Classic Rock/Heavy Metal History

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen Ray "Stevie" Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and also an notable, famous recording artist. Often referred to by his initials, SRV, he is best known as the leader of the blues rock band Double Trouble, with whom he recorded four studio albums. Influenced by guitarists of various genres, Vaughan emphasized intensity and emotion in his guitar playing, and favored vintage guitars and amplifiers. He became the leading musician of the blues rock sound, and encompassed multiple styles, including jazz and ballads.Born and raised in Dallas as the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughn, he moved to Austin at the age of 17, and became involved with the Austin live music scene; he formed a band, Triple Threat Revue, that evolved into Double Trouble in 1978. Accompanied by drummer Chris Layton, bassist Tommy Shannon, and later, keyboardist Reese Wynans, Vaughan became an important figure in Texas Blues, a loud, swing-driven fusion of blues and rock. Double Trouble's debut Epic album, Texas Flood (1983), was a breakthrough success, though he entered a long period of alcohol and drug addiction. In 1986, he successfully completed rehabilitation and ultimately released In Step (1989). On August 27, 1990, while departing a concert venue by helicopter in East Troy Wisconsin, Vaughan was killed when the helicopter crashed into the side of a ski hill. His death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as 3,000 people reportedly attended his public memorial service in Dallas.Vaughan is highly rated and is considered to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He has received critical recognition for his guitar playing, ranked at #7 on Rolling Stones's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists" in 2003. He ranked #3 on Classic Rock magazine's list of "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes" in 2007. Vaughan won six Grammy Awards, including Best ContemporarsBluesPerformance for In Step. Vaughan was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000 and won five W.C. Handy Awards. As of 2012, Vaughan has sold over 11.5 million albums with Double Trouble.

Theodore Anthony Nugent

Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent born December 13, 1948) is an American Guitarist, musician, singer, author, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career. He is also noted for his conservative political views and his ardent defense of hunting and gun ownership rights.Nugent was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marion Dorothy (née Johnson) and Warren Henry Nugent. He is of Irish, English and German descent. He moved to Palatine, Illinois as a teenager, and has two brothers: John and Jeffrey. Raised Catholic, Nugent has mentioned his ties with the Christian faith many times during interviews, and has stated that he regularly attends church. He attended St.ViatorHigh School in Arlington Heights, Illinois.Nugent has released more than 34 albums, and has sold a career total of 30 million records. He was known throughout his early career in the 1970s for using Fender amps, a large part of his signature sound, and for playing the hollow-body Gibson Byrdland guitar. Gibson Guitar Corporation has since developed a model named for him.

Nugent in concert with his signature Gibson Byrdland guitar Performing since 1958, Nugent has been touring annually since 1967, averaging more than 300 shows per year (1967–73), 200 per year (1974–80), 150 (1981–89), 127 concerts in 1990, 162 concerts in 1991, 150 concerts in 1993, 180 in 1994, 166 in 1995, 81 in 1996, Summer Blitz '97, '98, Rock Never Stops '99, 133 concerts with KISS 2K. Nugent's 2005 plans involved a tour with country music singer-songwriter Toby Keith, whom Nugent met in Iraq while they were both performing in USO-sponsored shows for the coalitiontroops.Nugent toured with local Detroit musician Alex Winston during the summers of 2007 and 2008.On July 4, 2008, at the DTE Energy Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan, Ted Nugent played his 6,000th concert DerekSt.Holmes (original singer for the Ted Nugent band), Johnny Bee Badanjek (drummer for Mithch Ryder and The DetroitWheels), and Ted's guitar teacher from 1958 Joe Podorsek all jammed on stage with Ted for various tunes.His first edition of The Amboy Dukes played at The Cellar, a teen dance club outside of Chicago in Arlington Heights,Illinois, starting in late 1965, while Nugent was a student at St.ViatorHighSchool. The Cellar's "house band" at the time had been the Shadows of Knight, although the Amboy Dukes eventually became a staple until the club's closing.The Amboy Dukes' second single was "Journey to the Center of the Mind", which featured lyrics written by the Dukes' second guitarist Steve Farmer. Nugent, an ardent anti-drug campaigner, has always claimed that he had no idea that this song was about drug use.The Amboy Dukes (1967), Journey to the Center of the Mind (1968) and Migration (1969) — all recorded on the Mainstream label — sold moderately well. On April 4, 1968, Nugent along with a group of musicians paid tribute to Martin Luther King by having a folk, rock and blues jam session. Joni Mitchell played first, followed by Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix. Other musicians who participated were BB King and Al Kooper.After settling down on a ranch in Michigan in 1973, Nugent signed a record deal with Frank Zeppa's DiscReet Records label and recorded Call of the Wild. The following year, Tooth Fang & Claw (which contained the song "Great White Buffalo") established a fan base for Nugent and the other Amboy Dukes. Personnel changes nearly wrecked the band, which became known as Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes. Nugent reunited with the other members of the Amboy Dukes at the 2009 Detroit Music Awards, which took place April 17, 2009. The psychedelic band received a distinguished achievement honor at the event. The Dukes also played together at the ceremony, marking their first public performance in more than 30 years.The Amboy Dukes were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2008.

Alex Van Halen

Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band acheived success after the release of its debut album Van Halen(1978). As of 2007, Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is the 19th best-selling band/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the United States alone,and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. In 1999, the RIAA certified their debut album diamond for ten million in U.S. sales.The band is also known for the drama surrounding the exits of former members. The multiple exits of lead singers David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone were surrounded in controversy and press coverage, including numerous conflicting press statements between the former singers and the band. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2007, when new bassist Wolfgang VanHalen's place was confirmed and Roth reunion rumors began to re-surface, both events coinciding with the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 12, 2007.After years of speculation, Van Halen began a tour with Roth across North America in 2007 and into 2008. On December 26, 2011, Van Halen announced a tour for 2012, and released their first album in 14 years, A Different Kind of Truth, on February 7.

Def Lappard

Def Leppard are an English rock, band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott (vocals), Rick Savage (bass guitar), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar), and Vivian Campbell (guitar). At 20 years, this is the band's longest-standing lineup.The band's strongest commercial success came between the early 1980s and the early 1990s. Their 1981 album High 'n' Dry was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who helped them begin to define their style, and the album's stand out track "Bringin"On the Heartbreak" became one of the first metal videos played on MTV in 1982. The band's next studio album Pyromania in 1983, with the lead single "Photograph", turned Def Leppard into a household name. In 2004, the album ranked number 384 on Rolling Stones's 500 greatestall time.Def Leppard's fourth album Hysteria released in 1987, topped the US and UK album charts. As of 2009 it has 12x platiumn sales in the United States, and has gone on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide. The album spawned six hit singles, including the US Billborad Hot 100 number one "Love Bites", alongside "Pour Some Sugar on Me", "Hysteria", "Armageddon It", "Animal" and "Rocket".Their next studio album Adrenalize (the first following the death of guitarist (Steve Clark) reached number one on the US Billborad 200 and UK album Chart in 1992, and contained several hits including, "Let's Get Rocked" and "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad". Their 1993 album Retro Active contained the acoustic hit song "Two Steps Behind", while their greatest hits album Vault released in 1995 featured the new track "When Love & Hate Collide".As one of the world's best-selling music artist, Def Leppard have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, and have two albums with RIAA diamond certification, Promania and Hysteria.They are one of only five rock bands with two original studio albums selling over 10 million copies in the U.S.The band were ranked #31 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock"and ranked #70 in "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time".Def Leppard are currently touring in support of their recently released live album, "Mirror Ball".

John Michael Osbourne

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948 in Aston,Birmingham, England) is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose dark and hard sound helped spawn the heavy metal genre. Osbourne has achieved multi-platinum status as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath.Due to Sabbath's dark style of music, Osbourne became known as the "Prince of Darkness".Osbourne is also known as the "Godfather of heavy metal".In the early 2000s, Osbourne's career expanded when he became a star in his own reality show The Osbourne's, alongside wife/manager Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack. A documentary about his life and career, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, premiered in April 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on DVD in November 2011.As of December 2010, Osbourne has sold over 100 million albums worldwide as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath.In November 1973, Black Sabbath released the critically acclaimed Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. For the first time, the band received favourable reviews in the mainstream press. Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone called the album "an extraordinarily gripping affair", and "nothing less than a complete success". All Music's Eduardo Rivadavia call the album a "masterpiece, essential to any heavy metal collection," while also claiming the band displayed "a newfound sense of finesse and maturity".The album marked the band's fifth consecutive platinum selling album in the US. Sabotage was released in July 1975. Again there were favourable reviews. Rolling Stone stated, "Sabotage is not only Black Sabbath's best record since Paranoid, it might be their best ever." Allmusic was not so favourable. They noted that "the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Volume 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate". Technical Ecstasy, released on 25 September 1976, was also met with mixed reviews. AllMusic gave the album two stars, and noted that the band was "unravelling at an alarming rate".

Motley Crew

A motley crew is a cliche for a roughly organized assembly of characters. Typical examples of motley crews are pirates, Western posses, rag-tag mercenary bands or freedom fighters. They may align with, be (as a group), or include either the protagonist or the antagonist of the story.Motley crews are, by definition, non-uniform and undisciplined as a group. They are characterised by containing characters of conflicting personality, varying backgrounds, and, usually to the benefit of the group, a wide array of methods for overcoming adversity. Traditionally, a motley crew who in the course of a story comes into conflict with an organised, uniform group of characters, will prevail. This is generally achieved through the narrative utilising the various specialties, traits and other personal advantages of each member to counterbalance the (often sole) specialty of a formal group of adversaries.Archetypical examples of the "motley crew" overcoming adversity are commonly found in fantasy and science fiction. Examples include parties of the Rebel Alliance (often including both humans and other species such as Wookiees, Ewoks, or Gungans) defeating many identical battle droids or stormdroids in the Star Wars universe. A motley crew is also the archetype for most sports stories. Examples include The Mighty Duck, The Sandlot, in which the opposing and antagonistical team that is ultimately defeated is also much more organized and coherent.Motley from 13th-century Middle English means composed of elements of diverse or varied character. In the 15-16th century came the "Motley", the official dress of the court jester. He was an important person in court circles, who could say the truth without punishment even if contrary to the King’s or senior officials’ opinion. Their uniform was multi-coloured.Motley from 13th-century Middle English means composed of elements of diverse or varied character. In the 15-16th century came the "Motley", the official dress of the court jester. He was an important person in court circles, who could say the truth without punishment even if contrary to the King’s or senior officials’ opinion. Their uniform was multi-coloured.From this usage came "motley crew" after about 1710 in the English Navy, which was a captain’s longboat crew who all wore identical multi-coloured uniforms rather than the dull navy blue or individual clothes of the common sailor. The term was used in a letter from an officer of the "Royal William" in 1719 describing the crews' uniform of the admiral's boat. In the 17th to 19th centuries fashionable captains invented unique motley uniforms to make their personal crew look smart, paying from their own pocket. The uniform was sometimes elaborate, for example that of the "Centurion" in 1750 with Roman styled fashion. A "motley crew" was a uniform, disciplined team of the best rowers in the ship. Two hundred years later 'blazer' is still used for the coat or jacket invented by the captain of HMS Blazer for his personal motley crew, then adopted by university rowing crew in the 19th century. The term 'motley crew' dropped out of frequent use in the late 19th Century with the adoption of standard Navy uniforms, but was still in use in the 1870s with 'Galatea cloth' used widely for Victorian children in mock navy uniforms from the blue and white striped motley of HMS Galatea commanded by the 'Sailor Prince', the Duke of Edinburgh.The spelling of the word motley varied in the 14-18th centuries to include 'Motly crew' as used by Pope in 1748 to describe this small naval team.In the 1920s at Oxford University, an additional meaning of motley crew came into use in English literature analysis to describe a small group or gang of people, each with a different skill or knowledge, who could overcome any problem or adversity as at least one member of the heterogeneous group could find a solution. The hero with his small band of faithful followers could beat enormous odds, a story theme going back to the Norse Sagas, and in English starting with the deeds of Robin Hood and his merry band of men, to the latest exploits of Biggles and his faithful minor character friends. In this word usage, 'motley' described the characteristics of the group, rather than the characteristics of their uniform.In the mid-1980s the technical term motley crew became used in rowing coach circles to describe a crew who were of significantly different height or strength, which made it difficult to establish an optimal length of stroke for a race distance. This was a particular characteristic of crews from small English public school with limited rowers.

AC/DC

AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcom and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal and are sometimes classified as so, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll".To date they are one of the highest grossing bands of all time. AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, High Voltage, on 17 February 1975. Membership remained stable until bassist Mark Evans was replaced by Cliff Willuams in 1977 for the album Powerage. Within months of recording the album Highway to Hell, lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott died on 19 February 1980, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption. The group briefly considered disbanding, but Scott's parents urged them to continue and hire a new vocalist. Ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson was auditioned and selected to replace Scott. Later that year, the band released their highest selling album, and ultimately the second highest-selling album by any artist,Back in Black.The band's next album, For those About to Rock We Salute You, was their first album to reach number one in the United States. AC/DC declined in popularity soon after drummer Phill Rudd was fired in 1983 and was replaced by future Dio drummer Simon Wright, though the band resurged in the early 1990s with the release of The Razors Edge. Phil Rudd returned in 1994 (after Chris Slade, who was with the band from 1990–1994, was asked to leave in favour of him) and contributed to the band's 1995 album Ballbreaker. Since then, the band's line-up has remained the same. Stiff Upper Lip was released in 2000 and was well received by critics, and the band's latest studio album, Black Ice, was released on 20 October 2008. It was their biggest hit on the charts since For Those About to Rock, reaching No.1 on all the charts eventually.As of 2010, AC/DC have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, as of the releases of their latest albums, Black Ice and the Iron Man 2 soundtrack, including 71 million albums in the United States.Back in Black has sold an estimated 50 million units worldwide, making it the highest-selling album by any band and the second-highest-selling album in history, behind Thriller by Michael Jackson. The album has sold 22 million in the US alone, where it is the fifth-highest-selling album.AC/DC ranked fourth on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and were named the seventh "Greatest Heavy Metal Band of All Time" by MTV. In 2004, AC/DC were ranked number 72 in the Rolling Stones list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 2010, AC/DC were ranked number 23 in the VH1 list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band" Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues and has inspired many subsequent rock artists.The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabono, and formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston.They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by their 1974 album Get Your Wings. In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rock cemented their status as hard rock superstars. The band released two more albums, toured extensively, and charted a string of Hot 100 singles. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the "Blue Army". However, drug addiction and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford, in 1979 and 1981 respectively. They were replaced by Jimmy Creapo and Rick Dufay. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing a lone album, Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes.Perry and Whitford returned in 1984 and the band signed a new deal with Geffen Records. After a comeback tour, the band recorded Done With Mirrors (1985), which won some critical praise but failed to come close to commercial expectations. It was not until the band sobered up and released 1987's Permanent Vacation that they regained the level of popularity they had experienced in the 1970s. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the band scored several hits and won numerous awards for music from the multi-platinum albums Pump (1989), Get a Grip (1993), and Nine Lives (1997). The band also became a pop culture phenomenon with popular music videos and notable appearances in television, film, and video games. Their comeback has been described as one of the most remarkable and spectacular in rock 'n' roll history. Additional albums followed in 2001 and 2004. After 42 years of performing, the band continues to tour and record music. The band's next album is expected to be released in the spring of 2012.

　

Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayrevill, New Jersey.Jon Bon Jovi is the singer in the band, formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.), guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald. The band's lineup has remained mostly static during their history, the only exception being the departure of Alec John Such in 1994, who was unofficially replaced by Hugh McDonald. The band became known for writing several rock anthems and achieved widespread recognition with their third album, Slippery When Wet, released in 1986. After touring and recording non-stop during the late 1980s, the band went on hiatus after the New Jersry Tour in 1990, during which time Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora both released successful solo albums. In 1992, the band returned with the album Keep the Faith. Their 2000 single "It's My Life", which followed a second hiatus, successfully introduced the band to a younger audience. Bon Jovi has been known to use different styles in their music, which has included country for their 2007 album Lost Highway. Their latest album, The Circle, was released on November 10, 2009 in the United States.Throughout their career, the band have released eleven studio albums, three compilation albums and one live album, and have sold 130 million records worldwide. They have performed more than 2,600 concerts in over 50 countries for more than 34 million fans,and were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006. The band was also honored with the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards in 2004.Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.The band was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, but did not make it.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival (sometimes shortened to Creedence or CCR) was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums.The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother and rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. Their musical style encompassed country rock and swamp rock genres. Despite their San Francisco Bay Area origins, they positioned themselves as Southern Rock stylists, singing about bayous, the Mississippi River, catfish, and other popular elements of Southern iconography.Creedence Clearwater Revival's music is still a staple of American and worldwide radio airplayand often figures in various media. The band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone.Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. They were ranked at 82 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest artists of all time.

George Thorogood

George Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilminton, Delaware, USA, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move it on Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer". Another favorite is a cover of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?"George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers have released sixteen studio albums, including two that were certified Platinum and six that have been certified gold. The band has sold fifteen million albums worldwide. The band is credited with the early success of Rounder Records.Thorogood was born on February 24, 1950 and was raised in Naamans Manor, a neighborhood in suburban Wilmington, Delaware, where his father worked for DuPont. He graduated from Brandywine High School in 1968. The singer was born in the middle of five children; including two older brothers, John and Pete, and two younger sisters, identical twins, Liza and Anne. Thorogood played semi-professional baseball, but turned toward music after seeing John P. Hammond perform in 1970.

　

Godsmack

Godsmack is an American Heavy Metal band from Lawrece, Massachustts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its formation, Godsmack has released five studio albums, one EP, four DVDs, and one greatest hits collection.The band has had three consecutive number one albums (Faceless IV, and The Oracle) on the Billborad 200. Inception, Godsmack has toured on Ozzfest on more than one occasion, and has toured with many other large tours and festivals, including supporting its albums with its own arena tours. Godsmack has sold over 20 million records in just over a decade, yet despite the decline of album sales in recent years, they have proven to be one of the highest-grossing artists in the United States.In February 1995, Sully Erna decided to start a new band as the lead singer after playing the drums for more than 23 years, including more than two years in the now-defunct band Strip Mind. His new band, The Scam, formed with Erna on vocals, Robbie Merrill on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewert on drums. The Scam quickly changed its name to Godsmack, after recording one demo. The newly formed band started playing small bars in their hometown of Boston, Mass. Locally popular songs such as "Keep Away" and "Whatever" soon brought them to the top of the hit charts in the Boston/New England area.

HammerFall

HammerFall was formed when guitarist Oscar Droonjak quit Ceremonial Oath and invited Jesper Stromblad (from In Flames) to join him as a drummer in a new musical project he had been contemplating for some time. Dronjak had already composed the song "Steel Meets Steel," which was later included on HammerFall's debut album. Dronjak and Strömblad were later joined by guitarist Niklas, bassist Johan Larsson, and vocalist Mikael Stanne. When Niklas Sundin and Johan Larsson left HammerFall the following year, Glenn Ljungstrom (then guitarist of In Flames) and Fredrik Larsson (bassist of the former Swedish death metal band Dispatched), replaced them.

Joacim Cans joined the band in 1996 All five members played in other bands at the time. Dronjak and Larsson played in Crystal Age; Strömblad and Ljungström played in In Flames and Stanne sang for Dark Tranquillity. Both of these bands influenced Swedish melodic death metal. HammerFall was relegated to being a side project of them all for several years. Their concerts were limited mostly to a local music contest named Rockslaget. The band had few songs of their own and played mostly covers from bands such as Pretty Maids, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper.In 1996, HammerFall reached the semi-finals of Rockslaget. When Mikael Stanne could not perform with the band in the semi-finals, they found Joacim Cans, who agreed to play with them for the night. The concert was a success although the judges disqualified HammerFall for the finals. By the end of that day, Joacim had already been made an official member of the band.

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden were formed on Christmas Day 1975, by bassist Steve Harris, shortly after he left his previous group, Smiler. Harris attributes the band's name to a film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, which he saw around that time and which had a verbal connection to the iron maiden torture device. The original lineup did not last very long, however, with vocalist Paul Day being the first casualty as he lacked "energy or charisma onstage."He was replaced by Dennis Wilcock, a Kiss fan who used make-up and fake blood during live performances.Wilcock's friend Dave Murray was invited to join, to the dismay of the band's guitarists Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance.Their frustration led Harris to temporarily disunite the band in 1976, though the group reformed soon after with Murray as the sole guitarist. Steve Harris and Dave Murray remain the band's longest-standing members and have performed on all of their releases.Iron Maiden recruited yet another guitarist in 1977, Bob Sawyer, who was The band also has parked a ratified 19 top ten rock radio hits, including 15 songs in the Top Five, a record number of top ten singles by a rock artist.Since its i sacked for embarrassing the band onstage by pretending to play guitar with his teeth Tension ensued again, causing a rift between Murray and Wilcock, who convinced Harris to fire Murray, as well as original drummer Ron Matthews.A new line-up was put together, including Tony Moore on keyboards, Terry Wapram on guitar, and drummer Berry Purkis. A bad performance at the Bridgehouse, a pub located in Canning Town,in November 1977 was the line-up's first and only concert and led to Purkis being replaced by Doug Samson. At the same time, Moore was asked to leave as Harris decided that keyboards did not suit the band's sound. A few months later, Dennis Wilcock decided he'd had enough with the group and left to form his own band, V1, and Dave Murray was immediately reinstated. As he preferred to be the band's sole guitarist, Wapram disapproved of Murray's return and was also dismissed.Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Doug Sampson spent the Summer and Autumn of 1978 rehearsing while they searched for a singer to complete the band's new line-up.A chance meeting at the Red Lion pub in Leytonstone in November 1978 evolved into a successful audition for vocalist, Steve Harris has stated, "There's sort of a quality in Paul's voice, a raspiness in his voice, or whatever you want to call it, that just gave it this great edge."Although, the band were always looking to employ a second, from that point Murray would typically act as their sole guitarist, with Harris commenting that "Davey was so good he could do a lot of it on his own. The plan was always to get a second guitarist in, but finding one that could match Davey was really difficult."On New Year's Eve 1978, Iron Maiden recorded a demo, consisting of four songs, at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge. Hoping the recording would help them secure more gigs,the band presented a copy to Neal Kay, then managing a heavy metal club called "Bandwagon Heavy Metal Soundhouse", located in Kingsbury Circle, northwest London. Upon hearing the tape, Kay began playing the demo regularly at the Bandwagon, and one of the songs, "Prowler," eventually went to No. 1 in the Soundhouse charts, which were published weekly in Sounds magazine. A copy was also acquired by Rod Smallwood, who soon became the band's manager, and, as Iron Maiden's popularity increased, they decided to release the demo on their own record label as "The Soundhouse Tapes," named after the club.Featuring only three tracks (one song, "Strange World", was excluded as the band were unsatisfied with its production) all five thousand copies were sold out within weeks.

Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English heavy metal and hard rock band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969.Known for a twin lead guitar style, a wide operatic vocal style, and for introducing the S&M leather and studs look into heavy metal, they have sold over 50 million albums worldwide.After an early career as a secondary act dogged by unsympathetic producers and lineup changes, the band found considerable commercial success in the 1980s. In 1989, they were named as defendants in an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging that subliminalmessages on their albums had caused the suicide attempts of two young men.The band's membership has seen much turnover, including a revolving cast of drummers in the 1970s, and the temporary resignation of singer Rob Halford in the early 1990s. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. In 2010, the band announced a farewell tour, with a projected retirement in 2012, K.K. Downing, Ian Hill, and John Ellis had known each other since early childhood growing up on the Yew Tree estate in West Bromwich. They attended Churchfields Sch. at All Saints in W. Bromwich. Downing and Hill became close friends in their early teens, when they shared similar musical interests (Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Cream, The Yardbirds) and learned to play instruments. The band was founded in October 1970 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, after a local ensemble named Judas Priest (from Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of FrankieLee and Judas Priest") disbanded.

Nirvana

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.In the late 1980s Nirvana established itself as part of the Seattle grunge scene, releasing its first album Bleach for the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. The band eventually came to develop a sound that relied on dynamic contrasts, often between quiet verses and loud, heavy choruses. After signing to major label DGC Records, Nirvana found unexpected success with "Smells Like Team Spirit", the first single from the band's second album Nevermind (1991). Nirvana's sudden success widely popularized alternative as a whole, and as the band's frontman Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana being considered the "flagship band" of Generation X.Nirvana's third studio album In Utero(1993), challenged the group's audience, featuring an abrasive, less-mainstream sound.Nirvana's brief run ended following the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, but various posthumous releases have been issued since, overseen by Novoselic, Grohl, and Cobain's widow Country Love.Since its debut, the band has sold over 25 million records in the United States alone, and over 75 million records worldwide.

Ratt

Ratt is an American har rock band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is best known for songs such as "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," and "Lay It Down". Ratt has been recognized as instrumental in the formation of the early 1980s Los Angeles hard rock and glam metal scene.Their 7th studio album, Infestation, was released April 20, 2010. The band is currently on an indefinite hiatus.The origins of Ratt go at least as far back as 1976 with a San Diego band called Mickey Ratt, which was formed by founding member vocalist Stephen Pearcy St. Several CDs have been released of the Mickey Ratt line-ups, including several demo compilations and a live concert.Mickey Ratt went through various line-ups. Members included guitarists Jake E. Lee, Chris Hager, Paul DeNisco, and Bob DeLellis, bassists Matt Thorr, Tim Garcia, and Dave Jellison, Mike New, and drummers John Turner, Seth Faver, Dave Alford, and Bob Eisenberg.In 1980, the band moved to Los Angeles to increase their chances of landing a recording contract with a major label. The band recorded a single called "Dr. Rock" / "Drivin' on E", which was given to fans at their early Los Angeles club shows. Guitarist Jake E. Lee joined the Mickey Ratt line up.In 1981, the band's name was shortened to Ratt. Robbin Crosby played with the band later in the year. Jake E. Lee, Chris Hager, Matt Thorr, and Dave Alford all left Mickey Ratt to form another band called Rough Cutt. Guitarist Warren DeMartini joined in January 1982 (recommended by Lee). Bassist Gene Hunter (from Jake E. Lee's Teaser) and drummer Khurt Maier (who played drums on the early "Tell The World" recording) would temporarily play in Ratt before Bobby Blotzer and Jaun Crouceir (also with the band Dokken). DeMartini was only 18 years old when he was called up to Los Angeles to join Ratt. At the time he was attending college in San Diego and reluctant to drop out to join a band that had, so far, had only limited success. Marq Torien briefly replaced DeMartini, though Warren returned in time for the recording of their EP, later in 1982.

Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), and Keith Richards (guitar, vocals). Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up. Jones led the band until Jagger and Richards assumed leadership after teaming as songwriters. In 1969 Jones' diminishing contributions to the band and his inability to tour, due to medical and legal complications, caused him to leave the band three weeks before drowning in his swimming pool. Jones' replacement Mick Taylor stayed with the band until leaving voluntarily in 1974, since then Ronnie Wood has been the second guitarist. Wyman retired from the band in 1993; his replacement Darryl Jones has not been made a full member. Stewart was taken from the official line-up in 1963 and continued as the band's road manager and occasional pianist until his death in 1985. Since 1982, Chuck Leavell has been the band's primary keyboardist.First popular in Europe, the Rolling Stones quickly became successful in North America during the British Invasion of the mid 1960s. Having released 22 studio albums in the United Kingdom (24 in the United States), eleven live albums (twelve in the US), and numerous compilations, their worldwide sales are estimated at more than 200 million albums. Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums reaching number one in the United States. Their most recent album of new material, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. In 1989, the Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004, they ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked the Rolling Stones at number ten on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All Time Artists", and as the second most successful group in the Billboard top 100 chart.The emergence of The Rolling Stones has been credited for the greater international popularity of the primitive urban blues typified by Chess Records' artists such as Muddy Waters, who wrote "Rollin' Stone", the song from which the band drew its name.The Rolling Stones' endurance and relevance, critic and musicologist Robert Palmer said, is due to their being "rooted in traditional verities, in rhythm-and-blues and soul music" while "more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone".Though R&B and blues cover songs dominated the Rolling Stones' early material, their repertoire has always included rock and roll.

Rush

Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist and backing vocalist Alex Lifeson, and drummer, percussionist and lyicist NeilPeart. The band and its membership went through a number of re-configurations between 1968 and 1974, achieving their current form when Peart replaced original drummer John Rutsey in July 1974, two weeks before the group's first United States tour.Since the release of the band's self-titled debut album in March 1974, Rush has become known for its musicianship, complex compositions, and eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy. Rush's music style has changed over the years, beginning with blues-inspired heavy metal on their first album, then encompassing hard rock, progressive rock, and a period with heavy use of synthesizers. They have been cited as an influence by various musical artists, including Metallica, Primus, and The Smashing Pumpkins, as well as progressive metal bands such as and Symphony X.Rush has won a number of Juno Awards and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994. Over their careers, the members of Rush have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments, with each band member winning numerous awards in magazine readers' polls. As a group, Rush possesses 24 gold records and 14 platinum (3 multi-platinum) records. Rush's sales statistics place them third behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.Rush also ranks 79th in U.S. album sales with 25 million units. Although total worldwide album sales are not calculated by any single entity, as of 2004 several industry sources estimated Rush's total worldwide album sales at over 40 million units.The band finished touring the second leg of the Time Machine Tour in July 2011 and are expected to release their next studio album, Clockwork Angels in May 2012 with a supporting tour in the fall.

Scorpions

Rudolf Schenker, the band's rhythm guitarist launched the band in 1965. At first, the band had beat influences and Schenker himself did the vocals. Things began to come together in 1969 when Schenker's younger brother Micheal and vocalist Klaus Meine joined the band. In 1972, the group recorded and released their debut album Lonesome Crow, with Lothar Heimberg on bass and Wolfgang Dziony on drums. During the Lonesome Crow tour, Scorpions opened for upcoming British band UFO. Near the end of the tour, the members of UFO offered guitarist Michael Schenker the lead guitar job, an offer which he soon accepted. Uli Roth, a friend of the Schenker brothers, was then called in temporarily to finish off the great tour.The departure of Michael Schenker led to the breakup of the band. In 1973, Uli Roth, who had helped Scorpions complete the Lonesome Crow tour, was offered the role as lead guitarist, but turned the band down, preferring instead to remain in the band Dawn Road. Rudolf Schenker eventually decided that he wanted to work with Roth, but did not want to resurrect the last Scorpions lineup. He attended some of Dawn Road's rehearsals and ultimately decided to join the band, which consisted of Roth, Fransis Buchholz (bass), Achium Krischning (keyboards) and Jurgen Rosenthal (drums). Roth and Buchholz persuaded Rudolf Schenker to invite Klaus Meine to join on vocals, which he soon did. While there were more members of Dawn Road than Scorpions in the band, they decided to use the Scorpions name because it was well known in the German hard rock scene and an album had been released under that name.

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses (sometimes abbreviated as G N' R) are an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The classic lineup, as signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Today, Axl Rose is the only remaining original member, in a lineup that comprises lead guitarists Ron "Bumblefoot Thal and DJ Ashba, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer, and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pittman. The band has released six studio albums, accumulating sales of more than 100 million albums worldwide, including shipments of 45 million in the United States.A year after its release, Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destuction (1987) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, on the strength of the hit "Sweet Child O' Mine," their only single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide, including 18 million units sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. The success of their debut was followed by the eight-song album G N' R lies (1988). The twin albums Use Your Illusion 1 and Use our Illusion 2 (1991) debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide, including 14 million units sold in the United States alone. The cover album "The Spaghetti Incinent?" (1993) was the band's last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan. After more than a decade of work and many lineup changes, Guns N' Roses released the long-awaited album Chinese Democracy (2008). It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, but underwhelmed industry expectations.

ZZ Top

ZZ Top is an American rock band from Houston, Texas. Formed in 1969, the group consists of Billy Gibbons (guitar and vocals), Dusty Hill (bass and vocals), Frank Beard (drums and percussion). ZZ Top's early sound was rooted in blues but eventually grew to exhibit contemporary influences. Throughout their career they have maintained a sound based on Hill's and Beard's rhythm section support, accentuated by Gibbons' guitar and vocal style. Their lyrics often gave evidence of band's humor and thematically focus on personal experiences and sexual innuendos.ZZ Top formed its initial lineup in 1969, consisting of Lanier Greig (bass and keyboards) and Dan Mitchell (drums and percussion). After several incarnations, Hill and Beard joined within the following year. Molded into a professional act by manager Bill Ham, they were subsequently signed to London Records and released their debut album. They were successful as live performers, becoming known to fans as "that little ol' band from Texas", and their 1973 album Tres Hombres, according to Allmusic, propelled the band to national attention and "made them stars". In 1979, after returning from a one-and-a-half year break of touring, the group reinvented themselves with their 1983 hit album Eliminator and the accompanying tour Top incorporated New Wave and punk influences into their sound and performances, and embraced a more iconic image, with Gibbons and Hill sporting chest-length beards and sunglasses. Similar experimentation continued for the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s with varying levels of success. On ZZ Top's 2003 album Mescalero, they adopted a more contemporary sound while maintaining their influences from their earlier musical pursuits.Maintaining the same members for over forty years, ZZ Top has released 14 studio albums and are among the most popular rock groups, having sold more than 25 million albums in the United States. They have won three VMAs, and in 2004, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. VH1 ranked ZZ Top at number 44 in its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock". They have performed at many charity events and raised $1 million for the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale Mississipi

White Zombie

White Zombie was founded by writer, vocalist, and graphic artist Rob Zombie, after coming up with the band idea in 1985 while attending Parsons School of Design in his junior year. Zombie's girlfriend at the time, Sean Yseult, was playing the farfisa keyboard in the band LIFE with Ivan De Prume but the band soon broke up. Ena Kostabi owned a recording studio, which he would rent out to different bands. When he met Yseult, she asked if he could teach her to play bass. They then recruited Peter Landau to play drums and began to write and record songs. White Zombie's first release Gods on Voodo Moon was an EP and was recorded on October 18, 1985. It was released under the band's own label Silent Explosion, under which they would release most of their early work. Only 300 copies were pressed, of which only 100 were sold; the band members still retain possession of the remaining 200.In 1986, Zombie hired Tim Jeffs, his Parsons School of Design roommate, to play guitar to replace Ena Kostabi, and Yseult brought in de Prume from their days in the band LIFE as the replacement for Landau. It was at this time the band started touring, making their live performance debut at CBGB on April 28, 1986. White Zombie released their second EP Pig Heaven that year. The release contained two songs, "Pig Heaven" and "Slaughter the Grey". The EP was recorded at 6/8 Studios on Houston St and Bleecker St in NoHo in New York City. Other songs that were recorded during the session but never released were titled "Follow Wild", "Rain Insane", "Paradise Fireball", and "Red River Flow". After touring for a year in the band, Tim Jeffs left and was replaced by Tom Guay, often known as Tom Five. The band released a second pressing of Pig Heaven with different cover art, but retained the same recording with Jeffs on guitar. Only 500 copies of each pressing were released on vinyl.In 1987, the band released their third EP, Pyscho-Head Blowout. Later that year, the band released their first full-length album, Soul-Crusher, which was their first release to feature sound clips from movies in the songs, a trademark that would continue for the remainder of the band's lifespan. John Ricci replaced Tom Guay shortly after the release of Soul-Crusher.In 1988, the band signed to Caroline Records permanently discontinuing their old indie label. Their second album Make Them Die Slowly was released in February 1989. The album was a musical shift for White Zombie. While their previous releases had been strictly punk-influenced noise rock, Make Them Die Slowly had more of a heavy metal sound. This is also the first album crediting 'Rob Zombie' instead of his previous stage name, 'Rob 'Dirt' Straker.'

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's most popular hit was 1987's Here I Go Again which reached number one on the BillBoard Chart 100 charts in October of that year. The early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style. The band's 1987 self-tiltled album was their most commercially successful, and contained two of their most recognisable songs, "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love". In 1988, Whitesnake was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. In 2005, Whitesnake was named the 85th greatest hard rock band of all time by VH1.David Coverdale founded Whitesnake in 1978 in North Yorkshire. The core line-up had been working as his backing band The White Sanke Band on the White Snake album tour and they retained the title before officially being known as Whitesnake. They toured with Coverdale as his support band and for both of the solo albums he released, White Snake and North Winds, between exiting Deep Purple and founding Whitesnake. At this time, the band was made up of David Coverdale, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moddy, Neil Murray and drummer David "Duck"Dowle with keyboardist Brian Johnston. Johnston would soon be replaced by Procol Harumorgan player and keyboardist Pete Solley. Because of Solley's producing commitments he was replaced by the former Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, during sessions for the first LP.

Danzig

Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band serves as a musical outlet for the singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig. Danzig can be seen as the third stage in Glenn Danzig's musical career, preceded by the horror punk bands The Misfits and Samhain. They primarily play in a bluesy heavy metal style that is influenced by the early sound of Black Sabbath.On July 14, 1986, Samhain performed what was to be their final show, at The Ritz in New York. In attendance was Rick Rubin, who was scouting for potential bands to sign to his record label, Def American. Upon viewing Samhain's performance, Rubin was impressed with Glenn Danzig's powerful stage persona and vocal abilities. He met him after the show and propositioned him. At first, he wished only to sign Danzig, with the intent of making him the vocalist for a hard rock supergroup that Rubin envisioned. However, Danzig refused to sign to Rubin's label without Samhain's bassist, Eerie Von, with whom Danzig had become friends. In 1987, the band evolved into a solid hard rock act, with the addition of John Christ on guitar and Chuck Biscuits (ex-Black-Flag) on drums. To reflect the change in musical direction, and to avoid having to ever start anew in the event of future lineup changes, Glenn (on the advice of Rick Rubin) decided to change the name of Samhain to his own surname, Danzig.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band best known for popularizing the Southern Rock genre during the 1970s. Originally formed in 1964 as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Flordia, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, "Free Bird". At the peak of their success, three members died in an airplane carsh in 1977, putting an abrupt end to the band's most popular incarnation.Surviving members re-formed in 1987 for a reunion tour with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother Johnny as frontman. A version of the band continues to tour and record, with only Gary Rossington its original members remaining as of 2012. Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.In the summer of 1964, teenage friends Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, and Gary Rossington formed the band "The Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Flordia. The band changed in 1965 to "My Backyard", when Larry Junstorm and Bob Burns joined. In 1968, the group won a local Battle of the Bands contest and the opening slot on several Southeast shows for the California-based psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock.In 1970, Van Zant sought a new name. "One Percent" and "The Noble Five" were each considered before the group settled on "Leonard Skinner", a mocking tribute to a physical-education teacher at Robert E. Lee High School, Leonard Skinner, who was notorious for strictly enforcing the school's policy against boys having long hair. Rossington dropped out of school, tired of being hassled about his hair. The more distinctive spelling was adopted before they released their first album. Despite their high-school acrimony, the band developed a friendlier relationship with Skinner in later years, and invited him to introduce them at a concert in the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum.

Poison

Poison is an American Glam metal band that achieved great success in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Poison has sold over 30 million records worldwide and have sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and the Hot 100 number-one single, "Every Rose Has It's Thorn". In the 2000s, with the original line up back together, the band found new popularity after a successful greatest hits reunion tour in 1999. The band toured almost every year in the 2000s to sold out stadiums and arenas. Band members have released several solo albums and starred in successful reality TV shows. After 25 years, the band is still recording music and performing.Since their debut in 1986, they have released eight studio albums, four live albums, five compilation albums, and have issued 28 singles to radio.Poison was formed in 1983, and consisted of lead vocalist and more Bret Michaels, guitarist Matt Smith, bassist Bobby Dall, and drummer Rikki Rockett. Bret Michaels and Rikki Rockett first joined forces to form a band called the Spectres in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and then teamed up with Matt Smith and Bobby Dall to form Paris. After playing mostly rock cover songs in Mechanicsburg-area bars they moved to Los Angeles on 6 March 1984 and changed the name of the band from Paris to Poison.

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.74.5 million certified units in the United States. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Since then they have continued to enjoy worldwide success.Founded in 1965, Pink Floyd originally consisted of students Roger Water, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. The band first became popular playing in London's underground music scene in the late 1960s. Under Barrett's leadership they released two charting singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and a successful début album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd as its fifth member in December 1967, several months prior to Barrett's departure from the group due to his deteriorating mental health. Following the loss of their principal songwriter, bassist and vocalist Roger Waters became the band's lyricist and conceptual leader, with Gilmour assuming lead guitar, taking on most of the band's music composition, and sharing lead vocals. With this line-up Pink Floyd achieved worldwide critical and commercial success with their concept albums, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall

Red Hot Chile Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American alternative rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk rock, hip hop, and psychedelic rock. The band consists of founding members Anthony Kideis(vocals) and Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass), alongside longtime drummer Chad Smith, and Josh Klinghoffer (guitar), who joined in late 2009, following the departure of John Frusciante. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have won six Grammy Awards and sold over 70 million albums worldwide.The band's original line-up featured guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. Because of commitments to other bands, the two did not playing on the debut album, The Red Hot Chile Peppers Cliff Martinez was the drummer for the first two records, and guitarist Jack Shurman played on the first album only. Slovak performed on two albums with the band, Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan; he died of a heroin overdose in 1988, resulting in Irons' departure. Parlaiment Funkadelic guitarist, DeWyane McNight was brought in to replace Slovak though his tenure was short and he was replaced by John Frusciante in 1988. Former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro was brought in to replace Irons though after a short tenure with the band he was out and replaced by Chad Smith that same year. The line-up of Flea, Kiedis, Frusciante and Smith was the longest-lasting, and recorded five studio albums starting with 1989's Mother's Milk.

Cream

Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker. Their sound was characterised by a hybrid of hybied rock, hard rock and psychedelic rock, combining the psychedelia-themed lyrics, Eric Clapton's blues guitar playing, Jack Bruce's voice and prominent bass playing and Ginger Baker's jazz-influenced drumming. The group's third album, "Wheels of Fire", was the world's first platinum-selling double album. Cream are widely regarded as being the world's first successful supergroup. In their career, they sold over 15 million albums worldwide.Cream's music included songs based on traditional blues such as "Crossroads" and "Spoonful", and modern blues such as "Born Under A Bad Sign", as well as more eccentric songs such as "Strange Brew", "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Toad". Cream's biggest hits were "I feel Free" (UK, #11), "Sunshine of Your Love" (US, #5), "White Room" (US, #6), "Crossroads" (US, #28), and "Badge" (UK, #18).

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members claimed that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre. They were once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "The Loudest Pop Group", and have sold over 100 million albums world wide, including 7.5 million certified units in the US. Deep Purple were ranked #22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock programme.The band has gone through many line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus (1976–84). The 1968–76 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV. Their second and most commercially successful line-up featured Ian Gillan (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards), Ian Paice (drums), and Ritchie Blackmore (guitar). This line-up was active from 1969 to 1973, and was revived from 1984 to 1989, and again in 1993, before the rift between Blackmore and other members became unbridgeable. The current line-up (including guitarist Steve Morse) has been much more stable, although Lord's retirement from the band in 2002 has left Paice as the only original Deep Purple member still in the band. As of 2012, Deep Purple have not been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mountain

Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist/vocalist Felix Pappalardi, keyboardist Steve Knight and drummer N.D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 and has reunited frequently since 1973, remaining active today.Best known for the song "Mississippi Queen", Mountain is one of many bands to be commonly credited as having influenced the development of heavy metal music in the 1970s.The beginning of the live recording of their song "Long West" has become one of the most sampled drum breaks in hip hop, sampled in songs by EPMD, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Kanye West, Game, among many others.In early 1969 Leslie West, formerly of the Long Island R&B band The Vagrants, put together a band, Leslie West Mountain (a reference to West's one-time physical bulk), with Norman Landsberg (keyboards, bass) and Ken Janick (drums) and began playing concerts. Right around this time, former Cream collaborator Felix Pappalardi expressed an interest in producing an album of Leslie's. The resulting record, Leslie West Mountain, featured Landsberg and former Remains drummer N.D. Smart.

Tenacious D

Tenacious D is a Californian rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass the band has released two albums – Tenacious D (2001) and The Pick of Destiny (2006). The band's studio releases, and more recently[when?] its live performances, feature a full band lineup, including such musicians as guitarist John Konesky, bassist John Spiker and Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman. The band first gained popularity in 1999 when they starred in their eponymous T.V. series and began to support large rock acts. In 2001, they released Tenacious D, their debut album featuring a full band. The first single, "Tribute", was the band's most successful achieving their only Top 10 in any chart, until they released "The Metal", which was first shown at Saturday Night Live. In 2006, they starred in, and recorded the soundtrack for, the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. In support of the film, the band went on a world tour, appearing for the first time with a full band.

Survivor

Survivor is an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1978. The band achieved its greatest success in the 1980s with its arena rock sound, which garnered many charting singles, especially in the USA. The band is best known for its double platinum-certified 1982 hit "Eye of the Tiger", the theme song for the motion picture Rocky 3 (US #1 for six weeks) Singles like "Burning Heart" (US #2), "The Search is Over" (US #4), "High to You" (US #8), "Is This Love" (US #9) and "I Can't Hold Back" (US #13) continued to chart in the mid-1980s.The band tweaked its musical direction in 1988 with the release of the slightly heavier Too Hot to Sleep, but the album barely reached the Billboard 200 in the United States. Because of this, the band split. Singer Jimi Jamison later toured as 'Survivor' in the mid-1990s, to the chagrin of the rest of the band. Jamison re-united with the band's other members in 2000 and the band released Reach in 2006, but Jamison left the band after its release and was replaced by Robin Mcauley. The band was continuing to tour with McAuley into 2011.A sudden announcement on Nov 13 2011 by Robin McAuley on his Facebook page reveals he has now left Survivor. A further announcement on 18th November confirms that Jimi Jamison has rejoined the band and plans are being made to tour in 2012.

Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal band. They are best known for their hit singles "Metal Health" and "Cum On Feel the Noise". They were founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni, under the original name Mach 1, before changing the name to Little Women and finally Quiet Riot in May 1975. The original line-up featured lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow, Rhoads, Garni, and drummer Drew Forsyth. Their current lineup features no original members from the Randy Rhoads era, and consists of lead vocalist Keith St. John, drummer Frankie Banali, bassist Chuck Wright, and guitarist Alex Grossy. Both Banali and Wright are from the Metal Health era, as Wright played bass on two songs from the album Metal Health, including the hit song "Metal Health", and sang backing vocals on the entire album.In a radio interview given by the band in 1979, DuBrow said the band's name was born of a conversation with Rick Parfitt of British band Status Quo in which Parfitt said he'd like to name a band "Quite Right". With his thick English accent, it sounded like he was saying "Quiet Riot". They are ranked at number 100 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".Kevin DuBrow, lead singer of the band for the majority of its existence, was found dead in his Las Vagas, Navada home on November 25, 2007. The cause of death was ruled a cocaine overdose. Quiet Riot temporarily disbanded after his death, and was recently revived by Banali in 2010.

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal designed to shock.Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love it to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album Welcome 2 My Nightmare; in 2011 he released Welcome 2 My Nightmare, his 19th album as a solo artist, and his 26th album in total. Expanding from his original Detroit rock roots, over the years Cooper has experimented with many various musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, hard rock, New Wave, pop rock, experimental rock and industrial rock.

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. The band took its name from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, the title of which was a reference to a William Blake quotation: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite." They were among the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s, due mostly to Morrison's wild, poetic lyrics and charismatic but unpredictable stage persona. After Morrison's death in 1971, the remaining members continued as a trio until finally disbanding in 1973.They were signed to Elektra Records in 1966, and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1967 eponymous debut album, followed by their 1967 album Strange Days. In 1968, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Waiting for the Sun. The 1967 release of The Doors was the first in a series of top ten albums in the US, followed by Strange Days (1967), Waiting for the Sun (1968), The Soft Parade (1969), Morrison Hotel (1970), Absolutley Live (1970) and L.A.Woman (1971), with 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone.. Although The Doors' active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted. According to the RIAA, they have sold 32.5 million certified units in the US alone.

The Eagles

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy MeisnerWith five number one singles, six Grammys, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Hotel California, ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the U.S. according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stones's 500 Greatest albums of all time, and the band was ranked #75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.They also have the best-selling album in the U.S. with Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which sold approximately 42 million copies worldwide. They have sold over 120 million albums worldwide and 100 million in the U.S. alone. They are the fifth-highest-selling music act in U.S. history and the highest-selling American band in U.S. history. No other American band sold more than the Eagles during the 1970s.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty (guitar and vocals), Mike Campbell (lead guitar), Benmont Tench (piano, organ, harmonium and vocals), (the three of them had been members of Mudcrutch), Ron Blair (bass and vocals) and Stan Lynch (drums and vocals). Petty and the Heartbreakers are known for hit singles such as "American Girl", "Breakdown", "The Waiting", "Learning to Fly", "Refugge" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance". The Heartbreakers still tour regularly and continue to record albums.Petty has fought against his record company on more than one occasion, first in 1979 over transference to another label and then again in 1981 over the price of his record, which was (at that time) considered expensive. He is also outspoken on the current state of the music industry and modern radio stations. On his 2002 album, The Last DJ, Petty sang about that and other issues and talked about them on the bonus DVD that came with the limited edition album.

Santana

Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstack Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill. This initial exposure made their first, eponymous album a hit at the time, followed in the next two years by successful follow-ups Abraxas and Santana 3.Over the next few years, lineup changes were common and frequent, and although retaining a basis of Latin rock, Carlos Santana's increasing involvement with guru Sri Chinmoy took the band further into more esoteric music, which continued for many years, although never quite losing the initial Latin influence.In 1998, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Carlos Santana, Jose Chepito Areas, David Brown, Mike Carabello, Gregg Rolie and Michael Shrieve being honored.Santana has achieved a total of eight Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards which were all awarded in 2000. Carlos also won two Grammy Awards as a solo artist in 1989 and 2003.

Soundgarden

Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron became the band's full time drummer in 1986 while bassist Ben Shepard became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990.Soundgarden was one of the seminal bands in the creation of grunge, a style of alternative rock that developed in Seattle, and was one of a number of grunge bands signed to the record label Sub Pop. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label (A&M Records, in 1988), though the band did not achieve commercial success until they popularized "grunge" in the early 1990s with Seattle contemporaries Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam.Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown, which debuted at number one on the Billboard rock charts and yielded the Grammy rock-winning singles "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman". In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction. On January 1, 2010, Cornell alluded to a Soundgarden reunion.

Steve Miller

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of (mainly) mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.In 1965, Steve Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg founded the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band along with bassist Shawn Yoder, rhythm guitarist Craymore Stevens, and drummer Lance Haas after moving to Chicago to play the blues. The band was contracted to Epic Records after playing many Chicago clubs. They also appeared on Hullabaloo with the Four Tops and the Supremes, and gigged at a Manhattan club.Miller left the group to go to San Francisco where the psychedelic scene was flourishing. He then formed the Steve Miller Blues Band which, when they contracted with Capitol Records in 1967, they shortened to the Steve Miller Band. The band, consisting of Miller, guitarist James Cooke, bassist Lonnie Turner, and drummer Tim Davis (who replaced the departing Lance Haas on drums), backed Chuck Berry at a gig at the Filmore West that was released as the live album, Live at Fillmore Auditorium. Guitarist Boz Scaggs joined the band soon after and the group performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in June. In May 1968 while in England, they recorded their debut album Children of the Future.

Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots (abbreviated to STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California that consists of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Robert DeLeo (bass guitar, vocals) and Dean DeLeo (guitar), and Eric Kretz (drums, percussion).The band's early hard rock, grunge-reminiscent style of music found them immediate success in 1992 with the release of their debut album Core, which initially led critics to dismiss the band as "grunge imitators". Further releases from the band have shown a variety of influences, including psychedelic rock, Bossa Nova, and classic rock.Core, certified 8× platinum by the RIAA, drove the band to popularity. STP went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990s, selling nearly 40 million records worldwide, including 17.5 million units in the United States, before their dissolution in 2003. STP reunited in 2008 and released their sixth studio album, Stone Temple Pilots, in 2010. They have a seventh studio album in the works. The band has had 16 top ten singles on the Billboard rock charts, eight of which peaked at #1, and one #1 album for Purple in 1994. That same year, the band won a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the song "Plush" from the album Core. Stone Temple Pilots were also ranked #40 on VH1's The 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

Eric Clapton

　

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stones magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson'sTop 50 Guitarists of All Time.In the mid 1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluebreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand". Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot A Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to music. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.

Saxon

Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire. As front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart. Between 1980 and 1987 Saxon established themselves as one of Europe's biggest metal acts, they also had success in Japan and in the USA. In Japan, the single "Motorcycle Man" stayed in the charts for over 5 months. They still tour regularly and have sold more than 13 million albums worldwide.Saxon began with a lineup formed by Peter "Brif" Byford on vocals, Paul Quinn and Graham Oliver on guitars, Steve "Dobby" Dawson on bass and drummer Pete "Frank" Gill. Early in their career, the band changed their name from Son of a Bitch to Saxon, and gained support slots on tour with more established bands such as Mortorhead.In 1979, the band signed to the French record label Carrere and released their eponymous debut album. In 1980, the follow-up album Wheels of Steel (UK no 5) spawned two hit singles: the title track, and the crowd favourite "747 (Strangers in the Night)". Strong Arm of the Law (UK no 11), considered by fans to be one of their best recordings, was released later that same year, and chart success continued with singles from their next release, Denim and Leather (1981 UK no 9). The title track to that album is seen as an anthem of the early 1980s metal movement. Later legal issues with Carrere negated most if not all of the financial gains seen during their early success.

Peter Frampton

Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrementalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive! The album sold over 6 million copies in the United States alone and spawned several hits. Since then he has released several major albums. He has also worked with Davis Bowie and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, among others. Frampton is best known for such hits as "Breaking All The Rules", "Show Mr the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Like My Way", and "I'm In You", which remain staples on classic-rock radio. He has also appeared as himself in television shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Frampton is known for his work as a guitar player and particularly with a Talkbox and his tenor voice.

38 Special

38 Special (also written .38 Special or Thirty-Eight Special) is an American rock band that was formed by neighborhood friends Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant in 1974 in Jacksonville, Flordia. The band's first two albums had a strong southern rock influence. By the early 1980s, 38 Special shifted to a more accessible arena rock style without abandoning its southern rock roots. This shift helped to usher in a string of successful albums and singles.Their breakthrough hit was "Hold On Loosely" (1981). "Caught Up In You" (1982) and "If I'd Been the One" (1983) both hit #1 on Billboard's Magezine's Album Rock albums chart. "Back Where You Belong" (1984) continued the annual sequence of radio favorites, and "Second Chance" (1989) was a #1 hit on Billboard's adlut contemporary chart.

Accept

Accept is a German Heavy Metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled by former vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, guitarist Wolf Huffman and bassist Peter Baltes. Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s. The band played an important role in the development of speed metal, being part of the German Heavy Metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s.Following disbandment in 1997 and resurrection in 2005, they reunited in 2009 with former T.T. Quick frontman and released their highest charting album to date, Blood of the Nations.They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide.Accept's beginnings can be traced back to 1968 when Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagenerformed a local band called Band X, which eventually changed its name to Accept. For many years Accept went through numerous line-up changes. This instability essentially kept the band on an amateur level, making sporadic appearances in festival concerts. Accept's professional career began in 1976 when they were invited to play at one of the first rock and roll festivals in Germany — Rock am Rhein. Following the festival the band were offered a recording deal. Their first recording was the self-titled Accept album, which did not achieve much commercial success.

Nightwish

Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holapainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Antee Olzon and the original bassist, Sami Vanska, has been replaced by Marco Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist part; previously male vocal-parts were done by Tuomas or guest singers.Although Nightwish has been prominent in their home country since the release of their first single, "The Carpetner" (1997) and debut album Angels Fall First, they did not achieve worldwide fame until the release of the albums Oceanborn, Wishmaster and Century Child, which were released in 1998, 2000 and 2002 respectively. Their 2004 album, Once, which has sold more than 1 million copies, led to the broadcast of Nightwish video clips on MTV in the USA and inclusion of their music in US movie soundtracks. Their biggest US hit single, "Wish I Had An Angel" (2004), made it onto three US film soundtracks as a means to promote their North American tour.

Phil Collins

Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1975 and 2010, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, sometimes dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", dance pop of "Sussidio", piano-driven "Against All Odds", to the political statements of "Another Day in Paradise".Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nersery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer.His solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million.Collins has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including seven Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards—winning Best British Male three times, an Academy Awards, and two Golden Globes for his solo work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, whose releases include fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the founding "big four" of thrash metal alongside Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax.They formed in 1981 when James Hatfeild responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. As of 2003, the line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett (who joined the band in 1983) and bassist Robert Trujillo (a member since 2003) alongside Hetfield and Ulrich. Previous members of the band are lead guitarist Dave Mustaine(who went on to found the band Megadeth), and bassists Ron McGovney Cliff Burton and Jason Newstead. The band also had a long collaboration with producer Bob Rock, who produced all of its albums from 1990 to 2003 and served as a temporary bassist between the departure of Newsted and the hiring of Trujillo.The band earned a growing fan-base in the underground music community and critical acclaim with its third album Master of Puppets (1986), described as one of the most influential and "heavy" thrash metal albums. Metallica achieved substantial commercial success with their eponymous fifth album(also known as The Black Album), which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. With this release the band expanded its musical direction resulting in an album that appealed to a more mainstream audience.In 2000, Metallica was among a number of artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band's copyright-protected material for free without any band member's consent. A settlement was reached, and Napster became a pay-to-use service. Despite reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger (2003) alienated many fans with the exclusion of guitar solos and the "steel-sounding" snare drum. A film titled Some Kind of Monster documented the recording process of St. Anger and the tensions within the band during that time. In 2009, Metallica was inducted into the Rock and roll Hall of Fame.

Anthrax

Anthrax was formed in mid-1981 by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker. The band was named after the disease the two saw listed in a biology textbook, using it because it sounded "sufficiently evil". The initial line-up of Anthrax was rounded out by drummer Dave Weiss and bassist Kenny Kushner.Kushner was soon deemed inadequate for the band's needs and was replaced very early by bassist Paul Kahn, who also was quickly ousted. Lilker chose to take over on bass and Greg Walls joined as lead guitarist. Weiss was replaced by Greg D'Angelo early on as well. The vocalist position was temporarily filled by the band's roadie John Connelly (who later went on to form the band Nuclear Assault with Lilker), Scott Ian's younger brother Jason Rosenfeld, and Tommy Wise within a short period of time before the band finally decided on vocalist Neiil Turbin in late August 1982. A steady lineup was finally in place.Turbin first performed with the band at Great Gildersleeves on September 12, 1982. This line-up made frequent live performances in the New York/New Jersey tri-state area. Greg Walls left in the summer of 1983, and Bob Berry, who was recommended to Turbin by Rhett Forresterof Riot, temporarily replaced him on guitar. Berry's stay was short and he was replaced by Dan Spitz who had previously been with New Jersey thrash band Overkill. With Spitz, a second demo was recorded.In September, Charlie Benante replaced Greg D'Angelo on drums. This lineup recorded the "Soldiers of Metal" 7" single, produced by Ross the Boss of Manowar. The B-side of this single was "Howling Furies" from the previous demo recorded with Greg D'Angelo on drums, and is the only official Anthrax recording to feature his work. It was this single that won the band a recording deal with Megaforce Records. Anthrax recorded their debut album Fistful of Metal in late 1983 and released in January 1984, followed by a US tour. Tensions between Danny Lilker and the rest of the band arose due to Lilker's non-paying of rehearsal rent, lateness, sloppiness and unprofessional demeanor. Lilker was released from the band and he went on to form Nuclear Assault with former roadie John Connelly. He was replaced by Charlie Benante's nephew Frank Bello.

Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian was formed in 1984 in Krefeld, Germany, by Hansi Kursch(vocals, bass) and Andre Olbrich (guitar) under the name Lucifer's Heritage. The band first released two demos in 1985 and 1986, despite undergoing chaotic lineup changes: Markus Dörk (guitar) and Thomen Stauch (drums) were replaced by Christof Theißen and Hans-Peter Frey, respectively. Finally, in 1987, Marcus Siepen joined and Thomen came back to form the lineup which would stay consistent for the next 18 years.After Lucifer's Heritage signed a contract with No Remorse Records, the band changed their name to Blind Guardian to avoid any speculations about Satanism (in a bio it was stated that they also wanted to distance themselves from the black metal movement, as their demos were placed in with black metal albums at local record shops). They released their debut album Battalions of Fear in 1988, which was essentially a speed metal album heavily influenced by Helloween. These two German bands had close ties, and Helloween founder Kai Hansen made a guest appearance on Blind Guardian's second LP, Follow the Blind (1989), where the band revealed some Thrash Metal influence. Their third LP, Tales From the Twilight World(1990), had a much more melodic and "epic" feeling, with usage of choir and classic music influence.Blind Guardian signed with Virgin Records in 1991, and released their fourth studio album Somewhere Far Behind in 1992 and the live album Tokyo Tales in 1993. Flemming Rasmussen, former Metallica producer, began working with the band in 1994, producing their fifth studio album Imaginations from the Other Side, released in 1995, and The Forgotten Tales, an album that contained half covers and half original work, released in 1996.

BulletBoys

BulletBoys were formed in 1987 in Los Angeles, California by former King Cobra members Marq Torien (also formerly of Ratt) on vocals, Mick Sweda on guitar, Lonnie Vencent on bass and Jimmy D' Andre on drums. The group were strongly influenced by AC/DCand Van Halen with Torien drawing comparisons to Van Halen singer David Lee Roth. After signing a deal with Warner Bros the group released their debut album BulletBoys in 1988 with the album peaking at number 34 on the Billboard 200. The group released two singles, a cover of the classic O'Jays tune, "For the Love of Money" (which peaked at number 30 on the Mainstream Rock Chart and number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Smooth up in Ya" (which peaked at number 23 on the Mainstream Rock Chart and number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100) with both receiving airplay on MTV. They released their second album, Freakshow, in 1991 however the album only peaked at number 69 on the Billboard 200. The single "Hang on St. Christopher" peaked at number 22 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The group released their final album with Warner Bros., titled Za-Za, a name suggested by guitarist Anthony Gallo taken from The Godfather part 3 character Joey Zasa, in 1993 however it failed to chart, as well as the album's singles, while both Sweda and D'Anda left the group the same year.The group continued and released Acid Monkey in 1995 through Swordholio/Perris Records however they disbanded soon after.In 1998, the group reformed, with Torien and Vencent adding former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler and guitarist DJ Ashba briefly with a tour of the US planned with Faster Pussycat Bang Tango and Enuff Z'nuff. In 1999, Ashba left the group to form Beautiful Creatures with Bang Tango singer Joe Leste while Adler left also sometime after, going on to form Adler's Appetite in 2003. A compilation album, titled Burning Cats and Auptees, was released in 2000, through Deadline Records.

The Cult

The origins of the band can be traced back to 1981, in Bradford, Yorkshire, where vocalist and songwriter Ian Astbury formed a band called Southern Death Cult. The name was chosen with a double meaning, and was derived from the 14th century Native American religion, the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex or Southern Death Cult as it sometimes known, from the Mississipi delta area, but it was also a stab at what the band viewed was the centralisation of power in Southern England(including that of the music industry); there has long been a perceived notion of a North-South Divide based on social, historic and economic reasons. Astbury was joined by Buzz Burrows (guitar), Barry Jepson (bass) and Aki Nawaz Qureshi (drums); they performed their first show at the Queen's Hall in their hometown of Bradford on 29 October 1981. The band were at the forefront of a new emerging style of music, in the form of post-punk and gothic-rock (then known as positive-punk), they achieved critical acclaim from the press and music fans very early on.The band signed to independent record label Situation Two, an offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records, and released a three-track, triple A-side single, Moya, during this period. They toured through England headlining some shows on their own and also touring with Bauhaus and Theatre of Hate. The band played their final performance in Manchester during February 1983, meaning after only sixteen months the band was over. A compilation under the name The Southern Death Cultwas released, this being a collection of the single, radio sessions with John Peel for Radio One and live performances - one of which was recorded by an audience member with a tape recorder.

Disturbed

Before vocalist David Draiman joined Disturbed, they were known as Brawl. Brawl's lineup consisted of vocalist Erich Awalt, guitarist Dan Donegan, drummer Mike Wengren, and bassist Steve "Fuzz" Kmak. Before changing their name to "Brawl", however, Donegan mentioned in the band's DVD, Decade of Disturbed, that the name was originally going to be called "Crawl"; they switched it to "Brawl", due to the name already being used by another band. Awalt left the band shortly after the recording of a demo tape; the other three members advertised for a singer. They posted an advertisement in the local music publication in Chicago, Illinois, called the "Illinois Entertainer". Draiman answered the advertisement after going to twenty other auditions that month. Guitarist Dan Donegan commented on Draiman: "You know, out of all the singers that we had talked to or auditioned, he [Draiman] was the only singer who was ready to go with originals. And that impressed me, just to attempt that".With regard to Draiman being the new singer for the band, Donegan said, "After a minute or two, he just starts banging out these melodies that were huge...I'm playing my guitar and I'm grinning from ear to ear, trying not to give it away that I like this guy, you know, because I don't want to, you know...[say] 'Yeah, we'll give you a call back. We'll, you know, discuss it.' But I was so psyched. Chill up my spine. I'm like, 'There is something here'." As drummer Mike Wengren commented, "We clicked right off the bat." Draiman then joined the band in 1996 and the band was renamed Disturbed. When asked in an interview why he suggested to name the band Disturbed, Draiman said, "It had been a name I have been contemplating for a band for years. It just seems to symbolize everything we were feeling at the time. The level of conformity that people are forced into was disturbing to us and we were just trying to push the envelope and the name just sorta made sense."

Dream Evil

Dream Evil is a heavy metal band from Sewden, assembled and integrated by renowned musical producer Fredrik Nordstorm in 1999.Producer Fredrik Nordstorm had the ambition of creating a power metal band of his own for a long time, but had difficulty finding anyone with musical ideals similar to his own. However, while on holiday in the Greek islands during the year of 1999, Nordström met the young guitarist Gus G. (from Firewind). The musicians got along quite well, despite an age difference of over a decade. Plans for a band commenced - Gus had already been planning to relocate to Gothenberg, and upon his arrival he looked up Fredrik at Studio Fredman to begin writing.The first person asked to join the new band was Snowy Shaw (from King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Notre Dame), but the drummer initially refused their invitation. He would later change his mind and agreed to play on the band's debut album in a session capacity.Vocalist Niklas Isfeldt had done backing vocals for some of HammerFall's songs produced by Nordström, and since he was not involved in any major projects at the time, he agreed to take the position. He also brought along his longtime friend and Pure-X bandmate Peter Stalfors, who assumed bass duties.

Dreamland

Dreamland is the debut studio album of Italo house band Black Box It was released in May 1990 on RCA Records, and was preceded in 1989 by the international hit single, "Ride on Time." The album was certified gold in both the US and the UKWhen the album was originally released, the credits listed the band members as Mirko Limoni, Valerio Semplici, and Daniele Davoli (as the producers, songwriters, and musicians), as well as Katrin Quinol on vocals. "Ride On Time" had been released as a single prior to the album's release, and musician Dan Hartman and vocalist Loleatta Hollowayhad threatened to sue Black Box, as well as label RCA Records, claiming that the song contained heavy sampling of an earlier recording by the two (the 1980 #1 dance club hit "Love Sensation"), although no credit had been given to them upon the release of the single. Subsequently, Hartman was given songwriting credit for this track, and Holloway was listed as the featured vocalist prior to the release of the album. However, American R&B vocalist Martha Wash actually sang the lead vocals on six of the other eight tracks on the album, although she was not credited in any way. The songs sung by Wash were: "Everybody Everybody""I Don't Know Anything Else".

Halford

Halford is a heavy metal band formed in 1999 by Rob Halford, the lead vocalist for Judas Preist. Halford formed the band to return to his heavy metal roots. His two previous projects were a "street metal"-style band called Fight and the Industrial Metal band 2wo.Halford's first album Resurrection was included in Martin Popofff's The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. As well, the songs "Silent Screams" and the title-track "Resurrection" were included in Popoff's list. The track "The One You Love to Hate" guest included Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson.In 2002 Halford released its second studio album Crucible, although no live recordings have been officially released to promote this album. A high-quality soundboard bootleg titled "Live - From the Disney House of Blues" was made available for download along with a special DEP at Robhalford.com in 2004. Halford released bonus tracks in Japan, such as "She", "Fugitive", "Rock the World Forever" and "In the Morning". There is a video for the track "In the Morning" available on Halford's website.On November 2006, Halford released a single set from the Halford IV album, titled "Forgotten Generation." The first wave of Halford releases included remastered editions of his solo band's back catalogue and initially releasing them through Apple's online iTunes Store. Fight also celebrated a release, an early recording entitled "K5- War of Words Demos," which were the demos that Rob Halford had recorded back when Fight had first formed. Lastly, a compilation was included, called "Metal God Essentials, Vol. 1," which not only had the fans' favorite Halford tunes, but also had new songs called "Forgotten Generation" and "Drop Out."

Iced Earth

Iced Earth is an American Heavy Metal band from Tampa, Florida. Originally formed under the name "Purgatory" in 1985, Iced Earth has released a total of ten studio albums, one live album and three EP's, compilations and boxsets. Their first album, simply titled Iced Earth, was released in 1990 and their latest release, Dystopia, was released on October 17, 2011. They are currently working on an eleventh studio album, which is due for release in 2013.The central figure of Iced Earth is, and has been, guitarist Jon Schaffer, who formed the band on January 20, 1985, in Tamp, Florida. Schaffer's original vision for the band started under the moniker "The Rose" in 1984. The group was very short-lived, after which Jon formed a band called "Purgatory". Members often changed in the band, with Jon staying as the only constant member, but the band did record its first demo in 1985, titled Psychotic Dreams.In 1988, Purgatory changed its name to "Iced Earth". According to Jon, a friend of his who died in a motorcycle accident prior to Jon moving to Florida was responsible for the name "Iced Earth".In 1989, the band, now known as Iced Earth, recorded another demo called Enter the Realm with the line-up of Gene Adam on vocals, Randy Shawver on lead guitar, Dave Abull on bass, Greg Seymour on drums and Jon Schaffer on rhythm guitar and vocals. All of the songs on Enter the Realm would later appear on the band's debut album, with the exception of "Nightmares" and the title track.

Iron Fire

Iron Fire is a Danish Power and speed metal band which was formed in 1995 under the name Misery. The name was soon changed to Decades Of Darkness and finally to Iron Fire.During their history, Iron Fire had a very unstable line-up. In March 2006, they released the album, Revenge, under the Napalm Records label.In 2012, they released their latest album Voyage Of The Damned.On the song Prince Of Agony (found on the album On The Edge), the quote at the very start of the song is the catchphrase of Pinhead, one of the cenobytes in the Hellraiser films.

Kamelot

Kamelot is an American metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed by Thomas Youngblood and Richard Warner in 1991. The Norweigen vocalist Roy Khan joined for the album Siege Perilous, and shared wrote songs with Youngblood until his departure in April 2011.Kamelot was founded in Florida by Thomas Youngblood and Richard Warner in 1991. Three years later, the band signed a deal with Noise Records and released its first album, Eternity, in 1995. The next album, Dominion, was released in 1997. Later that year, the drummer and founder Warner and the lead vocalist Mark Vanderbilt were replaced by drummer Casey Grillo and vocalist Roy Khan (formerly of Conception). With these two new members, Kamelot released its third studio album,Siege Perilous, in 1998. The band undertook its first tour during the fall, playing shows across Europe. Following this, the band returned to Tampa to write music for a new album titled The Fourth Legacy.

Living Colour

Living Colour were formed in New York in 1984 by English-born guitarist Vernon Reid. They grew out of the Black Rock Coalition, a non-profit organization founded by (among others) Reid for black musicians interested in playing rock music. Reid was well known on the downtown New York jazz scenes because of his tenure in Ronnald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society. Reid assembled a number of bands under the name Living Colour from 1984 to 1986.Early band members included bassists Alex Mosely, Jerome Harris and Carl James, drummers Greg Carter, Pheeroan Aklaff and J.T. Lewis, keyboardist Geri Allen, and vocalists D.K. Dyson and Mark Ledford, with Reid occasionally singing lead vocals himself. The band's sound was vastly different from the songs that showed up later on their major label recordings. Material from this period included instrumental jazz/funk workouts, politically pointed punk rock burners, experimental excursions via Reid's guitar synth, and an early version of the song "Funny Vibe", which was reworked for their debut album Vivid.

November's Doom

Novembers Doom is a death/doom metal band from Chicago, Illinois. They are currently signed to The End Records. Novembers Doom is one of the earliest U.S. death/doom metal bands that are still active today along with Evoken and Rigor Sardonicous.Novembers Doom formed in 1989 as the death–thrash metal band Laceration. Gradually the band began to change their sound towards a heavier, slower style, at which point the name Novembers Doom was adopted as the band members felt it more suited their current direction. By 1991, the band was getting noticed in the metal underground for their dark heavy music on early demos (such as the "Scabs" demo, which was recently re-released as part of the Amid Its Hallowed Mirth remastered CD released in 2008). Exploring and expanding, the band added female backing vocals and continued its thick, eerie brand of metal. An early 7 inch record deal with Regress Records, of Italy, allowed Aventgarde Records to hear the band. This recording was heavy, combined with moods of darkness and despair. The two songs would lead to the release of the band's full length debut CD, Amid Its Hallowed Mirth on Avant Garde and Nuclear Blast in early 1995.

Primal Fear

Primal Fear is a German power metal and speed metal band formed in 1997 by Ralf Scheepers(vocals, ex-Gamma Ray) and Mat Sinner (bass and vocals, Sinner). Sinner & Scheepers formed the band after Ralf was not hired as Rob Halford's replacement in Judas Priest. Their latest album called Unbreakable was released in 2012.Primal Fear was founded in October 1997 by singer Ralf Scheepers and Mat Sinner. Scheepers and Sinner have been constants in the heavy metal scene before the band was founded. Ralf Scheepers sang in the bands Tyran Pace, F.B.I. and the internationally successful band Gamma Ray. After a gig with his Judas Priest cover band Just Priest in which Mat Sinner and Tom Naumann helped out the idea arose to found Primal Fear. They signed a record deal with Nuclear Blast Records in late 1997. Their debut album Primal Fear was released in February 1998 and entered the German LP charts at place 48 thus making it one of the highest chart entries of a debut album in German metal. The same year they toured with German Metal veterans Running Wild and Hammerfall.

The Police

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting (lead volcals, bass), Andy Summers (guitars) and Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggea, and jazz.

Rob Zombie

White Zombie was founded by writer, vocalist, and graphic artist Rob Zombie, after coming up with the band idea in 1985 while attending Parsons School of Design in his junior year. Zombie's girlfriend at the time, Sean Ysuelt, was playing the farfisa keyboard in the band LIFE with Ivan de Prume but the band soon broke up. EnaKostabi owned a recording studio, which he would rent out to different bands. When he met Yseult, she asked if he could teach her to play bass. They then recruited Peter Landau to play drums and began to write and record songs. White Zombie's first release Gods on Voodoo Moon was an EP and was recorded on October 18, 1985. It was released under the band's own label Silent Explosion, under which they would release most of their early work. Only 300 copies were pressed, of which only 100 were sold; the band members still retain possession of the remaining 200. In 1986, Zombie hired Tim Jeffs, his Parsons School of Design roommate, to play guitar to replace Ena Kostabi, and Yseult brought in de Prume from their days in the band LIFE as the replacement for Landau. It was at this time the band started touring, making their live performance debut at CBGB on April 28, 1986. White Zombie released their second EP Pig Heaven that year. The release contained two songs, "Pig Heaven" and "Slaughter the Grey". The EP was recorded at 6/8 Studios on Houston St and Bleecker St in NoHo in New York City. Other songs that were recorded during the session but never released were titled "Follow Wild", "Rain Insane", "Paradise Fireball", and "Red River Flow". After touring for a year in the band, Tim Jeffs left and was replaced by Tom Guey, often known as Tom Five. The band released a second pressing of Pig Heaven with different cover art, but retained the same recording with Jeffs on guitar. Only 500 copies of each pressing were released on vinyl.

Rage Against The Machine

Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk. Rage Against the Machine is known for its "fiercely polemical music, which brew[s] sloganeering leftist rants against corporate America, cultual imperialism, and government oppression into a Molotov Cocktail of punk, hip hop, and thrash." They draw inspiration from early heavy metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Afrika, Bambaataa, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Dutch crossover band Urban Dance Squad. As of 2010, they have sold over 16 million records worldwide.In 1992, the band released its self-title debut album, which became a commercial success, leading to a slot in the 1993 Lollapalooza festival. The band did not release a follow-up record until 1996, with Evil Empire. The band's third album, The Battle of Los Angeles, followed in 1999. During their initial nine-year run, they became one of the most popular and influential bands in music history, according to music journalist Colin Devenish. They were also ranked #33 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. The band had a large influence on the nu metal genre which emerged during the mid to late 1990s.

Tom Morello

Thomas Baptiste Morello (born May 30, 1964) is a Grammy-Award-winning American Guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchmen, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club. Tom is also the co-founder (along with Serj Tankian) of the non-profit political activist organization Axis of Justice, which airs a monthly program on Pacifica radio station KPFK (90.7 FM) in Los Angeles. He is best known for his unique and creative guitar playing style, which incorporates feedback noises, unconventional picking and tapping as well as heavy use of guitar effects. He was ranked #26 in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."Tom Morello was born on May 30, 1964, in Harlem, New York to Negthe Njoroge and Mary Morello Tom is of Irish and Italian descent on his maternal side, and Kikuyu Kenya descent on his paternal side. His mother was a schoolteacher from Marseilles,Illinois, who earned a Master of Arts at Loyola Iniversity, Chicago and travelled to Germany, Spain, Japan, and Kenya as an English language teacher between 1977 to 1983. His father was a Kenyan participant in the Mau Mau Uprising, and served as Kenya's first ambassador to the United Nations. Morello's paternal great-uncle, Jomo Kenatta, was the first elected president in Kenyan history. His parents met in August 1963, while attending a pro-democracy protest in Nairobi, Kenya.After discovering her pregnancy, Mary returned to the USA with Njoroge in November, and married in New York City.

Stevie Nicks

Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics. Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, along with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's Rumours, produced four US Top 10 singles (including Nicks's song "Dream", which was the band's first and only US number one) and remained at No.1 on the American albums chart for 31 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the Eighth Best Selling Album of all time.

Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols evolved from The Strand, a London band formed in 1972 with working-class teenagers Steve Jones on vocals, Paul Cook on drums, and Wally Nightingale on guitar. According to a later account by Jones, both he and Cook played on instruments they had stolen. Early line-ups of The Strand—sometimes known as The Swankers—also included Jim Mackin on organ and Stephen Hayes (and later, briefly, Del Noones) on bass. The band members hung out regularly at two clothing shops on Kings Road, in London's Chelsea neighbourhood: John Krivine and Steph Raynor's Acme Attractions(where Don Letts worked as manager) and Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwoods Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die. The McLaren–Westwood store had opened in 1971 as Let It Rock, with a 1950s revival Teddy Boy theme. It had been renamed in 1972 to focus on another revival trend, the rocker look associated with Marlon Brando. As John Lydon later observed, "Malcolm and Vivienne were really a pair of shysters: they would sell anything to any trend that they could grab onto." The shop was to become a focal point of the punk rock scene, bringing together participants such as the future Sid Visous, Marco Pirroni, Gene October, and Mark Stewart, among many others. Jordon, the wildly styled shop assistant, is credited with "pretty well single-handedly paving the punk look".

Twisted Sister

The soon to be named 'Twisted Sister' was formed after Jay Jay French was added following auditions in the 'band house' located in Ho-Ho-Kus New Jersey in late December 1972. Manhattan resident John Segall (Jay Jay French) auditioned and was asked to join the 'glitter band' Silver Star. Silver Star was the creation of the drummer Mel Anderson (Mell Star) as the "New Jersey version of the NY Dolls". At the same time as Silver Star/Twisted Sister was created, Mell Star's brother, Al Anderson, was the guitar player for Bob Marley and the Wailers. Jay Jay hated the name Silver Star and pushed to have it changed. On Valentine's Day in February 1973 Silver Star changed its name to Twisted Sister. The line up was; lead singer Micheal Valentine, Guitarist Billy Diamond, drummer Mell Star, bass player Kenneth Harrison Neill, and Johnny Heartbreaker (soon to change his name to Jay Jay French).The band found work immediately and started playing 6 nights a week (mostly in the same club for the entire week). They secured a residency at the Mad Hatter in East QuogueNY for the summer of 1973 and played 105 nights from Memorial Day to Labor day. By December 1974, when this first version of the band broke up, Jay Jay had already played nearly 600 nights and about 3,000 performances as the band played 5 x 40 minutes shows per night, each with costume changes, some ending as late as 8 am the following morning. The second version of the band changed lead singers (Rick Prince) and guitar player (Keith Angel) and continued for a couple of months into 1975 before singer Rick Prince failed to show up for a rehearsal. In the third lineup change, Jay Jay the took over the lead vocal chores and management duties. The band split up after Labor Day weekend 1975. In October 1975 the fourth version of the band started to play the club circuit. Jay Jay hired a former high school friend of Eddie Ojeda, who joined as co-lead singer and second guitarist, and got drummer Kevin John Grace after reading an ad that Kevin put in the Village Voice. Bass guitarist Kenny Neill (Kenneth Harrison Neill) remained and completed the lineup. The band followed a glam rock direction, influenced by David Bowie, Slade, Mott the Hoople, Rolling Stones, and New York Dolls. It played at local clubs but floundered in relative anonymity.

Gamma Ray

Gamma Ray is a metal band from Hamburg, northern Germany, founded and fronted by Kai Hansen after his departure from the German power metal band Helloween. Hansen is the current lead vocalist, guitarist as well as the chief songwriter of Gamma Ray. The band is known as one of the most prominent bands of the German Heavy Metal Scene. Despite having many lineup changes in their early career, the band's lineup has remained stable since 1997.In 1988, after four years with the German Power Metal band Helloween, guitarist and songwriter Kai Hensen decided, for reasons that are still the subject of much debate, to leave the group. Hansen claimed that Helloween had become too big for him to handle, although the group's troubles with financial issues and their record company, Noise Records, most likely played a part as well. He proceeded to do some studio work with German speed metal band Blind Gaurdian and in 1989 decided to form his own project with long-time friend Ralf Scheepers, former vocalist of the band Tyran Pace. This two-man project grew into a four-man band with the addition of Uwe Wesell on bass and Mathias Burchardt on drums. This was the first line-up of Gamma Ray, bearing a sound understandably close to that of Helloween of that period.

Metalium

Metalium was a power metal band from Hamberg, Germany. Their style of music was that of the traditional power metal sound which was pioneered in Hamburg by bands such as Helloween and Blind Gaurdian. On 13 September 2010, the band announced on its website that it would dissolve in 2011

Current Members is Tolo Grimalt - Guitar Henning Basse- Vocals - keyboards Mattias Lange - Guitar Lars Ratz - Bass - Michael Ehre - Drums.

Former Members is Chris Caffery- guitars Jack Frost - guitars Mike Terrana- drums Mark Cross - drums.

Helloween

Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 1 and Pt.2 are considered masterpieces of the genre.Since its creation, the band has released fourteen studio albums and has undergone some line-up changes. Former members have gone on to found numerous bands, including Gamma Ray, Iron Savior, Masterplan and Unisonic.Helloween formed in 1984 in Hamberg, Germany. The original line-up included Kai Hensen on vocals and guitar, Michael Weikath on guitar, Markus Grosskopf on bass, and Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums. That year, the band signed with Noise Records and recorded two songs for a Noise compilation record called Death Metal. The compilation featured the bands Hellhammer, Running wild and Dark Avenger The two tracks were "Oernst of Life" by Weikath and Hansen's "Metal Invaders," a faster version of which would appear on the band's first full-length album.

Iron Savior

Iron Savior is a German power metal band that formed in Hamberg, Germany in 1996. Following a period of several years working behind the scenes in music production, multi-instrumentalist and producer/engineer Piet Sielck joined with former Helloween bandmate Kai Hensen and then-drummer for Blind Gaurdian Thomen Stauch in a new project that would blend power metal with a high-concept science fiction story. The band's debut album Iron Savior introduced the story that would be told over the course of multiple albums, featuring a self-aware space vessel called the Iron Savior and its relationship to the mythical lost civilization of Atlantis.Critics have compared Iron Savior's sound and musical approach to classic heavy metal bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Queensryche. Kai Hansen's presence in the band brought to the Iron Savior albums on which he appeared a style heavily influenced by Gamma Ray and Helloween. Since its inception, Iron Savior has released six studio albums, two EPs, and two singles. The band began recording their seventh studio album in August 2011. Despite numerous lineup changes, Piet Sielck has continued to direct the band and is currently the only remaining founding member.

 

Unisonic

Unisonic is a German heavy metal/hard rock supergroup, founded on November 10, 2009 by former Helloween member and solo artist Michael Kiske alongside Dennis Ward and Kosta Zafiriou from Pink Cream 69. Mandy Meyer, formerly in Asia and Gartthard was soon added to the line-up, while in 2011 the band was joined by Gamma Ray leader and former member of Helloween Kai Hensen Vocalist Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween), bassist Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69) and drummer Kosta Zafiriou (ex-Pink Cream 69) had already worked together in the AOR project Place Vendome After the release of Place Vendome's second album, Streets of Fire in 2009, the aforementioned musicians decided to work together and form a new band. Dennis Ward suggested the recruitment of Swiss guitarist Mandy Meyer (ex-Krokus). Unisonic began their first tour in June 2010, playing some warm-up shows in Germany and performing at Sweden Rock Festival  and Masters of Rock Festival in the Czech Republic as well.

                                                Beastie Boys

Prior to forming the Beastie Boys, Michael Diamond was part of a number of bands such as the Walden Jazz Band, BAN and the Young Aborigines The Beastie Boys formed in July 1979 when the Young Aborigines bassist Jeremy Shatan left New York City for the summer and the remaining members Michael Diamond, John Berry and Kate Schellenbach formed a new hardcore punk band with Adam Yauch called Beastie Boys. The band supported Bad, the Dead Kidneys the Misfits and Reagan Youth at venues such as CBGB, A7, Trudy Hellers Place and Max's Kansas City, playing at the latter venue on its closing night. In November 1982 the Beastie Boys recorded the 7" EP Polly Wood Stew at 171A studios, an early recorded example of New York hard rock. On November 13, 1982, the Beastie Boys played Philip Pucci's birthday for the purposes of his short concert film of the Beastie Boys, Philip Pucci's "Beastie". Pucci held the concert in Bard College's Preston Drama Dance Department Theatre. This performance marked the Beastie Boys’ first on screen appearance in a published motion picture. Pucci's concept for “Beastie” was to distribute a mixture of both a half dozen 16mm Bell and Howell Filmo cameras, and 16mm Bolex cameras to audience members and ask that they capture the Beastie Boys performance from the audience’s own point of view while a master sync sound camera filmed from the balcony of the abandoned theater where the performance was held. The opening band for that performance was The Young and the Useless, which featured Adam Horovitz as their lead singer. A one minute clip of "Beastie" was subsequently excerpted and licensed by the Beastie Boys for use in the "Egg Raid on Mojo" segment of the "Skills to Pay the Bills" long form home video released by Capitol Records. “Skills to Pay the Bills” later went on to earn the Recording Industry Association of America’s (R.I.A.A.) gold sales award for selling more than 500,000 copies.

                                                Hellhammer

Hellhammer was an influential extreme metal band from Switzerland, active during 1982–1984. They are regarded as a key influence on black metal, and one of the founders of death metal. Two former members went on to form Celtic Frost in 1984.Inspired by the music of Black Sabbath, Venom, Raven, and Motorhead, guitarist / vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. "Tom Warrior"), bassist / vocalist Urs Sprenger (a.k.a. "Steve Warrior") and drummer Pete Stratton formed Hammerhead (later Hellhammer) in early 1982. Although Fischer was also "blown away" by the first two Discharge records - Why?and Hear Nothing See Nothing Hear Nothing - he "was not into punk at all."After the exit of Stratton and drummer Jörg Neubart (a.k.a. "Bruce Day") joining in the ranks on autumn 1982, Hellhammer attempted to find proper rehearsal spaces, which proved difficult due to either exceedingly high rents or unavailable studio hours. In June 1983 the group recorded their first demo tape, Triumphof Death, for a mere $70. Despite being embarrassed by the end results, Hellhammer shipped their demo to a number of heavy metal magazines, such as Great Britan's Metal Forces; critical response toward them was generally favorable. Although rejected by the labels they sent tapes to, the band eventually caught the attention of newcomer Noise Records.

                                                Running Wild

Running Wild is a German heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Hamburg. They were part of the German metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s. Although the earlier releases contained satanic themes and imagery, Gerald “Preacher” Warnecke, the guitar player of the band, was studying theology at the time and is a vicar in Cologne now.On April 17, 2009 Rolf announced that Running Wild had split-up. Their last show was at Wacken Open Air on July 30, 2009. It was recorded for CD and DVD release and appeared as The Final Jolly Roger on June 24, 2011.As of October 21, 2011, Running Wild have reformed and have a new album that is due to be released in April 2012. The announcement was made on the band's website with a video message from Captain Rolf, where he stated that he has already written 10 songs for the new album.The new album will be titled Shadowmaker and be the band's first album since 2005.

                                                Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse was established in December 1988 by members from three earlier Buffalo-area death metal bands; Beyond Death (Webster, Owen), Leviaten (Barnes), and Tirant Sin (Barnes, Rusay, Mazurkiewicz). The band played their first show at Buffalo's River Rock Cafe on April 1989, shortly after recording a five-song demo tape, Cannibal Corpse. Within a year of that first gig, the band was signed to Metal Blade Records, apparently after the label had heard their demo that was sent in by the manager of the record store at which Chris Barnes was working, and their full-length debut album, Eaten Back to Life was released in August 1990.The band has had many line-up changes over the years. In 1993, founding member and guitarist Bob Rusay was dismissed from the group (after which he became a golf instructor) and was ultimately replaced by MalevolentCreation guitarist Rob Barrett. In 1995, singer Chris Barnes was dismissed and was replaced by Monstrosity singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher. Barnes went on to perform with the band Six Feet Under, and later Torture Killer.In 1997, Barrett, who had originally replaced Rusay on guitar, left Cannibal Corpse to rejoin his previous bands Malevolent Creation and Solstice. After Barrett left, he was replaced by guitarist Pat O’Brien, who first appeared on Cannibal Corpse's 1998 release Gallery of Suicide. Founding member and guitarist Jack Owen left Cannibal Corpse in 2004 to spend more time on his second band, Adrift. He joined Deicide in late 2005. Jeremy Turner of Origin briefly replaced him as second guitarist on 2004's Tour of The Wretched Spawn. Barrett rejoined the band in 2005 and was first featured on the album Kill, released in March 2006.

                                                Queensryche

The foundations for Queensrÿche began in the early 1980s. Guitarist Micheal Wilton and drummer Scott Rockenfield were members of a band called Cross+Fire, who covered songs from popular heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Preist. Before long Cross+Fire added guitarist Chris DeGarmo and bassist Eddie Jackson to their lineup, and changed their name to The Mob. The Mob, who were without a singer, recruited Geoff Tate to sing for them at a local rock festival. At the time, Tate was already in a band called Babylon. After Babylon broke up Tate performed a few shows with The Mob, but left because he was not interested in performing heavy metal.In 1981, The Mob put together sufficient funds to record a demo tape. Once again, Tate was enlisted to help. The group recorded four songs – "Queen of the Reich," "Nightrider," "Blinded" and "The Lady Wore Black." The group brought their demo to various labels and were rejected by all of them. Tate also was still committed to staying in his then-current band, Myth.At the urging of their new manager, The Mob changed their name to Queensrÿche. The name is derived from the title track of their demo, "Queen of the Reich", and is the only known use of the letter Y with an umlaut in English. It was a modification of the spelling "Queensreich" to prevent association of the band with Nazism. As they later joked: "The umlaut over the 'y' has haunted us for years. We spent eleven years trying to explain how to pronounce it."

                                                Venom

Venom's original personnel came from three different bands: Guillotine, Oberon and Dwarf Star. The original Guillotine featured Jeffrey Dunn and Dave Rutherford on guitars, Dean Hewitt on bass guitar, Dave Blackman on vocals and Chris Mercaters on drums. Blackman and Mercater were replaced by drummer Anthony Brey (b. 17 September 1957 in Newcastle) and vocalist Clive Archer of Oberon and soon after, Dean Hewitt was replaced by Alan Winston on bass. Around this time the name Venom was created. In the late autumn of 1979 Conrad Lant from the bands Dwarf Star and Album Graecum, replaced Dave Rutherford. Lant later switched to bass after the departure of Winston.Prime influences of the formative band were Black Sabbath, Judas Preist,  and Kiss. Other bands cited by Venom as an inspiration are Queen, The Who, Deep Purple, Sex Pistols, Van Halen, The Tubes and Rolling Stones.Venom's lyrics often featured Satanic references, and the band members took on new stage names, Archer became 'Jesus Christ' , Lant 'Mr. Cronos', Bray 'Tony Abaddon', and Dunn 'Jeff Mantas'.In April 1980, the band recorded a three song disc, featuring "Angel Dust", "Raise the Dead", and "Red Light Fever". Soon afterward, six more tracks were recorded for just £50, with Lant taking vocal duties on the song "Live Like an Angel". Archer soon left the band, and Venom's line-up became a trio.

                                                The Tubes

The Tubes started as a group of high school friends from Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. Two Phoenix bands, the Beans and The Red, White and Blues Band, both relocated to San Francisco in 1969 and eventually merged. The new band's core membership remained largely intact for more than a decade: Fee Waybill (real name John Waldo Waybill) (vocals), Bill "Sputnick" Spooner (guitar, vocals), Roger Steen (guitar), Praire Prince (real name Charles L. Prince) (drums), Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (piano), and Rick Anderson (bass). Singer Re Styles (born Shirley Marie MacLeod) (vocals) and ex-Santana percussionist Mingo Lewis were also fixtures for much of the band's early history. Show buiness excess was a common theme of the band's early work, with Waybill sometimes assuming the onstage persona of "Quay Lewd" (a pun on Quaalude), a drunk, drugged out, barely coherent lead singer, wearing flashing glasses and stilt-like tall platform shoes.

                                                Cathedral

The band was founded in 1989 by Lee Dorrian (former singer of grindcore pioneers Napalm death), Mark 'Griff' Griffiths (a Carcass roadie) and Garry 'Gaz' Jennings (formerly of thrash metal upstarts Acid Reign). At first they played very heavy and slow doom metal that was first released through Rise Above Records, vocalist Lee Dorrian's indie label, before signing to Earache and then Columbia. They were later dropped by Columbia Records in 1994. The band continued with Earache Records until 2000. Then signed to Dream Catcher Records for one LP and a tour. In 2004 Cathedral signed to their current label Nuclear Blast. In 1989 Lee Dorrian left his former band Napalm Death mainly because he was getting sick of the punk scene and did not like the death metal direction Napalm Death was heading towards. Cathedral was formed after Lee Dorrian and Mark Griffiths met and discussed their love for doom bands like Candlemass, Dream Death, Pentagram, Trouble and Witch Finder.The only original band members in the current line-up are Lee Dorrian and Garry 'Gaz' Jennings on guitars, although Jennings did once leave the band in their early history, only to rejoin shortly afterwards.

                                                Metal Church

Metal Church was an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in San Fransisco, California in 1980 before relocating to Aberdeen, Washington the following year and briefly using the name Shrapnel. Their eponymous album was released in 1984, and their final, This Present Waisteland in 2008.The band is credited as a formative influence on the thrash metal sub-genre, melding the aesthetics of the New Wave British of heavy metal and American hard rock through "incredibly tight musicianship" and "piercingly screeched" vocals. Early lyrical topics such as conflict and paranoia later expanded into philosophical and social commentary. Founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoff remained the group's sole consistent creative force throughout its career, despite reducing his role strictly to composition in 1986 after tiring of touring. Vanderhoof, vocalist David Wayne, guitarist Craig Wells, bassist Duke Erickson, and drummer Kirk Arrington composed the group's classic lineup featured on its first two records, while vocalist Mike Howe and guitarist John Marshell later contributed to the group's sound. After releasing five full-length albums and touring extensively throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Metal Church disbanded in 1994. They reformed four years later with their classic lineup, including Vanderhoof's return to performance, yielding the Masterpeice album. They endured numerous lineup changes thereafter, releasing three further studio albums while fronted by Ronny Munroe before again disbanding in July 2009.

                                                Nickel Back

Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Croeger guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005, replacing drummer Ryan Vikedal who was with the band between 1998–2005. Nickelback's music is classed as hard rock, post-grunge and alternative rock. Nickelback is one of the most commercially successful Canadian groups, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, ranking as the 11th best selling music act of the 2000s, and is the 2nd best selling foreign act in the U.S. behind The Beatles for the 2000s. Billboard ranks them the top Rock group of the decade and their hit song "How You Remind Me" was listed as the top Rock song of the decade as well as the 4th song of the decade. They were listed number 7 on the Billboard top artist of the decade list and they have 4 albums that were listed on the Billboard top albums of the decade.The band signed with Roadrunner Records in 1999 and re-released their once-independent album The State. The band achieved commercial success with the release of their 2000 album The State and then they achieved mainstream success with the release of their 2001 album Silver Side Up. Following the release of Silver Side Up the band released their biggest and most known hit today, "How You Remind Me" which peaked number 1 on the American and Canadian charts at the same time.

                                                The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Rodger Daltrey (lead vocals, harmonica and guitar), Pete Townshend (guitar, keyboards and vocals), John Entwhistle (bass guitar, brass and vocals) and Keith Moon (drums and percussion). They became known for energetic live performances which often included instement destruction. The Who have sold about 100 million records, and have charted 27 top fourty signals in the United Kingdom and United States, as well as 17 top albums, with 18 Gold, 12 Platinum and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone.The Who rose to fame in the UK with a series of top ten hit signals, boosted in part by pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline, beginning in January 1965 with "I Can't Explain". The albums My Generation (1965), A Quick One (1966) and The Who Sell Out (1967) followed, with the first two reaching the UK top five. They first hit the US a Top 40 in 1967 with "Happy Jack" and hit the top ten later that year with "I Can See for Miles". Their fame grew with memorable performances at the Monteray pop, Woodstock and Isle of Wight music festivals. The 1969 release of Tommy was the first in a series of top ten albums in the US, followed by Kive at Leads (1970), Whos Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), The Who by Numbers (1975), Who Are You (1978) and The Kids are Allright (1979).Moon died at the age of 32 in 1978, after which the band released two studio albums, the UK and US top five Face Dance (1981) and the US top ten It's Hard (1982), with drummer Kenny Jones, before disbanding in 1983. They re-formed at events such as Live Aid and for reunion tours such as their 25th anniversary tour (1989) and the Quadrophenia tours of 1996 and 1997. In 2000, the three surviving original members discussed recording an album of new material, but their plans temporarily stalled upon Entwistle's death at the age of 57 in 2002. Townshend and Daltrey continue to perform as The Who, and in 2006 they released the studio album Endless Wire, which reached the top ten in the UK and US.

                                                Preistess

Priestess is a Canadian stoner rock band formed in 2003 by Mikey Heppner (vocals/guitar), Mike Dyball (bass), Vince Nudo (vocals/drums), and Dan Watchorn (vocals/guitar).Priestess was formed in 2003. Mikey Heppner was playing with The Dropouts at the time when three of its members headed to New York to form The Stills. Left on his own, Heppner formed a new band in the form of Priestess. In 2005, the band released their debut album, Hello Master. The release was issued via Indica in Canada and on Ace Fu in the U.S. A major-label recording contract with RCA followed in January 2006. North American tour dates opening for Dinosaur Jr. followed that spring. Priestess also toured with The Sword, Early Man and Diamond Nights in the spring of 2006.A remastered version of Hello Master arrived in June, and additional shows with the Riverboat Gamblers and the Bronx coincided with its release. Upon the album's re-release, tracks such as "Talk to Her" and "Lay Down" also began finding airplay on mainstream rock satellite stations such as Octane and Ink'd. On October 27, 2006, Priestess joined Black Label Society and Black Stone Cherry's already-in-progress tour which lasted until mid-December. Priestess toured with Converge and Mastodon from January 26 - February 17, 2007. The band toured Europe for their first time ever with thrash metal pioneers Megadeth as a part of their "Tour of Duty" tour in June 2007.

                                                Pearl Jam

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of pioneering grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner. In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest and found the support of the Polygram record label, which signed the band in early 1989. Mother Love Bone's debut album, Apple, was released in July 1990, four months after Wood died of a heroin overdose Ament and Gossard were devastated by the death of Wood and the resulting demise of Mother Love Bone. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously. After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band, Shadow, had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament. After practicing for a while, the trio sent out a five-song demo tape in order to find a singer and a drummer. They gave former Red Hot Chile Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to distribute the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position

                                                Blue Oyster Cult

The band originated as a group called Soft White Underbelly (a name the band would later occasionally use in the 1970s and 1980s to play small club gigs around the U.S.) in 1967 in the vicinity of Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, at the prompting of critic and manager Sandy Pearlman consisting of guitarist Buck Dharma, drummer Albert Bouchard, keyboardist Allen Lanier, singer Les Braunstein and bassist Andrew Winters. Pearlman wanted the group to be the American answer to Black Sabbath. Pearlman was very important to the band—he was able to get them giggs and recording contracts with Elektra and Columbia, and he provided them with his poetry for use as lyrics for many of their songs, including "Astronomy". Writer Richard Meltzer also provided the band with lyrics from their early days up through their most recent studio album. The band recorded an album's worth of material for Elektra Records in 1968. When Braunstein departed in early 1969, Elektra shelved the album. Eric Bloom (formerly the band's acoustic engineer) replaced Braunstein, and the band continued to perform as Soft White Underbelly. However, a bad review of a 1969 Fillmore East show caused Pearlman to change the name of the band - first to Oaxaca, then to the Stalk-Forrest Group. The band recorded yet another album's worth of material for Elektra, but only one single ("What Is Quicksand?" b/w "Arthur Comics") was released (and only in a promo edition of 300 copies) on Elektra Records. (This album was eventually released, with additional outtakes, by Rhino Handmade Records as St. Cecilia The Elektra Recordings in 2001). After a few more temporary band names, including the Santos Sisters, the band settled on Blue Öyster Cult in 1971.

                                                The Dead Kidneys

Dead Kennedys formed in June 1978 in Sanfransico, California, when East Bay Ray (Raymond Pepperell) advertised for bandmates in the newspaper The Recycler, after seeing a ska-punk show at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco. The original band lineup consisted of Jello Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher) on vocals, East Bay Ray on guitar, Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall) on bass, and Ted (Bruce Slesinger) on drums and percussion. This lineup recorded their first demo In early to mid July, the band recruited 6025 (Carlos Cadona) as a secondary guitarist. Their first show was on July 19, 1978, at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, California.Dead Kennedys played numerous shows at local venues afterwards. Due to the provocative name of the band, they sometimes played under psuedonyms, including "The DK's", "The Sharks", "The Creamsicles" and "The Pink Twinkies". The band's real name generated controversy. San Fransico Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote in November 1978, "Just when you think tastelessness has reached its nadir, along comes a punk rock group called The Dead Kennedys, which will play at MabuhayGardens Nov. 22, the 15th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Despite mounting protests, the owner of Mabuhay says 'I can't cancel them NOW — there's a contract.' Not, apparently, the kind of contract some people have in mind." However, despite popular belief, the name was not meant to insult the Kennedy-Family but according to Biafra, "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream".\l

 

                                                Slip Knot

Slipknot was formed in Des Moines, Iowa in September 1995 when drummer Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Grey started a band named The Pale Ones. The lineup was made up of friends who met through the local music scene, including vocalist Anders Colsefni and guitarist Donnie Steele. Not long after their inception, Gray invited Joey Jorison to a rehearsal because the band were interested in experimenting with additional drum elements. Jordison subsequently joined the band as their main drummer, moving Crahan to custom percussion. Furthermore, Colsefni also took up custom percussion while remaining the band's vocalist. The band then decided to invite Josh Brainard as their second guitarist, bringing their lineup to six members. On December 4, the band made their live debut; playing a benefit show using the name Meld.Much of the band's early development was retrospectively attributed to late-night planning sessions between Gray, Crahan and Jordison at a Sinclair gas station where Jordison worked nights. It was there, in late 1995, that Jordison suggested changing the band name to Slipknot after their song of the same name

                                                Queens of the Stone Age

Queens of the Stone Age began with Josh Homme in 1996. After the breakup of Kyuss in 1995, Homme had briefly joined The Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band of his own. Originally naming his new project 'Gamma Ray', Homme was forced to change the name in 1997, as German power metal band Gamma Ray was threatening to sue. The band's first release was Gamma Ray, a two-track EP featuring the songs "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self titled debut as 'If Only'), released in January 1996, featuring Joshua Homme (Kyuss), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden and Pearl Jam), Van Conner (Screaming Trees) and John McBain (Monster Magnet).\l

                                                The Screaming Trees

Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington 1985 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Connor, bass player Van Conner and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel had been replaced by Barrett Martin by the time the band reached its most successful period. Although widely associated with grunge, the band's sound incorporated hard rock and psychedelic elements. Since its formation, Screaming Trees released seven studio album, five EPs and three compiltions.The Conner brothers formed Screaming Trees with Mark Pickerel and Mark Pickerel in 1985 in Ellensburg, Washington, a small town a little over 100 miles from Seattle The band was drawn together by an interest in punk, garage, and classic rock in high school.The band rehearsed at the Conner family's video rental store and recorded their demo tape Other Worlds in the summer of 1985 with Steve Fisk at Creative Fire recording studio in Ellensburg. The band talked the owner of the studio into releasing it as a cassette on the local indie label, Velvetone Records (the recording was re-released as a CD and vinyl EP by SST Records in 1988).

                                                Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954) is an American musician, songwriter, and vocalist from Austin Texas. Best known for his electric guitar skills, Johnson is also a highly proficient acoustic, lap steel, resonator, and bass guitarist as well as an accomplished pianist and vocalist. Johnson has mastered a wide array of musical genres evidenced by the many different styles incorporated in both his studio and live performances including rock, blues, jazz, fusion, soul, folk, New Age, classical, and country weston Guitar Player magazine has called Johnson "one of the most respected guitarists on the planet". His 1990 platinum-selling, full-length album, Ah Van Musicom, produced the single, "Cliff of Dover", for which Johnson won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instemental Performance.Born into a musically-inclined family, Johnson and his three sisters studied piano and his father was a whistling enthusiast. Johnson started learning the guitar at age 11 and rapidly began progressing through the music that would heavily influence his future style, including Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfeild, Chet Atkins,Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Jerry Reed, Bob Dylan and Django Reinhardt\l , among others. At the age of 15, he joined his first professional band—Mariani, a psychedelic rock group. In 1968, Johnson and the group recorded a demo, which saw extremely limited release; years later the recording became a prized collector's item.

                                                Mike Bloomfeild

Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American Musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70. Respected for his fluid guitar playing, Bloomfield knew and played with many of Chicago's blues legends even before he achieved his own fame, and was one of the primary influences on the mid-to-late 1960s revival of classic Chicago and other styles of blues music. In 2003 he was ranked at number 22 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

                                                Meatloaf

Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday, September 27, 1947), known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor. He is noted for the Bat Out of Hell album trilogy consisting of Bat Out Of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 43 million copies. After more than 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the best selling albums of all time. Although he enjoyed success with Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and earned a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song "I'd Do Anything For Love (But Not That)" on the latter album, Meat Loaf experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native US. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for the number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock."

                                                Taake

Taake, pronounced [toke], is a Norweigan black metal band whose name is the old spelling form of the Norwegian word "tåke" (fog).In 1993, Ørjan Stedjeberg, now known as Ulvhedin Høst (often spelt Hoest), formed the first version of the band Taake under the name Thule, together with Svartulv, who was only twelve years old at the time. Thule released two demos; "Der Vinterstormene Raste" 1993 and "Omfavnet Av Svarte Vinger (Embraced By Black Wings)" 1994. Somewhere between the release of the latter demo and "Manndaudsvinter" in 1995, the band transformed from Thule to Taake which was more representative of the band and the area where Høst was from; the mountains of Bergan, Norway. Shortly after this release a 7" EP was released in 1996 called "Koldbrann i Jesu Marg," which would be the last demo recording that Taake would release.

                                                Mayhem

Mayhem are a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo long regarded as one of the pioneers of the Norweigen black metal scene. Mayhem's career has been highly controversial, primarily due to their violent stage performances, the 1991 suiside of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and 1993 murder of guitarist Oystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes ("Count Grishnackh"), also of Berzum. The group released a demo and an EP that were highly influential, and amassed a loyal following through sporadic and notorious live performances, attracting further attention through their ties to the string of Norweigen church burning and the prominent incidents of violence surrounding them. They disbanded after Aarseth's murder, shortly before the release of their debut album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, regarded as a classic of the black metal genre. Surviving former members Jan Axel Bloomburg ("Hellhammer"), Jorn Stubberud ("Necrobutcher") and Sven Erick Kristansen ("Maniac") reformed two years later with Rune Ericksen ("Blasphemer") replacing Aarseth. Attila Csihar and Krister Dreyer ("Morfeus") have since replaced Kristiansen and Eriksen respectively.

                                                Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Johann Malmsteen, born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish Guitarist song writer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. Malmsteen became known for his neo-classical playing style in heavy metal. Steve Huey of Allmusic stated that, "Yngwie Malmsteen is arguably the most technically accomplished hard rock guitarist to emerge during the '80s." In early 1982 (at the age of 18), Mike Varney of Sharpnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing, brought Malmsteen to the U.S. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Graham Bonnet's Alcatraz, for their 1983 debut No Parlo Rock n' Roll, and the 1984 live album live  entence. Malmsteen released his first solo album Rising Force in 1984, which featured Barrie Blowlow of Jethro Tull on drums and keyboard player Jens Johansson His album was meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it contained vocals, and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of Rising Force.

                                                Misfits

The Misfits were formed in January 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey by Glenn Danzig, who had previous experience performing in local bands. Naming the band after actress Marilyn Monroe's final film The Misfits (1961), Danzig recruited guitarist Jimmy Battle, bassist Diane DiPiazza, and drummer Manny Martinez to fill out the lineup while Danzig himself sang and played the electric piano. Both Battle and DiPiazza left the band after a month of practices. Martínez recommended his friend Jerry Caiafa to Danzig as a replacement, as Caiafa had recently received a bass guitar as a Christmas gift. Caiafa was accepted into the band despite having only been practicing his instrument for two months. He and Danzig would remain the only consistent members of the Misfits until the group disbanded in 1983. The trio of Danzig, Martínez, and Caiafa rehearsed for three months without a guitarist, using Danzig's electric piano to provide the songs' rhythm. They recorded the band's first singal, "Cough/Cool", which they released through their own label Blank Records in August 1977. Caiafa's surname was misspelled on the record's sleeve, prompting him to insist that in the future he be credited as "Jerry, only Jerry". "Jerry Only" quickly became his pseudonym which he would continue to use for the rest of his career. The band played their first two performances at CBGB in New Tork City, followed by other local performances over the following two months.

                                                Diamond Head

Formed by school friends in 1976 Brian Tatler and Duncan Scott with Tatler playing on a Cheap Fuzz guitar and Scott on biscuit tins. The name "Diamond Head" came from a Phil Manzanera album that Tatler had a poster of in his room. Sean Harris later joined the band after they learned about his vocal abilities while on a school trip, singing Gene Vincent's 1956 hit "Be-Bop-A-Lulu", and auditioned him in Tatler's bedroom. Bassist Colin Kimberley, a friend of Tatler's from primary school, joined the band some months later (and was in fact Diamond Head's fourth bassist). The band started to play local gigs in the Black Country area, with their first gig at High Park School in Stourbridge on 10 February 1977 but things did not go too smoothly at that gig, with feedback problems marring the start of the concert. In their early days, the band played few cover songs and concentrated on their own material. Exceptions were Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", "Its All For The Love of Rock and Roll" by the Tuff Darts and "Motorhead" by Hawkwind, whose bass player Lemmy later formed the band Motorhead. In one interview, Brian Tatler stated that they wrote some 100 songs before their first studio recorded release, and only one song from their 1978 set was recorded for their debut.

                                                Nuclear Assault

After the release of Anthrax's debut album Fistful of Metal, bass player Danny Lilker a founding member of the group, was fired by the band. He decided to pursue a more aggressive style of music and formed Nuclear Assault with guitarist/vocalist John Connelly who had been involved in an early version of Anthrax. They were joined by guitarist Mike Bogush and drummer Scott Duboys (later of Cities, Cycle Sluts From Hell and Warrior Soul). They then recorded the first of two demos, which included the songs Stranded in Hell, The Plague, and Hang the Pope.The group's first live performance was at the Union Jack in South River, New Jersey in late 1984. Guitarist Mike Bogush was later replaced by Anthony Bramante. Bramante's first live performance with the group was at L'Armour in Brooklyn, New York in April 1985. Shortly after the performance, Duboys left the band and was replaced by powerhouse drummer Glenn Evans formerly of New Jersey based band T.T. Quick.

                                                Ramones

The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Crummings and Thomas Erdelyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman, who was the initial lead singer of the glam rocker band Sniper, founded in 1972.The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974, when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. The initial lineup featured Colvin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Colvin, who soon switched from rhythm guitar to bass, was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Pauk McCartney's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his silver beatles days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones.[ Hyman and Cummings became Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.

                                                Malice

Malice is an American heavy metal band formed in the early 80s. Their sound is comparable to that of Judas Priest's, and they are notable for having toured with popular metal group Slayer. They had mild popularity that disappeared and reappeared frequently. The 1988 film Vice Versa featured a performance by the band. They announced in 2006 that they would be doing a reunion tour, and in 2007 they canceled a number of Euorpian tour dates.

                                                Armored Saint

In early 1981, John Bush was invited by Lars Ulrich to audition as singer for Metallica prior to James Hatfield taking over as lead vocalist. In 1986 during the Raising Fear recording sessions, Metallica contacted Joey Vera to replace bassist, Cliff Burton after his untimely death.It was revealed in an outtake from the documentary film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster that Phil Sandoval was involved in an altercation with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich while attending a 1982 party. Phil pushed Lars to the ground, after which Dave Mustaine, who was still a member of Metallica at that time, got involved and ended up breaking Phil's ankle. Mustaine recounts that to this day he feels bad about the incident but that he was simply defending his bandmate. That incident lead to him being fired from Metallica. Mustaine later made amends by apologizing and giving Sandoval an ESP guitar as closure.Armored Saint was formed in 1982 by brothers Phil Sandoval (guitar) and Gonzo Sandoval (drums), and guitarist David Prichard, while attending South Pasadena High School. Next to join were singer John Bush also a South Pasadena High School Alumni and bassist Joey Vera. Gonzo Sandoval came up with the name after getting stoned with the other band members and seeing the film Excalibur at a theater in Monterey Park. Armored Saint recorded a five song demo that landed the song "Lesson Well Learned" on the compilation album Metal Massacre II. Three of these demo songs were then used for the band's self-titled EP on Metal Blade Records in 1983.

                                                Fates Warning

The first album, Night On Brocken, was released in 1984, on the Metal Blade label, featuring a strong Iron Maiden influence. The Spectre Within, which featured a more progressive sound, was released in 1985. In 1986, original guitarist Victor Arduini left the band and was replaced by Frank Aresti. The third album, Awaken the Guardian was released in that year, moving towards a more mythical atmosphere. In 1987, original vocalist John Arch left the band, prior to the start of work on the band's next album. Ray joined the band in 1988. That year, the first album with Alder, No Exit was released. Continuing the pattern of lineup changes, original drummer Steve Zimmerman left the band in 1988, and was replaced by Mike Zonder in 1989. Perfect Symmetry was released in the same year. Keving Moore (keyboardist for Dream Theater at the time) was featured as a guest on the song At Fate's Hands.1991 saw the release of Parallels, which was considered by some as a commercial release. New Dream Theater vocalist James Labrie made a guest appearance on the song Life in Still Water.

                                                Savatage

Criss Oliva and his brother Jon formed their first band together, Avatar, in 1978, from the ashes of their former bands Tower and Alien respectively. In 1980, the duo met up with Steve Wacholz and jammed in a shack behind the Oliva home that was dubbed "The Pit" by the band. Wacholz originally tried out to be part of Jon's band, Alien, but when the first Savatage line-up was taking shape, Jon, who was originally on drum duties, was relieved of them by Wacholz. They also gave Steve a nickname that would follow him throughout his career: "Doctor Hardware Killdrums", often shortened to just "Doc" or "Doc Killdrums", which referred to Steve's hard playing style

                                                Dokken

Dokken is an American heavy metal band formed in 1976. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. The band was nominated for a Grammy in 1989. Dokken was composed of founder Don Dokken on vocals, George Lynch on lead guitar, Juan Croucier on bass and "Wild" Mick Brown on drums. In 1983 Croucier left Dokken in order to join Ratt and was replaced by Jeff Pilson. Currently only Dokken and Brown remain from the original line-up. After several personnel changes on guitar Dokken's attorney Jon Levin stepped in to fill the role in 2004. In 2001 Barry Sparks replaced Jeff Pilson on bass. In 2009 Sean McNabb replaced Barry Sparks on bass guitar.Dokken was first formed around 1976 when Don Dokken teamed up with Greg Pecka (drums) and Steven R. Barry (bass). Prior to this Don had been playing club shows in the Los Angeles area billed as "Airborn", but had to change the band name to Dokken because another band with the same name had already acquired a record deal. In 1981 Don Dokken flew to Germany to sing background vocals on the upcoming Scorpions album Blackout in order to assist the band's vocalist Klaus Meine who was suffering from a vocal ailment.

                                                Extreme

Among some of Extreme's musical influences are Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Queen, the band played at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, also jammed with Brian May and Van Halen, and Cherone joined Van Halen in 1996). The band has described their music as "Funky Metal" in the early days, but it would evolve much more in the mid-90s by blending classic rock influences with post-grunge and alternative rock.They have released five studio albums, two EPs (in Japan) and two compilation albums since their formation. The band was one of the most successful rock acts of the early 1990s, selling over 10 million albums worldwide. Extreme achieved their greatest success with their 1990 album Pornograffitti, which peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold in May 1991 and 2×platinum in October 1992. That album featured the acoustic ballad single "More Than Words," which reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in the United States.

                                                Angel Witch

The band was formed, originally under the name of Lucifer, and was initially composed of guitarist and vocalist Kevin Heybourne, guitarist Rob Downing, drummer Steve Jones, and bassist Barry Clements. Lucifer split and Steve Jones joined up with Bruce Dickinson to form Speed. The remnants of Lucifer became Angel Witch, with the exceptions of Barry, who was replaced by Kevin Riddles, and Steve Jones, who was replaced by Dave Hogg. The following year Rob Downing left the band.Angel Witch's first song to achieve mainstream popularity was "Baphomet", which was included on a compilation titled Metal for Muthes. This song drew a fair amount of attention to the band, and they eventually signed a recording deal with EMI. However, the deal was soon canceled, due to Manager Ken Heybourne refusing to hand Angel Witch over to professional management, and bad performance of their first single released under the EMI label, which was entitled Sweet Danger and lasted a single week on British top charts.

                                                Corrosion of Conformity

Corrosion of Conformity (also known as C.O.C.) is an American Crossover band from Raleigh, North Carolina formed in 1982. For almost the majority of its existence, the band has consisted of guitarist Woody Weatherman bassist Mike Dean (who left in 1987 but rejoined six years later), drummer Reed Mullin (who left in 2001 but rejoined nine years later) and vocalist and rhythm guitarist Pepper Keenan (who joined the band in 1989). After a hiatus in 2006, Corrosion of Conformity returned in 2010, without Keenan who is currently in Down (although it has been disputed whether Keenan has left the band. Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C.) was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina by bassist and vocalist Mike Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman and drummer Reed Mullin in the early '80s. Their hardcore-rock-oriented 20-track debut Eye for An Eye—the only album featuring the vocalist Eric Eycke—was released in 1984 (later re-released by Caroline Records during 1989). Soon after, Eycke left the band and C.O.C. continued as a three-piece with Dean and Mullin sharing the vocal duties on the 1985's follow-up Animosity In 1987, COC recruited Sinin Bob Sinister after the breakup of their fellow Carolina band and Death Records labelmates Ugly Americans. The band's 1987 release, Technocracy, featured the hectic thrash musicianship of COC with a cleaner vocal style than they had in the past.

                                                Grim Reaper

Grim Reaper are a British heavy metal band from the New Wave of British heavy metal era. The band was formed in 1979 in Droitwich, England, by guitarist Nick Bowcott.They were discovered after winning a Battle of the Bands featuring over 100 bands. They were eventually signed to Darryl Johnston's Ebony Records, and their debut album was See You In Hell The album was released in 1984 and was distributed worldwide through RCA Records. Grim Reaper soon became readily identifiable with Bowcott's guitar work and lead vocalist Steve Grimmett's head voice vocals. Their successful world tour included a support show at Texas Jam playing to over 20,000 people. Their 1985 follow-up, Fear No Evil, showed improvement on the production front and also enjoyed moderate success in both the US and Europe.

                                                Warlock

Warlock were a German Heavy Metal band, assembled in 1982 with members of the underground bands Snakebite and Beast. The band gained popularity and some commercial success in Europe in the mid-1980s, due also to the personality and stage presence of lead vocalist Doro Pesch. Warlock supported on tour successful metal bands, such as W.A.S.P, Judas Preist, Dio and Megadeth.By the end of the decade, Doro Pesch was the sole original member who remained in the band and she was forced to change the name in Doro for legal reasons. Doro, the band, continues to play several songs taken from the Warlock repertoire in their live shows. The band reunited for festival appearances and special occasions since 2003, under the name Warlock 1986.The first nucleus of the band was formed under the name Snakebite in Dusseldorf, West Germany in 1980, and comprised Doro Pesch on vocals, Michael Bastian on guitar, Frank Rittel on bass and Thomas Franke on drums, the latter coming from the band Stallion. Franke was soon replaced by Michael Eurich and, just before disbanding, Snakebite acquired the left-handed Peter Szigeti as second guitarist from Beast. Snakebite and Beast were two of the many bands playing in the local clubs and bars and recording cheap demos to promote their music.

                                                Black Label Society

Black Label Society is a heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California formed by ZakkWylde. The band has, thus far, released nine studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums, one EP, and three video albumsIn the early 1990s, Wylde had formed his own solo band Pride and Glory, playing a mixture of bluesy southern rock with heavy metal. However, they disbanded in December 1994 after having released only one album. Wylde subsequently recorded an acoustic solo album, Book of Shadows (released 1996). In May 1998, after limited commercial success with Book of Shadows, Wylde and drummer Phil Ondich recorded what became Black Label Society's debut album Sonic Brew. It was decided, rather than the album being another solo album for Wylde, that they would form a long term band. It was known from the start that Nick Catenese would be retained as the second guitarist in the band (Catanese previously toured as rhythm guitarist for the Book Of Shadows tour). John DeServio, who previously worked with Wylde as a temporary replacement in Pride & Glory, joined as the band's bassist for the album's tour.

                                                Converge

Converge is an American hardcore band from Salem, Massachusetts formed in 1990. The group comprises vocalist Jacob Bannen, guitarist Jurt Ballou, bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. All members are vegitarians. Playing a blend of hardcore punk and heavy metal. Converge has helped to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre. According to Allmusic, Converge are "regarded as one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground". Converge was formed in the winter of 1990 by Jacob Bannen and Kurt Ballou They started by playing covers of hardcore punk, hard rock and heavy metal songs, being self-confessed "hardcore kids with left-over Slayer riffs". The band soon graduated to playing live performances in 1991, after recording some demos on a 4-track recorder and eventually releasing full lengths including When Forever Comes Crashing and splits with bands like AgoraphobicNose Bleed

                                                Mastodon

Mastodon is an American Progressive metal band from Atlanta, Georgia formed in early 2000 and composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor. Many of their songs feature heavy and unique instrumentation with a mix of clean vocals and harsh screams. Mastodon has released five studio albums, a live album and accompanying DVD, a compilation of early material and a box set. The band released its debut album Remssion in 2002. Mastodon achieved major American commercial success with its 2011 album The Hunter, which debuted at number ten on the Billboard chart. Mastodon was formed on January 13, 2000 after drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher had moved to Atlanta from Victor, New York and met bassist/singer Troy Sanders and guitarist/singer Brent Hinds at a High on Fire show. They discovered they had a mutual appreciation of sludge metal bands Melvins and Neurosis and '70s hard-rockers Thin Lizzy, and shortly thereafter formed Mastodon. In an interview in 2009, Kelliher revealed that the first time Hinds attended a practice with the band, he "showed up so wasted he couldn't play".

                                                Pretty Maids

Pretty Maids are a Danish Heavy Metal band from Horsens, Denmark. Formed in 1981 by Ronnie Atkins and Ken Hammer, their sound and music can be described as classic guitar-laden heavy rock with a strong emphasis on melodic elements like vocals and keyboards.Over the years, Pretty Maids have sold hundreds of thousands of records, but have never broken through in a major way, except in Japan during the 1990s. They have supported well known bands as Black Sabbath, Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, and Saxon and were also featured at the 1987 German version of Mosters of Rock, where Metallica headlined along with Deep Purple.Pretty Maids are currently still active, and their album, Pandemonium, was released through Frontiers Records on May 14, 2010. After a prolonged international touring hiatus before the release of the 2006 Wake Up To The Real World album, the band have every year since been touring their primary markets of Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Spain. Pretty Maids were formed in 1981 by friends Ken Hammer and Ronnie Atkins in Horsens, Denmark . They were initially a cover band first named Pretty Pretty Panick, but soon started writing their own material and a self-financed demo resulted in a deal with the English record label Bullet Records.

                                                Nazareth

Nazareth are a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975. As of 2012, the band continue to record and tour Nazareth formed in December 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland, from the remaining members of semi-professional local group The Shadettes (formed in 1961) by vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton (ex Mark V and The Red Hawks), bassist Pete Agnew, and Drummer Darrell Sweet They took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvannia, which is cited in the first line of The band's classic song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth formed in December 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland, from the remaining members of semi-professional local group The Shadettes (formed in 1961) by vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton (ex Mark V and The Red Hawks), bassiist Pete Agnew and drummer Darrel Sweet They took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvannia, which is cited in the first line of The Bands's classic SONG "The Weigh" ("I pulled into Nazareth / Was feelin' about half past dead..."). Nazareth's cover version of "Java Blues" by The Band's bassist/singer Rick Danko and Emmet Grogan is on their 1981 live album Snaz.

                                                Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash are a British Rock band which achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular records included Wishbone Ash(1970), Argus (1972), There's the Rub (1974), and New England (1976). They were one of the first bands to use twin lead guitars.Wishbone Ash are considered to be one of the major innovators of the harmony twin lead guitar format. Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted "Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989), and to appear in the "Top 20 Guitarists Of All Time" (Rolling Stone). Melody Maker (1972) described Powell and Turner as "the most interesting two guitar team since the days when Beck and Page graced The Yardbirds".Formed in Torquay, Devon, in 1969, out of the ashes of trio The Empty Vessels (originally known as The Torinoes, later briefly being renamed Tanglewood in 1969), which had been formed by Wishbone Ash's founding member Martin Turner (bass & vocals) in 1963 and complemented by Steve Upton (drums and percussion) in 1966.

                                                W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. They emerged from the same Los Angeles scene that spawned Motley Crue, Ratt, Quiet Riot and others. The band's popularity peaked in the 1980s, yet they continue to record and tour, making them one of the most enduring of the West Coast heavy metal bands. W.A.S.P. gained notoriety for their shock rock themed image, lyrics and live performances. They have sold over 12 million copies of their albums.The band was a prominent target in the mid-1980s of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) led by Tipper Core, who at the time was wife of then-Senator Al-Gore (D-TN), an organization that pushed for warning labels on recorded music. The band immortalized its fight with the PMRC on the song "Harder, Faster" from their 1987 live album, Live...In the Raw."I Wanna Be Somebody" is the most notorious single from W.A.S.P.'s debut album. and It was ranked at No. 84 in VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs of All Time.In October 2007, W.A.S.P. embarked on The Crimson Idol Tour, to celebrate that album's 15th anniversary. It is the first time that the album, often regarded to be among the band's finest work, was performed in full from start to finish. The tour kicked off in Greece, in Thessaloniki at the Principal Club Theater on October 26, 2007.