled Mick Ronson, the band was a musical powerhouse. Ferry's love of pop melodies and his ability to croon, bellow, and vamp with such disarming power brought all these elements together. Roxy always varied from sleek, sexy pop to jagged rockers to swelling ballads, and the former won out by the time of Siren (1975), culminating in the lush, gorgeous music of Avalon (1982). They ended their career revealing just how intoxicating romance can be. - Will Lerner

Placebo

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:06 -0800

These young men blend Britpop with sonic noise and hip-shaking glam rock to create something all their own. Androgynous singer Brian Molko sounds a lot like Geddy Lee (he'll deny it, but listen for yourself). Placebo's songs are kinetic and wiry at times, but alternately gritty and rocking in a way last heard when Suede imitated Bowie. When the band uses retrospection as embellishment over their foundation, you hear the true Placebo -- not to say that their version of "20th Century Boy" doesn't rock as hard as Marc Bolan's. - Eric Shea

Mika

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:23 -0800

Mika's sugary wonderland of gender-bending, campy pop topped with a flawless falsetto has earned him respectable comparisons to the likes of Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and the Scissor Sisters. Born in Beirut as Michael Holbrook Penniman, he moved with his family from Lebanon to Paris and eventually settled in London when he was nine years old. The move proved troubling for him, as he faced bullying at school and the onset of dyslexia. Mika's focus turned to music when he began intense training with a Russian singing teacher, which led to professional performances at the Royal Opera House and advertising gigs for British Airways and Orbit Chewing Gum. He studied classical music at the prestigious Royal College of Music, but dropped out to focus on his career. Mika's first step into the fickle pop world was the release of his single "Relax, Take It Easy," but it was "Grace Kelly," a stab at those who didn't believe in his musical potential, that shot him to No. 1 on the U.K. charts in early 2007. His debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, soon followed the same chart-topping path. - Stephanie Benson

Iggy Pop

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:51:49 -0800

By the late '60s, while other bands were thinking of covert ways to make LSD references in their songs, Iggy & the Stooges were playing primal, stripped-down garage rock 'n' roll. If their brash, raw music alienated the flower-power set, their live performances went even further to separate them from the mainstream. Onstage misdeeds -- mutilating himself with broken bottles, throwing up on the audience, attacking crowd members -- made Iggy Pop a notoriously destructive figure. By the time the band broke up in 1974, the Stooges had already recorded three excellent albums and a slew of perfect punk classics ("1969," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and "Search and Destroy," among others). Pop embarked on a solo career that has had its share of highs and lows, though it yielded the brilliant David Bowie-produced albums The Idiot and Lust for Life. And, thankfully, his onstage antics are now only slightly less destructive and obnoxious than 30 years ago. - Kali Holloway

Sweet

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:21 -0800

Sweet (or the Sweet, depending on who you're talking about K-Tel repackages with) recorded a number of songs that have come to epitomize the style versus substance genius of Glam rock's best bands. From the absurd perfection of "Ballroom Blitz," "Little Willy" and "Fox on the Run" to the overblown, epic psychedelia of "Love is Like Oxygen," the Sweet designed fantastically catchy anthems built on simple rock guitar riffs, then piled on the synthesizers and vocal overdubs until they simply ran out of space. The finished product was clad in a metallic sheen, saturated with compressed distortion and injected with a loopy sense of irreverence. In short, it was absolute sonic candy that rocked. - Mike McGuirk

T. Rex

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:24 -0800

After a short stint as a teenage model and then as a singer and songwriter for 1960s mod/freakbeat band John's Children, Marc Bolan formed a folkie duo under the moniker Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist Steve Peregrin Took who quit after the third album. Drummer Mickey Finn joined the program, as did Steve Currie and Bill Legend. The quartet shortened their name to T. Rex and became the penultimate forefathers of London's glam rock movement. The music moved from its early folkie roots to a sultry groove with distorted electric guitars, seductive boogie rocking rhythms and barbed pop hooks that helped the band garner multi chart topping hits. They enjoyed all the material fruits of rock success -- stretch limos, custom tailored wardrobes, expensive powders and screaming girls chasing them down the streets of LondonÃÂ until Bolan was killed in a car crash in 1977. - Eric Shea

Eagles Of Death Metal

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:06:27 -0800

A sense of humor comes packaged with every Eagles of Death Metal recording. They like their schoolboy wit in sleazy puns and not-so-subtle innuendos. They poke fun at scuzzy rock 'n' roll while totally embracing it and flaunting the multiple talents of main members Jesse "The Devil" Hughes and Josh "Baby Duck" Homme. The Palm Desert band claims its mission is to play music that's a cross between death metal and the classic rock of the Eagles. Of course, that's where their cheeky name comes in, but it's actually a fairly accurate description. They have an affection for indulgent '70s rock and metal with tight electric guitars, heavy reverb, dance-worthy percussion and goofy interchanges between macho-man bellows and falsetto breakdowns. The band first appeared on 1998's The Desert Sessions Volumes 3 and 4, but with Homme busy fronting Queens of the Stone Age, the release of its debut, Peace, Love, Death, Metal, didn't drop until 2004. Next, came Death By Sexy in 2006, which features several guests, including Mark Lanegan and Jack Black, followed by the equally fun, but more subdued, 2008 album Heart On. - Stephanie Benson

Ian Hunter

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:58 -0800

In Mott the Hoople, shades-clad British ex-newspaperman Ian Hunter was as literate and self-aware as any '70s hard rocker. And though acts from the Clash to Def Leppard to the Pet Shop Boys to Billy Bob Thornton have claimed Mott as a primary inspiration, no band since has managed to carry Jerry Lee Lewis rockabilly and Blonde on Blonde folk boogie into the realm of glam metal. Songs such as "Ballad of Mott" and "Saturday Gigs," like Hunter's definitive 1972 book Diary of a Rock'N'Roll Star, were unflinchingly clear-eyed chronicles of musicians' lives; by the time he left Mott in 1974, Hunter seemed to think rock 'n' roll itself was dying. Yet he's never stopped plugging away. Of his 13 solo albums, 1975's self-titled debut and 1979's You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic remain the most indispensable, and not just because they spawned his best-known songs: "Once Bitten Twice Shy" (later a hit for Great White), "Ships" (later a hit for Barry Manilow) and "Cleveland Rocks" (later a TV theme for Drew Carey). But nearly all his music is worth hearing. Now, seven decades into his life, Hunter is still making respectable records for alt-country label New West. - Chuck Eddy

Brendan Benson

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:19 -0800

Sugary pop ditties about tying up women in chairs, drinking tea, and being attracted to cross-eyed girls. Brendan Benson's sugar-sweet music (some of which was co-written by Jason Falkner) sounds like a cross between glittery Glam rock and endearingly nerdy Indie pop. Bonus points for working with the Waxwings as well as the multi-talented Topper Heyland Rimel who played in bands such as The Deeds, Robots In Disguise, The Blindig Boozers and The Origin. - Eric Shea

The Tubes

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:19 -0800

The Tubes' longest legacy has proven to be a string of '80s New Wave comps featuring "She's a Beauty" and "Talk to You Later." Unfortunately, the 80s' version of the Tubes is like an inert boulder blocking the entrance to an opulent treasure room. During the 1970s, the Tubes were responsible for some of the strangest records of a very strange musical decade. Best described as "Disco Prog," their first two records sounded like a tangle of tracks swept up off the Rocky Horror Picture Show cutting floor. The band's opening pitch, "White Punks on Dope," is equal parts Sparks, Television and New York Dolls. The very Tom Verlaine sounding Fee Waybill sang in a coked-up coloratura that well suited the band's theatrical stage performances -- performances which to this day remain the stuff of legend. For a taste of how bizarre this band could be, dip a fingernail into the arch satire of "Mondo Bondage" or "Slipped My Disco." After a disappointing third album, the band turned to producer Todd Rundgren to set them back on track. The result, 1979's Remote Control, sounds like Rundgren's best album ever (too bad somebody else made it). After Remote Control, the tale of the Tubes is one of an upward traverse into the charts and a slow slide into the MTV-pandering AOR that gave us Greg Kihn and Huey Lewis. It will be interesting to see which checkered past the newly reunited Tubes 2000 attempt to cash in on -- disco provocateurs or MTV frequent flyers. - Chad Driscoll

Mott the Hoople

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:32:44 -0800

"I wish I'd never wanted then what I want now twice as much": Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter thought about his privileged position and double-edged love of the game in a way that seems alien in the early 21st century, when the most superficial trappings of rock-stardom are celebrated and coveted. How many of today's young Jets or Vines would think to describe air flight (economy class) in detail for less-lucky fans, as Hunter did in his 1974 Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star?

Mott the Hoople were a gang of hard rockers formed in late-1960s England, with the ever-besunglassed Hunter replacing original singer Stan Tippens (who moved into the road manager slot) in 1969. Their early albums were distinguished by Hunter's Dylan-esque vocals and surprising covers of Sonny Bono's "Laugh at Me" and Dion's anti-drug "Your Own Back Yard." Despite the artistic success of LP number four, Brain Capers (with the sizzling original "Death May Be Your Santa Claus"), and a steady following as a live act in the U.K. (Mick Jones, later of the Clash, was a fervent acolyte), the band was ready to quit in 1972.

Enter David Bowie, who offered a choice of songs to the frustrated Hooples. Choosing "All the Young Dudes" over "Suffragette City," they entered the studio with Bowie as producer of their first album for CBS/Columbia. Mott quickly became superstars, with ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂDudesÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ an anthem of the new glam rock. The long-player of the same name is one of the ultimate documents of the era: tough, funny rock 'n' roll with a mile-wide groove. Though they were never as popular in the States as in their homeland, Mott the Hoople did place "Dudes" in the U.S. Top 40.

Another masterpiece followed in 1973: Mott was a smart, verbally layered piece of English rock, keynoted by the wry "All the Way From Memphis" ("You look like a star but you're still on the dole") and, with "Violence," presaging Kurt Cobain's critique of the mass rock audience. Hunter is also heard struggling with the perils of getting what he wanted and losing what he had on "Hymn for the Dudes" and "Ballad of Mott the Hoople." Guitarist Mick Ralphs left shortly after making the record, joining with ex-Free vocalist Paul Rodgers in the entertaining but simpler Bad Company.

Mott the Hoople carried on with new guitarist Ariel Bender (Luther Grosvenor) for 1974's weakened The Hoople. One-time Bowie sidekick Mick Ronson replaced Bender; soon he and Hunter kicked it in, teaming up for the latter's solo debut as Mott staggered forward under the shortened moniker for two more albums. Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten Twice Shy" later became metal hacks Great White's biggest hit. Hunter and Mott's imagination and drive remain near the height of '70s rock. - Jaan Uhelszki

Electric Six

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:51:54 -0800

Electric Six are six (duh) people from near Detroit . But those people have changed constantly since the sextet's late '90s days as the Wildbunch; flamboyantly manly singer and side-splittingly showy songwriter Dick Valentine has been the sole constant. Among nonconstants, sillier monikers have included the Rock and Roll Indian, Dr. Diet Mountain Dew, Smorgasbord!, M. and Percussion World (appropriately, a drummer). The band's music is just as funny, but though they've averaged about one album a year since 2003, only their debut Fire -- which includes the top-five Brit hits "Danger! High Voltage" and " Gay Bar ," both inconclusively rumored to contain backing vocals by Jack White -- made much of a mass-cultural dent. It's a shame, because the albums since -- from 2005's Senor Smoke, featuring a wacky remake of Queen's "Radio Ga Ga," to 2008's wrongly slept-on Flashy -- have been consistent in their straight-faced but smirking re-imagining of mirror-balled early '80s AOR. No band has ever so expertly fused Falco with Foreigner. That the Six's recent releases have appeared on the sleaze-embracing industrial label Metropolis is somewhat hilarious in its own right. - Chuck Eddy

Kill Hannah

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:37:26 -0800

Chicago's Kill Hannah blend glam's passion for fashion, post-grunge's enthusiastic power, shoegazer's wall-of-guitar, and dream pop's tender psyche into something deserving of krieg lights and onstage pyrotechnics. Whether they're blasting out of suburban ennui (their anthems) or the hungover prose of chemical escape (trip-hop with the right mix of slow, grinding bass and machined percussion), Kill Hannah's unwavering knack for pop hooks suckerpunch the ears and excite your inner adolescent. - Chad Driscoll

New York Dolls

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:32:45 -0800

The Dolls set the stage for punk to turn rock 'n' roll on its head in the late '70s. Their wild, burly, cross-dressed image together with their rough-and-tumble sound created an unforgettable rock 'n' roll Style-with-a-capital-S. Always teetering and stumbling, the Dolls' music, like the band itself, was in constant danger of falling on its face. David Johansen's howling vocals perfectly matched the ragged, dueling guitars of Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain. They twisted the '60s girl-group aesthetic to their own seedy purposes, steamrolling the lost sound into over-the-top performances. Their sneering attitude and rule-breaking sound spawned legions of admirers and detractors, gave birth to the New York punk scene, added flash to glam and fuel to early heavy metal. - Mark Murrmann

David Essex

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:24:55 -0800

The Runaways

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:27 -0800

This band came out of Hollywood in the mid-1970s and spawned the long solo career of hard rocker and Riot Grrrl godmother Joan Jett, as well as the shorter career of Heavy Metal guitar goddess and Ozzy Osbourne duet partner Lita Ford (and the almost non-career of Cherrie Currie). Guided by legendary Sunset Strip scenester Kim Fowley, the band brashly combined an authentic jailbait image (most of the members were around 16 years old when the band started) with music that mixed Garage Rock and Glam in a manner that nodded toward the nascent Punk movement. The band recorded three official major label albums before breaking up in 1979. Their most famous song is probably the teen anthem "Cherry Bomb." - Tom Heyman

Sparks

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:23 -0800

Sparks were doomed to obscurity from the beginning in their native U.S. Like Oscar Wilde and the turn-of-the-century decadents and dandies who inspired the Mael brothers, scandal both brought them fame and prevented the public from taking them seriously. Vocalist Russell Mael played the rock star with all the flamboyance of a peacock, while songwriter and keyboardist Ron Mael contrasted his brother's excesses with his ascetic scowl and Hitler mustache. The latter's favorite ploy has always been exposing people squirming in insecurity behind screens of wealth, vanity, professionalism and mediocrity.

Sparks enjoyed its first commercial success in the U.K. with 1974's Kimono My House, an album of neo-romanticism meets prog. rock, which reached number four in the U.K. In 1979, after a brief decline in popularity in Europe (and still little notoriety in their native U.S.), the duo called on the production talent of legendary producer Giorgio Moroder for No. 1 In Heaven, a celestial stairway of rapturous melodies heavily greased with irony and black humor, and which would later influence the synth pop of Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys. Though in the 1980s and beyond the Maels tended to settle for synth-driven chintz over rock 'n' roll substance, their music still retains the stinging wit that gives it savor. In 2006, the Mael brothers returned with Hello Young Lovers, an album of cheeky operatic prog. rock melodrama. - Chad Driscoll

Gary Glitter

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:19:34 -0800

Add "pervert" to the words used to describe Gary Glitter, the "King of Glam" (other obvious choices include kitschy, raunchy, eccentric, and ridiculous). Surely his child pornography charges take some of the thrill out of singing along to "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and "Rock Hard Men (Need The Power)." From the beginning, Glitter seemed determined to push the limits of what music executives considered marketable; sadly, smut turned out to be the sword by which he would live and die. If you think you've never heard his music before, think again. Chances are if you've ever been to a soccer, football or hockey game you've heard the chorus from "Rock And Roll," an almost universal crowd chant and lucrative debut for the artist. Glitter's notoriety continued into the 1980s, when both Joan Jett and the Human League covered his songs. Perhaps only Liberace's popularity has been more puzzling. - Chad Driscoll

Vince Neil

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 12:39:41 -0800

Since hooking up with seminal Glam Metal band Motley Crue in the early 1980s, singer Vince Neil has caught almost as much press for his misfortunes as his chart topping hits. While the Crue were climbing up the MTV ladder in the mid-1980s with "Smokin' in the Boys Room" and "Home Sweet Home," the middle of the Me Decade brought Neil some time behind bars. The rowdy performer was convicted in 1984 for driving under the influence and killing his friend, Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley of Hanoi Rocks. He only served 20 days in jail (plus community service and a hefty fine), but he wasn't about to get off easy. Six years later the band gave him the boot, and Neil hasn't bounced back since. He performed the song "You're Invited But Your Friend Can't Come" for the Encino Man soundtrack in 1992, and released his solo albums "X-Posed" in 1993 and "Carved in Stone" in 1995. Neither album came close to touching the Crue's success. Neil returned to the Crue fold in 1997. More recently, Neil has been in the press for his race to the bottom of the sleaze barrel. After Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson "accidentally" had a tape of them having sex released to the public, Neil was quick to pawn his own brand of washed up celebrity porn: a video of himself and porn star Janine. - Jennifer Maerz

Kevin Ayers

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 13:49:59 -0700

A key player in the Canterbury scene of the late '60s and early '70s, Kevin Ayers is best known as the early vocalist for the Soft Machine. His quixotic arrangements and curious bass work can be found all over the group's Psychedelic debut from '68. Breaking off with the band before the group's long-winded Progressive Rock elements took foothold, Ayers set off though the '70s creating folkier, more whimsical records, among which Bananamour (1973) is considered to be a highlight. He continues to record and be an inspiration to glade-dwelling hippy freaks everywhere.

Peter Hammill

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:53 -0800

As the leader of seminal (if relatively obscure) British Prog Rock band Van Der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill has always distinguished his music with dark lyrics, mercurial vocals, and intelligent songwriting. He's done a great deal in his thirty-plus years in music, from his King Crimson-esque early days to the plethora of poppy, disjointed, and highly personal music he has recorded as a solo artist. His ballads are the type of soul-cleansing exercises that leave other singer-songwriters spent, and audiences either transfixed or uncomfortable with the level of unmitigated honesty being thrust upon them. The emotional delivery of "Just Good Friends," for example, skillfully conveys a painful and unfulfilling love tryst; the song also displays Hammill's superior piano skills, as the keyboard perfectly compliments his sad story. His rich body of work is difficult without being inaccessible, and often quite dramatic. His is the soul of a complex, enigmatic, intensely gifted and honest songwriter. - Will Lerner

Slade

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:32:48 -0800

Suzi Quatro

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:38:25 -0800

Under The Influence Of Giants

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:29:26 -0700

Peter Criss

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:04:13 -0700

Warrior Soul

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:55:18 -0800

There's plenty to appreciate about Warrior Soul. Frontman Kory Clark, a Detroit native, learned his politicking-bard approach from the Stooges and repackaged it for the 1990's in glittering, metallic form. With an obvious nod to Jane's Addition, Warrior Soul released their debut Last Decade, Dead Century in 1990 and immediately started music critics (especially in England) buzzing. In retrospect that album would stand as their best, but with each release, the band got increasingly vocal -- and eventually downright nasty -- in the music press about their dissatisfaction with their record label. Eventually, the quartet released Chill Pill (1993), a shabby excuse of an album designed to get the band dropped. And it worked. Who knows...if Nirvana's reach hadn't been so profound, perhaps these anarchistic cyberpunks would have ended up as more than Jane's Addiction also-rans. - Linda Ryan

Megan McCauley

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:37:26 -0800

Glitter Band

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:40:28 -0800

The Make-Up

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:20:22 -0800

The Soul-influenced Gospel Yeh-Yeh sound of the Make Up was born out of the still smoldering ashes of volatile anarcho-terrorist DC rockers, Nation of Ulysses. In February of '95, Nation members James Canty, S.A. Gamboa and Ian Svenonious joined ranks with former Frumpies' bassist Michelle Mae, embarking on a secular mission to reinvigorate an Indie Rock community they saw as stultified and flagging. Donning slick uniforms, mod-ish hairdos, and personas of preachers, Make Up shower their listeners with Soul infused Gospel-Punk in hopes of spreading their Liberation Theology -- a musical philosophy whose disgust with the record industry is matched only by its refreshingly optimistic love for the creativity and unity of its congregation.

Marc Bolan

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:51:39 -0800

Geordie

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:59:03 -0700

The Dreaming

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 11:36:38 -0700

Hollywood Brats

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:23:52 -0700

Vue

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:31:03 -0700

Feisty, manic, Glam-inspired mayhem. Cracking voices seem to never stop issuing as many "ohhhs" and "awwws" as they do proper lyrics. With their whirling, noisy guitars, tambourines, crunching organ and non-stop snowballing sound, Vue are apt to leave you gasping for air. - Mark Murrmann

Roy Wood

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:43:21 -0700

Danava

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:03:39 -0700

Arena Themes

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 11:36:36 -0700

Crushed Butler

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:51:18 -0700

- Eric Shea

The Joneses

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:23:50 -0700

Los Angeles' notorious Glam punks. Though they came years later, the Joneses were the West Coast's answer to the Heartbreakers or the New York Dolls. With killer guitars that give Johnny Thunders a run for his money and a look that screams bad L.A. Glam/Metal, the Joneses are too often dismissed as yet another early Guns N' Roses knock-off. However, their stylish appreciation for gutsy rock 'n' roll gave their music a constant sense of urgency. Each song -- even the slow, drooping, introspective ones -- sounds as if it's being played with the last bit of life left in the band. The Joneses' earliest songs are thin and punctual, delivering their raucous rock in less than two-and-a-half minutes. Later they honed their musical skills and let them shine within the space of longer, more textured songs. Their appreciation for great rock 'n' roll shows in their Chuck Berry-esque singing guitars, as well as in their surprise send-up of Elton John's "Crocodile Rock." The Joneses were short-lived magic; after their break-up, members went on to form the Suicide Kings, and then the more popular Humpers. Big hair and bad clothes aside, the Joneses rule. - Mark Murrmann

The Twenty Twos

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:25:35 -0700

Full Blown Rose

Mon, 4 May 2009 08:34:19 -0700

Gotthard

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 11:36:41 -0700

Chris Spedding

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:04 -0800

Spedding had a hit single in the late 1970s with his punked-up Rockabilly song "Motorbikin'," but he's best known as a ubiquitous session guitarist and sideman. He's worked with an incredible list of stars and played on numerous hit records for artists such as Elton John, Roxy Music, Donovan, The Sex Pistols, and Robert Gordon to name just a few. He's a rare player who is able to project his own sound whether playing country, rock, Funk, blues or whatever is called for. - Tom Heyman

All the Pretty Horses

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:23:56 -0700

Self-described "dark glam" outfit from Minneapolis features the transgendered performance artist Venus. Aside from Venus, one gets metal-tinged fare with agitated beats, quiet-to-roar dynamics, Venus' Glam/Bowie-inspired vocal styling, and fetish! fetish! fetish! - Kelly Bauman

Hello

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:25:14 -0700

Big Blue Missile

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:29:10 -0800

Missing pure and beautiful bombast from your music? We're not talking about loud guitars and low-voiced singers; not even Industrial adolescent menace a la Limp Bizkit. Big Blue Missile play pure and lovely Glam, sounding not unlike Andy Bell fronting a strange amalgamation of Bowie's Diamond Dogs and Tears for Fears' The Seeds of Love. As the singer says, "Velvet's back in style," and their smart arrangements and infectious hooks make it hard to argue with him. - Will Lerner