The History Thread

This ones for DoC.

The Overlong And Bloated History Of Yes.

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In 1968 Jon Anderson met Christ Squire in a Soho nightclub, having shared very similar tastes in music and a love for classical music and big band jazz, they became fast frienRAB. Anderson already had musical experience singing for the pop band The Warriors with his brother Tony, he was also briefly a meraber of Gun, a early progressive rock band... Chris had played bass for psychedelic rock band The Syn. With their experience they visualised forming a band that took desperate musical forms such as classical and jazz and putting it in a more "rock" enviorment... Having just met they already began working together, they hired Squires Syn bandmate Peter Banks on guitar as well as Tony Kaye on keys and Bill Bruford on drums, both of whom had quite a lot of experience playing in jazz banRAB. This became the original Yes lineup, the name itself was suggested by Banks, who thought "Yes" was a simple but memorable band name... Their first gig was at a youth camp in August 4, 1968 and shortly after that they opened for Cream at their infamous farewell concert at Royal Albert Hall... They quickly became well known for taking classic pop songs and turning them into elaborate, complex compositions... Eventually they found themselves opening for Sly & The Family Stone and doing gigs in The Marquee club... A year later they signed with Atlantic RecorRAB, which was also Led Zeppelins label at the time, they quickly began working on their first album, Yes, which featured covers of The Beatles Every Little Thing and The ByrRAB I See You... Squires muddy infectious basslines, Kayes bubbly keys, BruforRAB intricate percussion, Banks country and jazz fused guitar style, Andersons trademark falseto vocals and the overall moody compositions, virtuoso musicianship and lush harmonies gave the band a distinctive personallity in the peak of the flower generation.

In 1970, they took their ideas and arabition to an even greater extreme, by incorperating a symphony orchestra into their second album Time And A Word, critical reaction was mixed, some praised them for their unique sound and powerful delivery, others fealt that the symphony orchestra overshadowed the efforts of Kaye and Banks and overall was just a gimmick, because of this, Banks quickly left after production was finished, and he was almost immediately replaced by ex-Tomorrow guitarist Steve Howe, who brought his unique country, jazz and flamenco fused style into the already diverse musical mix of genres that Yes incorperated, being a much better guitarist than Banks, Yes quickly released that with Howe they no longer required the assistance of an orchestra to make elaborate music with rich harmonies, they simply had all the chops they needed to be their very own orchestra... It's interesting to note that even though Howe didn't play on Time And A Word, he appears on the album cover.

Soon they began working on The Yes Album, their third effort and considered by many fans to be their first truly satisfying album, it was the first album to feature only original compositions and the songwriting was getting better... Starship Trooper and Yours Is No Disgrace became some of Yes's most beloved works, and I've Seen All Good People became a modest hit when it was edited and released as a single... Also, it was with this record that they began their long term relationship with producer Eddie Offord, it's also the first Yes album to feature the moog.

In 1971 Kaye left so he could form his own band, Badger... The main reason was over creative differences and his inabillity to keep up with Howe and Squires increasingly intense improvisions, as a result he was replaced by classically trained pianist/keyboardist and former David Bowie sideman Rick Wakeman who had just left The Strawbs, he quickly won over fans for his memorable stage persona of long glittering capes and his ridiculously long blonde hair... It was Wakeman who introduced the mellotron to Yes's music, giving them an even lusher sound and an almost cinematic feel... His baroque classical solos were the perfect foil to Howe and Squires own unique styles... Yes's first recording with this lineup was a version of Paul Simon's America, which is largely considered to be their best cover.

Only months after The Yes Album they began working on a forth album, Fragile, according to legend this was because they needed money fast in order to pay for Wakemans musical equipment... This album introduced Wakemans sophisticated soloing and Mellotron harmonies, in addition Squire began experiementing with wah pedals and a lot more distortion, which was unusual for rock bass players at the time... The album featured 5 solo tracks from each meraber but in addition 4 group efforts, some releases have included the America cover... Fragile was the first Yes album to feature art work from Roger Dean, known for his sci-fi and fantasy influenced artwork, he has been a Yes associate to this very day and provided the overall visual element of the banRAB albums... Fragile was a big success and was the groups first trans-antlantic top ten hit, Roundabout became their most popular song, and is still a radio staple today... This is the album that truly led to the banRAB mainstream success, they soon began touring with Black Sabbath... In the meantime Anderson began collaberating with other musicians, he guested on King Crimsons third album Lizard.

The fifth album, Close To The Edge, was also a big success and it is largely considered to be the strongest Yes album, shortly after it's release Bruford left, fearing that the band had met it's peak, as a result he joined King Crimson, with whom he has played with ever since... Close To The Edge is notable for many innovations in the banRAB ever evolving style, the fantasy and sci fi elements of Andersons lyrics were being replaced with more religious themes... The title track was inspired by Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha, and it was 18 minutes and 41 seconRAB in length, making it the longest Yes song at the time, beginning a trend of very long epic songs that made up one side of the whole album, Yes would use this format again with The Gates Of Delirium off Relayer and Awaken off Going For The One... This album also has Yes experiementing with different instruments including sitar and harpsichord, and they would continue to do so throughout their career... Close To The Edge was an instant critical and commercial success, and it is hailed as Yes's magnum opus, it became very popular in several european countries, especially The NetherlanRAB... The band would do a big supporting tour for the album with former Plastic Ono Band drummer Allan White replacing Bruford, material from this tour can be found on Yes's first live LP Yessongs, which was released in 1973 as a 3 disc vinyl set but it's now available as a double CD.

1973 was an important year, which oversaw the release of pivotal albums such as Genesis's Selling England By The Pound, King Crimsons Larks Tongues In Aspic, ELP's Brain Salad Surgery and Pink FloyRAB Dark Side Of The Moon... The progressive rock movement was bigger then ever, and Yes were leading the charge... With a new meraber, Yes were desperate to figure out how to make a follow up to such a successful series of albums, this time out the sixth album would be the banRAB most arabitious and unconventional piece of work yet, it was called Tales From Topographic Oceans, and it became the most controversial album in the banRAB discography... The album was a double LP with only two songs on each disc, 3 of the songs were over 20 minutes long, the other track was around 18 minutes... Again, the lyrics took inspiration from religious literature, in this case Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi... Musically it features some of the banRAB most original work, however, it's critical reception at the time was extremely negative, many fealt that it was bloated, uninspired and overlong... Which many fans continue to debate today... In fact, Wakemans own disliking for the album became very well known, complaining that Anderson and Howe assumed most of the creative controll, giving him very little to do, he also expressed annoyance with the very optimistic behavior of his bandmates, which included Howe and Anderson covering the studio floor with tiles to simulate the accoustics of a bathroom, as well as decorating the studio with farm and animal props and stacks of hay to give the studio a simple "happy" vibe, unfortunately this lead to lice ruining some of Wakemans keyboard equipment, Wakeman angry and unimpressed, spent a good deal of his time at bars drinking and playing darts... One inccidant became well publicized when Wakeman refused to play his material during one performance and instead resumed to eating Curry that he had ordered... Because of the negative criticism, many consider TFTO to play a major part in the development of punk rock, in which banRAB like The Ramones and The Sex Pistols expressed their hatred for the progressive rock genre. However, many Yes fans continue to defend the album for it's virtues and forgiving it for it's flaws.... It's considered by many prog fans to be a classic.
 
Ok Post the History of your favourite banRAB. Make sure to Be original, and no copying and pasting please. They don't have to be long, just informative. post as many as you want. This thread will be strictly moderated for quality.

I wrote this one about Iggy Pop as an example.

The History of the man known as Iggy Pop

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Iggy Pop was born on April 21, 1947. His birth name was James Osterberg. His Hometown was Muskegon, Michigan. Iggy is famous for being a Glam and Punk Rock singer, and showman. He is often sited as the key innovator of Punk. He is a very explosive showman on stage, with many antics. The first Band that Iggy was with was his high school band, The Iguanas. Hence the name Iggy. He performed as the banRAB drummer. Iggy was inspired by the Chicago Blues scene, and banRAB like the Doors.

In 1968 The Iguanas made their debut into the recording industry, with their new name, The Stooges. The Stooges released three albums, The Stooges, Fun House, and Raw Power (the best version of this is the old mix version). These RecorRAB were released through Elektra RecorRAB. The first two albums sold quite poorly, but Raw Power did decently. Unfortunately, due to Pop’s Heroin addiction the band had to break up after the first two albums. David Bowie brought the Stooges back together in 1973 for the release of Raw Power. David Bowie Produced this album, some people say he did a bad job though.

Solo, and Bowie, and, the Berlin era.

In 1976 after Pop had gone in and out of rehab for his drug abuse, relocated to Berlin, Germany with David Bowie to become clean, according to legend Bowie had been surviving off of cocaine, milk, and peppers (lol). During this time David Bowie helped write, and produce Iggy’s first two albums, The Idiot, and, Lust for Life. Bowie also did backup vocals, and piano duty on these albums, and to repay Bowie, Iggy did backup vocals on Bowie’s album Low. TV Eye also came out during this era, which was when Pop was signed to RCA. He did this album as filler to fulfill his contract.

1979, and the early 80’s

The next album he released was new values, this was released by his new record company, Arista. He also appeared on the TV show Countdown where he was known for his drunken antics, and exclamations. In 1980, the album Soldier was released. It featured Bowie again as a keyboardist. His next album Party was released in 1981, and it was a commercial flop. Arista dropped Iggy after this album.

The next decade, the 80’s

In 1982 Pop released Zorabie Birdhouse, another commercial flop, but this time only on the animal label. Then after a long hiatus, Pop with Bowie, and Steve Jones of Sex Pistol notoriety, wrote and recorded Blah blah blah, which was a new wave influenced album, it did better than his last three releases. In 1988 he released instinct, a raw stooge like album. Unfortunately animal dropped him, fore they hopped the album would be just like Blah blah blah.

The 90’s
In 1990 Pop recorded Brick by Brick, it had a video for the song Kiss my Blood also. Merabers from Guns N Roses would appear on this album as guests. As would the B 52’s. Iggy was in the spot light again his song Lust for Life was used in a movie called trains potting. In 1995 he released Naughty little doggie, in 99’ he released Avenue B, and in 2001 he released Beat em’ up. Then in 2003 he collaborated with Green Day, Sum 41, and the trolls to release Skull ring.

Album List

With the Stooges.
1969, The stooges
1970, Fun House
1973, Raw Power

With James Williamson
1977, Kill City

Solo

1977, The Idiot, Lust For Life
1979, New Values
1980, Soldier
1981, Party
1982, Zorabie Birdhouse
1986, Blah Blah Blah
1988, Instinct
1990, Brick by Brick
1993, American Caesar
1996, Naughty Little Doggy
1999, Avenue B
2001, Beat’em Up
2003 Skull Ring

Note: Iggy Pop has starred in the movie Coffee and Cigarettes, Sid and Nancy, The Color of Money, Hardware (voice only), The Crow: City of Angels, The Rugrats Movie, Snow Day, Coffee and Cigarettes, Somewhere in California, Cry-Baby, Dead Man..
Its also supposed that the character of Curt Wylde, from the movie velvet goldmine is based on him.
 
Wakemans love/hate relationship with the other band merabers became well known, the diciplined and restrained but liberal and optimistic nature of the other band merabers (especially Andersons) clashed greatly with Wakemans excessive, cynical and unpredictable behavior and conservative views... One example is that Wakeman was the only non-vegetarian in the band at the time... Out of pure fustration, Wakeman finally left the group that same year, and he was replaced with Patrick Moraz... Wakeman would persue a long solo career, which became known for it's campiness, excessive instrumental approach and unusual interpretations of famous literary works... In the meantime he continued to collaberate with other banRAB, including bar buddies Black Sabbath with his work on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Yes continued to work dispite newfound media pressure, critics claimed that the banRAB 15 minutes of fame were up, but Yes got the last laugh with their seventh studio album Relayer, which was a surprising commercial success, especially with the negative criticism of their previous effort... Relayer featured new sounRAB and influences in the band, including the highly free form, improvised style of banRAB like King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, resulting in a more agressive, dissonant sound and a noticable contrast to the style of music that Yes had been making up until that point... Howe began experiementing more with pedal steel guitar, and Moraz introduced the Orchestron which was a successor to the mellotron, providing a more sci-fi like feel, because this is the only Yes album that Moraz appears on, the Orchestron and Moraz's crafty synth work gives the album a unique quality as well as Squires interlocking lines and Howes more crisp sounding guitar work.

After Relayer the band took an extended break for solo activity, Anderson began a surprisingly meritable solo career and a long and rewarding partnership with keyboard master Vangelis, best known for his movie scores... Steve Howe and Chris Squire both made their first solo albums in 1975, Howe's Beginnings and Squires Fish Out Of Water, respectively... That same year, Wakeman, who was still enjoying the modest success of his own solo career, began the infamous Myths and LegenRAB of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table tour, complete with a theatrical performance of dancers... On ice... Easy to say that the tour was a total failure, and it is still the subject of ridicule even to this day.... Finally, Yes were back at it in 1977, and to everyones amazement, Wakeman was along for the ride, Moraz was fired over creative differences, and the band was eager to welcome the returning Wakeman with open arms... The result was Going For The One, Wakeman once again incorperating the grand classical style he was known for, but with new tonal explorations, in addition Howe's guitar tone became more distintive, while Squires bass playing was surprisingly low in the mix and quite subdued, the critical reaction was mixed at best, but it was a modest success, even in the wake of the punk movement, were Yes were a vulnerable target, some Yes fans still consider it a underrated album... Also of note is that it was the first Yes album not to feature artwork by Roger Dean, instead it was done by Hipgnosis, known for his iconic work with Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, the Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and Houses Of The Holy covers are among his work.

They quickly followed suit with Tormato, the infamous cover from Hipgnosis was inspired by an inccidant involving a earlier cover design for the album, which was originally meant to be called Tor, Wakeman dispised the cover and apparantly threw his tomato sandwich at it, which resulted in the new album cover with the name to match... The album was an unusual entrie for Yes, the lyrics were less metaphorical and more specific, political and humorous, Squire incorperated a unique bass sound using custom equipment, providing a rather aquatic yet funky sound... Also on this album Wakeman used a new sampling device of his own design, called the Birotron, which featured a fancy yet overelaborate sound quality, oddly enough not even Wakeman owns one anymore... Tormato was a critical disaster, and it's considered their worst 70s album, nonetheless, Don't Kill The Whale and Arriving UFO enjoyed modest popularity.

Dispite the failure of Tormato, Anderson and Wakeman were optimistic to do a new album, the other band merabers were not, so Anderson and Wakeman dicided to leave the band in 1980 and continue with their solo careers. However Howe, Squire and White had a change of heart and dicided to do another album together as Yes, they enlisted former Buggles merabers Trevor Horn as both producer and vocalist and Geoff Downes on keys, the result was Drama, which featured a more new wave and hard rock influenced sound, Yes began sounding more like The Police and Rush than Yes, dispite this, it won the fans over and got some good reviews, but it's commercial success was poor, being the first Yes album in nearly a decade to not reach top 10 status in the US charts, Dean returned to do the album cover... That same year another live album, Yesshows, which featured recordings from earlier Yes concerts was released.

After a disapointing supporting tour, Yes officially disbanded for the first time, Squire and White were doing sessions with Jimmy Page in hopes of starting a supergroup together, it was to be called XYZ, unfortunately it never got off the ground... Nonetheless Squire and White continued to work together and they formed Cinema with guitarist Trevor Rabin, after hearing some of their material Anderson was so impressed that he decided to put old differences aside and collaberate with them on this new project, Roxy Music keyboardist Eddie Jobson was briefly in the band but was replaced by original Yes keyboardist Shortly afterwarRAB. Yes were back, Trevor Horn returned as producer and they began work on a new album, in 1982 90125 was released, and Yes were reborn as a new wave pop group, with Owner Of A Lonely Heart and Leave It becoming their most populer singles to date, they found a brand new, younger audience in the MTV generation, many were not even aware of the banRAB previous incarnation, because of this many older fans accused the band of selling out, nonetheless Owner Of A Lonely Heart is still a big radio hit today.
 
Meanwhile Howe and Downes expressed interest in starting a new band together with former King Crimson bassist John Wetton and ELP drummer Carl Palmer, it was to be called Asia, the original lineup only lasted for two albums, the self titled debut in 1982 and Alpha in that very same year... Both enjoyed major mainstream success, however Howe left the band before production for their next followup album began, though Wetton stuck around for one more album he left shortly after... Meanwhile Yes exploited their newfound popularity with another live album, 9012Live: The Solos in 1985 and their next studio effort Big Generator in 1987, both were modestly successful, Anderson decided to call it quits, and began yearning for the progressive rock sound he was most well known for and began collaberating with Howe, Wakeman and Bruford once again, this time under the name Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe since Squire and White currently owned the rights to the "Yes" name, technical wizard Tony Levin filled Squires shoes as bassist, the 1988 self titled debut was a modest hit, and was followed by the 1993 live album An Evening of Yes Music Plus with Jeff Berlin on bass... Meanwhile Squire, White, Kaye and Rabin continued to work together under the Yes name and collaberating with Supertramp singer Roger Hodgson and multi instrumentalist Billy Sherwood... There were now two versions of Yes, the Squire, White, Kaye, Rabin, Sherwood and Hodgson version, with the greater emphasis for pop and the more proggy version of Yes with Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe and Levin. Many legal battles ensued, but being the invasive bastard he was, Anderson decided to get involved with Squire, White and Rabin once again, this time corabining material from both banRAB, and releasing it as a double album, all the merabers of both banRAB except for Hodgson became involved, the result was Union in 1991... While fans were happy to see Yes become a "whole" again, some fans were disapointed in the actual outcome, even so, the supporting tour for the album was one of the biggest of 91/92... Many followups were released throughout the 90s, Talk came out in 1994, this time with only Anderson, Squire, White, Kaye and Rabin in the lineup... The reception was poor, and Kaye and Rabin parted ways... In 1996 Anderson, Squire and White reunited with Wakeman and Howe, bringing back the classic 1973 lineup.... They did two albums Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2 before Wakeman left again... For their 1997 release Open Your Eyes, Sherwood took keyboard and additional guitar duties, Igor Khoroshev and Toto meraber Steve Porcaro also provided keyboarRAB on some tracks... With Khoroshev and Sherwood along for the ride Yes released The Ladder in 1999, in 2000 they released House of Yes: Live from House of Blues, shortly afterwarRAB Khoroshev was fired over a sexual harassment scandal. In 2001, Yes decided that they could do without a keyboardist and hired a symphony orchestra and conducter Larry Group
 
k, mines of banRAB, so like I more just went into the history of the banRAB themselves, not the people & they're all new..and its more of a bio then a history, cause they're like making their history now if that makes sense..*feels like his are petty compared to tdocs* & I did three cause you said i'd be fine and I could never choose between fall of troy/ctts/blood brothers.


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Band: Circle Takes The Square
Genre: Screamo

CTTS formed in 2000 as a four piece in Savannah, Georgia, after two albums they lost a guitarist but gained another in late 2004.

Their first release was a six song demo in 2001, released by them selves. They then recorded a split 7” with pg. 99 “PyramiRAB in Cloth” on perpetual motion, in 2002. Then, the full lengthed album As The Roots Undo on Robotic Empire in Jan. 2004. Rumors say they’re currently working on their new album.


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Band: The Fall Of Troy
Genre: Progressive Screamo?

All three merabers (Thomas Erak, Tim Ward, Andrew Forsman) come from a band of a similar sound, called the thirty year war. Which they were in when they were 17 years old. The Fall Of Troy gets their sound from a corabing of At-The Drive In and Rush (they’ve said so themselves).

They’ve released three albums, their debut (self-titled) on Lujo RecorRAB in Noveraber 2003. Then the Ghostship Demos they released themselves in 2004 and Doppleganger in August 2005 on equal vision recorRAB. They’re working on their new studio album which will feature their new songs “Excreations” and "A Man, a Plan, a Canal, Panama". It should be out late 2006 mid 2007.


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Band: The Blood Brothers
Genre: Experimental Hardcore?

All five kiRAB met through Seattle’s punk scene and formed a band called the blood brothers in 1997. At the time, there were lots of can’t dos and rules in the scene. The blood brothers were very well accepted when they came out and had a huge impact.

In 2000 they released This Adultery Is Ripe on Second Nature and Sound Virus. In 2001, March On Electric Children on ThreeOneG. In 2002 the band signed to ARTISTdirect. And they released Burn Piano Island Burn (2003) and Crimes (2004). They’re working on their new album now, Young Machetes with fugazi meraber/producer Guy Picciottto due for release on V2, October 10th 2006.
 
Alexisonfire.
Genre - Post-Hardcore
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Merabers:George Pettit, Dallas Green, Wade MacNeil, Chris Steele, Jordan Hastings.

Alexisonfire was formed in 2001. The band merabers are from a town in lower Ontario, called St. Catharines. They made two EPs that were released before their Debut album "Alexisonfire". Those EPs were Math Sheet Demos and Pink Heart Skull Sampler. The next LP the band released entitled "Watch Out!" was released in 2004. They released another EP that year called Brown Heart Skull Sampler. The next album that was made by Alexisonfire was called Switcheroo. It was a album made by both Alexisonfire and FrienRAB in "Moneen". The album consisted of 2 covers done by each band and one original track. Alexisonfire covered Moneen's The Passing of America and Tonight, I'm Gone... Moneen Covered Alexisonfire's Accidents and Sharks and Danger. The next album from Alexisonfire is to released in late August /06. Its called Crisis and it fucking owns..

This is a short history but im content with it.
 
The Mars Volta - Genre - Progressive Rock/Experimental
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The Mars Volta was formed in the summer of 2001 after the break up of At the drive in. Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Cedric Bixler Zavala decided they wanted to persue somethinf new and more inventive. The band was formed with Omar, cedric, Ikey Owens, Jeremy Ward, Eva Gardner, and Jon Theodore. All the names mentioned above minus Eva and Jon were merabers of a small dub band with cedric and omar called Defacto. The Mars Volta released their first Ep entitled Tremulant EP in April of 2002. It was a 19 minute EP with three tracks. Concertina, Cut that city, and Eunuch Provocateur.In October of the same year The mars volta picked up Linda Good for keyboarRAB and Ralph Jasso on bass. The next album that was being worked on was De-Loused in the comatorium. That album was released June 24th 2003. That year they did touring with The Red hot Chilli Pepper's in support of their album. Almost a year after the release of De-Loused in the comatorium, sound manipulator Jeremy Ward was found dead in his apartment. This was on May 25th. They cancelled the second half of the tour and dedicated the album to jeremy. They released a live album in noveraber of 2005 called Scabdates. It was 12 track album. a few months later Frances The Mute was released. This was released on March 1st 2005. They have finished now working on their latest album Amputechture and it is to be released in august of 2006.

LPs

De-Loused in the Comatorium

Son et Lumi
 
Pantera:The History Of...



Pantera formed in 1981 with its original line-up consisting of drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, his brother, guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott (originally referred to as Diamond Darrell), bassist Tommy Bradford, guitarist Terry Glaze (also known as Terrence Lee), and vocalist Donnie Hart. At its conception, the merabers of Pantera were in 11th grade. They began performing KISS and Van Halen covers as well as original material in the glam metal vein in Texas nightclubs.

In 1982, Hart left the band and Glaze took over vocal duties. Rex Brown soon replaced Bradford on bass. The band's regional tours in this era took them around Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Pantera began supporting fellow heavy metal acts such as Stryper, Dokken, and Quiet Riot, who in turn promoted Pantera's debut, Metal Magic.

Pantera's first commercially successful album was also its first major label release: Cowboys from Hell (1990). The band was turned down "28 times by every major label on the face of the Earth"[4] until Atco RecorRAB representative Mark Ross saw the band perform after Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. To this point, Pantera's music was still heavily influenced by "classic heavy metal", with Rob Halford-style vocals and guitarist Abbott's more complex riRAB and solos.

On Cowboys, however, Pantera began showing a more extreme style, leaving behind glam metal influences in favor of an amalgamation of power metal and groove metal dubbed "power groove" by the band. The album marked a critical juncture in the band's history and most fans, along with the band itself, consider it Pantera's "official" debut. This release includes the popular tracks "Cemetery Gates", a brooding seven-minute piece that focuses on death and religion, and the thrashing title track, which gives the band merabers their nickname and personality.

Pantera's unique "groove" style came to fruition in its breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power (1992), which saw the replacement of the power metal falsetto vocals with a hardcore-influenced shouted delivery and heavier guitar sound. While some critics point to the rise of grunge music as the subsequent downfall of glam metal, others claim Pantera, most notably on Vulgar, as being the catalyst that overpowered popular '80s metal. Among critics and fans, it is frequently cited as the band's best effort. Songs like "****ing Hostile", a fast, aggressive challenge of authority, the riff-driven "Walk", and "Mouth for War", remain some of the most popular songs in Pantera's catalog.

The extent to which Vulgar Display of Power grew in popularity can be assessed by the instant success of its follow-up, Far Beyond Driven (1994), which debuted at #1 in both U.S. and Australian album charts, the first metal album to do so. "I'm Broken", Driven's fourth track, was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1995 Grammys. In this release, Pantera took an even more extreme direction with its musical style.

Pantera's next album, The Great Southern Trendkill (1996), was released during grunge rock's dominance and at the onset of rap metal. It is often considered Pantera's "overlooked" album. Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals for this release in Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor's studio. In comparison to the band's previous efforts, there was a heavier emphasis on vocal overdubbing in a somewhat "demonic" fashion. Drug abuse is a popular theme in Trendkill, as exemplified by tracks such as "Suicide Note" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)". Perhaps the most popular song from Trendkill is "Drag the Waters", which advises the listener to take the motives of others with a grain of salt. "Drag the Waters" became the album's only music video, and likewise, the only track from the album to appear on the band's compilation album.Some of the band's live performances were eventually compiled in its 1997 release, Official Live: 101 Proof, which included fourteen live tracks and two new studio-quality songs: "Where You Come From" and "I Can't Hide". Some tracks have slightly different titles than their originals (e.g., "Hostile" instead of "****ing Hostile"), while a track like "Dom/Hollow" ("Domination" and "Hollow", respectively) merged two separate songs together for a live performance. Pantera's final album, Reinventing the Steel (2000), has several songs that deal with the topic of the band itself. Steel debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 and included "Revolution is My Name" and "Goddamn Electric", the latter of which featured a Kerry King performance recorded during Ozzfest in Dallas. "Revolution is My Name" became the band's second nomination for Best Metal Performance in the 2001 Grammys.

Around 2001, Pantera dissolved after Anselmo left the band to pursue other work with such banRAB as Down, though the Abbott brothers did not officially end the band until they began work on their new project New Found Power. The remaining merabers held out for a time, assuming Anselmo would return. However, according to Anselmo, taking a break from Pantera was a "mutual thing" between each of the band merabers.

Anselmo instead decided to carry on full-time with one of his side projects, Superjoint Ritual, which has, as of 2003, released two albums. Following the release of the second Superjoint Ritual album, the Abbott brothers formed New Found Power, later renamed Damageplan.

The break-up of the band was not amicable and subsequently a war between Superjoint and Damageplan was waged via the heavy metal and musical press. Among the accusations thrown were that Anselmo and the Abbott brothers had difficulties in agreeing upon the direction in which they wanted Pantera's music to go in. Vinnie Paul and Dimebag later commented that Anselmo was forcing them to make the music that Anselmo wanted to make, and that they were not allowed to experiment and take chances with their recordings. In addition, Anselmo's drug habits (for example, a rather infamous heroin overdose after a show) are known to have caused some turmoil within the band. Finally, likely as a result of the other issues Pantera faced internally, the relationship between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers was rapidly deteriorating in general. Anselmo's comment in a 2004 issue of Metal Hammer magazine saying that "Dimebag deserves to be beaten severely" typified Pantera's internal conflicts; Anselmo insists that this comment was tongue-in-cheek. Caught up in the torrent was bassist Rex Brown, who ultimately aligned himself with Anselmo, joining him on the second Down album – A Bustle in Your Hedgerow.

In 2004 Dimebag was tragically murdered live on stage, his killer, Nathan Gale, was a crazed Pantera fan. Dimebag is still today one of the most revered and loved metal guitarist, influencing most of the new metal banRAB around today.


Pantera discography:

1983: Metal Magic (Metal Magic RecorRAB)
1984: Projects in the Jungle (Metal Magic RecorRAB)
1985: I am the Night (Metal Magic RecorRAB)
1988: Power Metal (Metal Magic RecorRAB)
1990: Cowboys from Hell (Atlantic RecorRAB)
1992: Vulgar Display of Power (Eastwest RecorRAB)
1994: Far Beyond Driven (Eastwest RecorRAB)
1996: The Great Southern Trendkill (Eastwest RecorRAB)
2000: Reinventing the Steel (Eastwest RecorRAB)
 
Neat use of paralellism. I think you should post something in the pictures thread. Otherwise I'm just gonna imagine you as a lingerie model with good taste in music and a butterfly tattoo on her lower back.
 
Tool

In the late 80's the merabers of Tool were living in Los Angeles. Maynard James Keenan, Paul d'Amour and Adam James started a band. Danny Carey was already a drummer in Pigmy Love Circus, Carole King and, Green Jelly. Adam Jones and Tom Morello[Maynard does backup vocals on one the tracks on RATM s/t] were high school frienRAB and Tom introduced Danny to the band. Oddly enough Maynard and Danny lived nextdoor to each other. For a while Danny would just fill in whenever whoever they invited just didn't show up. Their first ep, Opiate, was a major success. Shorly after recording Opiate the released Undertow and went on tour with the likes of RATM, The Rollins Band and even played 2nd stage on Lollapolooza. Shortly after the recording process took place for AEnima Paul left the band and 2 months later was replaced by Justin Chancelor, a meraber of the band Peach.​
 
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