A history of British pop/rock: pictures

And finally it arrived! Reminisce as you are watching the pictures taken by my good friend Sanyi Márton on the rock history class.

John Lennon lyrics 'to fetch $700,000'

We all love the Beatles. But someone will take it to the extreme and spend a fortune on Lennon's handwritten lyrics! So be it. I'd like to call your attention to the part which says BBC banned the airplay of the track, because the line "I'd like to turn you on" alluded to drug use. Seriously, which song does not contain these words nowadays? (Retrieved from the BBC website)

John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to the Beatles song A Day in the Life are expected to make up to $700,000 (£460,000) at auction.

The double-sided sheet of paper with notes written in felt marker and blue ink will go under the hammer at a sale in New York on 18 June.

The lyric sheet also contains some corrections and some other notes penned in red ink.

The song is the final track on the band's 1967 Sgt Pepper album.

Rolling Stone magazine listed it at number 26 in their compilation of the greatest 500 songs of all time, while the album went on to win four Grammy awards.

The BBC banned airplay of the track in 1967 because of the lyric "I'd like to turn you on", which was interpreted as a reference to drug use.

John Lennon died in 1980

This also led to several Asian countries to release Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band minus the song.

The lyric was apparently a later addition by Lennon.

Sotheby's, who are auctioning the lyrics, called A Day in the Life "the revolutionary song that marked the Beatles' transformation from pop icons to artists".

According to the auction house, the current record for the sale of Beatles lyrics is All You Need Is Love, which fetched $1m (£655,450) in 2005.

Dire Straits

As a heartfelt apology for missing class today, here is a brief, written version of the presentation I intended to give.

Play the music while reading; Dire Straits always intended their music to be accompaniment, not a show in itself. I chose Down to the Waterline because Sultans of Swing, while amazing in its own right, is terribly overplayed; any song off the first album would've given you a clear perspective of Dire Straits' unassuming demeanor and their musical talents, but Down to the Waterline especially so.

Dire Straits was formed in 1977 by brothers Mark and David Knopfler (vocals/lead guitar and vocals/rhythm guitar respectively), John Illsley on bass, and Pick Withers on drums; their name came from a suggestion by Pick Withers' roommate at the time. They intended to play music seperate from both the stadium rock and punk rock that was popular during that time; in fact, during their first gigs they specifically asked pub owners to turn down the volume of the band so as not to impose on patrons. Thus, they developed a style that's been called minimalist rock, conventional rock, progressive rock, and many other labels, a sound that perhaps only Mark Knopfler's solo works can compare to.

Their career began when, after taping a five-song demo, including Sultans of Swing and Down to the Waterline, a BBC Radio DJ put their songs on air. They proceeded to record a further demo tape specifically for BBC Radio London, and in 1978 they recorded their self-titled first album. It wasn't particularly well-recieved, largely due to the lack of promotion; however, after touring with the Talking Heads and signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records, their album was released world-wide and went top 10 in every European country.

Their next album, Communiqué (1978) followed the debut album's simplistic style, with such songs as Lady Writer, Single Handed Sailor, and the lyric masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West. It topped German album charts while Dire Straits was still at number three. However, after this album, during the recording sessions for Making Movies, David Knopfler left the band, because his brother insisted that he practice more.

With Sid McGinnis replacing David, and Roy Bittan joining on keyboards, the recording sessions continued. Making Movies (1980) was a more musically complex album, with tracks like Romeo and Juliet and the longer Tunnel of Love (fitting?). The next album, Love Over Gold (1982) contained only five songs, lengthy atmospheric passages with long solos; it contained the hits Private Investigations (a commonly underrated song of the album, in my opinion) and Telegraph Road. After Love Over Gold's release, Pick Withers was replaced by Terry Williams on drums.

In 1985, the fourth album titled Brothers in Arms was released (personally I think this one is overrated). It immediately became the best-selling album of 1985 in the UK, and had several chart singles: Money for Nothing, So Far Away, Brothers in Arms, Walk of Life, and Your Latest Trick. Brothers in Arms is claimed to have started the whole CD business, as it was released in Compact Disc format, and was the first album in the format to have reached a million copies sold. As such, collectors have labeled it a "must buy" album.

There was a hiatus between 1988 and 1990, the band having disbanded after the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute. Knopfler concentrated on solo material and film scores, and the others went their ways; among Knopfler's projects were the Notting Hillbillies, a country band that released a single album in 1990.

In 1991 the band reformed with Knopfler and Illsley in their original roles and two keyboardists, Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher. In September, they released the band's final studio album, On Every Street, which contained various styles, predominantly jazz. Their very last album, Live at the BBC (1995) was a collection of live performances between 1978 and 1981; after that, the band disbanded again for good.

Of course, they reunite time and time again for various occasions, like good moneywhoring rockers do.

The Dire Straits had a significant influence on British pop and rock; Mark Knopfler is considered to be one of the great guitarists of our time, and often plays with Eric Clapton. And believe me, I tried to dig up some dirt on the band or its members, but apparently their lives were and are as low key as they intended their music to be.

As for my personal suggestions to my dear readers: if you are interested in familiarizing yourself with Dire Straits, I think none of their later albums surpassed the first--Love Over Gold, which I think is a really underrated album, came close, but it wasn't the same style by then.

The history of British pop/rock chart

I give you now the chart of the history of British pop/rock, as I (based on the information provided by Sanyi Márton, the allmusic.com, and Richard Linklater) see it. I hope it will help you to digest the reading and to put all the pieces in place. Not necessarily in the right place, but in a sort of a perspective nevertheless. Feel free to argue about the positioning of certain bands and styles. Oh, and the reading for next week is arriving soon. I think it's best if you download the picture, that makes it more manageable than in a browser window.

History of Music + British Underground = This

Iron Maiden - The Trooper

As everyone knows the the song called Fear of the Dark, I would like to share another one, which you might also know...

Yes - Roundabout

My favourite Yes song - progressive rock

A history of British pop/rock

I would like to ask you to do a task for the 13th. The topic then will be "British pop industry", and connected to it, we'll try to conduct an experiment, that is, "Is it possible to chart the history of British pop/rock in 90 minutes?". As we're talking about a major contribution to international popular culture, this promises to be an endearing task indeed. We'll go through the main styles of rock music appearing in Britain from the 50s to the present day, listen to songs of some emblematic bands and we'll illustrate all that we have found in a nice chart. That's the plan.

For this, I'd like you to give a short presentation of a British pop/rock band of your choice, in the timeframe of a 3-minute pop song. The presentation should cover the following points:

1. In which period was the band / has the band been active and popular.
2. What is the style they are playing? What are their special features?
3. What was new about them? How did they contribute to the changes in pop/rock?
4. Why were they popular? Why not?
5. What were the most famous albums, most famous songs?
6. Choose one song to present that you think best shows why we should like the band.

The band should preferably be your favourite British one; in case you don't have any, here's a list of those I think are definitely worth mentioning and you're welcome to choose from:

The Beatles
The Who
The Kinks
Pink Floyd
Bee Gees
Genesis
Led Zeppelin
Deep Purple
Uriah Heep
Black Sabbath
The Rolling Stones
T. Rex
Queen
Sex Pistols
The Clash
Dire Straits
The Police
Depeche Mode
The Cure
Iron Maiden
The Stone Roses
Primal Scream
Blur
Radiohead
Massive Attack
Franz Ferdinand
Maximo Park

Please make your choice and let me know in a comment below.

Thank you!

Ooooo-eeee-oooooooo

For those of you who don't understand the title, the following video will explain everything:

Doctor Who is a science-fiction television programme that originally ran on the BBC from 1963 to 1989. A television movie was co-produced with Universal Pictures in 1996, after which the series itself was revived starting in March 2005 in the United Kingdom and Australia, and in March 2006 in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel (and, as of 2009, BBC America). It is still in production as of 2010.
Doctor Who is about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known only as the Doctor. The Doctor travels through space and time in a craft known as the TARDIS, an acronym for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space". The Doctor is usually accompanied by one or more companions, who are often attractive females. The tone of the programme varies from serious to comic, from gothic horror to pantomime camp. The original Doctor Who series is fondly remembered among the general public both for frightening monsters (such as the Daleks and the Cybermen) and pioneering use of both electronic music and low-budget special effects.

[...]

Feel free to browse the wiki, it has many interesting articles not just about the Doctor Who series, but about its spin-offs Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and K-9.

A better version of God Save the Queen ;)))

God save the Queen! :)

Ringo got mail - A Hard Day's Night

Here's proof that Ringo Starr has always been the favourite Beatle for most of the fans of the group. The video is from "A Hard Day's Night", a classic band-movie, only the first of its kind, directed by Richard Lester who later was responsible for the original Superman franchise. :)

23 February 2010, 5pm MüPa

Alas, look at the poster of the opera Dido and Aeneas, featuring our classmate Ida as second lobster witch.



Dido és Aeneas plakát -


If you would like to come, let's meet at 5pm in front of the "Glass Hall". Before and after the show you'll be updated on the plot and the background of the opera, as well as some details of Henry Purcell's life and British classical music in general.