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Night of the Living Cover Bands III: The Rum Fits as The Ramones * The Old Main as Tool * Ya Ya Boom as The B52's * The Coma Recovery as U2 * The Misphats as The Misfits * The 5 Star Motelles feat. Saywut as The Shangri La's * The Ground Beneath as Green Day * Who Killed Carla as The Clash * The Harlow Defense as The Early November * The Echoing Green as New Order * Omerta as The Violent Femmes
at
Launchpad
Oct. 30th, 2010
Add to Cal
Time: 6:00pm
Day: Saturday
Doors: 5:00pm
Ages: 21+ Ages
Price: $5
This Event Has Ended
Showtimes
6:15 pm
Omerta (as the Violent Femmes)
6:40 pm
Grey Ghosts (as Deftones)
7:05 pm
CanyonLands (as Sex Bob-OMB)
7:30 pm
BeforeThisCity (as Jimmy Eat World)
7:55 pm
Sleep Till North (as No Doubt)
8:20 pm
Echoing Green (as New Order)
8:45 pm
The Harlow Defense (as The Early Nov.)
9:10 pm
Who Killed Carla (as The Clash)
9:35 pm
The Ground Beneath (as Green Day)
10:00 pm
5 Star Motelles (as The Shangri Las)
10:25 pm
The Misphats (as the Misfits)
10:50 pm
Coma Recovery (as U2)
11:25 pm
Ya Ya Boom (as B-52s)
11:50 pm
The Old Main (as TOOL)
12:15 am
The Rum Fits (as The Ramones)
Ramones
The Ramones were an american rock band that formed in Queens, New York, United States, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of…
All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of…
The Ramones were an american rock band that formed in Queens, New York, United States, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—had died.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—had died.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Tool
Formed around 1990 in Los Angeles, California, United States, by drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, and original bassist Paul D'Amour, Tool is a band that is most noted for combining alternative metal with a wide variety of progressive structures, irregular time signatures and lyrics that range from angry diatribes to meditations on philosophical and social matters.
After performing a handful of shows in the…
After performing a handful of shows in the…
Formed around 1990 in Los Angeles, California, United States, by drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, and original bassist Paul D'Amour, Tool is a band that is most noted for combining alternative metal with a wide variety of progressive structures, irregular time signatures and lyrics that range from angry diatribes to meditations on philosophical and social matters.
After performing a handful of shows in the Los Angeles area and up the West Coast, they toured in the United States with Primus in the summer of 1992 in support of their EP Opiate. Their first full length recording, Undertow, was released in 1993.
Emerging with a groovy heavy industrial sound on their first release, when the genre was dominated by post-punk, they were later seen at the top of the industrial metal movement with the release of their second full-length studio album Ænima in 1996, the first recording the band made after original bassist Paul D’Amour left the band, replaced by Justin Chancellor. After an ongoing evolution of their sound and continuous efforts to unify musical experimentation, visual arts, and a message of personal evolution on Lateralus (2001), their most recent album 10,000 Days (2006), as well as respective tours, they are generally described as a style-transgressing act and part of progressive and art rock.
Their aspirational work features exceptionally long or complex releases, controversial lyrics and cover art, and unorthodox music videos, which results in a rather ambivalent relationship between the band and today’s music industry, at times marked by censorship, and the band’s ongoing struggle for privacy.
Nevertheless, Tool has won Grammy Awards and continues to perform worldwide and receive critical acclaim. Lateralus and 10,000 Days both debuted number one on the US Billboard 200 as well as topping the charts in numerous other countries. Between album releases, the band takes extended breaks that allow for collaboration with other artists in designing award-winning album packaging, the creation of elaborate light shows, and band member involvement in notable side-projects.
They currently have 6 major releases:
Opiate (1992)
Undertow (1993)
Ænima (1996)
Salival (Live) (2000)
Lateralus (2001)
10,000 Days (2006).
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
After performing a handful of shows in the Los Angeles area and up the West Coast, they toured in the United States with Primus in the summer of 1992 in support of their EP Opiate. Their first full length recording, Undertow, was released in 1993.
Emerging with a groovy heavy industrial sound on their first release, when the genre was dominated by post-punk, they were later seen at the top of the industrial metal movement with the release of their second full-length studio album Ænima in 1996, the first recording the band made after original bassist Paul D’Amour left the band, replaced by Justin Chancellor. After an ongoing evolution of their sound and continuous efforts to unify musical experimentation, visual arts, and a message of personal evolution on Lateralus (2001), their most recent album 10,000 Days (2006), as well as respective tours, they are generally described as a style-transgressing act and part of progressive and art rock.
Their aspirational work features exceptionally long or complex releases, controversial lyrics and cover art, and unorthodox music videos, which results in a rather ambivalent relationship between the band and today’s music industry, at times marked by censorship, and the band’s ongoing struggle for privacy.
Nevertheless, Tool has won Grammy Awards and continues to perform worldwide and receive critical acclaim. Lateralus and 10,000 Days both debuted number one on the US Billboard 200 as well as topping the charts in numerous other countries. Between album releases, the band takes extended breaks that allow for collaboration with other artists in designing award-winning album packaging, the creation of elaborate light shows, and band member involvement in notable side-projects.
They currently have 6 major releases:
Opiate (1992)
Undertow (1993)
Ænima (1996)
Salival (Live) (2000)
Lateralus (2001)
10,000 Days (2006).
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Misfits
The Misfits are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band's lyrical and graphical focus covers retro science-fiction, horror, and B-movies. Originally led by singer and songwriter Glenn Danzig until their initial breakup in 1983, the band was later resurrected in 1995 by Jerry Only without Danzig, and continues to exist.
Danzig along with bassist Jerry Only (born Jerry Caiafa), who joined shortly after…
Danzig along with bassist Jerry Only (born Jerry Caiafa), who joined shortly after…
The Misfits are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band's lyrical and graphical focus covers retro science-fiction, horror, and B-movies. Originally led by singer and songwriter Glenn Danzig until their initial breakup in 1983, the band was later resurrected in 1995 by Jerry Only without Danzig, and continues to exist.
Danzig along with bassist Jerry Only (born Jerry Caiafa), who joined shortly after the band's inception, remained the only consistent members throughout various line-ups, during the six years of the band's original incarnation (from 1977 to 1983). Danzig was very interested in Marilyn Monroe, and took the band's name from "The Misfits", Monroe's last film. The early Misfits were often quite melodic, featuring Danzig's versatile singing, which had a style rooted in Italian tenors such as Mario Lanza and in 1950s doo wop. Early Misfits songs tended to have catchy, sing-along choruses backed by Danzig's distorted keyboard accompaniments.
The band began as a largely untrained ensemble. The song Last Caress (a very rare track for years) is now commonly regarded as the epitome of an early-Misfits song, with blaring instruments and Danzig's melodic vocals finding a medium between Frank Sinatra and the Sex Pistols.
By the original band's last album, Earth A.D., they had become a hardcore punk band, with Danzig's standout vocal tone floating over a torrent of thrashing guitar, bass, and drums.
Misfits' iconic skull graphic was lifted from the 1946 television serial, 'The Crimson Ghost,' while the typeface is from the 1950s-'60s magazine, 'Famous Monsters of Filmland.'
It is useful to think of the early Misfits as a band of a couple of guys from New Jersey who were strongly attracted to punk due to the trends of the time, rather than as a traditional 'punk band'. While Danzig lived with his mother in Lodi and was supported by her during the band's early career, Jerry Caiafa and Doyle Caiafa helped finance the band by working long shifts at the family lumber yard, later founding a knife factory in rural Vernon Township (which often employed later members such as Robo, a citizen of Colombia). The Misfits seldom mixed with other New Jersey punk bands, creating their own small scene locally, while holding early acclaim in New York and expanding it nationally, in part thanks to mailing lists and other networking, including their once-small, later-considerable 'Fiend Club' fan club.
The original Misfits broke up in 1983, having released several 7" singles and 12" records, all of which were DIY limited-edition and most of which were hand-assembled by the band, that have long been considered prime collectors' items. Epigones from Lodi, New Jersey, include the bands Mourning Noise and Rosemary's Babies, both of whom released records.
The band often wore ghoulish makeup when performing, and bassist Jerry Only invented a hairstyle called the devilock which is still worn by fans today.
The original Danzig-led Misfits broke up in 1983.
In 1995, brothers and former members Jerry and Doyle reached an out of court settlement with Glenn Danzig, granting them the rights to perform as The Misfits. The new line-up included drummer Dr. Chud from Jerry and Doyle's christian metal project, Kryst the Conqueror as well as new vocalist Michale Graves. This line-up released two studio albums, American Psycho (which used some recycled material from Kryst the Conqueror) and Famous Monsters as well as a live album and a rarities album. This incarnation ended when Dr. Chud and Michale Graves ultimately left the group in 2000, followed by Doyle's departure in 2001.
The current incarnation of the band is presently led by original member and bassist, Jerry Only (born Gerald Caiafa). Members of the touring group have included Marky Ramone (of the Ramones), and both drummer Robo and guitarist Dez Cadena of Black Flag fame. Jerry's brother Doyle (formerly a guitarist for the Misfits) is currently estranged from the group and is working with a new group named Gorgeous Frankenstein (2005). Doyle recently reunited with Danzig to perform special sets of Misfits songs on Danzig's 2005 tour.
History: The Beginning
In January of 1977, after singing in several garage bands that mostly played Black Sabbath songs, twenty one year old Glenn Danzig decided it was finally time to create something serious and original. As a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, he named his musical project after her final movie, The Misfits.
For weeks, Glenn wrote songs and practiced with friends and old band mates, trying to find a suitable lineup of musicians to bring his vision to life. The first complete Misfits lineup consisted of Jimmy Battle on guitar, his old band mate Manny Martinez on drums, Diane DiPiaza on bass, and Danzig on electric piano and vocals. However, after only about a month of practicing, both Jimmy and Diane left the band. In need of new band mates, Manny suggested that his friend, Jerry Caiafa, should audition for bass. Jerry, a young football jock who had been voted most popular in his senior class at Lodi High School, had just received a bass guitar that Christmas and had only been practicing with it for two months. Despite Jerry's fledgling bass talents, Glenn accepted him into the band and offered to teach him how to play. After three months of practicing, the trio headed into the studio to record their first single, entitled Cough/Cool. The single contained two keyboard driven art rock songs which were quite different from the music the Misfits would later become known for. The title track was somber and poetic, and very reminiscent of The Doors. The band released the single themselves through their own label, Blank Records.
Over the next several months, Glenn, Manny, and Jerry (who had adopted the stage name Jerry Only) played a handful of gigs (their first two at CBGB in New York City) as they continued to practice and forge their own sound. Their experimental art rock style was met mostly with confusion.
By October 1977, British punk bands such as The Damned and New York punk bands like The Ramones began to have an influence on The Misfits. They decided to take the band in a more punk direction by adding guitarist Franchė Coma to the band and ditching the keyboards, allowing Danzig to engage in antics typical of a punk frontman. Their sound, as evinced on the album Static Age, was perhaps the most crisp, melodic, and powerful sound in punk at that time. They wouldn't draw on B-movies for lyrical inspiration for at least another year, and at this point their lyrics instead portrayed a futuristic dystopia of television saturation, automation-like submissiveness, and glamorized sex and violence. As 1977 drew to a close, Glenn and Jerry decided that Manny was too unreliable and asked him to leave the band. He was replaced by Jim Catania, or "Mr. Jim", who had played in a previous band with Glenn.
At this time The Misfits caught their first big break. Mercury Records wanted to use the name Blank Records for a subdivision, but Glenn Danzig had a head for business and had secured a trademark on the name. They contacted Glenn and offered him thirty hours of free time in a professional studio, in exchange for full use of the Blank Records title. Glenn accepted the offer and in January of 1978, The Misfits headed into the New York studio to record their first full length album.
Seventeen songs were recorded, featuring a unique combination of their early art rock material and the hard driving punk direction they had begun to adopt. Once the album was complete, the band shopped it around to various labels but no one was interested in releasing it. The album was shelved, and would remain unreleased in its entirety until 1995, when it was finally released as the Static Age CD. With no one interested in their album, The Misfits decided to take four tracks from it and release it themselves as an EP. In June 1978, the Bullet EP was released on their new label, Plan 9, which Danzig had named after the infamous Ed Wood movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Rise to Popularity
Around this time, both Glenn and Jerry decided they wanted to take the band in a more horror-themed direction. Glenn began to write more songs inspired by low grade horror and sci-fi movies, and both he and Jerry began to adopt ghoulish appearances, with Jerry applying dark makeup around his eyes and Glenn painting bone designs on his clothes. The band started to play more frequently and began to go on small tours in support of the Bullet EP. In October of 1978, during a small tour through Canada, Franchė Coma decided he couldn't handle touring and quit the band before the tour was even complete. Guitarist Rick Riley stepped in temporarily to fill out guitar duties for the rest of the tour. Mr. Jim wasn't fond of the horror direction the band was heading in, and opted to leave the band once the tour was over.
Within two months, Glenn and Jerry had recruited two new band members, drummer Joey Image, and guitarist Bobby Steele. Around this time, Jerry Only began to comb his hair in what would later become The Misfits signature hair style, which would later be dubbed the devilock. In December of 1978, after less than two months, the new Misfits lineup began playing shows together. Over the course of 1979, The Misfits further evolved the horror elements of their music and their imagery, effectively creating a new genre of music that would come to be known as horror punk. Glenn and Jerry adopted a skull mascot for the band from an old poster they'd come across for a 1946 serial called The Crimson Ghost. The Misfits released two more records on their Plan 9 label, the Horror Business EP and the Night of the Living Dead single, respectively. They began to establish a small but loyal fan base and decided to start their own fan club, which they called the Fiend Club. Glenn operated the Fiend Club from his mother's basement, where he would print out t-shirts, assemble records, mail out merchandise catalogs, book gigs, and respond to fan mail, making the Misfits exemplary practitioners of the DIY ethic.
As their popularity slowly began to increase, many people started to consider The Misfits to be the American equivalent of the British punk rock band, The Damned, whose singer, Dave Vanian, adopted the look of a classic vampire and sang in a brooding baritone. In June 26th, 1979, The Misfits opened for The Damned at a gig in New York City. Before the show, Jerry spoke with Dave Vanian about the possibility of The Misfits doing a tour of the UK in support of The Damned.
In November of 1979, The Misfits flew over to England for their tour with The Damned. However, Dave Vanian had not taken Jerry serious and was surprised when Jerry showed up at his front door. Instead of turning The Misfits away, Dave tried his best to arrange for them to take part in the tour, but The Misfits weren't happy with the situation. After playing only two gigs, The Misfits dropped off the tour. Their return flight back to America wasn't until late in December, and so The Misfits were forced to kill time in England. Jerry spent some time with Sid Vicious' mother, who he had befriended after Sid's death. On December 2nd, Glenn and Bobby went to see a show in London, where they were harassed by skinheads while standing in line. Glenn broke off a piece of glass and used it to fend off the skinheads while Bobby ran to get help. However, when the cops arrived, they arrested Bobby and Glenn, for what they described as "threatening behavior". In an interview with Revolver Magazine in the October 2005 issue, Glenn went into greater detail about the event. He said the police found a knife in his possession and accused Glenn of being a "ripper" that had been stalking the area at the time. The police began to beat him, and Glenn fought back. He claims he did considerable damage to the police before they were finally able to subdue him. Glenn and Bobby then spent two nights jailed up in the London district of Brixton, during which time Glenn wrote the lyrics to the future Misfits song, London Dungeon.
After the failed European tour, Joey Image decided to leave the band, and later formed the band The Mary Tyler Whores. Upon their return to America, The Misfits released the Beware EP through Plan 9 records and decided to take a short hiatus from the band in order to recover from their bad experience in England. After a four month break, Arthur Googy was recruited as the new drummer. Around this time, Jerry's little brother, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, who was a huge fan of the band, started learning to play guitar with help from Glenn and Jerry. The Misfits began working on a full length album, which they planned to release through Plan 9. In August of 1980, they went into the studio and recorded twelve songs. Jerry began to persuade Glenn that Doyle would fit into the band much better than Bobby Steele. Doyle began to practice with the band and even entered the studio to record his own guitar tracks for the twelve songs they had recorded. Bobby has said that during this time period, Jerry would purposely neglect to inform him of practices, in order to make Bobby look bad. Jerry denies these accusations. Regardless, in October of 1980, shortly before the band's annual Halloween show, Jerry informed Bobby that he was being replaced by Doyle, who was only sixteen at the time. Bobby Steele went on to form his own punk band a few months later, called The Undead. On Halloween of 1980, what many people consider to be the classic Misfits lineup, made its debut.
After only playing a few shows with the new lineup, they took a six month break from the band. During this time, instead of releasing the entire album they had recorded, they selected three songs from it and released it as the 3 Hits From Hell EP (in 2002, Caroline Records had planned to finally releasing the entire album, which they called 12 Hits From Hell, however, the release was canceled at the last second at Jerry and Glenn's request). Throughout the year of 1981, The Misfits continued to go into the studio to record tracks for a full length release, which they planned on calling Walk Among Us. Although they had planned on releasing the full length themselves through Plan 9, they got an unexpected offer from Slash Records to release the album. They accepted the offer and decided to rework the album before releasing it. On Halloween of 1981, The Misfits released the Halloween single through Plan 9, which consisted of two more tracks from the shelved full length they had recorded the previous summer.
In 1981, Glenn wrote the song Archangel for The Damned vocalist Dave Vanian to sing with The Misfits backing him. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Dave never recorded vocals for the song and it was set aside until 1983, when Glenn decided to re-record it with his next band.
In March of 1982, Ruby/Slash Records released Walk Among Us, the first full length Misfits album to be available to the public. "Walk Among Us" would later be considered by most fans to be the quintessential Misfits album, as well as one of the best punk albums of all time. The band began playing shows again after nearly a year. They started to become notorious for their intense stage presence and brutal live performances. Doyle was a sports jock like his brother, and shared his linebacker physique, which, coupled with their ghoulish appearance, made for quite intimidating axemen. Between the brothers, Glenn Danzig would bellow out his morbid lyrics while thrashing around on stage or crawling around on the floor, often throwing and receiving punches from the crowd. Despite Glenn's smaller stature at 5'5" or 5'6", he was fond of fighting, and enjoyed taunting the crowd, and instigating violence.
Perhaps the most infamously violent Misfits show took place in San Francisco on April 10th, 1982. During the show some people in the crowd began to throw cans of beer at the stage. After Doyle was nearly hit in the head with a full beer can, he smashed his guitar over a crowd member's head, instigating a full out riot.
A couple days later, on April 15th, the band stopped at McDonald's for food. Arthur Googy wanted to get two cheeseburgers, but Glenn told him they were too low on money and that he could only get one. Tensions started to rise, and the two came close to exchanging blows. Arthur quit the band and The Misfits had to cancel their plans to record their next EP, which they had planned on calling Earth A.D..
In need of a drummer, they offered the role to Doyle's friend and classmate, Eerie Von, who had served as a photographer for The Misfits. Eerie reluctantly turned down the offer because he had already committed to drumming for the local band Rosemarie's Babies. Black Flag vocalist, Henry Rollins, who had become great friends with The Misfits during their west coast gigs, informed ex-Black Flag drummer, Robo, that The Misfits were in need of a drummer. In July of 1982, Robo flew to the east coast and joined the band.
Doyle graduated High School and began working full time at his father's machine shop with Jerry. They used their earnings to purchase new instruments (because they tended to smash theirs on a weekly basis), and to fund The Misfits tours, recording sessions, and album pressings. While they provided funding for the band, Glenn would handle the Fiend Club and work on composing new songs. A common misconception is that Glenn only wrote lyrics and sang for The Misfits. Glenn was actually a multi-talented musician that would write the music and the lyrics himself, and would later teach them to his band mates at practice, where the songs would become totally fleshed out (Practices where usually held in Jerry's garage, which they referred to as "The Pit"). Glenn was often irritated when people assumed he only sang for the band, and did not credit him as the band's creative force. In order to remedy the situation in the future, Glenn considered naming his next band project either "Glenn Danzig" or simply "Danzig".
Decaying
In September of 1982, The Misfits embarked on a large scale tour with their friends, Necros opening for them. During the tour, The Misfits stopped by a studio to record the instrumentals for the "Earth A.D." EP while Glenn slept. On October 17, the band was arrested in New Orleans on the charges of grave-robbing while in search of the burial place of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau. The Misfits denied the charges, and a witness reportedly attested that they had not even entered the cemetery gates. The band bailed themselves out of jail and skipped court to drive to their next performance in Florida. Upon returning from the tour, The Misfits released an album of live material called Evilive.
During this time Glenn was becoming increasingly unsatisfied with The Misfits. He thought his band mate's musicianship was not sophisticated enough to bring his musical visions to life, and thought they were wasting money by constantly destroying their instruments. He also wasn't happy with the thrashy speed punk direction the Earth A.D. EP had taken. He began to write songs for a new band project, which he considered calling "Danzig", but instead choose to name Samhain, after the ancient Celtic holiday which influenced the modern Halloween celebration.
In July of 1983, The Misfits went into the studio to finish working on Earth A.D. They decided to record and add two of their new songs to the album, making it closer to full length status. In order to make it a proper full length album, Glenn decided to record two of the songs he had intended for Samhain: Bloodfeast, and Death Comes Ripping. The resulting album was Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood, a gritty, thrashy album of hardcore punk rock, which none of the members were quite satisfied with. In August, after a series of arguments with Glenn, Robo decided to leave the band. Glenn became further disenchanted with The Misfits and began to audition musicians for his new band project.
On October 29th, 1983, The Misfits played their yearly Halloween show in Detroit, Michigan. Glenn had selected Brian Damage to be the new Misfits drummer. However, Brian got drunk before the show and continuously messed up the songs. After several songs Doyle escorted Brian off the stage and the drummer for the Necros filled in for the rest of the set. The band members were visibly upset with each other and Glenn informed the audience that it would be the last Misfits show ever. The next day the band members drove back home without saying a word to each other and went about their respective lives.
Legal Battle
After the demise of The Misfits, Glenn Danzig focused on his new band project, Samhain, which was much darker and occult oriented than The Misfits. Meanwhile, Jerry Only and his brother Doyle moved to Vernon, NJ, where they went to work full time in their father's machine parts factory. During this time, Jerry became more focused on his family and his baby daughter, Kathy. He became more serious about his christian faith, and regretted some of the things he took part in during his time with The Misfits. He watched as Glenn continued to grow in popularity with Samhain, a band that Jerry viewed as evil and Satanic. In 1987, Jerry decided to start a new band, one that would oppose the "dark path" chosen by Glenn. Together with Doyle, Jerry (who changed his stage name to Mo The great) started writing songs for a christian heavy metal band with barbarian imagery, called Kryst the Conqueror. They then created the "Doyle Fan Club" to help spread the word about their new band. During the writing and recording process for the album, they tweaked their instruments, in an attempt to design the ultimate bass and guitar. Once the music was recorded, they hired studio vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (who had done vocals for Yngwie Malmsteen) to record vocals for the album. Jeff was forced to remain anonymous due to contractual obligations. To hide his identity, he was credited on the album as Kryst. Despite Jerry's efforts, Kryst the Conqueror failed to gain a following. The album was never fully released and the band never played a single show.
By 1987, The Misfits' reputation had grown to nearly legendary status, and Glenn's band Samhain (later renamed to "Danzig"), was signed to a major label. The Misfits back catalog had been re-issued and was selling extremely well. Around this time, Jerry Only contacted Glenn about getting a cut of the Misfits royalties, beginning a legal battle that lasted several years. Jerry concedes that Danzig wrote nearly all the lyrics and most of the music, but he contended that he and Doyle "wrote 25% or maybe 30% of the music," and deserved compensation. Danzig, on the other hand, insisted that all songs were written by him and that the other Misfits' creative input was minimal at best.
In late 1988, Danzig's new group (also called "Danzig") released their debut album on longtime fan Rick Rubin's record label. Five years later, Glenn broke into the mainstream when the live video for the Danzig song, Mother, became a hit on MTV, introducing thousands of new fans to Danzig's back catalog with Samhain and The Misfits. Around this time, many older punk bands began to do reunion tours, earning often hefty paychecks in the process. Jerry and Doyle approached Glenn about the possibility of a Misfits reunion tour, but Glenn turned them down by having security escort them off the property. Jerry decided to cease his pursuit of song credit, and instead tried to reach an out of court settlement that would allow him to use The Misfits name and image. In 1995, Jerry and Glenn were finally able to settle out of court. Jerry gained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits, although he shared joint merchandising rights with Glenn.
The Resurrected Misfits
Jerry and Doyle reformed The Misfits immediately, recruiting Michale Graves on vocals and Dr. Chud of Sardonica on drums. The new incarnation of the Misfits released two full-length albums, American Psycho and Famous Monsters as well as a collection of rare and unreleased "resurrected" Misfits tracks, until Michale Graves and Dr. Chud left the band on October 25, 2000 at a performance at the House of Blues in Orlando. Doyle then took an indefinite hiatus from performing. Jerry took over lead vocals in addition to his bass duties, and recruited punk veterans Dez Cadena of Black Flag, and Marky Ramone of The Ramones to undertake a Misfits 25th Anniversary Tour, which lasted about three years, intermittently.
Freed from the Misfits' contractual obligations to Universal's Geffen and Roadrunner imprints, Jerry Only and his brother John Cafiero formed Misfits Records and launched their new label with two releases, the American debut of Balzac (a Japanese horror punk band strongly influenced by The Misfits and Samhain), and a new Misfits album featuring the band's retakes on ten 1950's rock classics, Project 1950. The album featured not only the punk rock all-star Misfits lineup of Only, Cadena and Ramone, but prominent appearances from 60's pop chanteuse Ronnie Spector and Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri.
Meanwhile Michale Graves and Dr. Chud had formed their own band, Graves, which released a single album before breaking up. In 2004, Michale Graves sang in Gotham Road. Currently, Graves is fronting his own solo project, Michale Graves, while Dr. Chud is fronting for his own band called Dr. Chud's X-Ward.
On February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd 2005, Glenn Danzig performed a half hour worth of classic Misfits tracks, in the middle of his Danzig set. Joining him on guitar was none other than Doyle. It was the first time the two have performed together in 20 years, and the first time Doyle has taken to the stage since he went on hiatus. These shows have prompted rumors of a reunification of Jerry, Doyle and Glenn, although Danzig has repeatedly made public statements shooting down such rumors. Glenn and Doyle plan on performing more shows together, and Glenn has stated that this is as close as anyone will ever get to seeing a true Misfits reunion.
Recently, Marky Ramone has left The Misfits 25 lineup, and the new lineup contains none other than Robo, formerly of the Glenn Danzig days of the Misfits, and originally of seminal hardcore punk band Black Flag. A full European tour has been booked with this new lineup, and some select dates in the U.S. have been announced. Sadly, the UK leg of the tour had to be canceled due to a problem with Robo's visa, and, as a result, the band could not play the City Invasion 2005 tour. A rescheduled United Kingdom tour followed in September.
The Misfits and their Japanese counterparts, Balzac, staged a show at Tony Bennett's studio complex in Englewood, N.J., for a possible future live CD and/or DVD release on Misfits Records. Original Misfits guitarist Franché Coma made a guest appearance to perform three songs from the Static Age LP. Meanwhile, Doyle returned to play with Danzig for the Blackest of the Black Tour in the fall of 2005. Glenn claimed that this will be his final tour (which was not the case), though he says he will continue to make music. He is currently slated as the producer for Doyle's upcoming band, Gorgeous Frankenstein, which currently lacks a singer or a vocalist, but will feature Argyle Goolsby on bass.
The Misfits are currently writing material for a new studio album which they will begin recording after a brief tour of Central and South America. The tour begins January 26th and will go through February 6th. The album will apparently feature Dez Cadena on guitar and Eric "Goat" Arce, who replaced Robo in 2010, on drums. They have yet to say whether Dez will contribute to songwriting and singing.
Legacy
The influence The Misfits have had on punk rock, and rock music in general, sometimes seems disproportionate to the publicity and critical attention they have received. Myriad bands have imitated The Misfits' style, such as Blitzkid and Calabrese,these bands have become known as horror punk. psychobilly has various similarities with horror punk.
A number of bands have recently surfaced which, although in some cases less obviously horror punk, are still strongly visibly and audibly influenced by The Misfits. These include, most notably, bands such as AFI, Tiger Army, Alkaline Trio, Cradle Of Filth, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Avenged Sevenfold, Wednesday 13 and the Murderdolls. Many musical groups whose resemblance to The Misfits seems far removed also cite the band as crucial influences, such as Metallica and Guns N' Roses. Other bands who hold The Misfits in high regard are Slayer, Pantera, NOFX and more recently, Slipknot. Many local New Jersey hardcore, punk, and emo bands, such as My Chemical Romance and The Banner, cite The Misfits as a main influence. Winnipeg born breakcore artist Venetian Snares considers the Misfits a huge influence, inspired by the subtle, but frequent use of 3/4 time.
The Misfits' far reaching influence can also be evident in the vast number of fans from all different facets of the music world that follow the band. Obviously wildly popular band among punk rock fans, the band has also received much exposure to the heavy metal community from Metallica's numerous Misfits cover songs. Misfits fans themselves can often be easily discerned, as many completely immerse themselves in the band's imagery. At underground shows, and especially at Halloween, it is not uncommon to see many punks and metal heads dressed in black with Crimson Ghost face paint and the devilock hairstyle. Black leather jackets, over sized leather boots, as well as gloves and bodysuits printed with the skeletal structure are also common.
Current members include:
* Jerry Only (Gerald Caiafa) – bass guitar, backing vocals (1977–1983, 1995–present), lead vocals (2001-present)
* Dez Cadena – guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
* Eric "Goat" Arce – drums (2010–present)
Discography ("Original" Misfits)
Cough/Cool (1977) - single
Bullet (1978) - EP
Horror Business (1979) - EP
Night of the Living Dead (1979) - single
Beware (1980) - EP
3 Hits From Hell (1981) - EP
Who Killed Marilyn? (1981) - single (though often credited as a Misfits release, this was issued as a Glenn Danzig solo release)
Halloween (1981) - single
Walk Among Us (1982) - album Ruby/Slash Records
Evilive (1982) - live fan club EP
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983) - album
Die, Die My Darling (1984) - single
Earth A.D. (1984) - album
Legacy of Brutality (1985) - album
Collection I (1986) - album
Evilive (1987) - live album
Collection II (1995) - album
Box Set (1996) - Box Set
Static Age (1997) - album
12 Hits From Hell (2001) - album (Never released)
Discography ("Resurrected" Misfits)
American Psycho (1997) - album
Dig Up Her Bones (1997) - single
Evillive II (1998) - live fan club album
Famous Monsters (1999) - album
Monster Mash (1999) - single
Cuts From the Crypt (2001) - album
Project 1950 (2003) - album
The Devil's Rain (2011) - album
Filmography
The Misfits appeared as characters or in cameos in the following movies.
* Animal Room (1995), as The Misfits
* Bruiser (2000), uncredited
* Big Money Hustlas (2000), as Misfits 1-4 (individually credited)
* Campfire Stories (2001), as The Misfits
Bobby Steele
Brian Keats
Arthur Googy
Joey Image
Jim Catania
Franché Coma
Manny Martínez
Diane DiPiazza
Eric "Goat" Arce
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Danzig along with bassist Jerry Only (born Jerry Caiafa), who joined shortly after the band's inception, remained the only consistent members throughout various line-ups, during the six years of the band's original incarnation (from 1977 to 1983). Danzig was very interested in Marilyn Monroe, and took the band's name from "The Misfits", Monroe's last film. The early Misfits were often quite melodic, featuring Danzig's versatile singing, which had a style rooted in Italian tenors such as Mario Lanza and in 1950s doo wop. Early Misfits songs tended to have catchy, sing-along choruses backed by Danzig's distorted keyboard accompaniments.
The band began as a largely untrained ensemble. The song Last Caress (a very rare track for years) is now commonly regarded as the epitome of an early-Misfits song, with blaring instruments and Danzig's melodic vocals finding a medium between Frank Sinatra and the Sex Pistols.
By the original band's last album, Earth A.D., they had become a hardcore punk band, with Danzig's standout vocal tone floating over a torrent of thrashing guitar, bass, and drums.
Misfits' iconic skull graphic was lifted from the 1946 television serial, 'The Crimson Ghost,' while the typeface is from the 1950s-'60s magazine, 'Famous Monsters of Filmland.'
It is useful to think of the early Misfits as a band of a couple of guys from New Jersey who were strongly attracted to punk due to the trends of the time, rather than as a traditional 'punk band'. While Danzig lived with his mother in Lodi and was supported by her during the band's early career, Jerry Caiafa and Doyle Caiafa helped finance the band by working long shifts at the family lumber yard, later founding a knife factory in rural Vernon Township (which often employed later members such as Robo, a citizen of Colombia). The Misfits seldom mixed with other New Jersey punk bands, creating their own small scene locally, while holding early acclaim in New York and expanding it nationally, in part thanks to mailing lists and other networking, including their once-small, later-considerable 'Fiend Club' fan club.
The original Misfits broke up in 1983, having released several 7" singles and 12" records, all of which were DIY limited-edition and most of which were hand-assembled by the band, that have long been considered prime collectors' items. Epigones from Lodi, New Jersey, include the bands Mourning Noise and Rosemary's Babies, both of whom released records.
The band often wore ghoulish makeup when performing, and bassist Jerry Only invented a hairstyle called the devilock which is still worn by fans today.
The original Danzig-led Misfits broke up in 1983.
In 1995, brothers and former members Jerry and Doyle reached an out of court settlement with Glenn Danzig, granting them the rights to perform as The Misfits. The new line-up included drummer Dr. Chud from Jerry and Doyle's christian metal project, Kryst the Conqueror as well as new vocalist Michale Graves. This line-up released two studio albums, American Psycho (which used some recycled material from Kryst the Conqueror) and Famous Monsters as well as a live album and a rarities album. This incarnation ended when Dr. Chud and Michale Graves ultimately left the group in 2000, followed by Doyle's departure in 2001.
The current incarnation of the band is presently led by original member and bassist, Jerry Only (born Gerald Caiafa). Members of the touring group have included Marky Ramone (of the Ramones), and both drummer Robo and guitarist Dez Cadena of Black Flag fame. Jerry's brother Doyle (formerly a guitarist for the Misfits) is currently estranged from the group and is working with a new group named Gorgeous Frankenstein (2005). Doyle recently reunited with Danzig to perform special sets of Misfits songs on Danzig's 2005 tour.
History: The Beginning
In January of 1977, after singing in several garage bands that mostly played Black Sabbath songs, twenty one year old Glenn Danzig decided it was finally time to create something serious and original. As a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, he named his musical project after her final movie, The Misfits.
For weeks, Glenn wrote songs and practiced with friends and old band mates, trying to find a suitable lineup of musicians to bring his vision to life. The first complete Misfits lineup consisted of Jimmy Battle on guitar, his old band mate Manny Martinez on drums, Diane DiPiaza on bass, and Danzig on electric piano and vocals. However, after only about a month of practicing, both Jimmy and Diane left the band. In need of new band mates, Manny suggested that his friend, Jerry Caiafa, should audition for bass. Jerry, a young football jock who had been voted most popular in his senior class at Lodi High School, had just received a bass guitar that Christmas and had only been practicing with it for two months. Despite Jerry's fledgling bass talents, Glenn accepted him into the band and offered to teach him how to play. After three months of practicing, the trio headed into the studio to record their first single, entitled Cough/Cool. The single contained two keyboard driven art rock songs which were quite different from the music the Misfits would later become known for. The title track was somber and poetic, and very reminiscent of The Doors. The band released the single themselves through their own label, Blank Records.
Over the next several months, Glenn, Manny, and Jerry (who had adopted the stage name Jerry Only) played a handful of gigs (their first two at CBGB in New York City) as they continued to practice and forge their own sound. Their experimental art rock style was met mostly with confusion.
By October 1977, British punk bands such as The Damned and New York punk bands like The Ramones began to have an influence on The Misfits. They decided to take the band in a more punk direction by adding guitarist Franchė Coma to the band and ditching the keyboards, allowing Danzig to engage in antics typical of a punk frontman. Their sound, as evinced on the album Static Age, was perhaps the most crisp, melodic, and powerful sound in punk at that time. They wouldn't draw on B-movies for lyrical inspiration for at least another year, and at this point their lyrics instead portrayed a futuristic dystopia of television saturation, automation-like submissiveness, and glamorized sex and violence. As 1977 drew to a close, Glenn and Jerry decided that Manny was too unreliable and asked him to leave the band. He was replaced by Jim Catania, or "Mr. Jim", who had played in a previous band with Glenn.
At this time The Misfits caught their first big break. Mercury Records wanted to use the name Blank Records for a subdivision, but Glenn Danzig had a head for business and had secured a trademark on the name. They contacted Glenn and offered him thirty hours of free time in a professional studio, in exchange for full use of the Blank Records title. Glenn accepted the offer and in January of 1978, The Misfits headed into the New York studio to record their first full length album.
Seventeen songs were recorded, featuring a unique combination of their early art rock material and the hard driving punk direction they had begun to adopt. Once the album was complete, the band shopped it around to various labels but no one was interested in releasing it. The album was shelved, and would remain unreleased in its entirety until 1995, when it was finally released as the Static Age CD. With no one interested in their album, The Misfits decided to take four tracks from it and release it themselves as an EP. In June 1978, the Bullet EP was released on their new label, Plan 9, which Danzig had named after the infamous Ed Wood movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Rise to Popularity
Around this time, both Glenn and Jerry decided they wanted to take the band in a more horror-themed direction. Glenn began to write more songs inspired by low grade horror and sci-fi movies, and both he and Jerry began to adopt ghoulish appearances, with Jerry applying dark makeup around his eyes and Glenn painting bone designs on his clothes. The band started to play more frequently and began to go on small tours in support of the Bullet EP. In October of 1978, during a small tour through Canada, Franchė Coma decided he couldn't handle touring and quit the band before the tour was even complete. Guitarist Rick Riley stepped in temporarily to fill out guitar duties for the rest of the tour. Mr. Jim wasn't fond of the horror direction the band was heading in, and opted to leave the band once the tour was over.
Within two months, Glenn and Jerry had recruited two new band members, drummer Joey Image, and guitarist Bobby Steele. Around this time, Jerry Only began to comb his hair in what would later become The Misfits signature hair style, which would later be dubbed the devilock. In December of 1978, after less than two months, the new Misfits lineup began playing shows together. Over the course of 1979, The Misfits further evolved the horror elements of their music and their imagery, effectively creating a new genre of music that would come to be known as horror punk. Glenn and Jerry adopted a skull mascot for the band from an old poster they'd come across for a 1946 serial called The Crimson Ghost. The Misfits released two more records on their Plan 9 label, the Horror Business EP and the Night of the Living Dead single, respectively. They began to establish a small but loyal fan base and decided to start their own fan club, which they called the Fiend Club. Glenn operated the Fiend Club from his mother's basement, where he would print out t-shirts, assemble records, mail out merchandise catalogs, book gigs, and respond to fan mail, making the Misfits exemplary practitioners of the DIY ethic.
As their popularity slowly began to increase, many people started to consider The Misfits to be the American equivalent of the British punk rock band, The Damned, whose singer, Dave Vanian, adopted the look of a classic vampire and sang in a brooding baritone. In June 26th, 1979, The Misfits opened for The Damned at a gig in New York City. Before the show, Jerry spoke with Dave Vanian about the possibility of The Misfits doing a tour of the UK in support of The Damned.
In November of 1979, The Misfits flew over to England for their tour with The Damned. However, Dave Vanian had not taken Jerry serious and was surprised when Jerry showed up at his front door. Instead of turning The Misfits away, Dave tried his best to arrange for them to take part in the tour, but The Misfits weren't happy with the situation. After playing only two gigs, The Misfits dropped off the tour. Their return flight back to America wasn't until late in December, and so The Misfits were forced to kill time in England. Jerry spent some time with Sid Vicious' mother, who he had befriended after Sid's death. On December 2nd, Glenn and Bobby went to see a show in London, where they were harassed by skinheads while standing in line. Glenn broke off a piece of glass and used it to fend off the skinheads while Bobby ran to get help. However, when the cops arrived, they arrested Bobby and Glenn, for what they described as "threatening behavior". In an interview with Revolver Magazine in the October 2005 issue, Glenn went into greater detail about the event. He said the police found a knife in his possession and accused Glenn of being a "ripper" that had been stalking the area at the time. The police began to beat him, and Glenn fought back. He claims he did considerable damage to the police before they were finally able to subdue him. Glenn and Bobby then spent two nights jailed up in the London district of Brixton, during which time Glenn wrote the lyrics to the future Misfits song, London Dungeon.
After the failed European tour, Joey Image decided to leave the band, and later formed the band The Mary Tyler Whores. Upon their return to America, The Misfits released the Beware EP through Plan 9 records and decided to take a short hiatus from the band in order to recover from their bad experience in England. After a four month break, Arthur Googy was recruited as the new drummer. Around this time, Jerry's little brother, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, who was a huge fan of the band, started learning to play guitar with help from Glenn and Jerry. The Misfits began working on a full length album, which they planned to release through Plan 9. In August of 1980, they went into the studio and recorded twelve songs. Jerry began to persuade Glenn that Doyle would fit into the band much better than Bobby Steele. Doyle began to practice with the band and even entered the studio to record his own guitar tracks for the twelve songs they had recorded. Bobby has said that during this time period, Jerry would purposely neglect to inform him of practices, in order to make Bobby look bad. Jerry denies these accusations. Regardless, in October of 1980, shortly before the band's annual Halloween show, Jerry informed Bobby that he was being replaced by Doyle, who was only sixteen at the time. Bobby Steele went on to form his own punk band a few months later, called The Undead. On Halloween of 1980, what many people consider to be the classic Misfits lineup, made its debut.
After only playing a few shows with the new lineup, they took a six month break from the band. During this time, instead of releasing the entire album they had recorded, they selected three songs from it and released it as the 3 Hits From Hell EP (in 2002, Caroline Records had planned to finally releasing the entire album, which they called 12 Hits From Hell, however, the release was canceled at the last second at Jerry and Glenn's request). Throughout the year of 1981, The Misfits continued to go into the studio to record tracks for a full length release, which they planned on calling Walk Among Us. Although they had planned on releasing the full length themselves through Plan 9, they got an unexpected offer from Slash Records to release the album. They accepted the offer and decided to rework the album before releasing it. On Halloween of 1981, The Misfits released the Halloween single through Plan 9, which consisted of two more tracks from the shelved full length they had recorded the previous summer.
In 1981, Glenn wrote the song Archangel for The Damned vocalist Dave Vanian to sing with The Misfits backing him. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Dave never recorded vocals for the song and it was set aside until 1983, when Glenn decided to re-record it with his next band.
In March of 1982, Ruby/Slash Records released Walk Among Us, the first full length Misfits album to be available to the public. "Walk Among Us" would later be considered by most fans to be the quintessential Misfits album, as well as one of the best punk albums of all time. The band began playing shows again after nearly a year. They started to become notorious for their intense stage presence and brutal live performances. Doyle was a sports jock like his brother, and shared his linebacker physique, which, coupled with their ghoulish appearance, made for quite intimidating axemen. Between the brothers, Glenn Danzig would bellow out his morbid lyrics while thrashing around on stage or crawling around on the floor, often throwing and receiving punches from the crowd. Despite Glenn's smaller stature at 5'5" or 5'6", he was fond of fighting, and enjoyed taunting the crowd, and instigating violence.
Perhaps the most infamously violent Misfits show took place in San Francisco on April 10th, 1982. During the show some people in the crowd began to throw cans of beer at the stage. After Doyle was nearly hit in the head with a full beer can, he smashed his guitar over a crowd member's head, instigating a full out riot.
A couple days later, on April 15th, the band stopped at McDonald's for food. Arthur Googy wanted to get two cheeseburgers, but Glenn told him they were too low on money and that he could only get one. Tensions started to rise, and the two came close to exchanging blows. Arthur quit the band and The Misfits had to cancel their plans to record their next EP, which they had planned on calling Earth A.D..
In need of a drummer, they offered the role to Doyle's friend and classmate, Eerie Von, who had served as a photographer for The Misfits. Eerie reluctantly turned down the offer because he had already committed to drumming for the local band Rosemarie's Babies. Black Flag vocalist, Henry Rollins, who had become great friends with The Misfits during their west coast gigs, informed ex-Black Flag drummer, Robo, that The Misfits were in need of a drummer. In July of 1982, Robo flew to the east coast and joined the band.
Doyle graduated High School and began working full time at his father's machine shop with Jerry. They used their earnings to purchase new instruments (because they tended to smash theirs on a weekly basis), and to fund The Misfits tours, recording sessions, and album pressings. While they provided funding for the band, Glenn would handle the Fiend Club and work on composing new songs. A common misconception is that Glenn only wrote lyrics and sang for The Misfits. Glenn was actually a multi-talented musician that would write the music and the lyrics himself, and would later teach them to his band mates at practice, where the songs would become totally fleshed out (Practices where usually held in Jerry's garage, which they referred to as "The Pit"). Glenn was often irritated when people assumed he only sang for the band, and did not credit him as the band's creative force. In order to remedy the situation in the future, Glenn considered naming his next band project either "Glenn Danzig" or simply "Danzig".
Decaying
In September of 1982, The Misfits embarked on a large scale tour with their friends, Necros opening for them. During the tour, The Misfits stopped by a studio to record the instrumentals for the "Earth A.D." EP while Glenn slept. On October 17, the band was arrested in New Orleans on the charges of grave-robbing while in search of the burial place of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau. The Misfits denied the charges, and a witness reportedly attested that they had not even entered the cemetery gates. The band bailed themselves out of jail and skipped court to drive to their next performance in Florida. Upon returning from the tour, The Misfits released an album of live material called Evilive.
During this time Glenn was becoming increasingly unsatisfied with The Misfits. He thought his band mate's musicianship was not sophisticated enough to bring his musical visions to life, and thought they were wasting money by constantly destroying their instruments. He also wasn't happy with the thrashy speed punk direction the Earth A.D. EP had taken. He began to write songs for a new band project, which he considered calling "Danzig", but instead choose to name Samhain, after the ancient Celtic holiday which influenced the modern Halloween celebration.
In July of 1983, The Misfits went into the studio to finish working on Earth A.D. They decided to record and add two of their new songs to the album, making it closer to full length status. In order to make it a proper full length album, Glenn decided to record two of the songs he had intended for Samhain: Bloodfeast, and Death Comes Ripping. The resulting album was Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood, a gritty, thrashy album of hardcore punk rock, which none of the members were quite satisfied with. In August, after a series of arguments with Glenn, Robo decided to leave the band. Glenn became further disenchanted with The Misfits and began to audition musicians for his new band project.
On October 29th, 1983, The Misfits played their yearly Halloween show in Detroit, Michigan. Glenn had selected Brian Damage to be the new Misfits drummer. However, Brian got drunk before the show and continuously messed up the songs. After several songs Doyle escorted Brian off the stage and the drummer for the Necros filled in for the rest of the set. The band members were visibly upset with each other and Glenn informed the audience that it would be the last Misfits show ever. The next day the band members drove back home without saying a word to each other and went about their respective lives.
Legal Battle
After the demise of The Misfits, Glenn Danzig focused on his new band project, Samhain, which was much darker and occult oriented than The Misfits. Meanwhile, Jerry Only and his brother Doyle moved to Vernon, NJ, where they went to work full time in their father's machine parts factory. During this time, Jerry became more focused on his family and his baby daughter, Kathy. He became more serious about his christian faith, and regretted some of the things he took part in during his time with The Misfits. He watched as Glenn continued to grow in popularity with Samhain, a band that Jerry viewed as evil and Satanic. In 1987, Jerry decided to start a new band, one that would oppose the "dark path" chosen by Glenn. Together with Doyle, Jerry (who changed his stage name to Mo The great) started writing songs for a christian heavy metal band with barbarian imagery, called Kryst the Conqueror. They then created the "Doyle Fan Club" to help spread the word about their new band. During the writing and recording process for the album, they tweaked their instruments, in an attempt to design the ultimate bass and guitar. Once the music was recorded, they hired studio vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (who had done vocals for Yngwie Malmsteen) to record vocals for the album. Jeff was forced to remain anonymous due to contractual obligations. To hide his identity, he was credited on the album as Kryst. Despite Jerry's efforts, Kryst the Conqueror failed to gain a following. The album was never fully released and the band never played a single show.
By 1987, The Misfits' reputation had grown to nearly legendary status, and Glenn's band Samhain (later renamed to "Danzig"), was signed to a major label. The Misfits back catalog had been re-issued and was selling extremely well. Around this time, Jerry Only contacted Glenn about getting a cut of the Misfits royalties, beginning a legal battle that lasted several years. Jerry concedes that Danzig wrote nearly all the lyrics and most of the music, but he contended that he and Doyle "wrote 25% or maybe 30% of the music," and deserved compensation. Danzig, on the other hand, insisted that all songs were written by him and that the other Misfits' creative input was minimal at best.
In late 1988, Danzig's new group (also called "Danzig") released their debut album on longtime fan Rick Rubin's record label. Five years later, Glenn broke into the mainstream when the live video for the Danzig song, Mother, became a hit on MTV, introducing thousands of new fans to Danzig's back catalog with Samhain and The Misfits. Around this time, many older punk bands began to do reunion tours, earning often hefty paychecks in the process. Jerry and Doyle approached Glenn about the possibility of a Misfits reunion tour, but Glenn turned them down by having security escort them off the property. Jerry decided to cease his pursuit of song credit, and instead tried to reach an out of court settlement that would allow him to use The Misfits name and image. In 1995, Jerry and Glenn were finally able to settle out of court. Jerry gained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits, although he shared joint merchandising rights with Glenn.
The Resurrected Misfits
Jerry and Doyle reformed The Misfits immediately, recruiting Michale Graves on vocals and Dr. Chud of Sardonica on drums. The new incarnation of the Misfits released two full-length albums, American Psycho and Famous Monsters as well as a collection of rare and unreleased "resurrected" Misfits tracks, until Michale Graves and Dr. Chud left the band on October 25, 2000 at a performance at the House of Blues in Orlando. Doyle then took an indefinite hiatus from performing. Jerry took over lead vocals in addition to his bass duties, and recruited punk veterans Dez Cadena of Black Flag, and Marky Ramone of The Ramones to undertake a Misfits 25th Anniversary Tour, which lasted about three years, intermittently.
Freed from the Misfits' contractual obligations to Universal's Geffen and Roadrunner imprints, Jerry Only and his brother John Cafiero formed Misfits Records and launched their new label with two releases, the American debut of Balzac (a Japanese horror punk band strongly influenced by The Misfits and Samhain), and a new Misfits album featuring the band's retakes on ten 1950's rock classics, Project 1950. The album featured not only the punk rock all-star Misfits lineup of Only, Cadena and Ramone, but prominent appearances from 60's pop chanteuse Ronnie Spector and Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri.
Meanwhile Michale Graves and Dr. Chud had formed their own band, Graves, which released a single album before breaking up. In 2004, Michale Graves sang in Gotham Road. Currently, Graves is fronting his own solo project, Michale Graves, while Dr. Chud is fronting for his own band called Dr. Chud's X-Ward.
On February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd 2005, Glenn Danzig performed a half hour worth of classic Misfits tracks, in the middle of his Danzig set. Joining him on guitar was none other than Doyle. It was the first time the two have performed together in 20 years, and the first time Doyle has taken to the stage since he went on hiatus. These shows have prompted rumors of a reunification of Jerry, Doyle and Glenn, although Danzig has repeatedly made public statements shooting down such rumors. Glenn and Doyle plan on performing more shows together, and Glenn has stated that this is as close as anyone will ever get to seeing a true Misfits reunion.
Recently, Marky Ramone has left The Misfits 25 lineup, and the new lineup contains none other than Robo, formerly of the Glenn Danzig days of the Misfits, and originally of seminal hardcore punk band Black Flag. A full European tour has been booked with this new lineup, and some select dates in the U.S. have been announced. Sadly, the UK leg of the tour had to be canceled due to a problem with Robo's visa, and, as a result, the band could not play the City Invasion 2005 tour. A rescheduled United Kingdom tour followed in September.
The Misfits and their Japanese counterparts, Balzac, staged a show at Tony Bennett's studio complex in Englewood, N.J., for a possible future live CD and/or DVD release on Misfits Records. Original Misfits guitarist Franché Coma made a guest appearance to perform three songs from the Static Age LP. Meanwhile, Doyle returned to play with Danzig for the Blackest of the Black Tour in the fall of 2005. Glenn claimed that this will be his final tour (which was not the case), though he says he will continue to make music. He is currently slated as the producer for Doyle's upcoming band, Gorgeous Frankenstein, which currently lacks a singer or a vocalist, but will feature Argyle Goolsby on bass.
The Misfits are currently writing material for a new studio album which they will begin recording after a brief tour of Central and South America. The tour begins January 26th and will go through February 6th. The album will apparently feature Dez Cadena on guitar and Eric "Goat" Arce, who replaced Robo in 2010, on drums. They have yet to say whether Dez will contribute to songwriting and singing.
Legacy
The influence The Misfits have had on punk rock, and rock music in general, sometimes seems disproportionate to the publicity and critical attention they have received. Myriad bands have imitated The Misfits' style, such as Blitzkid and Calabrese,these bands have become known as horror punk. psychobilly has various similarities with horror punk.
A number of bands have recently surfaced which, although in some cases less obviously horror punk, are still strongly visibly and audibly influenced by The Misfits. These include, most notably, bands such as AFI, Tiger Army, Alkaline Trio, Cradle Of Filth, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Avenged Sevenfold, Wednesday 13 and the Murderdolls. Many musical groups whose resemblance to The Misfits seems far removed also cite the band as crucial influences, such as Metallica and Guns N' Roses. Other bands who hold The Misfits in high regard are Slayer, Pantera, NOFX and more recently, Slipknot. Many local New Jersey hardcore, punk, and emo bands, such as My Chemical Romance and The Banner, cite The Misfits as a main influence. Winnipeg born breakcore artist Venetian Snares considers the Misfits a huge influence, inspired by the subtle, but frequent use of 3/4 time.
The Misfits' far reaching influence can also be evident in the vast number of fans from all different facets of the music world that follow the band. Obviously wildly popular band among punk rock fans, the band has also received much exposure to the heavy metal community from Metallica's numerous Misfits cover songs. Misfits fans themselves can often be easily discerned, as many completely immerse themselves in the band's imagery. At underground shows, and especially at Halloween, it is not uncommon to see many punks and metal heads dressed in black with Crimson Ghost face paint and the devilock hairstyle. Black leather jackets, over sized leather boots, as well as gloves and bodysuits printed with the skeletal structure are also common.
Current members include:
* Jerry Only (Gerald Caiafa) – bass guitar, backing vocals (1977–1983, 1995–present), lead vocals (2001-present)
* Dez Cadena – guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
* Eric "Goat" Arce – drums (2010–present)
Discography ("Original" Misfits)
Cough/Cool (1977) - single
Bullet (1978) - EP
Horror Business (1979) - EP
Night of the Living Dead (1979) - single
Beware (1980) - EP
3 Hits From Hell (1981) - EP
Who Killed Marilyn? (1981) - single (though often credited as a Misfits release, this was issued as a Glenn Danzig solo release)
Halloween (1981) - single
Walk Among Us (1982) - album Ruby/Slash Records
Evilive (1982) - live fan club EP
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983) - album
Die, Die My Darling (1984) - single
Earth A.D. (1984) - album
Legacy of Brutality (1985) - album
Collection I (1986) - album
Evilive (1987) - live album
Collection II (1995) - album
Box Set (1996) - Box Set
Static Age (1997) - album
12 Hits From Hell (2001) - album (Never released)
Discography ("Resurrected" Misfits)
American Psycho (1997) - album
Dig Up Her Bones (1997) - single
Evillive II (1998) - live fan club album
Famous Monsters (1999) - album
Monster Mash (1999) - single
Cuts From the Crypt (2001) - album
Project 1950 (2003) - album
The Devil's Rain (2011) - album
Filmography
The Misfits appeared as characters or in cameos in the following movies.
* Animal Room (1995), as The Misfits
* Bruiser (2000), uncredited
* Big Money Hustlas (2000), as Misfits 1-4 (individually credited)
* Campfire Stories (2001), as The Misfits
Bobby Steele
Brian Keats
Arthur Googy
Joey Image
Jim Catania
Franché Coma
Manny Martínez
Diane DiPiazza
Eric "Goat" Arce
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
U2
U2 is an Irish rock band which formed in 1976 in Dublin, Ireland. Since the band’s formation, they have consisted of Bono (real name Paul Hewson) (vocals, guitar, harmonica), The Edge (real name David Evans) (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums, percussion). The band is the biggest selling alternative rock act of all time, having sold 140 million albums worldwide as of 2008. They have won…
U2 is an Irish rock band which formed in 1976 in Dublin, Ireland. Since the band’s formation, they have consisted of Bono (real name Paul Hewson) (vocals, guitar, harmonica), The Edge (real name David Evans) (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums, percussion). The band is the biggest selling alternative rock act of all time, having sold 140 million albums worldwide as of 2008. They have won 22 Grammys and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. As of 2009, they have released 12 albums and 58 singles.
Foundation: The band originally formed in 1976 when Larry Mullen posted a bulletin in his school asking for musicians to form a rock band. The band then consisted of the four current members plus three additional guitarists, including The Edge’s brother Dick Evans (later a member of Virgin Prunes), Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin. According to legend, Bono originally auditioned as a guitarist but couldn’t play. He auditioned as lead vocals, but really couldn’t sing. He was, however, incredibly enthusiastic about the band, extremely charismatic, a great writer, and was strangely able to reach the audience when the band played, something he is known for still today. Bono will reach out into the crowd and dance or mess with someone in the crowd at every concert. He was kept as a member. The extra guitarists would soon leave the band and the group would go through the names “Feedback ” and “The Hype” before finally settling on U2.
The 70s & 80s: 1978 was a jumping point year for the band, finally finding their sound / voice. U2 won a talent contest in 1978: £500 and funds to make a record. Paul McGuinness became the band’s manager and U2 released an EP called Three and the single Another Day, the following year. U2 went on to release their first album, Boy and then more critically acclaimed albums incl.: October, War, Under A Blood Red Sky, and The Unforgettable Fire (featuring the song PlayMLK dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr). Seen by many as a political band with more charisma than others, they were called “a different kind” of band. After a short break U2 returned with The Joshua Tree & the USA music inspired Rattle And Hum (also a movie of the same name, based on the tour).
The 90s: Promising ”to dream it all up again”, they added industrial and dance styles to their music. Trying to drop a goody two shoes image, they went to Berlin (Germany), supposedly to develop new self-expressions. From there they started to make fun of themselves and had a good time of it in albums like Achtung Baby (meaning ”watch out, baby”, artwork feat. make-up artist Nassim Khalifa) & Zooropa. Bono took on many stage personae such as “The Fly”, “Mirrorball Man” and “Mr. MacPhisto” for the gigantic ZOO TV Tour. Later they continued to make fun of Pop culture and all its extremes with the album Pop and consequent PopMart tour which was announced to be launched at a Kmart store and included a giant golden arch across the stage.
The 00s: At the end of the 90’s into 00’s U2 became less Image and more reality. With the death of Bono’s good friend Michael Hutchence the lead singer of INXS, Bono wrote more songs from the heart surrounding ideas like life and death, children, hope, and the real world past all the pop culture and TV. Some say they’ve returned to a more band-centric sound with albums like All That You Can’t Leave Behind which features a song, Kite, dedicated to Bono’s father who passed away shortly after the album’s conception and 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
The Name: There are many theories as to the origin of the name U2. For example, U2 was an intelligence airplane that was in use by the United States during the Cold War. Other obvious candidates include “You too” and “You two”, etc. Nonetheless the official line on the name’s origins remains unknown. The band has been quoted as saying that they did think of the U2 spy plane, but remain hushed about other reasons… U2
www.u2.com
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Foundation: The band originally formed in 1976 when Larry Mullen posted a bulletin in his school asking for musicians to form a rock band. The band then consisted of the four current members plus three additional guitarists, including The Edge’s brother Dick Evans (later a member of Virgin Prunes), Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin. According to legend, Bono originally auditioned as a guitarist but couldn’t play. He auditioned as lead vocals, but really couldn’t sing. He was, however, incredibly enthusiastic about the band, extremely charismatic, a great writer, and was strangely able to reach the audience when the band played, something he is known for still today. Bono will reach out into the crowd and dance or mess with someone in the crowd at every concert. He was kept as a member. The extra guitarists would soon leave the band and the group would go through the names “Feedback ” and “The Hype” before finally settling on U2.
The 70s & 80s: 1978 was a jumping point year for the band, finally finding their sound / voice. U2 won a talent contest in 1978: £500 and funds to make a record. Paul McGuinness became the band’s manager and U2 released an EP called Three and the single Another Day, the following year. U2 went on to release their first album, Boy and then more critically acclaimed albums incl.: October, War, Under A Blood Red Sky, and The Unforgettable Fire (featuring the song PlayMLK dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr). Seen by many as a political band with more charisma than others, they were called “a different kind” of band. After a short break U2 returned with The Joshua Tree & the USA music inspired Rattle And Hum (also a movie of the same name, based on the tour).
The 90s: Promising ”to dream it all up again”, they added industrial and dance styles to their music. Trying to drop a goody two shoes image, they went to Berlin (Germany), supposedly to develop new self-expressions. From there they started to make fun of themselves and had a good time of it in albums like Achtung Baby (meaning ”watch out, baby”, artwork feat. make-up artist Nassim Khalifa) & Zooropa. Bono took on many stage personae such as “The Fly”, “Mirrorball Man” and “Mr. MacPhisto” for the gigantic ZOO TV Tour. Later they continued to make fun of Pop culture and all its extremes with the album Pop and consequent PopMart tour which was announced to be launched at a Kmart store and included a giant golden arch across the stage.
The 00s: At the end of the 90’s into 00’s U2 became less Image and more reality. With the death of Bono’s good friend Michael Hutchence the lead singer of INXS, Bono wrote more songs from the heart surrounding ideas like life and death, children, hope, and the real world past all the pop culture and TV. Some say they’ve returned to a more band-centric sound with albums like All That You Can’t Leave Behind which features a song, Kite, dedicated to Bono’s father who passed away shortly after the album’s conception and 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
The Name: There are many theories as to the origin of the name U2. For example, U2 was an intelligence airplane that was in use by the United States during the Cold War. Other obvious candidates include “You too” and “You two”, etc. Nonetheless the official line on the name’s origins remains unknown. The band has been quoted as saying that they did think of the U2 spy plane, but remain hushed about other reasons… U2
www.u2.com
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las were an American pop music girl group of the 1960s.
The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York as the Bon Bons in 1963. It consisted of two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) and Elizabeth "Liz/Betty" Weiss, and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" and Mary Ann Ganser.
In April of 1964, since the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red…
The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York as the Bon Bons in 1963. It consisted of two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) and Elizabeth "Liz/Betty" Weiss, and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" and Mary Ann Ganser.
In April of 1964, since the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red…
The Shangri-Las were an American pop music girl group of the 1960s.
The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York as the Bon Bons in 1963. It consisted of two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) and Elizabeth "Liz/Betty" Weiss, and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" and Mary Ann Ganser.
In April of 1964, since the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red Bird Records; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins were 16. That same year, they had their first hit, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (US #5, UK #14), after being hired by the producer George "Shadow" Morton. Their songs for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects; their biggest hit, the renowned death disc "Leader of the Pack" (US #1, UK #11), climaxes with the sounds of roaring motorcycles and breaking glass.
The band continued to have a string of US hit records, mainly on depressing themes such as death, loneliness, and abandonment. Songs included "Past, Present and Future", "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" and "Long Live Our Love".
In 1966, the Shangri-Las' subsequent two releases on Red Bird failed to make the top 50. That same year the band left Red Bird and Morton after the label folded. At the beginning of 1967, Marge decided to leave the group. Despite signing to Mercury Records that year, the group had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded.
Mary Ann died of a drug overdose in 1970. Marge succumbed to breast cancer on July 28, 1996 at age 48.
The group experienced a small revival in the UK when "Leader Of The Pack" was re-issued twice, reaching #3 in 1972 and #7 in 1976.
The Shangri-La's 1966 hit "Past, Present & Future" was effectively covered in 2004 by ex ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her 2004 album, "My Colouring Book".
Since the 1980's, the group has had to deal with a group calling themselves The Shangri Las, but having nothing to do with the original group. The group was put together by Dick Fox.
Discography
Standard albums
* 1964: Leader of the Pack (US #109)
* 1965: Shangri-Las-65!
Compilations
* 1966: Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las
* 1975: The Shangri-Las Sing
* 1996: The Best of the Shangri-Las
Singles
* 1964: "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (US #5, UK #14)
* 1964: "Leader of the Pack" (US #1, UK #11)
* 1965: "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" (US #18)
* 1965: "Give Us Your Blessings" (US #29)
* 1965: "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" (US #6)
* 1965: "Maybe" (US #91)
* 1965: "Out in the Streets" (US #53)
* 1965: "Right Now and Not Later" (US #99)
* 1966: "He Cried" (US #65)
* 1966: "Long Live Our Love" (US #33)
* 1966: "Past, Present and Future" (US #59)
* 1966: "Take the Time"
* 1967: "Sweet Sounds of Summer"
References
* "Shangri-Las 77!", footnote 4, by Phil X Milstein, Spectropop
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shangri-Las
Categories: Girl groups | American musical groups
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York as the Bon Bons in 1963. It consisted of two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) and Elizabeth "Liz/Betty" Weiss, and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" and Mary Ann Ganser.
In April of 1964, since the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red Bird Records; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins were 16. That same year, they had their first hit, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (US #5, UK #14), after being hired by the producer George "Shadow" Morton. Their songs for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects; their biggest hit, the renowned death disc "Leader of the Pack" (US #1, UK #11), climaxes with the sounds of roaring motorcycles and breaking glass.
The band continued to have a string of US hit records, mainly on depressing themes such as death, loneliness, and abandonment. Songs included "Past, Present and Future", "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" and "Long Live Our Love".
In 1966, the Shangri-Las' subsequent two releases on Red Bird failed to make the top 50. That same year the band left Red Bird and Morton after the label folded. At the beginning of 1967, Marge decided to leave the group. Despite signing to Mercury Records that year, the group had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded.
Mary Ann died of a drug overdose in 1970. Marge succumbed to breast cancer on July 28, 1996 at age 48.
The group experienced a small revival in the UK when "Leader Of The Pack" was re-issued twice, reaching #3 in 1972 and #7 in 1976.
The Shangri-La's 1966 hit "Past, Present & Future" was effectively covered in 2004 by ex ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her 2004 album, "My Colouring Book".
Since the 1980's, the group has had to deal with a group calling themselves The Shangri Las, but having nothing to do with the original group. The group was put together by Dick Fox.
Discography
Standard albums
* 1964: Leader of the Pack (US #109)
* 1965: Shangri-Las-65!
Compilations
* 1966: Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las
* 1975: The Shangri-Las Sing
* 1996: The Best of the Shangri-Las
Singles
* 1964: "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (US #5, UK #14)
* 1964: "Leader of the Pack" (US #1, UK #11)
* 1965: "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" (US #18)
* 1965: "Give Us Your Blessings" (US #29)
* 1965: "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" (US #6)
* 1965: "Maybe" (US #91)
* 1965: "Out in the Streets" (US #53)
* 1965: "Right Now and Not Later" (US #99)
* 1966: "He Cried" (US #65)
* 1966: "Long Live Our Love" (US #33)
* 1966: "Past, Present and Future" (US #59)
* 1966: "Take the Time"
* 1967: "Sweet Sounds of Summer"
References
* "Shangri-Las 77!", footnote 4, by Phil X Milstein, Spectropop
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shangri-Las
Categories: Girl groups | American musical groups
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
The Clash
The Clash were a punk rock band from London, England, United Kingdom, active from 1976 to 1985. One of the most successful and iconic bands from the first wave of punk in the 1970s, they incorporated rock and roll, reggae, rockabilly, and eventually many other music styles into their repertoire. They were legendary for their uncommonly intense stage performances.
From their earliest days…
From their earliest days…
The Clash were a punk rock band from London, England, United Kingdom, active from 1976 to 1985. One of the most successful and iconic bands from the first wave of punk in the 1970s, they incorporated rock and roll, reggae, rockabilly, and eventually many other music styles into their repertoire. They were legendary for their uncommonly intense stage performances.
From their earliest days as a band, The Clash stood apart from their peers with their musicianship, as well as their lyrics; the passionate, left-wing political idealism in the lyrics by frontman Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones contrasted with the nihilism of the Sex Pistols and the simplicity of the Ramones. Their 1979 album London Calling is considered by critics as one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music; Rolling Stone declared it the best album of the 1980s, even though it was released near the end of 1979 (technically, Jan 1980, in the United States).
The Clash's attitude and style, as much as their music, has influenced countless bands, both within and outside the sphere of punk rock. Often lauded as "the only band that matters," The Clash were canonized as rock saints even before they broke up. This was officially confirmed in 2003, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Mick Jones went on to form Big Audio Dynamite after being fired from The Clash, and more recently has produced albums by The Libertines and Babyshambles. In 2004 he formed Carbon/Silicon with Tony James of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik fame.
Joe Strummer went on to form and front Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War and then Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros. He died on December 22, 2002.
Bass player Paul Simonon went on to form Havana 3 A.M., before quitting music in the early '90s in favour of becoming an artist. He has recently (2006) returned to music as bass player in a musical project together with a.o.Damon Albarn. The project is often referred to asThe Good, the Bad & the Queen, the name of the recorded album.
Drummer Topper Headon released a solo album, Waking Up in 1986, before leaving the music business to become a taxi driver and escape the heroin addiction that cost him his legacy in The Clash. He is currently residing in the seaside town of Dover, England.
Members:
1976 Original line-up
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Keith Levene – lead guitar
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
1977
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
1977-1982 Classic line-up
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Topper Headon – drums, percussion
1982-1983
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
1983
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pete Howard – drums, percussion
1983-1986 Final line-up
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Nick Sheppard – lead guitar, backing vocals
Vince White – lead guitar
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pete Howard – drums, percussion
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
From their earliest days as a band, The Clash stood apart from their peers with their musicianship, as well as their lyrics; the passionate, left-wing political idealism in the lyrics by frontman Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones contrasted with the nihilism of the Sex Pistols and the simplicity of the Ramones. Their 1979 album London Calling is considered by critics as one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music; Rolling Stone declared it the best album of the 1980s, even though it was released near the end of 1979 (technically, Jan 1980, in the United States).
The Clash's attitude and style, as much as their music, has influenced countless bands, both within and outside the sphere of punk rock. Often lauded as "the only band that matters," The Clash were canonized as rock saints even before they broke up. This was officially confirmed in 2003, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Mick Jones went on to form Big Audio Dynamite after being fired from The Clash, and more recently has produced albums by The Libertines and Babyshambles. In 2004 he formed Carbon/Silicon with Tony James of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik fame.
Joe Strummer went on to form and front Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War and then Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros. He died on December 22, 2002.
Bass player Paul Simonon went on to form Havana 3 A.M., before quitting music in the early '90s in favour of becoming an artist. He has recently (2006) returned to music as bass player in a musical project together with a.o.Damon Albarn. The project is often referred to asThe Good, the Bad & the Queen, the name of the recorded album.
Drummer Topper Headon released a solo album, Waking Up in 1986, before leaving the music business to become a taxi driver and escape the heroin addiction that cost him his legacy in The Clash. He is currently residing in the seaside town of Dover, England.
Members:
1976 Original line-up
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Keith Levene – lead guitar
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
1977
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
1977-1982 Classic line-up
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Topper Headon – drums, percussion
1982-1983
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
1983
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pete Howard – drums, percussion
1983-1986 Final line-up
Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Nick Sheppard – lead guitar, backing vocals
Vince White – lead guitar
Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pete Howard – drums, percussion
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band formed 1976 in Athens, Georgia, United States. The band formed as Fred Schneider (vocals), Kate Pierson (vocals, organ), Cindy Wilson (vocals, guitar), Ricky Wilson (guitar) and Keith Strickland (drums). After Ricky Wilson died in 1985, Strickland replaced him as a guitarist. The band is perhaps best known for their 1978 single "Rock Lobster" and their 1989 pop smash "
The B-52's are an American rock band formed 1976 in Athens, Georgia, United States. The band formed as Fred Schneider (vocals), Kate Pierson (vocals, organ), Cindy Wilson (vocals, guitar), Ricky Wilson (guitar) and Keith Strickland (drums). After Ricky Wilson died in 1985, Strickland replaced him as a guitarist. The band is perhaps best known for their 1978 single "Rock Lobster" and their 1989 pop smash "Love Shack".
The name comes from the bouffant wigs that are part of the band's distinctive look, worn by singers Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson. Along with Wilson and Pierson, fellow vocalist Fred Schneider, drummer (and later guitarist) Keith Strickland and guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's older brother) formed the band after a drunken night at a Chinese restaurant.
Their sound is particularly marked by the vocals of Wilson and Pierson, with Kate singing in a slightly deeper voice, along with the generally monotone or spoken-word vocals of Schneider. Aside from their vocals, the band also had a unique New Wave sound that was a combination of dance and surf music, and the unusual guitar-string tunings utilized by Ricky Wilson. Although part of the new wave movement, their music was more experimental than most new wave, indulging in all manner of odd vocal and synthesizer effects. It created a quirky dance sound that became very popular.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
The name comes from the bouffant wigs that are part of the band's distinctive look, worn by singers Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson. Along with Wilson and Pierson, fellow vocalist Fred Schneider, drummer (and later guitarist) Keith Strickland and guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's older brother) formed the band after a drunken night at a Chinese restaurant.
Their sound is particularly marked by the vocals of Wilson and Pierson, with Kate singing in a slightly deeper voice, along with the generally monotone or spoken-word vocals of Schneider. Aside from their vocals, the band also had a unique New Wave sound that was a combination of dance and surf music, and the unusual guitar-string tunings utilized by Ricky Wilson. Although part of the new wave movement, their music was more experimental than most new wave, indulging in all manner of odd vocal and synthesizer effects. It created a quirky dance sound that became very popular.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Deftones
Deftones is an American rock band from Sacramento, California formed in 1988, consisting of Chino Moreno (lead vocals and guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Chi Cheng (bass), Frank Delgado (keyboards and turntables), and Abe Cunningham (drums and percussion). Sergio Vega (formerly of Quicksand) took on bass duties in mid-2009 in substitution for Cheng, who was seriously injured in an automobile accident in November 2008.
While they were mostly considered as a nu metal band in their early years,…
While they were mostly considered as a nu metal band in their early years,…
Deftones is an American rock band from Sacramento, California formed in 1988, consisting of Chino Moreno (lead vocals and guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Chi Cheng (bass), Frank Delgado (keyboards and turntables), and Abe Cunningham (drums and percussion). Sergio Vega (formerly of Quicksand) took on bass duties in mid-2009 in substitution for Cheng, who was seriously injured in an automobile accident in November 2008.
While they were mostly considered as a nu metal band in their early years, their sound progressively evolved into something more complex and experimental, as a result they are often coined today as an alternative metal band.
Critics have often praised them as one of the closest to unique rock bands of recent years for their innovative, atmospheric music; as Johnny Loftus writes, "Rock critics usually reserve a special place for Deftones above or at least away from the rest of the turn-of-the-century metal movement [...] Deftones have always seemed more curious, more willing to incorporate traditionally revered sounds like dream pop into their Northern California alt-metal."
Frontman Chino Moreno’s poetic lyrics—described by a Time magazine critic as “fiercely intelligent”—are often evocative, yet are sparse enough to allow for multiple interpretations. Moreno has cited Morrissey, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, The Cure’s Robert Smith, and Depeche Mode’s David Gahan among his favorite singers, and beyond an occasional similarity in vocal technique, these singers’ sweeping sense of drama and delicate vulnerability is often evident in Moreno’s vocals and has often been likened to that of Daryl Palumbo(glassjaw).
Deftones members have worked on several side projects, including Moreno’s Team Sleep and drummer Abe Cunningam’s Phallucy. Guitarist Stephen Carpenter works with a group called Kush, featuring members of Fear Factory and Cypress Hill. Turntablist Frank Delgado has a DJ crew with DJ Crook of Team Sleep, DJ Julez and Matt D called Decibel Devils.
* Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar)
* Stephen Carpenter (guitar)
* Abe Cunningham (drums)
* Chi Cheng (bass, backing vocals)
* Frank Delgado (turntablist/keyboardist/sampler)
(Incidentally, Carpenter is generally credited with “strings”, though if he actually plays anything other than electric guitar it’s not immediately apparent. This most likely refers to his abuse of the guitar strings, making screeching noises inbetween playing riffs.)
Releases:
1992 - like linus (demo)
1995 - Adrenaline
1997 - Around the Fur
2000 - White Pony
2002 - Music in High Places: Deftones - Live In Hawaii (DVD)
2002 - Back to School (Mini Maggit) (EP)
2003 - Deftones
2005 - B-Sides & Rarities (with accompanying DVD video library and live footage)
2006 - Saturday Night Wrist
2009 - Eros ( Shelved)
2010 - Diamond Eyes
Album Around the Fur (1997) features Soulfly’s Max Cavalera on PlayHeadup.
Album White Pony (2000) features Tool’s Maynard James Keenan on PlayPassenger.
Also on Album White Pony (2000) features STP’s Scott Weiland on PlayRX Queen.
Album Saturday Night Wrist (2006) features System of a Down’s Serj Tankian on Mein.
Early years: 1989-1993
When Carpenter was 15 years old he was hit by a car while skateboarding. This left him confined to a wheelchair for several months. It was at this point that he began teaching himself guitar by playing along with bands such as Anthrax, Stormtroopers of Death and Metallica. It has been reported that the driver paid Carpenter a cash settlement that allowed the band to purchase equipment, but drummer Abe Cunningham commented in an interview that this was "a myth about how our band was started."
Carpenter, Moreno and Cunningham went to the same high school. They were childhood friends and remained friends through the skateboarding scene in Sacramento. When Moreno found out Carpenter played guitar, he set up a jam session with Cunningham and the three began playing regularly in Carpenter's garage circa 1988. After playing with several bassists, the band settled on Justin Jaramillo and recorded a four track demo soon after. Within two years the band began playing club shows and later expanded their playing territory to San Francisco and Los Angeles where they played shows alongside bands such as Korn. While closing for another band in L.A., after the majority of the audience had left, the band impressed a Maverick Records representative. They were soon after signed to the label after showcasing three of their songs for Freddy DeMann and Guy Oseary.
The name "Deftones" was created by Carpenter who wanted to pick "something that would just stand out but you know, not be all cheese-ball at the same time." Carpenter combined the hip hop slang term "def", which was used by artists he listened to such as LL Cool J and Public Enemy, with the suffix "-tones", which was a popular suffix among 50s bands whose music he also enjoyed (e.g. Dick Dale and the Deltones; The Quin-Tones, The Monotones, The Cleftones and The Harptones). Carpenter said the name is intentionally vague to reflect the band's tendency to not focus on just one style of music.
Adrenaline: 1994-1996
The band's debut album, Adrenaline, was recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington and released on October 3, 1995. It was produced by Deftones and Terry Date, who would go on to produce the band's next three albums. Initially unsuccessful, extensive touring, word-of-mouth and Internet promotion built the band a dedicated fanbase, as well as helping Adrenaline to sell over 220,000 copies without the singles "7 Words" and "Bored" (as well as their music videos) receiving any airplay. The band contributed the non-album track "Teething" to the soundtrack for the 1996 film The Crow: City of Angels and are also seen performing the song live during one of the film's scenes.
The album spent 21 weeks on the Billboard Heatseekers chart reaching a peak position of 23. When asked what he attributed the album's success to, Cheng responded, "One word: perseverance. We've been together for almost eight years, on the road for two and we do it with honesty and integrity - and the kids can tell." The album was RIAA certified gold on 7 July 1999 in recognition of 500,000 units sold.
Regarding the recording of the album, Abe Cunningham said, "At the time we did the first record - which I really like and think is good - you can tell the band was really young. We'd been playing most of those songs for quite a while, and we were just so happy to be making a record that we didn't really think a whole lot about making the songs better." Moreno felt that Adrenaline was recorded "really fast"[ and performed all his vocals live with the band in the room using a hand-held Shure 58 microphone. A review of Adrenaline praised the album's musical control, precision, overall groove and Cunningham's "surprisingly sophisticated drumming". It was also noted that "there is a bit of sameness in Chino Moreno's whispered vocal melodies, which drags the record down a bit."
Adrenaline was certified platinum on September 23, 2008 by the RIAA
Around the Fur: 1997-1999
Deftones' second album, Around the Fur, was recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle, Washington and produced by Terry Date. Released on October 26, 1997, the album included a collaboration with singer Max Cavalera (of Sepultura/Soulfly/Cavalera Conspiracy) on "Headup", a tribute to Cavalera's late stepson Dana Wells, to whom the album was also dedicated. Although not yet a member of the band, Delgado is credited as "audio" on five of the album's tracks and Cunningham's wife, Annalynn, provides guest vocals on "MX".
"When we went in to make this record, we really didn't have a set idea of what we wanted to come out with," said Moreno in a 1998 interview with Chart magazine. However, he felt that the album "fell into place" once the band had settled into the studio. The band expanded its sound, spending more time with Terry Date, and giving more thought to the album's production. Cunningham varied his drum sound and experimented by using different types of snare drum on almost every track. The album was praised for its loud-soft dynamics, the flow of the tracks, Moreno's unusual vocals and the strong rhythm-section grooves created by Cheng and Cunningham. Stephen Thomas Erlewine's review noted that "while they don't have catchy riffs or a fully developed sound, Around the Fur suggests they're about to come into their own."
The album was highly anticipated and propelled the band to fame in the alternative metal scene on the strength of radio and MTV airplay for the singles "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)". Around the Fur sold 43,000 copies in its first week of release, and entered the Billboard 200 at number 29 (its peak position), remaining on the charts for 17 weeks. The band went back to touring, making appearances at the Warped Tour (in the United States, New Zealand and Australia), Pinkpop Festival, Roskilde Festival and Ozzfest as well as releasing a live EP on June 22, 1999. Around the Fur went on to reach RIAA gold status on June 24, 1999.
White Pony: 2000-2002
On June 20, 2000, the band released their third album, White Pony, again produced by Terry Date and Deftones. It was recorded at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and at Larrabee Sound Studios, West Hollywood, California. The album debuted at number three in the US Billboard chart with sales of 178,000 copies. Delgado (DJ Speedboat) was now a full-time band member, adding new elements to the band's music. The melancholy "Teenager", for example, was a radical departure in style and mood, a "love song," according to Moreno, which incorporated elements of glitch and trip hop, with programming duties carried out by Moreno's friend and side-project Team Sleep bandmate DJ Crook. A collaboration with singer Maynard James Keenan of Tool is present on "Passenger", and the refrain in "Knife Party" features vocals by Rodleen Getsic. Moreno had also started contributing additional guitar on several tracks.
An interview with the band in Alternative Press explained the recording process of White Pony. After a break from touring, the band spent four months in the studio writing and recording White Pony, the longest amount of time they had dedicated to an album thus far. Moreno explained that the majority of this time was spent trying to write songs, and that the writing of "Change (In the House of Flies)" was the turning point where the band began working as a group. Despite being pressured to release the album sooner, the band decided to take their time making the album. Cheng explained that "We didn’t feel like we had anything to lose, so we made the record we wanted to make." Moreno did not have a common theme in mind lyrically, but made a conscious decision to bring an element of fantasy into his lyrics, explaining that "I basically didn’t sing about myself on this record. I made up a lot of story lines and some dialogue, even. I took myself completely out of it and wrote about other things."
Reviews were generally positive, noting Moreno's increasing sophistication as a lyricist and the group's experimentalism. Of White Pony, one reviewer wrote that "Deftones went soft, but in an impressive way, to twist around its signature punk sound."
The album was originally released as an 11 track version beginning with "Feiticeira" and ending with "Pink Maggit" and featuring gray cover art. A limited edition print of 50,000 black and red jewel case versions of White Pony were also released at the same time with a bonus 12th track entitled "The Boy's Republic". Later, the band released "Back to School (Mini Maggit)", a rap-influenced interpretation of the album's closer, "Pink Maggit". "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" was track 11 on the leaked pre-release version of White Pony in April 2000, but not included on the original (official) issue of the album in June 2000. The leaked version of White Pony also included the slower version of "Pink Maggit" which appeared on the first official White Pony CDs. That song was listed as a bonus track (track 12) on the leaked pre-release version. The song was picked up as a single and placed as the new opening track (with "Pink Maggit" still the closer) of a re-released White Pony on October 3, 2000 featuring altered white cover art. Not entirely happy with re-releasing the album, the band negotiated to have "Back to School" made available as a free download for anyone who had already bought the original album. Chino noted that "Everybody's already downloaded our record before it came out anyway, otherwise I'd be kind of feelin' like, 'Man, why [are] we putting [out] all these different versions of the record?' [...] that's the best way we can actually get this song out to the people who already purchased this record, for free basically. And if they wanna buy the record again, it's cool."
White Pony achieved platinum status, selling over 1.3 million copies in the US, and earning the band a 2001 Grammy award for Best Metal Performance for the song "Elite".
Deftones: 2003-2005
Deftones began work on their fourth album under the working title Lovers. Regarding the album's direction, Cheng commented that "We've proven that we can musically go in any direction we want, and we want to get kind of heavy on this one." Moreno underwent vocal training as a precaution after severely damaging his vocal cords on the band's 2001 summer tour. The band converted their rehearsal space in Sacramento into a fully equipped studio and recorded most of the album there at negligible cost. The band brought in Terry Date to assist with production, and also received input on musical arrangement from Greg Wells on several of the album's tracks. The band later added more material at Studio X in Seattle, WA and at Larrabee Studios in West Hollywood, CA. Overall the album took twelve months and cost roughly $2.5 million to produce with the band being fined by Maverick for missing deadlines.
In January 2003, Deftones left the studio to perform some "one off" shows in Australia and New Zealand as part of the annual Big Day Out Festival. Shortly after, the band returned to the studio to finish their fourth album. The self-titled Deftones was released on May 20, 2003. Deftones entered the Billboard 200 at number two and sold 167,000 copies in its first week. The album remained in the Billboard top 100 for nine weeks, supported by the first single, "Minerva". The band shot a video for their second single, "Hexagram", with fans watching the band play the song in an indoor skatepark in Simi Valley, California. The band made a video for the track "Bloody Cape", but it was never released for play on television. The video was only made available on the band's official website for one day. It was later released on their B-Sides and Rarities DVD.
Reviews were mainly positive, praising the band for the heavy album's progression and originality in the midst of declining creativity in contemporary metal. Moreno was quoted as saying, "It's all on record. We told motherfuckers not to lump us in with nu metal because when those bands go down we aren't going to be with them." In reviewing Deftones, Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes that "Hexagram", the album's opener, "hits hard — harder than they ever have, revealing how mushy Staind is, or how toothless Linkin Park is," but also goes on to say that the album "sticks a little too close to familiar territory." The Onion's A.V. Club similarly called the album "less rewarding than its predecessor, though its peaks rival any in the genre."
The band released a compilation album titled B-Sides & Rarities on October 4, 2005. The CD includes various b-sides and covers from throughout their career, while the DVD contains behind-the-scenes footage and the band's complete videography up to that point.
Saturday Night Wrist: 2006-2007
Deftones performing live in Glasgow, June 2006.The band's latest album, titled Saturday Night Wrist, was released on October 31, 2006. It debuted at number ten in the US Billboard chart with sales of just over 76,000, a significant decrease on the first week sales of their two previous releases.
Rather than work with longtime producer Terry Date, Deftones decided to record with Bob Ezrin. Cunningham says that while the group enjoyed working with Date, "At this point, we just needed to change things up [...] And this is definitely a different style. Working with him [Ezrin] is just putting us fucking upside down. He's cracking the whip."[45] After recording all the instrumentals for the record, Chino Moreno decided to record his vocals separately. Chino thus finished recording the album with former Far guitarist Shaun Lopez as producer. Collaborations on the record include Annie Hardy from Giant Drag on the song "Pink Cellphone" and Serj Tankian from System of a Down on the track "Mein".
The album's first single was called "Hole in the Earth", hitting the radio on October 16, 2006. "Hole in the Earth" was also featured as a downloadable song for the PS3 & Xbox 360 versions of Guitar Hero 3. "Mein" was the album's second single, which aired in Spring of 2007.
As of March 2007, Saturday Night Wrist has sold over 250,000 copies (US).
Deftones spent the majority of 2006 and 2007 touring around the world in support of the album. The band played shows in places including North America, Canada, Europe, South America, Japan and Australia. The band also performed in such tours as Taste of Chaos, Family Values Tour and the Soundwave Festival in Australia.
Eros: 2008-2009
Deftones are currently in the studio writing and recording their next release, Eros, which will once again utilize the production services of Terry Date. Deftones have been writing the album since Fall 2007. As of December 7, 2007, six to eight songs were finished and the album is expected to be released in the winter of 2008. Chino Moreno has described the album as weird, unorthodox, featuring a lot of atmosphere and soundscaping, and having "fuck you, I hope you die!" style aggression. He has also stated that he won't be contributing on guitar, instead focusing on his vocals, and will leave guitar duties entirely to Stephen Carpenter. Carpenter will be utilizing his signature 8-String guitar, the ESP Stef B-8. They started recording the album on April 14th, 2008.
Moreno stated that this album would be more up-tempo (as far as the drumming is concerned), going on to say that the past couple of albums have been more mid-tempo; that Abe Cunningham has been playing faster. He also referred to the album as being "snappy". Moreno stated in an interview that the process for this album would be more raw and simplified after dissatisfaction with the long and "pieced-together" experience of recording Saturday Night Wrist.
On January 14th, Chino Moreno posted an instrumental electronic beat that sounds similar to Team Sleep called "You've Seen The Butcher", on the Deftones' MySpace page, and announced in a bulletin that the album would be called Eros, the Greek word for "love." It was also announced that Eros would be released by Warner Bros. Records, the first time Deftones have released an album not affiliated with Maverick Records.
On September 18, Deftones played a secret show at the Spaceland Club in Los Angeles. The band played a new song entitled Melanie, which they also played at the previously announced headlining show at the Ventura Theater in Ventura, California on September 19 and also at the KUPD's End of Summer Scorcher on September 20 in Peoria, Arizona, where they co-headlined with Alice In Chains.
Also, recently Deftones have been posting a number of videos on MySpace and their blog, documenting the recording process of Eros.
On November 4, bassist Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car accident in Santa Clara, California. Chino Moreno posted on the band's blog, saying, "It deeply saddens me to inform you all that our brother Chi Cheng was involved in a terrible car accident last night. He is currently in a Northern California hospital in serious, but stable condition. I am on my way up north right now to be by his side, along with the rest of our bandmates and family. Chi is one of the strongest people I know, and I'm praying that his strength will get him through this. Please say a prayer for him as well."[47] Following the accident, Cheng's bandmates and mother, Jeanne, began using the Deftones blog to post updates on Cheng's condition. In a post dated November 18, it was stated that "Chi's condition remains the same - serious, but stable. He still lies in a coma, however his vitals (heart, lungs, and blood pressure) all exhibit very stable functions and doctors have begun removing much of the excess monitoring equipment." In a blog posted dated November 9, it was reported that Chi was attended by three off-duty EMTs who happened upon the accident scene. The post goes on to state that "If not for them, the chances of Chi making to the hospital alive would have been poor." On December 9, it was announced that Chi had been moved into the care of an unnamed hospital that "specializes in the care and management of traumatic and non-trauma related brain injuries".
Diamond Eyes: 2010-Present
It was announced that the new album would be titled "Diamond Eyes", to be released May 18th, 2010. The first single from the album, "Rocket Skates", was released February 23rd; the second single is "Diamond Eyes". And The First Video Release Was "Diamond Eyes", "Rocket Skates", "Sextape", Finally "You've Seen the Butcher". All together Diamond Eyes Has sold 62,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
While they were mostly considered as a nu metal band in their early years, their sound progressively evolved into something more complex and experimental, as a result they are often coined today as an alternative metal band.
Critics have often praised them as one of the closest to unique rock bands of recent years for their innovative, atmospheric music; as Johnny Loftus writes, "Rock critics usually reserve a special place for Deftones above or at least away from the rest of the turn-of-the-century metal movement [...] Deftones have always seemed more curious, more willing to incorporate traditionally revered sounds like dream pop into their Northern California alt-metal."
Frontman Chino Moreno’s poetic lyrics—described by a Time magazine critic as “fiercely intelligent”—are often evocative, yet are sparse enough to allow for multiple interpretations. Moreno has cited Morrissey, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, The Cure’s Robert Smith, and Depeche Mode’s David Gahan among his favorite singers, and beyond an occasional similarity in vocal technique, these singers’ sweeping sense of drama and delicate vulnerability is often evident in Moreno’s vocals and has often been likened to that of Daryl Palumbo(glassjaw).
Deftones members have worked on several side projects, including Moreno’s Team Sleep and drummer Abe Cunningam’s Phallucy. Guitarist Stephen Carpenter works with a group called Kush, featuring members of Fear Factory and Cypress Hill. Turntablist Frank Delgado has a DJ crew with DJ Crook of Team Sleep, DJ Julez and Matt D called Decibel Devils.
* Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar)
* Stephen Carpenter (guitar)
* Abe Cunningham (drums)
* Chi Cheng (bass, backing vocals)
* Frank Delgado (turntablist/keyboardist/sampler)
(Incidentally, Carpenter is generally credited with “strings”, though if he actually plays anything other than electric guitar it’s not immediately apparent. This most likely refers to his abuse of the guitar strings, making screeching noises inbetween playing riffs.)
Releases:
1992 - like linus (demo)
1995 - Adrenaline
1997 - Around the Fur
2000 - White Pony
2002 - Music in High Places: Deftones - Live In Hawaii (DVD)
2002 - Back to School (Mini Maggit) (EP)
2003 - Deftones
2005 - B-Sides & Rarities (with accompanying DVD video library and live footage)
2006 - Saturday Night Wrist
2009 - Eros ( Shelved)
2010 - Diamond Eyes
Album Around the Fur (1997) features Soulfly’s Max Cavalera on PlayHeadup.
Album White Pony (2000) features Tool’s Maynard James Keenan on PlayPassenger.
Also on Album White Pony (2000) features STP’s Scott Weiland on PlayRX Queen.
Album Saturday Night Wrist (2006) features System of a Down’s Serj Tankian on Mein.
Early years: 1989-1993
When Carpenter was 15 years old he was hit by a car while skateboarding. This left him confined to a wheelchair for several months. It was at this point that he began teaching himself guitar by playing along with bands such as Anthrax, Stormtroopers of Death and Metallica. It has been reported that the driver paid Carpenter a cash settlement that allowed the band to purchase equipment, but drummer Abe Cunningham commented in an interview that this was "a myth about how our band was started."
Carpenter, Moreno and Cunningham went to the same high school. They were childhood friends and remained friends through the skateboarding scene in Sacramento. When Moreno found out Carpenter played guitar, he set up a jam session with Cunningham and the three began playing regularly in Carpenter's garage circa 1988. After playing with several bassists, the band settled on Justin Jaramillo and recorded a four track demo soon after. Within two years the band began playing club shows and later expanded their playing territory to San Francisco and Los Angeles where they played shows alongside bands such as Korn. While closing for another band in L.A., after the majority of the audience had left, the band impressed a Maverick Records representative. They were soon after signed to the label after showcasing three of their songs for Freddy DeMann and Guy Oseary.
The name "Deftones" was created by Carpenter who wanted to pick "something that would just stand out but you know, not be all cheese-ball at the same time." Carpenter combined the hip hop slang term "def", which was used by artists he listened to such as LL Cool J and Public Enemy, with the suffix "-tones", which was a popular suffix among 50s bands whose music he also enjoyed (e.g. Dick Dale and the Deltones; The Quin-Tones, The Monotones, The Cleftones and The Harptones). Carpenter said the name is intentionally vague to reflect the band's tendency to not focus on just one style of music.
Adrenaline: 1994-1996
The band's debut album, Adrenaline, was recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington and released on October 3, 1995. It was produced by Deftones and Terry Date, who would go on to produce the band's next three albums. Initially unsuccessful, extensive touring, word-of-mouth and Internet promotion built the band a dedicated fanbase, as well as helping Adrenaline to sell over 220,000 copies without the singles "7 Words" and "Bored" (as well as their music videos) receiving any airplay. The band contributed the non-album track "Teething" to the soundtrack for the 1996 film The Crow: City of Angels and are also seen performing the song live during one of the film's scenes.
The album spent 21 weeks on the Billboard Heatseekers chart reaching a peak position of 23. When asked what he attributed the album's success to, Cheng responded, "One word: perseverance. We've been together for almost eight years, on the road for two and we do it with honesty and integrity - and the kids can tell." The album was RIAA certified gold on 7 July 1999 in recognition of 500,000 units sold.
Regarding the recording of the album, Abe Cunningham said, "At the time we did the first record - which I really like and think is good - you can tell the band was really young. We'd been playing most of those songs for quite a while, and we were just so happy to be making a record that we didn't really think a whole lot about making the songs better." Moreno felt that Adrenaline was recorded "really fast"[ and performed all his vocals live with the band in the room using a hand-held Shure 58 microphone. A review of Adrenaline praised the album's musical control, precision, overall groove and Cunningham's "surprisingly sophisticated drumming". It was also noted that "there is a bit of sameness in Chino Moreno's whispered vocal melodies, which drags the record down a bit."
Adrenaline was certified platinum on September 23, 2008 by the RIAA
Around the Fur: 1997-1999
Deftones' second album, Around the Fur, was recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle, Washington and produced by Terry Date. Released on October 26, 1997, the album included a collaboration with singer Max Cavalera (of Sepultura/Soulfly/Cavalera Conspiracy) on "Headup", a tribute to Cavalera's late stepson Dana Wells, to whom the album was also dedicated. Although not yet a member of the band, Delgado is credited as "audio" on five of the album's tracks and Cunningham's wife, Annalynn, provides guest vocals on "MX".
"When we went in to make this record, we really didn't have a set idea of what we wanted to come out with," said Moreno in a 1998 interview with Chart magazine. However, he felt that the album "fell into place" once the band had settled into the studio. The band expanded its sound, spending more time with Terry Date, and giving more thought to the album's production. Cunningham varied his drum sound and experimented by using different types of snare drum on almost every track. The album was praised for its loud-soft dynamics, the flow of the tracks, Moreno's unusual vocals and the strong rhythm-section grooves created by Cheng and Cunningham. Stephen Thomas Erlewine's review noted that "while they don't have catchy riffs or a fully developed sound, Around the Fur suggests they're about to come into their own."
The album was highly anticipated and propelled the band to fame in the alternative metal scene on the strength of radio and MTV airplay for the singles "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)". Around the Fur sold 43,000 copies in its first week of release, and entered the Billboard 200 at number 29 (its peak position), remaining on the charts for 17 weeks. The band went back to touring, making appearances at the Warped Tour (in the United States, New Zealand and Australia), Pinkpop Festival, Roskilde Festival and Ozzfest as well as releasing a live EP on June 22, 1999. Around the Fur went on to reach RIAA gold status on June 24, 1999.
White Pony: 2000-2002
On June 20, 2000, the band released their third album, White Pony, again produced by Terry Date and Deftones. It was recorded at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and at Larrabee Sound Studios, West Hollywood, California. The album debuted at number three in the US Billboard chart with sales of 178,000 copies. Delgado (DJ Speedboat) was now a full-time band member, adding new elements to the band's music. The melancholy "Teenager", for example, was a radical departure in style and mood, a "love song," according to Moreno, which incorporated elements of glitch and trip hop, with programming duties carried out by Moreno's friend and side-project Team Sleep bandmate DJ Crook. A collaboration with singer Maynard James Keenan of Tool is present on "Passenger", and the refrain in "Knife Party" features vocals by Rodleen Getsic. Moreno had also started contributing additional guitar on several tracks.
An interview with the band in Alternative Press explained the recording process of White Pony. After a break from touring, the band spent four months in the studio writing and recording White Pony, the longest amount of time they had dedicated to an album thus far. Moreno explained that the majority of this time was spent trying to write songs, and that the writing of "Change (In the House of Flies)" was the turning point where the band began working as a group. Despite being pressured to release the album sooner, the band decided to take their time making the album. Cheng explained that "We didn’t feel like we had anything to lose, so we made the record we wanted to make." Moreno did not have a common theme in mind lyrically, but made a conscious decision to bring an element of fantasy into his lyrics, explaining that "I basically didn’t sing about myself on this record. I made up a lot of story lines and some dialogue, even. I took myself completely out of it and wrote about other things."
Reviews were generally positive, noting Moreno's increasing sophistication as a lyricist and the group's experimentalism. Of White Pony, one reviewer wrote that "Deftones went soft, but in an impressive way, to twist around its signature punk sound."
The album was originally released as an 11 track version beginning with "Feiticeira" and ending with "Pink Maggit" and featuring gray cover art. A limited edition print of 50,000 black and red jewel case versions of White Pony were also released at the same time with a bonus 12th track entitled "The Boy's Republic". Later, the band released "Back to School (Mini Maggit)", a rap-influenced interpretation of the album's closer, "Pink Maggit". "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" was track 11 on the leaked pre-release version of White Pony in April 2000, but not included on the original (official) issue of the album in June 2000. The leaked version of White Pony also included the slower version of "Pink Maggit" which appeared on the first official White Pony CDs. That song was listed as a bonus track (track 12) on the leaked pre-release version. The song was picked up as a single and placed as the new opening track (with "Pink Maggit" still the closer) of a re-released White Pony on October 3, 2000 featuring altered white cover art. Not entirely happy with re-releasing the album, the band negotiated to have "Back to School" made available as a free download for anyone who had already bought the original album. Chino noted that "Everybody's already downloaded our record before it came out anyway, otherwise I'd be kind of feelin' like, 'Man, why [are] we putting [out] all these different versions of the record?' [...] that's the best way we can actually get this song out to the people who already purchased this record, for free basically. And if they wanna buy the record again, it's cool."
White Pony achieved platinum status, selling over 1.3 million copies in the US, and earning the band a 2001 Grammy award for Best Metal Performance for the song "Elite".
Deftones: 2003-2005
Deftones began work on their fourth album under the working title Lovers. Regarding the album's direction, Cheng commented that "We've proven that we can musically go in any direction we want, and we want to get kind of heavy on this one." Moreno underwent vocal training as a precaution after severely damaging his vocal cords on the band's 2001 summer tour. The band converted their rehearsal space in Sacramento into a fully equipped studio and recorded most of the album there at negligible cost. The band brought in Terry Date to assist with production, and also received input on musical arrangement from Greg Wells on several of the album's tracks. The band later added more material at Studio X in Seattle, WA and at Larrabee Studios in West Hollywood, CA. Overall the album took twelve months and cost roughly $2.5 million to produce with the band being fined by Maverick for missing deadlines.
In January 2003, Deftones left the studio to perform some "one off" shows in Australia and New Zealand as part of the annual Big Day Out Festival. Shortly after, the band returned to the studio to finish their fourth album. The self-titled Deftones was released on May 20, 2003. Deftones entered the Billboard 200 at number two and sold 167,000 copies in its first week. The album remained in the Billboard top 100 for nine weeks, supported by the first single, "Minerva". The band shot a video for their second single, "Hexagram", with fans watching the band play the song in an indoor skatepark in Simi Valley, California. The band made a video for the track "Bloody Cape", but it was never released for play on television. The video was only made available on the band's official website for one day. It was later released on their B-Sides and Rarities DVD.
Reviews were mainly positive, praising the band for the heavy album's progression and originality in the midst of declining creativity in contemporary metal. Moreno was quoted as saying, "It's all on record. We told motherfuckers not to lump us in with nu metal because when those bands go down we aren't going to be with them." In reviewing Deftones, Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes that "Hexagram", the album's opener, "hits hard — harder than they ever have, revealing how mushy Staind is, or how toothless Linkin Park is," but also goes on to say that the album "sticks a little too close to familiar territory." The Onion's A.V. Club similarly called the album "less rewarding than its predecessor, though its peaks rival any in the genre."
The band released a compilation album titled B-Sides & Rarities on October 4, 2005. The CD includes various b-sides and covers from throughout their career, while the DVD contains behind-the-scenes footage and the band's complete videography up to that point.
Saturday Night Wrist: 2006-2007
Deftones performing live in Glasgow, June 2006.The band's latest album, titled Saturday Night Wrist, was released on October 31, 2006. It debuted at number ten in the US Billboard chart with sales of just over 76,000, a significant decrease on the first week sales of their two previous releases.
Rather than work with longtime producer Terry Date, Deftones decided to record with Bob Ezrin. Cunningham says that while the group enjoyed working with Date, "At this point, we just needed to change things up [...] And this is definitely a different style. Working with him [Ezrin] is just putting us fucking upside down. He's cracking the whip."[45] After recording all the instrumentals for the record, Chino Moreno decided to record his vocals separately. Chino thus finished recording the album with former Far guitarist Shaun Lopez as producer. Collaborations on the record include Annie Hardy from Giant Drag on the song "Pink Cellphone" and Serj Tankian from System of a Down on the track "Mein".
The album's first single was called "Hole in the Earth", hitting the radio on October 16, 2006. "Hole in the Earth" was also featured as a downloadable song for the PS3 & Xbox 360 versions of Guitar Hero 3. "Mein" was the album's second single, which aired in Spring of 2007.
As of March 2007, Saturday Night Wrist has sold over 250,000 copies (US).
Deftones spent the majority of 2006 and 2007 touring around the world in support of the album. The band played shows in places including North America, Canada, Europe, South America, Japan and Australia. The band also performed in such tours as Taste of Chaos, Family Values Tour and the Soundwave Festival in Australia.
Eros: 2008-2009
Deftones are currently in the studio writing and recording their next release, Eros, which will once again utilize the production services of Terry Date. Deftones have been writing the album since Fall 2007. As of December 7, 2007, six to eight songs were finished and the album is expected to be released in the winter of 2008. Chino Moreno has described the album as weird, unorthodox, featuring a lot of atmosphere and soundscaping, and having "fuck you, I hope you die!" style aggression. He has also stated that he won't be contributing on guitar, instead focusing on his vocals, and will leave guitar duties entirely to Stephen Carpenter. Carpenter will be utilizing his signature 8-String guitar, the ESP Stef B-8. They started recording the album on April 14th, 2008.
Moreno stated that this album would be more up-tempo (as far as the drumming is concerned), going on to say that the past couple of albums have been more mid-tempo; that Abe Cunningham has been playing faster. He also referred to the album as being "snappy". Moreno stated in an interview that the process for this album would be more raw and simplified after dissatisfaction with the long and "pieced-together" experience of recording Saturday Night Wrist.
On January 14th, Chino Moreno posted an instrumental electronic beat that sounds similar to Team Sleep called "You've Seen The Butcher", on the Deftones' MySpace page, and announced in a bulletin that the album would be called Eros, the Greek word for "love." It was also announced that Eros would be released by Warner Bros. Records, the first time Deftones have released an album not affiliated with Maverick Records.
On September 18, Deftones played a secret show at the Spaceland Club in Los Angeles. The band played a new song entitled Melanie, which they also played at the previously announced headlining show at the Ventura Theater in Ventura, California on September 19 and also at the KUPD's End of Summer Scorcher on September 20 in Peoria, Arizona, where they co-headlined with Alice In Chains.
Also, recently Deftones have been posting a number of videos on MySpace and their blog, documenting the recording process of Eros.
On November 4, bassist Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car accident in Santa Clara, California. Chino Moreno posted on the band's blog, saying, "It deeply saddens me to inform you all that our brother Chi Cheng was involved in a terrible car accident last night. He is currently in a Northern California hospital in serious, but stable condition. I am on my way up north right now to be by his side, along with the rest of our bandmates and family. Chi is one of the strongest people I know, and I'm praying that his strength will get him through this. Please say a prayer for him as well."[47] Following the accident, Cheng's bandmates and mother, Jeanne, began using the Deftones blog to post updates on Cheng's condition. In a post dated November 18, it was stated that "Chi's condition remains the same - serious, but stable. He still lies in a coma, however his vitals (heart, lungs, and blood pressure) all exhibit very stable functions and doctors have begun removing much of the excess monitoring equipment." In a blog posted dated November 9, it was reported that Chi was attended by three off-duty EMTs who happened upon the accident scene. The post goes on to state that "If not for them, the chances of Chi making to the hospital alive would have been poor." On December 9, it was announced that Chi had been moved into the care of an unnamed hospital that "specializes in the care and management of traumatic and non-trauma related brain injuries".
Diamond Eyes: 2010-Present
It was announced that the new album would be titled "Diamond Eyes", to be released May 18th, 2010. The first single from the album, "Rocket Skates", was released February 23rd; the second single is "Diamond Eyes". And The First Video Release Was "Diamond Eyes", "Rocket Skates", "Sextape", Finally "You've Seen the Butcher". All together Diamond Eyes Has sold 62,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
No Doubt
Formed in 1986 in Anaheim, California, United States as a ska punk band inspired by Madness, the lineup of No Doubt initially comprised John Spence as lead vocal, Gwen Stefani on back-up vocal, and Eric Stefani on keyboards. While playing the party-band circuit around Anaheim, the trio picked up bassist Tony Kanal. Hardened by the suicide of Spence in December 1987, No Doubt nevertheless continued; Gwen became…
Formed in 1986 in Anaheim, California, United States as a ska punk band inspired by Madness, the lineup of No Doubt initially comprised John Spence as lead vocal, Gwen Stefani on back-up vocal, and Eric Stefani on keyboards. While playing the party-band circuit around Anaheim, the trio picked up bassist Tony Kanal. Hardened by the suicide of Spence in December 1987, No Doubt nevertheless continued; Gwen became the lone vocalist and the group added guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young. During their early years on the party scene, they played with Sublime, and Brad Nowell sang on No Doubt's Total Hate 95. Gwen Stefani returned the favour on Saw Red.
No Doubt's live act began to attract regional interest, and Interscope Records signed them in 1991. The band's debut a year later, an odd fusion of '80s and ska, sank without a trace in the wake of the grunge movement. As a result, Interscope refused to support No Doubt's tour or further recordings. The band responded by recording on their own during 1993-94; the result was the self-released The Beacon Street Collection, much rawer and more punk-inspired than the debut. Eric Stefani left just after its release, later working as an animator for The Simpsons. By late 1994, Interscope allowed recordings to resume, and Tragic Kingdom was released in October 1995. The album's third single, Don't Speak, which although originally written by Eric was later altered by Gwen to document her breakup with bassist Tony Kanal. Tragic Kingdom went platinum and has sold over 15 million copies to date. As Tragic Kingdom obtained success, the band toured furiously until late '97.
After a long break, the band had prepared a more mellow, and powerfully dramatic album entitled Return Of Saturn. It emphasized Gwen's encounters with men, her biological clock, and miscellaneous topics. Although the album had a completely different approach to it, the band was making rock music with less of a punk/ska flare. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts in early April of 2000, and then declined to a flop. The public never did justice to the album, and it serves as a favorite for many die-hard fans.
While touring in Jamaica for Return of Saturn, the band wanted to try adding reggae to their music, and making more of a dance rock record. 20 months after Return of Saturn debuted, the band was quick to jump on the creation of Rock Steady, released in December of '01. The singles Underneath It All and Hey Baby became international dance club symbols as top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. This album proved that No Doubt had not lost their potential with the public, and that they could appeal to various groups of people.
In 2004, No Doubt announced they would be going on hiatus after the release of the singles compilation The Singles 1992–2003, which contained one new song, a cover of experimental rock band Talk Talk's "It's My Life". Tony Kanal did several projects with Gwen and other artists. Adrian Young married and had a child; Tom Dumont formed a new band, Invincible Overlord, often plays with Matt Costa's band. Gwen embarked on a sucessful solo career which consisted of two albums - "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." and "The Sweet Escape". The first of these albums contains the single "Hollaback Girl", a song which was inescapable for most of 2005 and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won her a Billboard Award for first track to reach 1 Million legal downloads ever. The self titled track off "The Sweet Escape" went on to become her most notorious calling card.
With the hiatus officially over in late 2008 No Doubt announced tour plans for 2009, kicking it off in Atlantic City. The tour concluded with four dates in Irvine, CA. In May, 2009, the band was featured as a fictional 80's band, "Snowed Out", on CW Network's "Gossip Girl" The band performed their cover of Adam and the Ants 'Stand and Deliver.'
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
No Doubt's live act began to attract regional interest, and Interscope Records signed them in 1991. The band's debut a year later, an odd fusion of '80s and ska, sank without a trace in the wake of the grunge movement. As a result, Interscope refused to support No Doubt's tour or further recordings. The band responded by recording on their own during 1993-94; the result was the self-released The Beacon Street Collection, much rawer and more punk-inspired than the debut. Eric Stefani left just after its release, later working as an animator for The Simpsons. By late 1994, Interscope allowed recordings to resume, and Tragic Kingdom was released in October 1995. The album's third single, Don't Speak, which although originally written by Eric was later altered by Gwen to document her breakup with bassist Tony Kanal. Tragic Kingdom went platinum and has sold over 15 million copies to date. As Tragic Kingdom obtained success, the band toured furiously until late '97.
After a long break, the band had prepared a more mellow, and powerfully dramatic album entitled Return Of Saturn. It emphasized Gwen's encounters with men, her biological clock, and miscellaneous topics. Although the album had a completely different approach to it, the band was making rock music with less of a punk/ska flare. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts in early April of 2000, and then declined to a flop. The public never did justice to the album, and it serves as a favorite for many die-hard fans.
While touring in Jamaica for Return of Saturn, the band wanted to try adding reggae to their music, and making more of a dance rock record. 20 months after Return of Saturn debuted, the band was quick to jump on the creation of Rock Steady, released in December of '01. The singles Underneath It All and Hey Baby became international dance club symbols as top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. This album proved that No Doubt had not lost their potential with the public, and that they could appeal to various groups of people.
In 2004, No Doubt announced they would be going on hiatus after the release of the singles compilation The Singles 1992–2003, which contained one new song, a cover of experimental rock band Talk Talk's "It's My Life". Tony Kanal did several projects with Gwen and other artists. Adrian Young married and had a child; Tom Dumont formed a new band, Invincible Overlord, often plays with Matt Costa's band. Gwen embarked on a sucessful solo career which consisted of two albums - "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." and "The Sweet Escape". The first of these albums contains the single "Hollaback Girl", a song which was inescapable for most of 2005 and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won her a Billboard Award for first track to reach 1 Million legal downloads ever. The self titled track off "The Sweet Escape" went on to become her most notorious calling card.
With the hiatus officially over in late 2008 No Doubt announced tour plans for 2009, kicking it off in Atlantic City. The tour concluded with four dates in Irvine, CA. In May, 2009, the band was featured as a fictional 80's band, "Snowed Out", on CW Network's "Gossip Girl" The band performed their cover of Adam and the Ants 'Stand and Deliver.'
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Violent Femmes
The Violent Femmes were an alternative rock band, formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States in 1980. The band originally consisted of Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar), Brian Ritchie (bass), and Victor DeLorenzo (drums), with second drummer Guy Hoffman being added into the band in 1993. The band split in early 2009 and their last recording was a cover of the Gnarls Barkley song "Crazy" released the previous year.
The Violent Femmes were an alternative rock band, formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States in 1980. The band originally consisted of Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar), Brian Ritchie (bass), and Victor DeLorenzo (drums), with second drummer Guy Hoffman being added into the band in 1993. The band split in early 2009 and their last recording was a cover of the Gnarls Barkley song "Crazy" released the previous year.
Their music is an innovative combination of American folk music and punk rock. The lyrics mix common adolescent themes like yearning for love, sex and affection with explorations of sin, death, and the hope of salvation. Their songs often express both a lyrical and musical sense of humor.
In its early days, the band frequently played coffee houses and street corners. They were discovered by James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders) on August 23, 1981, when the band was busking on a street corner in front of the Oriental Theatre, the Milwaukee venue that The Pretenders would be playing later that night. Chrissie Hynde invited them to play a brief acoustic set after the opening act.[1] The band signed to Slash Records and recorded their eponymous debut in July 1982.
The group quickly gained a small cult following after the release of their self-titled album that never burgeoned into widespread popularity, although a few songs from this album did get some recognition ("Add It Up", "Blister in the Sun" and "Gone Daddy Gone"). The debut album Violent Femmes went platinum ten years after its release, and "Blister in the Sun" has become an alternative rock radio staple.
Critics often attribute the Violent Femmes as laying the ground work of dynamicism for the 90s grunge rock movement.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Their music is an innovative combination of American folk music and punk rock. The lyrics mix common adolescent themes like yearning for love, sex and affection with explorations of sin, death, and the hope of salvation. Their songs often express both a lyrical and musical sense of humor.
In its early days, the band frequently played coffee houses and street corners. They were discovered by James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders) on August 23, 1981, when the band was busking on a street corner in front of the Oriental Theatre, the Milwaukee venue that The Pretenders would be playing later that night. Chrissie Hynde invited them to play a brief acoustic set after the opening act.[1] The band signed to Slash Records and recorded their eponymous debut in July 1982.
The group quickly gained a small cult following after the release of their self-titled album that never burgeoned into widespread popularity, although a few songs from this album did get some recognition ("Add It Up", "Blister in the Sun" and "Gone Daddy Gone"). The debut album Violent Femmes went platinum ten years after its release, and "Blister in the Sun" has become an alternative rock radio staple.
Critics often attribute the Violent Femmes as laying the ground work of dynamicism for the 90s grunge rock movement.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
The Early November
The band was formed by guitarists Arthur "Ace" Enders (who was born on April 19th and grew up in Bass River, New Jersey, before moving to Hammonton, New Jersey) & Jim Sacco along with bassist Sergio Anello and drummer Jeff Kummer in Hammonton, New Jersey in February 2001.
Together, they recorded a 5 track demo in Enders' basement and sent it, along with a poorly edited videotape to only one label: Drive-Thru Records.
…
Together, they recorded a 5 track demo in Enders' basement and sent it, along with a poorly edited videotape to only one label: Drive-Thru Records.
…
The band was formed by guitarists Arthur "Ace" Enders (who was born on April 19th and grew up in Bass River, New Jersey, before moving to Hammonton, New Jersey) & Jim Sacco along with bassist Sergio Anello and drummer Jeff Kummer in Hammonton, New Jersey in February 2001.
Together, they recorded a 5 track demo in Enders' basement and sent it, along with a poorly edited videotape to only one label: Drive-Thru Records.
A couple of months passed while both Sacco and Anello had to budge for more skilled replacements, Steve Nakovich (guitar) and Mike Klemash (bass), until the band got in touch with Richard Reines of Drive-Thru, who luckily was visiting their hometown and agreed to meet with the band to give advice.
Stunned by what he had heard, Reines returned to California to discuss a possible signing with Drive-Thru co-owner Stefanie Reines. A few weeks and yet another line-up change later (Joe Marro joined for Nakovich), Drive-Thru signed The Early November and put them, despite their practically non-existent on stage experience, on 2002's Skate and Surf Fest and on selected dates of the Warped Tour.
Klemash and Marro left the band before the recording of their debut EP For All Of This. Anello re-joined on bass, while a temporary second guitarist was found in John Dubitsky. The CD came out on Drive-Thru Records in early November 2002. Enders recorded The Acoustic EP on his own, featuring acoustic versions of most songs off their debut EP, which was released a mere two months later. Simultaneously, guitarist Marro had re-joined the band in exchange for Dubitsky.
Throughout 2003, the band continued to tour and write songs in preparation for their first full-length CD The Room's Too Cold, which was released in fall of that year. Soon afterwards, Enders recorded a solo record under the name I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business. The CD was almost scrapped due to Enders wanting to focus on The Early November after Kummer left the band in summer 2004 and re-joined two weeks later.
While in the long and grueling process of recording their second full-length, the band had their guitar tech Bill Lugg aka UltraBill join, and the triple disc entitled The Mother, the Mechanic and the Path was released on July 11, 2006.
On March 13th, 2007, TEN announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus after they complete their current tour. They announced this both online and at their show at the Meridian in Houston that night. They played their last show at the Bamboozle Festival in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 6th, 2007, and left open the possibility of one day returning to the stage but were grateful for everyone who supported them throughout the past 6 years.
An official statement from the band:
We would like to announce that at end of our upcoming headlining tour, The Early November will be taking an indefinite hiatus.
Throughout the past six years we have released two LP’s, two EP’s, played over one thousand shows, seen six wonderful countries, have met thousands of great people, made life-long friends, and have broken countless amounts of instruments. We have done more than we have ever thought possible for a small rock band out of southern New Jersey. We are very proud and very grateful of every moment we have spent as The Early November.
In case any of you are wondering, this is not a result of anything one can consider negative. No fighting, no one hates each other, no one has a substance abuse problem… none of the typical baggage that is usually carried along with rock bands taking a hiatus. The situation is actually much the opposite. We all love and care for on another tremendously. We’re as close of friends as we have ever been and, as long as the five of us exist, we will continue to be so. This “hiatus” or “break” is just a result of time and life. As we grow older, priorities change. We’ve decided we need to take some time and see that life isn’t all dirty rock clubs, rest stops at 2 am, and long distance phone calls. We have to be where we haven’t been in the past six years; with our friends, family, and loved ones.
We hope this isn’t completely somber news to anyone of you. We want to view it almost in the same way many cultures view the passing of a friend or loved one. Not to mourn but to celebrate their life and memory. In our small way, we’d like to do the same. We invite you to come and send off something that has meant so much to the five of us for so long. We may or may not be coming back. Who knows. But for now, all we can say is “Thank You.” “Thank You,” to everyone who was or has been a part of making our dreams a reality. Most importantly, “Thank You” to every single TEN fan. We hope you guys understand. We truly love all of you.
- Ace, Joe, Jeff, Serg, Bill
The Early November
Since then, the band have announced their reunion 2011
and an upcoming album, set to release in Spring 2012.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Together, they recorded a 5 track demo in Enders' basement and sent it, along with a poorly edited videotape to only one label: Drive-Thru Records.
A couple of months passed while both Sacco and Anello had to budge for more skilled replacements, Steve Nakovich (guitar) and Mike Klemash (bass), until the band got in touch with Richard Reines of Drive-Thru, who luckily was visiting their hometown and agreed to meet with the band to give advice.
Stunned by what he had heard, Reines returned to California to discuss a possible signing with Drive-Thru co-owner Stefanie Reines. A few weeks and yet another line-up change later (Joe Marro joined for Nakovich), Drive-Thru signed The Early November and put them, despite their practically non-existent on stage experience, on 2002's Skate and Surf Fest and on selected dates of the Warped Tour.
Klemash and Marro left the band before the recording of their debut EP For All Of This. Anello re-joined on bass, while a temporary second guitarist was found in John Dubitsky. The CD came out on Drive-Thru Records in early November 2002. Enders recorded The Acoustic EP on his own, featuring acoustic versions of most songs off their debut EP, which was released a mere two months later. Simultaneously, guitarist Marro had re-joined the band in exchange for Dubitsky.
Throughout 2003, the band continued to tour and write songs in preparation for their first full-length CD The Room's Too Cold, which was released in fall of that year. Soon afterwards, Enders recorded a solo record under the name I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business. The CD was almost scrapped due to Enders wanting to focus on The Early November after Kummer left the band in summer 2004 and re-joined two weeks later.
While in the long and grueling process of recording their second full-length, the band had their guitar tech Bill Lugg aka UltraBill join, and the triple disc entitled The Mother, the Mechanic and the Path was released on July 11, 2006.
On March 13th, 2007, TEN announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus after they complete their current tour. They announced this both online and at their show at the Meridian in Houston that night. They played their last show at the Bamboozle Festival in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 6th, 2007, and left open the possibility of one day returning to the stage but were grateful for everyone who supported them throughout the past 6 years.
An official statement from the band:
We would like to announce that at end of our upcoming headlining tour, The Early November will be taking an indefinite hiatus.
Throughout the past six years we have released two LP’s, two EP’s, played over one thousand shows, seen six wonderful countries, have met thousands of great people, made life-long friends, and have broken countless amounts of instruments. We have done more than we have ever thought possible for a small rock band out of southern New Jersey. We are very proud and very grateful of every moment we have spent as The Early November.
In case any of you are wondering, this is not a result of anything one can consider negative. No fighting, no one hates each other, no one has a substance abuse problem… none of the typical baggage that is usually carried along with rock bands taking a hiatus. The situation is actually much the opposite. We all love and care for on another tremendously. We’re as close of friends as we have ever been and, as long as the five of us exist, we will continue to be so. This “hiatus” or “break” is just a result of time and life. As we grow older, priorities change. We’ve decided we need to take some time and see that life isn’t all dirty rock clubs, rest stops at 2 am, and long distance phone calls. We have to be where we haven’t been in the past six years; with our friends, family, and loved ones.
We hope this isn’t completely somber news to anyone of you. We want to view it almost in the same way many cultures view the passing of a friend or loved one. Not to mourn but to celebrate their life and memory. In our small way, we’d like to do the same. We invite you to come and send off something that has meant so much to the five of us for so long. We may or may not be coming back. Who knows. But for now, all we can say is “Thank You.” “Thank You,” to everyone who was or has been a part of making our dreams a reality. Most importantly, “Thank You” to every single TEN fan. We hope you guys understand. We truly love all of you.
- Ace, Joe, Jeff, Serg, Bill
The Early November
Since then, the band have announced their reunion 2011
and an upcoming album, set to release in Spring 2012.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock trio formed in 1987. The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion) for the majority of its existence.
Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street, Berkeley in East Bay, CA, United States . Its early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated…
Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street, Berkeley in East Bay, CA, United States . Its early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated…
Green Day is an American rock trio formed in 1987. The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion) for the majority of its existence.
Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street, Berkeley in East Bay, CA, United States . Its early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label. Nevertheless, its major label debut Dookie (1994) became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the US. and 15 million worldwide. As a result, Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States. Green Day’s three follow-up albums, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, but they were still successful, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively. Green Day’s 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band’s popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the U.S.The band’s eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released on May 15, 2009.
Green Day has sold over 22 million records in the United States.They have won three Grammy Awards; Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
In 1987, friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, 15 years old at the time, formed a band called Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod’s Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong’s mother was working.In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with former Isocracy drummer, John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante). Kiffmeyer served as both the band’s drummer and business manager, handling the booking of shows and helping the band establish a fan base.
Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early show and signed them to his label. In 1989 they recorded their first EP, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children, according to Livermore this was done in order to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby.The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.
Lookout! would release Green Day’s first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs they had recorded for Minneapolis indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band’s first nationwide tour, Sobrante left the East Bay area to attend college. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan on committing to the band full time, Tré Cool’s position as Green Day’s drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The band’s second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S., which was considered quite a large amount for the independent punk scene in 1992.
Kerplunk’s underground success led to a wave of interest coming from major record labels, and eventually they left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. Signing to Reprise caused many punk rock fans to regard Green Day as sellouts.Reflecting on the period, Armstrong told SPIN magazine in 1999, “I couldn’t go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure … The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward.” After signing with Reprise, the band went to work on recording its major label debut, Dookie.
“Longview”
Play sound
Sample of “Longview”, the first single from Dookie, which combined a memorable bass line with a guitar riff and drums introduced in the chorus.
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“Basket Case”
Play sound
Sample of “Basket Case”, the third single from Dookie, which was about Armstrong’s panic attacks.
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Released in February 1994, and recorded in 3 weeks,Dookie became a commercial success, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos of the songs “Longview”, “Basket Case”, and “When I Come Around”, all of which reached the number one position on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. That year, Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour with queercore band Pansy Division as its opening act. At a September 9, 1994 concert at Boston Esplanade, mayhem broke-out during the band’s set (cut short to seven songs) and by the end of the rampage, 100 people were injured and 45 arrested. The band also joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza festival and Woodstock 1994, where they started an infamous mud fight. During the concert, a security guard mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a stage-invading fan and punched out some of his teeth. Viewed by millions via pay-per-view television, the Woodstock 1994 performance further aided Green Day’s growing publicity and recognition, and helped push its album to eventual diamond status. In 1995, Dookie won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and the band was nominated for 9 MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year.
The full fold-out artwork to Insomniac, entitled God Told Me to Skin You Alive.
In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, titled “J.A.R.”. The single went straight to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by the band’s new album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker and heavier response by the band, compared to the poppier, more melodic Dookie. Insomniac opened to a warm critical reception, earning 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone, which said “In punk, the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets.”Insomniac used a piece of art by Winston Smith entitled God Told Me to Skin You Alive for its album cover. The singles released from Insomniac were “Geek Stink Breath”, “Brain Stew/Jaded”, “Walking Contradiction”, and “Stuck With Me”. Though the album did not approach the success of Dookie, it still sold two million copies in the United States.Insomniac won the band award nominations for Favorite Artist, Favorite Hard Rock Artist, and Favorite Alternative Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards, and the video for “Walking Contradiction” got the band a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form, in addition to a Best Special Effects nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards.[20] After that, the band abruptly cancelled a European tour, citing exhaustion.
Middle era: 1997–2002
After taking a break in 1996, Green Day began to work on a new album in 1997. From the outset, both the band and Cavallo agreed that the album had to be different from its previous records.The result was Nimrod, an experimental deviation from the band’s standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, from pop-punk, surf rock, and ska, to an acoustic ballad. Nimrod entered the charts at number 10. The success of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song’s video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Billie Joe Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar. The song was also used in the second “clip show” episode of Seinfeld and on two episodes of ER. The other singles released from Nimrod were “Nice Guys Finish Last”, “Hitchin’ a Ride” and “Redundant”. The band made a guest appearance in an episode of King of the Hill entitled “The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg”, which aired in 1997.
In 2000, Green Day released Warning, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with Nimrod. Critics’ reviews of the album were varied.Allmusic gave it 4.5/5 saying “Warning may not be an innovative record per se, but it’s tremendously satisfying.” Rolling Stone was more critical, giving it 3/5, and saying “Warning… invites the question: Who wants to listen to songs of faith, hope and social commentary from what used to be snot-core’s biggest-selling band?” Though it produced the hit “Minority” and a smaller hit with “Warning”, some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance,and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day’s past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning was only certified gold.
At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight awards that they were nominated for. They won the awards for Outstanding Album (Warning), Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album (Warning), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Male Vocalist, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer, Outstanding Songwriter and Outstanding Artist
The release of a Greatest Hits compilation, International Superhits!, and an assemblage of B-sides, Shenanigans, followed Warning. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, International Supervideos!, sold reasonably well, going platinum in the U.S. Shenanigans contained some of the band’s b-sides, including “Espionage” which was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In the spring of 2002, Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Blink-182. Despite the co-headlining title, Green Day would play each show before Blink-182, who at the time were experiencing more success. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding In Vans With Boys.
American Idiot and renewed popularity: 2003–2006
Spectators watch Green Day from the grass slopes at the National Bowl.
In the summer of 2003 the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band chose not to try to re-create the stolen album, but instead started over. By the end of 2003, Green Day collaborated with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album Skull Ring. On February 1, 2004 a new song, a cover of “I Fought the Law” made its debut on a commercial for iTunes during NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII. The band underwent serious “band therapy,” engaging in several long talks to work out the members’ differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was “the band’s Nazi” and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members.
The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, the band’s first ever album to top the chart, backed by the success of the album’s first single, “American Idiot.” The album was billed as a “punk rock opera” which follows the journey of the fictitious “Jesus of Suburbia”. American Idiot won the 2005 Grammy for “Best Rock Album” and the band swept the 2005 MTV music awards, winning a total of seven of the eight awards they were nominated for, including the coveted Viewer’s Choice Award.
Through 2005, the band toured in support of the album with about 150 dates — the longest tour in its career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and the United Kingdom, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted ‘The Best Show On Earth’ in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll.
These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured hits from American Idiot as well as a few songs from all its previous albums, except “Kerplunk” and “1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours”. The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of its 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People’s Choice Award for favorite group.
Green Day live in Germany during the American Idiot tour.
On August 1, 2005, Green Day announced that that it had rescinded the master rights to its pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing a continuing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties, a complaint shared with other Lookout! bands. The pre-Dookie material, which remained out of print for about a year, was reissued by the band’s current label, Reprise, on January 9, 2007.
In 2006, Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks, a record it shared along with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Scar Tissue” and Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile,” (the record has been since been beaten by Foo Fighters’ 2007 hit “The Pretender” which reigned at the top spot for 18 weeks).
Foxboro Hot Tubs and 21st Century Breakdown: 2007 onward
Green Day engaged in several other smaller projects in the time following the hype of American Idiot. In the spring of 2007, Green Day recorded a cover of the John Lennon song “Working Class Hero”, which appeared on a compilation album “Instant Karma”, that benefitted victims in Darfur. In the summer of 2007, Green Day recorded a version of The Simpsons theme song for The Simpsons Movie, as well as having an appearance in the movie.
Green Day recently released a new album under the name Foxboro Hot Tubs entitled Stop Drop and Roll!!!. In an interview with Kerrang!, Billie Joe revealed that 2008 would “be a fair estimate of the release date of their new untitled eighth studio album.”In a recent interview with Carson Daly, Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson revealed that Butch Vig would be producing Green Day’s forthcoming album. In October 2008 Green Day returned to the studios with Butch Vig, to start recording the new studio album. Two videos showing the band in the studio were posted on YouTube. In the tour section of the band’s official website, the message “World Tour coming soon!” is shown.In the December 9 issue of Alternative Press, in-depth details about the new album were released. According to the interview, Green Day are recording in the same studio as they did for American Idiot, Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, California. “This album is more… religious”, and is influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and The Beatles, to name a few.Billie Joe Armstrong said when he was being interviewed for Kerrang!’s readers poll, that it will be more power pop than punk rock.The new album is titled 21st Century Breakdown and was released worldwide on May 15, 2009. Green Day will be going on a world tour starting with North America in July, 2009 until sometime in 2010. Singles from 21st Century Breakdown include Know Your Enemy and 21 Guns.
Musical style and influences
Green Day’s sound is often compared to first wave punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Jam, and the Buzzcocks. The majority of their song catalog is composed of distorted guitar, fast, manic drums, and relatively high-treble bass. Most of their songs are fast-paced and under four minutes. Billie Joe Armstrong has mentioned that some of his biggest influences are seminal alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, and that their influence is particularly noted in the band’s chord changes in songs. In fact, Green Day has covered Hüsker Dü’s “Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely” as a b-side for the “Warning” single, and the character “Mr. Whirly” in their song “Misery” is a reference to the Replacements song of the same name. Among other influences, Green Day have also cited Queen,proto-punks The Who, and power pop pioneers Cheap Trick [46]. Armstrong’s lyrics commonly describe alienation, (“Jesus of Suburbia”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Road to Acceptance”, “Disappearing Boy”, “Castaway”) hysteria (“Basket Case”, “Panic Song”), girls (“She”, “80” “Only of You”,”Maria” “She’s a Rebel”), growing up (“Longview” and “Welcome to Paradise”), and the effects of doing drugs (“Geek Stink Breath”, “Green Day”). The Ramones had similar lyrical themes such as hysteria (“Anxiety”, “Psycho Therapy”), alienation (“Outsider”, “Something To Believe In”), girls (“I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”), and drugs (“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”, “Chinese Rocks”). Green Day has covered Ramones songs several times, including recording “Outsider” for the tribute album We’re a Happy Family, and performing “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Teenage Lobotomy” when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
Criticism and controversy
Beginning with the release of Dookie, and the subsequent explosion of MTV airplay it received, Green Day has received considerable criticism from those who see the punk genre as a social movement independent of corporate sponsorship. With the release of American Idiot and the subsequent draw of many new fans, much of this criticism has been revived.
One of the more contentious issues is genre labeling. In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, many fans and musicians have taken heavy objection to the usage of the term “punk” when applied to Green Day. This is evidenced by the following comments issued by John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), former front man of both the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols and the 1980s post-punk, Public Image Ltd.:
“ So there we are fending off all that and it pisses me off that years later a wank outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn’t earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn’t look anything like they do. ”
Brandon Flowers of The Killers went on record in 2007 claiming that Green Day’s politically driven concept album American Idiot displays “calculated Anti-Americanism.” He explained that he has problems with the album content itself and also the fact that the band’s recent live DVD, Bullet in a Bible, was filmed in England. The taping of the concert, featured on Bullet in a Bible, shows thousands of Europeans singing along to “American Idiot.” Stating that he felt Green Day’s DVD is a bit of a stunt, he said, “I just thought it was really cheap. To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song - those kids aren’t taking it the same way that he meant it. And he (Billie Joe Armstrong) knew it.”
More recently, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has accused the band of ripping off his song “Wonderwall” for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
Related projects
Main article: Green Day related projects
Ever since 1991, some members of the band have branched out past Green Day and have started other projects with other musicians. Notable related projects of Green Day include Billie Joe Armstrong’s Pinhead Gunpowder (which also features Green Day’s live backup guitarist Jason White), The Frustrators in which Mike Dirnt plays bass, and The Network, in which all three members of Green Day play under fake stage names. Billie Joe Armstrong has also confirmed that the main members of Green Day are in the band Foxboro Hot Tubs. A Foxboro Hot Tubs album titled Stop Drop and Roll!!! was released on 2008-05-20.
Charity projects that the band have been involved with include the collaboration with U2 (“The Saints Are Coming”) to help raise money for musical instruments lost in Hurricane Katrina, and teaming with the Natural Resources Defense Council for the “Move America Beyond Oil” campaign and other environmental concerns.
In September 2006, Green Day teamed up with U2 and producer Rick Rubin to record a cover of the song “The Saints Are Coming”, originally recorded by The Skids, with an accompanying video. The song is to benefit Music Rising, an organization to help raise money for musicians’ instruments lost during Hurricane Katrina, and to bring awareness on the eve of the one year anniversary of the disaster.
“Working Class Hero”
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“Working Class Hero”, a cover of a John Lennon song, was released on the Instant Karma CD.
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In December 2006, Green Day and NRDC opened a web site in partnership to raise awareness on America’s dependency on oil. (See related projects.)
Green Day released a cover of the John Lennon song “Working Class Hero”, that was featured on the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The band performed the song on the season finale of American Idol. The song was nominated for a Grammy in 2008, but lost to The White Stripes’ “Icky Thump”.
That summer, the band appeared in a cameo role in The Simpsons Movie, where they perform the show’s theme song. Their version was released as a single on July 24, 2007.
Band members
Current
* Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitars (1987–present)
* Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals (1987–present)
* Tré Cool – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1990–present)
with
* Jason White – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1999–present)
* Jason Freese – keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, trombone, saxophone, accordion, backing vocals (2003–present)
* Ronnie Blake – trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (2004–present)
* Mike Pelino – rhythm guitars, backing vocals (2004–present)
Former
* John Kiffmeyer – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1987–1990)
Former touring musicians
* Gabrial McNair – trombone, tenor saxophone (1999–2001)
* Timmy Chunks – guitar (1997–1999)
* Garth Schultz – trombone, trumpet (1997–1999)
* Kurt Lohmiller – trumpet, timpani, percussion, vocals (1999–2004)
Session
* Gabrial McNair – trombone on Nimrod (1997)
* Petra Haden – violin on Nimrod (1997)
* Rob Cavallo – piano on American Idiot (2004)
* Stephen Bradley – trumpet on Nimrod (1997) and Warning (2000)
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Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street, Berkeley in East Bay, CA, United States . Its early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label. Nevertheless, its major label debut Dookie (1994) became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the US. and 15 million worldwide. As a result, Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States. Green Day’s three follow-up albums, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, but they were still successful, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively. Green Day’s 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band’s popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the U.S.The band’s eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released on May 15, 2009.
Green Day has sold over 22 million records in the United States.They have won three Grammy Awards; Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
In 1987, friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, 15 years old at the time, formed a band called Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod’s Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong’s mother was working.In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with former Isocracy drummer, John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante). Kiffmeyer served as both the band’s drummer and business manager, handling the booking of shows and helping the band establish a fan base.
Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early show and signed them to his label. In 1989 they recorded their first EP, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children, according to Livermore this was done in order to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby.The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.
Lookout! would release Green Day’s first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs they had recorded for Minneapolis indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band’s first nationwide tour, Sobrante left the East Bay area to attend college. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan on committing to the band full time, Tré Cool’s position as Green Day’s drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The band’s second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S., which was considered quite a large amount for the independent punk scene in 1992.
Kerplunk’s underground success led to a wave of interest coming from major record labels, and eventually they left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. Signing to Reprise caused many punk rock fans to regard Green Day as sellouts.Reflecting on the period, Armstrong told SPIN magazine in 1999, “I couldn’t go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure … The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward.” After signing with Reprise, the band went to work on recording its major label debut, Dookie.
“Longview”
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Sample of “Longview”, the first single from Dookie, which combined a memorable bass line with a guitar riff and drums introduced in the chorus.
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“Basket Case”
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Sample of “Basket Case”, the third single from Dookie, which was about Armstrong’s panic attacks.
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Released in February 1994, and recorded in 3 weeks,Dookie became a commercial success, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos of the songs “Longview”, “Basket Case”, and “When I Come Around”, all of which reached the number one position on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. That year, Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour with queercore band Pansy Division as its opening act. At a September 9, 1994 concert at Boston Esplanade, mayhem broke-out during the band’s set (cut short to seven songs) and by the end of the rampage, 100 people were injured and 45 arrested. The band also joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza festival and Woodstock 1994, where they started an infamous mud fight. During the concert, a security guard mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a stage-invading fan and punched out some of his teeth. Viewed by millions via pay-per-view television, the Woodstock 1994 performance further aided Green Day’s growing publicity and recognition, and helped push its album to eventual diamond status. In 1995, Dookie won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and the band was nominated for 9 MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year.
The full fold-out artwork to Insomniac, entitled God Told Me to Skin You Alive.
In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, titled “J.A.R.”. The single went straight to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by the band’s new album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker and heavier response by the band, compared to the poppier, more melodic Dookie. Insomniac opened to a warm critical reception, earning 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone, which said “In punk, the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets.”Insomniac used a piece of art by Winston Smith entitled God Told Me to Skin You Alive for its album cover. The singles released from Insomniac were “Geek Stink Breath”, “Brain Stew/Jaded”, “Walking Contradiction”, and “Stuck With Me”. Though the album did not approach the success of Dookie, it still sold two million copies in the United States.Insomniac won the band award nominations for Favorite Artist, Favorite Hard Rock Artist, and Favorite Alternative Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards, and the video for “Walking Contradiction” got the band a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form, in addition to a Best Special Effects nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards.[20] After that, the band abruptly cancelled a European tour, citing exhaustion.
Middle era: 1997–2002
After taking a break in 1996, Green Day began to work on a new album in 1997. From the outset, both the band and Cavallo agreed that the album had to be different from its previous records.The result was Nimrod, an experimental deviation from the band’s standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, from pop-punk, surf rock, and ska, to an acoustic ballad. Nimrod entered the charts at number 10. The success of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song’s video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Billie Joe Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar. The song was also used in the second “clip show” episode of Seinfeld and on two episodes of ER. The other singles released from Nimrod were “Nice Guys Finish Last”, “Hitchin’ a Ride” and “Redundant”. The band made a guest appearance in an episode of King of the Hill entitled “The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg”, which aired in 1997.
In 2000, Green Day released Warning, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with Nimrod. Critics’ reviews of the album were varied.Allmusic gave it 4.5/5 saying “Warning may not be an innovative record per se, but it’s tremendously satisfying.” Rolling Stone was more critical, giving it 3/5, and saying “Warning… invites the question: Who wants to listen to songs of faith, hope and social commentary from what used to be snot-core’s biggest-selling band?” Though it produced the hit “Minority” and a smaller hit with “Warning”, some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance,and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day’s past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning was only certified gold.
At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight awards that they were nominated for. They won the awards for Outstanding Album (Warning), Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album (Warning), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Male Vocalist, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer, Outstanding Songwriter and Outstanding Artist
The release of a Greatest Hits compilation, International Superhits!, and an assemblage of B-sides, Shenanigans, followed Warning. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, International Supervideos!, sold reasonably well, going platinum in the U.S. Shenanigans contained some of the band’s b-sides, including “Espionage” which was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In the spring of 2002, Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Blink-182. Despite the co-headlining title, Green Day would play each show before Blink-182, who at the time were experiencing more success. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding In Vans With Boys.
American Idiot and renewed popularity: 2003–2006
Spectators watch Green Day from the grass slopes at the National Bowl.
In the summer of 2003 the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band chose not to try to re-create the stolen album, but instead started over. By the end of 2003, Green Day collaborated with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album Skull Ring. On February 1, 2004 a new song, a cover of “I Fought the Law” made its debut on a commercial for iTunes during NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII. The band underwent serious “band therapy,” engaging in several long talks to work out the members’ differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was “the band’s Nazi” and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members.
The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, the band’s first ever album to top the chart, backed by the success of the album’s first single, “American Idiot.” The album was billed as a “punk rock opera” which follows the journey of the fictitious “Jesus of Suburbia”. American Idiot won the 2005 Grammy for “Best Rock Album” and the band swept the 2005 MTV music awards, winning a total of seven of the eight awards they were nominated for, including the coveted Viewer’s Choice Award.
Through 2005, the band toured in support of the album with about 150 dates — the longest tour in its career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and the United Kingdom, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted ‘The Best Show On Earth’ in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll.
These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured hits from American Idiot as well as a few songs from all its previous albums, except “Kerplunk” and “1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours”. The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of its 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People’s Choice Award for favorite group.
Green Day live in Germany during the American Idiot tour.
On August 1, 2005, Green Day announced that that it had rescinded the master rights to its pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing a continuing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties, a complaint shared with other Lookout! bands. The pre-Dookie material, which remained out of print for about a year, was reissued by the band’s current label, Reprise, on January 9, 2007.
In 2006, Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks, a record it shared along with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Scar Tissue” and Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile,” (the record has been since been beaten by Foo Fighters’ 2007 hit “The Pretender” which reigned at the top spot for 18 weeks).
Foxboro Hot Tubs and 21st Century Breakdown: 2007 onward
Green Day engaged in several other smaller projects in the time following the hype of American Idiot. In the spring of 2007, Green Day recorded a cover of the John Lennon song “Working Class Hero”, which appeared on a compilation album “Instant Karma”, that benefitted victims in Darfur. In the summer of 2007, Green Day recorded a version of The Simpsons theme song for The Simpsons Movie, as well as having an appearance in the movie.
Green Day recently released a new album under the name Foxboro Hot Tubs entitled Stop Drop and Roll!!!. In an interview with Kerrang!, Billie Joe revealed that 2008 would “be a fair estimate of the release date of their new untitled eighth studio album.”In a recent interview with Carson Daly, Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson revealed that Butch Vig would be producing Green Day’s forthcoming album. In October 2008 Green Day returned to the studios with Butch Vig, to start recording the new studio album. Two videos showing the band in the studio were posted on YouTube. In the tour section of the band’s official website, the message “World Tour coming soon!” is shown.In the December 9 issue of Alternative Press, in-depth details about the new album were released. According to the interview, Green Day are recording in the same studio as they did for American Idiot, Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, California. “This album is more… religious”, and is influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and The Beatles, to name a few.Billie Joe Armstrong said when he was being interviewed for Kerrang!’s readers poll, that it will be more power pop than punk rock.The new album is titled 21st Century Breakdown and was released worldwide on May 15, 2009. Green Day will be going on a world tour starting with North America in July, 2009 until sometime in 2010. Singles from 21st Century Breakdown include Know Your Enemy and 21 Guns.
Musical style and influences
Green Day’s sound is often compared to first wave punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Jam, and the Buzzcocks. The majority of their song catalog is composed of distorted guitar, fast, manic drums, and relatively high-treble bass. Most of their songs are fast-paced and under four minutes. Billie Joe Armstrong has mentioned that some of his biggest influences are seminal alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, and that their influence is particularly noted in the band’s chord changes in songs. In fact, Green Day has covered Hüsker Dü’s “Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely” as a b-side for the “Warning” single, and the character “Mr. Whirly” in their song “Misery” is a reference to the Replacements song of the same name. Among other influences, Green Day have also cited Queen,proto-punks The Who, and power pop pioneers Cheap Trick [46]. Armstrong’s lyrics commonly describe alienation, (“Jesus of Suburbia”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Road to Acceptance”, “Disappearing Boy”, “Castaway”) hysteria (“Basket Case”, “Panic Song”), girls (“She”, “80” “Only of You”,”Maria” “She’s a Rebel”), growing up (“Longview” and “Welcome to Paradise”), and the effects of doing drugs (“Geek Stink Breath”, “Green Day”). The Ramones had similar lyrical themes such as hysteria (“Anxiety”, “Psycho Therapy”), alienation (“Outsider”, “Something To Believe In”), girls (“I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”), and drugs (“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”, “Chinese Rocks”). Green Day has covered Ramones songs several times, including recording “Outsider” for the tribute album We’re a Happy Family, and performing “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Teenage Lobotomy” when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
Criticism and controversy
Beginning with the release of Dookie, and the subsequent explosion of MTV airplay it received, Green Day has received considerable criticism from those who see the punk genre as a social movement independent of corporate sponsorship. With the release of American Idiot and the subsequent draw of many new fans, much of this criticism has been revived.
One of the more contentious issues is genre labeling. In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, many fans and musicians have taken heavy objection to the usage of the term “punk” when applied to Green Day. This is evidenced by the following comments issued by John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), former front man of both the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols and the 1980s post-punk, Public Image Ltd.:
“ So there we are fending off all that and it pisses me off that years later a wank outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn’t earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn’t look anything like they do. ”
Brandon Flowers of The Killers went on record in 2007 claiming that Green Day’s politically driven concept album American Idiot displays “calculated Anti-Americanism.” He explained that he has problems with the album content itself and also the fact that the band’s recent live DVD, Bullet in a Bible, was filmed in England. The taping of the concert, featured on Bullet in a Bible, shows thousands of Europeans singing along to “American Idiot.” Stating that he felt Green Day’s DVD is a bit of a stunt, he said, “I just thought it was really cheap. To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song - those kids aren’t taking it the same way that he meant it. And he (Billie Joe Armstrong) knew it.”
More recently, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has accused the band of ripping off his song “Wonderwall” for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
Related projects
Main article: Green Day related projects
Ever since 1991, some members of the band have branched out past Green Day and have started other projects with other musicians. Notable related projects of Green Day include Billie Joe Armstrong’s Pinhead Gunpowder (which also features Green Day’s live backup guitarist Jason White), The Frustrators in which Mike Dirnt plays bass, and The Network, in which all three members of Green Day play under fake stage names. Billie Joe Armstrong has also confirmed that the main members of Green Day are in the band Foxboro Hot Tubs. A Foxboro Hot Tubs album titled Stop Drop and Roll!!! was released on 2008-05-20.
Charity projects that the band have been involved with include the collaboration with U2 (“The Saints Are Coming”) to help raise money for musical instruments lost in Hurricane Katrina, and teaming with the Natural Resources Defense Council for the “Move America Beyond Oil” campaign and other environmental concerns.
In September 2006, Green Day teamed up with U2 and producer Rick Rubin to record a cover of the song “The Saints Are Coming”, originally recorded by The Skids, with an accompanying video. The song is to benefit Music Rising, an organization to help raise money for musicians’ instruments lost during Hurricane Katrina, and to bring awareness on the eve of the one year anniversary of the disaster.
“Working Class Hero”
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“Working Class Hero”, a cover of a John Lennon song, was released on the Instant Karma CD.
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In December 2006, Green Day and NRDC opened a web site in partnership to raise awareness on America’s dependency on oil. (See related projects.)
Green Day released a cover of the John Lennon song “Working Class Hero”, that was featured on the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The band performed the song on the season finale of American Idol. The song was nominated for a Grammy in 2008, but lost to The White Stripes’ “Icky Thump”.
That summer, the band appeared in a cameo role in The Simpsons Movie, where they perform the show’s theme song. Their version was released as a single on July 24, 2007.
Band members
Current
* Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitars (1987–present)
* Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals (1987–present)
* Tré Cool – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1990–present)
with
* Jason White – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1999–present)
* Jason Freese – keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, trombone, saxophone, accordion, backing vocals (2003–present)
* Ronnie Blake – trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (2004–present)
* Mike Pelino – rhythm guitars, backing vocals (2004–present)
Former
* John Kiffmeyer – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1987–1990)
Former touring musicians
* Gabrial McNair – trombone, tenor saxophone (1999–2001)
* Timmy Chunks – guitar (1997–1999)
* Garth Schultz – trombone, trumpet (1997–1999)
* Kurt Lohmiller – trumpet, timpani, percussion, vocals (1999–2004)
Session
* Gabrial McNair – trombone on Nimrod (1997)
* Petra Haden – violin on Nimrod (1997)
* Rob Cavallo – piano on American Idiot (2004)
* Stephen Bradley – trumpet on Nimrod (1997) and Warning (2000)
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New Order
New Order is an alternative rock/electronic dance band which formed in 1980 in Salford, England, United Kingdom by the three remaining members of Joy Division. The band's classic lineup consists of Bernard Sumner (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Peter Hook (bass, electronic percussion), Gillian Gilbert (keyboards, guitar) and Stephen Morris (drums, keyboards). The group effectively disbanded in 1993 but reformed in 1998. Gilbert left in 2001…
New Order is an alternative rock/electronic dance band which formed in 1980 in Salford, England, United Kingdom by the three remaining members of Joy Division. The band's classic lineup consists of Bernard Sumner (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Peter Hook (bass, electronic percussion), Gillian Gilbert (keyboards, guitar) and Stephen Morris (drums, keyboards). The group effectively disbanded in 1993 but reformed in 1998. Gilbert left in 2001 to look after her and Morris' children and was replaced by guitarist/keyboardist Phil Cunningham. Hook left acrimoniously in 2007 and declared the band to be defunct. Initially, Sumner, Cunningham and Morris denied the band had split up, but in 2009, following the release of the trio's Bad Lieutenant album, they admitted that that they could not continue on without Hook and officially disbanded. However, the band reformed in 2011 for a pair of charity dates without Hook, with Gilbert returning to the fold and Tom Chapman replacing Hook on bass.
Pioneers of dance music in the 1980's and one of the first bands to effectively and popularly synthesize keyboard- and guitar-based music, New Order's members hailed from Salford and Macclesfield, England out of the ashes of Joy Division, are noted as being one of the first bands to bridge the gap between post-punk and dancefloor. They were Factory Records' highest selling artist. They also funded Factory's famous Manchester club, The Haçienda. The band partnered with Quincy Jones's american label Qwest, recorded with legendary hip-hop producer Arthur Baker (on 1983's single "Confusion" and 1984's "Thieves Like Us"), and they embraced Ibizan club culture on the album, Technique.
The band was formed in 1980 by the three surviving members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of Joy Division after the lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. Morris' girlfriend (and later wife) Gillian Gilbert joined in October 1980 on keyboards and occasional guitar shortly after contributing guitar to the second release of New Order's first single "Ceremony". Their early music followed in the same vein as Joy Division, most notably on debut album Movement. This is mostly seen now as a 'transitional' album where the new 4-piece band was trying to find a new identity.
They continued to develop their music and their identity with tracks such as "Procession" and "Temptation" until 1983 when, under the influence of early electro funk and Italo-Disco tracks (most notably Klein & MBO's Dirty Talk), they released "Blue Monday", arguably their most famous song and the biggest-selling 12" single of all time. This came in such a detailed Peter Saville-designed sleeve (replicating a floppy disc) that it is claimed by some that the band's record company, Factory, lost money on every copy sold.
The release of "Blue Monday" coincided with the album Power, Corruption & Lies which further developed their dance/rock crossover. Other albums followed in 1985 (Low-Life), 1986 (Brotherhood) and 1989 (Technique, influenced heavily by Ibiza's acid house scene). In 1990 the band scored their sole number 1 hit with a song written by Keith Allen and performed with the England football team, "World in Motion", the official England World Cup song. One more album, Republic followed in May 1993, which was released by London Records after the collapse of Factory in November 1992.
The band effectively split in 1993 to pursue solo projects, but returned with a triumphant gig at the Reading Festival in 1998. After the recording of 2001's Get Ready album Gillian Gilbert left the band amicably for family reasons - her and Stephen's daughter Grace had been diagnosed with Transverse myelitis and she came to the decision that it would be easier for the band to replace her than her husband. They have since gone on to produce one more album with the help of Phil Cunningham of Marion when they released their last album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call.
Hook left acrimoniously in 2007 and according to him, the band has effectively broken up. However, Sumner, Cunningham and Morris repeatedly denied that the band was over, and that if Hook no longer wanted to be in the band, that was his choice. Hook has since threatened to take legal action if they attempt to continue as New Order. In 2009, Sumner, Morris and Cunningham announced that they did not plan on continuing on as New Order without Hook. However, in September 2011 it was announced that they will reform as New Order for two concerts in October (Brussels and Paris), without Hook but with Gillian Gilbert. Hook's replacement is Tom Chapman, who is also in Bad Lieutenant with Sumner, Morris and Cunningham.
Discography (studio albums):
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Collaborations and other projects:
Shortly after the split, Sumner and Cunningham formed Bad Lieutenant. The band's debut album Never Cry Another Tear, released in 2009, features Morris on drums on several tracks, although he is not an official member of the band and has committed to continue musical projects with Gillian Gilbert. The band's various solo projects understandably seemed to contain elements of the New Order 'sound', and gave some clues as to each member's contribution to the band.
Bernard Sumner worked with Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) and Neil Tennant (of The Pet Shop Boys) in the 'supergroup', Electronic. Peter Hook formed the bands Revenge and, later, Monaco. These projects gained some commercial success. Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert recorded two albums of songs as The Other Two, and also did scoring work for film and television.
Each of New Order's four original members have, at various times, acted as producers and/or guest musicians under the moniker of Be Music for a myriad of Factory labelmates and other artists, including: Section 25, A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays, Paul Haig, The Stockholm Monsters, The Stone Roses, and stanton miranda.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Pioneers of dance music in the 1980's and one of the first bands to effectively and popularly synthesize keyboard- and guitar-based music, New Order's members hailed from Salford and Macclesfield, England out of the ashes of Joy Division, are noted as being one of the first bands to bridge the gap between post-punk and dancefloor. They were Factory Records' highest selling artist. They also funded Factory's famous Manchester club, The Haçienda. The band partnered with Quincy Jones's american label Qwest, recorded with legendary hip-hop producer Arthur Baker (on 1983's single "Confusion" and 1984's "Thieves Like Us"), and they embraced Ibizan club culture on the album, Technique.
The band was formed in 1980 by the three surviving members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of Joy Division after the lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. Morris' girlfriend (and later wife) Gillian Gilbert joined in October 1980 on keyboards and occasional guitar shortly after contributing guitar to the second release of New Order's first single "Ceremony". Their early music followed in the same vein as Joy Division, most notably on debut album Movement. This is mostly seen now as a 'transitional' album where the new 4-piece band was trying to find a new identity.
They continued to develop their music and their identity with tracks such as "Procession" and "Temptation" until 1983 when, under the influence of early electro funk and Italo-Disco tracks (most notably Klein & MBO's Dirty Talk), they released "Blue Monday", arguably their most famous song and the biggest-selling 12" single of all time. This came in such a detailed Peter Saville-designed sleeve (replicating a floppy disc) that it is claimed by some that the band's record company, Factory, lost money on every copy sold.
The release of "Blue Monday" coincided with the album Power, Corruption & Lies which further developed their dance/rock crossover. Other albums followed in 1985 (Low-Life), 1986 (Brotherhood) and 1989 (Technique, influenced heavily by Ibiza's acid house scene). In 1990 the band scored their sole number 1 hit with a song written by Keith Allen and performed with the England football team, "World in Motion", the official England World Cup song. One more album, Republic followed in May 1993, which was released by London Records after the collapse of Factory in November 1992.
The band effectively split in 1993 to pursue solo projects, but returned with a triumphant gig at the Reading Festival in 1998. After the recording of 2001's Get Ready album Gillian Gilbert left the band amicably for family reasons - her and Stephen's daughter Grace had been diagnosed with Transverse myelitis and she came to the decision that it would be easier for the band to replace her than her husband. They have since gone on to produce one more album with the help of Phil Cunningham of Marion when they released their last album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call.
Hook left acrimoniously in 2007 and according to him, the band has effectively broken up. However, Sumner, Cunningham and Morris repeatedly denied that the band was over, and that if Hook no longer wanted to be in the band, that was his choice. Hook has since threatened to take legal action if they attempt to continue as New Order. In 2009, Sumner, Morris and Cunningham announced that they did not plan on continuing on as New Order without Hook. However, in September 2011 it was announced that they will reform as New Order for two concerts in October (Brussels and Paris), without Hook but with Gillian Gilbert. Hook's replacement is Tom Chapman, who is also in Bad Lieutenant with Sumner, Morris and Cunningham.
Discography (studio albums):
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Collaborations and other projects:
Shortly after the split, Sumner and Cunningham formed Bad Lieutenant. The band's debut album Never Cry Another Tear, released in 2009, features Morris on drums on several tracks, although he is not an official member of the band and has committed to continue musical projects with Gillian Gilbert. The band's various solo projects understandably seemed to contain elements of the New Order 'sound', and gave some clues as to each member's contribution to the band.
Bernard Sumner worked with Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) and Neil Tennant (of The Pet Shop Boys) in the 'supergroup', Electronic. Peter Hook formed the bands Revenge and, later, Monaco. These projects gained some commercial success. Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert recorded two albums of songs as The Other Two, and also did scoring work for film and television.
Each of New Order's four original members have, at various times, acted as producers and/or guest musicians under the moniker of Be Music for a myriad of Factory labelmates and other artists, including: Section 25, A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays, Paul Haig, The Stockholm Monsters, The Stone Roses, and stanton miranda.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
