The Beach Boys

When I was in eighth grade, the local AM station began playing songs from this new surfer band in the way the stations did back then. Over and over again, never letting the song end before injecting the next commercial over it. While I liked it a t first, I soon tired of Surfin and would change the channel when it came on. Then my friend bought the album Surfin Safari and I instantly fell in love with the song Summertime Blues, an Eddie Cochran piece.

It kind of went that way over the years that followed, I would like one or two pieces on each album but would be mildly irritated by other songs. Then in 1966, first with the issuing of Sloop John B and the subsequent release of Brian Wilson's masterpiece Pet Sounds, I finally found them frequently on my turntable.

After that I was off to college and my musical tastes took a huge turn with the likes of Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendix, Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead. Needless to say, the Beach Boys became relegated to the back of the stack.

So tonight I revive those olden days of high school dances and AM radio stations and bring you The Beach Boys.



Website of current band
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History

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Don Kirshner - Thanks for all you've done

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Well this totally sucks folks! YouTube has taken down all of the Don Kirshner Rock Concert videos rendering this show useless. Sorry about that! I hope you caught it before it went down.

Update 2/9/11 - Some of the videos have now been magically restored - I'll be looking for new links to fill in the blanks.

During the '70s hardly a week went by that my friends and I sat down to watch Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. The show featured live performances of all the greatest bands of the day.

In his early years Don started off writing songs for Bobby Darin, although none became hits. During that time he also met Connie Francis while doing TV commercials with Darin.

In 1958, at age 21, he teamed up with Al Nevins to form Aldon Music. Soon afterwards they were producing songs for Neil Sedaka and Connie Francis. Eventually they formed their own independent recording company producing teen hits. He also hired such greats as Carol King and Barry Mann as song writers and produced the hits of Carol King, Neil Diamond and Bobby Darin among others and discovered the rock band Kansas.

Eventually he was asked to produce music for the TV show The Monkees and after that the animated show The Archies.

Don is perhaps best know for his ground breaking TV show In Concert With Don Kirshner which with its long format live performances was a refreshing break from the over-practiced, lip-synced music shows of the time.

Don passed away earlier this week. In memory tonight I bring you a selection of performances from Don's show running the gamut from ABBA to The Ramones, from Return to Forever to Johnny Winter and everyone in between, finishing with none other than The Monkees and a surprise ending.



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Genesis

After work, second shift, at the Kohler Company I would return home to my house in Sheboygan and go upstairs to party with my roommate Gregg and some friends, all of whom worked second shift at various locations. On the turntable the usual finds were Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes and tonight's feature, Genesis.

This was in the early 70's while Peter Gabriel was still with the band. In keeping with my trend to lose interest as bands began to acquire pop status, so too I lost interest in them when Peter left. Not that they didn't create some good music with Phil Collins in the lead singer position, but I still feel they were most creative with Peter at the helm. My interest instead followed Peter in his early solo career, waning as he also became popular.

Therefore the videos I have selected for this evening feature those from Peter Gabriel's tenure.

Website - Primarily links to the sites of individual band members.
Bio
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Led Zeppelin

So, I've finally gotten around to this band. I don't know why it took me so long to get to them. I was blown away the first time I heard them and have been a fan ever since. I did lose some interest in their later works, preferring their early blues/rock fusion sound, but still found nuggets in their later works.
Perhaps the following can explain them better than I can:

After the [Yardbirds] break-up, Jimmy Page was left with little more than a series of concert obligations. He started jamming with John Paul Jones, a session player, who had collaborated with likes of the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits and Dusty Springfield. The duo discussed forming a new group, but ended up delaying their plans to back Donovan on his Hurdy Gurdy LP.

After hearing of Pages' intention of starting a new band, vocalist Terry Reid suggested he hear Robert Plant. When Page got a chance to check Plant out, Jimmy not only ended up liking his voice, but also his stage presence. Plant, in turn, suggested they recruit John Bonham, the drummer of his old Birmingham group, Band of Joy. The foursome clicked so nicely that they toured Scandinavia during October 1968 under the name the New Yardbirds.

By 1969 the group changed their name to Led Zeppelin, recorded, and released their first self-titled album. Within two months the album reached Billboard's Top Ten.

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The group broke up after the tragic death of drummer John Bonham. He died from what is medically termed as asphyxiation: inhaling his own vomit during sleep after a drinking binge. His hard-hitting style has so integral to the bands sound that the remaining members decided to call it quits. Without Bonham there could be no Led Zeppelin.

The mighty Zeppelin has experimented with several musical styles over the bands reign. Their sound began with Blues and thunderous Heavy Metal, softened to mystical Folk and tumbled into the realm of Funk, Psychedelic Rock, and the fusion and integration of all these styles.
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