Rock music, artist you should know or at least checked!

Okay, I’m 99% sure that I’m not the only person in this clan who likes rock so I’ll post some stuff about some random artists I like.

Let me start with the band which really got me into rock: the Who.
They were one of the first bands ever to play real rock and their music has changed through the years. Songs everyone know are of course, the CSI intro’s but they made a lot more then just that. If you want to check them out, I advise you to either try their live album Live at Leeds (which is one of the best live albums ever produced) or Live at the Royal Albert Hall. The Who is good both on stage as on record, but studio recordings never captured their true raw sound.

the Beatles
Yes I know, they aren’t really rock and they are very overrated but they made two of the most influential albums ever: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the White Album. Everyone should have heard these two albums at least once!

Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd is one of those bands which you love for a certain era. For me it’s the early years with Syd Barret. Pink Floyd was experimenting a lot with sound and always kept doing that, but after their breakthrough called Dark Side of the Moon, they went kinda soft. Anyway, check out the albums A Saucerful Of Secrets, The Piper at Gates Dawn and Dark Side of the Moon for some golden oldies.

Muse
I said rock, so here’s a somewhat more modern band for you. Muse has a typical sound that I can’t really describe except for… nice! Everyone has heard one or two songs but if you haven’t, or want to find out more about them, try the albums Origin of Symmetry and Black Holes And Revelations. You won’t be disappointed!

Moke
I’m Dutch and even worse, I’ve been born and raised in Amsterdam so I need to tell you about a band from Amsterdam that’s slowly taking over Europe. They’re called Moke and play music that’s a bit like the Artic Monkey’s and Bloc Party (two bands who are also worth checking). They’ve made only two albums so far, ‘Shorland’ and ‘Long and Dangerous Sea’ but that doesn’t mean that they’re bad.

The Vagrants
Now I’m talking about unknown and local bands, the Vagrants is a band from Australia which plays loud and good rock. I’ve seen them live doing a tour in Europe (local pubs, lol) and believe me, they kick ass! You can buy their stuff from Amazon (just search for them), it’s only $12 for their two albums..

Thin Lizzy (and Gary Moore)
Last one for now, Thin Lizzy. They’re an Irish rock band… A good Irish rock band… A brilliant Irish rock band! They’ve made a lot of music, best known would be the song ‘the Boys are Back in Town’ but they’ve made a lot more than just that. Some albums you should try: ‘Jailbreak’, ‘Bad Reputation’ and ‘Black Rose’.

Now, one of their former guitarist and very good friend with the bassist/lead singer from Thin Lizzy is Gary Moore. He went solo back in the seventies and has developed his own style that’s influenced by Rhythm and Blues, Blues and Hard Rock. He has made over 20 albums (excluding live) each with its own unique style. You should really try some of his work out, even if you don’t like rock! The albums ‘Run for Cover’, ‘Scars’, ‘Power of the Blues’, ‘A Different Beat’ and the blues collection album ‘Ballads & Blues’ are just a start.
He also gets my vote for best life performance (followed by the Who).



Well, that’s it for now. I got a lot of other artist to talk about (King Crimson, White Stripes, OK Go and many many others) but I think I’ll just call it a post :p

I cannot believe you did not include the greatest of them all.

LED ZEPPELIN. This band is most likely the number one band of rock out there, whether or not you like their music, they are number one. They have the best rock drummer in the history of man, one of the best rock guitarists (Most likely only second to hendrix), and one of the best overall musicians ever, not to even mention the powerhouse of a singer. John Bonham, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Robert Plant. It really is too bad that they had to break up in 1980... No drummer could ever replace Bonham. Even after 30 years of inactivity, Led Zeppelin Zoso (The album with Stairway on it) is still I believe #4 in the United States charts.

And we are talking rock... SO YOU CANNOT, CAN NOT, LEAVE OUT,

AC/DC. I know many have strong oppositions to AC/DC, but most of these people have heard two songs from them: Back in Black, and Thunderstruck. But still, do you know what the number one album in the world ever made by a band is? It's a pretty rockin' album from 1980 called Back in Black. Out of all albums, it's second only to Thriller. Sure, some of their albums (Ballbreaker, fly on the wall, blow up your video, etc) aren't that great. But every artist has some good, some bad. Unless of course you are Led Zeppelin where there are amazing songs, and then f'n amazing songs.

Just saying this out there right now, I hate today's music, mostly. Most of it is some "gangsta" (You know what's really sad? Gangsta didn't come up as an error in spell check.) standing in front of a mic and talking with a synthesizer and a drum machine in the background. Even worse are these people who think they can sing and perform but rely on auto tune. It's sad. I mean, even KISS (Which I also like, but not many people do... however their fans are the most devoted in the world, I think) can sing in four part harmony perfectly, without auto tune.

I've got everything from led zep on vinyl, I just didn't want to make a huge list with all the 'regular' bands. That and I looked at my mp3 collection which consists from more then 500 artists so I've missed a lot of them :p