LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Oh, sorry ewciolina! But I am sure you'll get them eventually!

At the moment their price and delivery costs are 1 / 8 of my salary . But maybe one day I hope that they are worth the price. When I become a famous lawyer package from Australia will fly like snow in winter

Dont hate me, BUT i made a default and matching sig of the from the commerical she did, thats your default, its on the pre-mades, i made it with you in mind

MY FAVE VIDEO and Song of their's in the 80's

a-ha (normally spelled entirely in lower-case) is a rock/pop music band from Norway. The band was founded in 1985 by Morten Harket (vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards), and Pål Waaktaar (guitars). The group initially rose to fame during the mid 1980s after being discovered by musician and producer John Ratcliff and has had continued global success in the 1990s and 2000s. According to their official website, they have sold over 35 million albums worldwide plus more than ten million singles, making them the best-selling Norwegian music act in history.

a-ha achieved their biggest success with their debut album, Hunting High and Low, in 1985. That album peaked at number 1 in their native Norway, number 2 in the UK and number 15 on the U.S. Billboard album chart, yielded two international number-one singles, "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on T.V..", and earned the band a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist. In the UK, Hunting High and Low continued its chart success into the following year, becoming one of the best-selling albums of 1986.^[1] In 1994, after their fifth studio album, the band went on a hiatus.

Following a performance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 1998, the band returned to the studio and recorded their sixth album, 2000's Minor Earth Major Sky, which was another number-one in Norway and resulted in a new tour. A seventh studio album, Lifelines, was released in 2002, and an eighth album, Analogue, in 2005, was certified Silver in the UK …quot; their most successful album there since 1990's East of the Sun, West of the Moon.^[2] Their ninth album, Foot of the Mountain, was first released on 19 June 2009 and returned the band to the UK Top 5 for the first time since 1988, being certified Silver there and Platinum in Germany. ^[3] The album peaked at number 2 in Norway (their first not to reach number 1 in their home territory). On 15 October 2009, the band announced they would split after a worldwide tour in 2010,^[4] the Ending On A High Note tour,^[5][6] which will culminate in three farewell shows in Oslo on 2, 3 and 4 December 2010.^[7][8]

^Biography

^Formation

^{The trio…quot;composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket; guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (previously known as Pål Waaktaar until 1994); and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen (informally known as "Mags"), formed in 1982 and left Norway for London in order to make a career in the music business. They chose the studio of musician, producer, and soon-to-be-manager John Ratcliff because it had a Space Invaders machine. John Ratcliff introduced them to his manager, Terry Slater, and after a few meetings, a-ha enlisted Ratcliff as manager too. Slater and Ratcliff formed T.J. Management. Ratcliff dealt with technical and musical aspects, and Slater acted as the group's international business manager and as liaison to Warner Brothers's head office in Los Angeles.}

^{The origin of the name "a-ha" comes from a title that Waaktaar contemplated giving to a song. The song used the words "a-ha" and "ahem". Harket was looking through Waaktaar's notebook and came across the name "a-ha". He liked it and said, "That's a great name. That's what we should call ourselves". After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that a-ha was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say, and unusual.[9]}

Hunting High and Low (1984…quot;1985)

An early version of "Take on Me" was the first song that Morten Harket heard Magne Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar play in Asker. At that time, the song was called "The Juicy Fruit Song", and the two men were still known as Bridges. It was named "Lesson One" when it was first recorded by a-ha. After some rewriting, multiple re-recordings, and three releases, "Take on Me" became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985 and was the second-best-selling single of 1985 ^[where?]. The first version of the song, released in 1984, was promoted by a now-rare video of the band performing the song in front of a blue background. The song was then re-recorded with production by Alan Tarney, but both of these released failed to chart. It was then re-released with a new, groundbreaking video and ultimately sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in one week. Eventually, the single "Take on Me" was estimated to have sold 7…quot;9 million copies worldwide; it peaked at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.^[10][11] a-ha became the first Norwegian band to have a number 1 song in the U.S. The song's popularity earned the band a spot on the American television series Soul Train in 1985, making them one of the few white artists to appear on the black music-oriented show.

Sales were aided in the U.S. by heavy rotation on MTV of the new music video, which may have been inspired not only by the truck-chase scene from Terry Gilliam's film Brazil but also by the climactic scene from Ken Russell's film Altered States. The video used a pencil-sketch animation / live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which individual frames of live video are drawn over or colored.^[12] It became one of the most instantly recognizable and most enduringly popular music videos in the U.S., where it was nominated for eight awards at the third annual MTV Video Awards in 1986, winning six, including Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, and Viewer's Choice. "Take on Me" was also nominated for Best Video of the Year at the 1986 American Music Awards. Their six MTV Award wins for that video gave them twice as many wins as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and more than any artist in the three years of the awards combined.

But those were not a-ha's only MTV awards that year. The band's second single was "The Sun Always Shines on T.V..". In the U.S., the song peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 17 on Radio & Records airplay chart. A remix version was a club hit, rising to number 5 on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart.^[10] The music video for the song was another popular and critical success, nominated in three categories at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards and winning two awards, for Best Cinematography and Best Editing, bringing a-ha's total to eleven nominations and eight wins. The following year, Peter Gabriel would earn thirteen nominations and win nine awards, also for two videos. In successive years, even as the award categories have expanded, only a few artsts have approached…quot;and none has surpassed…quot;the single-year award totals of a-ha and Gabriel.

a-ha's American success culminated in their 1986 Grammy nomination in the coveted Best New Artist category, which was eventually won by Sade. "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." turned out to be a-ha's last Hot 100 Top 40 single, and to this day in the United States, a-ha is remembered by the general public almost entirely because of the singularly huge success of "Take on Me".^[10] As such, the band is frequently considered a one-hit wonder there, despite their two Top 40 hits. In the UK, however, the story was very different: "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was an even bigger hit among British fans than "Take on Me", peaking at number 1.^[11] In the UK, a-ha enjoyed continued success with two more hit singles from the same album…quot;"Train Of Thought" and "Hunting High And Low" (with another innovative video)…quot;and the band remained popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

The band's first album, 1985's Hunting High and Low, became a worldwide bestseller, spending most of October and November in the top 20 of Billboard's Top 200 album chart. The album and its four hit singles garnered international recognition for a-ha. Hunting High and Low earned platinum status in the United States, UK, and Germany and earned gold status in Brazil and the Netherlands.^{[2][13][14][15][16]} Hunting High and Low has sold 11 million copies worldwide.^[17] The album peaked at number 15 in the U.S., according to Billboard music charts, and has sold about 1.8 million copies in the U.S. It peaked at number 2 on the UK charts, and it spent 38 weeks in the top 10 in Norway, including 8 weeks at number 1.^[10][11][18]

Golden Age (1985…quot;1994)

2007a-ha's second album, Scoundrel Days, was released in the midst of the 1986 world tour and represented a move towards alternative rock, as synthpop began to fall out of style. Although the album received favorable reviews and sent three singles to become international radio hits, the album's sales did not match those of its predecessor (except for Switzerland, where it is a-ha's best-selling album).^[19] "Cry Wolf" would be the last a-ha single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. After the release of the album, a-ha went to tour in the U.S., its last appearance there for 20 years. The album has sold 6.4 million copies worldwide, has been certified platinum in the UK and Switzerland, and has been certified gold in Germany and Brazil.^{[2][14][15][16][20]} Ned Raggett of AllMusic Guide would later write of the album, "The opening two songs alone make for one of the best one-two opening punches around: the tense edge of the title track, featuring one of Morten Harket's soaring vocals during the chorus and a crisp, pristine punch in the music, and 'The Swing of Things,' a moody, elegant number with a beautiful synth/guitar arrangement (plus some fine drumming courtesy of studio pro Michael Sturgis) and utterly lovelorn lyrical sentiments that balance on the edge of being overheated without quite going over...The '80s may be long gone, but Scoundrel Days makes clear that not everything was bad back then."

In May 1988, a-ha released their third studio album, titled Stay On These Roads, which matched the number-2 chart peak of its two predecessors on the British album charts. Stay on These Roads became a big hit and is now the best-selling a-ha album in Brazil, where it is certified platinum. The album has been certified gold in Switzerland, Germany, UK, and the Netherlands.^{[2][14][15][16][19]} The album includes the title-track theme song to the James Bond film The Living Daylights. The version that appears on their album is a re-recording of the film version and single. The band has said that they are particularly proud of the title track, and all three members contributed to its writing. To this day, "Stay On These Roads" and "The Living Daylights" are a part of their live set. After the release of the album, the band went on a 74-city world tour. The album has sold more than 4.2 million copies worldwide.^[20]

live at Cologne, 29 October 2005East of the Sun, West of the Moon featured a cover version of The Everly Brothers' 1963 single, "Crying in the Rain". In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a-ha was very popular in South America, especially in Brazil, where the band sold out some of the largest stadiums in the world. At the Rock in Rio II festival in January 1991, a-ha shocked the international entertainment press by drawing an audience of 198,000 at Maracanã stadium for their top-billed evening concert…quot;a Guinness World Record for paying audiences. In contrast, the other performers (George Michael, Prince, and Guns N' Roses) drew only 60,000 each. In a recent interview in Musicweek, celebrating a-ha's upcoming 25-year anniversary, the band members revealed that the record-breaking concert and the lack of media attention they received were a devastating blow to the band. The 1991 Rock In Rio festival, which should have been the band's crowning achievement was, instead, a moment of crushing disappointment. “MTV interviewed everybody except us”, remembers Waaktar-Savoy. “They were all calling their bosses and saying, ‘We must cover a-ha; it’s the only night that has sold out'. But they weren’t allowed to”. “I felt very alienated”, says Furuholmen. "It made us feel hopeless. We played to the biggest crowd in the world, and they ignored it.” ^[21]

"East of the Sun, West of the Moon" was certified gold in Switzerland, Brazil, and Germany and was certified silver in the UK.^{[2][14][15][16][19]} Steven McDonald of AllMusic said of their fourth album, "This is a nicely crafted collection of songs, performed and sung beautifully, with lots of echoes and suggestions tucked into the music. While not an album one can discuss at length, it's an album that's a pleasure to listen to." The album sold 3.2 million copies worldwide.^[20]

The compilation album "Headlines and Deadlines" sold more than 2 million copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

Their last album before their hiatus was "Memorial Beach" in 1993. The album was a commercial failure, with sales of 1.2 million copies. The only single to officially chart outside Norway was "Dark Is the Night", which went top 20 in the United Kingdom. Ironically, given the lack of attention to their later work in the U.S., "Dark Is the Night" nearly charted on the U.S. Hot 100, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, a position often construed as being #111 in reference to the Hot 100.^[10] "Memorial Beach" is the last official American release by a-ha to date, though their material has continued to have (limited) availability there as imports. In February 1994, a-ha performed two concerts during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, followed by tours of South Africa and Norway. a-ha was also chosen to compose the official song for the Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, which they entitled "Shapes That Go Together". Because of apparent internal conflicts between the band members and conflicts with the record label at the time^{[citation needed]}, a-ha took a break in 1994, and the members started focusing on solo projects.^{[citation needed]}

Reunion (1998…quot;2007)

a-ha live at Cologne, 20 October 2005The band was invited to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 1998. Paul wrote "Summer Moved On" especially for this performance.^[22] They also performed "The Sun Always Shines on TV." This performance was a-ha's comeback into the world of music, yet the band's set was controversially omitted from a programme of highlights from that concert televised in the UK. Nevertheless, the band returned to the studio. Those recording sessions resulted in 2000's "Minor Earth Major Sky", an international tour, and a webcast performance of the band opening the new Vallhall Arena in Oslo on the 24 and 25 March 2001. The webcast was the third most-viewed webcast concert ever with 3.6 million hits, along with the longest average viewing time…quot;28 minutes. Only webcasts by Madonna and Paul McCartney recorded more hits. a-ha's video for "I Wish I Cared" was the first fully web-based animated flash music video to be made available. The album reached platinum sales, with sales of 2.5 million copies and spawned four #1 hits: "Minor Earth Major Sky," "Velvet," "The Sun Never Shone That Day" and "Summer Moved On." "Summer Moved On" is notable not only for going to #1 in 17 countries, but for earning Morten Harket a world record for the longest note held in a UK hit song, at twenty seconds. With the music video for the song "Velvet," a-ha received criticism for flirting with necrophilia. Paul has said of the comeback album, "We made a demo very quickly and intuitively, and that gave us the contract. But then we were at the next stage: is it a record? There wasn't any panic, it was only about the final most difficult fractions, coming up with the finishing touch. In fact, some of the songs were untouched since New York. I think we did a good job."

a-ha made a return appearance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2001. The subsequent album "Lifelines", which was released in 2002, went platinum in Norway and produced two Top 5 hits, "Forever Not Yours" and "Lifelines". Jesper Hiro directed the video for "Lifelines" which was originally 12 minutes long. The end result shows a whole year passing by in one shot at 50 000 times the normal speed. The art film on which it was based, "A Year Along the Abandoned Road", was directed by Morten Skallerud in 1991.

A live album from their 2002 tour, titled "How Can I Sleep with Your Voice in My Head", was released in March 2003, preceded by a live single of the 1986 hit "The Sun Always Shines on TV." In 2004, a book entitled "The Swing of Things" was published, which also featured a CD of early demo material. That year a-ha celebrated their twentieth anniversary with the release of a new singles collection, "The Definitive Singles Collection 1984…quot;2004". This compilation brought them back into the UK Top 20 Album Charts, where they reached number thirteen and earned a Gold album.

On 2 July 2005, a-ha performed at the Berlin edition of Live 8, in front of an audience of nearly 200,000 people. They began with "Hunting High and Low", followed by "Take on Me", however Morten Harket had difficulties hearing himself and requested a two-minute break, which he used to comment on the cause of Live 8. The intended two minutes became almost seven, and the third song, "Summer Moved On," became the last of their set. Although four songs had been rehearsed, the band's time had run out and the organizers told them to leave the stage.

Lead vocalist Morten Harket live at Cologne, 29 October 2005On 12 September 2005, a-ha played a quickly-sold-out show at Irving Plaza in New York City, the band's first concert in North America since 1986 despite not having released any material there since 1993. On 27 August 2005, the band played a concert for 120,000 people in Frogner Park in Oslo, the largest concert ever in Norway.

On 4 November 2005, the band released its 8th studio album, "Analogue". The UK release of the single "Analogue (All I Want)" gave a-ha their first top ten hit in the UK since 1988.^[11] The album includes a guest appearance by Graham Nash of Crosby Stills & Nash performing back-up vocals on the songs "Over the treetops" and "Cosy Prisons". The video for the song "Celice" sparked criticism for its sexual content. The following tour included performances at a gig at London's Shepherd's Bush on 2 February 2006, and a TV special in Africa. In 2006, a-ha recorded a cover of John Lennon's "#9 Dream" for Amnesty International. It was released in June 2007 on the album "Make Some Noise". On 30 October 2006 in London, a-ha received the prestigious Q Magazine Inspiration Award for their long contribution to music and for inspiring many of their younger colleagues in the business. On 15 September 2007, a-ha played a free outdoor concert in Kiel, Germany. The band played on a floating stage in the harbour. This concert was streamed live on the internet via MSN.

On 24 January 2009, a-ha won the Norwegian Spelleman award for Hit of All Time for Take On Me on the 50th anniversary of the official hit list in Norway.

A New Direction and Farewell (2008…quot;2010)

On 20…quot;22 May 2008, Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy performed concerts in Oslo, Norway, to promote their respective solo material before coming together as a-ha to play "Train of Thought", "Take on Me", and two new songs, "Riding the Crest" and "Shadowside", which previewed the new a-ha album, Foot of the Mountain. These events led up to their performance at London's Royal Albert Hall on 24 May.

On April 24, 2009, a-ha surprised their fan base by releasing their new single, "Foot of the Mountain", premiering that day on Norwegian radio. The single had been completed only the night before. The song is based upon the track "The Longest Night" by Magne Furuholmen, which was released on his album A Dot of Black In The Blue Of Your Bliss. The single was released on May 22 in Germany. The band promoted the song by playing it during the Final of Germany's Next Topmodel on May 21 in the Lanxess Arena, Cologne.

Foot of the Mountain, a-ha's ninth studio album, was released in Europe on June 19, 2009. The album's material marked a return to synth pop, similar to the band's earliest work, although the first single (and title track) was not wholly indicative of this^[23]. The band collaborated with successful producer Steve Osborne, who has produced albums for such artists as New Order, Starsailor, Doves, Elbow, and U2. "What There Is", an earlier solo track by Magne Furuholmen, aka "Mags (2)", was re-recorded for the album. Foot of the Mountain entered the German album chart at #1, the UK album chart at #5 ^[24] and debuted on the Billboard European Album Sales Chart at #8.

"I feel more connected to Depeche Mode (compared with other acts of the 80s)," claimed Magne Furuholmen. a-ha performed a cover of "A Question of Lust" during a live performance for BBC Radio 2 - The Dermot O'Leary Show on 25 July 2009.^[25]

a-ha headlined the iTunes Live festival on 24 July 2009.^[26] The lineup for the festival also includes Simple Minds, Oasis, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian and The Saturdays. All the performances were recorded and made available for download on the iTunes site as with the previous festivals. In the Norwegian iTunes store a-ha's release has yet to see the light of day.

On 15 October 2009, the band announced they are to split after a worldwide concert tour in 2010.^[27] The same day, their final concert was announced to take place in Oslo, Norway, at the Oslo Spektrum arena 4 December 2010^[28], with ticket sales starting the next day. The concert sold out the first day on sale.^[29] On 19 October 2009, a second farewell show was announced to be given on 3 December 2010^[7], and on 4 November a third show was announced for 2 December 2010.^[30] . In January 2010, a-ha's album Foot of the Mountain was certified platinum in Germany ^[3]

To coincide with their split, the band releases "The Singles: 1984 - 2004" in the USA and will re-release 'deluxe' versions of their first two albums (Hunting High and Low and Scoundrel Days) as well as a third and final compilation album, a new live DVD and a re-release of the book The Swing of Things by Jan Omdahl.^[31] A new single titled "Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)" was revealed on 14 June 2010 and released as a single on 5 July to promote the new, double CD compilation, to be called "25" ^{[32] [33] [34]}.

Awards

Main article: List of a-ha awardsAfter the successful release of the single "Take On Me", the band was nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy Award in 1986 but did not win; the band have never been Grammy-nominated since. a-ha has also won eight MTV Video Music Awards, for "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on T.V..". "Take On Me" won six of these awards while the other two went to "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." A-ha has also won eight Spellemannprisen awards, the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy awards.

Discography

Main article: a-ha discography

Studio albums

YearTitleLabel1985Hunting High and LowWarner Bros. Records1986Scoundrel Days1988Stay on These Roads1990East of the Sun, West of the Moon1993Memorial Beach2000Minor Earth Major Sky2002Lifelines2005AnalogueUniversal Music Group2009Foot of the Mountain

Tours

As of November 2009, a-ha have held 488 concerts around the world.^{[citation needed]}

a-ha have toured in: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.

• Hunting High and Low Tour 1986…quot;1987 (USA, Europe, Australia & Japan)
  
• Stay On These Roads Tour 1988…quot;1989 (Europe, Japan and South America)
  
• Walk Under the Sun Dance Under the Moon Tour 1991 (South America)
  
• East of the Sun West of the Moon Tour 1991 (Europe)
  
• Memorial Beach Tour 1993…quot;1994 (Europe, South Africa & Lebanon)
  
• Minor Earth Major Sky Tour 2000…quot;2001 (Japan, Russia & Europe)
  
• Lifelines Tour 2002…quot;2004 (Europe, Brazil & Russia)
  
• Analogue Tour 2005…quot;2007 (Europe, Russia, USA, Senegal & Chile)
  
• Foot Of The Mountain Tour 2009 (Europe, South America and Japan) ^[35]
  
• Ending On A High Note Tour 2010 ( Europe, USA, Canada, South America, Japan and Russia )^[36]
  

a-ha has on tour, been backed up by various musicians, including some of the very best studio and touring musicians in Norway and Scandinavia. Most of them have also been involved in studio with a-ha.^[37][38]

• Leif Karsten Johansen (Bass player) - 1986…quot;1987
  
• Mike Sturgis (Drums) - 1986…quot;1987
  
• Dag Kolsrud (Keyboards) - 1986…quot;1987
  
• Ian Wherry (keyboard) - 1988…quot;1989
  
• Randy Hope-Taylor (Bass) - 1988…quot;1989
  
• Matthew Lettley (Drums) - 1988…quot;1989
  
• Rafael Gayol also known as Danny Gayol (Percussion) - 1988…quot;1989
  
• Jørun Bøgeberg (Bass) - 1991…quot;1994
  
• Per Hillestad (Drums) - 1991…quot;1994
  
• Sigurd Køhn (Saxophone) - 1991…quot;1994
  
• Øyvind Madsen (Bass) - Africa leg of tour 1994
  
• Sven Lindvall (Bass)- 2000…quot;2007
  
• Per Lindvall (Drums)- 2000…quot;2007
  
• Krister Karlsson (Keyboard)- 2000…quot;2007
  
• Anneli Drecker (Backing vocals / Duet partner / Tambourine) - 2000…quot;2002
  
• May Kristin Kaspersen (Backing vocals / Duet partner) - Russian leg of tour 2003
  
• Erin Hill (Harp) - 2008 - opening act at Royal Albert Hall
  
• Karl-Oluf Wennerberg (Drums) - 2009
  
• Erik Ljunggren (Programming / keyboards / bass) - 2009
  
• Johnny Sjo (Bass) - On occasions between 2000…quot;2005
  
• Kjetil Bjerkestrand (Keyboard) - On occasions
  

Pat Benatar (born January 10, 1953) is a four-time Grammy Award-winning American singer that combined the power chords, tough sexuality, and powerful vocals of arena rock with polished mainstream pop/rock.^[1] She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States. Hit songs included "Love Is a Battlefield", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", "We Belong" and "Heartbreaker". During the 1980s Benatar had two RIAA-certified Multi-Platinum albums, five RIAA-certified Platinum albums, three RIAA-certified Gold albums and 19 Top 40 singles.^[2] Benatar was one of the most heavily played artists in the early days of MTV^[1].

Life and careerPatricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to Andrew and Mildred Andrzejewski, a sheet-metal worker and a beautician.^[3] Her family moved to Lindenhurst, New York on Long Island, when she was 3 years old. "I have wonderful childhood memories of picking berries in the 'woods' by our house, driving to the 'docks' on the South Bay to get freshly harvested clams", she recounted once.^{[citation needed]}

Patti (as she was known) became interested in theater and began voice lessons, singing at Daniel Street Elementary School her first solo, a song called “It Must Be Spring,” at age eight. She said, "As a kid, I sang at any choir, any denomination, anywhere I could."^{[citation needed]} At Lindenhurst Senior High School (1967-71), Benatar participated in musical theater, playing Queen Guinevere in the school production of Camelot, marching in the homecoming parade, singing at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, and performing a solo of "The Christmas Song" on a holiday recording of the Lindenhurst High School Choir her senior year.^{[citation needed]}

Benatar was cut off from the rock scene in nearby Manhattan though because her parents were "ridiculously strict - I was allowed to go to symphonies, opera and theater but I couldn't go to clubs".^{[citation needed]} Her musical training was strictly classical and theatrical. She said, "I was singing Puccini and West Side Story but I spent every afternoon after school with my little transistor radio listening to the Rolling Stones..."^{[citation needed]}

Training as a coloratura and accepted to The Juilliard School, Benatar surprised family, friends and teachers by deciding a classical career was not for her and pursued health education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. At 19, after one year at Stony Brook, she dropped out to marry her high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar, an army draftee who trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served with the Army Security Agency at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before being stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia. Specialist (E-4) Dennis Benatar was stationed there for three years, and Pat worked as a bank teller in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1973, Benatar quit her job as a bank teller to pursue a singing career after being inspired by a Liza Minnelli concert she saw in Richmond. She got a job as a singing waitress at a flapper-esque nightclub named The Roaring Twenties and got a gig singing in lounge band Coxon's Army, a regular at Sam Miller's basement club. The band garnered enough attention to be the subject of a never-aired PBS special, and the band's bassist Roger Capps also would go on to be the original bass player for the Pat Benatar Band. The period also yielded Benatar's first and only single until her eventual 1979 debut on Chrysalis Records: "Day Gig" (1974), Trace Records, written and produced by Coxon's Army band leader Phil Coxon and locally released in Richmond. Her big break came in 1975 at an amateur night at the renowned comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. Her rousing rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" earned her a call back by club owner Rick Newman, who would become her manager. Benatar said:

The couple headed back to New York following Dennis' discharge from the army, and Benatar went on to be a regular member at Catch A Rising Star for close to three years, until signing a record contract. Catch A Rising Star was not the only break Benatar got in 1975. She landed the part of Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical, The Zinger.^[4] Benatar's first foray into rock. The production, which debuted on March 19, 1976, at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island, ran for a month and also featured Beverly D'Angelo and Christine Lahti. Benatar noted: "I was 22 by the time I started to sing rock, so at first I was very conscious of technique and I was overly technical. That proved to be inhibiting so it was a disadvantage until I began to sing intuitively. That’s the only way to sing rock – from your gut level feelings. It's the instinct that the best singers have."^[5]

Halloween 1977 proved a pivotal night in Benatar's early, spandexed stage persona. Rather than change out of the vampire costume she had worn to a Greenwich Village cafe party that evening, she went on-stage wearing black tights, black eyeliner and a short black top. Benatar has stated: “I was dressed as a character from this ridiculous B movie called Cat-Women of the Moon.”^[6] Despite performing her usual array of songs, she received a standing ovation. Benatar has said that "[T]he crowd was always polite, but this time they went out of their minds. It was the same songs, sung the same way, and I thought, 'Oh my god ... t's these clothes and this makeup!'"^{[citation needed]}

Between appearances at Catch A Rising Star and recording commercial jingles for Pepsi Cola and a number of regional concerns, she headlined New York City’s famous Tramps nightclub from March 29 - April 1, 1978, where her performance impressed representatives from several record companies. She was signed to Chrysalis Records by founder Terry Ellis the following week.^[7]"There was a long period of three years, when I spent my time taking demo tapes around and being rejected by one record company after another. Then just two days after the debut concert with the band, we were signed to a record contract...."^{[citation needed]} Recorded in June and July 1979, Benatar debuted the week of August 27, 1979 with the release of I Need A Lover from the album In the Heat of the Night. She said, "My album was the last of a bunch by female singers to come out so I was told not to expect much, even though Mike Chapman was producing."^{[citation needed]}

She won an unprecedented four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Performance from 1980 to 1983 for her second LP, Crimes of Passion, and the songs "Fire and Ice", "Shadows of the Night", and "Love Is a Battlefield". Of the ten Grammy Award ceremonies in the 1980s, Benatar was nominated for Best Female Rock Performance eight times, including for "Invincible" in 1985, "Sex as a Weapon" in 1986, "All Fired Up" in 1988 and in 1989 for "Let's Stay Together".

Benatar also earned Grammy Award nominations in 1985 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female with "We Belong" and in 1986 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group as a member of Artists United Against Apartheid for their single, "Sun City". Benatar is also the winner of three American Music Awards: Favorite Female Pop/Rock Vocalist of 1981 and 1983, and Favorite Female Pop/Rock Video Artist of 1985. Benatar was twice named Rolling Stone magazine's Favorite Female Vocalist, and Billboard magazine ranks her as the most successful female rock vocalist of all time based on overall record sales and the number of hit songs and their charted positions. ^{[citation needed]}

Pat Benatar was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame at the Second Induction Award Ceremony and Fundraising Gala held October 30, 2008. In her acceptance letter, she said, “My upbringing, and the values and ideals I learned back in my hometown kept me grounded. I never forget that a small town girl from Lindenhurst, LI actually got the chance to live her dreams.” ^{[citation needed]}

Family

Pat and Dennis Benatar divorced in 1979. Pat and band leader/lead guitarist Neil "Spyder" Giraldo married on February 20, 1982. They have two daughters, Haley Egeana (born February 16, 1985) and Hana Juliana (born March 12, 1994).

Discography

Main article: Pat Benatar discography

In the Heat of the Night

"I Need a Lover" was the first single to be released on August 27, 1979. However both it and the next single, "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" (October 1979), were unsuccessful. Benatar's third single "Heartbreaker" was released in early December 1979 and became an immediate hit, climbing to #23 in the U.S. Benatar said "That was written by these two English guys, Gill and Wade, and it had all these little English colloquialisms that Americans would never say. So the publisher gave it to me to clean up, and I had to figure out all these lyrics. It was making me crazy. But I loved the song from the first time I heard it, so I rewrote the lyrics and we did the song as it appears here. It's one of my favorites." A fourth single "We Live for Love," which was written by her future husband Neil Giraldo, was released in February 1980, and reached US #27. Although Giraldo claims that it was written about her, Benatar has playfully accused him during interviews of having written the song long before they met, obviously about another woman.

Benatar's debut album In the Heat of the Night was released in October 1979, and reached #12. It established Benatar as a new force in rock. Producer Mike Chapman, who had worked with Blondie and The Knack, broke his vow not to take on any new artists when he heard Benatar's demo tape. Chapman personally produced three tracks on the album, while his long-time engineer and now independent producer, Peter Coleman (who also supervised Nick Gilder) oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his partner, Nicky Chinn, wrote three songs that appear on the LP, "In the Heat of the Night" and "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" which were previously recorded by Smokie, as well as a rearranged version of a song they wrote for Sweet, "No You Don't". The album also featured two songs written by Roger Capps and Benatar as well as "I Need a Lover" written by John Mellencamp and "Don't Let It Show" written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. The album would be Benatar's first RIAA certified platinum album.

Crimes of Passion

In August 1980, Benatar released her second and most popular LP, Crimes of Passion, featuring her signature song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" along with the controversial song Hell is for Children, which was inspired by reading a series of articles in the New York Times about child abuse in America. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (U.S. #9) was her first single to break the U.S. Top 10 and eventually sold more than one million copies (at that time, gold status) in the United States alone. The album peaked at U.S. #2 for six consecutive weeks in January 1981 (behind Yoko Ono and John Lennon's Double Fantasy) and eventually sold over five million copies, and a month later, Benatar won her first Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1980. Other singles released from Crimes of Passion were "Treat Me Right" (US #18) and the Rascals' cover, "You Better Run" (US #42), which gained some later notoriety when it was the second music video ever played on MTV, after the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".^[8][7][9] The album also featured a changed-tempo cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. Produced by Keith Olsen, Crimes of Passion remained on the US album charts for 93 weeks and in the top 10 for more than six months, eventually becoming her second consecutive platinum certification by the RIAA. In October 1980, Benatar (along with future husband Neil Giraldo) graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Precious Time

In July 1981, she released her third LP, Precious Time. A month later the album hit #1 on the Billboard U.S. Top 200 LP chart. It was also her first to chart in the UK, reaching #30. The album's lead single, "Fire and Ice", was another big hit (US #17, AUS #30) and would win Benatar her second Grammy Award, this time for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1981 and her third consecutive RIAA certified platinum album. "Promises in the Dark" (US #38) was also released.

Benatar's video You Better Run, was the second video aired by MTV.^[8]

Get Nervous

A hit single, "Shadows of the Night", (US #13, AUS #19) heralded a new LP, Get Nervous, released in late 1982. The album was another smash, reaching US #4, her fourth consecutive RIAA platinum certification, and the single would garner Benatar yet another Grammy, again for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1982. The follow-up singles, "Little Too Late" and "Looking for a Stranger", were also successful, hitting US #20 and #39 respectively. The WWII-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" featured then-unknown actors Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton as an American fighter copilot and a German radio operator, respectively.

Live from Earth

By 1983, Benatar had established a reputation for singing about "tough" subject matters, with a significant amount of songs featuring a "battle" metaphor. This was best exemplified by one of the biggest hits of her career, "Love Is a Battlefield" (penned by noted hit songwriter Holly Knight with Mike Chapman), released in December 1983. By then her sound had mellowed from hard rock to more atmospheric pop and the story-based video clip for "Love Is a Battlefield" was aimed squarely at MTV, even featuring Benatar in a Michael Jackson-inspired group dance number. This new pop direction was a huge commercial success, with the single peaking at #5 in the United States, and #1 in Australia for seven weeks. The song even gained some interest in the UK where it peaked at #49. The song would also net Benatar her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1983. A live album, Live from Earth, which was recorded during Benatar's sold-out Get Nervous world tour of America and Europe in 1982 and 1983, contained two studio tracks, "Love Is a Battlefield" and "Lipstick Lies." The album peaked at U.S. #13 and became her fifth consecutive RIAA platinum winner.

Tropico

In October 1984, the single "We Belong" became another Top 5 smash in the US, and reached #7 in Australia. It was also Benatar's first ever UK top 40 hit, where it peaked at #22. In November, Benatar released her sixth album, Tropico (US #14, AUS #9, UK #31). A second single release, "Ooh Ooh Song," reached U.S. #36. It is also said by Benatar and Giraldo that this album is the first where they moved away from Benatar's famed "hard rock" sound and start experimenting with new, sometimes "gentler," styles and sounds. Despite not making the US Top 10, it earned her a sixth consecutive RIAA platinum certification.

After the chart success of We Belong in the UK, Love is a Battlefield was re-released in early 1985 and became her highest chart hit there, reaching #17.

Seven the Hard Way

Benatar would hit the U.S. Top 10 with the #10 single "Invincible" (the theme from the movie, The Legend of Billie Jean) in 1985. "Sex As a Weapon" would climb as high as #28 in January 1986, and "Le Bel Age" (#54) in February. The album Seven the Hard Way peaked at #26, earning an RIAA Gold certification.

The title of the album is based on a bet in the game of craps: "Rolls of 4, 6, 8, and 10 are called "hard" or "easy" (e.g. "Six the Hard Way", "Easy Eight", "Hard Ten") depending on whether they were rolled as a "double" or as any other combination of values, because of their significance in center table bets known as the "hard ways"." The album was the band's seventh release in seven years. Benatar is holding a pair of dice on the album cover with three and a half dots each.

Wide Awake in Dreamland

In July 1988, Benatar released her eighth album, "Wide Awake in Dreamland" (US #28, UK #11). A single lifted from the album, "All Fired Up" (written by Kerryn Tolhurst, ex-The Dingoes) reached #19 in both the US and the UK, and was a #2 smash in Australia, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1988 in that country. Other singles released from the LP are "Don't Walk Away" (UK #42), "Let's Stay Together", and "One Love" (UK #59). The album also earned an RIAA gold certification.

True Love

True Love (US #37) was a jump blues record, released in late April 1991, and featured the blues band Roomful of Blues, backing up Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo and Myron Grombacher. The album sold over 339,000^[10] copies without any radio airplay and limited exposure on VH-1. "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss," "So Long," and the title cut were released as singles. The album reached #40 in the UK.

Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow (US #85) was released in 1993 and was a return to the AOR genre. "Everybody Lay Down" was picked up by Album Rock radio and went all the way to #3. The single was never released to Top 40/Contemporary Hit Radio and a music video was never produced. "Somebody's Baby" was instead released as the single to Top 40 radio and a music video produced.

A third track was scheduled and a video shot for "Everytime I Fall Back", but the single was never released and the music video was lost when Chrysalis was sold to EMI records. Benatar had become pregnant again and this may have had an effect on her label's support of the album. This was Benatar's last album recorded for Chrysalis records. With very little promotion from Chrysalis, Gravity's Rainbow failed to have the same commercial success as Benatar's previous works. The album sold approximately 200,000 copies in the US.

Innamorata

Innamorata (US #171) was released in 1997 on the CMC International record label. A single video was produced for "Strawberry Wine (Life is Sweet)".

Go

Benatar has released only one album of new material since 1997's Innamorata, which is 2003's Go (US #187). The album included the 9/11 charity single, "Christmas in America" as a bonus track. A compilation video was produced for the single "Have It All", but was never released, the only video from this album is for the bonus track.

Greatest hits collections

Best Shots (US #67) was first released in the UK in 1987 and in the US in November 1989. The US version included 15 tracks on 1 CD, 1 live version of "Hell is for Children" with Suffer the Little Children intro, "Painted Desert" (from Tropico) and a remixed version of "Outlaw Blues" (also from Tropico) and would be another certified RIAA gold (later platinum) album. Best Shots became Benatar's biggest selling album in the UK, where it reached #6 and achieved Gold sales status. The album was also a top 20 hit in Australia. Best Shots was the only official greatest hits compilation until 1994 when All Fired Up: The Very Best of Pat Benatar was released (2 CD). The box set Synchronistic Wanderings (3 CD) was released in 1999. "Classic Masters" was released in October 2002, and "Pat Benatar - Greatest Hits" was released in June 2005. The most recent collection, "Ultimate Collection" (2 CD set) was released in June 2008 under the Capitol Records label with forty 24 bit-digitally remastered tracks.

Recent activity

Many best of/greatest hits compilations have been released over the years by Benatar's former record company. 2008's Ultimate Collection included the version of "Everytime I Fall Back" from her appearance on The Young and the Restless. In 2009, Benatar teamed up with Blondie for the "Call Me Invincible" tour, which also features The Donnas.^[11].

Benatar is scheduled to tour with REO Speedwagon during the Summer of 2010.^[12]

Memoir

In 2010 Benatar's memoir Between a Heart and a Rock Place was released. The book touches on Benatar's battles with record companies and the difficulties her career caused in her personal life. After initial reluctance to do the project the process was so enjoyable for her that she plans to write a novel.^[12]

Band

Although billed as a solo artist, Benatar recorded and toured with a consistent set of band members over most of her career, who contributed greatly to the writing and producing of songs and are recognizable characters on album photos and in many of her music videos.

• Neil "Spyder" Giraldo (incorrectly spelled as "Geraldo" in early liner notes/credits) is the distinctive lead guitarist of the band and has performed on all of Benatar's albums. Born in Cleveland on December 29, 1955, Giraldo began playing the guitar at 6-years-old and learned to play the piano at age 12. Giraldo performed in Rick Derringer's touring band before working with Benatar, appearing in a possible bootleg entitled Derringer Live At The Paradise Theater Boston, Massachusetts, July 7, 1978 (UPC 672627400428). Giraldo's appearance on the video for Benatar's "You Better Run" distinguished him as the first guitarist on MTV. The video, the second ever aired on MTV, followed The Buggles, who had no guitar player. In addition to playing lead guitar, Giraldo is credited with composing and producing much of Benatar's work. Giraldo's first outside production credit was on John Waite's debut album Ignition. He has also given a helping musical hand to artists such as The Del-Lords, Rick Springfield, and Kenny Loggins. In addition, Giraldo was the musical composer for the 2005 movie Smile starring Beau Bridges, Linda Hamilton, Sean Astin and directed by Jeffrey Kramer. The soundtrack features an original song by Giraldo and Scott Kempner of The Del-Lords, appearing as The Paradise Brothers, titled "Beautiful Something." Proceeds from the movie go to Operation Smile. The Paradise Brothers also contributed a cover of "Light Of Day" for a Bruce Springsteen Tribute album.
  
• Myron Grombacher, who played with Neil in Rick Derringer's touring band, is drummer on nine of Benatar's original albums and has numerous writing credits. Myron is easily recognizable in the music videos, particularly as the mad dentist in Get Nervous.
  
• Charlie Giordano performed keyboard duties on five albums, and is identifiable by his glasses and distinctive array of berets, blazers and 80s-style ties. In 2007, he replaced the late Danny Federici in the E Street Band.
  
• Mick Mahan is the band's bassist and has performed with Benatar since 1995. The original bassist, Roger Capps, was replaced by Donnie Nossov on Tropico, and then later by Frank Linx.
  
• Scott St. Clair Sheets is credited on rhythm guitar on the first three albums.
  
• Glen Alexander Hamilton played drums on the first album.
  

Other achievements

Benatar still writes and tours with her husband Neil Giraldo.

In the summer of 2005, the couple's older daughter Haley Giraldo starred in E!!'s reality TV series Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.

Stage & screen, soundtracks, various credits

• Benatar played the character Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical The Zinger. Set in a recording studio sometime around the year 2000, the production, which debuted on March 19, 1976, at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island, renamed the Harry Chapin Center, ran for a month and also featured Beverly D'Angelo and Christine Lahti. Benatar said, "It was great. I had an afro wig with glitter on! It was so fabulous." Benatar performed the solo "Shooting Star" in honor of Chapin for the Harry Chapin Tribute, Carnegie Hall, December 7, 1987.
  
• In 1980, Benatar portrayed the character "Jeanette Florescu" in Marcus Reichert's film noir Union City, which featured Chrysalis Records labelmate Deborah Harry of Blondie in the starring role.
  
• In 1982, the song 'Treat Me Right' and, very briefly, the Crimes of Passion album cover too, featured in the 1982 movie, An Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger.
  
• The soundtrack to Giorgio Moroder's 1984 restoration of Fritz Lang's 1926 classic Metropolis features Benatar performing two versions of the movie's love song "Here's My Heart," a pop version for the studio album and a classically-styled version used in the film.
  
• In 1985, "Invincible" was the title track to the Helen Slater cult classic The Legend of Billie Jean.
  
• Benatar is a performer on Sun City - Artists United Against Apartheid (1985).
  
• Benatar contributed the original tune "Sometimes the Good Guys Finish First" to the 1987 Michael J. Fox film The Secret of My Succe$s soundtrack.
  
• "Run Between the Raindrops" was featured on the soundtrack for The Stepfather (1987 film) ^[13]
  
• Benatar performs "Jimmy Says" on Marlo Thomas & Friends - Free To Be A Family (1988)
  
• In April 1989 she appeared in an ABC Afterschool Special entitled "Torn Between Two Fathers" about a teenage girl who sues her natural father for the right to remain in her step-family's home following the accidental death of her natural mother. Pat played "Donna", the current wife of the teenager's natural father.
  
• Benatar sings the traditional lullaby "Tell Me Why" for Disney For Our Children: To Benefit the Pediatrics AIDS Foundation (1991)
  
• Benatar appears on "Yakety Yak- Take It Back", a Public Service Announcement produced by the Take It Back Foundation in 1991. The music video features several celebrities in an updated version of "Yakety Yak" retooled with a message about recycling. The music video premiered on MTV on April 10, 1991 (National Recycling Day), appeared as a trailer at AMC movie theaters, and was distributed on VHS and CD. It was later shown occasionally on Sesame Street during the 1990s, though it does not feature any Sesame Street characters.
  
• Benatar performed an English-language version of "L'effet que tu me fais" (The Effect You Have on Me) for the Tribute to Édith Piaf (1993).
  
• Benatar contributed a cover of the Fontella Bass hit "Rescue Me" to the 1994 Speed soundtrack.
  
• The soundtrack to Disney's 2000 film An Extremely Goofy Movie features "Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades" by Benatar.
  
• "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured twice on South Park, the first being the Season 2 episode "Ike's Wee Wee", but most notably in the episode "Red Man's Greed".
  
• In 2003, "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured in the movie 13 Going on 30.
  
• In 2003, Konami released a singing video game called "Karaoke Revolution" that featured the cover version of Benatar's song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" as a part of the song list line-ups.
  
• Benatar has made numerous TV appearances, mostly as herself. She appeared with her husband in the Charmed episode "Lucky Charmed" on which "Heartbreaker" was used and in an episode of Dharma & Greg as herself singing "We've Only Just Begun" at an impromptu wedding in an airport. In 2001, she also appeared as fictional rock star Anna Raines in the CBS TV drama Family Law with Dixie Carter and Christopher McDonald.
  
• Benatar appeared in an episode of the short lived sitcom That '80s Show as herself as an old rival of the character Margaret. Her "Love Is a Battlefield" video appeared on an earlier episode of the show.
  
• On February 14-15 2008 Benatar and husband appeared as themselves on The Young and the Restless performing at the Indigo Club.
  
• "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured in Christian Dior Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2006 by John Galliano.
  
• In 2006, Benatar and her music were featured on "CMT Crossroads." The show was produced by and is shown on Country Music Television (CMT). The premise of the show is to feature a country artist with an artist from a different genre who was an influence. Benatar shared the stage with country artist, Martina McBride. McBride sang Benatar's hits while Benatar sang McBride's hits. The show includes interviews of both women.
  
• In 2007-2008 Benatar's single "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was put into the songlist for Guitar Hero 3 in the first tier of songs, also in Guitar Hero On Tour,and is available as a downloadable song in the video game Rock Band. Her song "Heartbreaker" is a playable song in the 2008 video game followup Guitar Hero: World Tour as well as also being downloadable content on Rock Band.
  
• "Shadows of the Night" was covered in 2008 by Ashley Tisdale for the television movie Picture This.
  
• "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" was covered by one of Charlize Theron's friends in the 2005 motion picture North Country.
  
• The original master recording of the song "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured in Konami's rebooted version of their singing video game "Karaoke Revolution".
  
• In 2010, "We Belong" was covered by cast members Kristen Alderson, Brittany Underwood, Kelley Missal, and Meghann Fahy on One Life to Live during its "Starr X'd Lovers" musical episodes.
  

Advertising

In 2006, the song "We Belong" was part of a $20 million dollar ad campaign for Sheraton hotels,^[14] although the version used in the commercial was not Benatar's. Her version of the song is featured in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Adam McKay.

Though she had earlier expressed dismay for rock stars endorsing products (including onetime cohort Debbie Harry, who had developed her modeling career simultaneously to her rock career), Benatar herself has now become a commercial spokeswoman for the Energizer company, and is currently being featured in an ad for Candies Vintage shoes for Kohl's department store. In 2007, her song "Passion" could be downloaded free from the official Jell-O web site.

The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts.^[1]

The Go-Go's rose to fame during the early 1980s. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, is considered one of the "cornerstone albums of new wave" (Allmusic), breaking barriers and paving the way for a host of other new American acts. When the album was released, it steadily climbed the Billboard 200 chart, ultimately reaching number one, where it remained for six consecutive weeks. The L.P. sold in excess of three million copies and reached double platinum status, making it one of the most successful debut albums ever. Considered by some to be the most successful all-female band of all time,^[2] the Go-Go's have sold more than seven million albums.^[3]

History

^{Original incarnation (1978…quot;1980)}

^{Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978, the Go-Go's initially consisted of Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, vocals), Margot Olaverra (bass), and Elissa Bello (drums).}

^{They were formed as a punk band and had roots in the L.A. punk community; they shared a rehearsal space with X, and Carlisle (under the name "Dottie Danger") had briefly been a member of punk-rock band The Germs. Due to illness, she left The Germs before playing a gig.}

^{The band started out playing at seminal punk rock venues such as The Masque and the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles. Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards) was added later in 1978, and in the summer of 1979, Gina Schock replaced Bello on drums. With these line-up changes, the group began moving towards their now more-familiar power pop sound.}

^{During late 1979, the band recorded a 5-song demo at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, and in 1980 supported the British ska revival group Madness in both Los Angeles and England. The Go-Go’s subsequently spent half of 1980 touring England, earning a sizable following and releasing the demo version of "We Got the Beat" on Stiff Records, which became a minor UK hit.}

^{Cover image from the 1982 hit single, "We Got the Beat"During December 1980, original bassist Margot Olaverra fell ill and was replaced with Kathy Valentine, who had played guitar in bands such as Girlschool and the Textones. Valentine had not previously played bass guitar.}

^{Career peak (1981…quot;1983)}

^{The Go-Go's signed to I.R.S. Records in April 1981. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, was a surprise hit; it topped the U.S. charts for six weeks in 1982 and eventually received a double platinum certification. The album was also a success outside the U.S. charting at #2 in Canada, where it received a platinum certification, and #27 in Australia. In 2003, the album was ranked number 413 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. "Our Lips Are Sealed" and a new version of "We Got the Beat" were extremely popular singles in North America in early 1982. In this period the Go-Go's became America's sweethearts and started to have a cult following.[4]}

^{In 1982 the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.}

^{Cover of the 1982 album Vacation.The follow-up album, Vacation received mixed reviews and sold far less than the Beauty and the Beat. However, the Album was certified Gold in the U.S. and spawned another top 10 US hit with the title track. Other singles released from the album were "Get Up and Go" and "He's So Strange". None of them made it in the top 40. In 1983 Vacation was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Packaging. During the album's promotion the group was forced to go on hiatus when Schock underwent surgery for a congenital heart defect.}

^{Talk Show and temporary split}

^{In 1984 the group returned with the Martin Rushent produced album Talk Show. The album tracks "Head over Heels" and "Turn to You" were both top 40 hits in the US. Despite the favourable critics the album sold far less than the previous two not reaching the top 10 and not receiving any certification.}

^{Personality conflicts and creative differences within the group were also taking a toll, as were drug addiction problems for some band members. Jane Wiedlin announced her departure from the group in October 1984. The band sought a replacement for Wiedlin, and finally selected Paula Jean Brown as their new bassist, with Valentine moving to lead guitar. This line-up debuted at the 1985 Rock in Rio festival, playing two shows, but Carlisle and Caffey soon realized their hearts were no longer in the group and decided to disband the Go-Go's in May 1985.}

^Reunions

^{In 1990, the Go-Go's classic line-up (Caffey, Carlisle, Schock, Valentine and Wiedlin) reunited to play a benefit concert for the California Environmental Protection Act, a 1990 ballot initiative. This led to more show dates later that year. The band also entered the studio with producer David Z.}. ^{to re-record a cover of "Cool Jerk" for a greatest hits compilation.}

^{In 1994, the same line-up got together again to release the 2-disc retrospective Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's, which featured three new recordings. The single "The Whole World Lost Its Head" 'bubbled under' on the US charts at #108, but became the band's first and only top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at #29. The band toured again to promote the release; ex-BangleVicki Peterson stood in on several dates for Caffey, who was pregnant.}

^{In 1997, Schock sued the other members of the group, claiming that she had not been properly paid for her contributions since 1986 and that a songwriting agreement with Caffey had been breached. The suit was resolved by 1999 when the band reunited for a brief tour and they finally began to resolve their personal differences.}

^{God Bless The Go-Go's}

^{In 2001, the band (still with the "classic" line-up) released an album of new material, God Bless The Go-Go's. Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote the only released single "Unforgiven". The album was well-received by critics, and peaked at number #57 in the Billboard 200 chart.}

^{Also in 2001, the Go-Go's, along with artists Elton John, Billy Joel, David Crosby, Paul Simon, performed at the concert "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" at Radio City Music Hall, hosted by the TNT network.}

^Touring

^{The Go-Go's have toured regularly since 1999; however in February 2010, Carlisle announced on her Facebook page that the 2010 tour would be billed as the Farewell tour. [5] However the tour was cancelled when Jane Wiedlin injured her knee, requiring surgery and up to a year of recovery time.[6] In 2008, in an interview with "Stuck in the 80's", Wiedlin said: "We have no set plans at the moment, and every year it seems to get a little more complicated trying to get together to do stuff. We are now living in FIVE different places, which makes it a real challenge to get together. Still, we love to make music, so anything could happen." [7]}

^{Solo careers}

• ^{Belinda Carlisle became the most commercially successful solo artist of the band's alumnae, scoring a string of mainstream pop singles in the mid and late '80s, including the #3 US hit "Mad About You" (co written by Paula Jean Brown) and the number-one single "Heaven Is a Place on Earth". In the UK and Europe, Carlisle became even more successful, continuing to score top-10 hits through the mid '90s. In August 2001, Carlisle appeared in a nude layout, including a cover photo, in that month's issue of Playboy magazine. In 2007, she released a French-language album entitled Voila. She also appeared as a judge on the MTV show Rock the Cradle and toured during the summer of 2008 as part of the Regeneration Tour with The Human League, A Flock of Seagulls, ABC and Naked Eyes.}
  
• ^{Jane Wiedlin released several solo albums including Fur, which featured a successful single, "Rush Hour". Wiedlin also took acting roles in movies such as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Clue, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as well as doing cartoon voiceovers and a 2005 appearance on the VH1 show Surreal Life. In 1995, Wiedlin formed a band called froSTed (the capital ST paid homage to Star Trek), which released an album, Cold, before disbanding in 1998. In 2000, Wiedlin started her own label, Painful Discs, to release her solo CDKissproof World. She has also become a legally ordained wedding officiant who performs ceremonies as "Reverend Sister Go-Go".}
  
• ^{Charlotte Caffey worked as a songwriter and session musician for Carlisle, and then in 1988 formed a band called The Graces that released the album Perfect View. After the Graces disbanded, she briefly formed a group called Astrid's Mother. Caffey and Wiedlin performed several shows in 1997 as Twisted and Jaded, at which they played acoustic versions of Go-Go's songs and debuted new material they had written. They also co-wrote "But for the Grace of God" (2000) for Keith Urban, which was their first number-one single on the charts.}
  
• ^{Gina Schock released a self-titled album in 1988 with her band House of Schock, and she later formed the short-lived group K-Five. Gina Schock co-wrote the title track for Miley Cyrus's sophomore CD, Breakout, which debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 Charts in the summer of 2008. Schock also co-wrote several tracks on the 2009 debut album Kiss & Tell by Selena Gomez & the Scene. Selena Gomez and Cyrus are both stars on the Disney Channel.}
  
• ^{Kathy Valentine returned to her blues-rock roots playing lead guitar with a band called the BlueBonnets, which morphed into the Delphines with Dominique Davalos on lead vocals and bass. The Delphines released two CDs, The Delphines (1996) and Cosmic Speed (2001). Gina Schock also joined the Delphines as drummer for a brief period. Valentine released a debut solo CD, titled Light Years, in September 2005. In 2006 she relocated to Austin, Texas and produced a local female trio, Adrian and the Sickness, whose CD "BFD" came out in 2009. Valentine reformed the BlueBonnets and continues production work in her home studio.}
  

^{Current projects}

^{Jane Wiedlin is at work on a new solo album, and a comic book based on herself titled "Lady Robotika".[8] Belinda Carlisle appeared on Dancing with the Stars on ABC in 2009. She recently starred in London's West End production of the musical Hairspray. Charlotte Caffey along with Anna Waronker wrote the music for the rock opera Lovelace: A Rock Opera based on the life of infamous porn star, Linda Lovelace. The opera premiered in Los Angeles in October 2008. Kathy Valentine produced a new Blue Bonnets album "Boom Boom Boom Boom," released June 2010.}

^{In June 2010 it was announced the band would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2011.}

^Discography

^{Main article: The Go-Go's discography}

^Albums

• ^{Beauty and the Beat (1981)}
  
• ^{Vacation (1982)}
  
• ^{Talk Show (1984)}
  
• ^{God Bless The Go-Go's (2001)}
  

^Videos

• ^{Totally Go-Go's - live 12/1981 (1982)}
  
• ^{Wild at the Greek - live concert (1984)}
  
• ^{Prime Time - music video compilation (1985)}
  
• ^{Live in Central Park - live concert (2001)}
  

Heart is a rock band whose founding members came from Seattle, Washington, USA in the early 1970s.Going through several lineup changes, the only constant members of the group are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson.^[10] The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music. After diminishing in popularity by the mid-1980s, the band created a major comeback in 1985, experiencing further success with their power ballads throughout the rest of the decade. By the mid-1990s, Heart left their 1980s' sound and went back to their hard rock roots which they continue to play today. To date, Heart has sold over 35 million albums worldwide.^[11]

After a six-year hiatus, Heart will return with a new studio recording on August 31 2010, entitled Red Velvet Car.

Heart was ranked #57 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".^[12]

^History

^{Origins (1967–1974)}

^{[steve Fossen, Roger Fisher, Mike Fisher}

^{In 1967 Steve Fossen formed The Army along with Roger Fisher on guitar, Don Wilhelm on guitar, keyboards and lead vocals, Ray Schaefer on drums. Fossen himself played the bass.[13] They played for several years in and around the Bothell, Washington area (northeast of Seattle). They frequently played Bothell High School, Inglemoor High School and Shorecrest High School, as well as many taverns and club venues. They frequented the club "Parker's" on Aurora Avenue in north Seattle during the 1970s when it was known as the "Aquarius Tavern". In 1969 the band went through line-up changes (Gary Ziegelman on lead vocals, Roger on guitar, Steve on bass, James Cirrello on guitar, Ron Rudge on drums, Ken Hansen on percussion,[13] and Debi Cuidon on vocals[citation needed]) and a new name, White Heart[13] (from Tales from the White Hart, a collection of short stories by Arthur C. Clarke). For a brief time in 1970 this line-up shortened its name to Heart; however, the band went through more personnel changes, and when Ann Wilson joined in late 1970, the band was named Hocus Pocus.[citation needed] Mike Fisher, Roger's brother, was set to be drafted. When he did not report for duty, his home was raided, but he slipped out a rear window, escaped to Canada and became a Vietnam Wardraft dodger.[1]One day in 1971, Mike sneaked across the border to visit family and, by chance, met Ann at a Hocus Pocus show.[5] According to Nancy, that meeting was "when she and Michael fell in love"[1] and Ann decided to follow Mike back to Canada.[3][6] Steve Fossen finished his college education before he also decided to move to Canada in late 1972,[7][13][14] and Roger followed in late 1972 / early 1973,[5][7] and along with Mike and Ann, the band Heart was officially formed.[4][6][7] Nancy joined in 1974, and soon after became involved with Roger. In 1974 the Heart lineup consisted of Ann, Nancy, Roger, Steve, John Hannah (keyboards) and Brian Johnstone (drums).[citation needed]}

^{Ann and Nancy Wilson}

^{The Wilson sisters grew up in Southern California and Taiwan before their Marine Corps father retired to the Seattlesuburbs. After Ann graduated from Sammamish High School in Bellevue, Washington, she joined Roger Fisher in the band Hocus Pocus where she met Roger's brother Mike in 1971,[5] and followed him back to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Meanwhile, Nancy finished high school then went to college where she majored in art and German literature.[1] She then played solo gigs until 1974 when she quit college and moved to Canada to join Heart.[1][2]}

^{Success (1975–1982)}

^{After many one-night shows around their new home, the group recorded a demo tape with the assistance of producer Mike Flicker and session-guitarist and keyboard player, Howard Leese. Hannah and Johnstone had left by this time, and soon after Leese became a full-time member of the group. The same team then cut the debut album, Dreamboat Annie, which attracted the attention of the newly formed Mushroom Records in 1975, a Vancouver-based label run by Shelly Siegel. Drummers Duris Maxwell, Dave Wilson, Kat Hendrikse and Michael Derosier were among those who played on the sessions for the album. Derosier eventually joined them as their full-time drummer. Upon release in Canada, the album sold an impressive 30,000 copies. In the US, Siegel released the album first in Seattle where it quickly sold another 25,000 copies. With two hit singles, "Crazy on You" (#35, 1976) and "Magic Man" (#9, 1976),[15]Dreamboat Annie eventually sold over 1 million copies.}

^{Mike Fisher was able to freely return to the United States with the members of Heart after President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders upon taking office on January 21, 1977. By this time Heart had broken its contract with Mushroom Records and signed with CBS subsidiary Portrait, a move that resulted in a prolonged legal battle with Siegel. He released the partly completed Magazine just before Portrait released Little Queen. A Seattle court ruled that Mushroom Records had to recall Magazine so that the group could remix several tracks and redo vocals before re-releasing the disc; Heart had wanted the album taken off the market completely.[citation needed] Hence, Magazine was released twice, both before and after Little Queen.}

^{Little Queen, with the hit "Barracuda" (#11, 1977), became Heart's second million-seller. Ann and Nancy appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in July 1977 (issue No. 244).[16]Magazine was re-issued in early 1978, peaking in the top twenty and gave forth the hit single "Heartless". In late 1978, the double-platinum Dog and Butterfly followed suit. After the 77-city "Dog and Butterfly" tour, the Wilson-Fisher liaisons ended. Roger left the band in the fall of 1979 after having a breakdown on stage and throwing a guitar near Nancy's head backstage.[17] Michael was no longer their manager and left Ann for another woman.[17]Roger Fisher formed his own band in the Seattle area. Longtime guitaristHoward Leese and Nancy filled the guitar slack and her childhood friend Sue Ennis helped with song collaborations. Heart then released Bebe le Strange in 1980. It became the band's second top ten hit album and produced two hit singles. By the end of the year, the band scored their highest charted single at the time; a remake of the ballad "Tell it Like it Is" which peaked at #8.}

^{Comeback (1983–1990)}

^{Following the release of Private Audition in 1982, Fossen and Derosier left the band. Both Private Audition and 1983's Passionworks, (featuring new bassist Mark Andes and new drummer Denny Carmassi), failed to go gold[18] putting Heart at a career crossroads.}

^{In 1984, Ann Wilson recorded a duet with Mike Reno of Loverboy called "Almost Paradise". The song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Footloose and hit #7 on the pop charts. Then Heart's first album for Capitol, simply titled Heart (#1, 1985), sold 5 million copies on the strength of 4 Top-10 hits: "What About Love?" (#10, 1985), "Never" (#4, 1985), "These Dreams" (#1, 1986) and "Nothin' at All" (#10, 1986).}

^{In June 1986, Nancy Wilson married journalist, screenwriter and directorCameron Crowe. (She had made a cameo appearance in his movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982, in a scene where she was driving a Corvette, listed as "Beautiful Girl In Car".) Heart's next album, Bad Animals (#2, 1987), also contained a chart-topper, in the power ballad "Alone" (#1, 1987), as well as "Who Will You Run To?" (#7, 1987), and "There's The Girl" (#12, 1987).}

^{Despite their new success, Ann's weight gain was seen as a liability for the band. Record company executives and even band members began pressuring her to lose weight.[19] For their music videos, Ann was usually shown in close-up and wide shots wearing heavy black clothes to hide her weight, and more focus was put on Nancy.[20]}

^{In 1989, Ann Wilson and Cheap Trick's lead singer, Robin Zander, had a #6 hit with their duet, "Surrender to Me". Brigade (#3, 1990) became Heart's 6th multi-platinum LP and added three more Top-25 hits to its catalogue, the most notable of which was "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" (#2 U.S.).}

^1991–1995

^{Following a 1990 tour, the Wilson sisters put together an informal acoustic group called The Lovemongers with Sue Ennis and Frank Cox.[21] A four-song EP that included a version of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" came out in late 1992, and the quartet performed several times in the Seattle area. The Lovemongers released a full-length album titled Whirlygig in 1997.}

^{Also in 1992, Ann sang with Alice in Chains on the songs "Brother", "Am I Inside" and "Love Song", from the EP Sap. When Heart re-emerged with Desire Walks On (#48) in 1993, Schuyler Deale played bass on the album's sessions. (Mark Andes had left the band by 1992.) For the group's subsequent tour, Heart was joined by bassist Fernando Saunders and drummer Denny Fongheiser. The band offered live acoustic versions of its best-known songs on 1995's The Road Home, which was produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.}

^{In 1995 Nancy decided to take a break from music to concentrate on raising a family with husband Cameron Crowe. Ann toured that year with a band that was alternately called The Ann Wilson Band or Ann Wilson & the Ricola Brothers. This lineup included Leese, Scott Olson (guitars), Jon Bayless (bass) and Scott Adams (sax). Additionally, Lovemongers' members Ben Smith (drums) and Frank Cox (guitars, keyboards, percussion) performed in this lineup. They were joined by Nancy for at least one show at The Joint in Las Vegas on October 16, 1995, which was billed as a Heart show and later broadcast by the Westwood One Superstars in Concert series. A videotape of the show was also shown on VH1.}

^1996-2001

^{In 1998 Ann toured again without Nancy, this time billed as Ann Wilson and Heart. The lineup was the same as it had been in 1995, but without Scott Adams. This was long term band member Leese's last tour with Heart; he left the band later in the year. Nancy kept busy scoring her husband's movies Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Elizabethtown and Vanilla Sky. She wrote and, along with her husband, produced the song "I Fall Apart" in Vanilla Sky that Cameron Diaz performed, and also composed "Elevator Beat", a non-vocal composition for the film. In 1999 Nancy released a solo album, (Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop). Also in 1999, Nancy and Ann embarked on a tour of their own, this being the first time that they had done so.}

^2002-2006

^{In 2002, Ann and Nancy returned to the road with a brand-new Heart lineup that included Scott Olson, Ben Smith, Alice In Chains bassist Mike Inez, and keyboardist Tom Kellock. In 2003, Heart released their critically acclaimed[citation needed] concert DVD Alive in Seattle which has since been certified Gold - Video Longform by the RIAA.[22] The DVD includes such hits as "Alone", "Barracuda", "Crazy on You", "Magic Man", "Straight On", "These Dreams" and many more.Also in 2003, Gilby Clarke (ex-Guns N' Roses) and Darian Sahanaja replaced Olson and Kellock. These two new men didn't stay very long and were succeeded in 2004 by Craig Bartok and Debbie Shair. (Sahanaja's schedule became very busy after he joined Brian Wilson's touring band, but he returned to play with Heart in 2007 for their "Dreamboat Annie Live" show.) In 2004 the Wilsons released Jupiter's Darling, their first studio album as Heart since 1993. It featured a variety of songs that include a return to Heart's original sound, as well as a blend of pop and new textures. Stand-out tracks included "Make Me", "Enough", "Oldest Story In The World" and "Lost Angel". In 2005 the Wilsons appeared on the CMT Music Awards as a special guest of country singer Gretchen Wilson, (no relation), and performed the Heart classic, "Crazy On You", with Gretchen. Also in 2005 Heart appeared in the finale episode of the second season of The L Word on Showtime (broadcast on May 15, 2005), performing "Crazy on You".}

^{Heart performed with Gretchen Wilson on VH-1's 10 March 2006 tribute to the band, "Decades Rock Live".[23] The special also featured Alice in Chains, Phil Anselmo, Dave Navarro, Rufus Wainwright and Carrie Underwood.[24] Later in the year, bass player Inez left Heart to re-join the reformed Alice In Chains. Ric Markman then became Heart's new bassist.}

^2007-2009

^{Heart was honored at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors (24 May 2007), and also performed along with Ozzy Osbourne, Genesis and ZZ Top. Gretchen Wilson and Alice in Chains honored the group by performing Barracuda.}

^{In September 2007, Ann Wilson released her first solo album, Hope & Glory. The album features guest appearances by Elton John, Alison Krauss, Nancy Wilson, k d lang, Wynonna Judd, Gretchen Wilson, Rufus Wainwright, Shawn Colvin, and Deana Carter, and was produced by Ben Mink (Barenaked Ladies, k d lang and Feist). Both Nancy Wilson and Roger Fisher commenced writing autobiographies, but no publication dates have yet been mentioned.[25]}

^{Heart appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on January 25, 2008 for Ellen's birthday show, and performed "Barracuda". Ellen played an intro to "Barracuda" on Guitar Hero in front of the audience before announcing Heart. On April 9, 2008, the band appeared on Idol Gives Back with Fergie, who sang "Barracuda" in harmony with Ann.[26] In mid 2008, Heart made a U.S. tour with Journey and Cheap Trick.}

^{In May 2008, Heart, Ann and Nancy Wilson, generously donated their musical talent for an Artist for the Arts Foundation benefit. Performing live along side the band Venice and over 50 members of the Santa Monica High School orchestra The Benefit helped to provide funds for the continuation of Music Education in the schools. The event was filmed and recorded by Touring Video and Post by On the WAVE Productions. The video was produced by Harry Rabin of OTW and can be seen on the AFTA Foundation website. aftafoundation.org}

^{In July 2009, Heart were special guests on 15 dates of Journey's summer arena tour. They played at a number of venues, including Louisville's Freedom Hall, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Sovereign Center, Reno Events Center, and Taco Bell Arena.[citation needed] Heart also headlined a series of shows with The Bangles opening for them. Heart also headlined at the Verizon Wireless American Music Festival Labor Day 2009. They also wrote two songs ("Mine", "Civilian") with American female pop rock duo 78violet for their upcoming self titled studio album.[27]}

^{2010 and Red Velvet Car}

^{In January 2010, Nancy and Ann both took part in We Are the World: 25 for Haiti.}

^{On March 5, 2010, Heart announced on their official website[citation needed] that they have completed recording for a new album entitled Red Velvet Car. The album is set for worldwide release on August 31, 2010 and is already being accompanied by an expansive US tour, which commenced in January and is currently set to run until September. European dates for an autumn schedule are expected to be announced in due course.[citation needed]}

^{The album will contain 10 new tracks including a new working of the Lovemongers' favourite 'Sand'. Heart have recently signed a new deal with Sony-Legacy for distribution of the album.}

^{A brand new live DVD of the 2010 tour will also accompany the album's release - the show already having been filmed on March 5 in their hometown of Seattle.}

^{The 20-track Red Velvet Car DVD setlist is:[citation needed]}

1. ^Barracuda
   
2. ^Never
   
3. ^{Kick It Out}
   
4. ^{Straight On}
   
5. ^{Love Alive}
   
6. ^{Mistral Wind}
   
7. ^{Back to Avalon}
   
8. ^{These Dreams}
   
9. ^{WTF (new song)}
   
10. ^{Hey You (new song)}
    
11. ^{Red Velvet Car (new song)}
    
12. ^{Sifonia's Mark (new song)}
    
13. ^{What About Love}
    
14. ^Alone
    
15. ^{Love Reign O'er Me}
    
16. ^{Crazy on You}
    
17. ^Sand
    
18. ^{Your Long Journey}
    
19. ^{There You Go Again (new song)}
    
20. ^{Magic Man}
    

^{Current tour dates feature a slightly different setlist, which includes the rarely performed Dog and Butterfly track "Cook With Fire" as the opening song.}

^{On May 15, 2010, Roger Fisher, Howard Leese, Steve Fossen, and Mike Derosier performed on stage together for the 1st time in 30 years at the historic Temple Theatre in Tacoma, Washington as part of a concert titled "Synergia Northwest." These musicians are the original founding members of the band.}

^Legacy

^{In addition to their own recording careers, the Wilson sisters have played a key role on the Seattle music scene. Among the groups who have recorded at their Bad Animals studio are R.E.M.., Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains,[28]Soundgarden and Candlebox (all of whom have cited Heart as an influence).[citation needed]}

^{"Heart's Heart: 20 Years of Rock & Roll" was the first CD-ROM multimedia biography/greatest hits package ever released.[citation needed]}

^{Heart was one of the first mainstream rock bands where women were in complete creative control.[29] Their success helped influence other women in the hard rock and heavy metal genres including Lita Ford and Pat Benatar.[30][citation needed]}

^{In 2009 the Wilson sisters were also awarded ASCAP'sFounders Award in recognition of their 35-year songwriting career.}

^Controversy

^{In 1977 Heart's record label, Mushroom Records, fueled rumors that Ann and Nancy were lesbian lovers by running a full-page ad in Rolling Stone showing the sisters bare-shouldered (as appearing on the "Dreamboat Annie" album cover) and suggestively captioned "It was only our first time". When a reporter suggested, backstage after a live appearance, that the sisters were sex partners, Ann returned to her hotel room and began writing the lyrics to "Barracuda" to relieve her frustration.[17] The song became one of Heart's biggest hits (#11, 1977).}

^{Members and former members}

^{ArtistInstrument(s)PeriodFisher, MikeMike FisherManager, engineer, producer, light man, guitar (1973–74)[31]}1973-1979^[31]Fisher, RogerRoger FisherLead guitar, backing vocals1973–1979^[32]Fossen, SteveSteve FossenElectric bass guitar, percussion1973–1982^[33]Hannah, JohnJohn HannahKeyboards1974Johnstone, BrianBrian JohnstoneDrums1974Wilson, AnnAnn WilsonVocals (Lead vocals, backing vocals), flute, guitar, keyboards, percussion, violin, autoharp1973–present^[34]Wilson, NancyNancy WilsonVocals, guitar (acoustic guitars, electric guitars, lead guitar), mandolin, keyboards, synthesizers, harmonica1975–presentDeRosier, MichaelMichael DeRosierDrums, percussion1975–1982Leese, HowardHoward LeeseGuitars,electric lead, acoustic 12 string,acoustic 6 string, bass, keyboards, synthesizers, mandolin, recorder,orchestra arrangements , autoharp, percussion, backing vocals1975–1998Andes, MarkMark AndesElectric bass guitar, backing vocals1982–1992Carmassi, DennyDenny CarmassiDrums, percussion1982–1992Deale, SchuylerSchuyler DealeElectric bass guitar1993Fongheiser, DennyDenny FongheiserDrums, percussion1993–1995Saunders, FernandoFernando SaundersElectric bass guitar1993–1995Olson, ScottScott OlsonGuitars . electric & acoustics1995–1998,

2002-2003Cox, FrankFrank CoxGuitar, keyboards, backing vocals1995–1998Adams, ScottScott AdamsSax1995Kennedy, JamesJames KennedyElectric lead guitar1995–1998Kellock, TomTom KellockKeyboards, synthesizers2002–2003Smith, BenBen SmithDrums1995–1998,

2002–presentInez, MikeMike InezElectric bass guitar2002–2006Clarke, GilbyGilby ClarkeGuitar2003–2004Sahanaja, DarianDarian SahanajaKeyboards, synthesizers2003–2004,

2007^[35]Bartock, CraigCraig BartockGuitar2004–presentShair, DebbieDebbie ShairKeyboards, synthesizers2004–presentMarkmann, RicRic MarkmannElectric bass guitar2006–present (studio recording 2009)Attard, ChristianChristian AttardElectric bass guitar2009–present

Discography

Further information: Heart discography

Heart songs in other mediaFor lists of cover versions of individual songs, and of their appearances in other media, refer to the individual pages of the songs themselves. (A list of Heart's songs pages appears at Category:Heart songs.) Other appearances in other media of Heart's songs include:

• "The Heat" is featured in the 1984 movie Up the Creek.
  
• "Barracuda" is featured in the 2000 film Charlie's Angels.
  

N.W.A (popularly shortened for Niggaz Wit Attitudes^[1][2]; also known as Niggaz With Attitude^[3], though speculated to be shortened for "No Whites Allowed" ^[4]), was a Compton, California-based hip hop group widely considered one of the seminal acts of the gangsta rap sub-genre.^[5] Active from 1986 to 1991, the group endured controversy due to the explicit nature of their lyrics. They were subsequently banned^{[citation needed]} from many mainstream U.S. radio stations and even at times prevented from touring - yet the group has still sold over 9 million units in the U.S. alone. Their second album, Straight Outta Compton, marked the beginning of the new gangsta rap era as the production and the social commentary in their lyrics were revolutionary within the genre.^[3] Rolling Stone ranked N.W.A 83rd on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".^[6] Although largely unknown at the group's inception, rappers Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E and MC Ren would all go on to be platinum-selling stars as solo artists.

History

Formation and N.W.A and the Posse (1986-1988)

The group N.W.A was founded by Compton-based former drug dealer Eazy-E, who founded Ruthless Records with Jerry Heller.^[3][7] Ruthless released N.W.A. and the Posse in 1987 with Macola Records. N.W.A was still in its developing stages, and only credited on four of the eleven tracks, notably the uncharacteristic electro hop record "Panic Zone", "8Ball", and "Dopeman", which first brought together Ice Cube, Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. Also included was Eazy's solo record "Boyz-n-the Hood".^[8] In 1988, rapper MC Ren joined the group.^[3]

Straight Outta Compton (1988-1989)

N.W.A released Straight Outta Compton in 1988. With its famous opening salvo of three songs, the group reflected the rising anger of the urban youth. "Straight Outta Compton" introduced the group; "Fuck tha Police" protested police brutality and racial profiling, and "Gangsta Gangsta" painted the worldview of the inner-city youth. While the group was later credited with pioneering the burgeoning sub genre of gangsta rap, N.W.A referred to their music as "reality rap".^[9]

Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, as HighPowered Productions, composed the beats for each song, with Dre making occasional rapping appearances.^[10] 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,^[11] Milt Ahlerich, an assistant director of the FBI, sent a letter to Ruthless 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.^[12] 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 in its early stages: the label then only consisted of "WARNING: Moderate impact coarse language and/or themes". However, the taboo nature of N.W.A's music was the greatest part of its mass appeal. The media coverage compensated for N.W.A's virtual lack of airplay and their album eventually went double platinum.^[13]

One month after Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-E's solo debut Eazy-Duz-It was released. The album was dominated by Eazy's persona - Joe M., appearing on two songs, was the only guest rapper - but behind the scenes it was a group effort. Music was handled by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, and the lyrics were largely written by Ren, with contributions from Ice Cube and The D.O.C.. The album was another platinum success for Ruthless (in addition to girl group J.J. Fad in 1988 and singer Michel'le in 1989), also going double.^[14] 1989 saw the re-issue of N.W.A. and the Posse (which was released on CD for the first time) and Straight Outta Compton on compact disc, and the release of The D.O.C.'s No One Can Do It Better. The album was essentially a collaboration between "The D.O.C. and The Doctor" and notably free of "gangsta rap content", but culminated in the N.W.A posse cut "The Grand Finalé". It would be another number one album for the record label.

Post-Ice Cube (1989-1991)

Ice Cube left in late 1989 over royalty disputes;^[3] having written 45% of Straight Outta Compton himself, he felt he was not getting a fair share of the money and profits.^[15] He wasted little time putting together his solo debut, 1990's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, but avoided mentioning his former label mates.

N.W.A's title track from their EP "100 Miles And Runnin'" did include a diss of Ice Cube, however: We started with five, but yo, one couldn't take it. So now it's four, cuz the fifth couldn't make it.

The video for the song depicted the remaining members of N.W.A. together in a jail cell, while an Ice Cube look-alike is released. Also heard on the EP (which found its way on the Efil4zaggin CD re-issue) was "Real Niggaz", a full-blown diss on Ice Cube where the remaining members accuse him of cowardice, and question his authenticity, longevity and originality:

How the fuck you think a rapper lasts/With your ass sayin' shit, that was said in the past/Yo, be original, your shit is sloppy/Get off the dick, you motherfucking carbon-copy." and "we started out with too much cargo/so I'm glad we got rid of Benedict Arnold, yo.

The song "100 Miles and Runnin'" is also notable for being Dr. Dre's final uptempo record, which had been a common feature of late-'80s hip hop. After this, he made a lower-tempo, synthesizer based sound known as G-funk, starting with "Alwayz Into Somethin'" from Efil4zaggin in 1991. G-funk dominated both the West and East Coast music scene after Dre left the group.

N.W.A is referenced on Ice Cube's 1990 EP, Kill at Will, where he name-checks his former group (likely in a mocking manner) on the song "Jackin' For Beats". On "I Gotta Say What Up!!!", Ice Cube gives shout-outs to his rap peers at the time, among them Public Enemy, the Geto Boys, Sir Jinx, et cetera. At the end of the track, in what appears to be an on-the-phone interview, Ice Cube is asked, "Since you went solo, whatever happened to your crew?" and the interviewer is abruptly hung up on.

The group's second full-length release, 1991's Efil4zaggin ("Niggaz4Life" spelled backwards), re-established the group in the face of Ice Cube's continued solo success. The album is considered by many Dr. Dre's finest production work, and heralded the beginning of the "G-Funk era". It also showed a clear animosity towards their former member, and derogatory references to Ice Cube are found in several songs. The interlude "A Message to B.A." echoes the beginning of his song "Turn Off the Radio" from AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted: in it, Ice Cube is first addressed by the name "Benedict Arnold" (after the infamous traitor of the American Revolution) but then named outright in a torrent of abuse from both the group and its fans: "When we see yo' ass, we gon' cut yo' hair off and fuck you with a broomstick. Think about it, punk muthafucka ", spoken by MC Ren.

The N.W.A-Ice Cube feud eventually escalated. AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted had avoided direct attacks on N.W.A, but on Death Certificate, Ice Cube’s second full-length, he fired back. He sampled and mocked the "Message to B.A." skit before embarking on a full-blown tirade, the infamous "No Vaseline". In a series of verses, Ice Cube addressed the group: " You lookin' like straight bozos, I saw it comin', that's why I went solo ... You got jealous when I got my own company, but I'm a man, and ain't nobody humpin' me." He also responded to "100 Miles and Runnin'", explaining "I started off with too much cargo, dropped four Niggaz now I'm makin' all the dough", and then MC Ren, Dr. Dre and especially Eazy-E individually, using homosexual metaphors to describe their unequal business relationship with Jerry Heller, who becomes the target of very harsh criticism: "Get rid of that devil real simple, put a bullet in his temple ... cuz you can't be the "Niggaz 4 Life" crew, with a white Jew tellin' you what to do." The song attracted controversy for its perceived anti-Semitism (the beginning of such allegations involving Ice Cube) for referencing Heller's religion;^[16] the track was omitted from the U.K. release, and later pressings have had the words edited.

The increasingly violent content was reflected in real life —on January 27, 1991, Dr. Dre assaulted Dee Barnes, host of the hip hop show Pump It Up, after its coverage^[17] of the N.W.A/Ice Cube beef.

According to Rolling Stone reporter Alan Light:^[18]

“He picked her up and "began slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a wall near the stairway" as his bodyguard held off the crowd. After Dre tried to throw her down the stairs and failed, he began kicking her in the ribs and hands. She escaped and ran into the women's rest room. Dre followed her and "grabbed her from behind by the hair and proceeded to punch her in the back of the head.”Despite a lawsuit, the group was unrepentant. MC Ren later stated, "bitch deserved it"—Eazy-E, "yeah, bitch had it coming." As Dre described it: "People talk all this shit, but you know, somebody fuck with me, I'm gonna fuck with them. I just did it, you know. Ain't nothing you can do now by talking about it. Besides, it ain't no big thing—I just threw her through a door."^[18]

In this time as well the demographic which were interested in the group also began to change. Although they still rapped about similar themes of the "gangster life" in Compton and South Central Los Angeles, without Ice Cube they were not as serious and hardly political at all, as they were on Straight Outta Compton.^{[citation needed]}

The end of N.W.A (1991-1998)

1991's Niggaz4Life would be the group's final album. After Dr. Dre, The D.O.C. and Michel'le departed from Ruthless to join Death Row Records, and allegations over Eazy-E being coerced into signing away their contracts (while however retaining a portion of their publishing rights), a bitter rivalry ensued.^[3] Dr. Dre began the exchange with Death Row's first release, 1992's "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')", and its accompanying video featured a character named Sleazy-E who ran around desperately trying to get money. The insults continued on The Chronic with "Bitches Ain't Shit". Eazy-E responded in 1993 with the EP It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa and the tracks "Real Muthaphuckkin G's" and "It's On". Eazy-E accused Dr. Dre of homosexual tendencies, calling him a "she thang", and the music video for "Real Muthaphuckkin G's" shows promo pictures of him wearing make-up and a sequined jumpsuit. The photos were from Dr. Dre's World Class Wreckin' Cru days, when such fashions were the style of West Coast Electro hop prior to N.W.A's popularizing of gangsta rap.

After Eazy-E's AIDS-related death on March 26, 1995, all bad blood between the group ceased. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube would later express their re-evaluated feelings to their old friend on 1999's "What's The Difference" and "Chin Check", 2000's "Hello", and 2006's "Growin' Up".

Reunions and legacy (1999-present)

Having both found themselves exploited by Ruthless Records, tensions eased between Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. Ice Cube made a cameo appearance in Dr. Dre's "Let Me Ride" video in 1993. The two recorded the hit song "Natural Born Killaz" for Snoop Doggy Dogg's 1994 short film and soundtrack Murder Was the Case. MC Ren appeared on Dre's 1999 album The Chronic 2001, and the three remaining N.W.A emcees would reunite for "Hello", from Ice Cube's 2000 album War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), featuring the hook "I started this gangsta shit/And this the motherfucking thanks I get?". The West Coast and "gangsta" music scene had however fallen out of the spotlight since the death of Tupac Shakur in 1996, and it was only after Dr. Dre's successful patronage of Eminem and his ensuing comeback album 2001 would the genre and its artists regain the national spotlight. 2000's all-star Up In Smoke Tour would reunite much of the N.W.A and Death Row families, and during time spent on the road Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and honorary member Snoop Dogg began recording in a mobile studio. A comeback album entitled Not These Niggaz Again was planned^[19] (and would include DJ Yella, who had not been present on the tour). But due to busy and conflicting schedules, and the obstacles of coordinating three different record labels (Priority, No Limit and Interscope), obtaining the rights to the name "N.W.A", and endorsing the whole project to gain exclusive rights, the album never materialized.^[20] Only two tracks from these sessions would be released - "Chin Check" (with Snoop Dogg as a member of N.W.A) from 1999's Next Friday soundtrack) and "Hello" from Ice Cube's 2000 album War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) - both songs would appear on N.W.A's remastered and re-released Greatest Hits.

There would also be partial reunions on "Set It Off", from Snoop Dogg's Tha Last Meal (2000), which featured MC Ren and Ice Cube as well as former Death Row "Inmates", and The D.O.C.'s "The Shit", from his 2003 album Deuce, which featured MC Ren, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Six-Two. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella were present in the studio for the latter song. In addition to the Greatest Hits originally released by Priority in 1996, Capitol and Ruthless Records released The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988-1998 in 1998, an album that contained only three songs from the actual group but various solo tracks from the five members. The success of the album prompted a second volume, The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 2, two years later. It followed the same format of the first album, containing only three "N.W.A" tracks and many songs from them as solo artists. In 2007, a new greatest hits package was released, The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge.

Future biopic

New Line Cinema reps announced to Entertainment Weekly's "Hollywood Insider Blog" that N.W.A's story is in development to become a theatrical release in 2012. According to IMDb, the script was researched and written by filmmaker S. Leigh Savidge and radio veteran Alan Wenkus, who worked closely with Eazy E's widow Tomica Wright. Producing the film will be Tomica Wright, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre. A director has not been chosen yet; however, the producers are reportedly seeking a helmer on par with 8 Mile director Curtis Hanson. The cast has yet to be disclosed. MC Ren and DJ Yella have not yet commented on whether or not they will be involved in the production. Casting calls begin in the summer of 2010. There has been talks of Lil Eazy-E playing his father Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, and Ice Cube's son and fellow rapper O'Shea Jackson II (a.k.a. Shea) is going to play his father as well.

Discography

Main article: N.W.A discography

[edit] Albums

• N.W.A. and the Posse (1987 / reissued in 1989)
  
• Straight Outta Compton (1988)
  
• Niggaz4life (1991)
  

EPs

• 100 Miles and Runnin' (1990)
  

Compilations

• Greatest Hits (1996)
  
• Straight Outta Compton: N.W.A 10th Anniversary Tribute (1998)
  
• The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988-1998 (1999)
  
• The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 2 (2002)
  
• The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge (2006)
  
• Straight Outta Compton (20th Anniversary) (2007)
  
• Family Tree (2008)
  

Cypress Hill is a Latino American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Originally called DVX, the name was changed after Mellow Man Ace left in 1988.^[2] Cypress Hill was the first Latino group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide. They are one of the most well known groups in West Coast rap and are critically acclaimed for their first three albums

History

Early works and mainstream success (1989–1995)

After recording a demo in 1989, Cypress Hill signed a record deal with the major label, Columbia Records. Their self-titled first album was released in August 1991. The lead single was the double A-side "The Phuncky Feel One"/"How I Could Just Kill A Man" which received heavy airplay on urban and college radio. The other two singles released from the album were "Hand On The Pump" and "Latin Lingo", the latter of which combined English and Spanish lyrics. The success of these singles led to the album selling two million copies in the US alone.The group made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.

Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also, with their debut still in the charts, they became the first rap group to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.

Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs smoked a joint on-air and the group trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the Soul Assassins tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.

The group played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival, introducing new member Eric Bobo, son of Willie Bobo and formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Rolling Stone magazine named the group as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They also appeared on the "Homerpalooza" episode of The Simpsons. Prior to Bobo joining the crew, Panchito "Ponch" Gomez sat in as a percussionist when not acting.

Their third album III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995, selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air" ^{[citation needed]}. Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.

Continued career (1996–2002)

Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based rap rock band SX-10.^[4] Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and contributed to an album entitled "The Psycho Realm" with the band of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on Cypress Hill, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.

Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking cannabis "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime/very mature video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. In 2000, Cypress Hill then fused genres with their fifth album, Skull & Bones, which was a two-disc album. The first disc, "Skull" was composed of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. Following the release of the album, Cypress Hill (along with MxPx) landed a slot opening for The Offspring on the Conspiracy of One tour. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Francisco) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.

Till Death Do Us Part (2003–2007)

Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "The Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.

In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato". Pharrell Williams produced the track, and originally sang the hook, but because of the video idea, B-Real was asked to sing the hook. Sen Dog is now currently touring with the Kottonmouth Kings, Kingspade and Dogboy on the Joint is on Fire Tour.

In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoahe Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, and Hangar 18.

Departure from Sony and Rise Up (2008–present)

Having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Sony Music, Cypress Hill were to release their new album through a different record label in 2009.^[5]

On July 25, 2008, Cypress Hill performed at a benefit concert at the House of Blues Chicago, where a majority of the proceeds went to the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.^[6]

In August 2009, a new song by Cypress Hill, titled "Get 'Em Up", was made available on iTunes. The song is featured on the Madden NFL 2010 video game.^[7]

In November 2009, a new version of Guns N'Roses classic "Paradise City" performed by Cypress Hill, Slash and Fergie was made available as a bonus track to Slash's single "Sahara" off Slash's solo album Slash.

Cypress Hill's eighth studio album, Rise Up, features contributions from Everlast, Tom Morello, Daron Malakian, Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Mike Shinoda.^[8] The album was released on Priority Records/EMI Entertainment, as the group was signed to the label by new Creative Chairman Snoop Dogg on January 15, 2010. The album was finally released on April 20, 2010.^[1] The album's introduction single, "It Ain't Nothin'" was released as a free download from the group's official website. The song "Rise Up" was featured at WWE's pay-per-view, WWE Elimination Chamber, as the official theme song for that event, and was released as the third single for the album, with "Armada Latina" being fourth.

Cypress Hill commenced its Rise Up tour in Philadelphia on April 10, 2010. DJ Muggs was noticeably absent and it appears that Julio G has replaced DJ Muggs for the tour. DJ Muggs has been absent due to working on several other projects, including separate albums with B-Real and Sen Dog.

Style

Rapping

One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals.^[2] In the book Check the Technique B-Real describes his nasal style, saying his rapping voice is "high and annoying... the nasal style I have was just something that I developed... my more natural style wasn't so pleasing to [DJ Muggs and Sen Dog's] ears"^[9] and talking about the nasal style in the book How to Rap, B-Real says, "you want to stand out from the others and just be distinct... when you got something that can separate you from everybody else, you gotta use it to your advantage."^[3] Sen Dog's voice is deeper, more violent and often shouted alongside the rapping; his vocals are often emphasized by adding an additional background/choir voice to say them. Sen Dog's style is in contrast to B-Real's, who says, "[sen's] voice is so strong", and "it all blends together" when they are both on the same track.^[9]

Both B-Real and Sen Dog started writing lyrics in both Spanish and English and B-Real was inspired to start writing raps from watching Sen Dog and Mellow Man Ace writing their lyrics,^[9] and originally B-Real was going to just be the writer for the group rather than a rapper.^[9] Their lyrics are noted for bringing a "cartoonish" approach to violence by Peter Shapiro and Allmusic^[2][10]

Production

The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is notable for its spooky sounds and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a pitched-altered horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.^[2][10]

The band is also known for involving rock instruments and in their songs – this has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a Rapcore group.^[2] The double album Skull & Bones consists of a pure rap album ("Skull") and an entire CD of rap/rock songs ("Bones"). Also in IV, there is Lightning Strikes which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. In the live album "Live at The Fillmore" some of the old classics are played in a rock/metal version, with Sen Dog's band SX-10 and Eric Bobo playing the rock instruments.

The band's music is constantly subject to change: while the first album and Black Sunday follow a more minimalistic and funky sound, III (Temples of Boom) has a very dark, spooky atmosphere and heavy beats, sometimes approaching hardcore rap. IV introduced more diverse sounds on the beats while maintaining the hardcore edge. The first albums are mostly influenced by psychedelic music, but the band eventually got closer to modern rap as it is today while still experimenting with rock from time to time, like on "Skull and Bones" and "Stoned Riders".

The band involves horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. What's Your Number?, Trouble, Tequila Sunrise, and (Rock) Superstar have become some of the bands most popular songs featuring these elements.

Side and solo projects

Eric Bobo's group Sol Invicto featuring Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones and producer Richie Londres of C.L.P's album is due to be out in 2010.

2009 saw the releases of both B-Real and Sen Dog's solo efforts Smoke N Mirrors and Diary of a Mad Dog. B-Real is also part of a super-group called Serial Killaz with both Xzibit and his protege Young De. B-Real started his own production company called Audio Hustlaz, with which he has worked and featured on tracks with Kurupt, Young De, Xzibit, Adil Omar, Snoop Dogg, Bitza and others, and has also done guest appearances for La Coka Nostra, Ill Bill, Akrobatik, The Outlawz, Nipsey Hussle and Apathy.

Other notable side projects include B-Real's rap metal group Kush with members from Deftones and Fear Factory who are as yet to release any official material.

Discography

Main article: Cypress Hill discography

• 1991: Cypress Hill (2x Platinum)^[11]
  
• 1993: Black Sunday (3x Platinum)^[12]
  
• 1995: III: Temples of Boom (Platinum)^[13]
  
• 1998: IV (Gold)^[14]
  
• 1999: Los Grandes Éxitos en Español (compilation album)
  
• 2000: Skull & Bones (Platinum)^[15]
  
• 2001: Stoned Raiders
  
• 2004: Till Death Do Us Part
  
• 2010: Rise Up^[8][16
  

House of Pain is an Irish-American hip-hop group who released three albums in the 1990s before lead rapper Everlast left to pursue his solo career again. The group is best known for its 1992 hit single "Jump Around", which reached #3 in the United States, #6 in Ireland and #8 in the United Kingdom.^[1]

^{Band history}

^{Rise to fame}

^{After a brief unsuccessful solo career, Everlast teamed up with DJ Lethal and high school friend Danny Boy to form House of Pain.[1] The group was signed to Tommy Boy Records, and their self-titled debut album (1992) went multi-platinum, spawning the successful DJ Muggs produced single "Jump Around". This song was also remixed twice by Pete Rock, one version featuring a verse from him and one without. The album also featured Cypress Hill member, B-Real, on the song "Put Your Head Out".}

^{Fashioning themselves as rowdy Irish-American hooligans (although Lethal is of Latvian heritage), they toured with various rap and alternative-rock bands after their breakthrough. They participated together with Helmet, along with several other rap acts, on the 1993 rock-rap collaborative Judgment Nightfilmsoundtrack.}

^{Second album}

^{Their follow-up album, 1994's Same As It Ever Was, went gold despite minimal airplay and no major hits. The first single, "On Point," is noted for taking a swipe at another American rapper with a strong Irish heritage, "Marky Mark" (Mark Wahlberg) ("Calvin Klein's no friend of mine/So I don't like Marky").[citation needed] Like Cypress Hill, who, with House of Pain, were a part of the loosely-affiliated Soul Assassins posse, they found urban radio airplay an increasingly closed path, which affected album sales.}

^{Third album}

^{House of Pain abruptly broke up in 1996 after the release of their third album, Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again, which featured guest appearances by rappers Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Guru of Gang Starr, producer/rapper Divine Styler and reggae singjay Cockni O'Dire (credited as the Scheme Team). On the release date of the album, Everlast announced his departure from the group as he had recently embraced Islam, and felt he had to get away from the culture that surrounded House of Pain.[2]}

^{Split, solo and current affairs}

^{From then on, the members continued their separate careers. Danny Boy founded an art company. DJ Lethal became a member of nu metal band Limp Bizkit, who would cover "Jump Around" at live concerts, particularly in Limp Bizkit's early years during the Family Values Tour 1998. Everlast achieved multi-platinum solo fame in 1998 with his album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.[1] The first single from that album was "What It's Like". In 2000, a feud between Everlast and rapper Eminem coincided with the gold-selling Eat at Whitey's, which included minor hits "Black Jesus" and "Black Coffee", and featured a collaboration with Carlos Santana. After the sale of the Tommy Boy Records' master tapes to Warner Bros. Records, Everlast signed with Island/Def Jam, and released the solo LP White Trash Beautiful in 2004.}

^{Later the same year Rhino Records, a subdivision of Warner Music, released a hit collection, Shamrocks & Shenanigans, with singles from Everlast's early solo days, the House of Pain and his post-group solo efforts. Before the release, Everlast announced on his official message board that he was not endorsing the compilation album.}

^{Founded by Danny Boy in early 2006, La Coka Nostra reunited him, Everlast and DJ Lethal for the first time since House of Pain's split. Other group members include Ill Bill of Non Phixion, and newcomer Slaine. Apart from recording and performing as La Coka Nostra, House of Pain continues to tour as an act.}

^{In popular culture}

• ^{"Jump Around" is played at various sporting events in North America. It is played between the 3rd and 4th quarters of every University of Wisconsin home football game, with the entire stadium and players often participating. It is used in many television and cinema productions, such as in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire, the 1997 film Happy Gilmore, the TV series My Name Is Earl, and in commercials for Strongbow Cider in Australia, Mars Bar in the United Kingdom and for Pringles in the US. It also played in the American film Black Hawk Down and in a Bridgestone tire commercial aired during 2009's NFL Super Bowl.}
  
• ^{The group was briefly featured on the 2002 VH1 program 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders in where "Jump Around" got ranked #63 on the list.}
  
• ^{"Top o' The Morning to Ya" is used in the 2003 film Daredevil when Bullseye made his first appearance.}
  
• ^{In 2007, comedian Des Bishop had the lyrics translated into Irish (with the title "Léim thart") when working on the RTÉ series In the Name of the Fada.}
  
• ^{UFC Fighter Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis uses "Jump Around" as his entrance theme, preceded by a quote from the movie The Boondock Saints.}
  
• ^{"I'm A Swing It" is featured on the soundtrack of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3video game.}
  
• ^{"Top O' The Mornin' to Ya" was used in the 1994 film Heat.}
  
• ^{"Jump Around" was also featured in the cartoon TV series, American Dad!!.}
  

^Discography

^{For a complete House of Pain discography, see external links.}

^Albums

^{YearAlbumChart PositionsUSUS Hip-Hop1992House of Pain14161994Same as It Ever Was12121996Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again4731[1]}

EPs

YearAlbum1994Legend

Compilations

YearAlbum2004Shamrocks & Shenanigans

Singles

• "Jump Around" / "HOP Anthem" (1992) #3 US, #8 UK
  
• "Shamrocks & Shenanigans" (US) (1992) #65 US, #23 UK
  
• "Shamrocks & Shenanigans" / "Who's The Man" (UK) (1992)
  
• "Top O' The Morning To Ya" (remix) (1992)
  
• "Who's The Man?" (1993) #96 US
  
• "Legend EP" (US) (1994)
  
• "On Point" (1994) #19 UK, #85 US
  
• "Over There (I Don't Care)" (1994) #20 UK
  
• "It Ain't Crime" / "Word is Bond" (UK, CD 1/2) (1994) #37 UK
  
• "Legend" / "It Ain't A Crime" (UK, CD 2/2) (1994)
  
• "Word Is Bond" / "Legend" (1995)
  
• "Pass The Jinn" (1996)
  
• "Fed Up" / "Heart Full Of Sorrow" feat. Sadat X (1996) #68 UK
  
• "Fed Up" (remix feat. Guru) (1996)^[3][1]
  

Soundtrack contributions

• Judgment Night (1993) - song with Helmet "Just Another Victim"
  
• Who's the Man (1993) - song "Who's the Man"
  
• Eddie (1996) - song "Punch Drunk"
  
• The Jerky Boys (1995) - song "Beef Jerky"
  

Run-D.M.C. (sometimes written Run D.M.C., Run…quot;DMC, or Run DMC) was a hip hop group from Hollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop.

They were the biggest act in hip-hop throughout the 1980s and are credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music. They were the first group in their genre to have a Gold record and be nominated for a Grammy. ^[1] The group was among the first to show how important the MC/DJ relationship was. ^[2][3] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them number 48 in their list of the greatest musical artists of all time.^[3]

In 2007, the trio was named Greatest Hip Hop Group of All Time by MTV.com ^[4] They were also named Greatest Hip Hop Artist of All Time by VH1.^[5] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009, the second hip-hop group to be inducted, after Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.

Name

The initials "DMC", while sounding like a reference to Tony Price's company [2], Disco Mix Club (now "DMC International"), which began holding annual DJ battles in 1986, It is widely accepted that it refers to Darryl McDaniels' initials.^{[citation needed]} In King of Rock DMC says the initials have two meanings: Devastating Mic Control, D for never dirty, MC for mostly clean.

Career

The three members of Run…quot;D.M.C. grew up in the neighborhood of Hollis in the Queens borough of New York City, USA.^[3] As a teen, Simmons was recruited into hip-hop by his older brother, Russell, who was then an up and cto be the Dynamic Two, the Treacherous Two …quot; when we heard that shit, we was like, ‘We’re gonna be ruined!’ ”^[6]

After signing with Profile Records, Run…quot;D.M.C. released their first single "It's Like That/Sucker MCs", in late 1983. The sound was a revolution in hip hop: aggressive, cocky rhymes over spare, minimal, hard-hitting beats. Previously, rap music had been chiefly funk and disco-influenced, but Run…quot;D.M.C.'s sound, like their name, was unlike anything that had been heard in rap before. The single was well received, peaking at #15 on the R&B charts.^[7] The trio performed the single on the New York Hot Tracks video show in 1983. Emboldened by their success, Run…quot;D.M.C. recorded their eponymous debut and, released in 1984, Run…quot;D.M.C. was an instant hit and, arguably, rap's first classic album.^{[citation needed]} Hit singles such as "Jam-Master Jay" and "Hard Times" proved that the group were more than a one-hit wonder, and the landmark single "Rock Box" was a groundbreaking fusion of raw hip-hop and hard rock that would become a cornerstone of the group's sound and paved the way for the rap rock movement of the late 1990s.

Run…quot;D.M.C.'s swift ascension to the forefront of rap with a new sound and style meant that old school hip hop artists were becoming outdated. Along with pushing rap into a new direction musically, Run…quot;D.M.C. changed the entire aesthetic of hip hop music and culture. Old school rappers like Afrika Bambaataa and Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tended to dress in the flashy attire that was commonly attributed to rock and disco acts of the era: tight leather, chest-baring shirts, gloves and hats with rhinestones and spikes, leather boots, etc. Run…quot;D.M.C. discarded the more glam aspects of early hip hop's look (which ironically, was later readopted in 1990 by more "pop" rappers MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice) and incorporated a more 'street' sense of style such as fedoras, leather jackets, and unlaced Adidas shoes. ^[8] The group's look had been heavily influenced by Mizell's own personal style. When Russell Simmons saw Jay's flashy, yet street b-boy style, he insisted the entire group follow suit.^[9] Run said later:

“There were guys that wore hats like those and sneakers with no shoestrings. It was a very street thing to wear, extremely rough. They couldn’t wear shoelaces in jail and we took it as a fashion statement. The reason they couldn’t have shoelaces in jail was because they might hang themselves. That’s why DMC says ‘My Adidas only bring good news and they are not used as felon shoes.'^[10]”

That embrace of the look and style of the street would define the next 25 years of hip hop fashion.

King of Rock, Raising Hell and mainstream success

After the success of their first album, Run…quot;D.M.C. looked to branch out on their follow-up. They transitioned into an album that defines their fusion of hip-hop with rock with more varied beats and a sharper guitar. 1985's King of Rock saw the group furthering their rap-rock fusion on songs like "Can You Rock It Like This" and the classic title track; while "Roots, Rap, Reggae" was one of the first rap/dancehall hybrids. The music video for the single "King of Rock" was the first ever rap video to air on MTV and received heavy rotation from the channel. It featured Run and DMC wreaking havoc in a museum that resembles the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, (though the Hall of Fame museum would not officially open for another nine years.) The video was interpreted as a reaction to the rock establishment's dismissal of rap music, a dismissal that echoed pop and jazz performers' early distaste for rock a generation before. The song was the group's biggest hit at that point and the album was certified platinum.

Building on their ever-growing crossover appeal, Run-D.M.C. performed at the legendary Live Aid benefit shortly after King of Rock was released. They were the only rap act invited to perform.

In late 1985, Run…quot;D.M.C. appeared as themselves in the classic hip hop film Krush Groove, a fictionalized re-telling of Russell Simmons' rise as a hip-hop entrepreneur and his struggles to get his own label, Def Jam Recordings, off of the ground. The film featured a young Blair Underwood as Russell, along with appearances by old-school legend Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, teen pop act New Edition, LL Cool J, Prince protegee Sheila E.., and hip hop's first successful white rap group the Beastie Boys, who were signed to Simmons' Def Jam label. The movie was a hit and further proof of hip hop's continued mainstream visibility.

Returning to the studio in 1986, the group teamed with producer Rick Rubin for their third album. Rubin had just produced teenage phenom LL Cool J's acclaimed debut album Radio.Rubin wanted to change their sound to give them a more street credible sound. They also wanted to put out what they called a consistent album and have a single on the Billboard Hot 100. While at Chung King Studios, Def Jam’s unofficial hangout, the group turned bits and pieces they already had into songs for their new album. Wanting to better themselves, with the help of Rubin, they put out their third album titled Raising Hell which became the group's most successful album and one of the best-selling rap albums of all-time. After only being released a few months, the album was certified double-platinum and peaked at number three on the charts. Unlike before they went into the studio with nearly finished songs including “It’s Tricky” and “My Adidas”. “It’s Tricky” was released to let people know that rap is not as simple as people think it is.

They were almost done with the album, but Rubin thought that it needed an element that would appeal to rock fans as well. This spurred the lead single "Walk This Way", a cover of the classic hard rock song by Aerosmith. The original intention was to just rap over a sample of the song, but Rubin and Jay insisted on doing a complete cover version. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were called to join Run…quot;D.M.C. in the studio to add vocals and lead guitar, respectively. The song and video became one of the biggest hits of the '80s, reaching number four on the Hot 100, and cemented Run…quot;D.M.C.'s crossover status. It also resurrected Aerosmith's career.^[11] Raising Hell boasted four tracks that reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, with the single "My Adidas" leading to the group signing a $1.6 million endorsement deal with athletic apparel brand Adidas. Adidas formed a long-term relationship with Run…quot;D.M.C. and hip hop.^[12]

The success of Raising Hell is often credited with kick-starting hip hop's golden age, (the period from roughly 1986 to 1994, when rap music's visibility, variety, and commercial viability exploded onto the national stage and became a global phenomenon) officially ending the 'old school' era, (though it can be argued that Run…quot;D.M.C.'s debut was the 'beginning of the end' of the old school.) Their success directly paved the way for acts like LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys (who released their own multi-platinum debut, the Rubin-produced Licensed to Ill, later in 1986) to have similar commercial success, confirming hip hop as a marketable, thriving musical genre.

The group toured in the wake of the album's success, but the Raising Hell Tour was marred by violence, particularly fights between rival street gangs in places like Los Angeles. Though Run…quot;D.M.C.'s lyrics had been confrontational and aggressive, they typically denounced crime and ignorance, but the media began to blame the group for the incidents. In the wake of the violence, Run…quot;D.M.C. would call for a day of peace between the gangs in L.A.

Tougher Than Leather, changing times

After spending 1987 on tour supporting Raising Hell, Run-D.M.C. released 1988's Tougher Than Leather. The album saw the group discarding much of its rap rock leanings for a grittier, more sample-heavy sound. In the two years since Raising Hell, rap music had begun sampling classic funk and soul records and lyrics had become even more confrontational, complex and gritty. Tougher Than Leather reflected the shift, and, despite not selling as well as its predecessor, the album boasted several strong singles, including "Run's House", "Beats to the Rhyme", and "Mary Mary." Though at the time considered a somewhat disappointing follow-up to the blockbuster Raising Hell, the album has grown in stature. In the 2000 liner notes for the album's re-release, Chuck D.. of Public Enemy would call the album "...a spectacular performance against all odds and expectations."^[13]

Later in 1988, the group made their second film appearance in Tougher Than Leather, a would-be crime caper that was directed by Rick Rubin and featured special guest performances by the Beastie Boys and Slick Rick. The film bombed at the box office, but strengthened the indirect relationship between Run-D.M.C. and the Def Jam label.

Though the group itself was never signed to the label, they were managed by Russell Simmons, produced by Rick Rubin (who was co-founder of Def Jam, along with Simmons), and often shared concert tour spotlight with acts on the label's roster. One of those acts was the political rap group Public Enemy, who had been signed to Def Jam since 1986. P.E. did not achieve their major commercial breakthrough, until they released 1988's seminal It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back. The success of the album, along with popular and acclaimed releases by burgeoning rap acts Eric B. & Rakim, N.W.A.., Boogie Down Productions, and Big Daddy Kane challenged Run…quot;D.M.C.'s reign at the top of hip hop. Public Enemy, in particular, became the most talked-about rap act, with front-man Chuck D.. and hype man Flavor Flav becoming stars.

Amidst the changing times and sliding sales, Run…quot;D.M.C. released Back from Hell in 1990. The album was the worst-reviewed of their career, as the group tried to re-create itself musically with ill-advised forays into New Jack Swing (a then-popular style of production that sonically merged hip hop and contemporary R&B) and sometimes-preachy lyrical content. The two singles released, the anti-drug, anti-crime song "Pause" and street narrative "The Ave", had little success, and the group began to look outdated. Reeling from their first taste of failure, personal problems began to surface for the trio. McDaniels, who had been a heavy drinker in recent years, was losing control to alcoholism. Jay was involved in a life-threatening car accident and survived two gunshot wounds after an incident in 1990. In 1991, Simmons was charged with raping a college student in Ohio, though the charges were later dropped.^[14] He was also battling depression and would frequently mix poison with Coca Cola--his signature drink--later coined "The Jimmy Simmons".

With so much personal chaos and professional uncertainty, the members turned to faith to try and steady their lives. Both Simmons and McDaniels joined the church, with Run becoming especially devoted following his legal troubles and the toll it took on his finances.^[15] Needing to start from scratch, they just spent time enjoying themselves with one another.

After a three-year hiatus that seemingly saw rap music move on without them, the rejuvenated Run-D.M.C. returned in 1993 with Down With the King. Building on the gritty sound of Tougher Than Leather, and adding some subtle religious references, the album featured guest appearances and production by several hip hop notables (including Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, and Jermaine Dupri). Buoyed by the title track and first single, the album entered the charts at #1 and number 7 on the pop charts, Run D.M.C. had returned to the airwaves. ^[16]

Even though the album went platinum, the song proved to be their last hit. Jam-Master Jay also found success on his own; he had founded his own label JMJ Records, and discovered and produced the group Onyx, which had tremendous success in 1993 following the release of their hit single, "Slam." Later that same year, Run became an ordained minister, and in 1994 the iconic group appeared in The Show, a Def Jam-produced documentary that featured several of hip hop's biggest acts discussing the lifestyle and sacrifices of the industry.

Later years, break-up

Over the next few years, the group did very little recording. Mizell produced and mentored up and coming artists, including; Onyx, and a young 50 Cent, who he eventually signed to the JMJ label. Simmons got divorced, re-married, and began to focus on his spiritual and philanthropic endeavors by becoming a reverend. He also wrote a book along side his brother Russell. ^[17] McDaniels, also married, made an appearance on the Notorious B.I.G..'s 1997 double-album Life After Death, and focused on raising his family.

Though the group continued to tour around the world, over a decade of living a rap superstar lifestyle was beginning to take a toll on McDaniels. He was beginning to tire of Run-D.M.C., and there was increased friction between him and Simmons, who was eager to return to recording. (Simmons had at this time adopted the moniker "Rev. Run" in light of his religious conversion.) While on tour in Europe in 1997, McDaniels ongoing battle with substance abuse led to a bout of severe depression, which spurned an addiction to prescription drugs. McDaniels' depression continued for years, so much so that he contemplated suicide.^[18]

In 1997, producer and remixer Jason Nevins remixed "It's Tricky" and "It's Like That". Nevins' remix of "It's Like That" hit number 1 in the United Kingdom, Germany, and many other European countries. A video was made for "It's Like That", although no new footage of Run-D.M.C. appeared in it. In 1999, Run-D.M.C. recorded the theme song for WWE wrestling stable D-Generation X entitled "The Kings". They also made an appearance in a rare version of the music video "Bodyrock" by Moby. Their version of "The Kings" was included on the album, WWF Aggression (2000).

Soon after, the group finally returned to the studio, but in an increasingly tense environment, as Simmons and McDaniels' differences had begun to show. In the wake of the exploding popularity of rap rock artists like KoRn, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock, Simmons wanted to return to the aggressive, hard rock-tinged sound that made the group famous. McDaniels …quot; who had become a fan of thoughtful singer-songwriters like John Lennon, Harry Chapin, and Sarah McLachlan …quot; wanted to go in a more introspective direction. Appearing on VH1's popular documentary series Behind The Music in early 2000, McDaniels confirmed that he was creatively frustrated and highlighted some songs that he was recording on his own. The continued friction led to McDaniels sitting out most of the group's recording sessions in protest.

Simmons, in defiance, recorded material anyway, inviting several guest stars such as Kid Rock, Jermaine Dupri, Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, Method Man, and fellow Queens MCs Nas and Prodigy of Mobb Deep to contribute to the project. The resultant album, Crown Royal, was delayed due to the personal problems, and when it was finally released in 2001, it featured only three appearances by DMC. Despite no major singles, the album initially sold well. However, many critics blasted the lack of DMC's involvement, and fans questioned whether this was a 'true' Run-D.M.C. album. Some positive reviews were published: Entertainment Weekly noted that "on this hip-hop roast, new schoolers Nas and Fat Joe pay their respects with sparkling grooves....Run's rhymes are still limber."^[19]

After Crown Royal, the group embarked on a worldwide tour with their "Walk This Way" compatriots, Aerosmith. The tour was a rousing success, celebrating the collaberation between the two acts and acknowledging the innumerable amount of rap and rock acts that had been influenced by their seminal hit 15 years prior. Even though he had little to do with the album, McDaniels was relishing the stage; he had been suffering from an inoperable vocal disorder that had rendered his once-booming voice a strained mumble. Performing allowed McDaniels to come out of his depression and he appeared revitalized on the tour. There was even talk of Run-D.M.C. finally signing with the Def Jam label, which by then was no longer held by its original founders.

Simmons, however, had been growing increasingly tired of hip-hop. His family was growing, and he was assisting his brother with his Russell's Phat Farm clothing imprint, making Run-D.M.C. less of a priority. Aerosmith was beginning to discuss extending the successful tour, but while on the bus headed to another performance, Simmons announced that he was leaving and was not interested in returning. To the others' shock, Run was reported as having said, "Yo, tomorrow, we're gonna tell [Aerosmith] we ain't gonna do the tour. We're gonna go home. Y'all have to figure out what y'all are gonna do. Because I don't want to perform no more."^[20] Despite the protests of McDaniels, Mizell, and Tyler, Simmons was adamant. Their touring career at the time seemed over, and it was uncertain whether the trio would ever record again.

On October 30, 2002, Jam-Master Jay was shot and killed at his recording studio in Queens. The entire hip hop community went into shock following the news, and for his bandmates, it was devastating. McDaniels initially did not believe the news, thinking "They're saying [he was shot] because it's Jay's studio…quot;it's not gonna be Jay and it's gonna be all good."^{[citation needed]} The sad truth was slowly accepted by the two McDaniels and Simmons, who received the news from EPMD's DJ Scratch. Outside the studio where the murder occurred, fans and friends gathered and left Adidas sneakers, albums, and flowers for the legendary DJ.Mourners respected him as a family man who stayed out of trouble. The homicide has yet to be solved, echoing the unsolved murders of fellow hip hop titans 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G... In the aftermath, Run and DMC announced that the group was officially disbanding, and they retired the Run-D.M.C. moniker.^[21]

Biopic

Following the success of Notorious, it has been announced that a Run-D.M.C. biopic is in production. The film is rumored to depict the life and story of the group beginning from their inception in Hollis, Queens, and leading up to the 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay.

Post-breakup

In 2004, Run-DMC were one of the first acts honored on the first annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors, alongside legends like 2Pac and the Sugarhill Gang. The Beastie Boys paid tribute. Simmons did not attend the show; he was recording his first solo album, Distortion. It was released in 2005 to strong reviews and moderate sales.^{[citation needed]}

McDaniels also released a solo album, 'Checks Thugs and Rock N Roll', which was slightly less successful.^{[citation needed]} He had recently discovered that he was adopted, which lead him to be the center of the VH1 program My Adoption Journey, a documentary chronicling his re-connection with his biological family. McDaniels was also featured in the 2008 video game, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, making appearances in the songs "Walk this Way" and "King of Rock". He frequently contributed to VH1 programs such as the I Love The... series, and he released the song "Rock Show" featuring singer Stephan Jenkins.

Simmons also turned to television, starring in Run's House, a reality show that followed his life as a father and husband. The show has become one of the most popular on MTV^{[citation needed]}, and it made reality TV stars out of his daughters Vanessa and Angela.

In June 2007, McDaniels appeared with Aerosmith performing "Walk This Way" for their encore at the Hard Rock Calling festival in London, England. Simmons joined Kid Rock's 2008 Rock N Roll Revival Tour, performing "It's Like That", "It's Tricky", "You Be Illin'", "Run's House", "Here We Go", "King of Rock" and "Walk This Way" with Kid Rock. They also covered "For What It's Worth" at the end of the show.

In 2007, Mizell's wife, Terry, Simmons, and McDaniels also launched the J.A.M. Awards in Jay's memory. Jay's vision for social Justice, Arts and Music was promoted by many recording artists, including Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, Raekwon, Jim Jones, M.O.P., Papoose, Everlast, DJ Muggs, Kid Capri, De La Soul, Mobb Deep, EPMD, Dead Prez, Biz Markie and Marley Marl. In October 2008, Mizell's one-time protege 50 Cent announced plans to produce a documentary about his fallen mentor.^[22]

In 2008 Run-D.M.C. was nominated for 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On January 14, 2009, it was confirmed that Run-D.M.C. would be one of the five inductees to the Rock Hall.^[23] On April 3, 2009, Run-D.M.C. became the second rap act to be awarded the honor (after Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, who were inducted in 2007).^[24] It was also announced that Simmons and McDaniels will perform with The Roots at their annual "picnic" show on June 5, 2010.

Legacy

Allmusic.com's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that "...More than any other hip-hop group, Run-D.M.C. are responsible for the sound and style of the [hip-hop] music."^[25] Musically, they moved hip hop and rap music away from the funk and disco-oriented sound of its beginnings, into an altogether new and unique sonic imprint. Their sound is directly responsible for intentionally transforming rap music from dance-and club-oriented funk grooves like "Rapper's Delight" and "The Breaks" to an aggressive, less-danceable approach. Characterized by sparse, hard-hitting beats…quot;as typified on hits like "It's Like That", and "Peter Piper"…quot;this would form the foundation of hardcore hip hop (particularly hardcore East Coast hip hop).

As such, Run-D.M.C. is considered the originators of the style, and hardcore hip hop would dominate the next two decades of rap music, from the bombastic, noisy sound of Public Enemy and stripped minimalism of Boogie Down Productions to the thump of early Wu-Tang Clan and Nas. Their influence was not limited to the East Coast, however. L.A.'s N.W.A.., on their landmark 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, showed heavy influences from Tougher Than Leather-era Run-D.M.C., and Chicano rap act Cypress Hill were definitely influenced by Run-D.M.C.'s fusion of rap and rock.

Early on, the group rarely sampled and rarely looped anything over their skeletal beats, and the funky minimalism of major producers, such as Timbaland and The Neptunes, is drawn from Run-D.M.C.'s fundamental sound. Rap rock fusion proved to be influential among rock artists, with '80s bands like Faith No More, Anthrax (whose collaboration with Public Enemy on "Bring the Noise" was directly influenced by "Walk This Way"^{[citation needed]}) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers adding elements of rap to alternative rock and heavy metal. Most notably, the rap rock genre became popular in the late 1990s, with bands like Rage Against the Machine, KoRn, Sublime, and Limp Bizkit gaining worldwide popularity by furthering Run-D.M.C.'s template of aggressive rhymes over hard rock riffs.

Aesthetically, they changed the way rappers presented themselves. Onstage, Old school rappers had previously performed in flashy attire and colorful costumes, typically had a live band and, in the case of acts like Whodini, had background dancers. Run-D.M.C. performed with only Run and DMC out front, and Jam-Master Jay on the turntables behind them, in what is now considered the 'classic' hip hop stage setup: two turntables and microphones. They embraced the look and style of the street by wearing jeans, lace-less Adidas sneakers, and their trademark black fedoras. The group shunned both the over-the-top wardrobe of previous rap stars like the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa, and the silk-shirted, jheri curled, ladies' man look of rappers like Kurtis Blow and Spoonie Gee. Followers of their style included LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys; seemingly overnight, rappers were wearing jeans and sneakers instead of rhinestones and leather outfits. From Adidas track suits and rope chains to baggy jeans and Timberland footwear, hip hop's look remained married to the styles of the street.

According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll:

“Run-D.M.C. took hardcore hip-hop from an underground street sensation to a pop-culture phenomenon. Although earlier artists, such as Grandmaster Flash and the Sugar Hill Gang, made rap's initial strides on the airwaves, it was Run-D.M.C. that introduced hats, gold chains, and untied sneakers to youth culture's most stubborn demographic group: young white male suburban rock fans. In the process, the trio helped change the course of popular music, paving the way for rap's second generation.^[7]”

Historically, the group achieved a number of notable firsts in hip hop music and are credited with being the act most responsible for pushing hip hop into mainstream popular music, initiating its musical and artistic evolution and enabling its growth as a global phenomenon. Run-D.M.C. is the first rap act to have reached a number of major accomplishments:^[26]

Adidas sneakers with Run DMC logo on.

• A #1 R&B charting rap album
  
• The second rap act to appear on American Bandstand (the Sugar Hill Gang appeared first on the program in 1981)
  
• The first rap act to chart in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 more than once
  
• The first rap artist with a Top 10 pop charting rap album
  
• The first rap artist with gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums
  
• The first rap act to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine
  
• (one of) The first rap act(s) to receive a Grammy Award nomination
  
• The first rap act to make a video appearance on MTV
  
• The first rap act to perform at a major arena
  
• Signed to an major product endorsement deal (Adidas)
  

In 2009, it was revealed that Run-D.M.C featured in a Michael Jackson song called "Crack Kills". The song was supposed to be on Jackson's 1987 album, Bad, but it was shelved due to the groups' negative attitude towards the singer and also because Bubbles bit Jam Master Jay. However, only Run DMC's verse was heard in a similar titled song called "Crack" on the reissue of Tougher Than Leather.

Discography

Main article: Run…quot;D.M.C. discography

• Run…quot;D.M.C. (1984)
  
• King of Rock (1985)
  
• Raising Hell (1986)
  
• Tougher Than Leather (1988)
  
• Back from Hell (1990)
  
• Down with the King (1993)
  
• Crown Royal (2001)
  

Beastie Boys is an American hip-hop group from Brooklyn, New York. The group comprises Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and John Jacobs who left the band to join the Navy shortly after their big break. Since around the time of the Hello Nasty album, the DJ for the group has been Michael "Mix Master Mike" Schwartz, who was first featured in the song "Three MCs and One DJ".^[1].

Beastie Boys began as a hardcore punk group in 1979, appeared on the compilation cassette New York Thrash with Riot Fight and Beastie, and released their debut EP in 1982. After achieving moderate local success with the 1983 release of experimental hip-hop 12" Cooky Puss, they switched to hip-hop in 1984 and a string of successful 12" singles followed culminating with their debut album Licensed to Ill (1986) which received international critical acclaim and commercial success.

They are one of the longest lived hip-hop acts worldwide and continue to enjoy commercial and critical success in 2009, more than 25 years after the release of their debut album. On September 27, 2007, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[2] In 2009, the group released digitally remastered deluxe editions of their albums Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head', Ill Communication and Hello Nasty.

History

Early years: 1979…quot;1983

The Beastie Boys came together in 1981 as a punk band. In 1981 Adam Yauch (MCA) had the idea to start a NYC hardcore band and approached John Berry, Kate Schellenbach and Michael Diamond and asked them to join him. The name Beastie Boys came from a suggestion from guitarist John Berry. The name "Beastie" stands for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence," but this was an afterthought once the band's name was already Beastie Boys, according to Mike D and MCA.[1] The band's original line-up consisted of Adam Yauch (MCA) on bass, Kate Schellenbach on drums, John Berry on guitar, and Michael Diamond (Mike D) on vocals. Their first gig was at Berry's house on Yauch's 17th birthday.

On Friday, November 13, 1982, the Beastie Boys, consisting of band members, John Berry, Michael Diamond (Mike D) Adam Yauch, (MCA) (a.k.a. Nathanial Hornblower), and Kate Schellenbach (later of Luscious Jackson), played Philip Pucci's birthday for the purposes of his short concert film of the Beastie Boys, “Philip Pucci's "Beastie"” . Pucci held the concert in Bard College's Preston Drama Dance Department Theatre. This performance marked the Beastie Boys’ first on screen appearance in a published motion picture. Pucci's concept for “Beastie” was to distribute a mixture of half dozen 16mm Bell and Howell and Bolex cameras to audience members and ask that they capture the Beastie Boys performance from the audience’s own point of view while a master sync sound camera filmed from the balcony of the abandoned theater where the performance was held. The opening band for that performance was “The Young and the Useless”, which featured Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) as their lead singer. A one minute clip of "Beastie" was subsequently excerpted and licensed by the Beastie Boys for use in the "Egg Raid on Mojo" segment of the "Skills to Pay the Bills" long form home video released by Capitol Records. “Skills to Pay the Bills” went on to earn the Recording Industry Association of America’s (R.I.A.A.) gold sales award for selling more than 500,000 copies.

The band quickly earned support slots for Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys,^[3] the Misfits^[4] and Reagan Youth at venues such as CBGB and Max's Kansas City, playing at the latter venue on its closing night. That same year, the Beastie Boys recorded the 7" EP Pollywog Stew at 171A studios, an early recorded example of New York hardcore.

John Berry left the group (later forming Thwig, Big Fat Love, and the San Francisco booze rock band Bourbon Deluxe) and was replaced by Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) who had previously played in the punk band The Young and the Useless in 1982. The band also performed its first rap track, "Cooky Puss", based on a prank call by the group to Carvel Ice Cream. It became a hit in New York underground dance clubs upon its release.

Licensed to Ill: 1984…quot;1987

It was during this period that Def Jam record producer Rick Rubin signed on and the Beastie Boys changed from a punk rock outfit to a three-man rap crew. The band released the 12" EP, Rock Hard, in 1985…quot;the second record released by Def Jam that credited Rubin as producer. Soon after Rubin's arrival, Schellenbach developed creative differences with the band, citing her friction with Rubin. It was believed that Rubin objected to Schellenbach's place in the band as she did not fit the hip hop image to which the band aspired. Schellenbach went on to join Luscious Jackson in 1991. In 1985, the band opened for John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd..,^[5] as well as supporting Madonna on her North American The Virgin Tour. Later in the year, the group was on the Raising Hell tour with Run DMC, Whodini, LL Cool J, and the Timex Social Club. With their exposure on this tour, the track "Hold It Now, Hit It" made Billboard's national R&B and Dance charts. The track "She's on It" from the Krush Groove soundtrack continued in a rap/metal vein while a double A-side 12," "Paul Revere/The New Style," was released at the end of the year.

The band recorded Licensed to Ill in 1986 and released the album at the end of the year. It was a great success, and was favorably reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine with the now-famous headline, "Three Idiots Create a Masterpiece." Licensed to Ill became the best selling rap album of the 1980s and the first rap album to go #1 on the Billboard album chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It also reached #2 on the Urban album charts. It was Def Jam's fastest selling debut record to date and sold over five million copies. The first single from the album, "Fight for Your Right", (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fight_fo...eastie_Boys.ogg sample (help·info)) reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the video (directed by Ric Menello) became an MTV staple.

The band took the Licensed to Ill tour around the world the following year. It was a tour clouded in controversy featuring female members of the crowd dancing in cages and a giant motorized inflatable penis similar to one used by The Rolling Stones in the 1970s. The tour was troubled by lawsuits and arrests, with the band accused of provoking the crowd. This culminated in their notorious gig at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, England on May 30, 1987 that erupted into a riot approximately 10 minutes after the Beasties hit the stage and the arrest of Adam Horovitz by Merseyside Police on assault charges.

After the success of Licensed to Ill, the Beasties parted ways with Def Jam and ended their relationship with Rick Rubin to sign with Capitol Records.

In 1998, a bootleg album entitled Original Ill was released, featuring original demos of all the tracks from the final version of Licensed to Ill, plus deleted tracks "I'm Down" (a Beatles cover) and "The Scenario."

Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head: 1988…quot;1992

The Beastie Boys at Club Citta Kawasaki, Japan

Check Your Head tour Photo: Masao Nakagami, 16 September 1992^[6]The group matured with their second album, Paul's Boutique, produced by the Dust Brothers and Matt Dike. Recorded in 1988, this extremely sample-heavy opus is still considered ^[7] one of the strongest works by the Beasties, and Rolling Stone ranked it #156 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[8] It is also considered a landmark in hip hop recordings due to its intricate use of multi-layering^[9] and large array of samples. The album was released in 1989 by Capitol Records, after the falling out between the Boys and Def Jam. It failed to match the sales of Licensed to Ill, reaching #14 on the Billboard 200 and #10 on the Billboard R&B charts. The lead single, "Hey Ladies", reached #36 on the Billboard 100 and #10 on the R&B charts. Rolling Stone would describe the album as "the Pet Sounds/The Dark Side of the Moon of hip hop." Paul's Boutique would eventually sell a million albums, despite the initially weak commercial reception. The band digitally remastered and released the album through their own website.

In 1988 The Beastie Boys also appeared in the Run-D.M.C film Tougher Than Leather.

The follow-up album, Check Your Head, was recorded in the band's own "G-Son" studio in Atwater Village, California and released on its Grand Royal record label. The band was influenced to play instruments on this album by Dutch group Urban Dance Squad; with Mike D on drums, Yauch on bass, Horovitz on guitar and Mark Ramos Nishita ("Keyboard Money Mark") on keyboards. Mario Caldato Jr. ("Mario C") engineered the record and would become a longtime collaborator. Check Your Head was released in 1992 and went double platinum in the U.S., reaching a peak of #10 on the Billboard 200. The single "So What'cha Want" reached #93 on the Billboard 100 and made both the urban and modern rock charts while the album's first single "Pass the Mic" became a hit in dance clubs. The album also introduced a more experimental direction, with funk and jazz inspired songs including "Lighten Up" and "Something's Got To Give." The band used a sample of Back Door's title track from the first Back Door album (1972) on the track "Stand Together," and distorted guitar on "Gratitude." Hardcore punk even made its reappearance with "Time For Livin'."

Beastie Boys signed an eclectic roster of artists to the Grand Royal label including Luscious Jackson, Sean Lennon and promising Australian artist Ben Lee. Beastie Boys owned Grand Royal Records until 2001 when it was then sold for financial reasons. Grand Royal's first independent release was Luscious Jackson's album In Search of Manny in 1993. The Beastie Boys also published Grand Royal Magazine, with the first edition in 1993 featuring a cover story on Bruce Lee, artwork by George Clinton, and interviews with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and A Tribe Called Quest MC Q-Tip. The 1995 issue of the magazine contained a memorable piece on the mullet. The Oxford English Dictionary cites this as the first published use of the term, along with the lyrics from the Beasties' 1994 song "Mullet Head." The OED says that the term was "apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by U.S. hip-hop group the Beastie Boys."^[10] Grand Royal Magazine is also responsible for giving British band Sneaker Pimps their name.

Ill Communication: 1993…quot;1996

Ill Communication, released in 1994, saw the Beastie Boys' return to the top of the charts when the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 & peaked at #2 on the R&B/ hip hop album chart. The single "Sabotage" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sabotage...eastie_Boys.ogg sample (help·info)) became a hit on the modern rock charts and the music video, directed by Spike Jonze, received extensive play on MTV. "Get It Together" reached Top 10 of the Billboard dance charts and also became an urban hit while "Sure Shot" was a dance hit. Some Old Bullshit, featuring the band's early independent material, made #50 on the Billboard independent charts.

Beastie Boys headlined at Lollapalooza…quot;an American travelling music festival…quot;in 1994, together with The Smashing Pumpkins. In addition, the band performed three concerts (in Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington D.C.) to raise money for the Milarepa Fund and dedicated the royalties from "Shambala" and "Bodhisattva Vow" from the Ill Communication album to the cause. The Milarepa Fund aims to raise awareness of Tibetan human rights issues and the exile of the Dalai Lama. In 1996, Yauch organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert, a two-day festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that attracted 100,000 people.

In 1995, the popularity of Beastie Boys was underlined when tickets for an arena tour went on sale in the U.S. and sold out within a few minutes. One dollar from each ticket sold went to local charities. The Beastie Boys toured South America and Southeast Asia for the first time. The band also released Aglio e Olio, a collection of eight songs lasting just eleven minutes harking back to their punk roots, in 1995. The In Sound From Way Out!, a collection of previously released jazz/funk instrumentals, was released on Grand Royal in 1996 with the title and artwork a homage to an album by electronic pop music pioneers Perrey and Kingsley.

Hello Nasty: 1998…quot;2001

Beastie Boys returned to New York City in 1997 to produce and record the album Hello Nasty. The album displayed a substantial shift in musical feel, with the addition of Mix Master Mike, who added to the Beasties' sound with his kinetic DJ style. Released July 14, 1998, Hello Nasty earned first week sales of 698,527 in the U.S. and went straight to #1 in the U.S., the UK, Germany, Australia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. The album achieved #2 rank in the charts in Canada and Japan, and reached Top Ten chart positions in Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, France and Israel.

During 1998, rumors, seemingly generated by comments from the band, pointed to a possibility that they were to release a country album. Both Michael Diamond and Adam Yauch are credited with interview comments that piqued interest in whether or not an album would be released. Since they had long been notorious for pranking the media, it was difficult for anyone to take these comments seriously until tracks became available, most notably on The Sounds of Science anthology album. Adam Yauch published the following in the liner notes: "At some point after Ill Communication came out, Mike got hit in the head by a large foreign object and lost all of his memory. As it started coming back he believed he was a country singer named Country Mike. The psychologists told us that if we didn't play along with Mike's fantasy, he would be in grave danger. Finally he came back to his senses. These songs are just a few of many we made during that tragic period of time." How much is fact or fiction is difficult to determine, but when the album surfaced on eBay fans scrambled to get their hands on what had proven to be a rare album.

Beastie Boys won two Grammy Awards in 1999, receiving the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for Hello Nasty as well as the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance "Intergalactic" This was the first and, as of 2008, only time that a band had won awards in both rap and alternative categories.

Also at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards they won the highly coveted Video Vanguard Award for their contribution to music videos. The following year at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards they also won the award for Best Hip Hop Video for their hit song "Intergalactic." Beastie Boys used both appearances at the Video Music Awards to make politically-charged speeches of considerable length to the sizable MTV audiences. At the 1998 ceremony, Yauch addressed the issue of Muslim people being stereotyped as terrorists and that most people of the Muslim faith are not terrorists.^[11] These comments were made in the wake of the U.S. Embassy bombings that had occurred in both Kenya and Tanzania only a month earlier. At the 1999 ceremony in the wake of the horror stories that were coming out of Woodstock 99, Adam Horovitz addressed the fact that there had been so many cases of sexual assaults and rapes at the festival and the need for bands and festivals to pay much more attention to the security details at their concerts.

Beastie Boys started an arena tour in 1998. Through Ian C. Rogers, the band made live downloads of their performances available for their fans but were temporarily thwarted when Capitol Records removed them from its website. The Beastie Boys was one of the first bands who made mp3 downloads available on their website; they got a high level of response and public awareness as a result including a published article in The Wall Street Journal on the band's efforts.

The 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concerts featured shows in East Troy, Wisconsin, Sydney, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. On September 28, 1999, Beastie Boys joined Elvis Costello to play "Radio Radio" on the 25th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live.

Beastie Boys released The Sounds of Science, a two-CD anthology of their works in 1999. This album reached #19 on the Billboard 200, #18 in Canada, #6 on the Internet sales charts, and #14 on the R&B/Hip Hop charts. The one new song, the single "Alive", reached #11 on the Billboard's Modern Rock chart.

In the years following the release of Hello Nasty the group launched their official website which underwent several transformations eventually culminating in one of the most popular recording artist related websites on the internet.

In 2000, Beastie Boys had planned to co-headline the "Rhyme and Reason Tour" with Rage Against the Machine and Busta Rhymes, but the tour was canceled when drummer Mike D suffered a serious injury due to a bicycle accident. The official diagnosis was fifth-degree acromioclavicular joint dislocation; he needed surgery and extensive rehabilitation. By the time he recovered, Rage Against the Machine had disbanded.

Under the name "Country Mike," Mike D recorded an album, Country Mike's Greatest Hits, and gave it to friends and family for Christmas in 2000. Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz's side project BS 2000 released Simply Mortified in 2001.

In 2002, it was discovered that Mike D and Rick Rubin were reuniting to produce Mike's other side project, World of Hustle.

Hello Nasty was reissued on September 22, 1998.

To the 5 Boroughs: 2002…quot;2006

The band increased its level of political activism after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, organizing and headlining the New Yorkers Against Violence Concert in October 2001. Funds from the concert went towards the New York Women's Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA).

In 2002, Beastie Boys started building a new studio facility, Oscilloscope, in downtown Manhattan, New York and started work on a new album. The band released a protest song, "In A World Gone Mad", against the 2003 Iraq war as a free download on several websites, including the Milarepa website, the MTV website, MoveOn.org, and Win Without War. It became the most downloaded track during April 2003. The 19th and 20th Tibetan Freedom Concerts were held in Tokyo and Taipei, Beastie Boys' first Taiwan appearance. Beastie Boys also headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Their single, "Ch-Check It Out," debuted on The O.C.. in "The Vegas" episode from Season 1 which aired April 28, 2004.

To the 5 Boroughs was released worldwide on June 15, 2004. It was the first album the Beastie Boys produced themselves and reached #1 on the Billboard album charts, #2 in the UK and Australia, and #3 in Germany. The first single from the album, "Ch-Check It Out", reached #1 in Canada and the US Modern Rock Tracks, #2 on the world internet download charts, and #3 on a composite world modern rock chart.

The album was the cause of some controversy with allegations that it installed spyware when inserted into the CD drive of a computer.^[12] The band has denied this allegation, defending that there is no copy protection software on the albums sold in the U.S. and UK. While there is Macrovision CDS-200 copy protection software installed on European copies of the album, this is standard practice for all European releases on EMI/Capitol Records released in Europe, and it does not install spyware or any form of permanent software.

The band stated in mid-2006 that they were writing material for their next album and would be producing it themselves.^[13][14]

The Mix-Up: 2007…quot;2008

Speaking to British music weekly NME (April 26, 2007),^[15] Diamond revealed that a new album was to be called The Mix-Up. Despite initial confusion regarding whether the album would have lyrics as opposed to being purely instrumental, the Mic-To-Mic blog reported that Capitol Records had confirmed it would be strictly instrumental and erroneously reported a release date scheduled for July 10, 2007^[16] (The album was eventually released June 26, as originally reported). On May 1, 2007, this was further cemented by an e-mail^[17] sent to those on the Beastie Boys' mailing list …quot; explicitly stating that the album would be all instrumental:

The band subsequently confirmed this in public, playing several tracks from the album at the 2007 Virgin Festival at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.

To support the release, a string of live dates was announced^[18] that focused on festivals as opposed to a traditional tour, including the likes of Sónar^[19] (Spain), Roskilde (Denmark), Hurricane^[20]/Southside^[21] (Germany), Bestival^[22] (Isle Of Wight), Electric Picnic^[23] (Ireland) and Open'er Festival^[24] (Poland). Beastie Boys performed at the UK leg of Live Earth July 7, 2007 at Wembley Stadium, London with Sabotage, So What'cha Want, Intergalactic, and Sure Shot.^[25]

They worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, on their 2007 summer tour.^[26]

Beastie Boys were featured on the cover of Beyond Race magazine for the publication's summer 2007 issue.

They won a Grammy for The Mix-Up in the "Best Pop Instrumental Album" category at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008.

Hot Sauce Committee: 2009…quot;present

In February 2009, Yauch revealed their forthcoming new album has taken the band's sound in a "bizarre" new direction, saying "It's a combination of playing and sampling stuff as we're playing, and also sampling pretty obscure records." The tentative title for the record was Tadlock's Glasses, of which Yauch explained the inspiration behind the title:

In June 2009 The Beastie Boys appeared at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and performed the new single from the album titled "Too Many Rappers" along side rapper Nas who appears on the track. The group would have toured the UK later in the year in support of the new record.^[27]

On May 25, it was announced during an interview on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that the name of their new album would be Hot Sauce Committee and was set for release on September 15^[28] (with the tracklisting of the album announced through their mailing list on June 23).

Speaking to Drowned in Sound the Beastie Boys revealed that Part 2 is done.^[29] Mike D also hinted it may be released via unusual means:

On July 20, Yauch announced on the Beastie Boys' official YouTube channel^[30] and through the fan mailing list the cancellation of several tour dates and the postponement of the new album^[31] due to the discovery of a cancerous tumor in his parotid gland and a lymph node. The group also had to cancel their co-headlining gig at the Osheaga Festival in Montreal as well as a headlining spot at 2009's Lollapalooza.

Influences and legacy

Beastie Boys have had four albums reach the top of the Billboard album charts (Licensed to Ill, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty and To The 5 Boroughs) since 1986. In the November 2004 issue, Rolling Stone named "Sabotage" the 475th song on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.^[32] In their April 2005 issue, Rolling Stone ranked them #77 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[33] On September 27, 2007, it was announced that Beastie Boys were one of the nine nominees for the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions.^[34]

A controversial concert in Columbus, Georgia in 1987 led to the passage of a lewdness ordinance in that city.^[35] Sal Governale, a comedian on the staff of The Howard Stern Show, indicated on air on July 25, 2007, that he was the president of the Beastie Boys fan club in the 1980s on the Prodigy computer network.^[36]

Sampling lawsuit

In 2003, Beastie Boys were involved in the landmark sampling decision, Newton v. Diamond. In that case, a federal judge ruled that the band was not liable for sampling James Newton's "Choir" in their track, "Pass the Mic." The sample used is the six-second flute stab. In short, the Beasties cleared the sample but obtained only the rights to use the sound recording and not the composition rights to the song "Choir." In the decision, the judge found that "when viewed in relation to Newton's composition as a whole, the sampled portion is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively significant... Because Beastie Boys' use of the sound recording was authorized, the sole basis of Newton's infringement action is his remaining copyright interest in the 'Choir' composition. We hold today that Beastie Boys' use of a brief segment of that composition, consisting of three notes separated by a half-step over a background C note, is not sufficient to sustain a claim for copyright infringement."^[37]

Band members

(Adam Yauch)

(Adam Horovitz)

Members

• Mike D (Michael Diamond) …quot; vocals, drums (1981…quot;present)
  
• MCA (Adam Yauch) …quot; vocals, bass (1981…quot;present)
  
• Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) …quot; vocals, guitars (1983…quot;present)
  
• Mix Master Mike (Michael Schwartz) …quot; disc jockey, turntables (1998…quot;present)
  

Former members

• John Berry …quot; guitars (1981…quot;1982)
  
• Kate Schellenbach …quot; drums, percussion (1981…quot;1984)
  
• DJ Double R (Rick Rubin) …quot; disc jockey (1984…quot;1985)
  
• Doctor Dré (André Brown) …quot; disc jockey (1986)
  
• DJ Hurricane (Wendell Fite) …quot; disc jockey (1986…quot;1997)
  

Other contributing members

• Rick Rubin …quot; producer (1985…quot;1986)
  
• The Dust Brothers …quot; producer (1988)
  
• Mario Caldato, Jr.. …quot; producer, engineer (1988…quot;1998)
  
• Money Mark (Mark Ramos-Nishita) …quot; keyboards, vocals (1992…quot;present)
  
• Eric Bobo …quot; percussion (1992…quot;1998)
  
• AWOL (Amery Smith) …quot; drums (1994…quot;1995)
  

Discography

Studio albums

• Licensed to Ill (1986)
  
• Paul's Boutique (1989)
  
• Check Your Head (1992)
  
• Ill Communication (1994)
  
• Hello Nasty (1998)
  
• To the 5 Boroughs (2004)
  
• The Mix-Up (2007)
  
• Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1 (2010)
  
• Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 (TBA)
  

Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from New York City.^[1] Their work fuses the shock tactics of Alice Cooper, the rebellious mood of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and the extravagant image of glam rock bands such as New York Dolls notably for the makeup. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands. The band is generally categorized as glam metal for their earlier work, although the band does not consider themselves to be so.^[2][3]

Although the band was formed by guitarist Jay Jay French in December 1972, all of their songs were written by Dee Snider from 1976 onward. Snider remarked to Johnny Carson that the proposed name for the band was "This" but was rejected for fear of fans saying "This sucks". He describes Twisted Sister as "Slade meets Sex Pistols". Twisted Sister's most well-known hits include "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both popularized in the USA by regular airplay on MTV in the 1980s. Many of the band's songs explore themes of parent vs. child conflicts and criticisms of the educational system.^[2]

History of Twisted Sister

^{Pre-Dee period (1972…quot;1976)}

^{Twisted Sister was formed in December 1972 by guitarist Jay Jay French under the name Silverstar. In February 1973 Silverstar changed its name to Twisted Sister. In 1975, Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda, a former high school friend of French, joined as co-lead singer and second guitarist. He had previously recorded with a New York City band called SPV. Kevin John Grace replaced Mel "Starr" Anderson on drums. Bass guitarist Kenny Neill (Kenneth Harrisson-Neill) completed the lineup. The band followed a glam rock direction, influenced by David Bowie, Slade, Mott the Hoople, Humble Pie, and New York Dolls. It played at local clubs without much success until 1976.}

^{Club days (1976…quot;1982)}

^{In early 1976, Snider joined the band as lead vocalist and principal songwriter. After replacing drummer Grace with Tony Petri, the group took a heavier musical direction, influenced by Motörhead, Black Sabbath, and Alice Cooper, but without abandoning its glam image.}

^{Although glam was out of fashion in those days, Snider's phenomenal abilities as frontman propelled the band to considerable local success. It broke attendance records at large halls in the Tri-State Region and its growing fan base began to take the name "S.M.F.F.O.T.S.", for Sick Motherfucking Friends Of Twisted Sister, later shortened to "S.M.F." for "Sick Mother Fuckers." In March 1979, the British music magazine, NME reported that Twisted Sister had sold out the 3,000 capacity New YorkPalladium without a recording contract or radio airplay.[4] No record label was interested in signing the band, so in 1979 it released the single "I'll Never Grow Up Now" / "Under the Blade" on their own label, Twisted Sister Records, followed in 1980 by "Bad Boys (Of Rock & Roll)" / "Lady's Boy". Eddie Kramer produced both singles.[5]}

^{In this period, the group's membership changed. On October 31, 1978, Neill left the band, the band's roadie and friend, Mark "The Animal" Mendoza, formerly bassist for The Dictators, replaced him. In December 1980, Petri also left for the Plasmatics[6] and was replaced briefly by Ritchie Teeter. Teeter, also formerly of The Dictators, was replaced in that band by Mel Anderson. In April 1981, Teeter was replaced by "Fast" Joey Brighton, who was in turn replaced by A.J. Pero from Cities, another unsigned band with local fame.[7]}

^{This lineup (Dee Snider, Jay Jay French, Eddie Ojeda, Mark Mendoza and A.J. Pero) recorded four studio albums and performed numerous live shows around the world.}

^{Upon the suggestion of two reporters from Sounds and Kerrang!! magazines, Twisted Sister left New York to find a label in the UK. There, in April 1982, it was finally signed by Secret Records, a small British label that was mainly a punk outlet.}

^{Pre-MTV period (1982…quot;1984)}

^{In June 1982, the group released its first EP, Ruff Cuts, on the Secret Records label. This was followed shortly by their first studio album, Under the Blade, produced by Pete Way of UFO. Despite rather low production quality, the album was an underground hit in the UK, providing the band with sufficient name recognition to open for such metal acts as Motörhead. The album had an overall raw metal sound and included "Tear It Loose", a very fast speed-metal song featuring a guitar solo by "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead. Another single, the future hit "We're Not Gonna Take It", was planned for release, but Secret Records went out of business before Snider was able to complete the lyrics. "We're Not Gonna Take It" later became one of its top singles.}

^{Somewhere around this time, Twisted Sister updated its feminized image with a more grotesque look that distinguished them from other glam metal bands of the era. The group was now regarded more as a weird-looking heavy metal band because its look and music, although still reminiscent of pop/glam styles, were growing closer to heavy metal's leather and chains image.}

^{After an appearance on the music TV program The Tube, Atlantic Records approached the band and signed them. Atlantic was one of the labels that had turned Twisted Sister down in the Club Days period. Their first LP under Atlantic, You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll, produced by Stuart Epps, was released in 1983 and included the UK #19 hit "I Am (I'm Me)". From a production standpoint, the album sounded better than its predecessor, and it was every bit as heavy. Upon the success of the album the company decided to promote the band more heavily. A music video was made for the title track of You Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll, which was to become the first of a series of comedic videos that popularized the band.}

^{MTV videos (1984…quot;1985)}

^{International fame came for Twisted Sister when the band's third LP, Stay Hungry, hit the stores on May 10, 1984. The album was a little more commercial-sounding than the first two, owing to Tom Werman's production, but it still included heavy songs such as the title track and "Burn in Hell". During a successful tour, a young Metallica supported the band. Stay Hungry sold more than two million copies by the summer of 1985, and went on to sell more than three million in subsequent years. It remains the band's biggest success.}

^{Videos of hit singles "We're Not Gonna Take It" (a #21 hit in the US) and "I Wanna Rock" (US #68) ran almost constantly on MTV. Their pervasive slapstick comedy proved a change of pace for the genre and gave the band a distinctive appeal. The acclaimed surreal comedy filmPee-wee's Big Adventure took this further with the band having an appearance making a fictional video for "Burn In Hell" on the Warner Bros.}. ^{backlot only to be interrupted by Pee-wee Herman passing through. Despite being comedic in nature, the videos featured violence against parents and teachers, which placed the band under heavy criticism by conservative organizations. They were singled out by the PMRC in 1985. Twisted Sister songs "Under the Blade" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" were specifically mentioned in the associated Senate hearings. Snider was one of the few musicians to testify before a Senate committee in these hearings on September 19, 1985. (He was addressed formally by the committee counsel as "Mr. Sister".)[8]}

^{In May that year Ojeda took part, on behalf of the band, in the recordings for the Hear 'n Aid project, "Stars", although the single was not released until the following year.[9]}

^{Decline and fall (1985…quot;1987)}

^{On November 9, 1985, the band released its fourth studio album, Come Out and Play, produced by Dieter Dierks. It was not nearly as successful as its predecessor, although it did earn the band a gold album for sales of 500,000 copies. Some speculate that the failure was partly due to MTV banning the video for "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" on the grounds that it was graphically offensive. The song featured such guests as Alice Cooper (who also stars in the video), Brian Setzer, Clarence Clemons and Billy Joel. The tour supporting the album was a near fiasco, with low attendance and many cancelled dates. Not even Atlantic's re-release of a remixed Under the Blade helped the band recover its popularity. Come Out and Play was one of the first CDs to go out of print.}

^{After the tour, Pero left to rejoin Cities. He was replaced by ex-Good Rats drummer Joey "Seven" Franco. The nickname "Seven" comes from his being the band's seventh drummer.}

^{In 1987, Snider embarked on a solo project, reportedly approaching future Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, but this did not work out. He then recorded an album with Franco programming the drum machine and featuring several session musicians such as Reb Beach on guitar, Kip Winger (just before he formed Winger) and Steve Whiteman of Kix. Atlantic Records refused to release it unless it was labeled as a Twisted Sister album. So, on August 13, 1987 Love Is for Suckers made its debut. Although the band had not played in the recording sessions, it was mentioned on the album cover as if they had, and they did play some of the songs in subsequent shows. Beau Hill's production gave the album a very polished pop metal sound. The band's members had also removed the makeup that they had been wearing since their early days. Commercially, the album was a complete failure and many of their metal fans were disappointed with the pop sound.[citation needed]}

^{On October 12, 1987, almost two months after the release of Love Is For Suckers, Snider left the band, the record label cancelled its contract, and Twisted Sister disbanded. The public announcement of the band's demise came in January 1988.[10]}

^{Separation period (1987…quot;1997)}

^{After the band's break-up, former members were involved in different projects:}

• ^{Snider formed Desperado, Widowmaker, and SMFs. He also wrote, directed and starred in the movie Strangeland. A sequel, Strangeland 2, is planned.[citation needed]}
  
• ^{Ojeda went on to join Scarecrow and then formed Prisoners of War. Both projects were unsuccessful. He also worked as a session guitarist and guitar instructor.}
  
• ^{French stopped performing except for some guest appearances. He formed French Management and produced the alternative metal band Sevendust albums.}
  
• ^{Mendoza briefly joined Blackfoot. Then he worked as a producer and manager. He also occasionally pursued solo projects.}
  
• ^{Pero was involved in several projects and subsequently toured with Snider's SMFs.}
  
• ^{Franco worked as a session drummer and played with Snider's Widowmaker.}
  

^{In 1992, Atlantic Records, released a "best of" album Big Hits and Nasty Cuts that also featured some live performances from the Under The Blade period. This album was compiled by French. A live album from the Stay Hungry era named Live At Hammersmith was released in 1994 by CMC International.}

^{Reunions and reissues (1997…quot;present)}

^{Twisted Sister in Sweden in 2007In 1998, the band recorded a song for the soundtrack of Snider's movie Strangeland.}

^{In 1999, Spitfire Records re-issued the group's back catalog, supplemented with previously unreleased tracks. This was followed by Club Daze Volume 1: The Studio Sessions, an album containing demo recordings from the pre-Under the Blade era, which has three songs that were written by French, this was the first time someone other than Snider was writing songs, and Club Daze Volume 2: Live In The Bars, a live counterpart.}

^{In 2001, Koch Records released a tribute album under the name Twisted Forever: A Tribute To The Legendary Twisted Sister. The album featured a wide range of artists and bands who had been influenced by Twisted Sister, including Lit, Motörhead, Chuck D, Anthrax, Overkill, Cradle of Filth, Joan Jett, Sebastian Bach, and Hammerfall. Oddly for a tribute album, Twisted Sister was also present with a cover of AC/DC's "Sin City".}

^{In November 2001, the reunited Twisted Sister joined fellow New York metal artists Anthrax, Overkill, Sebastian Bach, and Ace Frehley to headline a benefit concert for NYPD and FDNY Widows and Orphans Fund in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. New York Steel raised over $100,000 for the charity, and the reaction to the first Twisted Sister set in 14 years was overwhelming. The demand for more live dates was immediate, and the band took the first steps toward returning to the concert stage.}

^{In 2002, a remastered "best of" compilation named Essentials was released. Fans generally consider this to be a better compilation than the one previously issued by Atlantic.}

^{2002 also saw the featuring of "I Wanna Rock" as one of the gameplay radio songs on the videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The song features in the playlist of the fictional radio station "V Rock".}

^{Twisted Sister, this time including Mark Mendoza, reunited again for the Sweden Rock Festival in June 2003. They also appeared in August of that same year at the Wacken Open Air festival. Footage from that show was filmed for a DVD release, which featured former Violent Apathy and Spite member, Tom Fuller.}

^{In March 2004, they entered the studio to completely re-record their Stay Hungry album for Demolition Records. They reported that they were not happy with the original album's production, so this time they produced it themselves. The re-recording was released under the name Still Hungry and contained seven bonus tracks.}

^{In July 2005, the group played a free concert in Edmonton for the Klondike Days festival. In late 2005, Snider appeared on Numbers from the Beast: An All-Star Tribute to Iron Maiden, performing vocals for the Iron Maiden classic "Wasted Years". Snider was joined by his contemporaries and peers George Lynch, formerly of Dokken, and Bob Kulick. Also in 2005, the band released the 2003 Wacken show on CD and DVD simply titled Live At Wacken. It also went on tour with Alice Cooper, acting as the support band but delivering a set similar to a headliner's.}

^{In 2006, Snider and French worked with Lordi to produce and play on a few tracks on their new album The Arockalypse. Snider was featured on the first track, "SCG3 Special Report", as the voice of Lordi warning of the upcoming Arockalypse. French guest starred on the song "Chainsaw Buffet". In June 2006, the band announced that they had signed with the American record label Razor and Tie to release a final CD, of heavy metal Christmas music called A Twisted Christmas. The CD was released on October 17, 2006, and was a commercial success. On July 8, 2006, Twisted Sister played in front of 80,000 people in Quebec City, Canada. The show also featured Scorpions as the headliner. It also played a small concert at the Wolverhampton Civic Center.}

^{The group is still together and occasionally makes small tours around the world, in full makeup. Before each of these mini-tours, it performs as Bent Brother, practising its set and appearing without makeup, usually at reduced ticket prices.}