Song meanings and facts...quality music

Songmeaning - Layla

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:46:00 +0000

From Derek and the Dominos to Eric Clapton

This is about George Harrison's wife, Pattie. She and Clapton began living together in 1974 and married in 1979. Clapton and Harrison remained good friends, with George playing at their wedding along with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Clapton left her for actress Lory Del Santo (with whom he had his son, Conor) in 1985. In an article published in The Guardian December 13, 2008, Pattie said: "I wasn't so happy when Eric wrote 'Layla,' while I was still married to George. I felt I was being exposed. I was amazed and thrilled at the song - it was so passionate and devastatingly dramatic - but I wanted to hang on to my marriage. Eric made this public declaration of love. I resisted his attentions for a long time - I didn't want to leave my husband. But obviously when things got so excruciatingly bad for George and me it was the end of our relationship. We both had to move on. Layla was based on a book by a 12th-century Persian poet called Nizami about a man who is in love with an unobtainable woman. The song was fantastically painful and beautiful. After I married Eric we were invited out for an evening and he was sitting round playing his guitar while I was trying on dresses upstairs. I was taking so long and I was panicking about my hair, my clothes, everything, and I came downstairs expecting him to really berate me but he said, 'Listen to this!' In the time I had taken to get ready he had written "Wonderful Tonight." I was a bit more hurt when Eric wrote Old Love (1989). The end of a relationship is a sad enough thing, but to then have Eric writing about it as well. It makes me more sad, I think, because I can't answer back."

Duane Allman came up with the famous guitar riff and played lead with Clapton. Allman was a big Clapton fan and arranged to drop by the session through Tom Dowd, who produced the Allman Brothers' album Idlewild South. Dowd was working with Clapton on the Derek and the Dominos album and made sure Duane paid a visit. When he came by, Allman was thrilled to learn that Clapton not only knew who he was, but also thought he was a great guitarist. They got along very well and Clapton asked Allman to record with the band.

Allman's death in a motorcycle accident in October, 1971 helped renew interest in the song.

Clapton went into a drug-filled depression when the single tanked in 1971. He couldn't understand why it wasn't a hit. The record company did very little to advertise the album, figuring any project with Clapton would get plenty of publicity. It eventually did, and the record company made out very well.

Derek and the Dominos formed after Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon worked on George Harrison's first post-Beatles album, All Things Must Pass.

At the end of the song, Dwayne Allman produced the "crying bird" sound with his guitar while Clapton played acoustic. It was a tribute to Charlie Parker, a jazz legend known as "bird."

The piano piece at the end was edited on a few weeks later. Drummer Jim Gordon came up with it as a solo project and had to be convinced to use it on "Layla." Gordon was one of the most successful session drummers of the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing on many classic albums of the time. The piano at the end has become famous. It was used to great effect at the end of the movie Goodfellas, and radio stations almost always play the version with the piano.

Clapton performed a slow, acoustic version for an MTV Unplugged concert in 1992. It was released as a single and made #12 in the US, getting lots of airplay on pop, rock, and adult contemporary radio stations. This version also won a Grammy for Best Rock Song.

Songmeaning - Child in Time, Deep Purple

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:02:00 +0000

The Hymn of Rock

Written by the band in 1969, it is said by the band members themselves to have been inspired by a riff featured in a song by Purple contemporaries It's a Beautiful Day, called "Bombay Calling". The riff was played on violins and much faster in tempo.

"Child in Time" is an essentially simple composition, featuring an organ intro, three power chords, and a two minute long solo. Lyrically dark, vocalist Ian Gillan utilizes his full vocal range and goes from quiet singing to loud, high-pitched, banshee-esque screaming. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore comes in with a slow solo, which builds up to a fast-pace playing and then ends abruptly, with the whole song cycle starting over again. Blackmore is normally associated with playing a Fender Stratocaster, however, he played a Gibson ES-335 on the studio version of the song.

A staple of the Deep Purple live concerts in 1970–73 and later after their initial reunion tours of 1985 and 1987-88, the song has not been featured regularly at concerts since Gillan returned (for a second time) to the line up in 1993. Gillan cites many personal reasons for leaving the song out, but it is likely that, given his advancing years, the song is becoming increasingly difficult to perform without sampled vocal backings. Its last appearance in Deep Purple's live set was at Harrogate in 2002. In that performance, high-pitched guitar was used to cover up Gillan's now-limited vocal range during the "screaming" parts. A similar technique is used on current live performances of "Space Truckin'".

The live version from "Made in Japan" is considered to be even better than the original, with excellent vocal and instrumental improvisations. "Child in Time" was not a very coverred song due to the difficulty of playing it live. Yngwie Malmsteen covered this as probably the best non-Deep Purple version there is.

Ian Gillan said in an interview in 2002: "There are two sides to that song - the musical side and the lyrical side. On the musical side, there used to be this song 'Bombay Calling' by a band called It's A Beautiful Day. It was fresh and original, when Jon was one day playing it on his keyboard. It sounded good, and we thought we'd play around with it, change it a bit and do something new keeping that as a base. But then, I had never heard the original 'Bombay Calling'. So we created this song using the Cold War as the theme, and wrote the lines 'Sweet child in time, you'll see the line.' That's how the lyrical side came in. Then, Jon had the keyboard parts ready and Ritchie had the guitar parts ready. The song basically reflected the mood of the moment, and that's why it became so popular."

1 Year of Music Blessing - Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:57:00 +0000

July Morning was the first post on musicblessing. Eventhough it was posted on 3rd of July, the post was created one day before.

The celebrations continues with one of the most famous and disputed songs of all times. Stairway to Heaven rose both controversy and joy, and today is still listened all around the globe. Offcourse there are a lot of meanings and facts regarding Stairway to Heaven, which brings a lot of controversy to this piece of art.

The most famous Rock song of all time, this didn't chart because it was never released as a single to the general public. Radio stations received promotional singles which quickly became collector's items.

On Tuesday November 13, 2007, Led Zeppelin's entire back catalogue was made available as legal digital downloads, making all of their tracks eligible for the UK singles chart. As a result, at the end of that week the original version of "Stairway To Heaven" arrived in the UK singles charts for the first time.

Many novice guitarists try to learn this song, and most end up messing it up. In the movie Wayne's World, it is banned in the guitar shop where Wayne starts playing it. In the movie, Wayne clearly plays the first few notes before being scolded, but due to legal issues, the video version was changed so Wayne plays something incomprehensible. On an episode of South Park, the character Towelie tries to play this in a talent show and screws it up.

This is rumored to contain backward satanic messages, as if Led Zeppelin sold their souls to the devil in exchange for "Stairway To Heaven." Supporting this theory is the fact that Jimmy Page bought Aleister Crowley's house in Scotland, which had become a well known Satanic church and was known as "The Toolhouse." In his books, Crowley advocated that his followers learn to read and speak backwards.

Robert Plant addressed the issue in an interview with Musician magazine: "'Stairway To Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music. It's really sad. the first time I heard it was early in the morning when I was living at home, and I heard it on a news program. I was absolutely drained all day. I walked around, and I couldn't actually believe, I couldn't take people seriously who could come up with sketches like that. There are a lot of people who are making money there, and if that's the way they need to do it, then do it without my lyrics. I cherish them far too much."

The most simple theory about the subject of Stairway to Heaven is that this song is about a woman who accumulates money, but finds out the hard way her life had no meaning and will not get her into heaven.

This runs 8:03, but still became one of the most-played songs on American radio. It proved that people wouldn't tune out just because a song was long. In solo work or with other groups, Jimmy Page would not let anyone but Robert Plant sing this, but he does play it as an instrumental on occasion.

Jimmy Page has a strong affinity for this song, and felt Robert Plant's lyrics were his best yet. He had him write all of Zeppelin's lyrics from then on. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine (March 13, 1975) the interviewer, Cameron Crowe, asked Jimmy Page how important "Stairway To Heaven" was to him: Page replied: "To me, I thought 'Stairway' crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed the band at its best... as a band, as a unit. Not talking about solos or anything, it had everything there. We were careful never to release it as a single. It was a milestone for us. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time and I guess we did it with 'Stairway.' Townshend probably thought that he got it with Tommy. I don't know whether I have the ability to come up with more. I have to do a lot of hard work before I can get anywhere near those stages of consistent, total brilliance."

Robert and Jimmy wrote this in an old mansion called Headley Grange in Liphook Road, Headley, Hampshire, where Led Zeppelin recorded most of their 4th album. It was a huge, old, dusty mansion with no electricity but great acoustics. Bands would go there to get some privacy and focus on songwriting. One night, in front of a roaring fire, Page strummed the chords to this for Robert. Plant wrote 90% of the lyrics right there in front of the fire. He has said in many interviews that he didn't seem to be writing, that something else was moving his pencil for him. Plant is a great admirer of all things mystic, the old English legends and lore and the writings of the Celts. He was immersed in The Lord Of The Rings around this time and many of his lyrics reflect that.

Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones decided not to use a bass on this because it sounded like a folk song. Instead, he added a string section, keyboards and flutes. He also played wooden recorders that were used on the intro. Bonham's drums do not come in until 4:18.

An impressive list of artists covered this song: U2, Jimmy Castor, Frank Zappa, The Foo Fighters, The Dave Matthews Band, Sisters of Mercy, Nancy Wilson, Zakk Wylde, Elkie Brooks, Pardon Me Boys, White Flag, Jana, Great White, Stanley Jordan, Far Corporation, Dixie Power Trio, Justin Hayward, Leningrad Cowboys, Dread Zeppelin, Tiny Tim, piano virtuoso Richard Abel, and Monte Montgomery. Neil Sedaka had an unrelated Top-10 hit with the same title in 1960.

The band performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father. Plant did not want to play it, but was convinced at the last minute. It was sloppy and Plant forgot some of the words. This was not the case when Jason joined them again in 2007 for a benefit show to raise money for the Ahmet Ertegun education fund. They performed this song and 15 others, earning rave reviews from fans and critics.

Led Zeppelin played this for the first time in Belfast on March 5, 1971 - Northern Ireland was a war zone at the time. John Paul Jones said in an audio documentary that when they played it, the audience was not that impressed. They wanted to hear something they knew - like "Whole Lotta Love."

Jimmy Page considers this a masterpiece, but Robert Plant does not share his fondness for the song. Plant has referred to it as a "wedding song" and insists that his favorite Led Zeppelin song is "Kashmir." After the band broke up, Plant refused to sing it except on rare occasions, including Live Aid.

This was the last song the remaining members of Led Zeppelin performed when they reunited for Live Aid in 1985. Bob Geldof organized the event, and did his best to get many famous bands to play even if they had broken up. Unlike The Who, Geldof had an easy time convincing Plant, Page, and Jones to play the show. They played the Philadelphia stage with Tony Thompson and Phil Collins sitting in on drums.

The acoustic intro was borrowed from the song "Taurus" from the band Spirit, who toured with Led Zeppelin when they first played the US. The band Spirit has acknowledged this, and is okay with it.

Zeppelin's longest ever performance of this song was their last gig in Berlin in 1980. It clocked in around 15 minutes long.

According to the radio trade magazine Monday Morning Replay, this is still played 4,203 times a year by the 67 largest AOR (album-oriented rock) radio stations in the US. ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, refuses to release exact figures on how many times it has been played since its release, but figure that on each AOR station in America, the song was played 5 times a day during its first 3 months of existence; twice a day for the next 9 months; once a day for the next 4 years; and 2 to 3 times a week for the next 15 years. There are roughly 600 AOR and Classic Rock stations in the US, which means that "Stairway" has been broadcast a minimum of 2,874 times. At 8 minutes per spin, roughly 23 million minutes - almost 44 years - have been devoted to the song. So far.

On January 23, 1991, John Sebastian, owner and general manager of KLSK FM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, played the song for 24 solid hours to inaugurate a format change to Classic Rock. It played more than 200 times, eliciting hundreds of angry calls and letters. Police showed up with guns drawn after a listener reported that the DJ had apparently suffered a heart attack, later because of suspicion that - this being 8 days into the Gulf War - the radio station had been taken hostage by terrorists dispatched by Zeppelin freak Saddam Hussein. Weirdest of all, lots of listeners didn't move the dial: "Turns out a lot of people listened to see when we would finally stop playing it."

Songmeaning Thriller - Michael Jackson

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:14:00 +0000

Tomorrow, 2nd of July, musicblessing.blogspot.com celebrates one year of good music!
And what is a better way of celebrating but also through music. The best songs of all times and their meanings will be presented here in the next weeks. And that's not all: in August 2009, Woodstock '69 festival will be honoured on this blog.

Unfortunatelly, the first song posted in these celebration days is a commemorative one: Michael Jackson's Thriller, one of the most spectacular songs off all times, with one unforgatable video.

This is a rare Pop song with a horror theme. Halloween novelty songs like "The Monster Mash" had been around for a while, but this was the first hit song with year-round appeal containing lyrics about creatures of the night who terrify their victim. At the time, Michael Jackson was one of the least frightening people on Earth, so the video had to sell it. John Landis, who worked on the 1981 movie An American Werewolf In London, was brought in to direct. Landis had Jackson turn into a Werewolf in the video.

Vincent Price, an actor known for his work on horror films, did the narration at the end, including the evil laugh. Price's rap includes the line "Must stand and face the hounds of hell." This was inspired by the most popular Sherlock Holmes novel to date, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Sir Henry Baskerville's family is supposedly cursed by a bloodthirsty, demonic hound. Price's personal friends, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (who appeared in several Hammer horror films with him), starred in a loose 1959 film adaptation of it. It was the first Sherlock Holmes film shot in color.

The 14 minute video is one of the most popular ever. It started the trend of group dance scenes in pop videos, and was named the #1 video of all time in the VH1 100 Greatest Videos countdown.

Rod Temperton wrote this. Once a member of Disco group Heatwave, he also wrote Jackson's "Off The Wall" and "Rock With You." This won for Best Performance Video, Best Choreography, and Viewers Choice at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.

Thriller was the biggest-selling album ever until it was surpassed by The Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975. Both albums have sold over 26 million copies. These days, along with Michael's recent death, Thriller became again the best selling album of all times. The song Thriller was the last of 7 US Top 10 hits from the album.

Jackson, a Jehova's Witness, insisted on a disclaimer at the beginning of the video reading: "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult."

The UPC code on the album cover contained 7 digits that were rumored to be Jackson's telephone number. People with that number in many different area codes got swamped with annoying calls.

In 2008 Thriller 25, a special 25th anniversary edition of Thriller, was released. The re-recorded album debuted at #2 on the Top Comprehensive Albums chart, where catalog titles mix with current best-sellers. This made it the highest-charting catalog album in the history of the Top Comprehensive Albums survey. Despite selling 166,000 copies in its debut week, it was not eligible for the main album chart as Billboard considered it to be a catalog or oldies album, and Billboard publishes a special chart just for catalog albums. (source: Songfacts)

Few know that Thriller was very close to be named "Starlight love". Quincy Jones, the producer of the album, stated that they came across Thriller theme and they loved the ideea of a horror song and video.

Other songs of Michael Jacksons' and their meanings will follow on this blog so stay close.

What remains after Michael Jackson?

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:31:00 +0000

The press will be full of cheep sentimentalism after this very unhappy event, they will analyse Michael's career, they will make up conspiration theories, they will remember Michael's concerts, they will review endlessly pictures with him, they will eulogize, they will polemize...

From such many controversies, something sure remains after his death: Michael Jackson entered the legend (if there was any doubt untill now). But not in any way: he became e legend as a controversial genius, a mad man, a danser clown, an absolute but frustrated artist, gone before his time.

Do you want to know which artists he has alonside in this hall of fame? It's simple: Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ritchie Valens, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Buddy Holly, John Bonham - the list is opened and continuosly growing.

None of the above was considered to be "normal", every one of them shocked through their way of beeing, through their strange way of expressing their passion. They were adored by their fans, maybe too much. They have adapted very well to their times, and more than that, they were trend setters, they established the land marks. But it's a very short line from succes to loosing it. Anyhow, any genius artist will transform into dust, if not nourished with this madness.

With the risc of sounding gruesome, maybe it's better that Michael Jackson passed away. Michael will remain in our memory with those concerts from 15-20 years ago, concerts who changed the world of music, with those amazing TV videos which he brought them to the level of arts, with those incredible coreographies which will be copied another 50 years from now. Who knows if, at more than 10 years from his last concerts, he would have known to sing, or to dance?! We allready know that he didn't had the energy for this.

A mistery will remain: how Michael Jackson would have sound like today? Would have disapointed us? Would he became even brighter?

The King is dead. Long live the King!

Chris Rea - Road to Hell

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:16:00 +0000

British singer and guitarist Chris Rea has enjoyed a run of popularity in Europe during the late '80s and early '90s after almost a decade of previous recording.

Rea started out performing with a local group called Magdalene, taking David Coverdale's place; the band won a national talent contest in 1975 as the Beautiful Losers, but still failed to get a record contract. Rea left the band and recorded the album Whatever Happened to Benny Santini, which alluded to a discarded stage name, which went gold on the strength of the U.S. Top 20 hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)."

Rea was not heard from again in the U.S. for some time, concentrating his efforts on his main fan base of Europe. A compilation of tracks from Rea's '80s albums, New Light Through Old Windows, was released in 1988 and sold well in the U.K. and Europe and charted in the U.S.

Rea followed it up with the critically acclaimed The Road to Hell, which many regarded as his best album. The image above represents the album's cover.

It and its follow-up, Auberge, went to the top of the U.K. album charts, but did not prove as successful in the U.S., where he has failed to chart with his subsequent releases. He released his most ambitious project in 2005, an eleven-album, 130-track box set of all new material inspired by the blues and his own paintings called Blue Guitars. The fun The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes appeared in 2008.

Guess The Band From The Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:13:00 +0000

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:27:00 +0000

This song was titled after the James Joyce novel of the same name, which chronicled a day in its protagonist's life. It also references the Greek Mythological hero Ulysses who was the hero of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey. Frontman Alex Kapranos told Mojo magazine May 2008: "I like the idea of the gods blowing you away for 10 years. I like the idea of being out in the Aegean - of being lost but embracing it."

Kapranos referred to this song when interviewed by Rolling Stone as, "quite an odd one," adding, "It's got the immediacy of a Pop song but it's an abstract construction too. Having the immediacy of pop without the conventions of pop is something that we still aim for."

This song was previously used as part of a sound art exhibition by the Albanian artist Anri Sala that was held in London.

Kapranos told Mojo December 2008 that Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is, "a night time record, about different elements of a full-on night out, from being charged up for decadence to being on the dancefloor, to freaking out, to rocking yourself to sleep in your bedsit at the end of it. The title is about the sense of anticipation that something big's about to happen."

The cover art for the single was photographed in Brooklyn by Guy Eppel. It is part of a series of photos of the band that are of, according to Franz Ferdinand's blog, "imaginary crime scenes."

The Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:30:00 +0000

The Moody Blues recorded this with The London Festival Orchestra (Which never actually existed. It is the name given to the musicians put together to make this album.) The original idea was for the group and orchestra to record a Rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony," which their record company would use to demonstrate enhanced stereo sound technology.

"Days of Future Passed" is a concept album based around different times of day. For example, "Dawn Is a Feeling" and "Tuesday Afternoon." This song was last on the album because it represented nighttime.

Justin Hayward was inspired by Moody Blues keyboard player Mike Pinder's composition "Dawn Is A Feeling." Since Pinder had done 'The Morning' for the concept album, Hayward tried to do 'The Night.'

Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets, and wrote it in his bed-sit at Bayswater. Haywood told the Daily Express Saturday magazine May 3, 2008: "I wrote our most famous song, 'Nights in White Satin' when I was 19. It was a series of random thoughts and was quite autobiographical. It was a very emotional time as I was at the end of one big love affair and the start of another. A lot of that came out in the song."

This was a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a Blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks' "Go Now." With this album, they became more of a psychedelic/orchestral band and did very well.

This was originally released in 1967, but it didn't do very well in the US because the song was over 6 minutes long and a lot of people never heard of the band. In 1972, after songs like "Hey Jude " and "Layla" paved the way for long, dramatic songs and the band became well known, this was re-released in the US and became a hit.

Even though this didn't have chart success when it was first released, the album did very well. It was commercially successful in countries across the world, staying on many charts for nearly two years.

The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder. Edge wrote another poem that appeared early on the album called Morning Glory.

Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Sat, 02 May 2009 06:53:00 +0000

This is the first song from Led Zeppelin's debut album, Led Zeppelin I from 1968. As the title clearly states, the meaning of the song is simple, expressing the downs and ups of a person's life.

The instrumentation of this song is what makes it special: Jimmy Page passed his guitar through a Leslie Speaker to create a swirling effect. The Leslie contains a rotating paddle and was designed for organs, but some musicians used it to process guitars and vocals. Eric Clapton used it on "Badge." John Bonham used a device called a "Triplet" on his bass drum for this song to get a double bass pedal sound. He used the tip of his toe to flick the bass pedal back fast, creating an effect many drummers tried to copy. Page put microphones all over the studio to capture a live sound when they recorded this.

Led Zeppelin played this at their live shows until 1970. When the band reformed for a benefit show on December 10, 2007 with Jason Bonham playing drums in place of his father, this was the first song in the set.

Bassist John Paul Jones told Rolling Stone magazine after they opened with this song at their December 10, 2007 benefit show: "That's the hardest riff I ever wrote, the hardest to play." (Songfacts)

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Famous Album Covers: "Fallen Angel" - Uriah Heep

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:23:00 +0000

Fallen Angel is the 12th album released by British rock band Uriah Heep in 1978. The ever-evolving story of Uriah Heep found them exploring a more commercial vein than usual on this 1978 release. Fallen Angel reached #186 in the US but in Germany the band was at the height of their popularity.

The album was originally released in a gatefold-sleeve, opening in the vertical- rather than the customary horizonatal-axis. The lyrics were printed on the LP-liner. The artwork was licenced from artist Chris Achilleos, although there seems to have been some alteration to the bodice: the breasts are not so exposed on the original. Whether this was done by Achilleos himself, or even with his approval, is currently unclear. Achilleos' website lists the original artwork as missing (Wiki).

Music Dictionary - Brit Rock

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:08:00 +0000

British rock and roll, or Brit rock, was born out of the influence of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from the United States, but added a new drive and urgency, exporting the music back and widening the audience for black R & B in the U.S. as well as spreading the gospel world wide. Much of what has made rock music unique, in its ability to unite audiences and adapt new influences, came from British bands in the late 50s and rock groups in the early 60s.

The genre gathers several other rock wings, as Great Britain was and still is one of the countries with indefinite resource for music, especially rock music. Therefore rock&roll, canterbury sound, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, folk rock found their success in the UK in the '60, but with a different beat and sound, adapted to the local prefferences and styles. The glm rock in the '70s and punk rock in the '80s represents brit rock in the post-hippie era.

Many of the more recent successful forms, subgenres, and artists of rock and pop music have originated or found their greatest success in the UK. Major stars of the 1960s and '70s ranging from Eric Clapton to Peter Gabriel moved on from rock bands to great success as solo performers. In the early 1980s, the sound of synth pop typified much British rock music ranging from chart hits to off the radar works. Alternative rock played an important role in the UK in the development of the british music apart from the influences from USA.

In Britain today, the terms of "pop" and "rock" are still more closely associated with each other than in the United States, where due to prejudice and musical history "pop" usually denotes only a solo artist, often female, seen to represent a tradition outside the province of guitar based music or with a very wide popularity. Thus, in the UK a band such as Radiohead might be characterized as pop, to denote their synth based sound and often populist appeal, while in the United States they might be categorized as rock, most likely as "alternative rock", for their "authentic," sometimes dark lyrics, perhaps for being white and male, and certainly for appealing to the type of people seen to listen to critic-sanctioned indie rock bands, rather than "superficial pop" music.

This is Radiohead with the hit "You"

Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:14:00 +0000

Bob Dylan wrote this song as it is in fact a very simple performance with meaningfull lyrics. It was originally released in 1969 on his album Nashville Skyline. The words of the song are sung by Dylan in a low, soft-sounding voice instead of his familiar high-pitched nasal-sounding voice. Dylan credited his "new" voice to quitting smoking before recording the song, but some unreleased bootleg tapes from the early '60s reveal that this was an aspect of his vocal persona that he had actually possessed since at least that time. Released as a single in July of 1969, it became one of Dylan's biggest US Pop chart hits, peaking at number seven. The single did even better on the UK Singles Chart, reaching the number five spot. It is often performed live by Dylan, and was included on the Hard Rain and Before the Flood albums. It also appears on his quintuple-platinum Greatest Hits, Volume II album, as well as on compilations Biograph and The Essential Bob Dylan (Wiki).

Dylan wrote this for the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy. Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'," which was released the year before, was chosen for the theme song instead.

Many radio stations refused to play this simply because of the use of the word "lay" in the title, assuming it referred to sex (i.e. "get laid"). Despite the accusation of being "Sexually Titled", Dylan denied any sexual terminology. (SongFacts)

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Oasis - Wonderwall

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:55:00 +0000

Wonderwall was the first single Oasis released in the US, and is their biggest hit in that country. The album is the second-best selling in British history. The best selling album in UK history is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.

The general consensus was that this song is about Noel Gallagher's then girlfriend Meg Matthews, who is compared with a schoolboy's wall to which posters of footballers and Pop stars are attached. Noel later married then divorced Meg Matthews. However, according to Q magazines 1001 Best Songs Ever, this was not about Matthews. Noel is quoted as saying, "The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it. And how do you tell your Mrs. it's not about her once she's read it is? It's about an imaginary friend who's going to come and save you from yourself."

Others say that The concept of the "Wonderwall" is based on a '60s film called Wonderwall - from Psychedelia to Surrealism, starring Jane Birkin. She lives next door to a man who becomes fascinated with her,so he slowly makes holes in his wall so he can watch her through it. This is the "Wonderwall." Also there are some voices stating that the music is based on Wonderwall Music, an instrumental album George Harrison wrote for the movie Wonderwall in 1968. This was the first solo album released by any of The Beatles.

Initially Noel wanted to sing this song, but he gave his brother Liam Gallagher the choice, and Noel ended up singing "Don't Look Back In Anger." What sounds like a cello was played on a Mellotron tape-playback keyboard, although the video features shows someone playing the cello. At live shows Noel plays his acoustic guitar on a Fender Telecaster. It's one of the few songs where he uses a Fender guitar rather than a Gibson.

In an interview conducted in Australia around the time of the release of Be Here Now, when asked which 3 songs he would like to be remembered for, Noel immediately responded with "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall" and then proceeded to list several others, including "Champagne Supernova," "Magic Pie" and "Cigarettes & Alcohol."

Read also:

April - Deep Purple

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:59:00 +0000

April is a very complex music composition bringing toghether elements from symphonic, acoustic, rock in one piece of what is going to be called progresive rock.

This is part from 1969 album "Deep Purple". This is a record that even those who aren't Deep Purple fans can listen to two or three times in one sitting -- but then, this wasn't much like any other album that the group ever issued. Actually, Deep Purple was highly prized for many years by fans of progressive rock, and for good reason.

"April," a three-part suite with orchestral accompaniment, is overall a match for such similar efforts by the Nice as the "Five Bridges Suite," and gets extra points for crediting its audience with the patience for a relatively long, moody developmental section and for including a serious orchestral interlude that does more than feature a pretty tune, exploiting the timbre of various instruments as well as the characteristics of the full ensemble. (All Music Guide)

A Ritchie Blackmore/Jon Lord composition, the first section is played solely by Lord and Blackmore; Lord plays piano and organ; Blackmore plays electric and acoustic guitars. The second section, orchestrated by Lord, uses flutes, clarinets, a string section and other instruments; the third section adds vocals. As the band wrote in the liner notes, "As a whole we hope April hangs together as a personal evocation of a beautiful, but sad (to us) month." (Songfacts)

Read also:

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:54:00 +0000

This song is about rock star excess and the easy life it brings compared with real work. Mark Knopfler wrote it after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the store sitting at a kitchen display they had set up. Many of the lyrics were things they actually said.

Sting sings on this and helped write it. That's him at the beginning singing "I want my MTV." Sting did not want a songwriting credit, but his record company did because they would have earned royalties from it. They claimed it sounded very similar to a song Sting wrote for The Police: "Don't Stand So Close To Me."

The innovative video was one of the first to feature computer generated animation. The characters were supposed to have more detail, like buttons on their shirts, but they used up the budget and had to leave it as is. It won Best Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
The video was directed by Steve Barron, who also directed the famous a-ha video for "Take On Me" and Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science."

This was the first video played on MTV Europe. The network went on the air August 1, 1987, 6 years after MTV in the US. In the US, this stayed at #1 for 3 weeks. It also won a Grammy in 1986 for best Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

Prince

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:36:00 +0000

The 13th studio album by Prince and the New Power Generation, colloquially referred to as the Love Symbol or as O(+>. It was released as a double vinyl or single CD, on October 13, 1992.

Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. With each album he released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.

In a dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, Prince decided to change his stage name to the album's eponymous symbol. He kept that name for several years until re-adopting the Prince moniker in 2000.

Prince's albums include among others 1999 (1983), Purple Rain (1984), Lovesexy (1988), Newpower Soul (1998) and 3121 (2006). He also starred in the 1984 feature film Purple Rain. Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. (All Music Guide, Wiki, Who2 Biographies).

As Prince doesen't like his videos being on line this post will be without any music sample.

Guess The Band From The Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Famous Album Covers: "Nevermind" - Nirvana

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Nevermind is the second studio album by Nirvana, released in1991.

The album cover shows a baby swimming toward a US dollar bill on a fishhook. According to Cobain, he conceived the idea while watching a television program on water births with Grohl. Cobain mentioned it to Geffen's art director Robert Fisher. Fisher found some stock footage of underwater births but they were too graphic for the record company.

Also, the stock house that controlled the photo of a swimming baby that they subsequently settled on wanted $7,500 a year for its use, so instead Fisher sent a photographer to a pool for babies to take pictures. Five shots resulted and the band settled on the image of a three-month-old infant named Spencer Elden, the son of the photographer's friend Rick Elden. However, there was some concern because Elden's penis was visible in the image. Geffen prepared an alternate cover without the penis, as they were afraid that it would offend people, but relented when Cobain made it clear that the only compromise he would accept was a sticker covering the penis that would say "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."

The back cover of the album features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of a collage created by Cobain. The collage features photos of raw beef from a supermarket advertisement, images from Dante's Inferno, and pictures of diseased vaginas from Cobain's collection of medical photos. Cobain noted, "If you look real close, there is a picture of Kiss in the back standing on a slab of beef."The album's liner notes contain no complete song lyrics; instead, the liner contains random song lyrics and unused lyrical fragments that Cobain arranged into a poem (Wiki).

This is "Come As You Are" from Unplugged MTV Concert:

Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:28:00 +0000

Even though "Brown Sugar" was recorded in December, 1969, The Stones did not release it until April, 1971 because of a legal dispute with their former manager, Allen Klein, over royalties. Recording technology had advanced by then, but they didn't re-record it because the original version was such a powerful take.

Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics. They were inspired by Claudia Lennear, one of Ike Turner's backup singers (Ikettes) who he had an affair with. They met when The Stones toured with Turner in 1969. Originally, Jagger wrote this as "Black Pussy." He decided that was a little too direct and changed it to "Brown Sugar."

Some say that the lyrics are about slaves from Africa who were sold in New Orleans and raped by their white masters. The subject matter is quite serious, but the way the song is structured, it comes off as a fun rocker about a white guy having sex with a black girl.

A year after this was first recorded, The Stones cut another version at Olympic Studios in London with Eric Clapton on guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards. It was considered for release as the single. The bootleg version which has Eric Clapton playing lead slide guitar was recorded at a birthday party for Keith Richards. It is widely considered to have been part of an informal audition by Clapton to become The Stones second guitarist. The bootleg version shows why Clapton likely did not get offered the job, or withdrew himself from consideration. While Clapton plays a million notes a minute, his lead has almost no interaction with the rest of the band. It is like a studio musician simply playing along with a CD that has already been recorded. In many interviews, Richards has spoken admiringly of his good friend Clapton's musicianship, but has always commented that the 2-guitar sound he and Ron Wood have developed is not Eric's cup of tea.

This was one of 4 songs The Stones had to agree not to play when they were allowed to perform in China. After getting approval to play in China for the first time in 2003, they canceled because of SARS, a respiratory illness that was going around the country. The other banned songs were "Honky Tonk Women," "Beast of Burden," and "Let's Spend the Night Together." (songfacts)

This is a version from "A Bigger Bang Tour" (2007), one of the greatest live tours in music history.

Read also:

System Of A Down - Chop Suey!

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:33:00 +0000

This was System Of A Down's first single from their second album, and their breakout hit. The band feels they evolved a great deal between albums and did things on this that they wouldn't have thought of before. They named the album Toxicity in honor of Los Angeles, which they considered a "Toxic City." They grew up in a bad section and wanted people to know that it wasn't all glamorous.

Literally, Chop Suey is a Chinese stew made with meat or fish, plus bamboo sprouts, onions, rice and water chestnuts. They used it for the name of the song because it describes their musical style, with lots of stuff thrown together. The title is not in the lyrics.

The original name of the song is "Suicide," but they had to change the name to make it radio friendly. In the beginning of the song, you hear Serj say "we're rolling suicide." The title is a bit of a play on words - "Suey-cide."

This was climbing the charts when it was silenced by the events of September 11, 2001. Just about every radio station pulled this from their playlists in an effort to be as sensitive as possible after the tragedy. Even though the song had nothing to do with terrorism, it was considered much too aggressive. The line "I cry when angels deserve to die" was a little too heavy for most program directors. When things settled down, it returned to the airwaves pretty much where it left off, since there weren't many songs released in the weeks after 9/11.

The video was shot in the parking lot of a cheap hotel near where the band grew up in Los Angeles. Before the shoot, they posted a note on their website inviting fans to come down and participate. Since they were not well known, they thought they would get about 500, but instead 1500 fans showed up. The fans (mostly kids) were instructed to swarm the stage so they could help capture the energy of their live shows.

Many interprated this song to be about drug addiction, but it doesn't have the somber tone that many songs about addiction have. The band describes it as "a little quacky." The song was also interpreted to be about how society views death or about Christ.

In fact, Guitarist Daron Malakian stated: "The song is about how when people die, they will be regarded differently depending on the way they pass. Like, if I were to die from a drug overdose, everyone would say I deserved it because I abused drugs, hence the line 'Angels deserve to die.'"

Read also:

Music dictionary - Reggae

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:10:00 +0000

Reggae is defined as a Jamaican popular music and dance style. It originated in the mid-1960s as a music of the Jamaican poor, reflecting social discontent and the Rastafarian movement. Its instrumentation features an electric bass played at high volume as a lead instrument, around which an ensemble of organ, piano, drums, and lead and rhythm electric guitars plays short ostinato phrases with regular accents on the offbeats.

Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by regular beats on the off-beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally slower than ska, and usually has accents on the first and third beat in each bar.

Reggae song lyrics deal with many subjects, including religion, love, sexuality, relationships, poverty, injustice and other social and political issues.

Although strongly influenced by both traditional African and Caribbean music, as well as by American rhythm and blues, reggae owes its direct origins to the progressive development of ska and rocksteady in 1960s Jamaica.

The 1972 film The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff, generated considerable interest and popularity for reggae music in the United States, and Eric Clapton's 1974 cover of the Bob Marley song "I Shot the Sheriff" helped bring reggae into the mainstream.

Bob Marley is recognised as the most representative singer of raggae genre. He evolved from ska and rocksteady to raggae to become a very influential singer of the '70 and '80. (Wiki)

This is "No Woman, No Cry".

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:29:00 +0000

Part from the same titled album of 1984, "Born in the USA" was written by Sprengsteen thinking about Vietnam veterans. As this was the first war that the US actually dindn't win, and while veterans of other wars received a hero's welcome, those who fought in Vietnam were mostly ignored when they returned to the states.

This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Most people thought it was a patriotic song about American pride, when it actually cast a shameful eye on how America treated its Vietnam veterans. Springsteen considers it one of his best songs, but it bothers him that it is so widely misinterpreted. With the rollicking rhythm, enthusiastic chorus, and patriotic album cover, it is easy to think this has more to do with American pride than Vietnam shame.

The original title was "Vietnam." Director Paul Schrader sent Springsteen a script for a movie called Born In The U.S.A., about a Rock band struggling with life and religion. This gave Bruce the idea for the new title. Unfortunately for Schrader, when he was finally ready to make the movie in 1985, the title "Born In The U.S.A." was too associated with the song. Springsteen helped him out however, providing the song "Light Of Day," which became the new title for Schrader's movie and the feature song in the film.

This is the first song and title track to one of the most popular albums ever - Born In The U.S.A. sold over 18 million copies. The single was released in England as a double A-side with "I'm On Fire." It was the first song Springsteen wrote for the album. He first recorded it on January 3, 1982 on the tape that became his album Nebraska later that year.

While campaigning in New Jersey in 1984, Ronald Reagan said in his speech: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."

Springsteen talked about this in a 2005 interview with National Public Radio. Said Bruce: "This was when the Republicans first mastered the art of co-opting anything and everything that seemed fundamentally American, and if you were on the other side, you were somehow unpatriotic. I make American music, and I write about the place I live and who I am in my lifetime. Those are the things I'm going to struggle for and fight for."
Speaking of how the song was misinterpreted, he added: "In my songs, the spiritual part, the hope part is in the choruses. The blues, and your daily realities are in the details of the verses. The spiritual comes out in the choruses, which I got from Gospel music and the church."

Chrysler offered Springsteen $12 million to use this in an ad campaign with Bruce. Springsteen turned them down so they used "The Pride Is Back" by Kenny Rogers instead. Springsteen has never let his music be used to sell products.

This song inspired the famous Annie Leibowitz photo of Springsteen's butt against the backdrop of an American flag. Bruce had to be convinced to use it as the album's cover. Some people thought it depicted Springsteen urinating on the flag.

The drum solo towards the end of the song was completely improvised. Drummer Max Weinberg said that the band was recording in an oval-shaped studio, with the musicians separated into different parts. Springsteen, at the front, suddenly turned towards Weinberg (at the back) after singing and waved his hands in the air frantically to signal drumming. Weinberg then nailed it.

Read also:

Don Mclean - American Pie (first part & second part)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Guns n' Roses - November Rain

The Beatles (100 Posts)

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:15:00 +0000

The is the 100th post (see here the first one) on this blog celebrated by presenting one of the greatest bands in music history: The Beatles.

The Beatles were John Lennon (guitar), George Harrison (guitar), Paul McCartney (bass) and Ringo Starr (drums). Lennon and McCartney began playing together in The Quarrymen in 1957; Harrison joined later that year. Before they became The Beatles, they were also Johnny and the Moondogs and The Silver Beatles, joined at times by bandmates including bassist Stuart Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 - 10 April 1962) and drummer Pete Best (b. 24 November 1941); Best was replaced by Ringo to form the final foursome. The early Beatles performed shows in Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool, England, playing covers of early American rock and roll plus original songs by Lennon and McCartney. Their 1962 release of "Love Me Do" charted in the U. K., and in 1963 their song "She Loves You" was the biggest hit in U. K. history. Their personal charm and charisma helped boost "Beatlemania," and their tour of the U.S. in 1964 led to sold-out concerts and mob scenes. Their movies A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) capitalized on their humor and youthful exuberance and were box office successes, and the hit songs kept coming: in 1964 they had five straight number one albums. In the late '60s their songs became more sophisticated and their worldwide celebrity status prompted Lennon to joke "we're bigger than Jesus." By 1970 they were no longer performing in public and were beginning to pursue individual projects. In December of 1970 McCartney brought a lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles as a legal entity, and the group broke up. Their hits are too numerous to mention, and their impact on pop music can't be overstated. In 1980 Lennon was murdered, and in 2001 Harrison died of cancer, but McCartney and Starr continue to have busy solo careers.

This is "Don't Let Me Down" from their best period (1969).

Read also:
Music dictionary - Soft Rock
Cover Art: Abbey Road - The Beatles
The Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What A Night)

Guess the band from the picture

noreply@blogger.com (Son Of Alerik) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:16:00 +0000