Two weeks till finals...

Dear reader,
I know how much you enjoy reading about musicians and their drug addictions but its time for me to take a short hiatus so I can cram from my pathology final. If you get bored you can always revisit some of the older videos, play balloon monkey, surf the Grilled Cheese Academy, or perfect a new dish.  If you really miss my blatant plagiarism of wikipedia, you could even visit the site directly and read about your favorite artists.  
Sincerly,
Jimmy

N.W.A.

The original lineup consisted of Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Arabian Prince, Ice Cube, and MC Ren. Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and MC Ren would all become platinum-selling stars as solo artists.

Dr. Dre and DJ Yella composed the beats for each song, with Dre making occasional rapping appearances. Ice Cube and MC Ren wrote most of the group's lyrics, including "Fuck tha Police," perhaps the group's most notorious song, which brought them into conflict with various law enforcement agencies.

Under pressure from Focus on the Family, Milt Ahlerich, an assistant director of the FBI, sent a letter to Ruthless Records and its distributing company Priority Records, advising the rappers that "advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." This letter can still be seen at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Policemen refused to provide security for the group's concerts, hurting their plans to tour. Nonetheless, the FBI's letter only served to draw more publicity to the group.

Straight Outta Compton was also one of the first albums to adhere to the new Parental Advisory label scheme, then still in its early stages: the label at the time consisted of "WARNING: Moderate impact coarse language and/or themes" only. However, the taboo nature of N.W.A's music was the most important factor of its mass appeal. Media coverage compensated for N.W.A's lack of airplay and their album eventually went double platinum.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.W.A

Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The third wave of ska came over my middle school like The Great Wave off Kanagawa destroying everything in its path. There was little left but my friends, our skateboards, and 10,000 Magic the Gathering cards. Riding the wave (among others) was The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

For those of you who managed to escape the third wave you are probably unfamiliar with what a bosstone is. A bosstone, or more specifically Ben the Bosstone was a band member who did not have a instrument, nor did he sing or play a body orifice in a music manor. He just danced on stage the whole time.

L is for Lonely Island

The Lonely Island is an American comedy troupe composed of Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg, best known for its musical parodies. The group is from Berkeley, CA, and is currently based in New York City. The group began creating live comedy skits in junior high school and continued to do so, expanding its repertoire to comedic shorts, music parody (both songs and videos), and one full-length television pilot, before coming to the attention of Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Once on the show, they wrote "Lazy Sunday," a better-produced music parody video much like the group's previous work. It became an instant internet success, and led to the creation of similar digital shorts that also aired on Saturday Night Live. The Emmy-winning "Dick in a Box", "Jizz in My Pants", "Like a Boss" and the Grammy-nominated "I'm on a Boat" have subsequently had huge success both on the show and on the internet and prompted the recording and release of an album, Incredibad, in which the group moves in a more musical direction.

In August 2007, the group premiered its first feature film, Hot Rod.

Kansas

The band Kansas started humbly in a city known best for its rock and roll, loose women, and out of control parties, Topeka Kansas.

Kansas became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Dust in the Wind". With an origin as wild and untamed as a bowl of mild farina it only made sense for the young rockers to take a step back and all become born again Christians. After their brief forte as rock entrepreneurs they settled in to a long uneventful career as classic rock legends. They continue to tour North America and Europe today as a nostalgic reminder of what once was. Today, outside of guitar hero, Kansas is sadly nothing more then dust in the wind.

James Taylor

Not to be confused with JTT (Johnathon Taylor Thomas)

At the age of 17 James Taylor committed himself to the McLean Mental Institution in Massachusetts to undergo treatment for his severe depression. During his nine-month stay he was treated with electroconvulsive therapy. For Taylor the electrocutions became “fire” while the cold showers which followed were “rain.” His stay in the mental institution laid down the frame work for the lyrics to “Fire and Rain” which recaps three major aspects to James’s life.

The first part is about Taylor's friend Suzanne Schnerr who he meet while institutionalized. Suzanna took her own life while Taylor was in London working on his first album after being signed to Apple Records. His friends at home kept the tragic news from him, concerned that it might distract Taylor from his big break. He found out upon his return. The lyric “I thought I’d see you one more time again” reflects his surprise and sadness.

The second part details Taylor's struggle to overcome his heroin addiction and depression.

The third part deals with coming to grips with fame and fortune, looking back at the road that got him there. It includes a reference to James Taylor and The Flying Machine, a band he briefly worked with before his big break with Paul McCartney, Peter Asher, and Apple Records.

Iggy Pop and The Stooges

"Not to be confused with The Three Stooges" - wikipedia

Iggy Pop and The Stooges is an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003. Although they sold few records in their original incarnation and often performed for indifferent or hostile audiences, the Stooges are widely regarded as instrumental in the rise of punk rock, as well as influential to alternative rock, heavy metal and rock music at large. The Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

Iggy Pop is often credited with inventing or popularizing stage diving in popular rock music. Stage diving can cause serious injuries. One hilarious example is when Peter Gabriel of Genesis stage dived during the end of their song "The Knife", landing on his foot and breaking his ankle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stooges

Hall & Oats

Daryl Hall and John Oates (often shortened to Hall & Oates) are an American pop music duo who achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Recently their success has received a boost after being featured in the sound track for the Movie Step Brothers.

Aside from being devilishly handsome, both John and Daryl sing and are multi-instrumentalists. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."

Thus far in their carrers they have had six #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Rich Girl", "Kiss on My List", "Private Eyes", "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", "Maneater", and "Out of Touch", as well as many other songs which charted in the Top 40. They have continued to record and tour with some success. In total, the act had 34 singles chart hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. Hall and Oates have seven RIAA platinum albums, along with six RIAA gold albums.

A greatest hits compilation was released in 2001 by RCA/BMG. The BMG collection was expanded in 2004 and reissued the following year, after BMG merged with Sony Music Entertainment. In 2003, Daryl Hall and John Oates were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_%26_Oates

G is for Troyal Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962), best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon.

Brooks has enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history, breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the 1990s. Garth Brooks still continues to sell well. His album sales through the end of 2009 are at 68,363,000, which makes him the best-selling albums artist in the United States, well over 7 million ahead of his nearest rival, The Beatles. Furthermore, according to RIAA he is the best-selling solo albums artist in the United States of all time with 128 million units sold. Brooks has released six albums that achieved diamond status in the United States, those being: Garth Brooks (10× platinum), No Fences (17× platinum), Ropin' the Wind (14× platinum), The Hits (10× platinum), Sevens (10× platinum) and Double Live (21× platinum). Since 1989, Brooks has released 19 records in all, which include; 9 studio albums, 1 live album, 4 compilation albums, 3 Christmas albums and 2 box sets, along with 77 singles. He won several important awards in his career as 2 Grammy Awards, 16 American Music Awards (not including the poll of "Artist of the '90s") and the RIAA Award as Best selling solo albums artist of the Century in the United States. As of 2010, Brooks' world-wide sales now exceed 200 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Brooks

Fleetwood Mac

Writing about Fleetwood Mac is like writing about the Kennedys. Their history is rifled with breakups, re-connections, affairs, drugs, and general drama. I imagine I'll write about them many more times so this is just a jumping off point.

Fleetwood Mac is named for two original band members. The only original member present in the band is its namesake drummer, Mick Fleetwood. Band founder Peter Green named the group by combining the surnames of two of his former bandmates (Drummer Mick Fleetwood, Bassist John McVie). John McVie played neither on their first single nor at their first concerts. The keyboardist, Christine McVie, has, to date, appeared on all but two albums, either as a member or as a session musician. Stevie Nicks came much later.

During the 10 or so years that Stevie was addicted to cocaine, Fleetwood Mac’s album credits would include a "thanks" to their dealer. In one interview Stevie estimated that she must have spent more than $1 million on cocaine. With the streets rates ranging between $20 to $100 a pop (a gram), she and the band likely purchased between 50,000 to 10,000 grams. Stevie, of course, did not single-handedly ingest 50 kilos of the white stuff; the band would buy massive amounts of coke for themselves as well as their friends.

Her 10 year addiction came to end in 1986, when a plastic surgeon advised her that if she wanted her nose to remain on her face she should stop snorting coke immediately. So it was off to the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs. To this day there remains a legend of a hole in her septum the size of a nickle..

D is for Darkness

In the year 2000 The Darkness descended upon the music world in a space ship sent straight from 1983. The return of a hair band and bad English teeth made everyone remember how much they loved and hated the 80s. 80s rock music is typically best served loud in a crowded bar full of drunken college students. Regardless of the time of day you may be watching this video you should probably start drinking and listening to Journey.

C is for Cake

Have you ever wished they would play some rocking tunes under the soothing voice of your favorite talk radio host? Like if they combined the melodic ranting of Rush Limbaugh with the 1980's Canadian rock sensation Rush. Well, if a such a fusion were attempted it would probably sound something like Cake - but with a lot more anger directed towards immigrants. Cake essentially invented their own genre in the early 1990's, "Talk Rock." I've been a fan of them since I first heard "The Distance" played on the radio. They currently have 5 albums out and have another coming in 2011.

Blind Melon

Against the advice of lead vocalist Shannon Hoon's drug counselor, Blind Melon went on tour in support of their 1994 album "Soup." Hoon was found dead on the band's tour bus of a heart attack, caused by a cocaine overdose, on October 21, 1995 in New Orleans.

The remaining members released Nico (named for Hoon's daughter, only thirteen weeks old when her father died) in 1996, with the profits going to a program that helps musicians with drug and alcohol addiction. Nico contained unreleased songs from the Soup recording sessions, as well as other songs often recorded with only partial instrumentation. The closing track, "Letters from a Porcupine", was recorded as a telephone message left by Hoon on Thorn's answering machine. Nico included covers of Steppenwolf and John Lennon songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYlAwvz8uwc&ob=av2e

AC/DC

Thought to stand for Anti Christ / Devil Child by many concerned parents the name AC/DC actually comes from the back of a television set mean Alternating Current/ Direct Current.

Alphabet Aerobics

Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab (who, despite his name, does not appear to be Irish) and DJ/producer Chief Xcel. They are noted for Gift of Gab's tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats. This song has inspried me to prusue my next music venture which is posting about an artist each day starting from A and ending with Z.

Ray Charles

Ray Charles started to lose his sight at the age of five. He went completely blind by the age of seven. Although some sources suggest his blindness was due to glaucoma, most suggest that Ray began to lose his sight from an infection caused by soapy water to his eyes which was left untreated. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945, where he developed his musical talent. During this time he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine. His mother died when he was 15, and his father died three years later.

Art Tatum

Art Tatum was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso. He was not totally blind, but blind enough to make it into this weeks selection. From infancy he suffered from cataracts which left him blind in one eye and with only very limited vision in the other. A number of surgical procedures improved his eye condition to a degree but the benefits of the operations were swiftly reversed when he was assaulted in 1930.

Art was a considered to be child prodigy with perfect pitch. He learned to play the piano by ear, a task of both ability (due to his perfect pitch) and disability (due to his limited vision). From the age of three he was was able to pick out church hymns, learn songs he heard on the radio, and copy piano-roll recordings his mother owned. While playing piano was the best known of his talents, he also possessed an encyclopedic memory for Major League Baseball statistics.

Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ... Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Tatum

Andrea Bocelli

The image of the blind musician is an important touchstone in many cultures, even where the influence of the blind on music has been limited. The idea of Homer, the blind poet, for example, has had a long existence in Western tradition, even though its basis in truth is uncertain. The influence of blind musicians is often lost on people these days since so much of our music industry is based on our visual senses - this blog is no exception.

When I first came up with the idea of writing about blind musicians for a week, I got a few sour faces. It is not my intent to make fun of these musicians for being blind, but rather show their talents to a potentially new audience - even if I only have three readers. Besides, if I do decide to make fun of them, it's not like they are ever going to read it...

Andrea Bocelli was born 22 September 1958 with congenital glaucoma. He became totally blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident. He is best know as being an Italian tenor but is also a multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist.

In 1994 he won the Newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival. Since that time he has recorded thirteen solo studio albums (pop and classical music), two greatest hits albums, and eight complete operas. His albums have sold over 70 million copies worldwide making him the best-selling solo artist in the history of classical music.

In 1998, he was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.

I often say "This is one of my favorite ____" on this blog. But Andrea Bocelli is by far one of the most impressive persons I have ever read about. His voice is simply beyond description.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Bocelli

A week of blind dudes

I am done with exam and now have time to indulge my craziest of writing whims. This week I am doing a short series on blind musicians.

Starting the series off is one of my favorite musicians and by far one of the blindest. Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950. He was the third of six children to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. His birth was six weeks premature. As a result of his prematurity, the blood vessels at the back of his eyes had not yet reached the front. The aborted vessel growth caused the retinas to detach. The medical term for this condition is retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP.