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The Ultimate Rock and Pop Music History Website - ROKPOOL
Of all the major alternative rock bands of the early ’90s, the Smashing Pumpkins were the group least influenced by traditional underground rock. Lead guitarist/songwriter Billy Corgan fashioned an amalgam of progressive rock, heavy metal, goth rock, psychedelia, and dream pop, creating a layered, powerful sound driven by swirling, distorted guitars.
Corgan was wise enough to exploit his angst-ridden lyrics, yet he never shied away from rock star posturing, even if he did cloak it in allegedly ironic gestures. In fact, theSmashing Pumpkins became the model for alternative rock success. Nirvana was too destructive and Pearl Jam shunned success. The Pumpkins, on the other hand, knew how to play the game, signing to a major-subsidized indie for underground credibility and moving to the major in time to make the group a multi-platinum act. And when the group did achieve mass success with 1993’s Siamese Dream, they went a long way to legitimize heavy metal and orchestrated prog rock, helping move alternative rock even closer to ’70s AOR, especially in the eyes of radio programmers and mainstream audiences. Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Pumpkins were able to withstand many internal problems and keep selling records, emerging as the longest-lasting and most successful alternative band of the early ‘90s.
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The members of metalcore outfit Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X) were still attending high school in Huntington Beach, CA, when they formed their band in 1999. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long for M. Shadows (vocals), Zacky Vengeance (guitar), Synyster Gates (guitar), the Reverend (drums), and Johnny Christ (bass) to make an impression with their aggressive hybrid of metal and punk-pop. The band made its official debut in July 2001, releasing Sounding the Seventh Trumpet on the Good Life label before moving to the Hopeless roster for 2003’s Waking the Fallen. Warner Bros. took interest in the band’s aggressive sound and issued its breakthrough release, City of Evil, in June 2005. The album reached number 30 on Billboard’s Top 200, propelled in part by the Top Ten success of the single “Bat Country.” The accompany music video was heavily rotated on MTV and Fuse, where live appearances also helped boost Avenged’s growing profile, and the band ultimately won the Best New Artist Award (though they were hardly newcomers) at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.
After a couple of false starts and name changes, Flaming Youth were formed in 1969. Included in the line up was drummer Phil Collins (drums/vocals), Ronnie Caryl(guitar/vocals), Brian Chatton (keyboards/vocals), (Flash) Gordon Smith (guitar/vocals).
Signed to Fontana Records, they worked with renowned songwriters Howard and Blaikleywho wrote and produced their only album “ARK2” The album told the story of a second flood and , no surprise, a second ark. With Howard and Blaikley’s pop background (they wrote and arranged songs for, The Herd, Dave Dee, Dozy. etc. and many others) the songs were a little lightweight but well played. The album is a wild collection of styles and influences ranging from sunshine pop to heavily orchestrated, over produced prog that shows a band in the early stages of a career perhaps being pushed in directions they were never entirely comfortable with.
According to Billboard chart statistics, Chicago is second only to the Beach Boys as the most successful American rock band of all time, in terms of both albums and singles. Judged by album sales, as certified by the R.I.A.A., the band does not rank quite so high, but it is still among the Top Ten best-selling U.S. groups ever. If such statements of fact surprise, that’s because Chicago has been singularly underrated since the beginning of its long career, both because of its musical ambitions (to the musicians, rock is only one of several styles of music to be used and blended, along with classical, jazz, R&B, and pop) and because of its refusal to emphasize celebrity over the music. The result has been that fundamentalist rock critics have consistently failed to appreciate its music and that its media profile has always been low. At the same time, however, Chicago has succeeded in the ways it intended to. From the beginning of its emergence as a national act, it has been able to fill arenas with satisfied fans. And beyond the impressive sales and chart statistics, its music has endured, played constantly on the radio and instantly familiar to tens of millions. When, in 2002, Chicago’s biggest hits were assembled together on the two-disc set The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning and the album debuted in the Top 50, giving the band the distinction of having had chart albums in five consecutive decades, the music industry and some music journalists may have been startled. But the fans who had been supporting Chicago for over 30 years were not.
Skid Row was formed in 1986 and spawned a successful career in the 80s hair metal genre. The original line up consisted of notorious vocalist, Sebastian Bach, former Bon Jovi guitarist Dave Sabo, drummer Rob Affuso, secondary guitarist Scott Hill and bassistRachel Bolan.
The Clash was an English Punk Band founded in 1976. The bands stalwarts were Joe Strummer on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Mick Jones lead guitar/ vocals and Paul Simon on on bass guitar and backing vocals. Nicky “Topper” Headon on drums and percussion would join the band later.
Black Sabbath came together in 1967 to form one of the seminal Heavy metal bands of all time. The band was instrumental in creating the imagery commonly associated with Heavy Metal, the occult inspired, apocalyptic, death and destruction imagery that has so often been imitated over the years. Black Sabbath, were notorious for their amplified distortion, monstrous beats and the emphatic guitar solos of Tony Iommi.
