Jethro Tull - "Rock Art, Flute man"

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the lyrics, vocals and flute work of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and guitarist Martin Bare, who has been with the band since 1969.

Initially playing blues rock with an experimental flavor, they have also incorporated elements of classical music, folk music, jazz and art rock into their music.

The band have sold more than 60 million albums worldwide.

Ian Anderson's first band, started in 1962 in Blackpool, were known as The Blades. By 1964, they had developed into a seven-piece white soul band called The John Evan Band (later The John Evan Smash), named after pianist/drummer John Evan. At this point, future Jethro Tull drummer Barriemore Barlow was a member.During the early 1970s Jethro Tull went from a progressive blues band to one of the largest concert draws in the world. In concert, the band was known for theatricality and long medleys with brief instrumental interludes. While early Jethro Tull shows featured a manic Anderson with bushy hair and beard dressed in tattered overcoats and ragged clothes, as the band became bigger he moved towards varied costumes. This culminated with the War Child tour's oversized codpiece and colourful costume.

"Viktor Tsoi is alive"! "Цой Жив"!

Leningrad, USSR (1981 – 1990)

Кино́ (“Kino”, Russian for Cinema or Movie) was a Russian rock band headed by Виктор Цой (Viktor Tsoi). They were one of the most famous Russian new wave bands of the 1980s.

The band was formed by Виктор Цой, Aleksei Rybin and Oleg Valinskiy in the summer of 1981 in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia) as a punk rock band Garin i giperboloidy (after a novel by Aleksey Tolstoy, Giperboloid inzhenera Garina, published in English as Engineer Garin and His Death Ray). A year later the name of the band was changed to Кино (often written in uppercase: “КИНО”).Since rock music was considered “anti-Soviet”, Кино, like other rock bands, performed only in semi-underground clubs and at musicians’ apartments (so-called “kvartirniks”).In the summer 1982, Кино’s first album 45 (according to its length in minutes) was recorded together with the musicians of the band Аквариум. The album was slowly distributed via underground channels and gave an apparent fame to the group.

The first real hit was the album Noch (Russian for Night) released in 1986; the six songs from the album were included in the Red Wave: 4 Underground Bands from the USSR compilation disc released in the U.S. in 1986.

Due to the beginning of the Perestroyka era the band came out of the underground, and the 1988 album Gruppa krovi (Russian for Blood Type) together with the movie The Needle starring Виктор Цой brought the band to the pinnacle of populatity.

During the next two years the band released another album and did shows abroad and in the USSR, attracting enormous audiences, until August 15, 1990, when Виктор Цой died tragically in a car accident near Riga. The tape with the vocal track for the new album survived the accident. The album was completed by the rest of the band and released in 1990 without a title, though it is always cited as Chornyy albom (Russian for “Black Album”) since it had a completely black cover.

The band’s popularity in the Soviet Union was so extraordinarily high that after Tsoi’s death many fences, rocks and walls in the whole country were covered with the words “Цой жив!” (“Tsoi is alive!”) and “КИНО”. Writing these words became a kind of a memorial ritual among the fans of the band and even now new writings appear from time to time.

Most Кино’s songs were written by Tsoi and carried the ideas of freedom, as well as profound thoughts about life, death and love. The band is to Russia as Led Zeppelin is to the UK, or Jimi Hendrix is to the U.S.

José González - Swedish artist, In Our Nature

Gothenburg, Sweden (2003 – present)

José González was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1978. In 2003, he released his debut album, Veneer, in Europe. The album has since been released in the UK, on April 25, 2005, and in the United States on September 6, 2005.

The song Crosses, from Crosses EP and the later Veneer, appeared on the finale of the second season of the popular American television comedy-drama The O.C.. His cover of Heartbeats (also from Veneer) was used in a popular Sony BRAVIA TV commercial featuring coloured bouncing balls in San Francisco.

top tracks - Heartbeats
Love will tear us apart
Crosses

Bob Dylan - "All I can do is be me, whoever that is."

Duluth, Minnesota, United States (1941 – present)

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American musician, poet and artist whose position in popular culture is unique.

Although his career began in 1959, much of Dylan’s best known work is from the 1960s, when he became an informal documentarian and reluctant figurehead of American unrest. Some of his songs, such as “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements.


Bob Dylan......

"Anything I can sing, I call a song. Anything I can't sing, I call a poem."

Yippee! I'm a poet, and I know it
Hope I don't blow it

Bob Dylan is a natural mystic. I believe that much of what Bob writes comes from places inside of him he doesn't fully understand. He deals in prophecy and spiritual areas that make his music and words and the way he performs so compelling. He appeals to things common to all human beings. As his former producer Bob Johnson said: "God didn't just tap him on the shoulder--he kicked him in the ass!!"
Bob Dylan was put here on this earth at this time to head people in the direction of truth. There are many great songs and great songwriters but not many are annointed like Bob Dylan is.

Radiohead - modern alienation

Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (1986 – present)

Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The band is composed of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, beats), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboard, other instruments), Ed O’Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion).

Radiohead released their first single, “Creep,” in 1992. The song was initially unsuccessful, but it became a worldwide hit several months after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Radiohead’s popularity rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995). The band’s textured guitar parts and Yorke’s falsetto singing were warmly received by critics and fans. Radiohead’s third album, OK Computer (1997), propelled them to greater international fame. Featuring an expansive sound and themes of modern alienation, OK Computer has often been acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s.

Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) marked a change in the band’s musical style. Radiohead incorporated experimental electronic music, Krautrock, post-punk and jazz influences into their songs, dividing fans and critics, but they remained popular. Hail to the Thief (2003), a mix of guitar-driven rock, electronics and lyrics inspired by headlines, was the band’s final album for their major record label, EMI.

GY!BE - One note timeless, came out of nowhere...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (formerly punctuated Godspeed You Black Emperor! and abbreviated to GY!BE, GYBE, or just Godspeed) were a Canadian post-rock band based in Montreal, Quebec. Formed in 1994 in Montreal, Canada, the band has been highly influential within the post-rock genre. Working with orchestrated arrangements, the nine-piece group created tracks with wide dynamic ranges, a highly evocative use of instrumentation and sounds and uncompromising long form compositions. Their engrossing use of art and visuals in both album packaging and live performances creates an enigmatic aura. Godspeed You! Black Emperor took their name from a little known 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors.

They are most commonly classified as post-rock, but are just as well recognized outside any established scene and take influences from a range of styles including progressive rock, post-punk, classical music, soundtrack composition and the avant-garde. Each release usually consists of an entire piece divided into movements, mostly between 15 and 25 minutes, sometimes eponymously specified in the liner notes.

GY!BE, althought formed around 1994 with three members, had as many as fifteen members but tended to have a core group of nine. Their instrumentation varied with the lineup but the music is mostly based around electric and bass guitars, as well as a string and a percussion section.

One of the Most Influential Man in Music History

(1958 – 2009)

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, died June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California), often referred to as The King of Pop, is the biggest-selling solo artist of all time, with over 750,000,000 sales. Jackson is an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and double inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His awards include 8 Guinness World Records, 13 Grammy Awards, and 26 Billboard Awards.
An icon of showbiz, a freak that everyone loved, a king on stage where his wicked ultra ego manifestations burst artistically; augmented by some of the most original and captivating dance moves you’ll ever see.

Thanks MJ, for all the good memories.