Content tagged 'Reggae'

25 years ago today, a band best known as a spinoff of Jane’s Addiction released their self-titled debut album, an LP which scored solid sales figures while also delivering a #1 Modern Rock single. In 1991, SPIN ran an article about Jane’s Addiction which said guitarist Dave Navarro and bassist Eric Avery had a section on their tour bus set aside them, an area into which they could escape if necessary because they’d decided that they wanted to stay clean, and the reasoning behind this decision made perfect sense: “They have simply learned that they cannot use drugs of any kind anymore without

34 years ago today, Twisted Sister released the debut single from their third studio album, STAY HUNGRY, a track which proved to be the band’s only top-40 single but which also raised their profile to such a degree that they’re still considered one of the definitive heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Written by Dee Snider and produced by Tom Werman, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was – per Snider in his 2013 autobiography Shut Up and Give Me the Mic – heavily influenced by the band Slade, but he later conceded that there are elements of the Christmas classic “O Come All Ye Faithful” in the mix as well

35 years ago this week, The Replacements released their sophomore album, which was a slightly less ramshackle LP than their debut and one which is still a whole lot of fun. Recorded predominantly in “a warehouse in some godawful suburb north of [Minneapolis],” according to the liner notes of the album (it was actually the Stark/Mudge Mobile Unit warehouse in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota), HOOTENANNY is actually a more mature work than their debut album, SORRY MA, FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH, although you might be hard pressed to realize it without listening to the two albums back to back. In

46 years ago this week, David Bowie released the single that helped reinvigorate his career after his post-“Space Oddity” slump. Written by Bowie, who also co-produced the song with Ken Scott, “Starman” is one of the most famous tracks on his iconic album ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS OF MARS, but it almost wasn’t on the album at all. In fact, the big reason it ended up finding its way onto the track listing was that RCA Records bigwig Dennis Katz heard the song and pushed for its inclusion. "We'd finished recording the Ziggy Stardust album at that time and it went into the record company

26 years ago today, Bonnie Raitt was keeping busy in Boston by becoming the recipient of an honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music. Although Raitt had originally graduated from Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York and headed to Radcliffe College to major in social relations and African studies, her big plans for the future changed during her second year of college, when she took off for a semester and headed to Philadelphia. From that point, however, her music career began to take off, which meant that she ended up leaving college in the rear view mirror. As

We’re only a few days away from the 50th anniversary of Buffalo Springfield’s final show, a performance which capped a two-year period which saw the band releasing three studio albums: their self-titled debut, their sophomore effort, BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD AGAIN, and their swan song, LAST TIME AROUND. Since we’re not around the office on the weekend, we decided we’d go ahead and commemorate the occasion a few days early by letting you in on some great news. On June 29, Rhino will be releasing WHAT’S THAT SOUND? THE COMPLETE ALBUMS COLLECTION, which will feature all three of the aforementioned

Take me out tonight Where there's music and there's people And they're young and alive... On this week's episode of THE RHINO PODCAST, hosts Dennis and Rich take a deep dive into the recently released THE QUEEN IS DEAD (DELUXE EDITION) with Sweet & Tender Hooligans lead singer Jose Maldonado. Some records are bigger than others. You will learn the glorious details of the first ever remastering of the quinessential album and its bonus content - demos, b-sides, and alternative versions, the Live In Boston album recorded at the Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts on August 5, 1986; and a

30 years ago today, Albert Joseph Brown III – better known to his fans as Al B. Sure! – released his debut album, an LP which took him to the top of the Billboard R&B Albums chart and resulted in more than a little bit of swooning. Before kicking off his music career, Al B. Sure! – and for the sake of simplicity, we’re henceforth just going to make like the Paul Simon song and call him Al – was actually a star quarterback at Mount Vernon High School in New York, but after graduation, he opted to eschew athletics in favor of studying music. That he did this despite having an athletic

45 years ago today, Yes released their first live album, a 3-LP set which – despite its potentially-intimidating size – became a significant success for the band. Co-produced by the band with Eddie Offord, YESSONGS came together in the wake of Yes concluding their tour behind their 1972 album CLOSE TO THE EDGE. The band went through their collected recordings both from that tour as well as the one they’d done for 1971’s FRAGILE, picking the material that they believed to be the best of the bunch, after which the tracks were edited and remixed with the assistance of the aforementioned Mr

Today we celebrate the birthday of the late, great songwriter and vocalist Nickolas Ashford…and, yes, that is how he spelled his name, and we know because we double-checked to be sure. Born in South Carolina and raised in Michigan, Ashford kicked off his career in music by singing and writing songs for the gospel choir at Willow Run Baptist Church, but when he headed to New York to seek his fortune, his initial goal was to find work as a dancer. That plan didn’t exactly pan out – indeed, things went so poorly for Ashford that he soon found himself homeless – but when he attended a service at