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The A to Z Music Write-Off - Part II: G to NJun 23 '05 (Updated Jul 05 '05) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Thanks to JAGUARDOG for hosting the music side to the A to Z phenomenon!
Music was very important to me growing up. It was the one place I could go to get away from all the pressures of being a teen, from parents, from school. I could escape my fears and self-loathing. I could drift off into the worlds the artists talked about. On occasion, I found an artist who seemed to speak to me who seemed to know just how I felt. Those were rarities, but in one way or another music has been and always will be a big part of my life. I came of age in the early 80’s, so my list will be dominated by artists of that era. There are some from other eras as well. I saw the Rolling Stones live numerous times on the tour for Tattoo You and even had a friend of mine paint the back of my denim jacket with that album cover. The Kinks were another favorite of mine. Thanks to JAGUARDOG for hosting this write-off. If you’d like to join in or just read other entries, see: http://www.epinions.com/content_4389118084 . I tried to adhere to a male artist, a female artist, and a group for each letter, but in some cases I could just come up with one or two entries. It also became hard to figure out some of them. Artists like Bruce Springsteen, George Throgood, and others are as known for their work with their bands as they are as solo artists. In the end, I list at the most three artists for each letter. I also provide links to great reviews by other writers on the site of work by those artists. Yeah, I should write in music more. Shoulda, woulda, coulda…. G The Go-Go’s - Maybe it’s not fair for me to include them - I’ve never been a fan of theirs but I needed more girls on the list. You see, I saw them open for The Police in the early 80’s and it was my first exposure to feeling cheated when I caught them lip-synching. I never forgave them. Long before Madonna arrived on the scene, girls were copying The Go-Go’s fashion styles. I’ll admit to having a flared, pleated mini-skirt, polka-dot blouse and matching (to the dots) headband. Their songs such as We Got the Beat and Our Lips Are Sealed were infectiously peppy and garnered frequent airplay. The videos got quite a bit of attention as well, being a mainstay on MTV in the early days. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/go.gos/bio.jhtml Gramm, Lou - The lead singer of Foreigner burst onto the solo scene in 1987 with Midnight Blue. Just one more hit would follow, Just Between You and Me before he would get back together with Mick Jones and attempt to resurrect their old sound together. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/gramm_lou/bio.jhtml Guns -n- Roses - I can remember the shock and awe on the face of a rather conservative religious friend of ours when he was visiting our home one time and happened to walk into the TV room while the video for Paradise City was on. His comment was “My God, they’re moving the masses!” I am sure he came in their to lecture me on my choice in music, but left instead intimidated by the throbbing throngs of people depicted on the screen during a live show. The reign of Guns -n- Roses at the top of the charts was unfortunately short-lived. Mostly due to lead singer Axl Rose’s temperament, they became known for shows that began an hour or two after they were supposed to or never came off at all. Still, there’s no denying their influence as they pushed the envelope with their music while at the same time garnering critical acclaim as well as a devoted following. Following an appearance of the band in the movie The Dead Pool with Clint Eastwood which featured the song Welcome to the Jungle, You Could Be Mine was then plucked for the movie Terminator 2. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/guns_n_roses/bio.jhtml H Hall & Oates - This duo received tremendous radio airplay in the 70’s and 80’s for their pop songs with a R&B/Soul edge to it. I Can’t Ago For That even spent time at the top of Billboard’s R&B charts, something which rarely occurs for white artists. Songs like Rich Girl and Sara Smile brought them top ten success early on followed by later hits with the likes of Say It Isn’t So and Private Eyes. They were once managed by the ex-Mr. Mariah Carey, Sony Music’s own Tommy Mottola. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/hall_and_oates/bio.jhtml Henley, Don - Another former member of The Eagles, once the band went it’s separate ways he managed to have a pretty successful solo career. The stellar Boys of Summer with the line “Out on the road today I saw a dead-head sticker on a Cadillac…” may leave some shrugging now, but back then I knew just how wrong, wrong, wrong it was. Dirty Laundry and All She Wants To Do Is Dance relate as much to our current climate politically as it did back in the 80’s. New York Minute became a theme for 9/11 intercut with sounds from that day and the survivors. Hornsby, Bruce - Hornsby was a breath of fresh air in an age dominated by techno-pop and synthesizers. Hornsby’s smooth piano styling and social conscience in songs like The Way It Is along with a melodic voice made for nice listening. I could just imagine sitting in a smoky bar listening to him play, and the music brings those same feelings up twenty years later. He also became a renown producer and songwriter for other artists. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/hornsby_bruce/bio.jhtml I Icehouse - A sentimental favorite of mine. I’d say their song Crazy is my favorite song of all time although their lone top-10 hit in the U.S. was Electric Blue, written by John Oates. Hailing from Australia, they feature Iva Davies as lead singer, he was an amazing talented and unfortunately largely unrecognized musician who could play virtually every instrument in a song (and occasionally did). http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/icehouse/bio.jhtml Idol, Billy - After leaving the punk band Generation X, Idol launched a solo career at about the same time MTV was launched. It was a White Wedding made in heaven as his bad-boy sneer and danceable new-wave pop combined to create a chain of hits including the wedding reception staple Mony Mony, Dancing With Myself, and Rebel Yell. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/idol_billy/bio.jhtml INXS - I bawled my eyes out when I heard Mike Hutchence was dead. I don’t care why he died, he was gone and the world was now missing a very talented and sexy singer. Right from my first glimpse of him on MTV with the video for The One Thing I could feel a physical reaction that no one else ever brought on like that. Seeing him live was truly an orgasmic experience. The band itself backed up the promise their front-man gave, with a full sound on songs like Devil Inside, New Sensation, and Suicide Blonde. It won’t be the same without Hutchence and they shouldn’t even try. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/inxs/bio.jhtml J Jett, Joan - Did you know that Joan Jett was a delegate from my district to the Democratic Convention? She lives right here on Long Island now in Long Beach. The hit I Love Rock & Roll catapulted Joan Jett & the Blackhearts to stardom. She’d had moderate success with her previous band, The Runaways, but the hard-driving rock with a slight punk edge to it was something new, especially from a band led by a woman. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/jett_joan/bio.jhtml Joel, Billy - Another Long Islander, Billy Joel grew up in Hicksville. Success was not overnight for this rock -n- roll piano player, as he bounced around through various bands and occupations until a live recording of Captain Jack from a radio broadcast began to get airplay. Columbia Records soon signed him, and he was producing early work such as Piano Man and New York State of Mind. It was the album The Stranger which would make him a household name. Songs like Movin Out and Only The Good Die Young topped the charts. More successful albums followed, including 52nd Street With the hit My Life and Glass Houses with the hits It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me and You May Be Right. Throughout the 80’s Joel continued to put out hit albums and continued to tour. In 1990 he achieved a personal goal of playing a series of concerts at Yankee Stadium - one of the few times I’ve actually set foot inside this den of heathens ;-) Later in the decade he toured with Elton John in a great face to face concert. His personal life was front and center for a while due to his marriage and subsequent divorce from Christie Brinkley. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/joel_billy/bio.jhtml Journey - Most known for the lineup featuring vocalist Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, bassist Ross Valory, and a series of ever-changing drummers, the San Francisco band Journey dominated the top-10 lists in the early 80’s with a string of hits from the albums Escape and Frontiers. Perry’s vocal strength has gone unmatched since - I’ve never heard anyone sing the way he does. Hits like Don’t Stop Believin’ were teen anthems while the sentimental Open Arms were a favorite of lovers. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/journey/bio.jhtml K Katrina & The Waves - This part British, part American band led by a female guitarist and lead singer, Katrina Leskanich managed to get a single hit in the U.S. with Walking on Sunshine. Their songs were guitar-driven and definitely suited to the pop charts. However, they were never able to duplicate the success of their one hit despite all of their hard work touring and getting their name and sound out there. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/katrina_the_waves/bio.jhtml Kihn, Greg - First charting in 1981 with The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em) Kihn became as well know for the titles of his albums as the music itself. If you doubted the fact that he had a sense of humor, he even teamed up with Weird Al Yankovic to spoof his biggest hit Jeopardy and appeared in the video. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/kihn_greg/bio.jhtml The Kinks - Having come to the U.S. with the first wave of the British Invasion which included The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, the early 80’s marked some of their strongest hits. Not to discount the earlier work which included Lola and You Really Got Me. The eighties featured hits such as Destroyer and Come Dancing. Feuds between brothers Ray and Dave Davies who were the core of The Kinks soon caused the other members to drop off and made for it being anyone’s guess if a scheduled concert would actually come off. I saw them at Nassau Coliseum back in the 80’s and it was a terrific live show of hard-driving rock -n- roll. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/kinks/bio.jhtml L Lauper, Cyndi - She may have been a Queens girl, but one of Cyndi Lauper’s earlier jobs was being a hot walker of the thoroughbred race horses at Belmont Race Track in Elmont, NY. Making the most of the advent of music videos to promote the newest album, Cyndi Lauper became a staple of early MTV with her comic antics and crazy clothes. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and the beautiful Time After Time were staples of those early days and the videos often featured Cyndi’s mother, boyfriend, and wrestler Captain Lou Albano. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/lauper_cyndi/bio.jhtml Led Zeppelin - I got into Led Zeppelin sort of backwards. I really liked Robert Plant’s solo work in the late 80’s and decided to give Zep a thorough listening to based on that. It wasn’t long before I’d amassed all of their work on CD. Led Zeppelin came out of Britain at the tail end of the Invasion. Plant was just nineteen years old when the band first toured in the U.S. in 1969 and became as known for the wild and crazy stories which accompanied their tours as for the music themselves. Hard driving rock fueled by John Bonham’s intense drumming and Jimmy Page’s hard-driving guitar riffs were capped off with the tremendous vocal power of Plant. Their music was an enigma in a business that prided itself on the hit single, for there were none on their records. Led Zeppelin was the first band to produce what was known as AOR - Album Oriented Rock. There were plenty of great songs which received tremendous airplay on the up-and-coming FM radio stations, but there really were no singles here. Still, there are classics such as Stairway to Heaven, Rock and Roll, and Whole Lotta Love. Heck, it would be easier to list the songs that didn’t get major FM airplay than the ones that did. Throughout the early 70’s Led Zeppelin was consistently putting out new and challenging music. The later years were marked with tragedy as Plant and his wife were almost killed in a car crash. Just as he had recovered and the band began touring again, his son died from illness. Once again the band’s future was in doubt, but then they seemed to regroup. A new album was released and they were touring in 1980 when drummer John Bonham was found dead in his hotel room from alcohol poisoning. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/led_zeppelin/bio.jhtml Lewis, Huey - In the midst of the 80’s with the wild stories about sex and drugs, Huey Lewis represented one thing: safety. Sometimes called “yuppie rock”, what else would you call someone trying to convince people that it’s Hip To Be Square? Coming out of San Francisco, they had hits with songs like Do You Believe In Love, I Want a New Drug and Heart and Soul. The songs were all infectious pop, easy to sing along with and remember the words. A dispute arose when Ray Parker Jr.’s theme to Ghostbusters sounded a little too much like I Want a New Drug. Lewis himself has dabbled in acting, most recently in Duets with Gwyneth Paltrow. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/lewis_huey/bio.jhtml M Mellencamp, John “Cougar“ - At one of my earliest part-time jobsm I was amazed at the high regard many of the African-American girls my age had for John Mellencamp. They’d seen him dance in Crumblin’ Down and thought he could move. Go figure. Coming out of the farming community of Seymour, Indiana, Mellencamp never quite left those roots behind him and was always there to help out the farmers, both in his actions and music. Early hits for John Mel encamp (when he was billed as John Cougar) include I Need A Lover (I dare you not to sing along with that when it comes on the radio) and Ain’t Even Done With the Night. It wasn’t until American Fool that he really broke out commercially with the hits Hurts So Good and Jack and Diane. It was his songs of social conscience which struck a chord with America through the Reagan 80’s, however, with songs such as Paepr In Fire, Rain on the Scarecrow, and Pink Houses. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/mellencamp_john/bio.jhtml Men at Work - Coming out of Australia, this quirky band capitalized on the video format by producing several clever, humorous videos which helped push their songs to the top of the charts. Hits such as Who Can It Be Now and Down Under worked because they seemed to invite the listened to have a chuckle with them and not take themselves so seriously. They were one of the first bands I saw at a newly renovated Jones Beach Theater here on Long Island - one of the greatest places in the world to see a concert. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/men_at_work/bio.jhtml Morissette, Alanis - Coming from Canada in the midst of the female-riock revolution in the mid-90’s, Alanis Morissette was well-known in her country well before the album Jagged Little Pill which shined the spotlight on her in the U.S. That album spawned the hits Hand in My Pocket and You Oughta Know and she was nominated for six Grammys. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/morissette_alanis/bio.jhtml N Nevil, Robbie - Nope, he wasn’t part of The Neville Brothers. Robbie Nevil was a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles who had one great album, his self-titled debut. It spawned the hits C’Est La Vie, Wots It To Ya, and Dominoes. After a disappointing sophomore offering, he retreated to producing and writing. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/nevil_robbie/bio.jhtml Nicks, Stevie - Best known for her phenomenal success with Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks put out some terrific solo work as well. Her duet with Tom Petty on Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around is probably her most famous solo work, and there were hits with Edge of Seventeen and Stand Back. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/nicks_stevie/bio.jhtml Night Ranger - One of the few bands I know where the drummer was also the lead singer, Night Ranger burst onto the scene in the 80’s with the hit Don’t Tell Me You Love Me It was loud mainstream rock that was suited to the hockey arenas around the country. In addition, they became know for their videos which featured the same girl throughout them in songs like Sister Christian and When You Close Your Eyes http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/night_ranger/bio.jhtml Part I: http://www.epinions.com/content_4410220676 Part III: http://www.epinions.com/content_4426014852 © 2005 Patti Aliventi  |
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