Category: Rock History

Classic albums: 1975-1980

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Boston‘s self-titled debut album (Epic, 1976) is a landmark in the history of melodic hard rock, that showed how heavy rock guitars could be successfully combined with ultra melodic songs (review).

Futuristic motorcycle rider; the motorcycle has jet exhaust. A bat-like figure on the tower of a building.

Meat Loaf‘s second album, Bat Out Of Hell (Epic, 1977),  was extremely successful both artistically and commercially, not in the least because of Jim Steinman‘s stellar songwriting (review).

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Van Halen‘s self-titled debut album (Warner Bros, 1978) ‘rewrote the rules of rock guitar and hard rock in general’ as some put it. A very influential album (review). read more

Classic albums: the 1990’s

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Gary Moore‘s album Still Got The Blues (10 Records, 1990) gave blues rock a huge boost and was more proof for the versatility of the guitar hero (review).

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In the 1990’s grunge ruled the world. Temple Of The Dog‘s only album (A&M, 1990) is an essential link between some of the bands that stood at its beginning (review).

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Pearl Jam‘s debut CD Ten (Columbia, 1991) is another one of grunge’s essential albums (review). Although initially a bit overshadowed by Nirvana, the band’s enduring influence is probably bigger. read more

Classic albums: the 1980’s

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Black Sabbath‘s second life started with this album,  Heaven And Hell (Vertigo, 1980). Ronnie James Dio‘s powerful vocals combined with Iommi ‘s riffs make it an almost unbeatable hard rock classic (review).

AC/DC Back in Black

AC/DC also needed a new singer on their 8th album Back In Black (Atlantic, 1980), because the charismatic Bon Scott had died. The album sold 50 million worldwide – the ultimate proof for the universal appeal of this uncomplicated and powerful rock machine (review). read more

Classic albums: 1970-1975

Cactus – Cactus (Atco, 1970)

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (Vertigo, 1970)

Deep Purple – In Rock (Harvest, 1970)

Ursa Major – Ursa Major (RCA, 1972)

Lynyrd Skynyrd – (Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Erd) (MCA/Sounds Of The South, 1973)

Montrose – Montrose (WB, 1973)

Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (WB, 1973)

The New York Dolls – The New York Dolls (Mercury, 1973)

Bad Company – Bad Company (Island, 1974)

Rick Derringer – All American Boy (Blue Sky, 1974)

The art of lyrics: Max Webster

Canadian Max Webster (1973 – 1981) is an innovative and extremely interesting band, not only musically but also lyrically. Some claim they brought weirdness to the mainstream. This is surely true for their home country where the band was very popular. Main man Kim Mitchell became a national legend with a successful solo career that also brought some commercial success in the States with this song:

Here we focus especially on Max Websters lyrics. Almost all of them are written by someone who isn’t in the band: Pye Dubois (aka Paul Woods). The lyrics are pieces of art themselves but they fit in perfectly with the music, as these killer songs show: read more

Some fine Southern Rock bands

The US South is filled with proud, uncomplicated, honest and hard workin’ people with strong ethics. At least that’s the picture you get listening to most Southern Rock songs. Here we present some great bands from this genre.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is from Jacksonville, Florida. Their eponomous debut (1973) is a classic album. It stands at the beginning of the popularity of a new subgenre: Southern Rock. Lynyrd is best known for signature songs like Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird. But the lyrics of Simple Man, that’s on the debut album, sum up the  Southern man pretty clearly, or at least describes how the Southern man should ideally be. The lyrics can be found here. read more