Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Pearl Jam

Members

Eddie Vedder - Lead Vocals/ Rhythm Guitar 
DOB: December 23, 1964, Evanston, IL

Mike McCready Lead Guitar/ Backing Vocals
DOB: April 5, 1966, Pensacola, FL

Stone Gossard Rhythm/ Lead Guitar/ Backing Vocals
DOB: July 20, 1994, Seattle, WA

Jeff Ament - Bass/ Backing Vocals
DOB: March 10, 1963, Harve, MO

Matt Cameron - Drums/ Backing Vocals
DOB: November 28, 1962, San Diego, CA

Bio

Mike McCready - 1992 
Pearl Jam was formed from the remains of a band called Mother Love Bone, whose lead singer died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament recruited Mike McCready for the lead guitar position and recorded a demo. This demo was given to Eddie Vedder, who added vocals and was asked to join the band. With Dave Krusen on drums, the band recorded their first album Ten which was released in 1991, about a month before Nirvana's Nevermind. But due to Nevermind's success, air time on mainstream radio became easier to acquire and Ten began selling well in 1992.  Their popularity grew due to performances at Lollapalooza and the soundtrack to the movie Singles,  on which two singles from the band appeared.
Pearl Jam decided to go against typical music industry standards and release no singles or music videos for their second album Vs., released in 1993. It sold a million copies in its first week. Further rebelling against the industry, the band did not play huge stadium shows during their 1994 summer tour and instead played smaller shows on collage campuses. The tour was canceled due to ticket prices being higher than the band wanted, starting a lawsuit with Ticketmaster. In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ticketmaster. The band recorded their third album Vitalogy during this time. This album also went multi-platinum. 
In the summer of 1996, Pearl Jam released their forth album, No Code. It started high on the charts but due to musical experimentation on the album it was not received well by the entire Pearl Jam fan base. The band didn't tour much for the album and spent 1997 working on their next album, Yield, which was released in early 1998. It's reviews were good but not quite chart topping. The band embarked on an all-out area tour over the summer. It was during this tour that Live on Two Legs was recorded, a highly praised live album. 
Over the next few years, the band would experiment with new sounds and covers that received good reviews from critics. In 2006, Pearl Jam was released. It was the first album since Yield to have all new music. 2009 brought on their first independently released album Backspacer along with reissues of their first albums in honor of their twentieth anniversary. They supported the album with an extensive tour. They're most recent album, Lightning Bolt, was seen as a return to their older sound and was critically applauded. 
Pearl Jam - 1992

Discography

Studio Albums 
  • Ten (1991)
  • Vs. (1993)
  • Vitalogy (1994)
  • No Code (1996)
  • Yield (1998)
  • Binaural (2000)
  • Riot Act (2002)
  • Pearl Jam (2006)
  • Backspacer(2009)
  • Lightning Bolt (2013)

Recommended Songs

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Jimi Hendrix

Members

Jimi Hendrix - Guitar/ Vocals 
DOB: November 27, 1942, Seattle, WA 
DOD: September 18, 1970, London, England

The Jimi Hendrix Experience 

Mitch Mitchell - Drums 
DOB: July 9, 1947, Greenwich, London
DOD: November 12, 2008, Portland, OR

Noel Redding - Bass/ Backing Vocals
DOB: December 25, 1945, Kent, England
DOD: May 11, 2003, County Cork, Ireland

Bio

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington in 1942 and was raised mainly by his father. He began playing guitar at the age of 16 and would soon begin playing in local bands around the city. In 1961, when Hendrix was 19, he joined the army to avoid jail time. He would serve as a paratrooper until 1962 when he was sent home due to an ankle injury sustained from a jump. Soon after, Hendrix would begin touring with several club bands as a backing guitarist. These acts included Little Richard, the Isley brothers and Sam Cooke. He simultaneously fronted a band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. It was during a performance with this band that he was discovered by Chas Chandler, former bassist for the British band the Animals. Chandler persuaded Jimi to move to England to begin a new band, which he would front because it was clear that that was where he belonged and not backing other musicians.
Hendrix would form The Jimi Hendrix Experience in London with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. The trio released their first album, Are You Experienced, in 1967 and became an overnight sensation. Audiences were in awe at Hendrix’s amazing guitar playing skill, empowering stage presence, and never-before-heard sound. Other greats of the time were impressed as well, including The Beatles, The rolling Stones, The Who, and Eric Clapton, all of whom living or starting out in England. Later that same year, the group made history at the Monterrey Pop Festival. It was Hendrix's first gig in the U.S. since leaving for England the year before. The performance was capped off with Hendirx lighting his guitar aflame. This became a common stunt for the musician after more shows.
Hendrix - Monterrey Pop Festival, 1967
The following year, the band released two studio albums, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland, both to critical acclaim and making them all the more popular. The success was short lived, however, because of the mounting pressure of recording and touring. The group would disband in 1969. But Hendrix did not stop making music. In the summer of 1969, He would preform an unforgettable rendition of the Star Spangled Banner on the morning of the final day of the Woodstock Festival, waking up the entire audience. He would continue to record music on his own, experimenting with different effects that other guitarists wouldn't even touch because of how strange they were at the time, becoming a pioneer in that way. He was actually one of the first to use effects pedals, which could be used live without the need of an entire recording studio.
In late 1969, Hendrix would form a new band called Band of Gypsys but they never really gained steam so he eventually began a project with Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox. Unfortunately, Hendrix would die before anything ever came of the project. On September 18, 1970 died of suffocation due to a drug overdose at the age of 27.

Discography

Studio Albums
  • Are You Experienced (1967)
  • Axis: Bold as Love (1968)
  • Electric Ladyland (1968)

Recommended Songs

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Nirvana

Members

Kurt Cobain - Lead Vocals/Guitar 
DOB: February 20, 1967, Aberdeen, WA 
DOD: April 5, 1995, Seattle, WA

Krist  Novoselic - Bass
DOB: May 16, 1965, Compton, CA

Dave Grohl - Drums/Backing Vocals
DOB: January 14, 1969, Warren, OH

Pat Smear (In Utero Tour) - Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals
DOB: August 5, 1969, Los Angeles, CA

Bio

Nirvana was founded in 1985 by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic although it wasn't until 1987 that a drummer, Chad Channing, and name was chosen. Originally living in Arberdeen, WA, a small logging town about 100 miles east of Seattle, Cobain and Novoselic moved to Olympia, Washington's capital city, where they would find Channing and play small gigs. Throughout 1987 the band would gain solid fan base underground and record about ten demos. This lead to Nirvana's signing to Sub Pop records and their first single, a cover, called Love Buzz in 1988. In 1989 they released their first album, Bleach, selling 35,000 copies. 
Nirvana- (from left to right) Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic
In 1990, Dave Grohl would replace Channing on drums and Nirvana would be signed to DGC Records. In 1991, They would record their second album, Nevermind, with producer Butch Vig. The album was followed up with a short American tour. Nevermind became an overnight smash hit, selling out the original 50,000 copies, making it difficult to find in the U.S. The album was propelled forward, mainly due to the single Smells Like Teen Spirit whose video became a stable on MTV's rotation. Cobain didn't like the video. Within six months of release, the album had gone triple platinum, selling three million copies. 
The album launched Nirvana into instant stardom and the band was not at all prepared. It was all downhill from there. In 1992 Cobain married Courtney Love, lead singer of the underground band Hole, and that she was expecting a child. Soon after, rumors began to spring up that Cobain and Love were heavily into heroin. The rumors were supported by the fact that several of Nirvana's shows would be canceled that summer and a set tour schedule was not released. According to the band, the cancellations were due to Cobain complaining of terrible stomach aches, this would later be confirmed because he would be admitted to a hospital in June. Right before their child would be born, an article written in Vanity-Fair would accuse Love of using during her pregnancy, which were denied by Cobain and her. In August, Love gave birth to a healthy baby girl. 
With the heavy documentation of Cobain's personal life, Nirvana didn't have many chances to record a new album. In 1993, they would finally release their third and final album In Utero to positive reviews and strong sales. During its recording, Cobain struggles with heroin addiction, suffering an overdose and threatening suicide. It was clear, in hindsight but not to those around him at the time, that Cobain had begun a downward spiral of emotional and physical pain which he coped with by self medicating with heroin. The pain he was feeling comes out well in this album which was way less polished than Nevermind. The band would begin a tour after the album's release adding Pat Smear as a second guitarist and backing vocals. He would act as live double-tracking, a recording technique Cobain often used because he disliked his own voice and it was commonly used by one of his influences, John Lennon. The band toured the U.S., including the recording of the "unplugged" show, until 1994 when they would begin a European tour. 
On March 4, 1994, Love found Cobain had tried to commit suicide with a cocktail of champagne and tranquilizers. He was hospitalized and returned to Seattle. After again threatening suicide, an intervention was held on Cobain's behalf which caused him to begin rehab in Los Angeles. He started treatment on March 30 but escaped two days later. On April 5, 1994, Cobain commited suicide via shotgun blast to the head. His body was discovered three days later at his home in Seattle. 

Discography

Studio Albums

  • Bleach (1989)
  • Nevermind (1991)
  • In Utero (1993)
Live Albums
  • MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)
  • From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1996)
  • Live at Reading (2009)
Compilations 
  • Incesticide (1992)
  • Nirvana (2002)

Recommended Songs


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