(Vocal/instrumental group, 2002–present) After fans posted early demos of theirs online and created a Myspace profile for them (before the band themselves were even aware of the site’s existence), Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys – Alex Turner (vocals), Jamie Turner (guitar), Matt Helders (drums) and Andy Nicholson (bass) – saw their wryly accurate take on northern English life consumed by the public. Their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1999–present) It was the title track from their third album that brought Gossip and larger-than-life frontwoman Beth Ditto to the world’s attention. The three-piece dance-rock band – the other members being guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie – released ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ in 2006, which became an indie anthem. Ditto became something of an icon for her body image and aggressively promoted homosexuality. Styles & Forms ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1965–72, 1989, 1996) When the ‘classic’ line-up of Marty Balin (vocals), Grace Slick (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar, vocals) and Skip Spence (drums) found each other, a merger of an oblique form of folk rock with psychedelia ensured acceptance by their native San Francisco’s hippy community. They produced 1967 hit singles in ‘Somebody To Love’ and ‘White Rabbit’, and albums that were still charting when the ...
Brothers Caleb (born 14 January 1982, vocals and rhythm guitar), Jared (born 20 November 1986, bass) and Nathan Followill (born 26 November 1979, drums) and their cousin Matthew Followill (born 10 September 1984, lead guitar) grew up in Tennessee’s deep south with the brothers’ Pentecostal preacher father, learning the way of the Lord. But their love of music changed all that, and a decade later they were one of the ...
(Vocal group, 1968–72) Michigan’s loud and politically resolute MC5 – Rob Tyler (vocals), Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith (guitar), Mike Davis (bass) and Dennis Thompson (drums) – were connected with The White Panthers. Riddled with slogan-ridden social comment, rude words and raw musical attack, their three albums may be seen to have pre-empted the more dogmatic punk groups like The Clash and Crass, as well as later acts such as ...
(Singer-songwriter b. 1957) Nick Cave (vocals) began his fascinating career in Boys Next Door, who became The Birthday Party: Mick Harvey (guitar), Tracy Pew (bass), Phil Calvert (drums). A gothic, blues punk band of fearsome intensity, showcasing Cave’s brutal, Captain Beefheart-style lyrics, they released three albums, 1981’s Prayers On Fire being the pick. 1982’s Junkyard is the sound of the band falling apart. Cave regrouped, retaining Mick Harvey and adding guitarist Blixa ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2002–present) Very much a vehicle for precociously talented singer Johnny Borrell, four-piece Razorlight – with Bjorn Agren (guitar), Carl Dalemo (bass) and Andy Burrows (drums) – trade in modern indie rock, so appealing that their performance at Live 8 in 2005 saw sales of their debut album Up All Night (2004) rocket. Often accused of speaking only in soundbites and self-aggrandizing, Borrell remains an intriguing frontman who clearly has ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1965–68) They surfaced at the tail-end of the ‘British Invasion’ from a mid-Texas scene as self-contained in its way as Merseybeat had been. ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ – from 1966’s The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators – was a regional hit, but later releases obeyed a law of diminishing returns both artistically and commercially. Today, The Elevators are remembered principally as the group in which Roky Erickson ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1993–present) Sweden’s Hives – Pelle Almqvist (vocals), Niklas Almqvist (guitar), Mikael Karlsson Åström (guitar), Mattias Bernval (bass) and Christian Grahn (drums) – suffered relative obscurity in their home country until the UK’s garage rock obsession in 2000, after signing to the Poptones label. Immaculately attired and only slightly serious, the band excelled at an almost pantomime ability to wow an audience, often leaving them uncertain if the mock arrogance, ...
One of the more popular bands of the ‘British Invasion’ and a considerable influence on both 1970s heavy metal outfits and 1990s groups such as Blur and Oasis, The Kinks went through numerous line-up changes but were always led by singer-songwriter Ray Davies (born 21 June 1944), while his brother Dave (born 3 February 1947) supplied the band’s signature rock guitar sound. Raw Unbridled Energy Born and raised in Muswell Hill, North ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2001–04) The Libertines – Pete Doherty (vocals, guitar), Carl Barat (vocals, guitar), John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums) – hailed from the east end of London. Across their short lifespan they made two albums (Up The Bracket, 2002 and The Libertines, 2004) of exceptionally idiosyncratic indie, with The Clash’s Mick Jones at the production desk and one-time Suede guitarist Bernard Butler occasionally behind the axe. In Doherty and Barat ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1963–present) Phil May (vocals) and ex-Rolling Stone Dick Taylor (guitar) formed this London R&B outfit in 1963. A long-haired reprobate image held instant appeal and they made the UK Top 20 with ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ and ‘Honey I Need’. A few minor hits later, they signed off the singles chart for ever in 1966, and sales did not match critical acclaim for works such as S.F. Sorrow (1968) ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2005–present) Formed by The White Stripes’ Jack White and friend/songwriter Brendan Benson (along with Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler from Detroit’s Greenhornes), The Raconteurs fuse White’s guitar know-how with Benson’s songwriting panache. The concoctions are heady, if openly throwback, and those recorded for debut Broken Boy Soldiers (2006) are interesting in the way they were recorded between the main men’s projects – and not premeditated, heralded as the work ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1980–91) The talented Paul Westerberg (vocals, guitar) was the main songwriter of this highly influential alternative rock outfit. Brothers Bob and Tommy Stinson (guitar and bass) and Chris Mars (drums) completed this initially shambolic punk band. After three albums on local Minneapolis label Twin-Tone, Tommy Ramone produced Tim (1985). Westerberg’s hooky garage rock songs pointed forward to punk’s acceptance into the mainstream. Despite the excellent Pleased To Meet Me ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1965–72) This Los Angeles ‘garage band’ comprised Sky Saxon (vocals), Jan Savage (guitar), Daryll Hooper (organ) and Rick Andridge (drums). Slipping into the national Top 40 in 1965, their second single, ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’, triggered further grippingly slipshod exercises prior to ‘going psychedelic’ in 1967. A desperate in-concert album, Raw And Alive signalled the end, but Saxon’s solo releases – such as 2005’s Transparency – have punctuated the decades ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.