Category: Rock History

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.

Texas Point Blank isn’t a very widely known band. In the second half of the 1970’s they made two semi-classic albums, Point Blank (1976) and its successor Second Season (1977).… Read the rest

The year 1980 in Rock History: Essential Albums (Vol. 1)

With this post we start a new series, that focuses on specific years in the history of melodic hard rock.

For each year there will be two sections. One for the albums that made it big. These ‘essential’ albums, in the sense that aspirant fans should know them, are the high roads of rock history. The second section will cover albums that should have made it big on the basis of their quality, but didn’t. These albums, that clearly deserve a wider audience, present the roads less travelled. This section will bring you music that remained hidden for too long. You’re guaranteed to be surprised with some stunning melodies.

In this post the first part of section 1, the essential albums of 1980.

Episode 1: The Next Step for some Established Bands

At the end of the 1970s quite few bands already had established themselves as main representatives of the hard rock.… Read the rest