Woodstock 50

" Space Oddity " is a song written and recorded by David Bowie. It was first released as a 7-inch single on 11 July 1969. It was also the opening track of his second studio album,  David Bowie . It became one of Bowie's signature songs and one of four of his songs to be included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick's film  2001: A Space Odyssey  (1968),the song is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut, and was released during a period of great interest in space flight. The United States' Apollo 11mission would launch five days later and would become the first manned moon landing another five days after that. The lyrics have also been seen to lampoon the British space programme, [   which was and still is an unmanned project. Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs "Ashes to Ashes", "Hallo Spaceboy" and possibly the music ...

Keith Richards has been more or less synonymous with drinking too much and general debauchery in his 50-year-plus music career as a guitarist in The Rolling Stones. But he's made a surprising move in his 74th year on this earth: He's gone sober. Well, maybe not completely, but Richards is no longer knocking back bottles of Stoli like he used to. He's seriously cut back on his drinking for "about a year now," he told Rolling Stone in a new interview ahead of the band's U.S. No Filter tour dates. "I pulled the plug on it. I got fed up with it." Fellow Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood chimed in with his support, opening up about his own substance abuse issues and turn to sobriety in 2010. Richards admits that he still has "a glass of wine occasionally, and a beer," which sounds puritanical in comparison with the Richards we've known for so long, who would somehow pull off virtuoso guitar work live while blitzed. But alcohol apparently finally ...

Road House  is a 1989 American  action film  directed by  Rowdy Herrington  and starring  Patrick Swayze  as a  bouncer  at a newly refurbished  roadside bar  who protects a small town in  Missouri  from a corrupt businessman.   Sam Elliott  co-stars as a bouncer, the mentor, friend, and  foil  of Swayze's character. The cast also includes  Kelly Lynch  as Swayze's love interest and  Ben Gazzara  as the main antagonist. The soundtrack for  Road House  featured Canadian guitarist  Jeff Healey , whose  band  was featured in the film as the house band for the Double Deuce.  Cruzados  were the band in the opening credits, contributing three songs to the film that never made the soundtrack.  Patrick Swayze  also wrote one song and sang two for the soundtrack. The  film's score  was composed by  Michael Kamen .

"Africa"  is a song recorded by the American band Toto in 1981, for their fourth studio album  Toto IV,  and released as the album's third single on September 30, 1982, through Columbia Records. The song was written by band members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, and composed by Toto. The soft rock and jazz fusion song lyrically incorporates themes of love and location, but is described by Porcaro as being about "a white boy [writing about] Africa, but since he’s never been there, he can only tell what he’s seen on TV or remembers in the past." Lyrics I hear the drums echoing tonight But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation She's coming in, 12:30 flight The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation I stopped an old man along the way Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you" It's gonna take a lot to tak...

" Tuesday's Gone " is the second track on Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album,  (Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd) . It also appears on the band's first live LP,  One More From the Road . Al Kooper adds upfront Mellotron string sounds to the chorus of the song. It's one of a few Lynyrd Skynyrd songs on which Bob Burns, one of the original founding members and drummer, did not play. Atlanta Rhythm Section's drummer Robert Nix played on the studio version. Bob Burns, however, can be heard playing on the demo version from the same session. In this song, Tuesday is the name of a girl. It's about going away and leaving her behind. There was a train track near the place where the band rehearsed. The sound of the trains inspired lead singer Ronnie Van Zant to write the first line, "Train roll on, on down the line." This was Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album. The group was discovered by Al Kooper, a producer and session musician who had prev...

Lyrics Cry baby, cry baby, cry baby, Honey, welcome back home. I know she told you, Honey I know she told you that she loved you Much more than I did, But all I know is that she left you, And you swear that you just don't know why, But you know, honey I'll always, I'll always be around if you ever want me Come on and cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby, Oh honey, welcome back home. Don't you know, honey, Ain't nobody ever gonna love you The way I try to do ? Who'll take all your pain, Honey, your heartache, too ? And if you need me, you know That I'll always be around if you ever want me Come on and cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby, Oh daddy, like you always seem to do. And when you walk around the world, babe, You said you'd try to look for the end of the road, You …

Hell Freezes Over  is the second live album by the Eagles, released in 1994. The album is the first to be released after the Eagles had reformed following a fourteen-year-long break up. The band's lineup was that of the  Long Run  era: Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit. It contains four new studio tracks and eleven tracks recorded live in April 1994 for an MTV special. Two Top 40 Mainstream singles, "Get Over It" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive", were released from the album. It also features an acoustic version of "Hotel California". The four new studio recordings are the last to feature Don Felder, who was terminated from the band in 2001. Lyrics On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night. There she stood in the doorway; I heard ...

Lyrics Some folks are born made to wave the flag Ooh, they're red, white and blue And when the band plays "Hail to the chief" Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no Some folks are born silver spoon in hand Lord, don't they help themselves, oh But when the taxman comes to the door Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no Some folks inherit star spangled eyes Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord And when you ask them, "How much should we give?" Ooh, they only answer "More! More! More!" yoh It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, one It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't ...

The Who  are headed back to North America. The iconic rockers will hit stages in the U.S. and Canada beginning on May 7 with a gig at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a Live Nation-promoted tour that will be accompanied by the duo's first new album in 13 years. Singer  Roger Daltrey  and guitarist  Pete Townshend  will be joined by guitarist/singer Simon Townshend, keyboardist Loren Gold, bassist Jon Button and drummer Zak Starkey (son of the Beatles' Ringo Starr), on the Moving On! tour, which a  statement released on Monday  (Jan. 14) noted will also feature "symphonic accompaniment" on each stop. Read More

The 20 best Led Zeppelin songs ever as voted for by Planet Rock listeners. As part of Planet Rock's ‘Zeptember’ celebrations marking Led Zeppelin’s 50th anniversary last September, we asked you to have your say and cast your vote on your favourite Led Zeppelin track from their distinguished back catalogue. Read More

When the organizers of Woodstock 1999 planned the third edition of the peace-promoting music festival, they sought to extinguish the unruly atmosphere that plagued the 1994 iteration. Five years earlier, concertgoers easily snuck in beer and other contraband items through a chain-link fence that barely separated the festival from the outside world. But those conditions which impeded police efforts to maintain order were mild compared to what would result at Woodstock ‘99. Police reported four alleged rapes, including a gang rape that occurred in the crowd during Limp Bizkit’s set. Fires erupted. Looting was rampant. When the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed the closing set, festivalgoers some of whom had obtained candles from an anti-gun group hoping to stage a peaceful vigil during “Under the Bridge” started bonfires and lit an audio tower ablaze. From July 22 to July 25, 44 arrests were made and 1,200 people were admitted to the on-site medical facilities, according to police stats re...

January 9, 2019 - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, USA Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has fallen off stage in Las Vegas after being handed a can of beer by a fan while playing a guitar solo. It is not the first time the flamboyant musician has taken a tumble: he fell and broke his leg during a gig in Gothenburg in 2015, and then  appeared to do the sam e , in the same city, earlier this year. Playing the band's first gig of 2019, Grohl strolled over to one corner of the stage, stepped down to a lower level, shook hands with a fan and accepted the beer as it was passed forward through the crowd. After placing it on a speaker, he tried to sip some of the drink from the upright can as he continued to play, knocking it over and soaking the speaker with foam. Rescuing the drink, he then took a long swig, restarted his solo and climbed back up to the main stage before falling backwards and being caught by shocked security guards.

Led Zeppelin  is the eponymous debut album by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 12 January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. The album was recorded in September and October 1968 at Olympic Studios, London, shortly after the band's formation. It contains a mix of original material worked out in the first rehearsals, and remakes and rearrangements of contemporary blues and folk songs. The sessions took place before the group had secured a recording contract and were paid for directly, and took 36 hours and less than £2,000 to complete. The album showed the group's fusion of blues and rock, and their take on the emerging hard rock sound was immediately commercially successful in both the UK and US. Although the album was not critically well-received when first released, critics have since come to view it in a more favourable light .  Led Z eppelin   was produ...

"Have You Ever Seen the Rain" is a song written by John Fogerty and released as a single in 1971 from the album Pendulum (1970) by roots rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song charted highest in Canada, reaching number one on the RPM 100 national singles chart in March 1971. In the U.S., in the same year it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (where it was listed as "Have You Ever Seen the Rain? / Hey Tonight", together with the B-side). On Cash Box pop chart, it peaked at number three. In the UK, it reached number 36. It was the group's eighth gold-selling single. Some have speculated that the song's lyrics are referencing the Vietnam War, with the "rain" being a metaphor for bombs falling from the sky. In his review of the song for Allmusic website, Mark Deming suggests that the song is about the idealism of the 1960s and about it fading in the wake of events such as the Altamont Free Concert and the Kent Stat...

Jimmy Page came up with the guitar riff for "Whole Lotta Love" in the summer of 1968, on his houseboat on the River Thames at Pangbourne, England. John Paul Jones has stated that Page's famous riff probably emerged from a stage improvisation during the band's playing of "Dazed and Confused". Page denied that the song originated onstage and that he had the riff and the rest took it from there. The song is in compound AABA form. Playing the loose blues riff for the intro, on a Sunburst 1958 Les Paul Standard guitar, which ascends into the first chorus. Then,  beginning at 1:24 (and lasting until 3:02) the song dissolves to a free jazz-like break involving a theremin solo and a drum solo and the orgasmic moans of Robert Plant. Audio engineer Eddie Kramer explained that he and Page experimented with mixing the album and left in some audio tape bleed through from an earlier vocal take. Page also employed the backwards echo production technique.

This summer Watkins Glen, New York will play host to be a three-day music festival marking 50 years since the famous 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Festival. Woodstock co-creator Michael Lang confirmed the longstanding rumors, saying that the proceedings are slated for August 16, 17 and 18. The lineup of performances is still unknown and is set to be announced closer to the February release of tickets. Read More

Strangers in the Night  (originally subtitled  A Double Live Album ) is a live album by British heavy metal rock band UFO, first released in January1979 on the Chrysalis label. The original double LP album was recorded in autumn 1978 at shows in Chicago, Illinois and Louisville, Kentucky. This was UFO's last concert recording with guitarist Michael Schenker before the band's reunion in 1993. Schenker left the band during this tour; this led to the band having to recruit former bandmate & ex-Lone Star guitarist Paul Chapman. It has been rumoured that Schenker refused to record any overdubs for the album, which would make this an accurate account of his live guitar work. When he has discussed the album, Schenker has spoken of disappointment with the chosen tracks, saying "there were better takes they could've used". [ Read More

Michael Lang, one of the producers behind the original 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Fair, has announced Woodstock 50, an official three-day 50th anniversary festival. It’ll take place in the fields surrounding the Watkins Glen International racetrack in Watkins Glen, New York, the site of the 1973 Summer Jam festival, from 8/16-18, almost exactly 50 years after the first Woodstock was held at a 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York. The New York Times  reports that Lang is still booking acts, and the official lineup won’t be announced until tickets go on sale in February. But Lang tells  Rolling Stone  that he’s already booked over 40 artists, including some big headliners. “It’ll be an eclectic bill,” he says. “It’ll be hip-hop and rock and some pop and some of the legacy bands from the original festival.” Read More

Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers(drums and percussion). The band became one of the world's best-selling music artists, with album sales of over 100 million. Their first hit single "Sultans of Swing", from their self-titled debut album released in 1978, reached the top ten in the US chart and became a top ten hit in the UK the following year. Their most commercially successful album was Brothers in Arms(1985), which has sold more than 30 million copies and was the first album to sell a million copies on the compact disc (CD) format. Lyrics These mist covered mountains Are a home now for me But my home is the lowlands And always will be Someday you'll return to Your valleys and your farms And you'll no longer burn to be Brothers in arms Through these fields of destruction Bapt...

Procol Harum are an English rock band formed in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", considered a classic in popular music and one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for their baroque and classical influence, Procol Harum's music also embraces the blues, R&B, and soul. In 2018, the band was honoured by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was inducted into the brand-new Singles category. Lyrics We skipped the light fandango Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor I was feeling kind a seasick But the crowd called out for more The room was humming harder As the ceiling flew away When we called out for another drink The waiter brought a tray And so it was that later As the miller told his tale That her face, at first just ghostly, Turned a whiter shade of pale She said, I'm home on shore leave, Though in truth we were ...

The Freddie Mercury biopic took home the trophies for best film drama and best drama actor for its star  Rami Malek , who played the late frontman. With the surviving band members in the audience, he said: "To Queen. To you, Brian May, Roger Taylor, for ensuring that authenticity and inclusivity exists in music and in all of us. "Thank you to Freddie Mercury to giving me the ride of a lifetime" "Thank you, you beautiful man. This is to you, gorgeous"

The Dark Side of the Moon  is the eighth studio album by English  rock  band  Pink Floyd , released on 1 March 1973 by  Harvest Records . It built on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, but without the extended instrumentals that characterised their earlier work. A  concept album , its themes explore conflict, greed, time, and  mental illness , the latter partly inspired by the deteriorating health of founding member  Syd Barrett , who left in 1968. Developed during live performances, Pink Floyd premiered an early version of  The Dark Side of the Moon  several months before recording began. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at  Abbey Road Studios  in London. The group used advanced recording techniques at the time, including  multitrack recording  and  tape loops ;  analogue synthesizers  are prominent, and snippets from interviews with Pink Floyd...