Country Joe Mc Donald Of Country Joe and The Fish

Joseph Allen McDonald (born January 1, 1942 in Washington, DC) was the leader and lead singer of the 1960s rock & roll group, Country Joe and the Fish.
He started his career busking on Berkeley, California's famous Telegraph Avenue in the early 1960s. His mother, Florence McDonald, served for many years on the Berkeley city council. As of 2007, Country Joe still lives in Berkeley.
Country Joe has recorded 33 albums and has written hundreds of songs over a career spanning 40 years. He and Barry Melton co-founded Country Joe and The Fish which became a pioneer psychedelic band with their eclectic performances at The Avalon Ballroom, the Fillmore, Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock.
Their best-known song is his "The "Fish" Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag," a black comedy novelty song about the Vietnam War, whose familiar chorus ("One, two, three, what are we fighting for?") is well known to the Woodstock generation and Vietnam Vets of the 1960s and 1970s. He is also known for "The Fish Cheer" which was a cheerleader-style call-and-response with the audience where Joe spelled out "fish" ("Give me an F!").

Peter Green Of Fleetwood Mac

Peter Green (born Peter Allen Greenbaum, October 29, 1946, in Bethnal Green, London) is a British blues-rock guitarist and founder of the band Fleetwood Mac.
A figurehead in the British blues movement, Green inspired B. B. King to say, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Green's playing was marked with a distinctively keen vibrato and economy of style, as well as a unique out of phase sound from his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. He used a Fender Stratocaster on the track Albatross, and used a National resonator guitar on Oh Well Part I.

Keith Emerson Of ELP and the Nice

Keith Noel Emerson (born 2 November 1944 in Todmorden, Yorkshire) is a British keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice (which evolved from P.P.Arnold's band), he started Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early supergroups, in 1970. Following the breakup of ELP, circa 1979, Emerson had modest success with Emerson, Lake & Powell in the 1980s. ELP reunited during the early 90s. Emerson also reunited The Nice in 2002 for a tour. He currently tours (through 2007) with The Keith Emerson Band. From Wikipedia

Eric Burdon

Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941, in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne) was the lead singer of The Animals, and War before becoming a solo artist.He was a founding member and vocalist of the Animals, a band originally formed in Newcastle in the early 1960s. The Animals were one of the leading bands of the "British Invasion", and the band had quite a following around the world. Along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, and Gerry and The Pacemakers, they introduced British music and fashion to an entire generation in an explosion of great tunes and outspoken attitude on, and off the stage. Burdon sang on such Animal classics as "The House of the Rising Sun", "Good Times", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Bring It On Home to Me", "A Girl Named Sandoz," and "We Gotta Get Out of this Place". The Animals combined the traditional blues with rock to create a unique sound.
Original Animals members keyboardist Alan Price and drummer John Steel quit, and were replaced by Dave Rowberry and Barry Jenkins respectively. By 1966 the other members had left, except for Barry Jenkins, and the band was reformed as Eric Burdon and the Animals, which featured future Family member John Weider and future The Police guitarist Andy Summers. This incarnation had hits with songs such as "When I Was Young", "Sky Pilot" and "Monterey".
This ensemble lasted until 1969, going through several line-up changes, and changing the name from Eric Burdon and the Animals to Eric Burdon and the New Animals.
When the New Animals disbanded, Burdon joined forces with funky California jam band War. The resulting album, Eric Burdon Declares "War" yielded the classics "Spill the Wine" and "Tobacco Road". A second Burdon and War album, a two-disc set, The Black-Man's Burdon, was released later in 1970.
In 1971 Burdon began a solo career. Around this time, he also recorded the album Guilty! (later released on CD as Black & White Blues) with the great blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon and also featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band.
Burdon rejoined briefly with the other original Animals in 1976 and 1983, but neither union lasted, although the 1983 reunion yielded the ignored single "The Night". From Wikipedia

Don McLean

Donald Richard McLean (born October 2, 1945 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1971 songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".Don McLean's most famous composition, "American Pie," is often interpreted as describing the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper in an airplane crash on February 3, 1959, spawning the phrase, "The Day the Music Died." McLean has stated that the lyrics are also somewhat autobiographical and present an abstract story of his life from the mid-1950s until the time he wrote the song in the late 1960s. The hometown legend is that "the levee" is his hometown bar, the Beechmont Tavern near Iona College. "American Pie" symbolizes the ongoing radical and tumultuous changes in popular music during this period, evolving from the often raw, upbeat sounds that marked the earliest days of rockabilly and the rock eras of the 1950s to the darker, more introspective, often cynical and increasingly socially conscious music of the late 1960s, driven by the sweeping social upheavals and volatile political atmosphere that had engulfed and defined America by the end of the decade.Don McLean's "American Pie" has remained the subject of intense scrutiny and philosophical interpretation for more than 30 years as music historians, scholars, professors of modern American literature, and his fans alike continue to search for its 'deeper meaning.' In interviews, Don claims to be amused that many interpretations start with the premise that he never talks about the song nor has ever provided insight into the meaning of the lyrics. From Wikipedia

Donovan Leitch

Donovan (Donovan Philips Leitch, born May 10, 1946, in Maryhill, Glasgow), is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music.Donovan came to fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with a series of live performances on the pop TV series, Ready Steady Go!, and his popularity spread to the USA and other countries. After signing with the British label, Pye Records, he began a long and successful collaboration with leading independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring a string of hits in the UK, the USA and other countries, including several British and American #1 hits and million-selling records.
Donovan was one of the most popular British recording artists of his day, producing a series of hit albums and singles between 1965 and 1970. He became a friend of leading pop musicians including Joan Baez, Brian Jones, and The Beatles, and was one of the few artists to collaborate on songs with the Beatles. He influenced both John Lennon and Paul McCartney when he taught them his finger-picking guitar style in 1968. Donovan's commercial fortunes waned after he parted ways with Mickie Most in 1969, and he left the music industry for a time.
He continued to perform and record sporadically in the 1970s and 1980s, but gradually fell from favour. His gentle musical style and hippie image was scorned by critics, especially after the advent of punk rock. Donovan withdrew from performing and recording several times during his career, but he underwent a strong revival in the 1990s with the emergence of the rave scene in Britain. Late in the decade, he recorded a successful album with producer and long-time fan Rick Rubin and released a new album, Beat Cafe, in 2004. From Wikipedia

Roky Erikson of 13th Floor Elevators

Roky Erickson (born Roger Kynard Erickson on July 15, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, harmonica player and guitarist from Texas. He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.
Erickson is one of rock and roll's most famous cult figures, perhaps as well-known for his mental illness — caused in no small part by ill-advised shock therapy and incarceration in a Texas mental hospital — as for his musical talents. source: Wikipedia

Keith West of Tomorrow

Keith West (born 6 December 1943 in Dagenham, Essex, England as Keith Alan Hopkins) was the lead singer of Tomorrow, a 1960s psychedelic rock band. West composed most of the band's songs (duly credited to Keith Hopkins). Despite critical acclaim and support from DJ John Peel, who featured them on his "Perfumed Garden" BBC Radio 1 show, the band was not a great financial success.
In 1964 West became lead singer of "In Crowd" a rock band from London, which renamed in "Tomorrow" later. Member of the Band was the guitarist Steve Howe (later "Yes"). 1967 he became acquainted with Mark Wirtz, a producer who already created the instrumental title "A Touch of Velvet, a Sting of Brass" (1965). Later on the melody became theme song for the German music TV show "Beat-Club" and "Musikladen".
West himself is perhaps better known as a participant of Mark Wirtz's A Teenage Opera, completed in 2002. He was the singer of "Excerpt from "A Teenage Opera"," also known as "Grocer Jack," which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1967. He also performed "Sam," which reached the bottom end of the Top 40 the same year.
In 1968 he released the single "On A Saturday" on Parlophone. Other musicians who appeared on the single were guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Ron Wood, and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. An excellent piece of pop-psychedelia, the record was a modest UK hit. It has since been re-issued on the 1999 remastered CD of the self titled debut by Tomorrow.
In 1971 he released a solo L.P. "Wherever My Love Goes" on the German progressive rock-label Kuckuck. It features his songwriting-partner Ken Burgess and steel guitarist Glenn Campbell (ex-The Misunderstood). Two tracks of it were produced by Andrew Loog Oldham.
In the mid-1970s he was singer for Moonrider.
West continues to produce and record music, which is used primarily within the advertising industry. Source: Wikipedia

Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy

Philip Parris Lynott (August 20, 1949 – January 4, 1986) was an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter, who first came to prominence as the frontman of Thin Lizzy. more here

Freddie Mercury of Queen

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Queen (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001). He is noted for his vocal abilities and for his live performances. As a songwriter, he composed many international hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "We Are the Champions" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". In addition to his work with Queen, he also produced several hits as a solo artist. Mercury, who was of Indian Parsi descent and who grew up in India, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian pop star." He died of complications from AIDS in 1991. More

Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of .38 Special founder and vocalist Donnie Van Zant and current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant.

Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida Van Zant aspired to be many things before finding his love for music. Notably, Ronnie was interested in becoming a boxer (as Muhammad Ali was one of his idols); this profession seemed fit, as Ronnie had the reputation for being a "tough" person. Ronnie also tossed around the idea of becoming a stock-car racer. In fact, Ronnie used to say that he was going to be the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since Lee Roy Yarbrough. However, after seeing The Rolling Stones with his future bandmates, Ronnie knew what he wanted to do. More Reading.

Keith Moon of The Who

Keith John Moon (August 23, 1946 – September 7, 1978) was the drummer of the rock group The Who. As a drummer, Moon became known for an innovative style of drumming. Moon was one of the first players to play the drums as a lead instrument in an era when drums were supposed to only keep the backbeat. Moon also gained notoriety for his destructive lifestyle. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most unique of all rock and roll drummers. Link

John Bonham of Led Zeppelin

John Henry "Bonzo" Bonham (May 31, 1948 – September 25, 1980) was a British drummer and member of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. He was renowned for his power, speed and "feel" for the groove. Bonham is considered one of the most influential and respected drummers of the modern rock era and continues to be cited as an influence on drummers of varying styles to this day. Read more here

Duane Allman of Allman Brothers

Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American lead guitarist and noted session musician. Allman is noted for both his slide guitar and improvisational skills. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named Duane Allman as number two on their list of the greatest guitarists of all time, trailing only Jimi Hendrix. He was a noted session musician, was a founding member and the leader of The Allman Brothers Band, and also had a major role on the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, by Derek and the Dominos, led by Eric Clapton. His nickname, "Skydog," was a portmanteau of two nicknames, "Skyman", given to him by soul singer Wilson Pickett and "Dog", given to him by friends due to his perceived resemblance as such. Complete Reading

Jim Morrison of The Doors

James Douglas Morrison (8 December 1943 – 3 July 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, writer, film director, and poet. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the popular American rock band The Doors, and is considered to be one of the most charismatic and influential frontmen in the history of rock music. He was also an author of several poetry books, a documentary, short film, and three early music videos ("The Unknown Soldier", "Moonlight Drive", and "People are Strange"). Morrison died in Paris at the age of 27. More Reading.

Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead

Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician, songwriter, and artist best known for being the lead guitarist and vocalist of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead. Garcia was viewed by the media as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.
Performing with the Grateful Dead for its entire three decade career (which spanned from 1965 to 1995), Garcia participated in a variety of side projects, including Legion of Mary, and the Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, and several solo albums. Read more here.

Janis Joplin, The Queen of Blues

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an influential singer, songwriter, and music arranger. She rose to fame in the 1960's as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and eventually a solo career before her death from a drug overdose. She was one of the most popular and influential singers of the sixties and is considered to be one of the greatest female rockers of all time. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin #46 on their list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All TimeJanis Joplin was born to Seth Ward Joplin and Dorothy Bonita East. Her father was an engineer at Texaco. Her mother was the registrar at a business college. Janis had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura. As a teenager, she befriended a group of outcasts, including Jim Langdon and Grant Lyons, the latter of whom played her the blues for the first time. She began singing in the local choir and listening to musicians such as Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, Odetta, and Big Mama Thornton. While at Thomas Jefferson High School, she was mostly shunned. Among her high school classmates was another individual destined for stardom: future college and NFL coach Jimmy Johnson. In a 1992 Sports Illustrated profile of his career, Johnson claimed that he gave Janis the high school nickname of "beat weeds." Primarily a painter, in high school she first began singing blues and folk music with friends. More reading is here.

Van Morrison

George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a Grammy Award-winning Northern Irish singer, songwriter, author, poet and multi-instrumentalist, who has been a professional musician during the last five decades. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl — a unique mix of throaty folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences — Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll.Critic Greil Marcus has gone so far as to say that "no white man sings like Van Morrison." More Reading here

Vincent Crane of Atomic Rooster

I can't refuse that he was an important man in music, he was a legend who brought progressive music alive and I could say that he was the father of this music.Vincent Crane (born Vincent Rodney Cheesman, 21 May 1943, in Reading, Berkshire, died 14 February 1989, in Reading, Berkshire) was a self-taught pianist, who studied theory and composition at Trinity College of Music. He graduated in 1964.He was at first heavily influenced by Graham Bond, and in 1967 teamed up with Arthur Brown and formed The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Their self-titled album (1967) had the track "Fire" on it, which became a massive hit single in both the UK and the U.S.
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown dissolved on tour in the U.S., with Crane and drummer Carl Palmer (of ELP) leaving the band to form Atomic Rooster in 1969.
Crane was plagued by a manic mental disorder, forcing him to be treated inside and outside hospitals numerous times. Crane is deservingly associated with the Hammond Organ which was central to the Crazy World of.. album, and Atomic Rooster's music. Further reading is Here

Marc Bolan of T-Rex

Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 - 16 September 1977), was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T. Rex in the early 1970s helped cultivate the glam rock era and made him one of the most recognisable stars in British music of the time.
The son of a Jewish van driver and caretaker, Bolan grew up in post-war Hackney in East London and later lived in Wimbledon, southwest London. He fell in love with the rock and roll of Gene Vincent and Chuck Berry at an early age and became a Mod, hanging around coffee bars such as the 2 I's in Soho. He appeared in an episode of the television show Orlando as a Mod extra.
At the age of nine, Bolan was given his first guitar and began a skiffle band shortly after. At 14, he was expelled from school. His rebellious streak came out in the wild hair and the often sexual lyrics of the early 1970s star. Continue Reading Here

Incredible Genius: Syd Barrett

He was the Great Man who was lost in time...
Good bye Syd... You had thought about beautiful things in you songs before anybody had thought about them.
Full Name: Roger Keith BarrettBorn:January 6, 1946 - Cambridge, EnglandDied:July 7, 2006 - Cambridge, EnglandQuote:"I don't think I'm easy to talk about. I've got a very irregular head. And I'm not anything that you think I am anyway."Influenced By: Jimi Hendrix, Amm (improvisational jazz group)Influence On:Pete Townshend (Who), Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
Significant Facts:Co-founder of Pink FloydAppeared on first two Pink Floyd albums, recorded two solo albums after leaving the bandLife and Times: Syd Barrett was the youngest of five children of a well known Cambridge physician and his wife, both of whom who encouraged his interest in music. The sudden death of his father when Barrett was 11 is believed to have been at least partly responsible for triggering the mental problems that plagued him as an adult.
In 1965, he brought a flair for musical innovation -- and the name Pink Floyd -- to a group whose stock-in-trade had been playing covers of Rhythm & Blues songs. Under Barrett's influence, Pink Floyd began to experiment with a jazz-based psychedilic sound. He used "low tech" techniques like sliding a cigarette lighter up and down his guitar's fret board to give Pink Floyd a distinctive sound different from any other bands.Rise and Fall: As the band's success grew with its first two albums -- 1967's The Piper At the Gates of Dawn (written primarily by Barrett) and 1968's A Saucerful of Secrets -- so did Barrett's erratic behavior. He would wander aimlessly around the stage during live performances, or play just one chord throughout an entire concert. Heavy use of drugs, especially LSD, made his mental instability even worse.Barrett left Pink Floyd in 1968, just three years after co-founding it. Over the next few years, he released two solo albums and performed on stage occasionally. In 1974 he left the music business altogether and lived the rest of his life in near seclusion in his boyhood home in Cambridge, spending his time painting, gardening and avoiding the public eye. He dropped the nickname he had adopted as a teenager, and returned to using the name he was given at birth, Roger.Crazy Diamond: Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here was written and released as a tribute to Barrett. It was their first album to reach the top of both the UK and US album charts. A movie about his life, produced by Ridley Scott, was in the works at one time, but was shelved because of various legal issues. Barrett died in July 2006 at the age of 60 of complications caused by diabetes.
The Madcap Laughs : Barrett's first solo album after being fired from Pink Floyd was produced by Roger Waters and David Gilmour. It reflects, both lyrically and musically, Barrett's deep rooted mental anguish at that point in his life. More about him, go here

The Genius of the Century

How do you think about the title above? I really agree about it. Just imagine how that man wrote hundreds of songs which can be adopted into any kinds of music. For my salutation, I put him in this blog as one of the greatests influenced the birth of Rock. This is what I quote about him:

Full Name: Originally John Winston Lennon, later John Ono Lennon
Born: October 9, 1940
Died: December 8, 1980

About John Lennon:
Had two distinct careers, as singer-songwriter-guitarist for The Beatles, then as a solo musician, author, and political activist
Had a major influence on the evolution of rock music as a force for social and political change
Performed with, recorded with, and married Yoko Ono, whom he met at an exhibit of her art n London in 1966
Shot and killed by a deranged fan outside his New York City apartment as he and Yoko returned from a recording session in December, 1980
John Lennon Before and After The Beatles: His mother taught him to play banjo as a child. He formed the group that would eventually become The Beatles, then called The Quarry Men, in the late 50s. After The Beatles split in 1970, he continued writing and performing as a solo artist until 1975, when he retired. He had just released a comeback album shortly before his death in 1980.

John Lennon Quote:

"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all."

More bout John Lennon and his Beatles are here

Guitar God

Who is your Guitar God? Mine is Jimi Hendrix.

This is his story:

Full Name: Born Johnny Allen Hendrix, later changed to James Marshal Hendrix
Born: November 27, 1942
Birthplace: Seattle, Washington

Died: September 18, 1970
Quote: "The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye, until we meet again."
Significant Facts:
Joined the Army at age 17, faked homosexuality and was discharged after 14 months
Played backup guitar for Ike and Tina Turner, Little Richard, King Curtis, The Isley Brothers, and Wilson Pickett
Formed his first band - Jimmy James and the Blue Flames - in 1965
Formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966 and quickly became a hit in Europe
Couldn't read or write music, but was one of the single most important influences on electric guitar rock
Career Highlights: He played with local groups in Seattle before joining the Army in 1961, after which he moved to Nashville and earned a living backing various touring acts before moving to New York and forming his own group in 1966. He was known as a perfectionist in the studio, requiring dozens of takes of each song. Hendrix recorded just four studio albums (one of which wasn’t released until after his death) and one live album before his death at age 27 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Want to know more? Click here

Izi Lazi Daiz

Hi, Classic Rock Music lovers, I built this blog just for ye all. Come and Visit it anytime and submit your posting here. I like this music era eversince I knew music. And I've been collecting the albums from a lot of bands in this period. I have collected thousand of cds and old cassettes, from rock n'roll to hard rock, from progressive to heavy metal. From the Beatles to Deep Purple, from Yes, Frumpy to Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest. Anything you want to know, I would gladly help you all. Do you know the guys in the picture? Have you heard that they have been arranging a date to play together next year? What do you think about their chances in doing so? Are they just following all get-together-again bands such as the Police, Genesis to have a nostalgia or just a jam? Want to know more? Visit this link respod this.