Born Robert Zimmerman in 1941 in Minnesota.  Quit college after his freshman year and moved to New York City in january of 1961 to perform and meet his idol,   Woody Guthrie, who was in the hospital at the time.  Discovered by John Hammond in Fall of 1961, who signed him to Colombia records.  First Album, Bob Dylan , recorded in two recording session in November 1961.  Released in March 1962, consisting of Traditional blues and gospel songs, and only two originals.  Sold about 5,000 copies.

2nd album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan , released May of 1963.  First big hit album, and contained some of Dylan’s most famous songs, including Blowin' in the Wind" "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"   and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right ".  All the songs save one were original Dylan songs.

in July of 1965, Dylan famously “Went Electric” at the Newport Folk Festival.  He only played three songs but didn’t go down well.  Some question about what the crowd was booing.  Might of been Dylan Electric, or possibly bad sound.  After three electric songs, he left stage.   He was talked into returning to the stage and played two songs by himself.  He had already put out an album, “Bringing it all back home” That had some famous songs on it, including “ Subterranean Homesick Blues"   and “ Mr. Tambourine Man”.   (Video Clip:  Disc 3, Ep. 1, Chapter 11)

His next Album, Highway 61 revisited , is considered one the best albums in rock history.  It was released in late August 1965, and is a classic.  It’s fully electric, and contains well known songs “Like a Rolling Stone ” and the title track.  The following album, Blonde on Blonde , released in May of 1966 was Dylan’s career best and one of the all time greatest albums.  It was rock’s first double album, and marked the end of Dylan’s first major period.  It was also his first album using members of what was to be The Band .  He was involved in a major motorcycle accident in July of 1966, and vanished from music for the next 18 months.  His next release was John Wesley Harding at the end of 1967.

Aerosmith

Formed in Boston, Mass in 1971.  members Steven Tyler, Joe Parry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer.

First album, Aerosmith , released in 1973.  Didn’t sell well.  Band was on Columbia records, and their album was released on the same day as Bruce Springsteen’s debut, and Columbia spent most of their promo budget on Springsteen.  Had hit song on album “ Dream on ” but wasn’t a hit until 1976.  This song was the first known “Power Ballad”.

Second Album, Get Your Wings, from 1974 did better, but still not big.  Single “ Same old Song and Dance ”.

Third album “ Toys in the Attic” was their first big album.  Hit Singles “ Sweet Emotion” and “ Walk this way”.

Fourth Album “ Rocks” was even bigger hit.  Singles “ Bank in the Saddle” and “ Last Child”.

Aerosmith started to go downhill after that album, with drug issues, although next album “ Draw the Line” was well received.

Original line-up broke up in 1979, but got back together in 1984, and Aerosmith became as big or bigger as they were before after all the members went to rehab and got sober.  Big albums 1987’s  “ Permanent Vacation ”, 1989’s “ Pump ”, and 2003’s “ Get a Grip ”, all huge hits.

Bands influenced by Aerosmith include Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Mötley Crüe The Black Crowes, Poison,  Velvet Revolver, Pearl Jam, Ratt, Van Halen, Nirvana, The Cult, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Great White, Stone Temple Pilots, Cinderella,  and Skid Row.

Queen

Formed in 1970 in London.  

Third album “ Sheer Heart Attack”   in 1974 was the big breakthrough album.  Followup album “ A night at the opera” Was even bigger, and contained the Queen masterpiece “ Bohemian Rhapsody" one of the most distinct songs of all time.

Continued to be important and have hits throughout the 70’s and 80’s until Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991.

Extremely distinctive and innovative in the studio.    Sold 300 million albums worldwide, but only 35 million in the US.  Eighteen number one albums and singles. (Video Clip: Disc 4, Ep. 2, Ch. 12)

Frank Zappa

Born in 1940.  Grew up in California.

One of the most eccentric, prolific, talented and experimental musicians ever.  Music moved between rock, jazz, classical, and electronic music.  Was extremely sarcastic, critical, humorous, and obscene.  

Put out 57 albums between 1966 and his death in 1993.

Billy Joel

Born in 1949 in New York.  Grew up in Long Island.  After several false starts, first important album was 1973’s “ piano man”.   Went gold quickly, but due to bad record contract he made only 7,000 dollars.  

Third album “ turnstiles” had some small hits and started Joel on the road to being a huge star.

His next eight albums all went to the top ten, and 4 went to no.1, until he retired from new albums in 1993.

He continues to tour, but hasn’t put out any new material other than a classical CD in 2001.  has sold over 100 million albums.

Elton John

Born in 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight.  Started playing piano at the age of 3.  Went to music school at age 11, started performing at age 15 at a pub three nights a week.

Met lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1967 and started writing together, which they still do.  Started working as a songwriters for other artists.

First album in 1969, Empty Sky, didn’t sell.  Second Album, Elton John , had his first hit with “Your Song” and went top 10.

Between 1970 and 1975, he released 9 albums, all selling between three and nine million copies.  Biggest was “ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, Selling 16 million copies and having four hit singles Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie And The Jets,"   and "Candle In The Wind"

Has released 28 albums, all of which except the first have sold over two million copies.

Did the soundtrack for the disney movie The Lion King with Lyricist Tim Rice .   This album sold over 20 million copies.

Bruce Springsteen (video Clip:  Disc 4, Ep. 2, Chapter 23,24)

Born September 23rd, 1949 in New Jersey.  Took up guitar after seeing Elvis on Ed Sullivan.  Formed the E Street band in 1972, and was discovered by John Hammond.

First Album, Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ , released in January 1973 to great reviews but mixed sales. Somewhat Folk-Rock sounding.  Second album The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle , released in September 1973.  Again, critical success but no sales.

Third album, the epic Born to Run , released in August 1975, was a last ditch effort to make him a star.  Had no hit singles, but received massive airplay on AOR stations.  Famous songs Born to Run, Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freeze-out , and Jungleland .  A legal fight with his former manager kept him out of the studio until 1978.  Next two albums did well.

Major shift in 1982 with the release of “ Nebraska ”, a solo acoustic album in the tradition of Bob Dylan.  It was a real shift in styles, but won huge critical praise.  Songs were originally recorded in Springsteen’s as demos for the next E Street Band album, but decided the songs were better as standalone songs.  Tried to record the songs in a studio, but decided the demos from the kitchen were the best versions.

Next Album, Born in the USA , sold 15 million copies, and had 7 top ten singles.  The title track was a huge hit, and while thought of as a nationalistic anthem, was actually a very bitter song about the treatment of vietnam veterans.

In addition to continuing to do rock albums, He’s done two more acoustic solo albums, 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad and 2005’s Devils and Dust, as well as a tribute album to Pete Seeger last year.  He’s also won 15 Grammies and an Oscar.  Often writes songs of american lives, sometimes optimistic, sometimes very bleak.  Sold over 100 Million albums.

Simon and Garfunkel

First got together in the mid fifties.  Performed as “Tom and Jerry” and had a hit song called “Hey Schoolgirl” when both were still in high school.  Next songs didn’t sell, so the duo broke up and went to college.  Got back together after college in the Greenwich village folk scene of the early 60’s.  First album for Colombia records, Wednesday morning 3 A.M. , flopped upon release in the fall of 1964 and the duo broke up again, and Paul Simon moved to England.  In summer 1965, the song sounds of Silence began to get radio airplay in a few cities.  The producer, without either’s knowledge, got a band to overdub Guitars, bass, and drums onto the original track, and released it.  Quickly became a No.1 hit and they got back together again.

The group did 5 albums over the next 5 years, ending with Bridge over Troubled water in 1970.  The highlight was the soundtrack for the Movie The Graduate.

Duo Broke up in 1970.  Have reunited over the years to tour, and finished one album in 1983, but the record company rejected it and Simon later took Garfunkel’s vocals off of it and finished it as a solo album.

The earliest punk was in 1969, when two albums, one by Iggy Pop and the Stooges,  and one by MC5 came out.  These were the prototypes of punk, henceforth the name Protopunk.  Both bands were out of Michigan, and were influenced by the Velvet Underground.

(video Clip: Disc 5, Ep.1 Chapter 3-5)

In New York City, the punk scene centered around the New York Dolls, who did their shows in something like Drag.  The Dolls didn’t last, and the main New York band became the Ramones, whose first single “Blitzkrieg Bop” was released in late 1975.  This is also when the first Patti Smith album was released.   (Video Clip: Disc 5, Ep.1 Chapter 7)

Punk spread to England quickly, led my Malcolm McLaren, who had seen the New York scene and quickly returned to England and managed the Sex Pistols, as well as running a clothing store that all the punk bands went to to get their clothes.  The Sex Pistols emerged quickly as the leading punk act.  Their first single was released in late 1976 with “Anarchy in the UK”.  They were signed and dropped by several different labels, until virgin records finally put out their first and only album in late 1977.  They tried to tour in 1978, but the tour was abandoned quickly, and the band fell apart.  Lead singer Johnny Rotten died of a drug overdose early in 1979. (Video Clip: Disc 5, Ep.1 Chapter 10-11)

Other big punk band, The Clash, formed in 1977.  More musical than the Sex Pistols, the Clash wrote protest songs in a similar style to the 60’s protest singers.  The Clash also were strongly influenced by Reggae Music.  Biggest album “London Calling” released in 1979.   (Video Clip: Disc 5, Ep.1, Chapter 22-25 stop at Nirvana)

The Term New Wave evolved as a way to get rid of the negative implications of “Punk”.  The “New Wave” bands were slightly mellower and had more melodic sensibilities.  Many of the bands were also showing the reggae influence as well.  New wave bands include The Police, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, and maybe U2.

The Term “Alternative” has been used for many different kinds of music, and has many other names for it.  It was originally known as College Rock and indie pop.  It started emerging in the early 1980’s with bands like R.E.M. and the Violent Femmes.  Other bands who emerged were Husker Du,The Replacements, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth  One of the most important acts emerged in 1987, the Pixies.  They were a huge influence on Nirvana, Radiohead,

MTV started an Alternative music show called 120 Minutes in 1986.  This show lasted until 2001, when it was pulled for Real World Reruns.  This show is where the “Smells like teen spirit” video was premiered.  Showed artists like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Bronski Beat, New Order, Kate Bush, The Ramones, XTC, Morrissey, Kitchens of Distinction, Siouxie and the Banshees and Hüsker Dü.

Jane’s Addiction was one of the short lived yet very important Alternative bands.  They only did three albums, 1988’s Nothing’s Shocking, 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual and 2003’s Strays .  Singer Perry Farrell organized the Lollapalooza festival in 1991, which was also the Jane’s Addiction Farewell tour.  The lineup for the first Lollapalooza was Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, and Rage Against the Machine.

Alternative breaks big in 1991 w ith Nirvana’s Famous album Nevermind .  Released on September 24, 1991 it was actually Nirvana’s 2nd album, but first with Drummer Dave Grohl.  “ Smells like teen Spirit ” quickly became a runaway hit on MTV and radio, and the album sold 10 million copies in the US, and 25 million worldwide.  The follow-up, and last Nirvana album, In Utero , was also a big hit.  The seattle sound is termed “Grunge”.

Alternative took hold with several other bands hitting it big.  Pearl Jam released Ten in August 1991, but didn’t hit it big until the following summer.  They remain a very important act who shunned music videos and fought Ticketmaster on ticket prices.  Ticketmaster often added 30-40 percent to the price of each ticket, and Pearl Jam wanted ticket prices under 20 dollars.  This fight and the refusal to play any ticketmaster venues kept them from playing shows in the US for almost three years.  No other bands decided to join their boycott, and they eventually lost.

Soundgarden h ad two huge albums as well, 1991’s Badmotofinger and 1994’s Superunknown .

T he term alternative has become somewhat meaningless in the last years, due to labelling pretty much every rock band as Alternative.

Rapping in hip hop music can be traced back in many ways to its African roots.  the griots (folk poets) of West Africa were rhythmically delivering stories over drums and sparse instrumentation. Because of the time that has passed since the griots of old, the connections between rap and the African griots are widely established, but not clear–cut.   Some early sources of hip hop:  Louis Jordan, “Look around”, Aerosmith “Sweet Emotion”.

The early black hip hop had it’s roots in Jamacian music, and developed on the streets of New York city.  Dj’s at parties would start using small sections of songs (often James Brown) and improvise over the beat.  A DJ named Grandwizard Theodore invented record scratching.  Early artists included Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, and Melle Mel.  

First commerical rap song “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979.  A few white acts crossed over with rap influenced songs, including Blondie’s “Rapture” and Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”.

Video Clip: Disc 5, Ep. 2, Chapter 5-8)

Rap crosses over in 1986 (video Clip: Disc 5, Ep. 2, Chapter 9-11) with Run-DMC doing Aerosmith’s “Walk this Way”.   They had been using the beat for years, but didn’t know Aerosmith was the group.  They thought the band was called “Walk this Way”.  Some of Run-DMC’s success is due to crossing over to a rock sound.

First popular White act to hit hip hop was the Beastie Boys.  Originally a punk act from 1979-1983, they converted to Hip-Hop with help from Producer Rick Rubin.  Released Licensed to Ill in 1986, became the biggest selling hip hop album of the 80’s.   Later albums the Beasties went back to playing their own instruments, and are still relevant.   (Video Clip: Disc 5, Ep. 2, Chapter 12)

Public Enemy was one of the more political rap groups, and started rap in a harder direction.

Hip Hop was created on Sampling other songs.  In the Early days, this was often in collage form.  See “ Straight outta compton ” For an example.  Now, it’s just as frequent to simply rewrite an old song.  For example, see everything by Puff Daddy.  One James Brown beat (The Funky Drummer) has been sampled over 200 times.

 “(current hip-hop) doesn’t say anything. People rap about the wheels of their cars, and things like that. I’m not interested in that kind of stuff.” Ishmael Beah said this on Fresh Air, the great NPR show.

MTV

The Internet/iPod

The biggest innovation in music of the last 20 years. Along with MTV,  Is bringing music completely back to a singles format.

Product vs. Art